Today we begin Joshua Chapter 16.
For the Complete Jewish Bible, click HERE.
For the King James version, click HERE.
“The border of the territory chosen by lot for the descendants of Yosef began from the Yarden at Yericho, at the spring of Yericho on the east, went up from Yericho through the hills and desert to Beit-El, went out from Beit-El to Luz, passed on to the border with the Arki to ‘Atarot, went down westward to the border with the Yafleti, to the border of Lower Beit-Horon, on to Gezer and ending at the sea.”-Joshua 16:1-3
In the last chapter, just as the Tribe of Judah received their land inheritance, here in Joshua Chapter 16, it’s now time for the Joseph tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh to get their portion.
Notice something interesting in verse 1.
It says…“The border of the territory chosen by lot for the descendants of Yosef“.
In other words, there were NOT 2 different lots drawn, one for Ephraim and one for Manasseh.
Nope, instead, there was only one lot drawn for the Tribe of Joseph.
Can you now understand why I went into such insane detail about Jacob’s cross-handed blessing and how it led to Joseph being represented by Ephraim and Manasseh?
From here on out, the Tribe of Joseph will be represented by Ephraim and Manasseh with Ephraim being the big boy of the two.
So understand that the boundary explanation we’re given at the beginning of this chapter represents the area that BOTH Ephraim and Manasseh would inherit.
Just to be clear, Ephraim individually received their own land that they ruled over and so did Manasseh.
However, from another perspective, they are still treated as the one Tribe of Joseph.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the Tribe of Joseph did NOT share a common border with Judah.
Geographically speaking, they were quite separate from each other actually.
The Joseph tribes (Ephraim and Manasseh) ended up occupying the land conquered by Joshua located in the far north.
The territory located in the region between Judah and the Joseph tribes would end up being occupied by the other smaller and less influential tribes of Israel.
The border to the east of the land Joseph inherited was the Jordan River and the border to the west was the Mediterranean Ocean.
And just as it was for the Tribe of Judah, the entire coastline along these bodies of water had yet to be conquered.
Driving out the native inhabitants from their borders was the holy duty that fell on the shoulders of Ephraim and Manasseh.
Again, just take a look at the map I’ve provided you below to get a clear idea of the territorial boundaries.
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