--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 235 of 914 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/235/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah, section 235. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/235/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 1 of 2. ## 235. Joshua · 21 of 30 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/235/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/235/#p-N ### Verse 49 [¶1] Kirjath-sannah - See the note on [Jos 15:15]. ### Verse 51 [¶3] Goshen - See the note on [Jos 10:41]. [¶4] Giloh - The country of the traitor Ahithophel, [2Sam 15:12]. ### Verse 53 [¶6] Beth-tappuah - The house of the apple or citron tree. Probably a place where these grew in great abundance and perfection. [¶7] Aphekah - See the note on [Jos 12:18]. ### Verse 54 [¶9] Kirjath-arba - See the note on [Jos 14:15]. ### Verse 55 [¶11] Maon - In a desert to which this town gave name, David took refuge for a considerable time from the persecution of Saul; and in this place Nabal the Carmelite had great possessions. See [1Sam 23:24], [1Sam 23:25]; [1Sam 25:2]. [¶12] Carmel - Not the celebrated mount of that name, but a village, the residence of Nabal. See [1Sam 25:2]. It was near Maon, mentioned above, and was about ten miles eastward of Hebron. It is the place where Saul erected a trophy to himself after the defeat of the Amalekites; see [1Sam 15:12]. [¶13] Ziph - See on [Jos 15:24] (note). ### Verse 57 [¶15] Timnah - A frontier town of the Philistines; it was in this place that Samson got his wife, see Judges 14:1-15:20. ### Verse 58 [¶17] Gedor - See the note on [Jos 12:13]. In this place the Alexandrian MS. of the Septuagint and the Codex Vaticanus add the eleven following towns: Theca, and Ephratha, (that is, Bethlehem), and Phagor, and Etan, and Kulon, and Tatam, and Thebes, and Karam, and Galam, and Thether, and Manocho; eleven cities and their villages. St. Jerome, on [Mic 5:1], mentions them, so that we find they were in the copies he used. Dr. Kennicott contends that they should be restored to the text, and accounts thus for their omission: "The same word וחצרויהן vechatsreyhen, and their villages, occurring immediately before this passage and at the end of it, the transcriber's eye passed from one to the other by mistake. A similar accident has caused the omission of two whole verses, the 35th and 36th of Joshua 21." See the note on [Jos 21:35], [Jos 21:36]. ### Verse 60 [¶19] Kirjath-baal - The same as Baalah. See on [Jos 15:9] (note). ### Verse 62 [¶21] The city of Salt - Or of Melach. This city was somewhere in the vicinity of the lake Asphaltites, the waters of which are the saltest perhaps in the world. The whole country abounds with salt: see the note on [Gen 19:25]. Some suppose that it is the same as Zoar, the place to which Lot escaped after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. [¶22] En-gedi - The well of the kid: it was situated between Jericho and the lake of Sodom or Dead Sea. ### Verse 63 [¶24] The Jebusites dwell - at Jerusalem unto this day - The whole history of Jerusalem, previously to the time of David, is encumbered with many difficulties. Sometimes it is attributed to Judah, sometimes to Benjamin, and it is probable that, being on the frontiers of both those tribes, each possessed a part of it. If the Jebusites were ever driven out before the time of David, it is certain they recovered it again, or at least a part of it - what is called the citadel or strong hold of Zion, (see [2Sam 5:7]), which he took from them; after which the city fell wholly into the hands of the Israelites. This verse is an additional proof that the book of Joshua was not written after the times of the Jewish kings, as some have endeavored to prove; for when this verse was written, the Jebusites dwelt with the children of Judah, which they did not after the days of David; therefore the book was written before there were any kings in Judea. [¶25] It is very likely, not only that many cities have by the lapse of time changed their names or been totally destroyed, (see the note on [Jos 15:1]), but that the names of those in the preceding catalogue have been changed also, several of them repeated that should have been mentioned but once, and not a few confounded with the terms by which they are described. But we must not suppose that every repetition of the name is through the carelessness of copyists; for there are often two places which bear the same name, which is frequently the case in England. But besides this, villages are mentioned as being apparently in the tribe of Judah, which afterwards appear to have been in an other tribe. The reason appears to be this: many towns are mentioned which were frontier towns, and when the limits of a tribe are pointed out, such places must necessarily be mentioned, though allotted to a different tribe. This consideration will serve to remove several difficulties which occur in the reading of this and the following chapters. ### Introduction [¶27] Borders of the children of Joseph, [Jos 16:1-4]. The borders of the Ephraimites, [Jos 16:5-9]. The Canaanites dwell tributary among them, [Jos 16:10]. ### Verse 1 [¶29] The children of Joseph - Ephraim and Manasseh, and their descendants. The limits of the tribe of Ephraim extended along the borders of Benjamin and Dan, from Jordan on the east to the Mediterranean on the west. ### Verse 2 [¶31] From Bethel to Luz - From [Gen 28:19] (note) it appears that the place which Jacob called Beth-el was formerly called Luz; see the note there: but here they seem to be two distinct places. It is very likely that the place where Jacob had the vision was not in Luz, but in some place within a small distance of that city or village, (see the note on [Gen 28:12]), and that sometimes the whole place was called Beth-el, at other times Luz, and sometimes, as in the case above, the two places were distinguished. As we find the term London comprises, not only London, but also the city of Westminster and the borough of Southwark; though at other times all three are distinctly mentioned. [¶32] Archi to Ataroth - Archi was the country of Hushai, the friend of David, [2Sam 15:32], who is called Hushai the Archite. Ataroth, called Ataroth-addar, Ataroth the illustrious, [Jos 16:5], and simply Ataroth, [Jos 16:7], is supposed to have been about fifteen miles from Jerusalem. ### Verse 3 [¶34] Beth-horon the nether - This city was about twelve miles from Jerusalem, on the side of Nicopolis, formerly Emmaus. - Calmet. See the note on [Jos 10:10]. ### Verse 5 [¶36] Ataroth-addar - See the note on [Jos 16:2]. [¶37] Beth-horon the upper - The situation of this town is little known. It was eastward of Beth-horon the nether, and consequently not far from it. ### Verse 8 [¶39] Tappuah - This was a city in the tribe of Manasseh, and gave name to a certain district called the land of Tappuah. See [Jos 17:8]. [¶40] The sea - The Mediterranean, as before. ### Verse 9 [¶42] And the separate cities - That is, the cities that were separated from the tribe of Manasseh to be given to Ephraim; see [Jos 17:9]. ### Verse 10 [¶44] The Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer - It appears that the Canaanites were not expelled from this city till the days of Solomon, when it was taken by the king of Egypt his father-in-law, who made it a present to his daughter, Solomon's queen. See [1Kgs 9:16]. And see the note on [Jos 10:33]. The Ephraimites, however, had so far succeeded in subjecting these people as to oblige them to pay tribute, though they could not, or at least did not, totally expel them. [¶45] Of the names and places in this chapter, we may say the same as of others already mentioned. See the note on [Jos 15:1]. Many of those towns were small, and, we may rationally conclude, slightly built, and consequently have perished perhaps more than a thousand years ago. It would be therefore useless to look for such places now. Several of the towns in England, a land not exposed to such revolutions as that of Palestine has ever been, mentioned by Caesar and other ancient writers, are no longer discernible. Several have changed their names, and not a few their situation. Tradition states that the city of Norwich anciently stood some miles from its present situation; and we have the fullest proof that this was the case with the city of Salisbury. Such changes do not affect the truth of the ancient geography of our own country; nor can they impeach that of the sacred historian before us.