And the border compassed from Baalah westward unto Mount Seir,.... Not that in Idumea, so famous for its being the seat of Esau, which lay remote from hence, but a third of that name near Kirjathjearim; and which Adrichomius t places on the borders of Azotus and Ashkelon: this compass is fetched from the north to the west:

and passed along unto the side of the mount Jearim, which [is] Chesalon, on the north side; that is, on the north side of the mount, which went by both those names; and which Jerom u places on the borders of Aelia or Jerusalem; but it seems to be at a distance from thence, and near to Kirjathjearim, and had its name, as that, from the multitude of trees that grow on it:

and went down to Bethshemesh; there were several cities of this name; but this, according to Jerom w, was a Levite's city in the tribe of Benjamin, and in his day was shown as you go from Eleutherepolis to Nicopolis or Emmaus, ten miles to the east; according to Burchard x, it was five miles from Kirjathjearim to the south; and Bunting y places it four miles from Jerusalem westward, taking it for a city in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 21:16;

and passed on to Timnah; which, in Jerom's time, was a large village on the borders of Lydda, as you go to Jerusalem, in the tribe of Judah, or Dan z; his placed in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:57; though thought to be afterwards given to Dan; here Judah sheared his sheep,

Genesis 38:12.

t Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 24. u De loc. Heb. fol. 90. F. w Ib. fol. 89. H. x Apud Masium in loc. y Travels, p. 124. z De loc. Heb. fol. 95. C.

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