Joshua 18:28 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Joshua 18:28
And Zelah, Eleph, and Jebusi, which is Jerusalem, Gibeath, and Kirjath; fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin according to their families.
a Jebusite or inhabitant of Jebus · conjunction + definite article + noun, gentilic masculine singular absolute
Jerusalem
יְרֽוּשָׁלִַ֙ם֙ye.ru.sha.Lim
H3389
Jerushalaim or Jerushalem · proper noun, a place name
Gibeath
גִּבְעַ֣תgiv.'At
H1394
Gibath · proper noun, a place name
Kirjath
קִרְיַ֔תkir.Yat
H7157
Kirjath-Jearim or Kirjath-Arim · proper noun, a place name
fourteen
אַרְבַּֽע'ar.ba'-
H702
four · cardinal number, both genders singular absolute
cities
עָרִ֥ים'a.Rim
H5892
a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · noun, common masculine plural absolute
villages
וְחַצְרֵיהֶ֑ןve.chatz.rei.Hen
H2691
a yard (as inclosed by a fence) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine plural
inheritance
נַֽחֲלַ֥תna.cha.Lat
H5159
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct
children
בְּנֵֽיbe.nei-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Benjamin
בִנְיָמִ֖ןvin.ya.Min
H1144
Binjamin · proper noun, a man's name
families
לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָֽםle.mish.pe.cho.Tam
H4940
a family · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Samuel 21:14 And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they pe…
Joshua 15:8 And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom unto the south side of the Jebusite; the same is Jerusalem: and the border went up…
Numbers 33:54 And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families: and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the f…
Joshua 15:63 As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out: but the Jebusites dwell with the children…
Joshua 18:16 And the border came down to the end of the mountain that lieth before the valley of the son of Hinnom, and which is in the valley of the gia…
Judges 19:12-15 And his master said unto him, We will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger, that is not of the children of Israel; we will pass…
Judges 20:4-5 And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubin…
1 Samuel 10:26 And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and there went with him a band of men, whose hearts God had touched.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Joshua 18:11–end
We have here the lot of the tribe of Benjamin, which Providence cast next to Joseph on the one hand, because Benjamin was own and only brother to Joseph, and was little Benjamin (Psa 68:27), that needed the protection of great Joseph, and yet had a better protector, for the Lord shall cover him all the day long, Deu 33:12. And it was next to Judah on the other hand, that this tribe might hereafter unite with Judah in an adherence to the throne of David and the temple at Jerusalem. Here we have, 1. The exact borders and limits of this tribe, which we need not be exact in the explication of. As it had Judah on the south and Joseph on the north, so it had Jordan on the east and Dan on the west.…
the lot of . . . Benjamin came up--It has been supposed that there were two urns or vessels, from which the lots were drawn: one containing the names of the tribes, the other containing those of the seven portions; and that the two were drawn out simultaneously.
the coast of their lot came forth between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph--Thus the prophecy of Moses respecting the inheritance of Benjamin was remarkably accomplished. (See on Deu 33:12).
Next: Joshua Chapter 19
Adam Clarke on Joshua 18:28
And Zelah - This was the burying-place of Saul, Jonathan, and the family of Kish. See Sa2 21:14.
Jebusi, which is Jerusalem - We often meet with this name, and it is evident that it was the ancient name of Jerusalem, which was also called Salem; and was probably the place in which Melchizedek reigned in the days of Abraham; though some think a different place is meant; for that there was another place of the same name, is evident from Joh 3:23. This place, called Salim by the evangelist, is said to be near to Enon, and there John baptized, because there was much water in the place. This, however, must not be confounded with the Salem mentioned above; for that this was a name of Jerusalem, is…
But when Jerusalem was being built, it was not built in a place where there was not a city, but there was a city at first which was called Jebus, whence the Jebusites. This having been captured, overcome, made subject, there was built a new city, as though the old were thrown down; and it was called Jerusalem, vision of peace, City of God. Each one therefore that is born of Adam does not yet belong to Jerusalem: for he bears with him the offshoot of iniquity, and the punishment of sin, having been consigned to death, and he belongs in a manner to a sort of old city. But if he is to be in the people of God, his old self will be thrown down, and he will be built up new.
I pass from the letter—since even it has taken a way which the Word has given—to each soul already made worthy to see peace. For after divine studies, you have become Jerusalem, the prior place being Jebus. History says that the name of that place had been Jebus, but afterwards the name changed and became Jerusalem. The children of the Hebrews say that Jebus is interpreted as "what has been trampled." Jebus then is the soul which is trampled by hostile powers, has been changed and has become Jerusalem, vision of peace. If then you have sinned, when you have changed from Jebus to become Jerusalem, and you have trampled upon the Son of God and held as profane the blood of the new covenant as she had, and you have ended up in grievous sins, it will also be said concerning you, who will spare you, Jerusalem? And who will feel sorry for you if you become someone who betrays Jesus? When each of us sins, and especially if he sins grievously, he sins against Jesus. But if he is also an apostate, he does spiritually even more to Jesus the things that Jerusalem did to him bodily.
And see the names of those two cities, Babylon and Jerusalem. Babylon is interpreted confusion, Jerusalem vision of peace. Observe now the city of confusion, in order that you may perceive the vision of peace; that you may endure the one and long for the other. By what can those two cities be distinguished? Can we in any way now separate them from each other? They are mingled, and from the very beginning of humankind mingled they run on until the end of the world. Jerusalem began through Abel, Babylon through Cain: for the buildings of the cities were erected afterwards. That Jerusalem in the land of the Jebusites was built: for at first it used to be called Jebus, from which the nation of the Jebusites was expelled, when the people of God was delivered from Egypt and led into the land of promise. But Babylon was built in the most interior regions of Persia, which for a long time raised its head above the rest of nations. These two cities then at particular times were built, so that there might be shown a figure of two cities begun of old, and to remain even until the end in this world, but at the end to be severed.
Dictionary and topics
Benjamin — Son of my right hand. (1.) The younger son of Jacob by Rachel (Gen. 35:18). His birth took place at Ephrath, on the road between Bethel and Bethlehem, at a short distance from the latter place. His…
Eleph — (the ox), one of the towns allotted to Benjamin, and named next to Jerusalem. (Joshua 18:28)
Geba — The hill, (2 Sam. 5:25 [1 Chr. 14:16, “Gibeon”]; 2 Kings 23:8; Neh. 11:31), a Levitical city of Benjamin (1 Kings 15:22; 1 Sam. 13:16; 14:5, wrongly “Gibeah” in the A.V.), on the north border of…
Gibeath — probably the same as, Gibeah OF Benjamin, The Land Of. (Joshua 18:28)
Jebus — Trodden hard, or fastness, or “the waterless hill”, the name of the Canaanitish city which stood on Mount Zion (Josh. 15:8; 18:16, 28). It is identified with Jerusalem (q.v.) in Judg. 19:10, and with…
Jebusi — (from Jebus), the name employed for the city of Jebus. (Joshua 15:8; 18:16,28)
Judah, Kingdom of — When the disruption took place at Shechem, at first only the tribe of Judah followed the house of David. But very soon after the tribe of Benjamin joined the tribe of Judah, and Jerusalem became the…
Kirjath — City, a city belonging to Benjamin (Josh. 18:28), the modern Kuriet el-‘Enab, i.e., “city of grapes”, about 7 1/2 miles west-north-west of Jerusalem.
Zelah — Slope; side, a town in Benjamin, where Saul and his son Jonathan were buried (2 Sam. 21:14). It was probably Saul’s birthplace.
Benjamin · .Allotment in the land of — .Allotment in the land of
Benjamin, Tribe Of · Cities and bounds of inheritance — Cities and bounds of inheritance
Eleph · A town allotted to Benjamin
John Gill on Joshua 18:28
And Zelaheath,.... Zelah was the buryingplace of Saul and his family, 2 Samuel 21:14.
Eleph is nowhere else mentioned; some join it with Zelah, and make one city of it, but then the number of cities given could not be completed; both Jarchi and Kimchi say they were two cities, as doubtless they were:
and Jebusi, which is Jerusalem; of Jerusalem being called Jebusi, see Joshua 15:63; it belonged partly to the tribe of Judah, and partly to the tribe of Benjamin; Mount Zion belonged to Judah, and Moriah to Benjamin:
Gibeath was a distinct city both from Gaba and Gibeon; by its being mentioned with Jerusalem, it should seem to be near it. Jerom (y) speaks of Gabaatha in the tribe of Benjamin,…
Joshua 18:11-28
11. And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families: and the coast of their lot came forth between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph.
11. Ascendit autem sors tribus filiorum Benjamin per familias suas, et exivit terminus sortis eorum inter filios Jehuda, et filios Joseph:
12. And their border on the north side was from Jordan; and the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north side, and went up through the mountains westward; and the goings out thereof were at the wilderness of Bethaven.
12. Fuitque eis terminus ad latus Aquilonis a Jordane: et ascendit terminus ad latus Jericho ab Aquilone, ascenditque in mo…
Inheritance of the Tribe of Benjamin. - Jos 18:11-20. Boundaries of the inheritance. - Jos 18:11. The territory of their lot (i.e., the territory assigned to the Benjaminites by lot) came out (through the falling out of the lot) between the sons of Judah and the sons of Joseph.
Jos 18:12-14
The northern boundary ("the boundary towards the north side") therefore coincided with the southern boundary of Ephraim as far as Lower Beth-horon, and has already been commented upon in the exposition of Jos 16:1-3. The western boundary follows in Jos 18:14. At Beth-horon the boundary curved round and turned southwards on the western side, namely from the mountain before (in front of) Beth-horon southwar…
Jerusalem: See study note on 15:8. • Kiriath: The Kiriath-jearim of 18:14 belonged to Judah; another town with this name might have existed but is otherwise unknown. The word Kiriath here was probably originally followed by a word that has been lost in the process of copying.
Rashi on Joshua 18:28
Tzeilah, Eleph and Yevusi which is Yerushalayim. Each of these are individual cities. Similarly, Givas and Kiryas [are individual cities]. Thus five cities are mentioned in this verse.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
— A town allotted to Benjamin
Gibeah · 3. Another town in Benjamin, al — 3. Another town in Benjamin, al
Jebusites · General references — General references
Jerusalem · .JEBUS — .JEBUS
Zelah · Saul buried in — Saul buried in
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
