Bible Commentaries
Joshua 16

Verses 1-4

The General Boundaries of the Sons of Joseph

v. 1. And the lot of the children of Joseph fell, came out from the urn or was drawn to give the boundaries, from Jordan by Jericho, that part of the Jordan Valley which touches upon the territory of Jericho, unto the water of Jericho on the east, the Fountain of Elisha, between Jericho and the Jordan, to the wilderness that goeth up from Jericho throughout Mount Bethel, toward the northwest.

v. 2. And (the boundary) goeth out from Bethel, from this mountain, to Luz, for the ancient name of the city is still used at times, and passeth along unto the borders of Archi to Ataroth, southwestward and then south,

v. 3. and goeth down westward to the coast of Japhleti, or, of the Japhletite, unto the coast of Beth-horon the nether, located on a slight elevation below Upper Beth-horon, and to Gezer, still farther to the west; and the goings out thereof are at the sea, the place not being so exactly located as in the case of Judah.

v. 4. So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance, their territory being located north of this line, and that of Benjamin between their possession and that of Judah.

Verses 5-10

The Special Borders of Ephraim

v. 5. And the border of the children of Ephraim according to their families was thus: even the border of their inheritance on the east side, from the east, beginning where the detailed description of

v. 3. ended, was Atarothaddar, unto Beth-horon the upper, and thence onward to the west as in v. 3.

v. 6. And the (northern) border, reckoning from some central point or watershed, went out toward the sea, the Mediterranean Sea, to Michmethah on the north side, not far from Shechem; and the border, from that same central point, went about eastward unto Taanath-shiloh, southeast of Shechem, and passed by it on the east to Janohah, still farther to the southeast;

v. 7. and it went down from Janohah to Ataroth, probably on the edge of the Jordan Valley, and to Naarath, two hours northwest of Jericho, and came to Jericho, the territory of this city, and went out at Jordan, just about east of Jericho.

v. 8. The border, the western half of the northern boundary, went out from Tappuah, north or northwest of Shechem, westward unto the river Kanah (reed-brook); and the goings out thereof were at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim by their families.

v. 9. And the separate cities for the children of Ephraim, certain cities set apart for Ephraimites within the province of the Manassitea, were among the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages. To these cities Tappuah belonged, Joshua 17:8.

v. 10. And they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer, in the Plain of Sharon; but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, to the time that this book was written, and serve under tribute, being subject to tributary service. This foolish indulgence later proved disastrous to the Israelites, for the heathen seduced the people of God to idolatry. Christians who love the world and enter into friendships with unbelievers are in danger of accepting the wrong views of the enemies of God, to the detriment of their souls.