Joshua 17:14-18

Complaint of the Children of Joseph

14. And the children of Joseph The descendants of Joseph, i.e. the patriarchs of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, were not satisfied with the portion which Joshua had assigned them. The preponderating tribe from the earliest times, and since the Egyptian period the dominant one, they did not deem it sufficient that they had been divided into two, and so obtained a double voice in the national assembly, they claimed more than "one lot and one portion to inherit."

seeing I am a great people At the census in the wilderness of Sinai (Numbers 1:32-33; Numbers 2:19) the numbers of Ephraim were 40,500, which placed it at the head of the children of Rachel. The number of Manasseh was 32,200. But forty years later, on the eve of the conquest, while Ephraim had decreased to 32,500, Manasseh had advanced to 52,700. How much they subsequently increased, we can form some estimate by comparing the number of warriors they sent to the coronation of David at Hebron.

forasmuch as the Lord hath blessed me hitherto Comp. the words of the dying Jacob, "And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh; and he set Ephraim before Manasseh" (Genesis 48:20); and again (Genesis 49:25-26; with which comp. Deuteronomy 33:13-17),

"The Almighty, who shall blessthee

With blessingsof heaven above,

Blessingsof the deep that lieth under,

Blessingsof the breasts, and of the womb;

The blessingsof thy father have prevailed above the blessingsof my progenitors

Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills:

They shall be on the head of Joseph,

And on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren."