Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
And the children of Joseph spake unto Joshua, saying, Why hast thou given me but
one lot and one portion to inherit, seeing I am a great people, forasmuch as the
LORD hath blessed me hitherto?
Complaint of the Descendants of Joseph respecting the inheritance allotted to
them. - V. 14. As the descendants of Joseph formed two tribes (Ephraim and
Manasseh), they gave utterance to their dissatisfaction that Joshua had given them (
"me," the house of Joseph, v. 17) but one lot, but one portion ( chebel (OT:2256), a
measure, then the land measured off), for an inheritance, although they were a strong
and numerous people. "So far hath Jehovah blessed me hitherto." `ad-'asher , to this
(sc., numerous people), is to be understood de gradu; `ad-koh , hitherto, de tempore.
There was no real ground for this complaint. As Ephraim numbered only 32,500 and
Manasseh 52,700 at the second census in the time of Moses (Num 26), and therefore
Ephraim and half Manasseh together did not amount to more than 58,000 or 59,000,
this tribe and a half were not so strong as Judah with its 76,500, and were even
weaker than Dan with its 64,400, or Issachar with its 64,300 men, and therefore could
not justly lay claim to more than the territory of a single tribe.
Moreover, the land allotted to them was in one of the most fertile parts of Palestine.
For although as a whole the mountains of Ephraim have much the same character as
those of Judah, yet the separate mountains are neither so rugged nor so lofty, there
being only a few of them that reach the height of 2500 feet above the level of the sea
(see Ritter , Erdk. xv. pp. 475ff.; V. de Velde , Mem. pp. 177ff.); moreover, they are
intersected by many broad valleys and fertile plateaux, which are covered with
fruitful fields and splendid plantations of olives,vines, and fig trees (see Rob. iii. p.
78, Bibl. Res. pp. 290ff.; Seetzen , ii. pp. 165ff., 190ff.). On the west the mountains
slope off into the hill country, which joins the plain of Sharon, with its invariable
fertility. "The soil here is a black clay soil of unfathomable depth, which is nearly all
ploughed, and is of such unusual fertility that a cultivated plain here might furnish an
almost unparalleled granary for the whole land. Interminable fields full of wheat and
barley with their waving ears, which were very nearly ripe, with here and there a field
of millet, that was already being diligently reaped by the peasants, presented a
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