Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 17:15
And Joshua answered them, If thou [be] a great people, [then] get thee up to the wood [country], and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee.
15. And Joshua answered them ] They expected of their fellow-tribesman a better guardianship of their interests.
If thou be a great people ] There is a kind of delicate irony in Joshua’s reply. “Yes, it is true that thou art a numerous people, and hast great strength, and oughtest to have more than one share. But if thou wouldest have it, procure it for thyself! Rely on thine own power and resources!”
get thee up to the wood country ] i.e. the forest of the “mountain of Ephraim.” This was a district, which extended as far south as Ramah and Bethel ( 1Sa 1:1 ; 1Sa 7:17; 2Ch 13:19). It is an elevated district of limestone, consisting of rounded hills separated by valleys of denudation, but much less regular and monotonous than that part more to the south, about and below Jerusalem; with wide plains in the heart of the mountains, streams of running water, and continuous tracts of vegetation. That the “mount” was then covered with woods is clear from 1Sa 14:25; 2Sa 18:6, and even now travellers have found wooded heights, and forests of oak trees, between Carmel and the mountains of Samaria. To these mountain heights even the members of other tribes resorted for shelter and for power. “Ehud the Benjamite, when he armed his countrymen against Moab, ‘blew his trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim ’ (Jdg 3:27-28); Deborah, though, as it would seem, herself of the northern tribes, ‘dwelt between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim ’ (Jdg 4:5). Tola, of Issachar, judged Israel in Shamir, in Mount Ephraim (Jdg 10:1). Samuel, too, was of Ramathaim-zophim of Mount Ephraim.” Stanley, S. and P., p. 231. The name, “Mount Ephraim,” is applied here, in anticipation, to the mountain which afterward received it as a standing name, from the tribe of Ephraim, to which it was first assigned.
cut down for thyself ] “Cut down for thyself there,” says the great Captain, “in the land of the Perizzites (see above, Jos 3:10) and of the giants” or Rephaim (see above, ch. Jos 12:4), “if Mount Ephraim is too narrow.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Joshua was himself of the tribe of Ephraim, but far from supporting the demands of his kinsmen he reproves them, and calls upon them to make good their great words by corresponding deeds of valor. He bids them clear the country of its woods and thus make room for settling their people. The wood country means probably the range which runs along the northern border of Manasseh, and which connects the mountains of Gilboa with Carmel. Mount Ephraim, (a name perhaps used by anticipation) called the hill Jos 17:16, and the mountain of Israel Jos 11:16, is the eastern portion of the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh extending toward the Jordan. This was a hilly, though by no means barren, district.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. If thou be a great people] Joshua takes them at their own word; they said, Jos 17:14, that they were a great people; then said he, If thou be a great people or seeing thou art a great people, go to the wood country, and clear away for thyself. Joshua would not reverse the decision of the lot; but as there was much woodland country, he gave them permission to clear away as much of it as they found necessary to extend themselves as far as they pleased.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He retorts their own argument: Seeing thou art a great and numerous people, turn thy complaints into actions and valiant exploits, and enlarge thy borders by thy own hand, to which thou mayst confidently expect Gods assistance.
To the wood country; to the mountain, as it, is called, Jos 17:18, where among some towns there is much wood land, which thou mayst without much difficulty possess, and so get the more room.
Cut down, i.e. the wood, Jos 17:18, for thy own advantage and use; partly in building more cities and towns; and partly for preparing the land for the use of pasture and tillage.
The Perizzites; supposed to be a savage and brutish kind of people, that lived in woods and mountains.
Of the giants, who lived in caves and mountains, now especially when they were driven out of their cities.
If Mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee, or, seeing Mount Ephraim is too narrow for thee, as thou complainest, take to thyself the rest of that hilly and wood country. Mount Ephraim was a particular and eminent portion of the land, belonging to the tribe of Ephraim, as appears from Jos 19:50; 20:7; 21:21; Jdg 4:5. And this seems to be here mentioned synecdochically, for all the portion allotted to Ephraim and Manasseh, as appears from their complaint, which was not that this part, but that their whole portion, was too strait for them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. mount Ephraimcalled sohere by anticipation. The Gilboa range between Beth-shean and theplain of Jezreel is meant, anciently covered with an extensiveforest.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Joshua answered them,…. By retorting their own argument upon them:
if thou [be] a great people; which he does not deny, as they were for numbers and power:
[then] get thee up to the wood [country]; which was near them, and within their borders, and lay on hills and mountains, perhaps the mountains of Gilboa, and therefore are bid to go up:
and cut down for thyself there; cut down the trees of the wood, clear the ground of them, and so make it habitable, and by that means enlarge the places of their habitation:
in the land of the Perizzites, and of the giants; or Rephaim; the former of these were one of the seven nations of the Canaanites, who from their name seem to have dwelt not in the cities, and walled towns, but in villages, and scattered houses, in desert places, and among the woods, where also the giants had retired and dwelt after Joshua had driven them out of the cities; and by driving these out of their present habitations, they would gain more room to dwell in, and would find their lot sufficient for them:
if Mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee; either meaning all Ephraim, and even the whole lot of the sons of Joseph, or rattler the mount particularly so called; for the words may be rendered, “for Mount Ephraim hastens for thee” q; was clear or open for thee; ready to be delivered to thee, and thou mayest possess it at once.
q Vid Gusset. Ebr. Comment, p. 21.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
15. If thou be a great people Here is notable irony, but no “mockery,” as Ewald assumes. The great captain could wield cutting sarcasm as well as deadly weapons. It is the best medicine for conceit and self-adulation. Joshua, in his management of this matter, shows great breadth of view and freedom from partisan bias. His own tribe shall receive no more than even-handed justice had allotted. The wood is either the region of Mount Gilboa, west of Beth-shean, or that between Shechem and Carmel. [The ancient forests, which thickly covered these mountains and hills, are referred to in 1Sa 14:25 ; 2Sa 18:6. Ewald understands the wood metaphorically of the multitude of tall Perizzites and giants, whom these brave Josephites are counselled to cut down.]
And cut down Either the forests, or the gigantic foemen who have possession of them, or both. Enlarge your territories for yourselves by your bravery, and thus show that ye are really a great people.
Giants Rephaim. See on Jos 12:4.
Mount Ephraim This complaint of the Josephites was probably not made immediately after the allotment, but some time later, when the mountainous tract of Ephraim had become commonly designated by the name of this tribe.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And Joshua said to them, “If you are a great people, get yourselves up to the forest and clear land for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and of the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.” ’
If Joshua had emphasised the size of their territory and their extra portion in Transjordan he would have engendered perpetual jealousy among the other tribes. But wisely he desisted. Instead he took up their own claim to be a great people. As they were a great people let them clear land in ‘the forest’ where they only had to deal with village dwellers (Perizzites) and the Rephaim, thus making more land for themselves, land which had possibly not been included in the divisions.
The Perizzites were village dwellers. The Rephaim were a very tall people who engendered awe, but were in fact not on the whole very good fighters (Gen 14:5; Deu 2:11; Deu 2:19-21). They had been driven out by the Moabites and Ammonites and possibly haunted the forests, flitting with their long thin forms between the trees. Indeed it may be that the later use of the word of spirits and ghosts (Psa 88:10-11; Pro 2:18; Pro 9:18; Pro 21:16; Job 26:5; Isa 14:9; Isa 26:14; Isa 26:19) was in Joshua’s mind, a contemptuous ‘village dwellers and ghosts’. In Phoenician tomb inscriptions rp’m was used in the sense of ghosts.
“The forest” was possibly a word that covered large swathes of forests just as ‘the mountain’ meant the whole of the hill country. What he was pointing out was that there was much forest land on mountains that could be cleared. It might also refer to the wooded highlands on the east of Jordan next to Manasseh’s territory there. That would certainly be something they had to climb to (from the Jordan valley). This would then be a discreet reminder of what they had been given in Gilead and Bashan. Verse 18 refers the forest to ‘hill country’. Both sides of the Jordan may in fact be in mind.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Ver. 15. And Joshua answered them, If thou be a great people, &c. Joshua was not a man calculated to sacrifice his duty to the caprice of the people of his own tribe, and to abuse the authority deposited with him, in order to gratify their inclinations. He answers them, that the will of God, as specified by lot, was to be the rule of his conduct, and ought to be of their desires; and that indeed the very thing they urged, namely, their being so many in number, gave them the means of settling themselves at large, by felling down the thick forests of the country, and driving the Perizzites and the Rephaims from their residence there; and thus by their valour enlarging the portion which had fallen to them, if they were not content with mount Ephraim, and the fine country about it.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jos 17:15 And Joshua answered them, If thou [be] a great people, [then] get thee up to the wood [country], and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee.
Ver. 15. If thou be a great people. ] Thus he retorteth their arguments upon themselves, that if they were so numerous, they were the better able to enlarge their borders by their own endeavours, though it might be to their pains and peril.
Get thee up to the wood.
If mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
giants
Or, Rephaims.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
If thou be: Luk 12:48
the Perizzites: Gen 13:7, Exo 33:2, Ezr 9:1
giants: or, Rephaims, Gen 14:5, Gen 15:20, 2Sa 5:18, 2Sa 5:22
Reciprocal: Jos 17:18 – the mountain Jdg 3:27 – mountain Jdg 18:2 – mount 2Sa 18:6 – wood of Ephraim 2Ch 19:4 – mount Jer 4:15 – mount Ephraim Jer 50:19 – mount
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jos 17:15. If thou be a great people Though Joshua was of their tribe he would not humour them, or abuse his authority to gratify their inclinations; but retorts their own argument: seeing thou art a great and numerous people, turn thy complaints into action, and enlarge thy borders by thy own hand, for which thou mayest confidently expect Gods assistance. The wood country To the mountain, as it is called, (Jos 17:17,) where among some towns there is much wood-land, which thou mayest without much difficulty possess, and so get the more room. And cut down The wood, for thy own advantage, in building more cities and towns, and preparing the land for pasture and tillage. The Perizzites Supposed to be a savage and brutish kind of people, that lived in woods and mountains. Giants Who lived in caves and mountains, now especially when they were driven out of their cities. If mount Ephraim Or, seeing mount Ephraim is too narrow for thee, as thou complainest; take to thyself the rest of that hilly and wood country. Mount Ephraim was a particular portion of the land, belonging to the tribe of Ephraim. And this seems to be here mentioned, for all the portion allotted to Ephraim and Manasseh, as appears from their complaint, which was not, that this part, but that their whole portion was too strait for them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
17:15 And Joshua answered them, If thou [be] a great people, [then] get thee up to the wood [country], and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, {i} if mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee.
(i) If this mount is not large enough, why do you not get more by destroying God’s enemies, as he has commanded.