Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Joshua
Chapter 16: The Inheritance of Joseph
The children of Joseph, through Ephraim and Manasseh, receive their inheritance in the heart of the land, the double portion of the birthright. Their borders are drawn from the Jordan to the sea. But the chapter closes on the same troubling note that shadowed Judah: 'they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer... and serve under tribute.' Rather than drive out the enemy as God commanded, Ephraim let them stay and profited from their labor, a compromise that would prove costly. Here is a warning against making peace with what God has said to remove, even when it seems to pay.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Joshua chapter 16. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Here the children of Joseph receive their inheritance, and the chapter closes with Ephraim putting the Canaanites of Gezer to tribute rather than driving them out. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
The Double Portion
Ephraim and Manasseh, the two tribes of the birthright.
A Fruitful Bough
The border of Ephraim drawn in the central hill country.
Not Driven Out
The Canaanites are left in the land, put to tribute.
Compromise for Gain
Profiting from what God said to remove is a snare.
The Children of Joseph Took Their Inheritance (Joshua 16:1-4)
The lot of the children of Joseph is drawn from the Jordan by Jericho to the sea, and Manasseh and Ephraim take their inheritance.
Manasseh and Ephraim
"And the lot of the children of Joseph fell from Jordan by Jericho, unto the water of Jericho on the east, to the wilderness that goeth up from Jericho throughout mount Bethel, And goeth out from Bethel to Luz, and passeth along unto the borders of Archi to Ataroth, And goeth down westward to the coast of Japhleti, unto the coast of Bethhoron the nether, and to Gezer: and the goings out thereof are at the sea. So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance."
Word Study
"Joseph," Hebrew Yoseph (יוֹסֵף), "he will add." The children of Joseph receive their inheritance not as one tribe but as two, Ephraim and Manasseh, "the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance." This is the double portion of the birthright. Reuben, the natural firstborn, forfeited his birthright by sin, "he defiled his father's bed" (1 Chronicles 5:1), and the birthright, which included a double share of the inheritance, was given to Joseph: "the birthright was Joseph's." So Joseph, though not the firstborn, received the firstborn's double portion, and his two sons each became a tribe with a full inheritance. Joseph's name means "he will add," for at his birth Rachel said, "The LORD shall add to me another son" (Genesis 30:24), and God indeed added to him, making the once-rejected, once-enslaved son into a double inheritance among the tribes. There is grace in this. Joseph had been hated by his brothers, sold into slavery, imprisoned unjustly, yet God exalted him and gave his sons the double portion of the birthright. The one the world cast down, God lifted up, "God meant it unto good" (Genesis 50:20). And Jacob, blessing Joseph, called him "a fruitful bough... whose branches run over the wall" (Genesis 49:22), and the name Ephraim itself means "fruitful" (Genesis 41:52), for God made Joseph fruitful in the land of his affliction. So Joseph's double inheritance preaches the way of God with the humbled and the faithful: the rejected are exalted, the afflicted are made fruitful, and God adds His blessing to those who trust Him through suffering. What men meant for evil, God turns to a double portion of good.
Explanation
The children of Joseph receive their portion not as one tribe but as two — Ephraim and Manasseh — because Joseph was granted the double portion of the firstborn. Reuben, the actual firstborn, forfeited that right by his sin, and "his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph" (1 Chronicles 5:1-2). So the son sold into Egypt, who once seemed cut off from the family, ends up with a double share in the promised land — his name living on in two tribes. God's providence had turned the deepest wrong into a doubled blessing.
Gospel Focus
The inheritance of Joseph is recorded next after Judah, and rightly so, for Joseph, like Judah, held a place of special honor among the tribes. Judah received the royal birthright, the sceptre; Joseph received the double portion, two tribes from one father. Together they picture the two great lines of blessing in Israel, and both ultimately point to Christ, who is both the King from Judah and, in a sense, the true Joseph, the beloved son rejected by His brethren, humbled, and exalted to save many alive. The careful drawing of Joseph's borders, "from Jordan by Jericho... unto the sea," again shows God's faithful precision in giving His people their inheritance. And the double portion reminds us of the grace that lifts the lowly: Joseph, who had suffered so much, was given so much. For the Apostolic reader this is quiet encouragement. God remembers the faithful who suffer; He turns rejection into exaltation and affliction into fruitfulness. The one his brothers threw into a pit became the savior of his family and the father of a double portion. And this is the pattern of the gospel, for our Lord Jesus, rejected and crucified, was raised and exalted, and through His humiliation many are saved. Those who follow Him through suffering share His inheritance; the way down, in God's hands, becomes the way up to a double portion of grace.
They Drave Not Out the Canaanites (Joshua 16:5-10)
Ephraim's border is drawn, but the chapter closes with a compromise: the Canaanites of Gezer were not driven out, but left in the land and put to tribute.
The Canaanites Dwell Among the Ephraimites
"And the border of the children of Ephraim according to their families was thus: even the border of their inheritance on the east side was Atarothaddar, unto Bethhoron the upper; And the border went out toward the sea to Michmethah on the north side; and the border went about eastward unto Taanathshiloh, and passed by it on the east to Janohah; And it went down from Janohah to Ataroth, and to Naarath, and came to Jericho, and went out at Jordan. The border went out from Tappuah westward unto the river Kanah; and the goings out thereof were at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim by their families. And the separate cities for the children of Ephraim were among the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages. And they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under tribute."
Word Study
"tribute," Hebrew mas (מַס), forced labor or tribute. The word means a levy of forced labor, a tributary service. "They drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under tribute (mas)." Here is a subtler failure than Judah's at Jerusalem. Judah "could not" drive out the Jebusites (15:63); but Ephraim's failure looks like a shrewd arrangement: rather than drive out the Canaanites, they let them stay and put them to forced labor. It seemed to pay. Why destroy a workforce when you can profit from it? But God had not said to tax the Canaanites; He had said to drive them out, "thou shalt utterly overthrow them" (Exodus 23:24), "That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods" (Deuteronomy 20:18). By keeping the Canaanites for gain, Ephraim disobeyed God's command and left the corrupting influence in the land. This is compromise dressed as pragmatism, tolerating what God said to remove because it seems advantageous. And such compromise always costs more than it pays: the Canaanites who served under tribute in Joshua's day became snares and idol-teachers in the days of the Judges (Judges 1:29; 2:1-3), and Ephraim's spiritual decline was bound up with their tolerance of the very people God said to remove. So mas preaches a searching warning. We are tempted to make peace with a sin, a habit, a worldly alliance, because it seems useful or profitable, to put it "under tribute" rather than drive it out. But what God has commanded us to remove, no profit can justify keeping. The compromise that pays today becomes the snare that ruins tomorrow. Better to drive out fully what God condemns than to tax it for gain.
Explanation
Ephraim is given a good and fruitful heartland, but the chapter ends, as several do here, on a note of compromise: "they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer... but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under tribute." Rather than obey the command to dispossess them, Ephraim found a practical arrangement — forced labor instead of removal. It looked like a shrewd bargain, but it left pagan idolatry embedded in the tribe, and the "practical" tolerance of what God said to remove became, in time, a snare.
Gospel Focus
Ephraim's inheritance is carefully bounded, a good and fruitful portion in the heart of the land. But the chapter, like the last, ends on a note of failure, and this one is instructive because it is so reasonable-sounding: "they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer... and serve under tribute." Ephraim did not fail for lack of ability, as Judah seemed to at Jerusalem; they made a deliberate arrangement. They kept the Canaanites and profited from their forced labor. On the surface it looks like wisdom, why destroy a source of income? But it was disobedience, for God had said to drive them out, and the reason He gave was spiritual: the Canaanites' presence would corrupt Israel with idolatry. By putting them to tribute, Ephraim chose short-term gain over long-term obedience, and left the very influence in the land that God had warned would ruin them. And history proved the warning true; the toleration became a snare. For the Apostolic reader this is one of the most practical lessons of the conquest. The deadliest compromises are often the ones that seem to pay. We are tempted to keep a besetting sin because it serves us, to maintain a worldly alliance because it profits us, to leave a corner of the flesh unconquered because driving it out feels costly or wasteful. We tell ourselves we have it "under tribute", managed, contained, useful. But what God commands us to remove, we must remove; no gain justifies keeping what He has condemned. The Canaanite we tax today is the idol-teacher who ensnares us tomorrow. So we refuse the compromise that pays. We drive out fully, in God's strength, all that He has said to remove, counting obedience better than gain, for the sin we spare will not stay servile, but will rise to enslave us. Better a poorer, cleaner inheritance than a rich one shared with the enemy of our souls.
Chapter 16 in Review
Joshua 16 records the inheritance of the children of Joseph, "Manasseh and Ephraim," the double portion of the birthright, drawn from the Jordan to the sea in the heart of the land. Ephraim's border is carefully bounded. But the chapter closes with a compromise: "they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under tribute."
For the Apostolic reader this short chapter joins grace and warning. In Joseph's double portion we see the grace that lifts the lowly: the rejected, enslaved, and imprisoned son was exalted and given a double inheritance, "he will add," a picture of the God who turns rejection into exaltation and affliction into fruitfulness, and ultimately of Christ, the beloved Son rejected by His own yet raised to save many. But in Ephraim's arrangement at Gezer we see a subtle and dangerous compromise. They did not drive out the Canaanites as God commanded, but kept them for profit, putting them "under tribute." It looked like wisdom; it was disobedience, and it left in the land the very corrupting influence God had said to remove. The compromise that seemed to pay became a snare. The lesson is searching: the deadliest compromises are often the ones that seem advantageous. We must not keep, for any gain, what God has told us to drive out, no besetting sin, no worldly alliance, no corner of the flesh, however useful it seems. What we tax today will enslave us tomorrow. So we take our inheritance with gratitude, we trust the God who exalts the humbled, and we refuse the profitable compromise, driving out fully all that God has condemned, counting obedience far better than gain.
- Joseph received the double portion of the birthright, two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh (16:4; 1 Chronicles 5:1-2).
- The rejected, afflicted Joseph was exalted and made fruitful, a picture of grace and of Christ (16:1-4).
- Ephraim "drave not out the Canaanites," but kept them for gain, "under tribute" (16:10).
- Compromise that seems to pay is still disobedience to God's command (16:10; Exodus 23:24).
- What God said to remove will corrupt if kept; the toleration became a snare (16:10; Judges 2:1-3).
- No gain justifies keeping what God has condemned (16:10).
Questions for Reflection
- How does Joseph's exaltation encourage you to trust God through rejection and affliction?
- Is there a sin or compromise you keep because it seems to "pay"?
- What have you put "under tribute" that God commanded you to drive out?
- Will you count obedience better than gain, and remove fully what God has condemned?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. The children of Joseph; the double portion; Joseph exalted: Joshua 16:1-4; Genesis 30:24; 41:52; 48:5, 22; 49:22-26; 50:20; 1 Chronicles 5:1-2. Ephraim's border; the Canaanites of Gezer not driven out: Joshua 16:5-10; Judges 1:29; Exodus 23:24, 32-33; Deuteronomy 20:16-18; Joshua 15:63. Compromise for gain becomes a snare: Joshua 16:10; Judges 2:1-3; 3:5-6; 2 Corinthians 6:14-17. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- Joseph's double portion of the birthright; the exaltation of the rejected: Joshua 16:1-4; 1 Chronicles 5:1-2; Genesis 50:20.
- Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites of Gezer: Joshua 16:5-10; Judges 1:29.
- Compromise for gain: keeping what God said to remove; "under tribute": Joshua 16:10; Exodus 23:24.
- Toleration becomes a snare and a corrupting influence: Judges 2:1-3; 2 Corinthians 6:14-17.