‘ And the children of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me but one lot and one portion to inherit, seeing I am a great people forasmuch as Yahweh has blessed me up to now?” '
When the children of Joseph considered the portion that had been allotted to them they were aggrieved. They did not consider their portion large enough once it was taken into account that much of it was covered by forest and that other parts were controlled by people with chariots with iron accoutrements. They were pessimistic and unbelieving. They failed to see what God and hard work could do. We find later that Ephraim continually had this belligerent attitude in view of what they saw as the importance of their tribe (e.g. Judges 8:1; Judges 12:1). They were a prickly people.
Their show of piety, ‘YHWH has blessed me', hid an ungrateful heart. Their lot had been allocated by YHWH and it was therefore Him Whom they were blaming. They had no doubt sent out scouts to check up on what they were receiving, and their reports had seemingly made them dissatisfied. They had, of course at this stage no real knowledge of what others were receiving, apart possibly from some inkling of what Judah had received. They were simply angry at the size of the task given them and the sparsity of occupiable land in their large allotted area. They were in fact favourably treated.
Their anger was also very much caused by considering what they saw as unfair treatment (regardless of the facts about their allotment). They saw themselves as the equivalent of two tribes and yet only given ‘one lot and one portion'. This again stresses that this was written at a time when their separation as two tribes was still emerging. It had been officially and explicitly started by Moses (Numbers 1:10; Numbers 1:32-34) based on the realities of the situation and the need to maintain ‘twelveness' once Levi were separated off to Yahweh. And the size of their lot had taken it fully into account. (Indeed ‘one lot and one portion' may have been an admission that they had received extra with their portion in Transjordan).
This kind of incident serves to demonstrate the accuracy and reliability of the narrative. No one would later invent Ephraim's dissatisfaction expressed thus, or Manasseh's, and it arose precisely because they were in association with Joshua and with the other tribes, entering the land at the same time. And it would have been pointless had they not believed that Joshua could do something about it.
This incident reminds us of the difficult task Joshua was facing. He had twelve groups all looking suspiciously at what they were receiving and what others were receiving. Each probably thought their task the hardest, and many in the tribes would be begrudging what had been given to others. They had arrived expecting to find a land flowing with milk and honey and had instead found one full of forests and mountains and flowing with chariots.
To have openly given Ephraim and Manasseh two allotments would have caused great ill-feeling There was still too much of a sense among others that they were still one tribe of the twelve. Yet the use of the lot and the extra land in Transjordan had made it possible for them to receive a portion commensurate with their size, and within their allotment each had received separate allotments (we should note that Joshua was also involved in the divisions within the tribes (Joshua 17:4-5)). But inevitably in such a situation no one was really happy. They were all jealous of each other. And this was the situation Joshua had to deal with.
So when he replied he had to do so in such a way as to pacify Ephraim and Manasseh and at the same time not arouse resentment among the other tribes, especially as he himself was of the tribe of Ephraim (Numbers 13:8). Joshua revealed his quality and statesmanship by the nature of his reply. He wanted positively to encourage them into activity and he must not let the other tribes think that the tribe of Joseph were being favoured. And yet he must also not let the tribe of Joseph feel that they were being treated unfairly. It required great tact.