John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 6. Then they came to Gilead , etc.] The land of Gilead, half of which was given to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the other half to the half tribe of Manasseh, ( Deuteronomy 3:12,13); which tribes were numbered, and the first of all: and to the land of Tahtimhodshi ; or the low lands of a new place; it seems to be a country newly possessed and inhabited; the Targum calls it the southern land of Hodshi; Bunting calls it the lower country of Hodshi, near to the city Corazin, in the half tribe of Manasseh, fifty two miles from Jerusalem, and towards the northeast, and signifies a new land: and they came to Danjaan ; the same that is simply called Dan, and formerly Leshem, ( Joshua 19:47); why Juan is added to it is not easy to say; it lay at the northern border of the land of Israel, and was four miles from Paneas as you go to Tyre f413 : and about to Zidon ; from Dan they went round about to Zidon, to the parts adjacent to it; for with Zidon itself they had nothing to do, of which (see Gill on “ Joshua 11:8”).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-9 - For the people's sin David was left to act wrong, and in his chastisement they received punishment. This example throws light upo God's government of the world, and furnishes a useful lesson. The prid of David's heart, was his sin in numbering of the people. He though thereby to appear the more formidable, trusting in an arm of flesh mor than he should have done, and though he had written so much of trustin in God only. God judges not of sin as we do. What appears to u harmless, or, at least, but a small offence, may be a great sin in the eye of God, who discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. Eve ungodly men can discern evil tempers and wrong conduct in believers, of which they themselves often remain unconscious. But God seldom allow those whom he loves the pleasures they sinfully covet.
Original Hebrew ויבאו935 הגלעדה1568 ואל413 ארץ776 תחתים חדשׁי8483 ויבאו935 דנה יען1842 וסביב5439 אל413 צידון׃6721
