Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
Aroër before Rabbah, i.e., Ammân (see Deut 3:11), is Aroër of Gad, and must be
distinguished from Aroër of Reuben on the Arnon (v. 16).
It is only mentioned again in Judg 11:33 and 2 Sam 24:5, and was situated, according
to 2 Sam., in the valley of Gad, that is to say, in a wady or valley through which
Gesenius supposes an arm of the Jabbok to have flowed, and Thenius the Jabbok
itself, though neither of them has sufficient ground for his conjecture. It is also not to
be identified with the ruin of Ayra to the south-west of Szalt, as this is not in a wady
at all; but in all probability it is to be sought for to the north-east of Rabbah, in the
Wady Nahr Ammân, on the side of the Kalat Zerka Gadda , the situation of which
suits this verse and 11:33. - In v. 26 the extent of the territory of Gad is first of all
described from north to south: viz., from Heshbon (see v. 17) to Ramath-mizpeh , or
Ramoth in Gilead (Josh 20:8), probably on the site of the present Szalt (see at Deut
4:43), "and Betonim," probably the ruin of Batneh , on the mountains which bound
the Ghor towards the east between the Wady Shaib and Wady Ajlun, in the same
latitude as Szalt ( V. de Velde , Mem. p. 298); and then, secondly , the northern
boundary is described from west to east, "from Mahanaim to the territory of Lidbir."
Mahanaim (double-camp: Gen 32:2), which was given up by Gad to the Levites (Josh
21:30), in which Ishbosheth was proclaimed king (2 Sam 2:8-9), and to which David
fled from Absalom (2 Sam 17:24,27; 1 Kings 2:8), is not to be sought for, as Knobel
supposes, in the ruins of Meysera , to the south of Jabbok, four hours and a half from
Szalt, but was on the north of the Jabbok, since Jacob did not cross the ford of the
Jabbok till after the angel had appeared to him at Mahanaim (Gen 32:3,23).
It was in or by the valley of the Jordan (according to 2 Sam 18:23-24), and has
probably been preserved in the ruins of Mahneh , the situation of which, however, has
not yet been determined (see at Gen 32:3). Lidbir is quite
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