1 Chronicles 7:28

And their possessions and habitations were, Bethel and the towns thereof, and eastward Naaran, and westward Gezer, with the towns thereof; Shechem also and the towns thereof, unto Gaza and the towns thereof:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

THE BOUNDS OF EPHRAIM AND WEST MANASSEH

(1Chronicles 7:28-29).

Comp. 1Chronicles 6:54, sqq., where a list of the cities of the Levites is similarly added to their tribal registers.

(28) And their possessions.—Heb., and their domain and their seats were Bethel and her daughters; “their domain,” that is, the domain of both divisions of the tribe of Joseph.

Bethel—originally assigned to Benjamin (Joshua 18:22), belonged later to the northern kingdom. The present list appears therefore to be younger than the disruption of Solomon’s empire.

Naaran, or Naarah (Naapá) (Joshua 16:7) was a town north-east of Jericho. Gezer lay on the southwest border of Ephraim (Joshua 16:3), Shechem (Nablûs, Νεάπολις) on the north. Gaza: so the LXX„ Vulg. (Aza which represents the Hebrew ‘Azzāh, i.e., Gaza), and Targum; but a great number of MSS. and seventeen editions read Ayyah, a place not mentioned elsewhere, but doubtless lying on the north-west border of Ephraim.

(29) And by the borders of the children of Manasseh.—Literally, and upon the hands of the sons of Manasseh, a favourite phrase with the chronicler, occurring nine times in Chronicles and once in Ezra. (See Note on 1Chronicles 6:31.) The four cities lay within the territory of Issachar and Asher, but were assigned to Manassen (Joshua 17:11). They mark the northward marches of the two houses of Joseph, as the cities of 1Chronicles 7:28 mark the southward. They long withstood the Israelite occupation (Joshua 17:12-16; see also Judges 5:19. “Then fought the kings of Canaan, in Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo.”)

Benson Commentary

1 Chronicles 7:28. Their possessions — That is, the portion allotted to the tribe of Ephraim: were Beth-el — Which stood in the border of Benjamin, but belonged to Ephraim. Unto Gaza — Not the Gaza of the Philistines, which belonged to another tribe, and was remote from Ephraim, but another place of the same name. Or rather Adazza, as in the margin; the particle ad, here rendered unto, being part of the name.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:1-40 Genealogies. - Here is no account either of Zebulun or Dan. We can assign no reason why they only should be omitted; but it is the disgrace of the tribe of Dan, that idolatry began in that colony which fixed in Laish, and called it Dan, Jud 18 and there one of the golden calves was set up by Jeroboam. Dan is omitted, Re 7. Men become abominable when they forsake the worship of the true God, for any creature object.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Sherah could scarcely herself have built the Palestinian cities here mentioned, which must belong to a time not earlier than Joshua. By "she built" we must understand "her descendants built."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21. whom the men of Gath … slew, &c.—This interesting little episode gives us a glimpse of the state of Hebrew society in Egypt; for the occurrence narrated seems to have taken place before the Israelites left that country. The patriarch Ephraim was then alive, though he must have arrived at a very advanced age; and the Hebrew people, at all events those of them who were his descendants, still retained their pastoral character. It was in perfect consistency with the ideas and habits of Oriental shepherds that they should have made a raid on the neighboring tribe of the Philistines for the purpose of plundering their flocks. For nothing is more common among them than hostile incursions on the inhabitants of towns, or on other nomad tribes with whom they have no league of amity. But a different view of the incident is brought out, if, instead of "because," we render the Hebrew particle "when" they came down to take their cattle, for the tenor of the context leads rather to the conclusion that "the men of Gath" were the aggressors, who, making a sudden foray on the Ephraimite flocks, killed the shepherds including several of the sons of Ephraim. The calamity spread a deep gloom around the tent of their aged father, and was the occasion of his receiving visits of condolence from his distant relatives, according to the custom of the East, which is remarkably exemplified in the history of Job (Job 2:11; compare Joh 11:19).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Their possessions, i.e. the portion allotted to the tribe of Ephraim.

Beth-el; which stood in the border of Benjamin, but belonged to Ephraim.

Unto Gaza, not that of the Philistines, which belonged to another tribe, and was remote from Ephraim; but another of the same name. Or rather Adasa, as it is in the margin of our Bible; the particle ad, here rendered unto, being a part of the name; for why should unto be put to this town, which is not put to any of the other?

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And their possessions and habitations,.... That is, of the sons of Ephraim, when come into the land of Canaan:

were Bethel, and the towns thereof; the villages belonging to it, which was formerly called Luz, and was the border of Ephraim, Joshua 16:7.

and eastward Naaran: the same with Naarath, Joshua 16:7.

and westward Gezer, with the towns thereof; of which see Joshua 16:3,

and Shechem also, and the towns thereof; which was a city of refuge in Mount Ephraim, Joshua 20:7

unto Gaza, and the towns thereof; not Gaza, a city of the Philistines, for the tribe of Ephraim did not reach so far; the Targum calls it Aiah; it may be read Adaza, as in the margin of our Bibles.

Geneva Study Bible

And their possessions and habitations were, Bethel and the towns thereof, and eastward Naaran, and westward Gezer, with the towns thereof; Shechem also and the towns thereof, unto Gaza and the towns thereof:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

28. Beth-el] Jdg 1:22-25; 1 Kings 12:29; 1 Kings 12:32. Beth-el is perhaps the modern Beitîn (Bädeker, p. 213). The city was on the border of Ephraim and Benjamin and in Joshua 18:22 is assigned to Benjamin, but it was originally conquered by Ephraim (Jdg 1:22), and during the division of the kingdom it belonged to the North: cp. 2 Chronicles 13:19, note.

Naaran] In Joshua 16:7, Naarath (R.V. Naarah).

Gezer … Shechem] See 1 Chronicles 6:67, note.

unto Gaza] Gaza (Heb. Azzah) the well-known Philistine city was in the extreme south-west of Palestine and can hardly be intended here in a list of Ephraimite cities. Some Heb. MSS read Ayyah, a reading which is in part supported by LXX (B) ἔως Γαιάν.

28, 29. The Seats of the Sons of Joseph

It is difficult to say why the possessions of Ephraim (1 Chronicles 7:28) and Manasseh (1 Chronicles 7:29) are mentioned here, and also why having been mentioned, they are not more fully described.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 28. - Naaran. This place is probably the same with the Naarath or Naarah of Joshua 16:7; though here it is said to be an eastward limit, and there its description might rather seem that of a southward limit. Gaza. This name can scarcely designate the well-known Gaza, assigned to Judah (Joshua 15:47; Judges 1:18), but so largely the prey of the Philistines (Judges 3:3; Judges 16:21; 1 Samuel 6:17). 1 Chronicles 7:28

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In 1 Chronicles 7:28 and 1 Chronicles 7:29 the possessions and dwelling-places of the tribe of Ephraim (and as we learn from the superscription, 1 Chronicles 7:29), also those of West Jordan Manasseh, are given, but in a very general way; only the chief places on the four sides being mentioned. Bethel, now Beitin, on the frontier of the tribal domains of Benjamin and Ephraim (Joshua 16:2; Joshua 18:13), and assigned to the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18:22), is here mentioned as an Ephraimite city on the southern frontier of the Ephraimite territory, as it belonged to the kingdom of the ten tribes; whence we gather that this register was prepared after that kingdom had come into existence. As to its position, see on Joshua 7:2. Her daughters are the smaller villages which belonged to Bethel. Naaran, without doubt the same place which is called in Joshua 16:7 נערתה (with ה loc.), is the eastern frontier city lying to the north-east of Jericho; see on Joshua 16:7. "And westward Gezer," according to Joshua 16:3, lying between Beth-horon and the sea (see on Joshua 10:33), is the frontier city on the south-west; and Shechem and Avvah (עוּה), with their daughters, are places which mark the boundary on the north-west. As to שׁכם, Shechem, the present Nabulus, see on Joshua 17:7. Instead of עוּה, most of the editions of the Bible agree with lxx and Vulg. and Chald. in having עזּה, but not the Philistine Gaza: it is only an error of the transcribers and printers, as all the more accurate MSS and the better printed copies have עוה; see De Rossi, Variae Lectt. ad h. l. The locality עוּה or עיּה is certainly met with nowhere else, but, if we may judge by Joshua 16:6 and Joshua 17:17, is to be sought not far from Shechem in a north-western direction, perhaps on the site of the there mentioned Michmethah, the position of which has, however, not yet been ascertained.