Commentary - Joshua 17:7-13

Bird's-eye view

This section of Joshua is given over to the dry, and sometimes tedious, business of drawing property lines. But we must never forget that this is the fulfillment of a promise that is centuries old, going all the way back to Abraham. God promised a seed, and He promised a land. The seed has now become a great nation, and here they are, parceling out the land. This passage deals with the remainder of the inheritance for the tribe of Manasseh, the half-tribe that settled west of the Jordan. And within these geographical details, we find a critical lesson on the nature of compromised obedience. Manasseh gets their land, but they also get some trouble along with it. They fail to drive out the Canaanites in certain key cities, and this failure sets a pattern that will plague Israel for generations to come. It is a stark reminder that half-obedience is whole disobedience.

The text lays out the borders with some precision, showing the interaction between the inheritances of Manasseh and his brother Ephraim. There are enclaves, cities belonging to one tribe within the territory of another, which speaks to the intricate way God weaves His people together. But the central point of failure is recorded in verses 12 and 13. The Canaanites "persisted in living in that land." Israel's eventual strength leads them not to fulfill God's command to drive them out, but rather to put them to forced labor. This is a pragmatic, worldly solution that directly contradicts the explicit command of God. They chose profit over purity, and co-existence over covenant faithfulness. This compromise, seemingly small at first, becomes a spiritual cancer that will metastasize throughout the period of the Judges.

Outline

Context In Joshua

We are in the thick of the land distribution, which is the central purpose of the book of Joshua. The conquest phase, with its major battles at Jericho, Ai, and the southern and northern campaigns, is largely complete. Now comes the administrative task of settling the tribes into their God-given inheritances. This is not merely a real estate transaction; it is a covenantal act. God is making good on His word. The previous chapters have detailed the inheritances of Judah and the sons of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh). This passage concludes the section on Manasseh's western portion, before moving on to the remaining seven tribes who had not yet received their allotment.

The failure recorded here in verses 12-13 is significant because it is one of the first explicit mentions of this kind of compromise in the post-conquest era. It serves as a grim foreshadowing of the theme that will dominate the book of Judges: "every man did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 17:6, 21:25). The generation that fought under Joshua was mighty, but even they had pockets of disobedience that they passed on to their children. This is how spiritual decay begins, not with a bang, but with a series of seemingly pragmatic compromises.

Key Issues

Verse by Verse Commentary

7 And the border of Manasseh ran from Asher to Michmethath which was east of Shechem; then the border went southward to the inhabitants of En-tappuah.

Here begin the surveyor's notes. These geographical details, while perhaps hard for us to trace on a modern map, were of immense importance to the Israelites. This was their land, their inheritance from Yahweh. Every landmark, every town, was a testament to the faithfulness of God. The border starts from Asher, another tribe, and runs toward Shechem, a city of great historical and spiritual significance. These are not just lines on a map; they are the boundaries of God's blessing, the tangible fulfillment of His promise to their fathers.

8 The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the sons of Ephraim.

This verse highlights the intricate and sometimes overlapping nature of the tribal allotments. The farmlands around the city of Tappuah went to Manasseh, but the city itself was an Ephraimite enclave. This would have necessitated a great deal of cooperation and mutual respect between the two brother tribes. It reminds us that God's people are called to live together in a complex world. Our lives and callings are interwoven, and we cannot simply draw hard lines and ignore our brothers. We are dependent on one another, and our inheritances are bound up together.

9 And the border went down to the brook of Kanah, southward of the brook (these cities belonged to Ephraim among the cities of Manasseh), and the border of Manasseh was on the north side of the brook, and it ended at the sea.

The description continues, using a wadi, the brook of Kanah, as a natural boundary. Again, we see this phenomenon of cities belonging to Ephraim being located within the broader territory of Manasseh. This wasn't poor planning on Joshua's part. It was a reflection of the organic reality of settlement and kinship. The border of Manasseh on the north side of the brook reached all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. This was prime territory, a significant portion of the Promised Land.

10 The south side belonged to Ephraim and the north side to Manasseh, and the sea was their border; and they reached to Asher on the north and to Issachar on the east.

This verse summarizes the larger geographical picture. The two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, are settled next to each other, a large and powerful bloc in the center of the country. They share a border with the sea on the west, and with the tribes of Asher and Issachar to the north and east. God is a God of order, and He is establishing His people in an orderly way. This is the geography of covenant fulfillment.

11 And in Issachar and in Asher, Manasseh had Beth-shean and its towns, and Ibleam and its towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, and the inhabitants of En-dor and its towns, and the inhabitants of Taanach and its towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns, the third is Napheth.

Just as Ephraim had cities within Manasseh, so Manasseh had key cities within the territories of Issachar and Asher. These were not insignificant places. Beth-shean, Taanach, and Megiddo were strategically located along major trade routes in the Jezreel Valley. Controlling them meant controlling commerce and military movements. God gave Manasseh a great inheritance, full of potential for strength and prosperity. But with great blessing comes great responsibility.

12 But the sons of Manasseh could not take possession of these cities because the Canaanites persisted in living in that land.

And here is the pivot. Here is the sour note in the symphony of fulfillment. The word "but" signals a tragic turn. Despite the gift from God, Manasseh failed to take full possession. Why? Because the Canaanites "persisted." The Hebrew word here implies a stubborn, willful resolve. They wanted to stay. And Manasseh's resolve was apparently weaker than theirs. The command from God was to "utterly destroy" the inhabitants of the land, not because of ethnicity, but because of their deep-seated, corrupting wickedness (Deut. 20:16-18). Their idolatry was a spiritual contagion, and God commanded a quarantine. Manasseh's failure was not a failure of military capability, but a failure of faith and obedience.

13 Now it happened that when the sons of Israel became strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not dispossess them completely.

This verse makes the disobedience even more stark. The initial failure in verse 12 might be excused by weakness or fear. But this verse removes that excuse. When Israel "became strong," when they had the clear upper hand, what did they do? They did not then fulfill the Lord's command. Instead, they opted for a solution that was economically pragmatic but spiritually disastrous. They turned the Canaanites into a source of cheap labor. They chose a tax revenue over faithfulness. They decided they could manage the sin, control it, and even profit from it. This is the constant temptation of the human heart: to believe we are wise enough to make a deal with sin. But sin never keeps its bargains. By leaving the Canaanites in the land, Manasseh was planting a garden of snares and thorns for their children, who would soon be worshiping the gods of the people their fathers had enslaved.

Key Words

Yarash, "To Dispossess"

The Hebrew verb yarash is a key term in the conquest narratives. It means "to possess, to inherit, to dispossess, to drive out." It carries a legal and military force. The land is Israel's inheritance (yerushah), given by God. But they must actively take it by dispossessing the current, unlawful tenants. The failure of Manasseh is precisely a failure to yarash completely. They took title to the land, but they refused to evict the squatters. This theological concept is crucial. Our salvation in Christ is a purchased inheritance, but we are still called to the daily fight of faith, to actively dispossess the remaining sin in our lives through the power of the Spirit. Compromise is not an option.

Application

The story of Manasseh's inheritance is a story for us. God has given us a glorious inheritance in Christ. He has given us "all things that pertain to life and godliness" (2 Pet. 1:3). He has promised us victory over the sin that remains in our members. And yet, how often do we look like the tribe of Manasseh?

We fail to drive out certain sins because they "persist" in dwelling with us. We get tired of the fight. We grow accustomed to their presence. A particular form of pride, a cherished lust, a comfortable bitterness. We know God has commanded us to put it to death, to dispossess it completely. But we don't. We make excuses. We say we are not strong enough.

And then, when God does give us strength and seasons of victory, we are tempted by the second part of Manasseh's failure. We don't eradicate the sin; we try to manage it. We put it to "forced labor." We think we can harness a "little" sin for our own purposes. We'll use our pride to drive us to succeed at work. We will manage our lust by restricting it to "acceptable" digital forms. We will justify our bitterness by rehearsing the wrongs done to us. We think we can make sin pay taxes to us. But all we are doing is leaving spiritual cancer in our souls. The Canaanites you fail to drive out today will be the ones whose gods your children worship tomorrow. The command of the gospel is not to manage your sin, but to mortify it. "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you" (Col. 3:5). There is no room for compromise. Take up your sword and drive them out completely.