“So the lot was drawn for the other descendants of M’nasheh according to their families — for the descendants of Avi‘ezer, Helek, Asri’el, Sh’khem, Hefer and Sh’mida; these were the male descendants of M’nasheh according to their families.”-Joshua 15:2
Pretty much every Bible teacher and commentator on the planet will interpret the statement about the Tribe of Manasseh receiving their land inheritance rights with a sense of pity.
They feel sorry for Manasseh and in a very apologetic tone talk about how Manasseh, even though he was the biological first born son, got “duped” out of his rights and was forced to receive his land inheritance second in line after Ephraim.
While it is true this was indeed a shocking breach of the established inheritance protocols of the time, I believe the opposite was intended by the writer of the Book of Joshua.
What do I mean?
I believe the author intended to communicate that instead of just getting one piece of real estate like all the other tribes, Manasseh ended up being greatly blessed because he got not just one but TWO pieces of land.
And these two pieces of land weren’t tiny plots.
They were freakin’ huge in comparison to what everybody else got.
This makes sense that the record was established here.
Because this could have been a problem with the other tribal leaders and their clans for years…actually centuries to come in the future.
Think about it.
All one has to do is take a quick look at any map of the ancient Middle East and know instantly that Manasseh received one whopping piece of territory on the east side of the Jordan River and…
…another whopping piece of territory on the west side of the Jordan River.
Again, to get back to my original point, this was to demonstrate that far from getting the short end of the stick, Manasseh also was greatly blessed even though his firstborn status was displaced by Ephraim.
Because by getting these two huge pieces of territory inside the Promised Land, at the end of the day, he did end up receiving his double-portion of the blessing.
The Lord did NOT overlook Manasseh.
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