The Church Militant

: Chapters 16 and 17 outline the allotment to the two tribes of Joseph. Joseph was Jacob's eleventh son, his first by Rachael (Genesis 30:22-24). Joseph received the double portion of the firstborn. His two sons: Ephraim and Manasseh (Genesis 41:50-52), were counted as tribal fathers (Genesis 48). Half of the tribe of Manasseh had already received its land east of the Jordan (17:1). A general description of the boundary (16:1-4) is followed by details for the tribes of Ephraim (16:5-10) and Manasseh (17:1-13) and an account of their complaint (17:14-18).