1And the portion for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was Joseph’s firstborn, to Machir Manasseh’s firstborn, father of Gilead, for he was a man of war—Gilead and Bashan were his. 2And to the remaining sons of Manasseh according to their clans, to the sons of Abiezer and to the sons of Helek and to the sons of Asriel and to the sons of Shechem and to the sons of Hepher and to the sons of Shemida—these are the male offspring of Manasseh son of Joseph according to their clans. 3And Zelophehad son of Hepher son of Gilead son of Machir son of Manesseh did not have sons but daughters, and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah and Noa, Hoglah, Milkah, and Tirzah. 4And they approached Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and the chieftains, saying, “The LORD charged Moses to give us an estate in the midst of our kinsmen.” And he gave them at the LORD’s behest an estate in the midst of their father’s kinsmen. 5And the shares of Manasseh fell out as ten, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan that is across the Jordan. 6For the daughters of Manasseh took an estate in the midst of his sons, and the land of Gilead went to the remaining sons of Manasseh. 7And the boundary of Manasseh was from Asher to Michmethath, which is by Shechem, and the boundary went southward to the inhabitants of Ein-Tapuah. 8The land of Tapuah was Manasseh’s, but Tapuah to the boundary of Manasseh was the Ephraimites’. 9And the boundary went down to Wadi Kanah south of the wadi. These towns were Ephraim’s in the midst of the towns of Manasseh, and the boundary of Manasseh was north of the wadi, and its far reaches were to the Sea, 10south of Ephraim and north of Manasseh, and the Sea was its boundary, and they touched Asher from the north and Issachar from the east. 11And within Issachar and Asher, Manasseh had Beth-Sheʾan and its hamlets and Ibleam and its hamlets and the inhabitants of Dor and its hamlets and the inhabitants of Taanach and its hamlets and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its hamlets—the three regions. 12And the Manassites were unable to take hold of these towns, and the Canaanites went on dwelling in this land. 13And it happened when the Israelites grew strong, that they subjected the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not absolutely dispossess them. 14And the sons of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why did you give me in estate one portion and one share when I am a numerous people, and until now the LORD has blessed me?” 15And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up to the forest and clear it for yourself there in the land of the Perizzite and the Rephaim, for the high country of Ephraim is too cramped for you.” 16And the sons of Joseph said, “The high country is not enough for us, and there are iron chariots among all the Canaanites who dwell in the valley land, those in Beth-Sheʾan and its hamlets and those in the Valley of Jezreel.” 17And Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, “You are a numerous people and you have great power. You shall not have just one portion. 18But the high country shall be yours, for it is forest and you shall clear it, and its far reaches will be yours, for you shall dispossess the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and though they are strong.”
CHAPTER 17 NOTES
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1. for he was Joseph’s firstborn. Hence the clan of Machir is alotted the choice region of Gilead and Bashan. But the further notation about Machir as “a man of war” suggests that it was the military prowess of the clan that enabled it to take hold of this territory.
3. And Zelophehad . . . did not have sons but daughters. This report of the inheritance of the daughters of Zelophehad picks up the story that appears in Numbers 27:1–11, echoing some of its language.
4. kinsmen. The Hebrew aḥim here has to have its extended sense and cannot mean “brothers” because these five women have no brothers.
5. the shares . . . fell out. The verb here reflects the use of a lottery or some kind of aleatory device, but the term for “shares,” ḥavalim, also means “ropes” and has the sense of share or portion of land because ropes were used to measure out the land.
10. south of Ephraim. This phrase is confusing because the text is describing the boundaries of Ephraim.
12. take hold of these towns. The Hebrew verb means “dispossess.” Either a logical object such as “inhabitants” has dropped out of the text, or the verb is used here in the sense it has in a different conjugation (yarash instead of horish), “to take hold of.”
14. Why did you give me. It is fairly common in biblical dialogue assigned to collective speakers to use the first-person singular.
and until now. The Hebrew wording is obscure and the text may be corrupt.
15. go up to the forest and clear it. There is archaeological evidence that a good deal of deforestation took place in this period in the high country, with the trees replaced by terraced agriculture.
the land of the Perizzite and the Rephaim. This geographical designation is obscure and may reflect a scribal error.
16. there are iron chariots among all the Canaanites. These armored vehicles, readily deployed in the valleys but not in mountainous regions, give a military advantage to the Canaanites over the Israelites, who, by and large, conducted warfare in guerilla style. (The characterization of “iron,” however, may be an exaggeration because the archaeological evidence indicates that Canaanite chariots were primarily built of wood.) Thus the members of the Joseph tribes fear that they will not be able to overcome the Canaanites in the flatlands.
17. You are a numerous people and you have great power. Joshua seizes on the very phrase the Josephites have used to claim more territory and employs it in a double sense: as a numerous people, you deserve more than a single portion, and as a numerous people, you have the power to conquer the Canaanites.