Josué 16
Bob Utley · You Can Understand the Bible
Josué 16:1-3
16:1 "the lot" See note at Jos. 14:2. 16:2 "Bethel to Luz" This text implies that Bethel and Luz are two different cities, but other texts state they are different names for the same city (cf. Jos. 18:13; Gen. 28:19; 35:6; Jdg. 1:23). This seems to refer to a boundary line between two cities. ▣ "the Archites" One of David's counselors was from this family group (cf. 2 Sam. 15:32; 16:16), but this is all moderns know of this non-Israelite clan (BDB 74). The same is true for the Japhletites (BDB 812).
Josué 16:4-10
16:4 "The sons of Joseph" Joseph had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, by his Egyptian wife. Jacob adopted these boys as his own and gave Joseph the double inheritance of the firstborn son. 16:6 "Taanath-shiloh" This (BDB 1061) is not the site of the tabernacle in Samuel's day, but another city (so say Eusebius and Jerome). 16:10 This verse is meant to express the disobedience of these large tribes (cf. Num. 35:55; Jdg. 1:27,29,30,31,33,34). This was the common experience of all the tribes (cf. Jos. 17:13). R. K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament, makes a good point about this verse. "If scholars had differentiated a little more closely in the past between occupation and subjugation, the picture of conquest as represented in Joshua would have emerged in far clearer focus than it did, and as a result there would have been no need to regard the initial narratives of Judges as historical at the expense of their counterparts in Joshua" (p. 677). This quote is footnoted to another source, G. F. Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges, pp. 7-8. ▣ "to this day" This shows a contemporary compiler or a later editor.