Joshuachapter 16
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Key verse
The allotment for the descendants of Joseph extended from the Jordan at Jericho to the waters of Jericho on the east, through the wilderness that goes up from Jericho into the hill country of Bethel.
It stands in scene A of the chapter, verses 1 to 4.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The lot of the children of Joseph runs from the Jordan at Jericho up through the hill country to Bethel, Ataroth, and the sea, and within it Ephraim's border is traced east and west, with separate cities set apart for Ephraim inside the inheritance of Manasseh. The chapter ends with one of the refrains that will govern the book of Judges: they did not drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer, but the Canaanites dwell in the midst of Ephraim unto this day, put to taskwork rather than removed. Compromise is recorded without comment, and it will cost the next generation dearly.
Context
History · Joshua · Joshua overview
Where the chapter sits
Joshua 16 falls in Tribal allotments (chapters 13–22). The east-of-Jordan and west-of-Jordan inheritances; Levitical cities; cities of refuge; the altar of Ed and the east-tribe controversy.
Before it: Conquest campaigns, chapters 6–12. After it: Covenant renewal at Shechem, chapters 23–24.
The whole shape of Joshua→The world behind this chapter
Joshua 16The history
Ephraim received the heart of the central highlands, the ridge running north from Bethel, with the deep valleys falling away east to the Jordan and west toward the sea. It is good farming country by the standards of that land, with reliable rainfall on the western slopes.
The border description runs from Jericho up through the wilderness of Bethel, along named towns, down to Beth-horon and out to the sea. Beth-horon is the same pass where the southern coalition was routed; controlling it meant controlling the main road from the coast into the highlands.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
Shechem and Shiloh both lie in this region. Shiloh would become the site of the tent of meeting for generations, and Shechem was already the covenant ground between Ebal and Gerizim. The tribe holding the middle of the country held the country's religious center.
The chapter ends with the Canaanites of Gezer not driven out, but living among Ephraim as forced labor. Gezer guarded the road where the foothills meet the plain and was a strong site; it stayed in Canaanite hands until an Egyptian pharaoh captured it and gave it to Solomon as a wedding gift for his daughter, centuries later.
What it meant to them
First hearers took the geography as a status statement. Ephraim sat in the middle, on the main routes, around the sanctuary, which is why the tribe's name later stood for the whole northern kingdom.
The unfinished note is the same one that runs through these chapters. Forced labor instead of expulsion looked like a good bargain at the time, and it left Canaanite worship inside the inheritance.
Sources cited
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews & Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
A. The lot that fell to the sons of Joseph
1. (vv. 1-4)
Joshua 16:1, 2 voicesWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Joshua 16:1
To the wilderness - Strike out “to,” for the word is in apposition to “lot.” The wilderness is Jos 18:12 “the wilderness of Bethaven.”
Joshua 16:1
“It was drawn in one lot, that the brethren might be contiguously situated; but it was afterwards divided. The southern boundary only is described here; that on the north being irregular and less defined (Jos 17:10, 11), is not mentioned. water of Jericho-- (2Ki 2:19), at the joint of its junction with the Jordan. mount Beth-el--the ridge south of Beth-el.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Joshua 16:2, 1 voice
Joshua 16:2
“From Bethel to Luz - From Gen 28:19 (note) it appears that the place which Jacob called Beth-el was formerly called Luz; see the note there: but here they seem to be two distinct places. It is very likely that the place where Jacob had the vision was not in Luz, but in some place within a small distance of that city or village, (see the note on Gen 28:12), and that sometimes the whole place was called Beth-el, at other times Luz, and sometimes, as in the case above, the two places were distinguished.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joshua 16:3, 1 voice
Joshua 16:3
“Beth-horon the nether - This city was about twelve miles from Jerusalem, on the side of Nicopolis, formerly Emmaus. - Calmet. See the note on Jos 10:10.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joshua 16:4, 1 voice
Joshua 16:4
“Their inheritance - Their several portions which here follow. It is said, they took their inheritance, which also Judah had done before them, because the tribes of Judah and Joseph did take their inheritances before the rest; and it was fit they should do so, for the security of the main camp, and the body of the people which were at Gilgal, chap. xviii, 5.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
a.Joseph draws one lot for two tribes, and verse 4 names them Manasseh and Ephraim in birth order while the description that follows gives Ephraim his portion first and leaves Manasseh to chapter 17. Genesis 48:14 and 48:19 stand behind that order, where Jacob crossed his hands over the two boys and said the younger brother would be the greater. Verse 2 treats Bethel and Luz as two points on the line, though Genesis 28:19 has Jacob give the old city of Luz the name Bethel; Clarke and Gill both read the sanctuary ground as lying beside the town rather than inside it. Only the southern border is traced here, and the northern side is given at 17:10.
B. Ephraim's border, and the Canaanites left in Gezer
1. (vv. 5-9)
Joshua 16:5, 2 voices
Joshua 16:5
“And the border of the children of Ephraim, according to their families, was thus,.... Or what follows is the description of it: even the border of their inheritance on the east side was Atarothaddar, unto Bethhoron the upper; the first was on the south of the inheritance, and the latter on the north, as Masius has placed them: who has given us a type of this description, by which it appears that this lot is here described in its breadth from south to north.”
Joshua 16:5
“From the abrupt manner in which the statements are introduced, as well as from their imperfect character, there is probability in the conjecture that some words have, in these verses, fallen out of the text. Few of the places are known for certain.”
Joshua 16:8, 2 voices
Joshua 16:8
“Tappuah - This was a city in the tribe of Manasseh, and gave name to a certain district called the land of Tappuah. See Jos 17:8. The sea - The Mediterranean, as before.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joshua 16:8
“Samaria, built by Omri after the burning of the royal palace of Tirzah, was in this tribe, and was long the royal city of the kingdom of the ten tribes; not far from it were Shechem, and the mountains Ebal and Gerizim, and Sychar, near which was Jacob's well, where Christ talked with the woman of Samaria.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joshua 16:9, 2 voices
Joshua 16:9
“The verb “were,” introduced by the King James Version in this verse should be omitted; and the full stop after Jos 16:8 replaced by a colon. The purport of Jos 16:9 is simply to add to the inheritance of Ephraim, defined by the preceding context, “the separate cities” or more properly “single cities” which were allotted to them in addition within the borders of Manasseh. The reasons for granting these additional cities to the Ephraimites can only be conjectured.”
Joshua 16:9
“The separate cities - That is, besides those cities which were within Ephraim's bounds, he had some other cities, to which all of all their territories were annexed out Manasseh's portion, because his tribe was all here, and was larger than Manasseh's.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
a.Ephraim's line is drawn according to their families, so the register reaches below the tribe to the households inside it. It runs over ground the book has already fought on, since Bethhoron the nether at verse 3 and Bethhoron the upper at verse 5 sit on the descent where the Amorites fled and the great stones fell from heaven at Joshua 10:10-11. Verse 6 names Taanath-shiloh, and Shiloh itself lies in this territory, where the tabernacle is set up at 18:1 and stands until the ark is taken in 1 Samuel 4. Verse 9 gives Ephraim towns inside Manasseh's inheritance and 17:9 records the same arrangement from the other side; the text gives no reason for it, and Barnes says the reason can only be conjectured.
2. (v. 10)
Joshua 16:10, 1 voice
Joshua 16:10
“The Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer - It appears that the Canaanites were not expelled from this city till the days of Solomon, when it was taken by the king of Egypt his father-in-law, who made it a present to his daughter, Solomon’s queen. See 1Ki 9:16. And see the note on Jos 10:33. The Ephraimites, however, had so far succeeded in subjecting these people as to oblige them to pay tribute, though they could not, or at least did not, totally expel them.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
a.The chapter ends on a town that was not taken, and Judges 1:29 repeats the sentence of the same tribe and the same city. The Canaanites stay and serve under tribute, which is an arrangement rather than a conquest, and Judges 1:28 and 1:30 show the same terms spreading through the other tribes. Gezer is cleared at last by a foreign king, since 1 Kings 9:16 says Pharaoh went up and took it, burnt it with fire, slew the Canaanites in it, and gave it as a present to his daughter, Solomon's wife. Joshua 21:45 says there failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken, and this verse sits in the same book without either being corrected.
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Joshua 16. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Adam Clarke; Albert Barnes; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry.