Bible Commentaries
Joshua 16

Verses 1-18

Joseph’s (Ephraim’s and Manasseh’s) Allotment (16:1-17:18)

There are confusing data and overlapping sections in chapter 16. Verse 5 must be read in connection with verse 2. "Bethel to Luz" (vs. 2) can scarcely be correct, for they are variant names of the same place (see 18:13).

It is clear, however, that the southern border of Ephraim is placed on a line running from Jericho to Bethel, to Gezer, and to the Mediterranean Sea. The northern border cut from east to west near Shechem and terminated at the Mediterranean just north of Joppa. The eastern border was the Jordan.

The allotment to Manasseh (17:1-13) consists of territories both east and west of the Jordan. The eastern section comprises areas southeast and east of the Sea of Galilee (Gilead and Bashan) and the western territory between Shechem on the south and the Plain of Esdraelon on the north. Again the east and west boundaries are the Jordan and the Mediterranean.

The allotment of land to the daughters of Zelophehad (vss. 3-6) is made in accordance with a decision attributed to Moses concerning inheritance rights in sonless families (see Numbers 27:1-11).

The request for more room made by the Joseph tribes (vss. 14-18) results in a challenge by Joshua to clear the forested areas of their mountain territory and in a promise that the entrenched Canaanites in the lowlands of the territory belonging to them will be driven out. The Hebrew foot soldiers were understandably afraid of the horses and iron-plated chariots of the Canaanite armies.