Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 13:18
And another company turned the way [to] Beth-horon: and another company turned [to] the way of the border that looketh to the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.
Beth-boron; a city of Ephraim, Jos 16:3. north-west from Michmash.
The wilderness, i.e. the wilderness of Jordan, eastward.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And another company turned the way to Bethhoron,…. Of which name there were two cities, the upper and nether, and both in the tribe of Ephraim, of which see Jos 16:3 this lay northwest from the camp of the Philistines at Michmash; eight miles from it, according to Bunting d:
and another company turned to the way of the border, that looketh towards the valley of Zeboim, toward the wilderness; some take this to be the Zeboim which was destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah; and the wilderness, the wilderness of Jordan; but as that, so the valley in which it stood, was turned into a bituminous lake; this seems to be a city in the land of Benjamin, Ne 11:34 near to which was a valley, and this towards the wilderness of Jericho, and so lay eastward; the Targum calls it the valley of vipers, perhaps from its being infested with many; and so David de Pomis e says it is the name of a place where plenty of serpents were found, and which he says were called so because of the variety of colours in them; with which agrees Kimchi’s note on the place; they seem to mean serpents spotted f, as if they were painted and dyed of various colours, as the Hebrew word which is thus paraphrased signifies: according to Bunting g, it was eight miles from Michmash.
d Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. p. 133. e Tzemach David, fol. 13. 2. & 153. 1. f , Homer. Iliad. 12. ver. 208. “notis maculosus grandibus”, Virgil. Georgic. l. 3. v. 427. g Ut supra. (Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. p. 133.)
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
18. Beth-horon This lay westward from Michmash. On Beth-horon nether and upper, see Jos 10:11; Jos 16:3; Jos 16:5.
The way of the border that looketh to the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness Or, as Keil translates: The way to the territory that rises above the valley, etc. The valley of Zeboim has not been fairly identified with any modern name, though one traveller (Grove, in Smith’s Dict.) gives worthy reasons for identifying it with a wild gorge through which he was conducted in 1858 from Jericho to Michmash. This gorge, lying to the east of Michmash, bears the Arabic name of Shuk ed-Dubba, equivalent to the Hebrews , valley of hyenas. As the other two parties went one to the north towards Ophrah, and the other west towards Beth-horon, we naturally suppose that the third took their route towards the east over the heights that look towards the southeast, and very likely along this very gorge. According to this view the wilderness would be the wild district between Michmash and Jericho.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Sa 13:18 And another company turned the way [to] Bethhoron: and another company turned [to] the way of the border that looketh to the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.
Ver. 18. And another company turned, &c. ] They might rove and plunder at pleasure, there being none but a naked people to withstand them; whose children, doubtless, were dashed in pieces, their houses spoiled, and their wives ravished, as it is in Isa 13:16 , and as it befell the old Waldenses at Merindell and Chabriers, and their posterity in Piedmont the last year, by those bloody Irish and Savoyards. a
a Act. and Mon., fol. 869.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Bethhoron: Jos 10:11, Jos 16:3, Jos 16:5, Jos 18:13, Jos 18:14, 1Ch 6:68, 2Ch 8:5
Zeboim: Gen 14:2, Neh 11:34, Hos 11:8
Reciprocal: Jos 10:10 – Bethhoron 2Ki 5:2 – by companies
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
13:18 And another company turned the way [to] Bethhoron: and {m} another company turned [to] the way of the border that looketh to the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.
(m) So that to man’s judgment these three armies would have overrun the whole country.