Introduction: The Inheritance of the Sons of Yosef
Chapter 16 of Sefer Yehoshua deals with the inheritance of the sons of Yosef - Menasheh and Ephraim. These two tribes received portions adjacent to one another, yet each of them received a portion of its own. The land was divided into twelve portions, even though there were thirteen tribes, for on the one hand we deduct the tribe of Levi, who received no portion in the land, and on the other hand Yosef receives two portions. This is exactly what is stated here: Menasheh and Ephraim received two separate portions. Their inheritance filled the entire length of Eretz Yisrael from east to west, like the inheritance of Yehudah, which stretched from the east - that is, from the direction of the Yarden - to the west, up to the sea. A straight line gave them a strip of land across the entire width of the land, from the Yarden to the sea.
וַיֵּצֵא הַגּוֹרָל לִבְנֵי יוֹסֵף מִיַּרְדֵּן יְרִיחוֹ לְמֵי יְרִיחוֹ מִזְרָחָה הַמִּדְבָּר עֹלֶה מִירִיחוֹ בָּהָר בֵּית־אֵל׃ - And the lot came out for the sons of Yosef from the Yarden of Yericho, at the waters of Yericho on the east, the wilderness that goes up from Yericho through the hill country to Beit El.
The verse opens by describing the lot of the sons of Yosef as a whole, and begins with the eastern edge: from the Yarden of Yericho and the waters of Yericho eastward, and from there it goes up from the wilderness into the hill country to Beit El.
A Beit El That Is Not Luz
וְיָצָא מִבֵּית־אֵל לוּזָה וְעָבַר אֶל־גְּבוּל הָאַרְכִּי עֲטָרוֹת׃ - And it went out from Beit El to Luz, and passed along to the border of the Arki at Atarot.
Seemingly there is a difficulty here: the place that Yaakov Avinu called Beit El was previously called Luz, so how can it say that the border goes out from Beit El to Luz, if Beit El and Luz are one and the same place? From this the Radak proves that this is not the Beit El that Yaakov Avinu named, but a different Beit El. The border goes out from Beit El to Luz, and Luz was on the border of Binyamin, as it is written regarding the inheritance of Binyamin: "and the border passed from there to Luz, to the shoulder of Luz on the south, which is Beit El." The Malbim explains that Luz was not exactly opposite the place called the hill country of Beit El, but leaned more to the southern side.
Let us make a general remark here regarding the entire chapter: the Malbim in this chapter goes to great length in the details of the borders, point after point. It is difficult to study these matters when one does not have a map before him, and even when there is a map it is difficult to clarify things so that the listener understands them. Whoever wishes to delve deeper and know exactly from where and to which point each border passed should study the Malbim more thoroughly with a map on which all the places are drawn, and then he will be able to understand how the line would pass and wrap around from place to place and from point to point, and he will know exactly where the location of each tribe is.
The Border of the Arki - The Border of Length
What is "the border of the Arki"? The Malbim explains that the intention is the border of length. This is the border that Binyamin had in the north, and it is the one called Atarot Adar. And why did the verse need to specify that this is the border of length? Because there was another place named Atarot on the border of width in the east, as it is written later, "and it goes down from Yanoach to Atarot." Therefore the verse here emphasizes that it is speaking of the Atarot of the border of length, and this is the meaning of "the Arki."
וְיָרַד־יָמָּה אֶל־גְּבוּל הַיַּפְלֵטִי עַד גְּבוּל בֵּית־חוֹרֹן תַּחְתּוֹן וְעַד־גָּזֶר וְהָיוּ תֹצְאֹתָו יָמָּה׃ - And it goes down westward to the border of the Yafleti, as far as the border of Lower Beit Choron and to Gezer, and its edges are at the sea.
From there the border goes toward the west, for "yamah" means toward the sea, that is, toward the west.
Two lots and not one
וַיִּנְחֲלוּ בְנֵי־יוֹסֵף מְנַשֶּׁה וְאֶפְרָיִם׃ - And the children of Yosef, Menashe and Ephraim, took their inheritance.
The Malbim explains: the children of Ephraim had their own separate casting of the lot, and the half tribe of Menashe likewise had its own separate casting of the lot. They did not make a single lot for both of them, but each one had a lot of its own. It is only because they were adjacent to one another that Scripture calls them a single lot.
The boundary of Ephraim and Shiloh which is in the portion of Binyamin
וַיְהִי גְּבוּל בְּנֵי־אֶפְרַיִם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם וַיְהִי גְּבוּל נַחֲלָתָם מִזְרָחָה עַטְרוֹת אַדָּר עַד־בֵּית חוֹרֹן עֶלְיוֹן׃ - And the boundary of the children of Ephraim according to their families was thus: the boundary of their inheritance on the east side was Atrot Adar, up to upper Beit Choron.
וְיָצָא הַגְּבוּל הַיָּמָּה הַמִּכְמְתָת מִצָּפוֹן וְנָסַב הַגְּבוּל מִזְרָחָה תַּאֲנַת שִׁלֹה וְעָבַר אוֹתוֹ מִמִּזְרַח יָנוֹחָה׃ - And the boundary went out westward to Michmetat on the north, and the boundary turned eastward to Ta'anat Shiloh, and passed by it on the east to Yanocha.
Here too the Malbim spells out exactly from which point to which point the boundary passed, and we will not dwell on this. But the very purpose of the Malbim in this lengthy account is very important: he wishes to explain that once we understand the manner of the division, in exactly what way the land was apportioned, we will understand through this what Chazal said in Zevachim 118b: in three places the Shechina rested, and all of them were in the portion of Binyamin. According to the way the boundary passes, as the Malbim explains it, it turns out that Shiloh is indeed in the portion of Binyamin. For according to the plain sense of the words it is not at all clear how Shiloh is in the portion of Binyamin, but when the Malbim depicts for us how the boundary passed, it becomes clear that there was a kind of enclave there, and Shiloh was in the portion of Binyamin.
And by this is also understood what Chazal said about the verse "Behold, there is a festival of Hashem in Shiloh from year to year, which is on the north of Beit El, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Beit El to Shechem" - this festival they used to hold to the east of Shiloh, on the highway that belonged to Binyamin. And from here you will understand why the children of Binyamin were permitted to seize from the dancing girls: the dancing girls entered the boundary of their inheritance, and, as it were, what comes within their boundary was permitted to them. In this way they were permitted to take wives, even though Israel had sworn not to give their daughters to Binyamin as wives.
וְיָרַד מִיָּנוֹחָה עֲטָרוֹת וְנַעֲרָתָה וּפָגַע בִּירִיחוֹ וְיָצָא הַיַּרְדֵּן׃ - And it went down from Yanocha to Atarot and Na'arata, and reached Yericho, and went out to the Jordan.
Here Scripture continues and describes the continuation of the boundary, until it reaches Yericho and goes out to the Jordan.
מִתַּפּוּחַ יֵלֵךְ הַגְּבוּל יָמָּה נַחַל קָנָה וְהָיוּ תֹצְאֹתָיו הַיָּמָּה זֹאת נַחֲלַת מַטֵּה בְנֵי־אֶפְרַיִם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם׃ - From Tapuach the boundary went westward to the brook of Kanah, and its ends were at the sea; this is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim according to their families.
From Tapuach the boundary goes toward the west, to the brook of Kanah - a place name, the name of a brook - "and its ends were at the sea," toward the place of the sea, that is, to the western side. For Scripture always counts all the boundaries from the eastern side to the western side, cutting, as it were, from the Jordan toward the sea.
The Separated Cities
וְהֶעָרִים הַמִּבְדָּלוֹת לִבְנֵי אֶפְרַיִם בְּתוֹךְ נַחֲלַת בְּנֵי־מְנַשֶּׁה כׇּל־הֶעָרִים וְחַצְרֵיהֶן׃ - And the separated cities for the children of Ephraim were within the inheritance of the children of Menasheh, all the cities with their villages.
Rashi explains: these too belonged to the inheritance of Ephraim. They had cities that were separated from their continuous territory, and these were enclosed within the inheritance of Menasheh. That is why Scripture calls them "the separated cities" - the cities set apart for the children of Ephraim within the inheritance of the children of Menasheh.
The Canaanite in Gezer and the Labor Tribute
וְלֹא הוֹרִישׁוּ אֶת־הַכְּנַעֲנִי הַיּוֹשֵׁב בְּגָזֶר וַיֵּשֶׁב הַכְּנַעֲנִי בְּקֶרֶב אֶפְרַיִם עַד־הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה וַיְהִי לְמַס־עֹבֵד׃ - And they did not drive out the Canaanite who dwelt in Gezer, and the Canaanite dwelt among Ephraim to this day, and became a laboring tribute.
The Canaanite dwelt in a place called Gezer, and him they did not drive out. Here Scripture returns to the children of Ephraim: Gezer was part of their inheritance and lay within their border, and its inhabitants they did not drive out. But what did they do? To this day the Canaanite served them as a laboring tribute.
What is a "laboring tribute"? The Metzudat David explains that there is a monetary tribute and there is a labor tribute. A monetary tribute is a financial levy, taxes that were collected from them and which they had to pay from time to time. A labor tribute, by contrast, is not a collection of money but an obligation to work: to send a certain number of men to labor for their needs. As we see with Shlomo, who took a certain number of men each month who would come and serve the king and perform the king's work. This is the meaning of "laboring tribute" - that the tribute was paid through labor.
In summary:
In chapter 16 we saw the lot of the children of Yosef - Menasheh and Ephraim - who received two separate portions in two drawings, and it was their proximity that led Scripture to call them a single lot. We considered Beit El, which is not the Luz that Yaakov named, the "border of the Arki" which is the border of the length, and the fine details of the borders on which the Malbim elaborates, from which a great understanding emerges: Shiloh was enclosed within the portion of Binyamin, and as our Sages say in Zevachim, that in three places the Shechinah rested and all were in the portion of Binyamin, and from this too came the permission to seize from the dancing maidens. Finally we saw the separated cities of Ephraim within the inheritance of Menasheh, and the Canaanite in Gezer who was not driven out but became a laboring tribute - a tribute paid through labor and not through money.