Joshua 18:23

And Avim, and Parah, and Ophrah,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

18:11-28 The boundaries of each portion were distinctly drawn, and the inheritance of each tribe settled. All contests and selfish claims were prevented by the wise appointment of God, who allotted the hill and the valley, the corn and pasture, the brooks and rivers, the towns and cities. Is the lot of any servant of Christ cast in affliction and sorrow? It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good. Are we in prosperity and peace? It is from above. Be humbled when you compare the gift with your own unworthiness. Forget not Him that gave the good, and always be ready to resign it at his command.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ophrah (Joshua 15:9 note), to be distinguished here and in 1 Samuel 13:17 from the Ophrah of Judges 6:11, is probably the Ephrain of 2 Chronicles 13:19, and the Ephraim of John 11:54. It is conjecturally identified with "Et-Taiyibeh," on the road from Jerusalem to Bethel.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11. the lot of … Benjamin came up—It has been supposed that there were two urns or vessels, from which the lots were drawn: one containing the names of the tribes, the other containing those of the seven portions; and that the two were drawn out simultaneously.

the coast of their lot came forth between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph—Thus the prophecy of Moses respecting the inheritance of Benjamin was remarkably accomplished. (See on [199]De 33:12).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Avim, and Parah,.... Of the two first of these we read nowhere else:

and Ophrah is not the same with Ophrah in Judges 6:11; that belonged to the tribe of Manasseh, but rather that which was in the land of Shuah, 1 Samuel 13:17. Jerom calls this place Aphrah, in the tribe of Benjamin, and says (o), in his time there was a village called Effrem, five miles from Bethel to the east, which very probably is the same with this.

(o) De loc. Heb. fol. 88. H.

Geneva Study Bible

And Avim, and Pharah, and Ophrah,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

23. 7. Avim] Some have regarded this as identical with Ai, which is also called Aija (Nehemiah 11:31) and Aiath (Isaiah 10:28). 8. Parah is unknown. 9. Ophrah appears to be mentioned again in 1 Samuel 13:17 in describing the spoilers who issued from the Philistine camp at Michmash. Robinson would identify it with El-Taiyibeh, a small village 4 miles E.N.E. of Beitin (Bethel). This was not the Ophrah of Gideon (Jdg 6:11; Jdg 6:15).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 23. - Avim. Most probably Ai (see note on Joshua 7:2). Joshua 18:23

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Avvim (i.e., ruins) is unknown. Phara has been preserved in the ruins of Fara, on Wady Fara, three hours to the north-east of Jerusalem, and the same distance to the west of Jericho. Ophrah is mentioned again in 1 Samuel 13:17, but it is a different place from the Ophrah of Gideon in Manasseh (Judges 6:11, Judges 6:24; Judges 8:27). According to the Onom. (s. v. Aphra), it was a κώμη Ἀφρήλ in the time of Eusebius (Jer. vicus Effrem), five Roman miles to the east of Bethel; and according to Van de Velde, v. Raumer, and others, it is probably the same place as Ephron or Ephrain, which Abijah took from Jeroboam along with Jeshanah and Bethel (2 Chronicles 13:19), also the same as Ephraim, the city to which Christ went when He withdrew into the desert (John 11:54), as the Onom. (s. v. Ephron) speaks of a villa praegrandis Ephraea nomine (Ἐφρα̈́́ι in Euseb.), although the distance given there, viz., twenty Roman miles to the north of Jerusalem, reaches far beyond the limits of Benjamin.