Monday - Joshua 17 - Manasseh's Second Portion

Manasseh had been Joseph's firstborn son, however, you might remember that Jacob blessed the younger son above his brother (Genesis 48:14). So, these many generations later there was still a certain domination of Ephraim over Manasseh. That is not to say that Manasseh wasn't blessed, for that tribe was truly endowed with much. Remember, a large portion of land had been given to part of the children of the tribe of Manasseh back on the eastern side of the Jordan.  Now they received another piece of real estate west of the Jordan River. It seems Ephraim was a little jealous of that, so they asked their brother and leader, Joshua. for some additional land (Joshua 17:15).  And, he gave it to them too... even though most of the tribes had not received any allotment yet.  Specifically, he gave land west of the river to the 5 daughters of Zelophehad the Manassite. That might seem unfair given the fact that most of the tribes hadn't even been to the table to find out what was theirs yet. But, God has His own ways and mankind has many flaws.