Joshua 18:28

And Zelaheath,.... Zelah was the buryingplace of Saul and his family, 2 Samuel 21:14.

And Zelah, Eleph, and Jebusi, which is Jerusalem, Gibeath, and Kirjath; fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin according to their families. Zelah , [the Septuagint omits] - (cf.

Which is Jerusalem: so it seems this city did properly and primarily belong to Benjamin, although the tribe of Judah had also an interest in it, either because some part of it was allotted to them, or because the Benjamites gave them a share in it, for the assistance which either they had received or did expect from that potent tribe, for the getting or defending of that very important place. See Poole "". It is more than probable that all the cities belonging to this tribe are not here named, because Anathoth and Almon are omitted here, but expressed .

THE OF .(11-28) The lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin.—It can have been by no accident that their lot came forth “between Judah and Joseph.” No wiser method could have been devised to secure an united Israel than thus to make Benjamin the link between the two most powerful and naturally rival tribes. In the story of Joseph, the brethren are reconciled through the mutual affection of Judah and Joseph for Benjamin as their father’s youngest and best-loved son. The position thus given to Benjamin under Joshua was still further developed by circumstances. The tribe was almost exterminated in the time of the judges; the survivors were united in marriage with women of Ephraim and Manasseh (?). On the other hand, the city of Jerusalem, although assigned by Joshua to Benjamin, was first a joint possession of Judah and Benjamin (1 Chronicles 8:28; 1 Chronicles 8:32; Judges 1:8; Judges 1:21), then the royal city of the kings of the house of Judah. The selection of the first king of Israel from Benjamin, and the ultimate planting of the religious and political centre of all the tribes on the confines of Judah and Benjamin in Jerusalem, would have been two masterstrokes of policy if they had been schemes of man’s devising. They were really links in the long chain of God’s providential dealing with the chosen people. (12) And their border.—This is first described on the north side, where it coincided with the southern border of Ephraim. Conder draws it from El ‘Aujeh (sheet 15), five miles north of Jericho, towards Beth-el (Beitin), perhaps going along the Wβdy’ Aujeh, Beth-el lying within the territory of Benjamin (Joshua 18:22), and so on to Archi (Joshua 16:2), now Ain ‘Arik (near the top of sheet 17), and thence to Ataroth-addar (Ed-Dβrieh), near Beth-horon the nether (Beit- ϋr-et-Tahta). This line is from east to west. (14) And the border was drawn thence . . .—At this point it turns southward, and runs from the neighbourhood of Beth-horon to Kirjath-jearim (Khurbet ‘Erma, in sheet 17: very small, and not easily found). Corner of the sea.—Ph’ath Yβm, “the west side.” (15) And the south quarter.—Here the borderline again turns to the east, and runs to Ain Atβn (the waters of Nephtoah), near Bethlehem. Thence it turns to the north-east, and follows the line described above (Joshua 15:6-8) as the northern boundary of Judah. (17) The stone of Bohan the son of Reuben must have been near the Jordan. Is it possible that Bohan, the son of Reuben, did on his own account what was done for all Israel by the command of Joshua? (Joshua 4:8). (21) The cities of the tribe of . . . Benjamin.—The following are identified: viz., in Joshua 18:21, ‘Ain-es-Sultan,’ Ain Hajlah (sheet 18); Joshua 18:22, Khurbet es-Sϊmnrah, Beitin (sheet 18); Joshua 18:23, Fβtah (sheet 18), Taiyibeh (sheet 14); Joshua 18:24, Jeb ‘a (sheet 17). (22) Beth-el seems to have passed into the hands of Ephraim without question when the tribe of Benjamin was all but exterminated.

Verse 28. And Zelah] This was the burying-place of Saul, Jonathan, and the family of Kish. See 2 Samuel 21:14. Jebusi, which is Jerusalem] We often meet with this name, and it is evident that it was the ancient name of Jerusalem, which was also called Salem; and was probably the place in which Melchizedek reigned in the days of Abraham; though some think a different place is meant; for that there was another place of the same name, is evident from John 3:23. This place, called Salim by the evangelist, is said to be near to Enon, and there John baptized, because there was much water in the place. This, however, must not be confounded with the Salem mentioned above; for that this was a name of Jerusalem, is evident from Psalms 76:1-2: In Judah is God known: his name is great in Israel. In SALEM also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in Zion. This must refer to Jerusalem, where the temple was situated. Whether Jebus or Jebusi had its name from the Jebusites, or the Jebusites from it, cannot be ascertained.

28. 10. Zelah] = Beit Jala, S. of the plain of Rephaim, is afterwards mentioned as the burial-place of Saul and Jonathan (2 Samuel 21:14). 11. Eleph is unknown; 12. Jebusi, which is Jerusalem, see note above, Joshua 15:8. 13. Gibeath is the Gibeah of Saul, now Tuleil-el-Fûl, about one hour and 25 minutes north of Jerusalem. Here (a) occurred the outrage recorded in Judges 19; here (b) was Jonathan with a thousand chosen warriors when he made his victorious onslaught on the garrison of the Philistines (1 Samuel 13:2-3). 14. Kirjath is at present unrecognised. This is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin] The situation of the territory of this tribe was highly favourable, forming almost a parallelogram, of about 26 miles in length by 12 in breadth. The smallness of the district, hardly larger than the county of Middlesex, was compensated for by the excellence of the land. (a) The general level of this part of Palestine is very high, being 2000 feet above the level of the Mediterranean on the western side, and 3000 feet above the deep valley of the Jordan on the eastern side. This plateau is surmounted by a large number of eminences (Gibeon, Gibeah, Geba, all = “hill;” Ramah = “eminence;” Mizpeh = “a watch-tower”), which presented favourable sites for strong fortresses. (b) No less important than these eminences are the torrent-beds and ravines by which the upper country looks down into the deep tracts on each side of it, forming then, as they do now, the only mode of access from either the plains of Philistia and of Sharon on the west, or the Ghôr of the Jordan on the east. (c) In the broken and hilly country, “little Benjamin” (Psalms 68:27), famous above the rest for skill in archery (2 Samuel 1:22), for its slingers (Judges 20:16) and left-handed warriors (Judges 3:15), became warlike and indomitable. “In his mountain passes—the ancient haunt of beasts of prey, he ‘ravined as a wolf in the morning,’ descended into the rich plains of Philistia on the one side, and of the Jordan on the other, and ‘returned in the evening to divide the spoil’ (Genesis 49:27). In the troubled period of the Judges, the tribe of Benjamin maintained a struggle, unaided and for some time with success, against the whole of the rest of the nation (Judges 20, 21.). And to the latest times they never could forget that they had given birth to the first king.” Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine, pp. 200, 201.

28. Jebusi, or, the Jebusite. See Joshua 10:1. Gibeath, commonly called Gibeah, famous as the birthplace and residence of Saul, the first king of Israel.