Jos 16 | MHM | STEP | Joshua 16:1 – The Lot of Joseph This section describes the land given to the descendants of Joseph. Joseph was not the oldest son of Jacob, but he was the oldest by Rachel, Jacob's favorite wife. Joseph was also Jacob’s favorite son and helped save his family during the famine (Genesis 41:56-57). Because of this, Joseph’s children received a special blessing. Their land was in the center of Canaan, stretching from the Jordan River in the east ( v. 1 ) all the way to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. This area was very fertile, just as Jacob and Moses had blessed it to be (Genesis 49:25-26; Deuteronomy 33:13-17 ). Unlike the other tribes, the Bible does not list the names of the cities given to Ephraim and Manasseh. Instead, only the borders are described. This might be because Joshua himself was from Joseph’s family, so the people trusted him to divide the cities fairly. That could be why the cities’ names were not listed like they were for other tribes.

‏ Joshua 16

Joshua 16:1 – The Lot of Joseph

This section describes the land given to the descendants of Joseph. Joseph was not the oldest son of Jacob, but he was the oldest by Rachel, Jacob's favorite wife. Joseph was also Jacob’s favorite son and helped save his family during the famine (Genesis 41:56-57). Because of this, Joseph’s children received a special blessing. Their land was in the center of Canaan, stretching from the Jordan River in the east (v. 1 ^a) all the way to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. This area was very fertile, just as Jacob and Moses had blessed it to be (Genesis 49:25-26; Deuteronomy 33:13-17 ^b). Unlike the other tribes, the Bible does not list the names of the cities given to Ephraim and Manasseh. Instead, only the borders are described. This might be because Joshua himself was from Joseph’s family, so the people trusted him to divide the cities fairly. That could be why the cities’ names were not listed like they were for other tribes.

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Joshua 16:5 – The Inheritance of Joseph’s Children

This passage explains how the land was divided for the tribe of Ephraim, one of Joseph’s sons. The borders of Ephraim’s territory are described, but not all the details are clear to us today because the land has changed a lot over time. Some cities given to Ephraim were actually inside Manasseh’s land, showing cooperation between the two tribes since both were descendants of Joseph. The passage also points out that Ephraim did not remove all the Canaanites from their land, especially those in Gezer. This lack of faith and obedience would later cause problems. Many important places in Israel’s history were in this area, like Shiloh, Samaria, and places connected to Samuel and Deborah. In the prophets, the whole northern kingdom is often called “Ephraim.”

v. 5–8: The borders of Ephraim’s land are listed. On the south, Ephraim was separated from Benjamin and Dan, and on the north from Manasseh. The land reached from the Jordan River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west (Joshua 16:1, 5-8 ^c). The exact border is hard to understand now because the land has changed so much since Bible times. Cities and rivers have disappeared or changed course (Job 14:18 ^d). But the main purpose was to record the old borders for future generations, so no one would move them.

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v. 9: Some cities that belonged to Ephraim were actually inside Manasseh’s territory (v. 9 ^e). This shows that Manasseh had enough land to share, and Ephraim needed more cities. Since both tribes were descendants of Joseph, it was hoped they would live together peacefully as brothers. When Israel was counted in the desert, Manasseh had more people than Ephraim (Numbers 26:34, 37 ^f). But after they settled in Canaan, Ephraim grew larger, just as Moses had blessed (Deuteronomy 33:17 ^g). This shows that God controls whether families and nations become bigger or smaller.

v. 10: The people of Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites from Gezer (v. 10 ^h). They either did not trust God’s promise or were not zealous to obey his command to remove all the Canaanites. Instead, they let the Canaanites stay and forced them to pay tribute. This was not what God commanded, and it was dangerous because it could lead Israel to worship idols. Some people think the Canaanites were made to give up their idols and follow basic rules, but later stories show that the Israelites did not stop idolatry and even followed it themselves.

General Notes: Many important places were in Ephraim’s area, even if they are not listed here. Ramah (where Samuel lived), Shiloh (where the tabernacle was set up), Tirzah (Jeroboam’s royal city), and Deborah’s palm tree were all here. Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom, was built in this land, close to Shechem, Mount Ebal, Mount Gerizim, and Sychar, where Jacob’s well was. Jesus spoke to the woman of Samaria near here (John 4:5-7 ⁱ). There was also a city called Ephraim, where Jesus stayed for a while (John 11:54 ^j). In the prophets, especially Hosea, the northern kingdom is called “Ephraim.”