NOTES for Jos 17:1-18

Although the sons of Manasseh received their inheritance in a different place from the sons of Ephraim, the same thing happened in their territory. They were unable to drive out the Canaanites because fear of the iron chariots eclipsed the Israelites' hope in the Lord, who had given them victories until then. Of course, anyone going to war must take account of the enemy's strength, but in this situation apparently reasonable considerations, as when they refused to enter the Promised Land in the days of Moses, were exaggerated. Much more sadly, these fears became the seed of the spiritual capitulation before Canaanite paganism that part of the people of Israel would later make. Tempting whispers often seem logically convincing, but that does not make them true.