The half tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh are not allotted very much land for all of their people and there are Canaanites living in their part of Israel to boot. The Canaanites are only allowed to do forced labor there, which I guess must be good enough to fulfill the law against having treaties with the native people.
Joshua tells the tribes that they can have all the land they want up in the forested areas. They just have to drive out the people living there first. They gripe about it, but end up doing just that, even though the people living there have chariots and iron weapons. Why a people living in forested lands would invest a lot in chariots is an interesting question, but the half tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh seemed to regard them as powerful combatants so it must have worked out well for them.
The other tribes have still yet to clear out their lands completely either. Joshua orders the remaining land surveyed and he casts lots in the presence of the Lord to determine the lands allotted to the clans in the tribes left over.
No comments:
Post a Comment