Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Reflections on Joshua 17


    Joshua 17 (Contemporary English Version)
  1. Manasseh was Joseph's oldest son, and Machir was Manasseh's oldest son. Machir had a son named Gilead, and some of his descendants had already received the regions of Gilead and Bashan because they were good warriors. The other clans of the Manasseh tribe descended from Gilead's sons Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. The following is a description of the land they received. Hepher's son Zelophehad did not have any sons, but he did have five daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. One day the clans that were descendants of Zelophehad's five daughters went to the priest Eleazar, Joshua, and the leaders of Israel. The people of these clans said, "The LORD told Moses to give us land just as he gave land to our relatives." Joshua followed the LORD's instructions and gave land to these five clans, as he had given land to the five clans that had descended from Hepher's brothers. So Manasseh's land west of the Jordan River was divided into ten parts.
  2. (SEE 17:1)
  3. (SEE 17:1)
  4. (SEE 17:1)
  5. (SEE 17:1)
  6. (SEE 17:1)
  7. The land of the Manasseh tribe went from its northern border with the Asher tribe south to Michmethath, which is to the east of Shechem. The southern border started there, but curved even farther south to include the people who lived around Tappuah Spring.
  8. The town of Tappuah was on Manasseh's border with Ephraim. Although the land around Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, the town itself belonged to Ephraim.
  9. Then the border went west to the Kanah Gorge and ran along the northern edge of the gorge to the Mediterranean Sea. The land south of the gorge belonged to Ephraim. And even though there were a few towns that belonged to Ephraim north of the gorge, the land north of the gorge belonged to Manasseh. The western border of Manasseh was the Mediterranean Sea, and the tribe shared a border with the Asher tribe on the northwest and with the Issachar tribe on the northeast.
  10. (SEE 17:9)
  11. Manasseh was supposed to have the following towns with their surrounding villages inside the borders of Issachar's and Asher's tribal lands: Beth-Shan, Ibleam, Endor, Taanach, Megiddo, and Dor, which is also called Naphath.
  12. But the people of Manasseh could not capture these towns, so the Canaanites kept on living in them.
  13. When the Israelites grew stronger, they made the Canaanites in these towns work as their slaves, though they never did force them to leave.
  14. One day the Joseph tribes came to Joshua and asked, "Why didn't you give us more land? The LORD has always been kind to us, and we have too many people for this small region."
  15. Joshua replied, "If you have so many people that you don't have enough room in the hill country of Ephraim, then go into the forest that belonged to the Perizzites and the Rephaim. Clear out the trees and make more room for yourselves there."
  16. "Even if we do that," they answered, "there still won't be enough land for us in the hill country. And we can't move down into Jezreel Valley, because the Canaanites who live in Beth-Shan and in other parts of the valley have iron chariots."
  17. "Your tribes do have a lot of people," Joshua admitted. "I'll give you more land. Your tribes are powerful,
  18. so you can have the rest of the hill country, but it's a forest, and you'll have to cut down the trees and clear the land. You can also have Jezreel Valley. Even though the Canaanites there are strong and have iron chariots, you can force them to leave the valley."

    Chapter 17 details the allotment for half of the tribe of Manasseh. The other half received their allotment on the east side of the Jordan before the Israelites even entered Canaan. For this half of the tribe there were no male descendants to receive the inheritance so it went to daughters. Years earlier the daughers had approached Moses with the situation pointing out that there would be no inheritance for their tribe if it was given only to male heirs. God commanded that the daughters in such situations should receive the inheritance with the stipulation that they marry within the tribe so the inheritance did not become absorbed by other tribes.

    Now, as it became time for the tribe's allotment to be distributed the daughters went before Eleazar the priest to remind the leaders that "The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our male relatives." (17:4) This command was honored by Joshua and they received their land allotment. In a time when most societies primarily regarded women as property, this was a significant incident.

    Again we are told that the tribe did not completely clear the land of its inhabitants. Verse 12 says "The descendants of Manasseh could not possess these cities," as if it were beyond their ability to do so. But Joshua pointed out in later verses that this was not the case. They had the ability if they exerted it. Instead they chose to impose forced labor on the remaining Canaanites.

    This was the first tribe to register a complaint about its allotment of land asking "Why did you give us only one tribal allotment as an inheritance? We have many people." But Joshua told them they had sufficient land if they used their strength of numbers to clear it of timber and of the remaining Canaanites. Even though the hill country was a forest Joshua told them to "clear it and its outlying areas will be yours." Furthermore, he said to them, "You can also drive out the Canaanites, even though they have iron chariots and are strong." (17:18)

    The complaint of this tribe of Manasseh is typical of people who compare their obstacles to their own strength rather than God's. God had repeatedly assured the Israelites that He would drive out the Canaanites before them if they only took the initiative to drive them out. So it is in all our God-ordained endeavors. Whatever God tells us to do He does not do for us but with us. It is a joint endeavor with Him carrying the main load. Our part is to show up and trust Him to do His part. But when we fail to show up it is always because we are asking the wrong questions and focusing on the wrong things.

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