Joshua 19:47

Jos 19:47 And the coast of the children of Dan went out [too little] for them: therefore the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and dwelt therein, and called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father.

Ver. 47. Went up to fight against Leshem.] Called Laish in Jdg 18:7 Where they turned open idolaters, and are therefore cut out of the roll of Christ’s people. {Rev 7:1-17 1Ch 7:1-40}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jos 19:47. The coast of Dan went out too little — The words too little are not in the Hebrew, where there is nothing that corresponds with them. The passage runs thus: The coast of the children of Dan went out from them; that is, they were dispossessed of it in some parts, or kept out of them by the former inhabitants; and we find, by Jdg 1:34, that the Amorites forced them into the mountains, and would not suffer them to dwell in the valley. This reduced them to such straits, that they were constrained to enlarge their border some other way; which they did as follows. They went up to fight against Leshem — A city not far from Jordan, called Laish in the book of Judges, before it was taken by the Danites. And called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father — It was customary for conquerors to change the names of those places they subdued. This was done with respect to Leshem, after the death of Joshua; and is related more largely in the book of Judges, chap. 18., where the whole expedition is recorded. From whence some have argued that this book was not written by Joshua; whereas no more can fairly be inferred, than that, in after times, Ezra, or some other, thought good to insert this verse here, in order to complete the account of the Danites’ possessions.

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

19:47 The tribe of Dan had trouble taking possession of their land because of the Philistines, so a group of Danites later moved northward to Laish (see Judg 18), which they renamed Dan, on the northern border of Israel’s territory.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

According as Jacob had prophesied, Gen. 49:17.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem--The Danites, finding their inheritance too small, decided to enlarge its boundaries by the sword; and, having conquered Leshem (Laish), they planted a colony there, calling the new settlement by the name of Dan (see on Jdg 18:7).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 47. Went out too little for them] This is certainly the meaning of the passage; but our translators have been obliged to add the words too little to make this sense apparent. Houbigant contends that an ancient copyist, meeting frequently with the words ויצאהגבול vaiyetse haggebul, in the preceding history, became so familiarized to them that he wrote them here instead of ויאץ הגבול vaiyaats haggebul, and the border of the children of Dan was STRAIT for them. It was on this account that they were obliged to go and fight against Leshem, and take and possess it, their former inheritance being too strait for their increasing population.

And called Leshem, Dan] This city was situated near the origin of Jordan, at the utmost northern extremity of the promised land, as Beer-sheba was at that of the south; and as after its capture by the Danites it was called Dan, hence arose the expression from Dan even to Beer-sheba, which always signified the whole extent of the promised land. Some suppose that Leshem was the same with Caesarea Philippi, but others with reason reject this opinion. It must be granted that the whole account given in this verse refers indisputably to a fact which did not take place till after the death of Joshua. It is another of the marginal or explicative notes which were added by some later hand. The whole account of this expedition of the Danites against Leshem is circumstantially given in Jdg 18:1-29 the book of Judges, and to that chapter the reader is referred.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(47) And the coast of the children of Dan went out too little for them.—The words “too

little” are not in the original; and it seems better to translate literally: And the coast of the children of Dan went out from them—i.e., their territory was partly re-conquered by the Philistines. Something similar seems to have occurred in several districts of the country. The Israelites not taking advantage of the impression produced by Joshua’s great victories to occupy the territory assigned to them, the nations of Canaan re-possessed themselves of their former abodes. and held them against Israel. The Philistines are expressly said to have been left to prove Israel. Joshua was not permitted to exterminate them. And although Dan and Judah, numerically the two strongest of all the tribes (both in the census in the plains of Moab and at Sinai), were placed next to the Philistines, and had the task of conquering that nation assigned to them, still it was not effected. We read in Judges 1, “The Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountains, for they would not suffer them to come down into the valley.”

Hence the Danites, instead of attacking the Philistines and Amorites in their inheritance, preferred to form a new settlement in the north, and put to the sword “a people quiet and secure,” who “had no deliverer,” rather than “run with patience the race set before them.” They were not minded to resist unto blood, striving against their foes. (See the narrative in Judges 18, especially Jos_19:27-28.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

47. went out too little for them] The words “too little” are inserted in our Version. They are not found in the original Hebrew, which literally means, the border of the children of Dan went out from them, i.e. the border of the children of Dan was extended. “Squeezed into the narrow strip between the mountains and the sea, its energies were great beyond its numbers.” Stanley’s Sin. and Pal., p. 395; Lectures, p. 268.

went up to fight] “Stieded vp, and fouçten,” Wyclif. Hard pressed by the Amorites, whom they were unable to expel from the plain (Jdg_1:34), and by the Philistines, they longed for an addition to their territory, they sent out five spies from two towns in the low country, who tracked the Jordan to its source beyond the waters of Merom, and came to an eminence on which rose the town of

Leshem] or Laish, far up in northern Palestine, the modern Tell el-Kâdy near Bâniâs. It was a colony from Sidon, and its inhabitants, separated from their mother city by the huge mass of Lebanon and half of Anti-Lebanon, “dwelt quiet and secure” (Jdg_18:7), in the enjoyment of the warm climate and exquisite scenery, and tilling the fertile soil, irrigated by many streams. The spies marked the spot, and on their return bade their brethren arise, and take possession of a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth (Jdg_18:10), and the soil of which “even now produces large crops of wheat, barley, maize, sesame, rice, and other plants with very little labour … while horses, cattle, and sheep fatten on the rich pastures, and large herds of black buffaloes luxuriate in the streams and deep mire of the marshes.” See Thomson’s Land and the Book, p. 214; Robinson, Bib. Res. iii. 396.

therefore the children of Dan went up to fight] On receiving the news six hundred Danites from Zorah and Eshtaol girded on their weapons of war (Jdg_18:11), and pushed their way to the sources of the Jordan, and finding the town of Laish just as the spies had described it, far from its mother city, dwelling quiet and secure, they burst upon it, scaled its walls (Jdg_18:27), and

took it] and set it on fire, massacring the inhabitants. Then they rebuilt the town, and dwelt therein, and

called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father] The name Tell el-Kâdi = “the mound of the Judge”, still preserves the ancient Dan = “judge.” See Tristram’s Land of Israel, p. 580.

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.

This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Dan,.... Before described by its cities, which were in it. This tribe was bounded by Ephraim on the north, by Judah on the east, by Simeon on the south, and by the Mediterranean sea on the west. Josephus (h) says, the Danites enjoyed the vale which lies to the setting sun, bounded by Azotus and Doris, and all Jamnia and Getta, from Accaron (or Ekron) to the mountain from whence the tribe of Judah begins:

according to their families; which inheritance was distributed according to the number of their families:

their cities with their villages; before named.

(h) 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.

The words “too little” are an insertion of the King James Version Render rather, “the border of the children of Dan was extended.” The Hebrew appears to mean “the children of Dan enlarged their border because they had not room enough.”

The reason of this was that the Danites, a numerous tribe (Num 26:5 note), found themselves Jdg 1:34-35 cooped up among the hills by the powerful and warlike Amorites. Hence, the Danite expedition (see the marginal reference), which surprised the Sidonion inhabitants of Leshem, an unwarlike and peaceable race, exterminated them, and annexed their city and territory to the portion of Dan.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

There. Hebrew, "and the limits of Dan went out from them. They were not able to keep the cities in subjection; so that, finding themselves too much confined, they sought for fresh settlements at Lessem; or, their borders were known by these cities, through which they passed, (Calmet) though most of them had been already assigned to the tribe of Juda. (Menochius) --- Dan. This city was not Peneas, or Cæsarea, but the utmost boundary of Palestine on the north, as Bersabee was on the south. This history is given more at large, Judges xviii. 1. The Septuagint vary from the Hebrew in verses 46, 47, and 48, (Calmet) and add that "the children of Dan did not destroy the Amorrhites, who afflicted them in the mountains, and would not suffer them to descend into the plain....But the land of Ephraim lay heavy upon them, and they became tributary to them. (See chap. xvii. 13.) 49. And they went to take possession of their limits, and the children of Israel," &c. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Went out too little for them, Heb. went out from them, to wit, out of their hands or possession; for so this Hebrew word is used concerning those lands, which in the year of the jubilee are said to go out, Lev 25:28,30,31,33, i.e. out of the hands of the present possessor, to the first and ancient owner. And so peradventure this may signify that many of the Danites were forced by their powerful neighbors the Philistines to relinquish their coast, and their allotted habitations; which put them upon the following course.

The children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem after Joshua’s death, as appears from Jdg 18 and seems to be here inserted, partly that all the chief places where the Danites (dwelt,) though far distant, might be mentioned together; and partly to give an account of this strange accident, why they removed from their appointed portion to so remote a place; which may be this, that being much molested and terrified by their bad neighbours, they thought fit to go to some place remote from them, which also they were in a manner constrained to do, because otherwise they must have taken some part of the portions of other tribes, whereas now going to the very utmost northern point of the land, they took that which did not belong to, or, at least, was not in the possession of any other tribe. See more Jdg 18.

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

47. The coast… went out too little — Here the English version is at fault by inserting too little. Masius has given the sense correctly thus: “The Danites emigrated beyond themselves, that is, beyond the inheritance in which they were first placed by the divine lot, and set out in search of other possessions.” This occurred after the death of Joshua, and is here narrated out of its chronological order, so as to complete the description of Dan’s lot.

Therefore… went up to fight — Rather, and the children of Dan went up and fought. Leshem, or Laish, is at the extreme north, near the foot of Mount Hermon. A minute account of this expedition and its results is found in Judges 18, where see notes.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Went out too little for them. The Hebrew is, went out from them; i.e. , either went out beyond their own borders, or went out too small a distance to be sufficient for them. The first is the explanation of Masius ("extra se migrasse"), the second of Jarchi. Houbigant suggests for axeYew "and it went out" xaYw "and it was narrow." But the LXX, has the same reading as ourselves, and the explanation given above is quite consistent with the fact. The border of Dan did "go out" far beyond the borders originally assigned to the tribe, in fact to the extreme northern limit of Palestine. The account of the taking of Laish, or Leshem, is given more fully in Jud_1:18. The inheritance assigned to Dan was extremely small, but it was also extremely fertile.

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

Went up to fight - This was done after Joshua's death, and seems to be here inserted, that all the chief places where the Danites dwelt, tho' far distant, might be mentioned together; and to give an account of this strange accident, why they removed from their appointed portion to so remote a place; which may be this, that being much molested by their bad neighbours, they thought fit to go to some place remote from them, which also they were in a manner constrained to do, because otherwise they must have taken some part of the portions of other tribes, whereas now going to the very utmost northern point of the land, they took that which did not belong to any other tribe.

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

Leshem

This is the name of a city. (See: How to Translate Names)

This was the inheritance of the tribe of Dan

The land and cities that the tribe of Dan received are spoken of as if they were an inheritance that they received as a permanent possession. AT: "This was the land and the cities that the tribe of Dan received as an inheritance" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

Dan

sword

possess

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

The boundary of Bnei Don extended from them. At this point they took only a small portion, but the lot also fell for them in another place which was a distance from their boundary, and thus the other tribes intervened between them.

They fought against Leshem. This took place later in the time of Osniel, the son of Kenaz, in the days of the graven image of Michoh, as it is said in the Book of Shoftim.

Leshem This is the city of Layish, that is mentioned in the Book of Shoftim.

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.