Take Responsibility for What You Want

As Joshua designates the land to each tribe, some of them have to fight to get what they want. The chapters about the land are so long, they have to be broken up. So, even though the big lesson about God’s faithfulness will come in the next lesson, we can still learn a lot about working for what we want from these tribes.

Land for Joseph’s Sons – Joshua 16:1-10 (Genesis 48)

Since three of Manasseh’s sons had been willing to fight for land on the other side of the Jordan River, some of Joseph’s land had already been allotted. So, after Joshua designated the tribe of Judah their land, he gave land to the tribe of Joseph. Because his two sons each had their own separate tribes, he received two pieces of land. This was the blessing Jacob gave to Joseph before he died, presumably because they had been separated for so many years. Because Ephraim and Manasseh were born to Joseph before he and Jacob were reunited, Jacob took them as his own sons, leaving any children after Jacob arrived in Egypt as Joseph’s. Manasseh was the firstborn son, but Jacob blessed Ephraim above him.

Joseph’s land began at the Jordan River and stretched west, touching Jericho and extending into the hill country, curving north to Gezer and Bethel until it reached the Mediterranean Sea. Its northern border extended from the Jordan River across the Jezreel Valley, north of Megiddo and Mount Carmel to the Sea. This is the northern portion of today’s West Bank and its adjacent land in Israel. Shiloh, Samaria, Caesarea, and Shechem were historically significant places within this land. Other than the burial land that Abraham bought, the only piece of land the Israelites owned was in Shechem. Jacob bought it when he reunited with Isaac and Esau. But he had to leave it because his sons waged war on the men of the town because one of them raped their sister Dinah. (Genesis 33:18-34:31)

Ephraim received a narrow piece in the south, and the half-tribe of Manasseh got the rest. The people of Ephraim never drove the Canaanites out of the land of Gezer, so they lived amongst them until they grew strong enough to submit them to forced labor. Almost 500 years later, the king of Egypt conquered the Canaanites in Gezer and gave the city to his daughter as a dowry when she married King Solomon. The Canaanites lived in several towns within Manasseh’s territory but were eventually subjected to forced labor there, too.

If they were strong enough to enslave them, then why weren’t they strong enough to defeat them as the Lord had commanded? Had they become friends with the Canaanites by the time they grew strong enough to go to war with them? Did they just want the benefit that servitude brought to them? Why did they not obey the Lord and eliminate the evil people living there? Did they really think they could let them live in their midst and remain untainted? Or did they let them live because they had already adopted some of their ways?

Zelophehad’s Daughters – Joshua 17:1-6 (Numbers 27:1-11, 36:1-13)

Only three of Manasseh’s sons received land on the eastern side of the Jordan River, and seven sons were left to inherit land on the western side. They were called half tribes not because half of Manasseh’s children lived on each side but because their inheritance had been split in half by the Jordan River. There was only one problem with the inheritance of these seven sons. One of them had no sons of his own, only five daughters. Thankfully, Moses had settled this problem a few years before.

After he gave a few of Manasseh’s sons the land east of the Jordan, Zelophehad’s daughters worried about what would happen to their father’s inheritance. They asked Moses to give them their father’s land so his name would live on. But it was not customary to give land to women, and Moses did not know what to do. So, he inquired of the Lord, and God told him that the women were right. Their father had been an honorable man, and it would not be right for his descendants not to receive a portion of the Promised Land just because he had no sons. Then, because of these women, God made a new law regarding the inheritance of a man with no sons. In that case, his inheritance would be transferred to his daughter. But if he had no children at all, it would go to his brothers. Then, his inheritance would go to his closest relative if he also had no brothers.

But, after Moses announced this new law to the nation, the men of Manasseh came to Moses and asked what would happen to the land if the women were to marry. They did not want their family’s land to go to their husband’s tribe after their marriage, which is why land was not given to women in the first place. God also agreed with these men and said since these women were inheriting their father’s land, they could only marry within Manasseh’s tribe. This would prevent the land from being transferred to a different tribe. Then, He made it a law for all women who inherited their father’s land so that no tribe would ever receive the land of another. So, when Joshua was allocating land to the remaining 7 sons of Manasseh, Zelophehad’s five daughters received his portion.

Here, we see God’s heart for women. They were not deprived of property because they were unimportant or unworthy. Men and women are both created in God’s image and are of equal worth to Him. It was only for clarity and preservation that the land was given to the sons. It is the same reason women take on their husband’s name when they marry. For their children’s sake, they can no longer belong to separate families. Their family must merge into one, giving the child their father’s last name. Then, in the same way as with the inheritance, a man with only daughters will not have anyone to carry on his name, because theirs will eventually be changed to their husbands. Proverbs 31:10; 1 Peter 3:7; Ephesians 5:25, 28-29