Joshua 16 is the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Joshua in the Hebrew Bible or in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the Joshua, with additions by the high priests Eleazar and Phinehas,[1] [2] but modern scholars view it as part of the Deuteronomistic History, which spans the books of Deuteronomy to 2 Kings, attributed to nationalistic and devotedly Yahwistic writers during the time of the reformer Judean king Josiah in 7th century BCE.[2] This chapter records the allotment of land for the tribe of Joseph, especially the tribe of Ephraim, a part of a section comprising Joshua 13:1–21:45 about the Israelites allotting the land of Canaan. 555√
This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 10 verses.
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008).
Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint (originally was made in the last few centuries BCE) include Codex Vaticanus (B;
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The narrative of Israelites allotting the land of Canaan comprising verses 13:1 to 21:45 of the Book of Joshua and has the following outline:
A. Preparations for Distributing the Land (13:1–14:15)
B. The Allotment for Judah (15:1–63)
C. The Allotment for Joseph (16:1–17:18)
1. Joseph's Allotment (16:1–4)
2. Ephraim's Inheritance (16:5–10)
3. Manasseh's Inheritance (17:1–13)
4. Additional Land for Joseph (17:14–18)
D. Land Distribution at Shiloh (18:1–19:51)
E. Levitical Distribution and Conclusion (20:1–21:45)
There are three key elements in the report of the allotments for the nine and a haf tribes in the land of Canaan as follows:
| Tribe | Boundary List | City List | Indigenous Population Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Judah | X | X | X | |
| Ephraim | X | X | ||
| Manasseh | X | X | ||
| Benjamin | X | X | ||
| Simeon | X | |||
| Zebulun | X | |||
| Issachar | X | |||
| Asher | X | |||
| Naphtali | X | X | ||
| Dan | X | X |
The tribe of Joseph is next to be allotted after Judah (cf. the space devoted to each tribe in Jacob's blessing, Genesis 49:8–12, 22–26) and with subdivision into Ephraim and Manasseh (Joshua 14:4), overall it covers a huge area of land in Canaan between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea from just north of the Dead Sea to Mount Carmel in the north-west, in addition to the Transjordan lands allotted the other half of Manasseh.The southern boundary (verses 1–3) borders Benjamin to the south (16:2–3 parallel 18:12–13), running from Jericho (converging with both Judah and Benjamin there) up towards Bethel, along the route from Jericho to Ai, going past the important military outpost of Gezer, with a view of the entry to the hill country from the plain.
Then going from Bethel to Luz, it passes along to Ataroth, the territory of the Archites.[3]
The boundary of Ephraim is defined in detail on its northern and eastern borders with Manasseh (6b–7), and verse 9 seems to indicate a complex definition of the borders between them.
However, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day but have been made to do forced labor.[4]