Study notes

Joshua 16

Introducing JoshuaWho wrote it, when, why, and what to look for as you read

13:1–21:45 Section

The land God promised to give Abraham’s family line was divided up among the Israelites. The book of Joshua records the land given to each tribe.

The tribes of Gad and Reuben received land east of the River Jordan. So did half of the tribe of Manasseh. The rest of the tribes received land west of the River Jordan.

Caleb received land in Hebron. The Levites received towns and grasslands throughout all the other tribes’ land. Their cities included the safe cities.

Keeping careful records about the land would help the Israelites in the future. The records would help each tribe know its borders so they wouldn’t fight about them. The records would show the tribes what land they were responsible for. The records also showed the exact ways God kept his promise to Abraham about land.

Many Canaanites still lived in the land given to the tribes. God promised that he would be the one to drive them out. But the Israelites were his partners and they would have to work hard. Joshua made this clear in his instructions to Joseph’s family line. The tribes had to clear the land and drive out the Canaanites. Not every tribe obeyed those instructions.

13:8–21:45

  • As he had promised, God brought Israel into the land. Joshua then focused on dividing the land among Israel's tribes.

  • The tribal allowances made the covenant of the Israelites with God real. It showed the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Since God owned the land, giving it to the tribes was a gift. God gave them the land to live in and guided its distribution.

  • In these lists of tribal allowances, the author describes some borders in great detail, allowing them to be mapped. With others, they are less plainly defined.

14:1–19:51

  • The allotment of land to the tribes on the west side of the Jordan describes what God intended for each tribe to possess.

  • The one narrating the story begins this section with Caleb receiving land and ends with Joshua receiving land (14:6–15; 19:49–51). Only Caleb and Joshua had shown faith in God that Israel could conquer the land (Numbers 13:30; 14:6–9).

16:1

The tribe of Benjamin received Jericho as their territory (18:21).

16:1–17:18

Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim (Genesis 41:50–52). Half of those descended from Manasseh received their inheritance east of the Jordan River. The tribe of Ephraim and the rest of Manasseh's tribe now received their land. This made the total number of land portions twelve, fulfilling Jacob's blessing to Joseph (Genesis 49:22–26). Like Judah in the south, Joseph’s tribes led from their central position in the north.

16:3

  • Ephraim's border went from Lower Beth-horon to upper Beth-horon. This gave this tribe control of one of the two main roads to Jerusalem from the west (see 16:5).

  • Gezer was a large and important town of Canaan at the meeting point of the coastal plain and the hill country. This apparently did not come into Israel's possession until the time of King Solomon (see Judges 1:29; 1 Kings 9:16).

16:5–8

This description of Ephraim’s northern boundary with Manasseh is general and incomplete. Because Shechem belonged to Manasseh, the border between the two tribes ran south of that town.

Verse notes: Adapted by Mission Mutual (Aquifer Open Study Notes) from Tyndale Open Study Notes © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. CC BY-SA 4.0. Section notes: Biblica Study Notes © 2023 Biblica, Inc. CC BY-SA 4.0, via BibleAquifer. About the sources