Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 16:4
So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.
Manasseh, i.e. half Manasseh, by a synecdoche. Their inheritance, i.e. their several portions which here follow. Some think that they had but one lot between them; and therefore they are now said
to take their inheritance, to wit, by dividing it between them according to the direction of Joshua and Eleazar, &c.; for that phrase being used of them, and not to my remembrance of any other tribes, may seem to have some peculiar signification, which doth not agree to the other tribes. But there being mention of a peculiar lot taken out for Manasseh, Jos 17:1, shows that their several inheritances fell to them, as the rest did to the other tribes, even by several lots; and it is said of them, that
they took their inheritance, which also Judah had done before them, because the tribes of Judah and Joseph did take their inheritances before the rest; and it was fit they should do so, for the security of the main camp, and the body of the people which were at Gilgal. See Jos 18:5.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance. As it fell to them by the lot; by Manasseh is meant the half tribe of Manasseh, one half of that tribe having been settled by Moses on the other side Jordan; and next follows an account of the borders of the inheritance of Ephraim in particular, as that of the half tribe of Manasseh is given in Jos 17:1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
‘ And the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.’
Having outlined the southern border of their inheritance we are told that the combined tribe ‘took their inheritance’. We are probably to understand by this their acceptance of their lot. First Judah received their lot, and now Joseph. Progress in dividing the land is now being made. Note that it is a joint inheritance which will now be expanded in detail. Manasseh is unusually named first, here specifically as the firstborn (Jos 17:1; Gen 48:1; Gen 48:13-14), stressing the inheritance aspect. But the thought may include that they began to take possession of what they could.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jos 16:4 So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.
Ver. 4. Manasseh and Ephraim took their inheritance. ] And it was a happiness to both that they lay together: but a shameful thing that afterwards it should be said, “Manasseh against Ephraim, and Ephraim against Manasseh; and they together against Judah.” Isa 9:21
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED TEXT): Jos 16:4-10
4The sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, received their inheritance. 5Now this was the territory of the sons of Ephraim according to their families: the border of their inheritance eastward was Ataroth-addar, as far as upper Beth-horon. 6Then the border went westward at Michmethath on the north, and the border turned about eastward to Taanath-shiloh and continued beyond it to the east of Janoah. 7It went down from Janoah to Ataroth and to Naarah, then reached Jericho and came out at the Jordan. 8From Tappuah the border continued westward to the brook of Kanah, and it ended at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim according to their families, 9together with the cities which were set apart for the sons of Ephraim in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages. 10But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites live in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and they became forced laborers.
Jos 16:4 the sons of Joseph Joseph had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, by his Egyptian wife. Jacob adopted these boys as his own and gave Joseph the double inheritance of the firstborn son.
Jos 16:6 Taanath-shiloh This (BDB 1061) is not the site of the tabernacle in Samuel’s day, but another city (so say Eusebius and Jerome).
Jos 16:10 This verse is meant to express the disobedience of these large tribes (cf. Num. 35:55; Jdg 1:27; Jdg 1:29-31; Jdg 1:33-34). This was the common experience of all the tribes (cf. Jos 17:13).
R. K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament, makes a good point about this verse.
If scholars had differentiated a little more closely in the past between occupation and subjugation, the picture of conquest as represented in Joshua would have emerged in far clearer focus than it did, and as a result there would have been no need to regard the initial narratives of Judges as historical at the expense of their counterparts in Joshua (p. 677).
This quote is footnoted to another source, G. F. Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges, pp. 7-8.
to this day This shows a later editor.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Jos 17:14
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jos 16:4. Manasseh That is, half Manasseh. Their inheritance Their several portions, which here follow. It is said, they took their inheritance, which also Judah had done before them, because the tribes of Judah and Joseph took possession of their inheritances before the rest; and it was fit they should do so, for the security of the main camp, and the body of the people, which were at Gilgal, Jos 18:5.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
16:4 So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, {c} took their inheritance.
(c) Severally, first Ephraim, and then Manasseh.