Tribe of Joseph
The Tribe of Joseph is one of the Tribes of Israel in Bible. Since the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (often called the "two half-tribes of Joseph") together traditionally constituted the "tribe of Joseph", it was often not listed as one of the tribes, in favour of Ephraim and Manasseh being listed in its place; consequently it was often termed the House of Joseph, to avoid the use of the term tribe. Even though Ephraim and Manasseh were Joseph’s sons, they were considered heads of two of the twelve tribes of Israel because Joseph’s father, Jacob (renamed in later life by God as “Israel”), adopted Ephraim and Manasseh as his own sons (Genesis 48:1-16).
Quotes about
[edit]- Then the children of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given us only one lot and one share to inherit, since we are a great people, inasmuch as the Lord has blessed us until now?”
- So Joshua answered them, “If you are a great people, then go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and the giants, since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined for you.”
- But the children of Joseph said, “The mountain country is not enough for us; and all the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are of Beth Shean and its towns and those who are of the Valley of Jezreel.”
- And Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph—to Ephraim and Manasseh—saying, “You are a great people and have great power; you shall not have only one lot, but the mountain country shall be yours. Although it is wooded, you shall cut it down, and its farthest extent shall be yours; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and are strong.”
- Joshua 17:14-18 NKJV.
- With the best things of the ancient mountains,
- With the precious things of the everlasting hills,
- With the precious things of the earth and its fullness,
- And the favor of Him who dwelt in the bush.
- Let the blessing come ‘on the head of Joseph,
- And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.’
- His glory is like a firstborn bull,
- And his horns like the horns of the wild ox;
- Together with them
- He shall push the peoples
- To the ends of the earth;
- They are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
- And they are the thousands of Manasseh...
- Deuteronomy 33:15-17 NKJV.
- The lot fell to the children of Joseph from the Jordan, by Jericho, to the waters of Jericho on the east, to the wilderness that goes up from Jericho through the mountains to Bethel, then went out from Bethel to Luz, passed along to the border of the Archites at Ataroth, and went down westward to the boundary of the Japhletites, as far as the boundary of Lower Beth Horon to Gezer; and it ended at the sea.
- So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.
- Joshua 16:1-4 NKJV.
See also
[edit]- Joseph (Genesis) (patriarch)
