Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
Josh 16:8. From this point the boundary ran down to the Cane-brook (see ch. 16:8),
namely to the south side of the brook.
"These towns were assigned to Ephraim in the midst of the towns of Manasseh, and
(but) the territory of Manasseh was on the north of the brook." The only possible
meaning of these words is the following: From Tappuah, the boundary went down to
the Cane-brook and crossed it, so that the south side of the brook really belonged to
the territory of Manasseh; nevertheless the towns on this south side were allotted to
Ephraim, whilst only the territory to the north of the brook fell to the lot of the
Manassites. This is expressed more plainly in v. 10a: "To the south (of the brook the
land came) to Ephraim, and to the north to Manasseh." In v. 10b the northern and
eastern boundaries are only briefly indicated: "And they (the Manassites) touched
Asher towards the north, and Issachar towards the east." The reason why this
boundary was not described more minutely, was probably because it had not yet been
fixed.
For (v. 11) Manasseh also received towns and districts in (within the territory of)
Issachar and Asher, viz., Beth-shean, etc. Beth-shean , to the wall of which Saul's
body was fastened (1 Sam 31:10ff.; 2 Sam 21:12), was afterwards called Scythopolis.
It was in the valley of the Jordan, where the plain of Jezreel slopes off into the valley;
its present name is Beisan , a place where there are considerable ruins of great
antiquity, about two hours from the Jordan (vid., Seetzen , ii. pp. 162ff.; Rob. iii. p.
174; Bibl. Res. p. 325; v. Raumer , Pal. pp. 150-1). This city, with its daughter towns,
was in the territory of Issachar, which was on the east of Manasseh, and may have
extended a considerable distance towards the south along the valley of the Jordan, as
the territory of Manasseh and Ephraim did not run into the valley of the Jordan; but
Asher (Yasir) is mentioned in v. 7 as the most easterly place in Manasseh, and,
according to Josh 16:6-7, the eastern boundary of Ephraim ran down along the
eastern edge of the mountains as far as Jericho, without including the Jordan valley.
At the same time, the Ghor on the western side of the Jordan below Beisan, as far as
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