Joshua 18:14

Jos 18:14. The corner of the sea southward — No account can be given of this border, according to our translation. For it is certain it did not compass any corner of the Mediterranean sea, (and no other sea can be here meant,) nor come near unto it. Therefore, by פאת ים, peath-jam, which we translate corner of the sea, must be meant the side of the sea; or rather the west side. So the Vulgate hath it, and the Seventy to the same purpose.

And the word southward is joined by the Vulgate, not to the sea, or west, but to the next words; southward from the hill, &c. Kirjath-baal, which is Kirjath-jearim — The Israelites changed the name, to blot out the remembrance of Baal.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. And the border was drawn thence] From the mountain south of Beth-horon the boundary line of Benjamin trended in a southerly direction towards “Kirjath-baal, which is Kirjath-jearim, a city of the children of Judah.”

compassed] On “compass,” see above, note on ch. Jos_15:3.

Kirjath-jearim] See above, note on Jos_9:17.

this was the west quarter] The word here rendered quarter, = (i) a mouth, then (ii) a side, which is turned to any quarter of the heavens. The Eastern boundary was formed by the Jordan, see Jos_18:20.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the border was drawn thence,.... From Bethhoron:

and compassed the corner of the sea southward; it is hard to say what sea is meant, or what by it. Fuller (k) conjectures, that as the Hebrews call any confluence of water a sea, as we call such a "mere", the great waters in Gibeon may be meant, Jer 41:12; for it cannot mean the Mediterranean sea, for Dan lay between Benjamin and that; and yet if a sea is meant, no other can be; wherefore it is best to render it the "west quarter", as it is in the latter part of this verse; and so the same word is translated, Jos 18:12; the "west", and not the "sea", as it sometimes is; for the border of Benjamin did not reach the sea any where; though Josephus (l) makes it to extend to it, and says, that the length of it was from the river Jordan to the sea:

the hill that lieth before Bethhoron southward; the hill that lay to the south of nether Bethhoron, as in Jos 18:13,

and the goings out thereof, the end of the western coast:

were at Kirjathbaal, which is Kirjathjearim, a city of the children of Judah; of which see Jos 15:9,

this was the west quarter; as thus described.

(k) Pisgah Sight, B. 2. c. 12. p. 251. (l) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 22.)

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Kirjath-jearim; the Israelites changed the name, to blot out the remembrance of Baal. Compare Jos 15:9; Num 32:38.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And the border was drawn thence, and compassed the border of the sea. This is a serious mistranslation, arising from the same word being used for sea and west in Hebrew. The LXX has prov (some copies have para ) yalassan . The literal translation is, and the border extended, and deflected to the western side. What is meant is that the further portion of the border now described was the western side of Benjamin. Southward. The western border of course ran in a southerly direction. Quarter. This is the same word that is translated border above, in the phrase, "border of the sea." Kirjath-Jearim. Any one who will take the trouble to examine a map will see how much more probable the site Kuriet el Enab is here, than any place "four miles from Beth-shemesh," as suggested by Lieut. Conder. The distance from nether Beth-horon to Kuriet el Enab is not great. It is improbable that the boundary should have run double that distance without any mention of locality.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Kirjath-jearim - The Israelites changed the name, to blot out the remembrance of Baal.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

And the boundary circled and went around the western side southward. At Atros-ador, the length of the northern boundary ended; it went from east to west. From there the boundary line encircled the western boundary of Binyomin to go southward from north to south. The western boundary line, extended from the mountain which was opposite Beis-choron— south of the mountain— which was south of Beis-choron; that was the beginning of the northwest corner of Binyomen’s [portion,] and the boundary line went from north to south.

It extended— From its south-western corner to Kiryas-yearim which belonged to Yehudah. Thus the width of Binyomin’s boundary occupies the entire width of the land between Yehudah and Ephraim. His [Binyomin’s] southern boundary meets with the northern boundary of Yehudah, which was the location of Yerushalayim, as is said later in this chapter. Thus both tribes had a share in it.. (See v. 28) The city and the Beis ha Mikdosh were situated right on the border of the two tribes. There are various opinions regarding the exact location of the Altar itself. Some say that it was in Binyomin’s portion, while others maintain that it was in the portion of Yehudah. The Northern boundary of Binyomin and the sourthern boundary of Ephraim meet, and Shiloh was located there in the portion of Ephraim, as it is said, ‘And He abandoned the Mishkan of Shiloh, etc., and He abhorred the tent of Yoseif, and the tribe of Ephraim He did not choose.’ Binyomin too had a share in it [Shiloh], and so we learned in Maseches Zevachim, ‘In three places the Divine Presence rested in Eretz Yisroel: in Shiloh, in Nov and in the Beis ha Mikdosh; and of all of them, it rested only in the portion of Binyomin: where the Beis ha Mikdosh was built. The reason for the pre-eminence of Binyomin in this respect, was the blessing Moshe gave to him, as it is said: “Adonoy’s friend, let him live secure with Him. He hovers protectively over him throughout the day, and He resides between his shoulders.” (Devorim 33:12) The Shechina, Divine Presence, resided in Shiloh for many years, and for a short time it hovered over Nov and Givon, and finally a permanent, eternal dwelling place for the Shechina was established in Yerushalayim. Thus in his blessing, Moshe alluded to the places within the territory of Binyomin in which the Divine Presence would reside. (See Rashi there).

This was the western side— the west side extending from Atros-ador to Kiryas-yearim.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.