Joshua 19:48

This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Dan according to their families, these cities with their villages.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

19:17-51 Joshua waited till all the tribes were settled, before he asked any provision for himself. He was content to be unfixed, till he saw them all placed, and herein is an example to all in public places, to prefer the common welfare before private advantage. Those who labour most to do good to others, seek an inheritance in the Canaan above: but it will be soon enough to enter thereon, when they have done all the service to their brethren of which they are capable. Nor can any thing more effectually assure them of their title to it, than endeavouring to bring others to desire, to seek, and to obtain it. Our Lord Jesus came and dwelt on earth, not in pomp but poverty, providing rest for man, yet himself not having where to lay his head; for Christ pleased not himself. Nor would he enter upon his inheritance, till by his obedience to death he secured the eternal inheritance for all his people; nor will he account his own glory completed, till every ransomed sinner is put in possession of his heavenly rest.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The words "too little" are an insertion of the King James Version Render rather, "the border of the children of Dan was extended." The Hebrew appears to mean "the children of Dan enlarged their border because they had not room enough."

The reason of this was that the Danites, a numerous tribe (Numbers 26:5 note), found themselves Judges 1:34-35 cooped up among the hills by the powerful and warlike Amorites. Hence, the Danite expedition (see the marginal reference), which surprised the Sidonion inhabitants of Leshem, an unwarlike and peaceable race, exterminated them, and annexed their city and territory to the portion of Dan.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

47. the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem—The Danites, finding their inheritance too small, decided to enlarge its boundaries by the sword; and, having conquered Leshem (Laish), they planted a colony there, calling the new settlement by the name of Dan (see on [200]Jud 18:7).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Dan,.... Before described by its cities, which were in it. This tribe was bounded by Ephraim on the north, by Judah on the east, by Simeon on the south, and by the Mediterranean sea on the west. Josephus (h) says, the Danites enjoyed the vale which lies to the setting sun, bounded by Azotus and Doris, and all Jamnia and Getta, from Accaron (or Ekron) to the mountain from whence the tribe of Judah begins:

according to their families; which inheritance was distributed according to the number of their families:

their cities with their villages; before named.

(h) Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 22.

Geneva Study Bible

This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Dan according to their families, these cities with their villages.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

48. This is the inheritance of the tribe … of Dan] In length it extends but 14 miles from Joppa to Ekron, but it was one of the most fertile tracts in the land, the cornfield and garden of southern Palestine. The dying Jacob had said of the tribe (Genesis 49:16):

“Dan shall judge his people,

As one of the tribes of Israel.

Dan shall be a serpent by the way,

An adder in the path,

That biteth the horse heels,

So that his rider shall fall backward;”

and, as it has been observed, “the privilege of Dan was, that he was to lie in wait for the invader from the south or from the north.” “A serpent,” an indigenous, home-born “adder,” to bite the heels of the invading stranger’s horse; “a lion’s whelp” (Deuteronomy 33:22), small and fierce, to “leap from the heights of Bashan,” on the armies of Damascus or Nineveh. “For thy salvation, O Lord, have I waited” seems to have been his war cry, as if of a warrior in the constant attitude of expectation. Once only in the history of the tribe, so far as we know, was this expectation fully realised—in the life of Samson. Stanley’s Lectures, i. p. 269.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 48. - This is the inheritance of the children of Dan. We read little of Dan in the after history of Israel. Samson is the only hero this tribe produced, and his exploits were limited to a very narrow area, and his influence apparently to his own tribe. Joshua 19:48

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Besides this inheritance, the Danites of Zorea and Eshtaol went, after Joshua's death, and conquered the town of Leshem or Laish, on the northern boundary of Canaan, and gave it the name of Dan, as the territory which was allotted to them under Joshua was too small for them, on account of their inability to drive out the Amorites from several of their towns (Judges 1:34-35; Judges 18:2). For further particulars concerning this conquest, see Judges 18. Leshem or Laish (Judges 18:7, Judges 18:27), i.e., Dan, which the Onom. describes as viculus quarto a Paneade milliario euntibus Tyrum, was the present Tell el Kadi, or el Leddan, the central source of the Jordan, to the west of Banjas, a place with ancient ruins (see Rob. iii. p. 351; Bibl. Res. pp. 390, 393). It was there that Jeroboam set up the golden calves (1 Kings 12:29-30, etc.); and it is frequently mentioned as the northernmost city of the Israelites, in contrast with Beersheba, which was in the extreme south of the land (Judges 20:1; 1 Samuel 3:20; 2 Samuel 3:10 : see also Ritter, Erdk. xvi. pp. 207ff.).