In our study of Joshua chapter seventeen, we look at the land that was given to the sons of Joseph on the west side of the Jordan River and the coming battle for that land.
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This was the territory chosen by lot for the tribe of M'nasheh, for he was the firstborn of Yosef. As for Makhir the firstborn of M'nasheh, the father of Gil'ad, because he was a warrior he got Gil'ad and Bashan. So the lot was drawn for the other descendants of M'nasheh according to their families - for the descendants of Avi'ezer, Helek, Asri'el, Sh'khem, Hefer and Sh'mida; these were the male descendants of M'nasheh according to their families.
As we have seen before, M'nasheh had received land on the east side of the Jordan River but, now, we see that they also received land on the west side as well. The firstborn son of M'nasheh received Gil'ad and Bashan which are in the northern part of Israel.
But Tz'lof'chad the son of Hefer, the son of Gil'ad, the son of Makhir, the son of M'nasheh, had no sons, only daughters; these are the names of his daughters: Machlah, No'ah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirtzah. They approached El'azar the cohen, Y'hoshua the son of Nun and the leaders and said, "ADONAI ordered Moshe to give us an inheritance together with our kinsmen." Therefore, in keeping with ADONAI's order, he gave them an inheritance together with the kinsmen of their father. Thus ten parts fell to M'nasheh, in addition to the land of Gil'ad and Bashan beyond the Yarden, because the daughters of M'nasheh had an inheritance along with his descendants; but the land of Gil'ad belonged to the rest of the descendants of M'nasheh.
Now, we see that one of the men in the tribe of M'nasheh had died and he had five daughters but no sons when he died. In Numbers 27, they had been granted an inheritance by Moshe and now they went to the high priest, Y'hoshua, and the leaders of all the tribes to request that inheritance. This is significant in that normally a woman would not inherit land but Moshe had received this guidance from the Lord and they were given land on the west side of the Jordan. In total we see that ten parcels of land plus Gil'ad and Bashan were given to M'nasheh on the west side of the Jordan River.
The border of M'nasheh began at Asher and went to Mikhm'tat, which is across from Sh'khem; next the border went along to the right, to the people of 'Ein-Tapuach. The land of Tapuach belonged to M'nasheh, but Tapuach on the border of M'nasheh belonged to the descendants of Efrayim. The border descended to Vadi Kanah, south of the vadi, by cities which belonged to Efrayim among the cities of M'nasheh; but the border with M'nasheh was on the north side of the vadi, and it ended at the sea. Southward it was Efrayim's, northward it was M'nasheh's, and the sea was its border; while to the north they extended to Asher, and on the east to Yissakhar.
The borders of the land of M'nasheh on the west side of the Jordan are described and we see that there was a mixing with Efrayim. As we saw in the last chapter, the purpose of this mixing was to preserve unity.
In Asher and Yissakhar, M'nasheh had Beit-Sh'an and its villages; Yivle'am and its villages; and the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, of 'Ein-Dor and its villages, of Ta'anakh and its villages, and of Megiddo and its villages - three districts in all. But the descendants of M'nasheh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities; the Kena'ani wanted to stay in that land. After the people of Isra'el had become strong, they made the Kena'ani do heavy labor but didn't completely drive them out.
We see that a part of the inheritance of M'nasheh on the west side also mixed with the tribes of Asher and Yissakhar but, as it was with the other tribes, they could not completely drive out the Canaanites so they made them do forced labor.
Then the descendants of Yosef spoke to Y'hoshua; they said, "Why have you given me only one lot and only one portion to inherit? After all, I am a great people, since ADONAI has blessed me so." Y'hoshua answered them, "If you are a great people, go up to the forest, and clear land for yourself there in the territory of the P'rizi and the Refa'im - since the hills of Efrayim don't give you enough space." The descendants of Yosef replied, "The hills won't be enough for us; and all the Kena'ani living in the valleys have iron chariots - both those in Beit-Sh'an and its villages and those in the Yizre'el Valley." Then Y'hoshua said to the house of Yosef, to both Efrayim and M'nasheh, "You are a great people with much power; you will not have only one lot, but the hills too will be yours. Although it is a forest, you will clear it, and the resulting open land will be yours. You will drive out the Kena'ani, even though they have iron chariots and are strong."
This passage speaks of the fact that the sons of Yosef needed more land on the west side of the Jordan so they went to speak to Y'hoshua. Y'hoshua agreed that they could have the hills around the Yizre'el Valley but the Canaanites there were strong and would have to be defeated. This land that is being given is the battleground that is spoken of in Revelation 16 and it is where we get the english term armageddon. The sons of Yosef were going to have to fight for that land but, in the last days, it will be Yeshua who gains the final victory in that place.
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