Joshua 17:16

16 And the descendants of Joseph said, "The hill country is not enough for us, and all of the Canaanites living in the land of the valley [have] chariots of iron, those in Beth-shean and its villages, and those in the Jezreel Valley."

Joshua 17:16 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 17:16

And the children of Joseph said, the hill is not enough for
us
Meaning either Mount Ephraim, and all included in it; or it may be rather the wood country on the hills and mountains they were bid to go up to; signifying, that if they could gain that out of the hands of the Perizzites and giants, and clear it of the wood, and make it habitable, even that would not be sufficient for them; or that hill and mountain cannot be "found by us" F18 or obtained and possessed by us; we are not able to get it into our hands; there being a valley between us and that:

and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have
chariots of iron;
not chariots made of iron, but chariots with iron scythes fastened to the sides, or axle trees of them, which when driven with great force and fury, would cut down the infantry in battle, as grass is cut down with scythes, see ( Judges 4:2 Judges 4:3 ) ;

[both they] who [are] of Bethshean and her towns, and [they] who [are]
of the valley of Jezreel;
both which belonged to the tribe of Manasseh, or were on the borders of it, though as yet they had not got possession, see ( Joshua 17:11 ) ; and this circumstance seems to favour the notion, that tribe of Manasseh were at least chiefly concerned in this address.


FOOTNOTES:

F18 (wnl aumy al) "non invenietur nobis", Montanus; "non possumus montem istum assequi", Tigurine version; "non obtinebitur a nobis", Masius.

Joshua 17:16 In-Context

14 The descendants of Joseph spoke with Joshua, saying, "Why have you given us one allotment and one share [as] an inheritance? We are many people, which Yahweh has blessed."
15 And Joshua said to them, "If you [are] many people, go up to the forest and clear [a place] there for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is [too] narrow for you."
16 And the descendants of Joseph said, "The hill country is not enough for us, and all of the Canaanites living in the land of the valley [have] chariots of iron, those in Beth-shean and its villages, and those in the Jezreel Valley."
17 And Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, "You are many people and have great power; you will not have one allotment [only];
18 [the] hill country will be yours. Even though it [is] a forest, you will clear it, and it will be yours [to] its farthest borders. You will drive out the Canaanites, even though they have iron chariots and [are] strong."

Footnotes 3

Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.