21-24. So they . . . searched the land--They advanced from south to
north, reconnoitering the whole land.
the wilderness of Zin--a long level plain, or deep valley of sand, the
monotony of which is relieved by a few tamarisk and rethem trees.
Under the names of El Ghor and El Araba, it forms the continuation of
the Jordan valley, extending from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akaba.
Rehob--or, Beth-rehob, was a city and district situated, according
to some, eastward of Sidon; and, according to others, it is the same as
El Hule, an extensive and fertile champaign country, at the foot of
Anti-libanus, a few leagues below Paneas.
as men come to Hamath--or, "the entering in of Hamath"
(2Ki 14:25),
now the valley of Balbeck, a mountain pass or opening in the northern
frontier, which formed the extreme limit in that direction of the
inheritance of Israel. From the mention of these places, the route of
the scouts appears to have been along the course of the Jordan in their
advance; and their return was by the western border through the
territories of the Sidonians and Philistines.
JFB.
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