The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 249

Israel had sprung up in the time of David explorers have failed to settle its situation. (see_ 2 Sam. xix. 41-43). But Dr. Eder- Selr. This mountainous region was well she1m has suggested another explanation. known as the territory of Esau (see Gen. Judah, he says (see eh. xiv. 6; xv. 1) xxxii. 2). Baal-gad In the va.lley of Le-- entered upon their inheritance, whlle th~ ha.non. For valley (il~i?'.:l,) see note on ver. other tribes wete still in Gilgal. In the eame way Mount Ephraim ie RO called 8. Baal-gad hae been ·by some identified because it was given to that tribe and with Baalbek, or Heliopolis, a Syrian city, occupied by them shortly after. While as whose vast ruins strike the beholder with the remaining seven tribes remained without astoi:iishment even now. But Baalbek lay their inheritance (Reuben and Gad as well considerably to the north of Palestine. H a~ Manasseh and Ephraim being now pro- has therefore with greater probability been vided for), the rest of the mountains were identified by Robinson, Von Raumer. and known as the mountains of Israel This others, with Paneas or Cresarea Philippi. explanation is ingenious, but hardly satis- Baal-gad signifies "the lord of fortune," an factory. Ephraim (see Judg. viii. I, 2 • aspect under which the Babylonian Baal or xii. 1) early acquired a preponderance ove; Bel was frequently worehipped. The word the other tribes. We should therefore ex- •Gad! erroneously translated " troop" in our pect a threefold division of the mountain vers10n (Gen. xxx. 11; Isa. lxv. 11), is district, the mountains of Judah, of Joseph, properly " fortune," and hence the god and of Israel, especially as Ephraim was the Fortune. The worship of Pan in later times next after Judah to enter upon its in- supplanted that of Bae.I, but traces of both heritance. The internal evidence seems to cults, in inscriptions and niches, may be prove that the Book of Joshua was written found in the neighbourhood to the present by one of the tribe of Judah, or by a Levite day (see Tristram, ' Land of Israel '). All residing within the borders of that tribe. tra,ellers speak with enthusiasm of the Per~aps ~hls affords the best explanation, situation of Banias. Josephus says that it but 1s q111te possible that the whole moun- affords a prof □ sion of natnre.l gifts. Seetzen tain district of Palestine is here meant. The corroborates him. Dean Stanley compares south. The Negeb, or dry country (see eh. it to Tivoli, and Canon Tristram thinks that x. 40). The valley. The Shephelah, or low- in its rocks, caverns, and cascades there is lands (eee note on eh. ix. I). This must have much to remind the V1sitor of what is per- ex~nded from Gaza northward to Joppa, haps the loveliest place in all Italy. He con- while the Shephelah of Israel mentioned tinues, "The situation of Bania.a is indeed immediately below must be the lowland magnificent. With ta.ll limestone cliffs to tract from Joppa to Mount Carmel. The the north and east, a rugged torrent of pla.ln. The Arabah (see note on eh. iii. 16). ~ase.lt to the south, and a gentie slope for And the valley of the same. Rather, his its western front, Banias is almost hidden (i.e., Israel's) lowland. till the traveller is among the ruins." Be.nias stands at the end of a gorge of the Ver. 17.-The Mount Ha.la.k. The smooth Hermon ro.nge with the wide range of the mountain. Literally," monte glnbro," Vulg.; Huleh plain opening out before it, as the ~•icv, Symmachus. This may either be Campagna and Rome in the distance are interpreted "the mountain bare of foliage," seen from the mouth of the gorge nt Tivoli. as opposed to Seir, the hairy or wooded Vandevelde, however, identifies Banias with mountain, as Masius and Rosenmiiller sup- Beth-rehob, on the insufficient ground thut pose, or, as the latter also suggests, it may Be.al-gad is so.id to be in, not at, the mouth mean the mountain which has a smooth of the valley or Bik'ath of Lebanon. He outline, ae opposed to a precipitous cliff. prefers the castles either of Bostra or of Thls falls in with the character of the hllls Aisafa, the one an hour and a half, the on the south of Palestine (see note on eh. x. other three hours north of Banias. It 40). The LXX. renders by a proper name. should be added that an arm of the Jordan But this the article forbids. The Syriac rises and rushes through the gorge here, interpreter renders " the dividing moun- "prreceps," like the Anio at Tivoli. The tain." But p1;,n rather signifies in this valley of Lebanon is supposed by some not sense to assign by lot. Keil would identify to be the vnlley between Lebanon and it with "the row of white cliffs which cuts Anti - Lebanon, but the country on the the Arabah obliquely at about eight English southern declivity of Mount Hermon. But miles to the south of the Dead Sea," and the term il~j:!.;1 here unquestionably means divides the great valley into two parts, the the well-kno;n nnkei'a or CCBle Syria, i.e., Ghor and the Arabah. He gives up the the tract between Lebanon and Anti-Leba- other " smooth " or " bald " mountains, non (see Knobel). ~OIIUB(l they dQ I10t "go up to Seir," L11ter Ver. 18.-A lOD.f time, Hebrew, many  1(12 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [cu. xr. 1--28.