Comentario sobre Josué 16:12

The lot for the descendants of Yoseif came out at the northern border which marked the end of Yehoshua’s conquest. There, the lot fell for them, as stated below, “And the house of Yoseif will remain in their boundary on the north.”¹See chapter 18:5. Much of the land [of Eretz Yisroel] lay between [the border of] the descendants of Yehudah, [and the border of] the descendants of Yoseif. The other tribes took their inheritance from this area, as we find below regarding the tribe of Binyomin, “And the boundary of their lot was between the descendants of Yehudah [to the south] and the descendants of Yoseif [to the north.]

From the Jordan at Yericho to the waters of Yericho to the east. This is where the eastern border begins.

To the desert that goes up from Yericho. The boundary goes up from Yericho to the desert and comes westward to Beis-eil.

On the east was Atros-addor. The eastern boundary starts from Atros-Addor and from there the border widens to Beis-choron. This is its width.

The boundary then went out westward. Its length was westward to Michmesos; the boundary line continued north of Michmesos.

The boundary turned. The width of the border spread northward, and the border-line bulged outward to the east of Taanis-Shiloh.²See chapter 18:11. Even though in verse 4, Menashe is mentioned before Ephraim, the portion of Ephraim is described first in verse 5. Verse 4 mentions them in the order of their birth and Menashe was the oldest, but when Yaakov blessed them, he placed Ephraim first, because he knew that Ephraim would be the greater of the two. Therefore when the lots were drawn, the lot of Ephraim came out first.

And passed by it. The boundary passed by Taanis-shiloh,³This refers to Shiloh, where the Mishkan was to be built. This new Mishkan was built with walls of stone and was more permanent than the Mishkan that Moshe built with wooden walls. This Mishkan remained standing in Shiloh for 369 years. In many ways it was similar to the Beis HaMikdash that was built in Yerushalayim. Many of the korbonas were permitted to be sacrificed and eaten in Shiloh, such as: Shelamin, (peace-offerings) Todah, (thanksgiving-offerings) the korban Pesach, (the paschal lamb) and the first-born offerings. Various tithes (maasir) could also be brought to the Mishkan at Shiloh. After the Mishkan at Shiloh was destroyed, the people mourned as they would at the destruction of the Beis Hamikdosh in Yerushalayim. Whenever they passed by its ruins they wood weep and mourn. It was therefore known as Taanis-Shiloh, which implies the mourning of Shiloh. and the boundary line passed east of Yonoach. This was all included in the bulge of the width, which terminated at the Jordan, and there was a city named Tapuach. From there the boundary line turned to the measure of the length of the westward boundary to the brook of Konnoh

The separated cities. These too were included in the inheritance of Ephraim. They had cities that were separated from their portion and were incorporated within the boundary of the inheritance of Menashe.⁴These cities actually belonged to Ephraim but were located within the boundaries of Menashe, and were not connected to the portion of Ephraim.