And came to the strong hold of Tyre
That is, old Tyre, which stood thirty furlongs from new Tyre, the island F25; of which (See Gill on Isaiah 23:1); this must be understood of the parts near unto it; for that itself was not within the land of Israel, and so its inhabitants not to be numbered:
and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites:
which were possessed by them, and from whence they were not driven out by the Israelites; to all places contiguous to them, Joab and his captains came to take the number of them:
and they went out to the south of Judah: [even] to Beersheba;
passing through the western part of the land, they came to the southern part of it, even as far as Beersheba, which was the extreme part of the land to the south.