So the people went out into the field against Israel
Josephus F5 calls it a great field, with a wood behind it:
and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim;
or near it F6 rather; not in a wood in the tribe of Ephraim, which lay on this side Jordan; whereas this battle was fought on the other side Jordan, in the land of Gilead, not far from Mahanaim, where was this wood; and which was so called, either from the slaughter of the Ephraimites here in the times of Jephthah, ( Judges 12:4-6 ) ; or from the Ephraimites feeding their cattle here and near it; for the Jews say F7, that Joshua gave them a grant to feed their cattle in any wood in any of the tribes of Israel; and lying near Jordan, they used to drive their cattle over to this place, from whence it had its name.