Bible Commentaries

[This] then was the lot of the tribe of the children of Judah by their families; [even] to the border of Edom the wilderness of Zin southward [was] the uttermost part of the south coast.

This then was the lot of the tribe, … — The lot came forth, up, or out Joshua 19:1 ; Joshua 19:10 ; Joshua 19:17 of the bosom, lap, Proverbs 16:33 pot, or some other vessel in use for that purpose; for the manner of this lottery is not expressed: but that it was solemnly done with fasting and prayer premised, is probable; Judges 20:26 Acts 1:24 and that it was ordered by a divine providence, is certain. Proverbs 16:33 And hence it was that Judah’s lot came out first, and fell out in the best part of the land: to show that God had a purpose to exalt that tribe above the rest.

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And their south border was from the shore of the salt sea, from the bay that looketh southward:

And their south border. — See Numbers 34:2 . Where God doth, as it were, draw a map of Canaan, and showeth the bounds of it on every side.

From the bay that looketh southward. — Heb., From the tongue: some render it from the promontory running out into the sea, in form of a tongue.

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And it went out to the south side to Maalehacrabbim, and passed along to Zin, and ascended up on the south side unto Kadeshbarnea, and passed along to Hezron, and went up to Adar, and fetched a compass to Karkaa:

To Maalehacrabbim, — i.e., To the ascent of scorpions, or of the mountains that were crooked as scorpions, or that abounded with scorpions. Judges 1:36

Passed along to Zin. — A city whence that wilderness, not the same with that of Sin or Sinai, had its name.

To Hezron, and went up to Adar. — These two places are Numbers 34:4 called Hazaraddar.

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[From thence] it passed toward Azmon, and went out unto the river of Egypt; and the goings out of that coast were at the sea: this shall be your south coast.

This shall be your south coast. — It is God that "determineth the times before appointed, and the bounds of our habitations"; Acts 17:26 the walls of his people’s houses are continually before him. Isaiah 49:16

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And the east border [was] the salt sea, [even] unto the end of Jordan. And [their] border in the north quarter [was] from the bay of the sea at the uttermost part of Jordan:

The salt sea. — The lake of Sodom, into which the river Jordan runneth, and there endeth.

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And the border went up to Bethhogla, and passed along by the north of Betharabah; and the border went up to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben:

To the stone of Bohan. — Which had its name for some unknown reason: so Migdalgad. Joshua 15:37

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And the border went up toward Debir from the valley of Achor, and so northward, looking toward Gilgal, that [is] before the going up to Adummim, which [is] on the south side of the river: and the border passed toward the waters of Enshemesh, and the goings out thereof were at Enrogel:

At Enrogel. — Or, The fuller’s well; who hath his name in Hebrew from footing it, quia pedibus mundet vestes. So hath the talebearer. Psalms 15:3

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And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom unto the south side of the Jebusite; the same [is] Jerusalem: and the border went up to the top of the mountain that [lieth] before the valley of Hinnom westward, which [is] at the end of the valley of the giants northward:

By the valley of the son of Hinnon. — Where with barbarous cruelty they sacrificed their children to Moloch, or Saturn. 2 Kings 23:11 Hence Gehenna for hell.

The same is Jerusalem. — Anciently Jebus, Judges 19:11 afterwards Jerusalem; not quasi ιερον σολυμων vel σολομωντος , as Hegesippus dreameth, but of Jireh, Genesis 22:14 "he will provide," and Shalom, "peace." The Hebrew here and elsewhere writeth it in the dual form, as it were the double Jerusalem, the higher and the lower town, from which the apostle gathereth an allegory. Galatians 4:15

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