Joshua 16:3

3 and gone down westward unto the border of Japhleti, unto the border of Beth-Horon the lower, and unto Gezer, and its outgoings have been at the sea.

Joshua 16:3 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 16:3

And goeth down westward to the coast of Japhleti
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 ^F3 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 ^F4, 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 De loc. Heb. fol. 92. A.
F4 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 22.

Joshua 16:3 In-Context

1 And the lot for the sons of Joseph goeth out from Jordan [by] Jericho, to the waters of Jericho on the east, to the wilderness going up from Jericho in the hill-country of Beth-El,

2 and hath gone out from Beth-El to Luz, and passed over unto the border of Archi [to] Ataroth,

3 and gone down westward unto the border of Japhleti, unto the border of Beth-Horon the lower, and unto Gezer, and its outgoings have been at the sea.

4 And the sons of Joseph -- Manasseh and Ephraim -- inherit.

5 And the border of the sons of Ephraim is by their families; and the border of their inheritance is on the east, Atroth-Addar unto Beth-Horon the upper;