A commentary of M. John Calvin, upon the book of Joshua finished a little…A commentarie of M. Iohn Caluine, vpon the booke of Iosue finished a little…

17 And Joshua spake unto the house of Joseph, to Ephraim, and to Manasseh, saying, Thou art a great people, and hast great power, and shalt not have one lot.

17 And Ioshue spake vnto the house of Ioseph, to Ephraim, and to Manasseh, saying, Thou art a great people, and hast great power, and shalt not haue one lot.

18 Therefore the mountain shall be thine: for it is a wood, and thou shalt cut it down: and the ends of it shall be thine, & thou shalt cast out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong.

18 Therefore the mountaine shalbe thine: for it is a wood, and thou shalt cut it downe: and the endes of it shalbe thine, & thou shalt cast out the Chanaanites, though they haue yron chariots, and though they be strong.

11 And Manasseh, &c.) It is not easy to gather, how they were so ⟨p. 79⟩mingled, that they possessed certain cities in the lot of Asher, and Issachar, when the tribe of Ephraim dwelt within their borders: except peradventure it was so provided, lest a more commodious kind of dwelling should have been subject to many quarrels and complaints: or else perhaps, as the whole region was afterward better known, some thing was changed in the former partition, according to the rule of equity. Therefore this seemeth to be a new addition, while it was known, that the children of Manasseh might be enlarged, without the loss of the other. Neither was there given them a peaceable possession, which they might presently enjoy: but their inheritance was laid up under hope, that they might rest rather in the heavenly promise, than in the earthly possession. Yet that they obtained not those cities, it is imputed to their own fault, for the lot was to them an undoubted pledge of victory. Therefore they could not drive out the inhabitants, because they were not persuaded in their hearts, that God was true of his promise, and so they stopped the course of Gods power, through their own slothfulness. But the other fault was less tolerable: when they might easily have destroyed them all: they were not only slothful in executing the commandment of God: but being moved with filthy lucre, they saved those alive, whom GOD had appointed to be destroyed. For those whom we charge with tribute, we do in a manner receive them under our tuition and protection. God had appointed them to be ministers of his vengeance, he had given them strength enough to execute the same: but they were not only slack therein, but also deprived them selves of liberty to do well. Therefore it is no marvel, if God severely revenged their so froward slothfulness, that those nations, whom they had pardoned, contrary to the manifest prohibition of God, should be come pricks to be thrust into their eyes, and goads to dig in their sides. Also here ariseth a question, how they had cities granted to them in the tribes of Asher and