Joshua 14:4

Jos 14:4 For the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim: therefore they gave no part unto the Levites in the land, save cities to dwell [in], with their suburbs for their cattle and for their substance.

Ver. 4. For the children of Joseph were two tribes.] And so both Joseph had a double portion, the privilege of the firstborn which Reuben had forefeited, {1Ch 5:1} and the number of twelve tribes was made up, notwithstanding the Levites were not reckoned. The Papists, to make up the number of ten commandments, when they have cashiered the second, as making utterly against their image worship, divide the last into two; so loath are heretics to have their asses’ ears seen. But Paul, who knew better than any of them the analysis of the law, calleth that last "the commandment," not commandments. {Rom 7:7}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jos 14:4-5. The children of Joseph were two tribes — That is, had the portion of two tribes, and therefore, though Levi was excluded, there remained nine tribes and a half to be provided for in Canaan. They divided, &c. — That is, the persons named, (Jos 14:1,) who acted in the name of the children of Israel. They were disposed to divide it; they began to take measures for doing it.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14:4 Joseph, the elder son of Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel, received a double portion of land through his sons Manasseh and Ephraim (see study note on Gen 48:5-7). Because the Levites did not receive a separate tribal territory (Josh 13:14), the total number of tribes with land remained at twelve.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

So though Levi lacked, yet were there still twelve tribes by this means.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim--As two and a half tribes were settled on the east Jordan, and the Levites had no inheritance assigned them in land, there would have been only eight and a half tribes to provide for. But Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph, had been constituted two tribes (Gen 48:5), and although Levi was excluded, the original number of the tribes of Israel was still preserved.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 4. The children of Joseph were two tribes] This was ascertained by the prophetic declaration of their grandfather Jacob, Ge 48:5-6; and as Levi was taken out of the tribes for the service of the sanctuary, one of these sons of Joseph came in his place, and Joseph was treated as the first-born of Jacob, in the place of Reuben, who forfeited his right of primogeniture.

With their suburbs for their cattle] For the meaning of this passage the reader is referred to Clarke's note on "Nu 35:6".

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. They gave no part unto the Levites, etc It is here repeated for the third time with regard to the Levites, that they were not included in the number, so as to have the portion of a tribe assigned to them; but it is mentioned for a different purpose, for it is immediately after added, that the sons of Joseph were divided into two tribes, and were thus privileged to obtain a double portion. Thus had Jacob prophesied, (Genesis 49) or rather, like an arbiter appointed by God, he had in this matter preferred the sons of Joseph to the others. God therefore assumed the Levites to himself as a peculiar inheritance, and in their stead substituted one of the two families of Joseph.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

4. For the children of Joseph] There would have been only eight tribes and a half left, but the two sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, had been adopted by Jacob as his sons (Gen_48:5), and were reckoned as tribes, and therefore there were still nine tribes and a half to receive their inheritance.

therefore they gave] Rather, and they gave. The repetition of these statements respecting the Levites is not due “to the redundancy of the Semitic style,” but is intended to shew the reader that the instructions left by Moses (Num_18:20; Num_35:2) had been literally and exactly fulfilled.

with their suburbs] i. e. pasture-ground within the precincts of the cities, or certain districts round them in which their cattle might graze. These “pasture-grounds,” rendered by Bunsen “commons,” and in Switzerland called All-menden, are incorrectly translated in our version “suburbs,” from the Vulgate suburbana; “suburbis of hem to hous beestis and his feeld beestis to be fed,” Wyclif.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim,.... For the birthright being forfeited by Reuben, was given to Joseph, who had the double portion, the privilege of the firstborn; by which means the number of the twelve tribes was kept up in the division of the land, though that of Levi had no share in it; and which is also a reason why they had none, that Joseph's two sons might be reckoned two tribes:

therefore they gave no part unto the Levites in the land; to make way for the sons of Joseph to have the double portion:

save cities to dwell in; and that only, for they might not sell them, as other Israelites could theirs:

with their suburbs, for their cattle, and for their substance; the Targum is,

"for all their beasts, and for their cattle;''that is, for convenient places to put them into, and for pasturage for, them; which Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret of their larger and lesser cattle, their herds and their flocks, their oxen and sheep.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Suburbs. A certain quantity of ground, which the Levites were not allowed to till or plant with vines. (Grotius) (Numbers xxxv. 4.) --- The tribe of Manasses, which was divided, fell heir to the portion which would have been allotted to Levi, who was also scattered among his brethren. (Haydock) --- Thus Joseph obtained the birth-right of Ruben. (Calmet) --- Twelve portions were made, as Jacob had adopted Ephraim and Manasses, Genesis xlviii. (Worthington)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Were two tribes, i.e. had the double portion, or the portion of two tribes, 1Ch 5:1,2, and therefore though Levi was excluded, there remained nine tribes and a half, was said Jos 14:2, to be provided for in Canaan.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. Joseph… two tribes — So making up the twelve tribes without reckoning the tribe of Levi, who were to have no allotment, but were to be scattered among the tribes as judicial and ecclesiastical advisers and judges among the people.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the children of Joseph were two tribes: (see Gen_48:5) therefore they gave. There is no "therefore" In the original. The passage is a simple repetition of what we find in Jos_13:14, Jos_13:33, and is added here to explain how the twelve tribes who actually divided the land were composed. Suburbs. Rather, "pasture lands;" literally, places where the cattle were driven out to pasture. (cf. Num_35:2 1Ch_13:2, where the Hebrew is "cities of driving out We may illustrate this phrase by the similar arrangements made by the Germanic tribes in early times. "The clearing," says Professor Stubbs, in his "Constitutional History of England," p. 49, "is surrounded by a thick border of wood or waste .... In the centre of the clearing the village is placed .... The fully qualified freeman has a share in the land of the community. He has a right to the enjoyment of the woods, the pastures, the meadow and the arable land of the mark.... The use of the meadow land is definitely apportioned .... When the grass beans to grow the cattle are driven out, and the meadow is fenced round and divided into as many equal shares as there are mark families in the village. For the arable land similar measures are taken although the task is somewhat more complex". (see note on Jos_13:23) Some similar arrangement must have taken place in the primitive Jewish settlement of Palestine. For the rude huts of the Teutonic tribes we must substitute the more civilised "cities, walled up to heaven," of the Phoenician races; for the scanty supply of gram and pasture, provided by a northern climate, we must substitute the rich plenty of a land "flowing with milk and honey," and with all the produce of a southern sky. The area of land assigned to each of the Levitical cities was definitely marked out, (see Num_35:4, Num_35:5) and subdivided, as the hints in the narrative seem to imply that all the land was, into as many sections as there were "mark families that is, families of freemen exclusive of the servile classes in the town.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Were two tribes - That is, had the portion of two tribes, and therefore though Levi was excluded, there remained nine tribes and a half, to be provided for in Canaan.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The descendants of Yoseif were two tribes. In place of the tribe of Levi. were not to be given a portion of the land. The land was to be divided only among the other eleven tribes. The children of Menashe and Ephraim were counted as two tribes so that the land would be divided by twelve tribes. This came about through the will of Yaakov, who told Yoseif that his two sons, Ephraim and Menashe, would be considered as his own two son, Reuven and Shimon. (See Bereishis 48:7) This is mentioned here to explain how Yehoshua was to divide the land among nine and half tribes, when without Levi, there would be only eight and a half. We are told therefore that Menashe and Ephraim were counted as two tribes, thus this would compensate for the omission of Levi.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.