Joshua 16:6

_AND THE BORDER WENT OUT TOWARD THE SEA TO MICHMETHAH ON THE NORTH SIDE; AND THE BORDER WENT ABOUT EASTWARD UNTO TA'ANATH-SHILOH, AND PASSED BY IT ON THE EAST TO JANOHAH;_ Michmethah on the north side - literally, the Michmethah, a place of note. [Septuagint, Ikasmoon.] The northern boundary is traced from this point eastward to the Jordan. JANOHAH - now Janun, an extensive ruin. Eusebius and Jerome ('Onomast.,' article 'Janohah') place it 12 Roman miles to the east of Shechem; i:e., just where it is (Van de Velde, 'Syria and Palestine,' 2:, pp. 303, 304)....

From the abrupt manner in which the statements are introduced, as well as from their imperfect character, there is probability in the conjecture that some words have, in these verses, fallen out of the text. Few of the places are known for certain....

EXPOSITION THE INHERITANCE OF EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH. JOSHUA 16:1 FELL. Literally_ came forth, i.e; _out of the urn. THE WATER OF JERICHO. "This is the present fountain of es Sultan, half an hour to the west of Ribs, the only large fountain in the neighbourhood of Jericho, whose waters spread over the plain and form a small brook" (or small stream, according to Von Schubert)," which flows in the rainy season through the Wady Kelt into the Jordan" (Keil and Delitzsch). This spring, which rises amid the nebek trees and the wheat fields, "springs from the earth at the eastern base of a little knoll; the water is sweet, clear, and agreeable, neither cold nor warm" (Ritter). It flows, he adds, into a basin nine feet b

AND THE BORDER WENT OUT TOWARDS THE SEA,.... The Mediterranean sea: TO MICHMETHAH ON THE NORTH SIDE; of the border, the same on which Bethhoron was, from whence the border proceeded on to this place, of which we have no other account but in Joshua 17:7; by which it appears to have been near Shechem, and in sight of it; AND THE BORDER WENT ABOUT EASTWARD UNTO TAANATHSHILOH; this seems to be the same Jerom e calls Thenath in the tribe of Joseph; and who observes there was in his day a village of this name ten miles from Neapolis (or Shechem) to the east, as you go down to Jordan: AND PASSED BY IT ON THE EAST TO JANOHAH: which the above writer f wrongly calls Janon, and says, that in his time a village of this name was shown in the country of Acrabatena, twelve miles to the east from Neapolis or Shechem; the border passed by Taanath on the

4. THE PORTION OF EPHRAIM CHAPTER 16 _ 1. The lot for the children of Joseph (Joshua 16:1)_ 2. Ephraim's portion (Joshua 16:5) 3. Ephraim's failure (Joshua 16:10) A wonderful lot was that of Joseph, beginning at Jordan, the river of death, up to Bethel, which means “the house of God.” Then the portion of Ephraim comes first. Ephraim with the blessed inheritance to be “doubly fruitful” (the meaning of Ephraim) fails. “They drove not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer.” Josephus, the Jewish historian, remarks on this: “They grew effeminate as to fighting any more against their enemies, but applied themselves to the cultivation of the land, which producing them great plenty and riches, they

JOSHUA 16 F. This section deals with the inheritance of the Joseph tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh. It is composite, but the different parts are easily separated. The old narrative speaks of the tribe of Joseph, the new, _i.e._ P, of Ephraim and Manasseh. The section begins with three verses (Joshua 16:1) from the older source which give the dividing line of the lot of Joseph, _i.e._ the boundary between the N. and S.; the line goes from Jordan near Jericho, leaving Jericho on the S., and is drawn by Bethel, Bethhoron, and Gezer. One would naturally expect that this line would be the same as the southern border of Ephraim which P gives in the following verses (Joshua 16:4). But for some reason, which we can only conjecture, the borders of Ephraim are confused and unintelligible. It has been suggested tha

The Inheritance of the Tribe of Ephraim 5. _And the border_ The border given is not traced out with the same completeness as that given above of the tribe of Judah. No mention, it will be observed, is made of the northern boundary line of the tribes descended from Joseph, although the eastern and western boundaries are implied, viz. the Jordan and the Mediterranean. _on the east side_ It is to be borne in mind that the border traced above in Joshua 16:1-3 is here presupposed. The boundary is not drawn _de novo_, but is based upon the other. _Ataroth-addar_ Comp. ch. Joshua 18:13. It is a little remarkable that the "Upper Beth-horon" is mentioned in this verse instead of Lower Beth-horon, as in...

_VER._ 6. _AND THE BORDER WENT OUT TOWARD THE SEA,_ &C.— The whole verse is very obscure: all that we can observe upon it is, that the portion of Ephraim was inclosed on the north by a line, which went from Upper Beth-horon, among others, to Michmethah, in the way to the Mediterranean, but on the north of that city drew near a little on the east towards _Taanah-shiloh,_ and went on to _Janohah._ From ch. Judges 17:7 it appears, that _Michmethah_ was opposite _Sichem._ Taanah-shiloh is probably the same as _Taanach,_ ch. Judges 17:11 which Eusebius places ten miles from Sichem, in the way to the Jordan. As to _Janohah,_ Eusebius sets down a place of that name at ten miles from Sichem, and also in the way to the Jordan....

_The Boundaries of Ephraim Joshua 16:5-8_ 5 And the border of the children of Ephraim according to their families was thus: even the border of their inheritance on the east side was Ataroth-addar, unto Beth-horon the upper; 6 And the border went out toward the sea to Michmethah on the north side; and the border went about eastward unto Taanath-shiloh, and passed by it on the east to Janohah; 7 And it went down from Janohah to Ataroth, and to Naarath, and came to Jericho, and went out at Jordan. 8 The border went out from Tappuah westward unto the river Kanah; and the goings out thereof were at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim by their families. 7. _What border of Ephraim was given first? Joshua 16:5_ A brief description of the souther

THE LOT OF JOSEPH Chs. 16, 17 describe the territories of Ephraim and the W. half of Manasseh. Vv. 1-4 of Joshua 16 give the general frontiers of the combined tribes, the rest of the chapter (Joshua 16:5) the frontiers of Ephraim as distinct from W. Manasseh. The territory allotted to the two tribes comprised the central and most fertile part of Palestine. The S. border ran from Jericho through Bethel to Beth-horon and the sea; and the N. border from Mt. Carmel, along the S. border of the Plain of Esdraelon to the Jordan....