Joshua 17:1-18.  Today we see the rest of the allotment for Manasseh, Joseph’s other son.  Manasseh had already received land on the east side of the Jordan River.  As the Israelites had approached the promised land several years earlier the kings on the east side of the river made war with them.  After the Israelites defeated those kings two of the tribes, Gad and Reuben, asked for land on the east side of the river.  They had a lot of livestock and realized that the land on that side of the river was good pastureland.  Moses granted them the land and also gave land to a part of Manasseh’s tribe (Numbers 31-32).  According to today’s reading the particular family from Manasseh that received the land to the east was a guy named Machir and he received it because he was a noted warrior (v. 1).

The reading continues by telling us that the other part of Manasseh received their “lot” on the west side.  Then there is a funny note, “theses were the male descendants of Manasseh”.  To the original readers this ma have made them take notice.  In ancient times land was passed on thorugh the male members of a family.  So this statement in verse 2 would be unnecessary.  But there is a history here.  If you notice the end of verse 2 tells us that the land was handed out according to families.  In Numbers 27 we find out that one of the families, Zelophehad’s, didn’t have any male descendants.  So the daughters approached Moses and appealed to him for a portion of the inheritance in their father’s name. .  If you read the story in Numbers 27 you would have noticed that the daughters said their father did not die because of a sin ”like Korah’s”.  Korah was a guy who lead a rebellion against Moses and Aaron.  He did not like the fact that God had chosen Moses and Aaron to be “go betweens” between Him and the Israelites.  Korah wanted to walk up to God on his own.  When he and some others made personal offering to God they were destroyed, taken to the grave alive, swallowed up by an earthquake.  Korah had not shown proper respect for God’s purity or holiness.  The daughters of Zelophehad told Moses that their father had died in the wilderness as a normal member of the group that he was not like Korah.  Moses talked to God about it and the answer was that they should be included.

The rest of today’s reading gives details of the allotment for Manasseh on the west side of the Jordan River.  There are a couple of interesting additions to the story though.  Notice that the allotment lists towns and their inhabitants.  The inhabitants should have all been killed and from earlier descriptions of the taking of the land they were.  As in yesterday’s story some people must have come back in while the Israelites were dividing up the land.  Verse 12 makes it clear that these people were Canaanites.  This is a typical Hebrew way of telling a story. That information is like a movie or television preview, just enough information to get your interest.  Next the men of Manasseh went to Joshua and basically made up a story, “Hey we are a big tribe and need more land.”  So Joshua told them if they needed more land to take the forestland, where the Rephaim lived.  Rephaim were a physically large and powerful group of people, actual giants (Deuteronomy 2:10-11).  Again they complained, “the hill country was not enough” (that is the forest land), but then they got to the real problem, the inhabitants of the land they were to take had iron chariots.  Back when we went through Judges (a time period after Joshua) theses guys with iron chariots were still a problem but when the people put the problem into God’s hands they were able to defeat the Canaanites (Judges 4).  Joshua agreed with them that they were a big tribe and repeated that the extra land they needed would be the hill country.  They would need to drive out the Canaanites.

There are a couple of lessons we can learn from today’s reading.  Instead of focusing on God who had promised to give them the victory the men of Manasseh were focusing on the enemy.  They kept making excuses.  We do the same thing.  We need to keep our eyes on god and do what he tells us to do, we need to let him worry about how to deal with the giants, and he can.  The other thing that is really revolutionary about this story is the inclusion of the women in the inheritance.  Over the years many people have criticized the Bible as being too male oriented.  Certainly God created men and women differently and we have certain roles in our lives.  Men cannot have babies after all and generally speaking women are not as physically strong as men.  There are other differences too.  The point is that women are not second-class in God’s eyes, they are equal to men as people.  The way Zelophehad’s daughters were treated was completely against most of the cultures of the time (and still is against much of the world’s cultures today).  God clearly respects women and sees them as equals to men as persons (Galatians 3:28). God respected Zelophehad’s daughters and made sure they were provided for.  We need to respect all people as the precious creation of God and protect their basic human rights.  Lord help me not be overcome with fear of giant in my life, whether the giants are real or parts of my culture.  Help me keep my eyes on you and trust in your power and willingness to use it.  Help me see others through your eyes.  Give me strength and courage to live the life you want me to live.