Verse 1
1. The plains of Moab are a narrow strip of land, scarcely six miles in breadth, lying along the eastern bank of the Jordan, opposite to the plains of Jericho. Here occurred the wonderful story of Balaam, “the grandest of all the episodes introduced into the Mosaic narrative,” and the promulgation of Deuteronomy. The plains, though recently conquered by the Amorites, still retained the name of Moab, its former possessor. The Dead Sea is on the south, Mount Pisgah on the southeast, the Gilead mountains on the east, and on the north, losing its specific name, it continues as the Valley of the Jordan to the Sea of Tiberias.
This side Jordan The Hebrew is to be rendered on this side or on that side, according to the position of the speaker. The east side is meant throughout the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua. See Joshua 1:14, note.
Jericho This is the first mention of “the city of palm trees.” For its geography, see Joshua 2:1, note. After its miraculous overthrow it drops out of sight for more than four hundred years, when David appointed it as the place of retirement for his messengers until their “beards be grown.” [Possibly a small hamlet had sprung up near the site of the former city, to which, as to a very quiet secluded place, the spies were permitted to retire for awhile.] After another century Hiel braved the curse of Joshua and attempted to rebuild the city, and, in some way, suffered great domestic bereavement and sorrow. 1 Kings 16:34, note. It. is mentioned again in 2 Chronicles 28:5-16, as the scene of one of the most touching and humane acts to be found in the entire records of ancient or modern warfare, reflecting the highest honour upon the Israelites of the northern kingdom. Jericho is also the place where the wretched Zedekiah was defeated and witnessed the slaying of his sons and had his own eyes put out. And here Jesus gave sight to the blind.
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