Reflections on Joshua 16

Joshua 16 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Ephraim and Manasseh are the two tribes descended from Joseph, and the following is a description of the land they received. The southern border of their land started at the Jordan River east of the spring at Jericho. From there it went west through the desert up to the hill country around Bethel. From Bethel it went to Luz and then to the border of the Archites in Ataroth. It continued west down to the land that belonged to the Japhlet clan, then went on to Lower Beth-Horon, Gezer, and the Mediterranean Sea.
   
2. (SEE 16:1)
   
3. (SEE 16:1)
   
4. (SEE 16:1)
   
5. The following is a description of the land that was divided among the clans of the Ephraim tribe. Their southern border started at Ataroth-Addar and went west to Upper Beth-Horon
   
6. and the Mediterranean Sea. Their northern border started on the east at Janoah, curved a little to the north, then came back south to Michmethath and Tappuah, where it followed the Kanah Gorge west to the Mediterranean Sea. The eastern border started on the north near Janoah and went between Janoah on the southwest and Taanath-Shiloh on the northeast. Then it went south to Ataroth, Naarah, and on as far as the edge of the land that belonged to Jericho. At that point it turned east and went to the Jordan River. The clans of Ephraim received this region as their tribal land.
   
7. (SEE 16:6)
   
8. (SEE 16:6)
   
9. Ephraim also had some towns and villages that were inside Manasseh's tribal land.
   
10. Ephraim could not force the Canaanites out of Gezer, so there are still some Canaanites who live there among the Israelites. But now these Canaanites have to work as slaves for the Israelites.
    

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    Joseph's descendants, the tribe of Ephraim, were next to receive their inheritance. Because Joseph kept the family alive through the famine years in Egypt, two of his sons were made heads of tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, giving his descendants a double portion. Ephraim's portion was in central Canaan from the Jordan on the east nearly to the Mediterranean on the west. It included the cities of Gilgal, Bethel, and Shiloh.
    
    A pattern has begun in the concluding statements of the tribal allotments. Of the tribe of Judah it was stated in 15:63, "But the descendants of Judah could not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem." Now, in 16:10 it says that Ephriam "did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer." Ephraim turned this to an advantage by enslaving the people of Gezer and using them for forced labor, but this later caused problems for them when the Canaanites they allowed to remain rose up against them and enslaved them.
    
    Israel provides a perfect picture of man's inability to avoid sin. Even in her most victorious times, times when their relationship with God was going well, sin crept in.