Verse 11
11. Beth-shean House of rest; the halting place for caravans from Syria or Midian to Egypt, and the emporium for the commerce of these countries. It afterwards was called in the Greek, Scythopolis, and is identified with the modern Beisan, at the east end of the plain of Esdraelon, five miles west of the Jordan. “The site of the ancient city, as of the modern village, was a splendid one, in this vast area of plain and mountain, in the midst of abundant waters and of exuberant fertility. It must have been a city of temples.” Robinson. Ibleam was near Megiddo, (2 Kings 9:27,) but its exact site is unknown.
Dor See on Joshua 11:2.
Endor, the abode of the necromancer consulted by Saul, (1 Samuel 28:7, note,) is now a village of the same name, nearly four miles south of Mount Tabor. For Taanach and Megiddo see on Joshua 12:21. [It is noticeable that after the mention of Ibleam and her towns, in this verse, the inhabitants of the next four cities are named as a possession of Manasseh. This sudden transition, and the introduction of the accusative sign את before inhabitants, have greatly perplexed critics. It seems best, with Knobel, to suppose that the idea of possession conveyed by the English version, ( Manasseh had,) and also by ויהי ל at the beginning of the verse in the Hebrew, is carried over in the writer’s mind, and applied to the inhabitants of these towns as being Manasseh’s possession, and tendering a tribute service.
Three countries Or, a triple province, having a. sort of political combination. Others render three heights, and understand that the last three cities stood on hills, “a tripolis of mountain cities, in distinction from the places on the plain.” Fay. ]
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