Joshua 16:1 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

JOSHUA CHAPTER 16 The general borders of the sons of Joseph, Joshua 16:1-4. The borders of Ephraim, Joshua 16:5-9. Some of the Canaanites not expelled, but made tributary, Joshua 16:10. Of Joseph, i.e. of Ephraim, and the half tribe of Manasseh, which are here put together in one; not because they had but one lot, for Ephraim had one here, Joshua 16:5, and Manasseh another, Joshua 17:1; but because in these first verses he speaks of them in common, and of the south border, which seems to be the same, either wholly or in a great part; and then he comes to the particular description of their several portions. It is here further remarkable, that God so disposed of these lots, that they came forth in decent and due order; Judah's first, to whom the sovereignty was promised; and then Joseph s, who succeeded Reuben in the other privilege of the birth-right, the double portion, 1 Chronicles 5:1,2. The water of Jericho; of which see 2 Kings 2:19-22. The wilderness that goeth up from Jericho; the wilderness of Beth-aven, as appears by comparing Joshua 18:12, which speaks of the very same border which was on the south of Ephraim, and on the north of Benjamin.