² tn The parallel text in 2 Sam 21:18 identifies this site as “Gob.”

² sn Heb “on its tel.” A tel is a site where successive layers of occupation are built upon one another after the destruction or decay of the former city. The original site was not abandoned because it had been chosen for strategic purposes, such as proximity to water or ease of defense. Many modern archaeological sites have the designation “Tel” as a component of their name because of this practice.

² sn This may refer to a site in the Egyptian Delta that served as a refuge for Jews (Jer 44:1; 46:14).

² tn Heb “and on the mountains they eat within you.” The mountains mentioned here were the site of pagan sacrifices. See 18:6.

³ sn This verse depicts a huge mass burial site where the seemingly endless pile of maggot-infested corpses are being burned.

² sn The Valley of Achor (“Achor” means “trouble” in Hebrew) was the site of Achan’s execution. It was located to the east, near Jericho.

¹ tn Or “entrance of Hamath” (so NASB and cf. KJV). This may be a site some 44 miles north of Damascus (see T. R. Hobbs, 2 Kings [WBC], 182).

² sn To worship at Beer Sheba, northern worshipers had to journey down (i.e., cross the border) between Israel and Judah. Apparently, the popular religion of Israel for some included pilgrimage to holy sites in the South.

² sn It is impossible at the present time to determine the exact significance of the comparison of her eyes to the “gate of Bath Rabbim” because this site has not yet been identified by archaeologists.

¹ sn Beeroth Bene Jaakan. This Hebrew name could be translated “the wells of Bene Jaakan” or “the wells of the sons of Jaakan,” a site whose location cannot be determined (cf. Num 33:31-32; 1 Chr 1:42).

¹ tn Heb “give.” The perfect tense has here a present nuance; this is a formal, legally binding declaration. Abraham asked only for a burial site/cave within the field; Ephron agrees to sell him the entire field.

³ sn There has been much debate over the location of Moriah; 2 Chr 3:1 suggests it may be the site where the temple was later built in Jerusalem.

¹ sn The wilderness of Paran is an area in the east central region of the Sinai peninsula, northeast from the traditional site of Mt. Sinai and with the Arabah and the Gulf of Aqaba as its eastern border.

² sn The descendants of Tarshish settled along the southern coast of what is modern Turkey. However, some identify the site Tarshish (see Jonah 1:3) with Sardinia or Spain.

² sn The mountain is Mount Sinai, the mountain of God, the place where God had met and called Moses and had promised that they would be here to worship him. If this mountain is Jebel Musa, the traditional site of Sinai, then the plain in front of it would be Er-Rahah, about a mile and a half long by half a mile wide, fronting the mountain on the NW side (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 169). The plain itself is about 5000 feet above sea level. A mountain on the west side of the Arabian Peninsula has also been suggested as a possible site.

⁴ tn Or “the entrance to Hamath.” The Hebrew term לְבוֹא (l^evoʾ) can either be translated or considered a part of the place name. This may be a site some 44 miles north of Damascus (see T.R. Hobbs, 2 Kings [WBC], 182).

¹ sn Verse 26a depicts siege warfare and bloody defeat. The besieged enemy will be so starved they will eat their own flesh. The bloodstained bodies lying on the blood-soaked battle site will look as if they collapsed in drunkenness.

¹ sn Some identify Gebal with the Phoenician coastal city of Byblos (see Ezek 27:9, where the name is spelled differently), though others locate this site south of the Dead Sea (see BDB 148 s.v. גְּבַל; HALOT 174 s.v. גְּבַל).

¹ sn Heshbon is the name of a prominent site (now Tel Hesbān, about 7.5 mi [12 km] south southwest of Amman, Jordan). Sihon made it his capital after having driven Moab from the area and forced them south to the Arnon (Num 21:26-30). Heshbon is also mentioned in Deut 1:4.

² sn Some understand Ephrathah as a reference to Kiriath Jearim because of the apparent allusion to this site in the next line (see the note on “Jaar”). The ark was kept in Kiriath Jearim after the Philistines released it (see 1 Sam 6:21-7:2). However, the switch in verbs from “heard about” to “found” suggests that Ephrathah not be equated with Jair. The group who is speaking heard about the ark while they were in Ephrath. They then went to retrieve it from Kiriath Jearim (“Jaar”). It is more likely that Ephrathah refers to a site near Bethel (Gen 35:16, 19; 48:7) or to Bethlehem (Ruth 4:11; Mic 5:2).