"This was the allotment for the tribe of Manasseh as Joseph's firstborn, that is, for Makir, Manasseh's firstborn. Makir was the ancestor of the Gileadites, who had received Gilead and Bashan because the Makirites were great soldiers." (Joshua 17:1) Makir himself was almost certainly dead by this time. He was first mentioned as an infant in Genesis 50:23 when Joseph, not long before his death, held Makir on his lap. Moses was born about sixty-four years after Joseph died and Moses was eighty years old at the time of the exodus, so if Makir left Egypt in the exodus he'd have been at least 144. Israel spent forty years in the wilderness and that would make Makir 184, if not a bit older, when the Israelites crossed the Jordan River. It's estimated that it took the Israelites approximately six to seven years to conquer the territory we're studying in these allotments, which would make Makir at least 191 if he's still alive in Joshua 17. We are no longer seeing such extended lifespans by this point in the Old Testament (Moses died at 120, for example, and his brother Aaron died at 123), so I think what's happening here is that the descendants of Makir are being called by his name. They are the "house of Makir", so to speak. There's no contradiction in this. The tribes of Israel, for example, continue to be called by the names of men long dead. The clans are the same way; they are called by the names of the men who were the original heads of each clan.
"So this allotment was for the rest of Manasseh---the clans of Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher and Shemida. These are the other male descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph by their clans." (Joshua 17:2) The clans mentioned in verse 2 are named after Manasseh's great-grandsons through his son Makir. In Numbers 26:29-34 we learned that Makir was the father of Gilead and Gilead was the father of Iezer (rendered Abiezer in verse 2) and Gilead was also the father of Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Shemida, and Hepher.
Hepher was the father of a man named Zelophehad and you may recall the story of Zelophehad's daughters from Numbers 27. The Lord established a property law regarding female heirs in Numbers 27 because Zelophehad died without any male heirs. In today's passage Zelophehad's daughters go to Joshua and the high priest and the elders of Israel to ask for their allotment. "Now Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Manasseh, had no sons but only daughters, whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirzah. They went to Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders and said, 'The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our relatives.' So Joshua gave them an inheritance along with the brothers of their father, according to the Lord's command." (Joshua 17:3-4) Zelophehad's daughters inherited his share in the promised land just as if they were male heirs. They were commanded back in Numbers 36:6 to marry within their father's clan so the land would always remain with the correct clan within the tribe of Manasseh. The Bible tells us in Numbers 36:10-11 that these ladies did as the Lord said and married men who were their cousins on their father's side of the family.
Imagine how interesting these family trees and these personal stories were to the Israelites and how interesting they still are to the Jewish people today. I find them quite interesting even though I'm of Gentile heritage, but they'd be especially fascinating to us if we were reading about our own ancestors. These genealogies and stories and land boundaries were extremely important to ancient Israel and still have a great deal of meaning to the Jewish people of today. I wish I had detailed accounts like this of my own forebears to read, although I would probably be appalled by some of their deeds since my ancestors were heathen idolaters somewhere way back in time. But personal stories about my grandparents and great-grandparents would be priceless to me if I had written accounts in my possession. In tomorrow's study we'll look at the description of the land boundaries of Manasseh and we'll read a personal story about this tribe in which their elders bring a complaint to Joshua regarding the size of their allotment.
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