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The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 18:26
Ramah. Now er-Ram. This would seem, from Jeremiah 31:15, and from a comparison of Jeremiah 1:1 and Jeremiah 40:1, to have been the Ramah of later history, famous as the dwelling place of Samuel (1 Samuel 1:1, etc; for M…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 18:28
Gibeath. Almost certainly the same as "Gibeah of Saul" (1 Samuel 11:4). It was Saul's home (1 Samuel 10:26; 1 Samuel 13:2, 1 Samuel 13:15, 1 Samuel 13:16). It was near Saul's home, at the time his temporary refuge, that…
Matthew Henry on Joshua 19:1-9
The men of Judah did not oppose taking away the cities within their border, when convinced that they had more than was right. If a true believer has obtained an unintended and improper advantage in any thing, he will gi…
The Lot of Simeon. (b. c. 1444.)
THE LOT OF SIMEON. (B. C. 1444.) Simeon's lot was drawn after Judah's, Joseph's, and Benjamin's, because Jacob had put that tribe under disgrace; yet it is put before the two younger sons of Leah and the three sons of t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 19:1
And their inheritance was within the inheritance of the children of Judah. Literally, in the midst of. ἀνὰ μέσον, LXX.; in medio, Vulgate (cf. Joshua 19:9). Simeon, at the last census (Numbers 26:14), was the smalles…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 19:1-51
The completion of the work. The reflections suggested by this chapter are identical with those which have already occurred to us. They are, perhaps, emphasised by Joshua 19:51, in which the solemn public division of the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 19:1-51
EXPOSITION THE LOT OF THE REMAINING TRIBES.
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 19:2
Beersheba. A locality well known in Scripture, from Genesis 21:31 onwards. And Sheba. Some would translate here, or Sheba (see below). No doubt the city, of which nothing further is known, derived its name from Beer-she…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 19:3
Hazar-shual. The "hamlet of jackals." The word Hazar is translated "village" in our version (see note on Joshua 15:32). So also with Hazar-susah or Hazar-susim, "the hamlet of horses" (1 Chronicles 4:31) below.
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 19:9
Brotherhood. I. THE IDEA OF BROTHERHOOD MUST BE RECOGNISED IN ORDER THAT TRUE PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE MAY BE ESTABLISHED. Justice does not imply equality. To deal equally with all is often unjust, since different men have…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 19:9
Therefore the children of Simeon had their inheritance. Of the later history of the children of Simeon we find a little recorded in 1 Chronicles 4:39-42, and some suppose that the event recorded there is a fulfilment of…
Matthew Henry on Joshua 19:10-16
In the division to each tribe of Israel, the prophetic blessings of Jacob were fulfilled. They chose for themselves, or it was divided to them by lot, in the manner and places that he foresaw. So sure a rule to go by is…
The Lot of Zebulun. (b. c. 1444.)
THE LOT OF ZEBULUN. (B. C. 1444.) This is the lot of Zebulun, who, though born of Leah after Issachar, yet was blessed by Jacob and Moses before him; and therefore it was so ordered that his lot was drawn before that of…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 19:10
Sarid. This seems to have been a middle point, from which the border is traced eastward and westward, as in Joshua 16:6, and perhaps in verse 32. But the LXX. and other versions have a variety of readings here.
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 19:11
Toward the sea. Rather, westward. The original is touched or skirted ( פגע). River that is before Jokneam. This, with the assistance of Joshua 12:22, which mentions Jokneam as near to Mount Carmel, enables us to identif…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 19:12
Chisloth-Tabor. The loins or flanks of Tabor. Tabor (the name signifies either quarry—see note on Shebarim, probably a kindred word, Joshua 7:5—or navel), is one of the most conspicuous mountains of Palestine. Like Sora…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 19:13
Gittah-hepher. Or, Gathhepher (1 Kings 14:25) was the birth place of the prophet Jonah. Now el-Mesh-hed, where the tomb of Jonah is still shown. The Rabbinical writers and the Onomasticon mention this tradition.
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 19:14
Compasseth it. The verb נסב is here used transitively. The meaning is that the border makes a curve round the city of Neah. Neah seems to have been the extreme eastern border. Methoar is supposed to be the Pual particip…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 19:15
Beth-lehem. This name, signifying the "house of bread," would naturally enough be given to a place in a fertile situation. We are not to suppose that it was "Bethlehem-Ephratah, among the thousands of Jadah" (Micah 5:2)…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 19:16
The inheritance of the children of Zebulun. It is strange that the beautiful and fertile land occupied by the tribe of Zebulun does not appear to have brought prosperity with it. Possibly the fact that the "lines" of th…
Matthew Henry on Joshua 19:17-51
Joshua waited till all the tribes were settled, before he asked any provision for himself. He was content to be unfixed, till he saw them all placed, and herein is an example to all in public places, to prefer the commo…
The Lot of Issachar. (b. c. 1444.)
THE LOT OF ISSACHAR. (B. C. 1444.) The lot of Issachar ran from Jordan in the east to the great sea in the west, Manasseh on the south, and Zebulun on the north. A numerous tribe, Numbers 26:25. Tola, one of the judges,…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 19:18
Jezreel. The valley ( עֵמֶק) of Jezreel, known in later Greek as the plain of Esdrsela or Esdraclon (Judith 1:8; 7:2; 2Mal 12:49) was "the perennial battlefield of Palestine from that time to the present". Lieut. Conder…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 19:21
En-gannim. Supposed to be the same as the "garden house" (the Bethgan of the LXX) mentioned in 2 Kings 9:27) where Ahaziah, king of Judah, met with the wound of which he afterwards died at Megiddo. It was one of the Lev…