Deuteronomy 11:30

30. By the way where the sun goeth down Referring to the great highway for travel from Syria to Egypt, which runs through the land on the west side of the Jordan. There was another main road on the east side of the river.

Which dwell in the champaign In the Arabah. This term was applied to the whole valley, extending from the sources of the Jordan to the gulf of Akabah. As the Israelites are now encamped on the east side of the Jordan, the Arabah would be right before them as they looked toward the west. Knobel thinks the region in which Nablus is situated to be meant.

Over against Gilgal Not Gilgal on the west side of the Jordan near Jericho, but probably the Gilgal mentioned in 2 Kings 2:1. In the narrative it is said that Elijah and Elisha came down from Gilgal to Bethel, and from Beth-el, going by Jericho, they pass on to the Jordan. This Gilgal was higher than Beth-el, and evidently more remote from Jordan. A place bearing the name Jiljilieh is thought to be the site of this Gilgal. The critics have made this one of the points of attack on the authenticity of the book. “It must seem strange that Moses, who had never been in the land of Canaan, should know all these places and be able to describe them so accurately. But it is still more strange that he should know the name Gilgal, which, according to the book of Joshua, was not given to the place till after the people had entered the land of Canaan. It is plain the text was written at a later age, when these names and places were familiarly known.” Pentateuch Examined, ii, p. 200. Now it would be strange indeed if Moses were not familiar with the geography of the land. The monuments of Egypt show acquaintance with Syria. The great roads for commerce and war led through Canaan. Forty years spent in Egypt, forty years in Midian, and forty years on the very borders of the land would certainly give opportunity for familiar knowledge of the physical features of the land. As there were several places that bore the name Gilgal, one at least may have had that name before the conquest.

The plains of Moreh Rather, the terebinths of Moreh, hallowed in the minds of the Israelites as the place of the divine manifestation to Abraham. Genesis 12:6-7.