“If you are a numerous people, go up by yourselves to the forest, and there clear ground for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.”
— Joshua 17:15
Context & Key Themes
Manasseh’s allotment comes with complications. The tribe is the largest, its territory straddles the Jordan, and within the western half there are competing claims, unfinished conquest, and a notable case of daughters pressing for the inheritance their father had no sons to receive. Chapter 17 also contains one of the more revealing exchanges in all of Joshua — the tribe of Joseph complaining that their allotment is too small, and Joshua’s blunt response: if you are such a great people, then clear the forest and take the hill country. Faith takes what it has been given. It does not wait for the geography to become more convenient.
Summary
The allotment for Manasseh follows. The half-tribe east of the Jordan has already been assigned under Moses. The western half receives territory from the Jordan to the Mediterranean, between Asher to the north and Ephraim to the south. Within this territory, the male descendants of Manasseh’s sons receive their portions — with one significant intervention. Zelophehad had no sons, only daughters. His daughters — Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah — appeared before Eleazar the priest and Joshua and claimed the inheritance their father had been promised, as Moses had commanded. They receive an inheritance among their father’s brothers. The ancient precedent from Numbers 27 is honored in the land.
The territory of Manasseh borders Asher to the north and Issachar to the east. Within Issachar’s territory, Manasseh holds several cities with their villages — Beth-shean, Ibleam, Dor, En-dor, Taanach, and Megiddo, and the towns belonging to them. But Manasseh could not take possession of those cities. The Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor — but they did not drive them out.
The people of Joseph then come to Joshua: why have you given me but one lot and one portion as an inheritance, although I am a numerous people? Joshua answers: if you are numerous, go up to the forest country and clear it for yourselves. The Ephraimites protest that the hill country is not enough, and the Canaanites in the valleys have iron chariots. Joshua is unmoved: the hill country shall be yours, for though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders. The Canaanites with iron chariots? You shall drive them out.
Reflection
The daughters of Zelophehad appear a second time in scripture — first in Numbers when they pressed Moses for their inheritance, now in Joshua when they press Eleazar and Joshua to honor what Moses granted. Both times they are heard. Both times they receive what they asked for. The covenant does not forget what it has promised, and neither should those who carry a promise. They did not assume it would happen on its own. They came forward and claimed it.
The exchange between the tribe of Joseph and Joshua is one of the sharper moments in the book. The complaint is essentially: we are too many for the land we have been given. Joshua’s response is essentially: you are too many for your current effort. The hill country is available. Clear it. The Canaanites in the valleys have iron chariots? Then drive them out. The inheritance is not withheld. The work of taking it is not completed. That distinction is the entire difference between chapter 17 and what Caleb demonstrated in chapters 14 and 15.
The reappearance of the forced-labor compromise — this time for Manasseh in the Canaanite cities of the valleys — deepens the pattern already visible in Ephraim. The house of Joseph is the most powerful tribal grouping in the allotment section. And they are the tribe most consistently choosing incomplete obedience. What looks like pragmatic management of difficult territory is the first installment of a bill that will come due in Judges and never fully be paid until the exile.