Commentaria in Josue
Chapter 17. Synopsis of the Chapter
The borders are described of the half tribe of Manasses on this side of the Jordan, and of the other half beyond the Jordan, verse 5, which likewise left some Chanaanites in its lot, and made them tributary to itself. Finally, verse 14, the children of Joseph complaining of their narrow dwelling, Josue answered that they should enlarge their room by arms, casting the Chanaanites out of the mountains.
1. And the lot fell to the tribe of Manasses (for he is the firstborn of Joseph) to Machir the firstborn of Manasses, the father of Galaad, who was a warrior, and had possession of Galaad and Basan: 2. and to the rest of the children of Manasses according to their families, to the children of Abiezer, and to the children of Helec, and to the children of Esriel, and to the children of Sechem, and to the children of Hepher, and to the children of Semida: these are the male children of Manasses the son of Joseph, by their kindreds. 3. But Salphaad the son of Hepher, the son of Galaad, the son of Machir, the son of Manasses, had no sons, but only daughters, whose names are these: Maala, and Noa, and Hegla, and Melcha, and Thersa. 4. And they came before Eleazar the priest, and Josue the son of Nun, and the princes, saying: The Lord commanded by the hand of Moses that a possession should be given us in the midst of our brethren. And he gave them according to the commandment of the Lord a possession in the midst of the brethren of their father. 5. And there fell ten portions to Manasses, beside the land of Galaad and Basan beyond the Jordan. 6. For the daughters of Manasses possessed an inheritance in the midst of his sons. And the land of Galaad fell to the lot of the rest of the sons of Manasses. 7. And the border of Manasses was from Aser, Machmethath, which looketh toward Sichem: and it goeth out on the right hand by the inhabitants of the fountain of Taphua. 8. For in the lot of Manasses fell the land of Taphua, which is by the borders of Manasses, and belongeth to the children of Ephraim. 9. And the border goeth down to the valley of reeds, to the south of the torrent of the cities of Ephraim, which are in the midst of the cities of Manasses: the border of Manasses is on the north side of the torrent, and the goings out thereof go on to the sea: 10. so that the possession of Ephraim is to the south, and that of Manasses to the north, and the sea is the border of both, and they join to the tribe of Aser on the north, and to the tribe of Issachar on the east. 11. And Manasses had in Issachar and in Aser, Bethsan and its villages, and Jeblaam with its villages, and the inhabitants of Dor with their towns, the inhabitants also of Endor with their villages: in like manner the inhabitants of Thenac with their villages, and the inhabitants of Mageddo with their villages, and the third part of the city of Nopheth. 12. Neither could the children of Manasses overthrow these cities, but the Chanaanites began to dwell in their land. 13. But after that the children of Israel were grown strong, they subdued the Chanaanites, and made them tributaries, and did not destroy them. 14. And the children of Joseph spoke to Josue, and said: Why hast thou given me but one lot and one portion for an inheritance, whereas I am of so great a multitude, and the Lord hath blessed me? 15. And Josue said to them: If thou be a great people, go up into the woods, and cut room for thyself in the land of the Pherezites and of the Raphaim, because the possession of mount Ephraim is too narrow for thee. 16. The children of Joseph answered him: We cannot go up to the mountains, because the Chanaanites that dwell in the plain country, in which are situate Bethsan with its towns, and Jezrael, possessing the middle of the valley, use chariots of iron. 17. And Josue said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasses: Thou art a great people, and of great strength, thou shalt not have one lot only, 18. but thou shalt pass to the mountain, and shalt cut down the wood, and make room for thyself, and clear it to dwell in: and thou shalt be able to proceed further, when thou hast destroyed the Chanaanite, whom thou sayest to have iron chariots, and to be very strong.
1. FOR HE IS THE FIRSTBORN OF JOSEPH.—He gives the reason why the tribe of Manasses was one of the tribes that divided Chanaan by lot, namely because, although Manasses was not a son of the patriarch Jacob, but a grandson, yet because he was the son of Joseph, Jacob had adopted him as his own son, and by equal right with his other sons had commanded him to divide and inherit Chanaan immediately, Genesis 48.
TO MACHIR THE FIRSTBORN (indeed only-begotten) OF MANASSES.—For he left no other son than Machir, who was the father of Galaad. “Who (Galaad) was a warrior,” not in Chanaan, but in Egypt under Pharao in the wars of the Ephraimites, who are narrated to have been slain, 1 Paralipomenon 7:21. For Galaad was born in Egypt while his grandfather Joseph was still living; wherefore he could serve Pharao in wars before the beginning of his persecution of the Hebrews, Exodus 1. Galaad seems to have died in Egypt, or at least in the desert; for at the going out of Moses and the Hebrews from Egypt, he, if he still lived, was 140 years old; at the entrance into Chanaan he would have been 180, an age which fell to none in that time.
4. THE LORD COMMANDED,—Numbers 27. See what is said there.
5. AND THERE FELL TEN PORTIONS TO MANASSES, BESIDE THE LAND OF GALAAD AND BASAN BEYOND THE JORDAN,—“Portions” (funiculi), that is, shares or hereditary lots; for of old boundaries and inheritances were measured out with cords, as they are now measured with rods or measuring-staves, although this measurement of so great a land was not …
Moreover the tribe of Manasses was divided into two parts. For half the tribe obtained Galaad and Basan on this side of the Jordan, the other half obtained its lots beyond the Jordan, and these ten, because ten lots were to be given to the ten families of Manasses, namely to five sons, Abiezer, Helec, Esriel, Sechem and Semida, verse 2, and to the five daughters of Salphaad, namely Maala, Noa, Hegla, Melcha and Thersa; for the sixth son, Hepher, begot no sons except Salphaad, who left only these five daughters after him, and substituted them for himself, verse 3.
8. FOR IN THE LOT OF MANASSES FELL THE LAND OF TAPHUA, WHICH (the land of Taphua) IS BY THE BORDERS OF MANASSES, AND BELONGETH TO THE CHILDREN OF EPHRAIM.—Whence from the Hebrew you may translate clearly thus: The land of Taphua was Manasses’s own: but Taphua on the border of Manasses was of the children of Ephraim. The sense is, as if to say: The land neighbouring the city of Taphua was of the children of Ephraim; whence in the following verse it is said that some cities of Ephraim (as Taphua was) were in the midst of the cities of Manasses. He said the same in chapter 16, verse 9. The cause was that the tribe of Ephraim was more populous and numerous than the whole of them could conveniently dwell in the region which had fallen to them by lot; wherefore it was necessary to enlarge its too narrow bounds, that they might occupy and inhabit some cities in the lot of Manasses, leaving, however, the neighbouring fields to the tribe of Manasses itself, because the fields which had fallen to the tribe of Ephraim were so fertile as to suffice for feeding the whole tribe. So Masius and others.
11. AND MANASSES HAD IN ISSACHAR AND IN ASER,—as it were in the embrace of the tribes of Issachar and Aser, as in Hebrew it is said that the golden urn having manna, and the rod of Aaron, were in the ark, that is, near the ark; for in the ark there were only the tables of the law. Hebrews 9:4. See what is said there. “Bethsan,” which was afterwards called Scythopolis, that is, city of the Scythians, because it was inhabited by Scythians, as St. Augustine indicates, Question 8 on the Book of Judges; Josephus, book 5 of the Antiquities, chapter 1; Herodotus, book 1, and others.
14. AND THE CHILDREN OF JOSEPH (namely the Manassites and Ephraimites) SPOKE TO JOSUE, AND SAID: WHY HAST THOU GIVEN ME BUT ONE LOT AND ONE PORTION FOR AN INHERITANCE, WHEREAS I AM OF SO GREAT A MULTITUDE, AND THE LORD HATH BLESSED ME?—as if to say: Why hast thou given us, who make two tribes, namely Ephraim and Manasses, such narrow limits that they seem to be those of one portion, that is, of one lot and one tribe, because they scarcely suffice for one tribe alone; whereas, God blessing us, we have grown into a great multitude? They say this, not because the regions assigned to them by lot would not suffice for both tribes, but because most of them were possessed by the Chanaanites, whom they despaired of being able to expel, because they held citadels and cities on mountains and rocks fortified by situation and art. They hoped to obtain from Josue, as their fellow-tribesman (for Josue was of the tribe of Ephraim), that some regions from the other tribes should be peacefully assigned to them. But Josue stood firm, and would not take anything from other tribes to give to his own. He gave nothing, therefore, to flesh and blood, but all to justice, and confirmed the just distribution already made. Whence he says:
15. CUT ROOM FOR THYSELF IN THE LAND OF THE PHEREZITES AND OF THE RAPHAIM,—to dwell in; do not ask it in other tribes to their injury, but occupy, cultivate, build up the spaces assigned to thee in the land of the Pherezites and Raphaim, they being expelled and as it were cut down. It is a metaphor; for he calls the land occupied by the Chanaanites a wood, because as a wood must be cut down that a place may be ploughed, so the Pherezites had to be cut off that the Josephites might occupy their land.
16. WE CANNOT GO UP TO THE MOUNTAINS, BECAUSE THE CHANAANITES USE CHARIOTS OF IRON.—These were scythed chariots, which, armed with scythes and swords and sent against the enemy, cut and as it were mowed down men and everything in their way. Such were used by Darius, king of the Persians, fighting against Alexander the Great. Hear Curtius, book 4: “He had before him scythed chariots, which at a signal he sent out all together against the enemy. The charioteers rushed on with loosened reins, that they might trample the more by an onset not yet sufficiently foreseen. Some of them, therefore, were transfixed by spears projecting far beyond the pole, others the scythes sent out on each side tore to pieces.”
Xenophon, book 6 of the Cyropaedia, makes Cyrus the inventor of these chariots; but hence it is clear that in the time of Josue, who preceded Cyrus by nine hundred years, the Chanaanites used such chariots. Moreover the terror of these chariots soon vanished; for against them soldiers were set in close order with long spears, who stabbed the bellies of the horses, and so, these being killed or cut down, rendered the chariots useless. Alexander the Great devised this, Curtius testifying, book 4, and Diodorus Siculus, book 17: “He warned the foot soldiers of the whole phalanx,” he says, “when the chariots should be driven nearer, to join their shields and strike them vehemently with their long pikes, that the horses, terrified by that din, would carry the four-horse chariots backward, which so happened.”
17. AND JOSUE SAID.—Josue, moved in nothing by the Manassites, stands firm, nor gives them any other answer than what he has already given, namely that they should enlarge their room by arms.