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Joshua 17

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1 And there was a lot for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. As for Machir, the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, because he was a man of war, he had Gilead and Bashan.

2 And there was a lot for the remaining sons of Manasseh according to their families; for the sons of Abiezer, and for the sons of Helek, and for the sons of Ashriel, and for the sons of Shechem, and for the sons of Hepher, and for the sons of Shemida; these are the sons of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, the males according to their families.

3 And Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but daughters, and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah.

4 And they came·​·near before Eleazar the priest, and before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the chiefs, saying, Jehovah commanded Moses to give us an inheritance in the midst of our brothers; and he gave them at the mouth of Jehovah an inheritance in the midst of the brothers of their father.

5 And there fell ten regions to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is across the Jordan;

6 for the daughters of Manasseh inherited an inheritance in the midst of his sons, and the land of Gilead was for the remaining sons of Manasseh.

7 And the border of Manasseh was from Asher to Michmethah, which is before the face of Shechem; and the border went to the right·​·hand unto those who dwell·​·in En-tappuah.

8 And Manasseh had the land of Tappuah, but Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the sons of Ephraim.

9 And the border went·​·down·​·to the brook Kanah, southward to the brook; these cities belonged to Ephraim in the midst of the cities of Manasseh; and the border of Manasseh was from the north to the brook, and the outgoings of it were to the sea.

10 Southward it is for Ephraim and northward for Manasseh, and the sea is his border; and they came·​·upon Asher from the north, and upon Issachar from the sunrise.

11 And Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher, Beth-shean and her daughter towns, and Ibleam and her daughter towns, and they who dwell in Dor and her daughter towns, and they who dwell in En-dor and her daughter towns, and they who dwell in Taanach and her daughter towns, and they who dwell in Megiddo and her daughter towns, three districts.

12 But the sons of Manasseh were· not ·able to dispossess these cities; and the Canaanite would dwell in this land.

13 And it was, that the sons of Israel were·​·firm, and they put the Canaanite to tribute, but dispossessing they did not dispossess him.

14 And the sons of Joseph spoke with Joshua, saying, Why hast thou given me as inheritance one lot and one region, and I have many people, forasmuch as Jehovah has blessed me hitherto?

15 And Joshua said unto them, If thou hast much people, go· thou ·up to the forest, and cut·​·down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzite and of the Rephaim, if Mount Ephraim is too restricted* for thee.

16 And the sons of Joseph said, The mountain is not enough* for us, and the chariot of iron is with every Canaanite dwelling in the land of the valley, to him who is in Beth-shean and her daughter towns, and to him who is in the valley of Jezreel.

17 And Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, Thou hast many people and hast great power, thou shalt not have one lot;

18 but the mountain shall be thine, for it is a forest, and thou shalt cut· it ·down, and the outgoings shall be thine; for thou shalt dispossess the Canaanite, that has the chariot of iron and is firm.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Jacob or Israel (the man)

  

Jacob is told twice that his name will now be Israel. The first time is when he wrestles with an angel on his journey to meet Esau, and the angel tells him that his name will be changed. After he is reconciled with Esau, they go their separate ways. Jacob moves to Shechem and then on to Bethel, where he builds an altar to the Lord. The Lord appears to him there, renews the covenant He first made with Abraham and again tells him that his name will be Israel (Genesis 35). The story goes on to tell of Benjamin's birth and Rachel's death in bearing him, and then of Jacob's return to Isaac and Isaac's death and burial. But at that point the main thread of the story leaves Israel and turns to Joseph, and Israel is hardly mentioned until after Joseph has risen to power in Egypt, has revealed himself to his brothers and tells them to bring all of their father's household down to Egypt. There, before Israel dies, he blesses Joseph's sons, plus all his own sons. After his death he is returned to the land of Canaan for burial in Abraham's tomb. In the story of Jacob and Esau, Jacob represents truth, and Esau good. Jacob's stay in Padan-Aram, and the wealth he acquired there, represent learning the truths of scripture, just as we learn when we read the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount. The change of name from Jacob to Israel represents the realization that what we learn should not simply be knowledge, but should be the rules of our life, to be followed by action. This action is the good that Esau has represented in the story up to that time, but after the reconciliation between Jacob and Esau, Jacob as Israel now represents the truth and the good, together. It is interesting that even after his name change Jacob is rarely called Israel. Sometimes he is called one and sometimes the other, and sometimes he is called both Jacob and Israel in the same verse (Genesis 46:2, 5, & 8 also Psalm 14:7). This is because Jacob represents the external person and Israel the internal person, and even after the internal person comes into being, we spend much of our lives living on the external level.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 4274, 4292, 4570, 5595, 6225, 6256, Genesis 2:5, 46:8)