Joshua 16:7

16:20-63 Here is a list of the cities of Judah. But we do not here find Bethlehem, afterwards the city of David, and ennobled by the birth of our Lord Jesus in it. That city, which, at the best, was but little among the thousands of Judah, Mic 5:2, except that it was thus honoured, was now so little as not to be accounted one of the cities.

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 Gill on Joshua 16:2 , and to Naarath; Jerom (g) says, that Naarath was in his time called Naorath, a village of the Jews, five miles from Jericho; and is the village Josephus (h) calls Neara, where was a water, half of which Archelaus turned, and led to the field planted with palm trees, near Jericho; and, according to the Jewish writers (i): there was a place called Noaran near to Jericho, which seems to be this: and came to Jericho, and went out at Jordan; where it ended this way, which was eastward. (g) De loc. Heb. fol. 93. I.((h) Antiqu. l. 17. c. 15. sect. 1.((i) Vajikra Rabba, sect. 23. fol. 164. 3. Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 9. 3. Echa Rabbati, fol. 50. 4.

And their possessions and habitations,.... That is, of the sons of Ephraim, when come into the land of Canaan: were Bethel, and the towns thereof; the villages belonging to it, which was formerly called Luz, and was the border of Ephraim, Joshua 16:7. and eastward Naaran: the same with Naarath, Joshua 16:7. and westward Gezer, with the towns thereof; of which see Joshua 16:3, and Shechem also, and the towns thereof; which was a city of refuge in Mount Ephraim, Joshua 20:7 unto Gaza, and the towns thereof; not Gaza, a city of the Philistines, for the tribe of Ephraim did not reach so far; the Targum calls it Aiah; it may be read Adaza, as in the margin of our Bibles.

7 . went down ] The border “ went down ” because it descended along the slopes in the direction of the Jordan valley. to Ataroth ] which place, it is thought, is to be sought somewhere in this valley, “at the point where the border makes an angle in turning southward.” and to Naarath ] Eusebius and Jerome mention it as well known to them. It is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 7:28 , and was, it is thought, about five miles north of Jericho. came to Jericho ] i.e. to the region in the neighbourhood of Jericho (which belonged to Benjamin), where the eastern border formed an angle with the southern.

Verse 7. - Ataroth . Another Ataroth, on the northern border of Ephraim. The name, which signifies crowns is a common one (see Numbers 32:3, 34, 35 ; 1 Chronicles 2:54 ). Came to Jericho. Or perhaps skirted Jericho. The word used (see note on ver. 5) is akin to the Latin pango and our impinge. Joshua 16:7

From Janoah the boundary went down "to Ataroth and Naarath," Ataroth, a different place from the Ataroth or Atroth-addar mentioned in Joshua 16:3 and Joshua 16:5 , is apparently to be sought for on the eastern slope of the mountains by the side of the Ghor, judging from the expression "went down;" but it has not yet been discovered. Naarath, probably the same as Naaran, in eastern Ephraim ( 1 Chronicles 7:28 ), is described in the Onom. (s. v. Naaratha) as viculus Judaeorum Naorath, five Roman miles (i.e., two hours) from Jericho, probably on the north-east. The boundary line then touched Jericho, i.e., the district of Jericho, namely on the north side of the district, as Jericho was allotted to the tribe of Benjamin ( Joshua 18:21 ). At this point it also coincided with the southern boundary of the tribe of Joseph ( Joshua 16:1 ) and the northern boundary of Benjamin ( Joshua 18:12 ).

[Reformed Biblical] It seems most probable that part of it, and indeed the greatest part and main body of it, stood in the tribe of Benjamin; and hence this is mentioned in the list of their cities, and not in Judah’s list: and part of it stood in Judah’s share, even Mount Moriah, on which the temple was built; and Mount Sion, when it was taken from the Jebusites. ## Unto this day ; when this book was written, whether in Joshua’s life and old age, which continued many years after the taking of Jerusalem; or after his death, when this clause was added here and elsewhere in this book by some other man of God, which must needs be done before David’s time, when the Jebusites were quite expelled, and their fort taken. ## JOSHUA CHAPTER 16 The general borders of the sons of Joseph, #Joshua 16:1-4 . The borders of Ephraim, #Joshua 16:5-9 . Some of the Canaanites not expelled, but made tributary, #Joshua 16:10 . ## Ver. 1. Of Joseph, i.e. of Ephraim, and the half tribe of Manasseh, which are here put together in one; not because they had but one lot, for Ephraim had one here, #Joshua 16:5 , and Manasseh another, #Joshua 17:1 ; but because in these first verses he speaks of them in common, and of the south border, which seems to be the same, either wholly or in a great part; and then he comes to the particular description of their several portions.

In 1 Chronicles 7:28 and 1 Chronicles 7:29 the possessions and dwelling-places of the tribe of Ephraim (and as we learn from the superscription, 1 Chronicles 7:29 ), also those of West Jordan Manasseh, are given, but in a very general way; only the chief places on the four sides being mentioned. Bethel, now Beitin, on the frontier of the tribal domains of Benjamin and Ephraim ( Joshua 16:2 ; Joshua 18:13 ), and assigned to the tribe of Benjamin ( Joshua 18:22 ), is here mentioned as an Ephraimite city on the southern frontier of the Ephraimite territory, as it belonged to the kingdom of the ten tribes; whence we gather that this register was prepared after that kingdom had come into existence. As to its position, see on Joshua 7:2 . Her daughters are the smaller villages which belonged to Bethel. Naaran, without doubt the same place which is called in Joshua 16:7 נערתה (with ה loc.), is the eastern frontier city lying to the north-east of Jericho; see on Joshua 16:7 . "And westward Gezer," according to Joshua 16:3 , lying between Beth-horon and the sea (see on Joshua 10:33 ), is the frontier city on the south-west; and Shechem and Avvah (עוּה), with their daughters, are places which mark the boundary on the north-west. As to שׁכם, Shechem, the present Nabulus, see on Joshua 17:7 .