SEV Biblia, Chapter 15:8
y sube este término por el valle del hijo de Hinom al lado del jebuseo al mediodía; ésta es Jerusalén. Luego sube este término por la cumbre del monte que está delante del valle de Hinom hacia el occidente, el cual está al cabo del valle de los gigantes al norte;
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Joshua 15:8
Verse 8. The valley of the son of Hinnom] Who Hinnom was is not known, nor why this was called his valley. It was situated on the east of Jerusalem; and is often mentioned in Scripture. The image of the idol Molech appears to have been set up there; and there the idolatrous Israelites caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire in honour of that demon, 2 Kings xxiii. 10. It was also called Tophet, see Jer. vii. 32. When King Josiah removed the image of this idol from this valley, it appears to have been held in such universal execration, that it became the general receptacle of all the filth and impurities which were carried out of Jerusalem; and it is supposed that continual fires were there kept up, to consume those impurities and prevent infection. From the Hebrew words µnh b yg gei ben Hinnom, the valley of the son of Hinnom, and by contraction, µnh yg gei Hinnom, the valley of Hinnom, came the geenna, Gehenna of the New Testament, called also geenna tou purov, the Gehenna of fire, which is the emblem of hell, or the place of the damned. See Matt. v. 22, 29, 30; x. 28; xviii. 9, &c. In the East it is common to add the name of the father to that of the son, e.g., "This land belongs to Goborka the son of Kake Prusada." But this addition is not made till after the father's death. This custom prevailed also in the west. It is common among the aborigines of both Ireland and Wales.
The same is Jerusalem] This city was formerly called Jebus; a part of it was in the tribe of Benjamin; Zion, called its citadel, was in the tribe of Judah.
The valley of the giants] Of the Rephaim. See the notes on Gen. vi. 4; xiv. 5; Deut. ii. 7, 11. On this subject, a very intelligent clergyman favours me with his opinion in the following terms: - "The boundary between Judah and Benjamin went up from the valley of Hinnom on the east to the top of the hill southward, leaving Jebusi (or Jerusalem) to the northwest adjoining to Benjamin. This mount (Jebusi) lay between the two tribes, which the Jebusites possessed till the time of David. At the 63d verse here, it is said Judah could not drive out these people; and in Judg. i. 21, the same is said of the Benjamites. Each tribe might have attacked them at various times. There were various mounts or tops to these hills. Mount Zion and Moriah, where the temple stood, was in the tribe of Judah; Psalm lxxviii. 68, 69; lxxxvii. 2. "In Deut. xxxiii. 12; it is said of Benjamin, the Lord shall dwell by him, i.e., near him, or beside his borders, between his shoulders; the line might be circular between the two hills or tops so as in part to encompass Mount Zion in the tribe of Judah, on which the temple stood. Benjamin's gate, (mentioned Jer. xxxvii. 12, 13; xxxviii. 7,) was the gate leading out of the city, into the tribe of Benjamin.
So the gate of Ephraim, (2 Kings xiv. 13,) was a gate which led towards the tribe of Ephraim. We give names to roads, &c., in the same way now.
"Mount Calvary, (which was on the outside of the gate,) seems to have been in the tribe of Benjamin. Query. Whether Calvary or Golgotha was so called from skulls being scattered about there, (as say some,) or rather from the figure of the rock being shaped like a man's skull, with one face of it nearly perpendicular? I incline to this latter opinion. I believe the Jews did not suffer human bones, even of malefactors, to lie about." -J. C.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 8. And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom , etc.] Which belonged to a man of that name formerly; and was near Jerusalem, placed by Jerom to the east of it; but Reland rather thinks it is to the south. It was infamous for the sacrifices of children to Moloch in it, by burning them, or causing them to pass through fire: hence, in allusion to it, hell fire is often in the New Testament called “Geenna”, ( Matthew 5:22,29,30 10:28 18:9 23:15,33 Mark 9:43,45,47) ( Luke 12:5 James 3:6); this border from the salt sea, and from Jordan, is all along said to “go up”, because from hence to Jerusalem was an ascent, that lying on higher ground: unto the south side of the Jebusite ; of the place the Jebusite inhabited: the same is Jerusalem ; which was formerly called Jebus, from the inhabitants of it; yea, Jebusi, as here, and so may intend not the inhabitants, but the place, (see Joshua 18:28 Judges 19:10); and here the Jebusites lived, at least in some part of it, until the time of David, ( Samuel 5:6-8); and the border went up to the top of the mountain that [lieth] before the valley of Hinnom westward : which is generally supposed to be the mount Moriah: which is at the end of the valley of the giants, northward : the valley of Rephaim, as it is called ( 2 Samuel 5:18), and here Mount Moriah, as it was to the west of the valley of Hinnom, it was to the north of the valley of Rephaim; which valley, as Josephus says, was not far from Jerusalem, twenty furlongs from it. Some late travellers tell us it lies in the way from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, and is not above two hours’ ride from the former. From this account it appears, as Jarchi remarks, that Jerusalem was not within the line, and was not in the border of Judah, but of Benjamin, which tribe lay to the north of Judah: it seems indeed to have been one part of it in the tribe of Judah, and the other in the tribe of Benjamin; though the Jews frequently say it did not belong to either tribe.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 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 portio assigned. In due time all God's people are settled.
Original Hebrew
ועלה 5927 הגבול 1366 גי 1516 בן 1121 הנם 2011 אל 413 כתף 3802 היבוסי 2983 מנגב 5045 היא 1931 ירושׁלם 3389 ועלה 5927 הגבול 1366 אל 413 ראשׁ 7218 ההר 2022 אשׁר 834 על 5921 פני 6440 גי 1516 הנם 2011 ימה 3220 אשׁר 834 בקצה 7097 עמק 6010 רפאים 7497 צפנה׃ 6828
