John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 3. And goeth down westward to the coast of Japhleti , etc.] 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 Gill on “ Joshua 10:10”); and to Gezer: which was about a day’s journey from Bethhoron, as appears from the passages in the Apocrypha: “39 So Nicanor went out of Jerusalem, and pitched his tents in Bethhoron, where an host out of Syria met him. 40 But Judas pitched in Adasa with three thousand men, and there he prayed, saying, ... 45 Then they pursued after them a day’s journey, from Adasa unto Gazera, sounding an alarm after them with their trumpets.” (1 Maccabees 7) Jerom says in his time it was a village called Gazara, four miles from Nicopolis, or Emmaus. It is the same with Gadara, as it is sometimes called by Josephus, who says f381 , the tribe of Ephraim took in the land from the river Jordan to Gadara; this was a royal city; (see Joshua 10:33); and the outgoings thereof are at the sea : the Mediterranean sea.
Matthew Henry Commentary
- The sons of Joseph.
--This and the following chapter should not be separated. They give the lots of Ephraim and Manasseh, the children of Joseph, who, next to Judah, were to have the post of honour, and therefore had the first an best portion in the northern part of Canaan, as Judah in the souther part. God's people now, as of old, suffer his enemies to remain Blessed Lord, when will all our enemies be subdued? 1Co 15:26. Do tho drive them all out; thou alone canst do it. These settled boundarie may remind us, that our situation and provision in this life, as wel as our future inheritance, are appointed by the only wise and righteou God, and we should be content with our portion, since he knows what is best for us, and all we have is more than we deserve _________________________________________________
Original Hebrew וירד3381 ימה3220 אל413 גבול1366 היפלטי3311 עד5704 גבול1366 בית חורן1032 תחתון8481 ועד5704 גזר1507 והיו1961 תצאתו8444 ימה׃3220
