Maon, Carmel,.... Maon was the dwelling place of Nabal the Carmelite, whose possessions were in Carmel, and were not far from one another, 1 Samuel 25:2. It gave name to a wilderness near where David hid himself from Saul, 1 Samuel 23:25; Jerom (p) places it to the east of Daroma, who also informs (q) us, that there was in his time a village that...
And Jezreel,.... This Jezreel in the tribe of Judah is different from that which was once a royal seat of some of the kings of Israel, and from whence the famous valley of Jezreel or Esdraelon had its name: of this we have no other account elsewhere; and Jokdeam; of which we have no other mention; and Zanoah is a distinct place from the city of...
Cain,.... Cain, or Hakain, "that Cain", we nowhere else read of; whether the name was given it by the old Canaanites, in memory of Cain, the son of Adam, is not certain: Gibeah; there were other places that went by the name of Gibeah; there was a Gibeah in Benjamin, Judges 20:4, and another in the same tribe called Gibeah of Saul, 1 Samuel 11:4,...
Halhul,.... Here begins a fourth division, or list, of the cities in the mountains. Halhul Jerom calls Ehul, and says (w) there was in his time in the country belonging to Aelia (or Jerusalem) a village by the name of Ahula, near Hebron; and Bethzur, Jerom says (x), was then called Bethseron, a village as you go from Aelia to Hebron, in the...
And Maarath, and Bethanoth, and Eltekon,.... Of these cities we have no account elsewhere; only mention is made of Eltekeh, in the tribe of Dan, Joshua 19:44; six cities with their villages; these were all in the mountainous part of Judea, as were the two following.
Kirjathbaal, (which [is] Kirjathjearim,),.... Of Kirjathbaal, and its several names, [See comments on Joshua 15:9]; and Rabbah, of which we nowhere else read; for this is a very different city from the Rabbah of the children of Ammon, 2 Samuel 12:26; two cities with their villages; why these are reckoned by themselves is not certain.
In the wilderness,.... The wilderness of Judea, which was not a desert and uninhabited but had many cities and villages in it, those that follow: Betharabah; the first of these seems to be in the borders of Judah and Benjamin, and so is ascribed to both; see Joshua 15:6; Middin, and Secacah; of the two last we read nowhere else, only in Judges...
And Nibshan,.... Of Nibshan no mention is made elsewhere; and the city of Salt some take to be Zoar, so called because near the salt sea, or where Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt, Genesis 19:22; but rather this city might be so called, because salt was made here. and Engedi, or Engaddi, is a well known place, near the salt sea; [See...
As for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem,.... From whom the city was called Jebus, Judges 19:10. The Jews say, that these Jebusites were not those of the seven nations; but there was a man whose name was Jebus, and he was of the Philistines, of the seed of Abimelech, and the place was called by his name Jebus; and the men of that family...
INTRODUCTION TO Joshua 16 This chapter gives us an account of the lot of the children of Joseph, Ephraim, and the half tribe of Manasseh, one half having settled on the other side Jordan; and first the borders of the whole lot in general are given, Joshua 16:1; and then the borders of the tribe of Ephraim in particular, Joshua 16:4; and it is...
And the lot of the children of Joseph fell,.... Or, "went out" (a); of the pot or urn, this being the next lot that was drawn to that of Judah, the government being Judah's, and the birthright Joseph's, 1 Chronicles 5:2; and by his children are here meant the tribe of Ephraim, and the tribe of Manasseh: or the line and border according to the lot...
And goeth out from Bethel to Luz,.... For though these two places in time became one, yet they were originally distinct. Bethel, at which Jacob stopped, and who gave it its name, was a field adjacent to the city of Luz, Genesis 38:11; and therefore with propriety may be, as they here are, distinguished: and passeth along unto the borders Archi to...
And goeth down westward to the coast of Japhleti,.... This place is now unknown, though no doubt well known to the sons of Joseph, when this lot fell to them, and its border was described: unto the coast of Bethhoron the nether: so called to distinguish it from Bethhoron the upper, Joshua 16:5; this was about twelve miles from Jerusalem; [See...
So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance. As it fell to them by the lot; by Manasseh is meant the half tribe of Manasseh, one half of that tribe having been settled by Moses on the other side Jordan; and next follows an account of the borders of the inheritance of Ephraim in particular, as that of the half tribe of...
And the border of the children of Ephraim, according to their families, was [thus],.... Or what follows is the description of it: even the border of their inheritance on the east side was Atarothaddar, unto Bethhoron the upper; the first was on the south of the inheritance, and the latter on the north, as Masius has placed them: who has given us a...
And the border went out towards the sea,.... The Mediterranean sea: to Michmethah on the north side; of the border, the same on which Bethhoron was, from whence the border proceeded on to this place, of which we have no other account but in Joshua 17:7; by which it appears to have been near Shechem, and in sight of it; and the border went about...
And it went down from Johanan to Ataroth,.... This is different from Ataroth before mentioned, Joshua 16:2; there were several places of this name, as before observed; this seems to be that which Jerom places four miles from Sebaste or Samaria, [See comments on Joshua 16:2]; and to Naarath; Jerom (g) says, that Naarath was in his time called...
The border went out from Tappuah westward,.... Which was different from the Tappuah in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:34; this was in the tribe of Ephraim on the border of Manasseh, Joshua 17:8; unto the river Kanah; supposed by some to be the brook Cherith, by which Elijah hid himself, 1 Kings 17:3; though objected to by others; it seems to have...
And the separate cities for the children of Ephraim,.... The tribe of Ephraim, being much larger than the half tribe of Manasseh, besides the lot that fell to it, described before by its boundaries, had several particular and distinct cities given to it: which [were] among the inheritance of the children of Manasseh; some that were upon the...
And they drove not out the Canaanites which dwelt in Gezer,.... Which was the border of their tribe length ways, and was near the sea, Joshua 16:3; in this they did not obey the command of God, and either they did not drive them out, because they could not, God not delivering them up into their hands, because of their sins; or through their...