varies in some respects. The words of Jos 13:9, “the city that is in the midst of the river,” i.e., the city in the valley, viz., Ar, are more distinct than those of Jos 12:2, “and from the middle of the river.” “All the plain” is the Amoritish table-land, a tract of land for the most part destitute of trees, stretching from the Arnon to Heshbon, and towards the north-east to Rabbath-Ammân (see at Deu 3:10), which is called in Num 21:20 the field of Moab Medeba, now called Medaba (see at Num 21:30). Dibon, now a ruin called Dibân, to the north of Arnon (see at Num 21:20). - Jos 13:10, as in Jos 12:2.
Verses 11-13
Jos 13:11-13Gilead is the whole country of that name on both sides of the Jabbok (see at Jos 12:2 and Deu 3:10), the present Belka and Jebel Ajlun, for the description of which see the remarks at Num 32:1. “The territory of the Geshurites and Maachathites” is referred to in Jos 12:5 as the boundary of the kingdom of Og, and in Deu 3:14 as the boundary of the land which was taken by Jair the Manassite; here it is included in the inheritance of the tribes on the other side of the Jordan, but it was never really taken possession of by the Israelites, and (according to Jos 13:13) it had probably never been really subject to king Og. The other notices in Jos 13:11 and Jos 13:12 are the same as in Jos 12:4-5.
Verse 14
The tribe of Levi was to receive no land, but the firings of Jehovah, i.e., the offerings, including the tithes and first-fruits (Lev 27:30-32, compared with Num 18:21-32), were to be its inheritance; so that the God of Israel himself is called the inheritance of Levi in Jos 13:33 as in Num 18:20, to which the words “as He said unto them” refer (see the commentary on Num 18:20).
The Possessions of the Two Tribes and a Half. - Jos 13:15-23. The tribe of Reuben received its inheritance in the south-namely, the territory from Aroër in the Arnon valley, and from Ar in that valley, onwards, and the plain (table-land) by Medeba (see Jos 13:9), with Heshbon the capital and her towns, i.e., the towns dependent upon it, in the plain. Heshbon, almost in the centre between the Arnon and the Jabbok, was situated upon the border of the inheritance of the Reubenites, and was ceded to the Gadites, who gave it up to the Levites (Jos 21:39; 1Ch 6:66 : see at Num 32:37). Dibon, called Dibon of Gad in Num 33:45, because the Gadites had built, i.e., fortified it, was on the south of Heshbon, only an hour from Aroër, on the Arnon (Jos 13:9). Bamoth-baal, also called Bamoth simply (Num 21:20; Isa 15:2),
