Joshuachapter 16
10 verses · Joshua, by tradition · 15th or 13th century BC · History
And the lot of the children of Joseph fell from Jordan by Jericho, unto the water of Jericho on the east, to the wilderness that goeth up from Jericho throughout mount Beth–el,
Introduction
Joshua, by tradition, History, Joshua Overview.
This chapter begins the portion of the sons of Joseph, the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh counted as one house. It stands in the book that tradition credits to Joshua, himself a man of Ephraim. Their ground was the central hill country, the heart of what later became the northern kingdom. In the prophets the name Ephraim often stands for that whole kingdom. The chapter is short and is mostly a line drawn across the map. Listen for the towns set apart for Ephraim inside another tribe's land. Listen also for the last sentence, which records a failure left standing.
Context
- Who
- The tribe that would become the leading power of the north
- What
- The southern border of the sons of Joseph and the borders of Ephraim, with the Canaanites of Gezer left in place.
- Where
- The central hill country of Canaan, from the Jordan near Jericho west to the Mediterranean, through Bethel and Beth-horon to Gezer.
- When
- During the division of the land, about 1400 BC on the traditional dating, with the note on Gezer written at a time when the Canaanites still lived there.
- Why
- To record Ephraim's inheritance and to state plainly where the tribe did not drive out the Canaanites.
Historical context
The book carries no superscription naming its writer, and it reports Joshua writing at least part of it at 24:26. The Babylonian Talmud at Bava Batra 14b to 15a assigns the whole book to him, while Martin Noth read it as the second volume of an exilic Deuteronomistic History.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
Ephraim received the heart of the central highlands, the ridge running north from Bethel, with 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 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, and holding it meant holding the main road from the coast into the highlands.
Shechem and Shiloh both lie in this region, Shiloh becoming the site of the tent of meeting for generations and Shechem already the covenant ground between Ebal and Gerizim. The tribe holding the middle of the country held the country's religious centre.
Gezer guarded the road where the foothills meet the plain and was a strong site, and its Canaanites were left in place, living among Ephraim as forced labour. It stayed in Canaanite hands until an Egyptian pharaoh captured it and gave it to Solomon as a dowry for his daughter, centuries later.
Significance
First hearers took the geography as a statement of standing. Ephraim sat in the middle, on the main routes and around the sanctuary, which is why the tribe's name later stood for the whole northern kingdom.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The unfinished note is the one that runs through these chapters. Forced labour in place of expulsion looked like a good bargain at the time, and it left Canaanite worship inside the inheritance.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
Rashi reads the first verse as a statement about where the lot could fall, and therefore about the limits of the conquest. The lot for the sons of Joseph came out at the northern border, which he marks as "the northern border which marked the end of Yehoshua’s conquest" (Rashi on Joshua 16:1:1, the Metsudah Publications translation of 1997, CC-BY). He then makes the geography carry the order of the whole division: a great deal of the land lay between Judah's border and Joseph's, and the other tribes took their inheritance out of that middle ground, Benjamin's lot falling between the two by the text's own words (Rashi on Joshua 16:1:1). The eastern boundary he starts at the Jordan by Jericho, and runs it up through the wilderness westward to Bethel (Rashi on Joshua 16:1:2 and 16:1:3).
A question of precedence sits inside the boundary notes, and Rashi answers it. The fourth verse names Manasseh before Ephraim and the fifth describes Ephraim's portion first. He reads the first order as the order of birth, since Manasseh was the elder, and the second as the effect of Jacob's blessing, which put Ephraim first because Jacob knew he would be the greater, "Therefore when the lots were drawn, the lot of Ephraim came out first" (Rashi on Joshua 16:6:2).
The same run of notes carries the fullest description of Shiloh in these twelve chapters, and it is a description of practice. Rashi's note on the boundary passing Taanath Shiloh explains the place: a second Tabernacle built there with walls of stone and a covering of curtains rather than a roof, standing for three hundred and sixty nine years, at which peace offerings, thank offerings, the Passover lamb, firstborn offerings and various tithes could be brought and eaten. He also records what was done at its ruin, that the people mourned there as they would for the destruction of the Temple, "Whenever they passed by its ruins they wood weep and mourn" (Rashi on Joshua 16:6:3; the spelling is the translation's). A Christian reader meets here a piece of Jewish practice that is entirely historical, a house of God that stood before Jerusalem and was mourned after it fell.
Two smaller notes close the chapter. Rashi reads the boundary going out westward at Michmethath and turning north as the length and then the width of Ephraim's line (Rashi on Joshua 16:6:1 and 16:5:1), and he explains the separated cities of the ninth verse as towns that belonged to Ephraim while standing inside the boundary of Manasseh (Rashi on Joshua 16:9:1).
Malbim, Metzudat David and Radak comment through the whole chapter, and the corpus carries their refs with the reason that Sefaria holds no English version of them, so they stand here cited and unquoted. Malbim runs from Joshua 16:2:1 to 16:10:1 at seven places, Metzudat David across the same span at seven, and Radak at 16:2:1 and 16:9:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries twelve rabbinic locators for this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. It is the shortest rabbinic list of these twelve chapters, and it gathers almost entirely on the sixth verse, where Shiloh stands in the boundary line. There the corpus holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Zevachim 14:2 with Ein Yaakov, Zevakhim 14:6 and 14:7; Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 28:2 and 29:2; Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 881:7; and two passages of the Babylonian Talmud at Zevachim 118b:1 and 118b:10, which is the tractate on the slaughter of holy things that also carries the Sanctuary's changes of place.
Four further locators stand elsewhere in the chapter. On the third verse the corpus holds Zevachim 54b:5, the same passage Rashi cites at Joshua 15:8 for the choice of the Temple's site. On the seventh it holds Introductions to Amoraic Literature, Part II (Notes and Interpretations for Chapters of the Talmud), Baba Batra, Chapter III 176. On the eighth it holds Bereshit Rabbah 97:5, and at the sixteenth verse of its anchor list, Jerusalem Talmud Megillah 1:12:4. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Joshua 16:1:1 to 16:9:1, The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997, CC-BY; Malbim, Malbim on Joshua 16:2:1 to 16:10:1, seven refs cited because the corpus carries no English text; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Joshua 16:2:1 to 16:10:1, seven refs cited because the corpus carries no English text; Radak, Radak on Joshua 16:2:1 and 16:9:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/joshua/16.json, the 12 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
The lot that fell to the sons of Joseph
Joshua 16:1-4
Joseph draws one lot for two tribes, and the description 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. Only the southern border is traced here, and the northern side is given at 17:10.
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
1 more voice on this verseWhat 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.”
Barnes reads the Archites as the same designation that Hushai the Archite carries at 2 Samuel 15:32. Ataroth here is the Ataroth-addar of verse 5 and 18:13, distinct from the Gadite Ataroth east of the Jordan at Numbers 32:34. The line runs west from Bethel.
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
Barnes says all history of the Japhletites is lost. The line passes Lower Beth-horon and Gezer, two towns Solomon later rebuilt together at 1 Kings 9:17. Gezer's king had died fighting for Lachish at 10:33, and verse 10 records that the town was left in Canaanite hands.
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
Wesley explains why Judah and Joseph took their land before the other tribes: their holdings secured the main camp at Gilgal. Joshua 18:5 confirms the arrangement, with Judah in the south and Joseph in the north. Gill reads Manasseh here as the western half tribe only.
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
Ephraim's border, and the Canaanites left in Gezer
Joshua 16:5-9
Ephraim's line is drawn by clans, and it runs over ground the book has fought on, since Lower and Upper Beth-horon sit on the descent where the hailstones fell at Joshua 10:10-11. Verse 9 gives Ephraim cities inside Manasseh's inheritance, and 17:9 records the same arrangement from the other side. The text gives no reason, and Albert Barnes says the reason can only be conjectured.
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.”
1 more voice on this verse
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.”
Barnes thinks words have dropped out of these verses, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take Ataroth-addar as a centre through which a line runs from Upper Beth-horon to Michmethath. Michmethath recurs at 17:7 near Shechem. Both tribes use the same marker.
From Janoah the line drops into the Jordan valley and reaches Jericho, where the description of Joseph's lot began in verse 1. Jericho itself is listed among Benjamin's cities at 18:22, so the line touches the town without giving it to Ephraim. The circuit closes where it opened.
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown say the line is traced again from east to west to show the border meant to reach the sea, and they gloss Kanah as reedy. The same brook divides Ephraim from Manasseh at 17:9. Clarke notes that Tappuah named a district, which 17:8 gives to Manasseh while the town went to Ephraim.
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
1 more voice on this verse
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
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown cite Ephraim's large population. Yet Numbers 26:34 and 26:37 register Manasseh at 52,700 and Ephraim at 32,500, the smaller figure. Wesley's answer is that all of Ephraim settled west of the Jordan, while half of Manasseh stayed east of it.
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.”
1 more voice on this verse
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
The chapter ends on a town not taken, and Judges 1:29 repeats it of the same tribe and city. The Canaanites stay as forced laborers, an arrangement rather than a conquest, and Judges 1:28 and 1:30 show the same terms spreading. Gezer is cleared at last by Pharaoh, who burns it, kills its Canaanites and gives it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife, at 1 Kings 9:16.
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
How this psalm is built
The form: A boundary list, traced point to point from the Jordan to the sea, as Clarke classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The line traced point to point | The chapter names its border as a sequence of places rather than as an area. Adam Clarke states that the limits of the tribe of Ephraim extended along the borders of Benjamin and Dan. They ran from Jordan on the east to the Mediterranean on the west (*Commentary on the Bible*, 1832, on Joshua 16:1). The Berean text in the store runs the Joseph line at verses 1 to 3 and the Ephraim line at verses 5 to 8.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Joshua 16:1. | Joshua 16:1, Joshua 16:2, Joshua 16:3, Joshua 16:5, Joshua 16:8 |
| Each run closing at the sea | Every stretch of the border ends at the same place. The Berean text in the store closes verse 3 and verse 8 with the words ended at the Sea, and turns the line out toward the Sea at verse 6. The sea is the western limit Clarke names for the whole tribe (*Commentary on the Bible*, 1832, on Joshua 16:1).Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Joshua 16:1. | Joshua 16:3, Joshua 16:6, Joshua 16:8 |
| The line that starts at Jericho and comes back to it | The Berean text in the store opens the chapter at verse 1 with the allotment running from the Jordan at Jericho. Ephraim's own line at verse 7 goes down to Ataroth and Naarah, reaches Jericho and comes out at the Jordan. The same two points open the chapter and close the eastern side of the tribe's border.Counted in the store's Berean text of Joshua 16, the verses table, translation id 3, at Joshua 16:1 and 16:7. | Joshua 16:1, Joshua 16:7 |
The order of the two sons
12 more paragraphs on the patterns
The chapter's one structural oddity is its order. The store's exposition of verses 1 to 4 records that Joseph draws one lot for two tribes, and that verse 4 names Manasseh and Ephraim in birth order. The description that follows gives Ephraim his portion first and leaves Manasseh to chapter 17. That note names Genesis 48:14 and 48:19 as standing behind the order, where Jacob crossed his hands over the two boys and said the younger brother would be the greater. It cites Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament.
Matthew Henry reads the size of the grant from the same place in Genesis. He states that Joseph was Jacob's eldest by Rachel and his best beloved son, and that his posterity were much favoured by the lot (Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Joshua 16:5).
The state of the text
Three commentators say plainly that this border cannot now be walked. Albert Barnes reads the statements at verses 5 to 8 as abrupt and imperfect. He holds there is probability in the conjecture that some words have fallen out of the text. He states as well that few of the places are known for certain (Notes, on Joshua 16:5). Of the Japhletite at verse 3 he states that all history of the name is lost.
John Wesley reads the difficulty as the distance in time. He states that it is no wonder some of these descriptions are dark to us, since so many alterations have been made in places (Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765, on Joshua 16:5). Matthew Henry declines to list the doubts at all. He holds that the border was perfectly understood when it was recorded. The first intention of recording it was answered, which was to notify the ancient landmarks (Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Joshua 16:1).
The historical value
Gezer is the one place in the chapter whose later history the Bible itself records. The store's exposition of verse 10 states that the Canaanites stay and serve under tribute, which is an arrangement rather than a conquest. It records that Judges 1:28 and 1:30 show the same terms spreading through the other tribes. It records that Gezer is cleared at last by a foreign king, and names 1 Kings 9:16 for it. That note cites Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
The store's Berean text of 1 Kings 9:16 states that Pharaoh king of Egypt attacked and captured Gezer. He set it on fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife. The store's Berean text of Judges 1:29 states that Ephraim failed to drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, and that the Canaanites continued to dwell among them there.
The dossier's entry on the Amarna letters describes the world that arrangement belongs to. The archive dates to about 1360 to 1330 BC and carries Canaanite city rulers writing to Egypt for help. The dossier reads it as a picture of Canaan matching Joshua's own, a country of many small kings rather than one nation.
Whether the land was taken or much of it left
Verse 10 is one of the notices the dossier weighs on this question. The dossier sets the campaign summary at 11:23, that the land had rest from war, beside 13:1, where the LORD tells Joshua that very much of the land remains to be possessed. It reads the two kinds of statement as describing two different things. The first is the decisive defeat of organised Canaanite coalitions, which Joshua's generation accomplished. The second is the tribe by tribe occupation of the territory, which that generation did not finish.
K. Lawson Younger Jr. stands beside that reading with a claim about idiom. He set Egyptian and Assyrian campaign annals beside Joshua and argued that the summarising idiom is shared (Ancient Conquest Accounts, 1990). The dossier records the argument and states no verdict on it. The store's exposition of verse 10 makes the same pairing from inside the book, setting this verse beside Joshua 21:45.
Keep studying
Studies1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Joshua 16:1; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832 to 1869, on Joshua 16:5 and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on Joshua 16:4.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and The Berean Standard Bible, Joshua 16, with the verses cited in the note.