Joshua 15:2

And their south border was from the shore of the salt sea, from the bay that looketh southward:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) Their south border.—The southern boundary of Judah is thus described by Conder (Bible Handbook, p. 257):—“The south boundary of Judah is described from east to west, and became afterwards that of Simeon (see Joshua 19:1). Although the points mentioned along the border are not all certainly known, there is no doubt that the great mountain wall which extends from the Dead Sea to the water-shed south of Rehoboth (Er-Ruheibeh) formed the natural and recognised boundary of Palestine, while the river of Egypt (Joshua 15:4) is generally supposed to be the present Wâdy-el’-Arish, the northern boundary between Syria and Egypt. The north branch of this valley ( Wâdy-el-Abiad) rises near ‘Abdeh (Ebodah), south of Rehoboth, and thus carries on the boundary from the mountain rampart. A new identification of importance may be here mentioned, namely, Hezron (Joshua 15:3), the next point to Kadesh-barnea on the west side. Kadesh has been shown to lie probably in the neighbourhood of Wâdy-el-Yemen, and immediately west of that valley is the mountain called Hadîreh, a name radically identical with Hezron.”

Benson Commentary

Joshua 15:2. The bay that looketh southward — Hebrew, the tongue; either a creek or arm of that sea, or a promontory, which by learned authors is sometimes called a tongue. Every sea is salt, but this had an extraordinary saltness, the effect of that fire and brimstone which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:1-12 Joshua allotted to Judah, Ephraim, and the half of Manasseh, their inheritances before they left Gilgal. Afterwards removing to Shiloh, another survey was made, and the other tribes had their portion assigned. In due time all God's people are settled.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The inheritance of the tribe of Judah is described first by its general boundaries on all four sides Joshua 15:1-12; then reference is again made, for the sake of completeness, to the special inheritance of Caleb which lay within these boundaries Joshua 15:13-20; and lastly a list of the towns is given Joshua 15:21-63. Consult the marginal references.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. the bay—Hebrew, "tongue." It pushes its waters out in this form to a great distance [Robinson].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The bay, Heb. the tongue; by which he understands either a creek or arm of that sea; or a promontory, which by learned authors is sometimes called a tongue; it is not material to know which of these it was.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And their south border was from the shore of the salt sea,.... Sometimes called the dead sea, the sea of Sodom, and the lake Asphaltites, which, as Jarchi observes, was southeast of the land of Israel:

from the bay that looketh southward; or the "tongue", as the Hebrew, which the Targum and Kimchi interpret of a rock or promontory, the point that ran out into the sea, looking to the southeast.

Geneva Study Bible

And their south border was from the shore of the salt sea, from the {a} bay that looketh southward:

(a) The Hebrew word signifies tongue, by which it means either the arm of the sea that comes into the land, or a rock, or cape that goes into the sea.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. And their south border] The general account of the position of the tribe of Judah is followed by a more particular description of its boundaries. And first the southern boundary is described.

from the shore] The southern border of Canaan has already been described in Numbers 34:3-5. It is here given in still greater detail. It commenced (a) from the “shore (or end) of the Salt Sea,” or more exactly, the tongue which turneth southward (see margin), “fro the tonge of it that biholdith to the south,” Wyclif. By this “tongue” is meant the southern portion of the Dead Sea reaching from the peninsula, which runs at a great distance from the Sea on the west of Karah, and extends quite to the south point at the so-called Salt-hill and Salt-Marsh.” Keil. “We were now in the most desolate and dreary corner of that desolate shore, without one trace of vegetable life, not even a stray salsola, or salicornia, to relieve the flat sand beds. The sand and loam of the shore was deep and heavy; our horses sank at each step above the fetlocks, and not until we were wet through, could we return to the Salt Mountains on our right.… The whole ridge (of the mountain) is of pure rock-salt, perhaps 200 feet high, and covered by a layer of chalky marl and natron, about 50 or 60 feet thick.… The salt deposit is similar in its nature and geological position to the salt rocks of Cheshire, and the new red sandstone of England.” Tristram’s Land of Moab, pp. 39, 40, 41.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - The shore of the salt sea. Literally, the extremity, i.e., the south extremity. From the bay. Literally, tongue (so margin). The LXX. translates by λοφία, ridge. The whole southern portion of the sea is cut off from the rest by a peninsula near Kerak, the ancient Kit of Moab. It is called the Lisan. Whoever was the writer of the Book of Joshua, these details prove him to have had an accurate acquaintance with the geography of Palestine. He was no priestly inventor of fables attached to the temple at Jerusalem. Canon Tristram gives a vivid description of the neighbourhood in his 'Land of Israel,' ch. 15. The ridge of Jebel Usdum - one large mass of rock salt - on the west of this "tongue" of water, the salt marsh of the Sebkha on the southwest, with its treeless waste - "not a plant or a leaf could be seen save just under the hills" - and its mirage like that of Sahara, the barren outline of the Lisan itself, to the eastward rising to an elevation of from five to six hundred feet, and the fertile oasis of the Ghor-es-Safieh at the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, give an unique character to this remarkable region. Joshua 15:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The southern boundary. This was also the southern boundary of the land of Israel generally, and coincided with the southern boundary of Canaan as described in Numbers 34:3-5. It went out "from the end of the salt sea, namely, from the tongue which turneth to the south," i.e., from the southern point of the Dead Sea, which is now a salt marsh.