the present Kureyet el Enab (see at Jos 9:17).
Verses 15-19
“As for the southern boundary from the end of Kirjath-jearim onwards, the (southern) boundary went out on the west (i.e., it started from the west), and went out (terminated) at the fountain of the water of Nephtoah.” Consequently it coincided with the northern boundary of Judah, as described in Jos 15:5-9, except that it is given there from east to west, and here from west to east (see at Jos 15:5-9). In the construction haגּבוּל תּוצאותיו, the noun הגּבוּל is in apposition to the suffix: the outgoings of it, namely of the border (see Ewald, §291, b.).
Verse 20
The eastern boundary was the Jordan.
Verses 21-28
The towns of Benjamin are divided into two groups. The first group (Jos 18:21-24) contains twelve towns in the eastern portion of the territory. Jericho: the present Riha (see at Jos 2:1). Beth-hoglah, now Ain Hajla (see Jos 15:6). Emek-keziz: the name has been preserved in the Wady el Kaziz, on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, on the south-east of the Apostle's Well (see Van de Velde, Mem. p. 328).
Verse 22
Jos 18:22Beth-arabah: see at Jos 15:6. Zemaraim, probably the ruins of es Sumrah, on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, to the east of Khan Hadhur, on Van de Velde’s map. Bethel: now Beitin (see Jos 7:2).
Verse 23
Jos 18:23Avvim (i.e., ruins) is unknown. Phara has been preserved in the ruins of Fara, on Wady Fara, three hours to the north-east of Jerusalem, and the same distance to the west of Jericho. Ophrah is mentioned again in 1Sa 13:17, but it is a different place from the Ophrah of Gideon in Manasseh (Jdg 6:11, Jdg 6:24; Jdg 8:27). According to the Onom. (s. v. Aphra), it was a κώμη Ἀφρήλ in the time of Eusebius (Jer. vicus Effrem), five Roman miles to the east of Bethel; and according to Van de Velde, v. Raumer, and others, it is probably the same place as Ephron or Ephrain, which Abijah took from Jeroboam along with Jeshanah and Bethel (2Ch 13:19), also the same as Ephraim, the city to which Christ went when He withdrew into the desert (Joh 11:54), as the Onom. (s. v. Ephron) speaks of a villa praegrandis Ephraea nomine (Ἐφρα̈́́ι in Euseb.), although the distance given there, viz., twenty Roman miles to the north of Jerusalem, reaches far beyond the limits of Benjamin.
Verse 24
Jos 18:24Chephar-haammonai and Ophni are only mentioned here, and are still unknown. Gaba, or Geba of Benjamin (1Sa 13:16; 1Ki 15:22) which was given up to the Levites (Jos 21:17; 1Ch 6:45), was in the neighbourhood of Ramah (1Ki 15:22; 2Ch 16:6). It is mentioned in 2Ki 23:8; Zec 14:10,
