Joshua 16:3

3 and it goeth down to the west, beside the term of Japhleti, unto the terms of the lower Bethhoron, and of Gezer; and the countries thereof be ended with the great sea, (and it goeth down to the west, beside the border of the Japhletites, unto the border of Lower Bethhoron, and Gezer; and their land endeth at the Mediterranean 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, either part, of the sons of Joseph felled from (the) Jordan against Jericho, and to the waters thereof, from the east; (that) is, (to) the wilderness, that goeth up from Jericho to the hill of Bethel,

2 and it goeth out from Bethel into Luz, and it passeth the term of Archi (to) Ataroth, (and it goeth out from Bethel to Luz, and then it passeth the border of the Archites at Atarothaddar,)

3 and it goeth down to the west, beside the term of Japhleti, unto the terms of the lower Bethhoron, and of Gezer; and the countries thereof be ended with the great sea, (and it goeth down to the west, beside the border of the Japhletites, unto the border of Lower Bethhoron, and Gezer; and their land endeth at the Mediterranean Sea,)

4 which countries Manasseh and Ephraim, the sons of Joseph, wielded. (which lands the tribes of western Manasseh and of Ephraim, the sons of Joseph, took.)

5 And the term of the sons of Ephraim, by their families, and the possession of them was made against the east, (from) Atarothaddar till to the higher Bethhoron. (And the border of the possession of the sons of Ephraim, by their families, on the east, went from Atarothaddar unto Upper Bethhoron.)