What should we learn from the tribe of Manasseh?

So following up this naturally, in Joshua 17 we have a lot for Manasseh, the first-born son of Joseph, and once more the case of the daughters of Zelophehad among the rest. Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of their cities, but the Canaanites willed to dwell in that land. (Ver. 12) Had Manasseh looked to God the obstinacy of the Canaanites would have proved a slight defence. "And it came to pass, when the Israelites were waxing strong, they put the Canaanites to tribute; but did not utterly drive them out." They suited their own convenience, without care for the word of the Lord. The unfaithful are apt to complain, as the children of Joseph did to Joshua, as we learn from verse 14: "Why hast thou given me one lot and one portion to inherit, seeing I am a great people, forasmuch as Jehovah has blessed me hitherto?" Joshua answered them on their own ground. If a great people, why not get up to the wood, and cut down for themselves? On their rejoining that the hill was not enough, and all the Canaanites of the valleys had chariots of iron, Joshua repeats his word to Ephraim and Manasseh: "Thou art a great people, and hast great power: thou shalt not have one lot only: but the mountain shall be thine." He does not swerve from nor add to his former decision; still less would he humour their vaunting pusillanimity or their sluggishness.

Joshua 17:7-13. The cities of Manasseh are next enumerated, and once more the refrain is heard, "Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities … did not utterly drive them out" (vers. 12, 13). "Yet it came to pass when the children of Israel were waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute." Their strength exposed the secret of their inability, they "could not," because they "would not" drive them out; they preferred to make a gain of these heathen rather than obey God; and so it happened that, after a time, Israel learned all the abominations of the Canaanites, and served them as a punishment for their sins. The shortsighted principle of making terms with the enemy, in disobedience to God, ended in the tributaries becoming thorns in their eyes and pricks in their sides, and at last their masters. When faith in God, with its arduous life, is exchanged for compromise with evil and for a course of self-seeking, the reaping day will discover, by its sorrowful fruits, the bitterness of departing from God.

Many, alas! were the cities which Manasseh did not dispossess (v. 27, 28). Observe the word:"The Canaanites would dwell in that land." The world has more power over a Christian in a low state than the Word and promises of God. It is true that "when Israel was strong, they put the Canaanites to tribute;" but that was ruling, not driving out. Christendom, grown rich and powerful, did the same with regard to paganism. It may have been permitted by God in His providential ways, that it should be so, but it was not faith.

(1) Manasseh heads the tribes on this accusing list; significantly enough if we remember that Manasseh stands for progress, the forgetting what is behind and pressing on. Yet he has a record of five cities left to the Canaanite with depending villages, and that when he had the power also to drive them out. How could the loss of energy be more plainly shown?

Other children of Manasseh are listed in verse 2 as being given territory in the bounds of the tribe. But more than that, five daughters of one man, Zelophehad, were given the inheritance that would have been the possession of their father if he had not died before. The daughters had been promised this by Moses (Num.27:1-11), and now in boldness of faith they claim the inheritance (vs.3-4). Certainly also, believing women are as fully entitled to a spiritual inheritance in heavenly places as are men. This blessing for them is wonderful, though of course it does not do away with God's governmental order as to the relative place and responsibilities of the man and the woman in the assembly or in public testimony. In this there are distinctions that must always be maintained.

Verse 5 speak of ten shares taken by Manasseh on the west side of Jordan, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan on the east. Thus, verse 1 refers to the east side of Jordan and verses 2-4 the west side. The daughters of Zelophehad received their inheritance among the sons mentioned in verse 2, and the rest of Manasseh's sons had the land of Gilead.

Manasseh had a relatively large possession, its border on the south adjoining Ephraim, the Mediterranean Sea being its west border and the river Jordan the east, though Issachar was on its north-east border, and Asher on the north (v.10).

A number of towns are mentioned in verse 11 which were in the territory given to Manasseh and Issachar, but Manasseh could not drive out the Canaanites who lived there. When Manasseh was strong enough, they put these Canaanites under forced labor, but did not drive them out (vs.12-13). Sadly, the territory of the church today is still compromised by the presence of people and principles that are not consistent with the pure truth of God.

(b) We have now Manasseh's borders, only on one side really defined, and that the south, where Ephraim's line has already been traced. Yet this is repeated with variations from the former account, not surely a mere supplement on account of imperfection in the first, but something very different from this, and proving how little geography is in question. On the north there is no line given at all, simply the statement that it touched Asher on the north, and Issachar on the east, and that Manasseh had cities in both, which looks as if the undetermined line were left for progress, — of which Manasseh is surely the expression. On the south he too yields to Ephraim, expansion being the rule for the people of God. Had they been only faithful, their borders on all sides would have been similarly pushed out. God desired for them growth: they chose, alas, contraction.

Joshua 17:14-18. Having given in all its vividness the secret of their failure, the inspired historian next presents the pretension of the children of Joseph. In them the old man-of-war energy was supplanted by inflation, due to historic memories. The faith in God, which, while making a man nothing in his own eyes makes him great in his deeds, was exchanged for the "I-am-a-great-people" doctrine! "Why hast thou given me but one lot and one portion to inherit, seeing I am a great people, forasmuch as the Lord has blessed me hitherto." Regarded numerically the Josephites are a "great people" in our own times. We meet with them everywhere. They boast of the holiness and faith of their fathers, or even of their own faith in the bygone "old times"; ancient victories, and a good old history are inscribed upon their banners, and, indeed, so grand and great are they, that their Mount Ephraim "is too narrow for" them. Surely they should be accredited, because of what their fathers and their founders were! But the past is passed, and the assumption of present greatness because of bygone victories, but a bubble. Faith in God is faith in the living God, and faith in God means living this day in overcoming power in His Name. "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." "Up, O great people! and prove your words by your deeds; get ye up, O proud boasters in your fathers' faith and deeds, and prove this day your own faith, by deeds of hardship and of courage! Cut down the woods, and cultivate the wastes for God; cut down the giants, and free the land from His enemies. Visit the sick, the dying; preach the gospel to the enemies of God; awake from vainglorious dreaming, and arise to the reality of hardship for the Lord. Behold the most difficult places: let them be your points of attack, and cut down for yourself there! Look to yourselves, to your own ways, be no more men of words, but men of deeds for God."

Half of the tribe of Manasseh had their inheritance on the other side of Jordan, having joined themselves to Reuben and Gad. The rest of Manasseh are now named according to their families. These are: Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher and Shemida, The son of Hepher, Zelophehad, had no sons (see Numbers 27:1-11); the names of the five daughters are given here again. They claim now the inheritance which the Lord had given to them. They, too, exhibit the courage of faith. May we also claim in faith that inheritance which belongs to us through the grace of God.

The complaint of the children of Joseph shows dissatisfaction with their lot; it was selfishness. Joshua takes them by their word. His answer reminds us of the divine command given in chapter 13. "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses." Yonder were the stately forests, the wooded hills and mountains, inhabited still by the Perizzites and the giants. All they needed to do was to go there and drive them out and they would possess a larger portion. But this answer but brings out their unbelief and failure. They plead weakness; it was nothing less than unbelief, for they looked to the iron chariots the Canaanites possessed, instead of looking to the Lord and trusting His power. They refused to meet the enemy and have their borders enlarged under these conditions. What a contrast with bold and humble Caleb! And yet Joshua encourages them. He urges them to go forward and possess the forest and cut it down. It was his challenge to their faith. Faith does not reckon with chariots, with difficulties.

(c) We may pass, then, to Manasseh: and here how exquisitely suited is it that Manasseh, the one "forgetful" of things behind, and of Manasseh just the children of Machir, "he who recollects" (of course, that to which he is pressing on), should have the kingdom of Og in Bashan put into their hands! For the things of the world can only be rightly used by him who is pressing on to another; and this is the only one of the tribes found on the east side of Jordan that in fact inherits on both sides of the river. Is it not this that we are reminded of in that strange beginning of the second section, so connected with the first: "With him the Reubenite and the Gadite received their inheritance," where "with him" is with Manasseh, to whom with the other nine tribes Joshua has just been commanded to distribute the land west of Jordan? Reuben and Gad are on the east side, yet with Manasseh, who is both east and west. The oneness of the tribe is "thus emphasized, spite of this: and thus indeed Manasseh approaches nearer the final division in the yet coming day, when each tribe receives its inheritance on both sides, the boundary lines running east and west across the river. Whatever, then, Manasseh's personal failure in all this, it seems clear that we are not to regard it here, but to see in him the competence to use the world as having the heart in heaven.

(3) We have now Manasseh's portion in the land: that across Jordan has been already given. He is here in some sense realizing that for which he "forgets" elsewhere. The number of the section may intimate this.

(a) The heirs are numbered first, and this is the case with no other of the tribes. Is it that the personal state is more before us, — the man himself as distinguished from his inheritance? The family of Machir have their inheritance already the other side of Jordan: six other, all spring originally from Machir, but are reckoned as Gileadites instead of Machirites. (See Num. 26.) Thus in different ways Machir and Gilead cover the whole territory of Manasseh. It is Machir the family that seems to be the "first-born of Manasseh," as the individual Machir is the father of the whole; and Keil takes "father of Gilead" here as equivalent to ruler of the land of Gilead. This interlacing of names must have its reason, and should help us to see that names count for something throughout the history. Even the women of Manasseh show the courage of faith, and gain an inheritance with their brethren. Their story is repeated here, to their praise. We do well to covet the portion God has given us. There is abundance for all, and to enjoy it to the full will only enrich and not impoverish others. Manasseh gains thus ten portions: for the single portion of Zelophehad swells into five through the inheritance of his daughters. "Covet earnestly the best gifts."