Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 37:17

And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.

17. Dothan ] Familiar to us as the name of the city in which Elisha was beset by foes and divinely protected (2Ki 6:13-15). The modern Tel Dothan probably preserves the site, a hill on the S. side of the plain of Jezreel, and some 15 miles N. of Shechem. It is mentioned frequently in the book of Judith. Modern writers speak of its rich pasturage.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Dothan a place not very far from Shechem, where afterwards a city was built. See 2Ki 6:13.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

17. Joseph went after his brethren,and found them in DothanHebrew, Dothaim, or “twowells,” recently discovered in the modern “Dothan,”situated a few hours’ distance from Shechem.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And the man said, they are departed hence,…. They had been there, in the field where he and Joseph were, and which was probably the field before mentioned; but for good reasons, perhaps for want of pasture, or in order to find better feeding for their cattle, they were gone from thence, from the fields about Shechem:

for I heard them say, let us go to Dothan; this was, as some say, four miles from Shechem, others eight m; according to Brochardus n, it was a plain country between fruitful hills, contiguous to fountains, was pasture ground, and very fit for feeding cattle; and its very name, as Hillerus o notes, signifies grassy, or a place of tender grass: here, afterwards, was a city built, not far from Samaria, 2Ki 6:13; about twelve miles to the north of it, as says Jerom p; it was in the tribe of Manasseh, about forty four miles from Jerusalem to the north, and six miles from Tiberias to the west q:

and Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan; which shows that he had a real desire to see them, and know their state and condition, that he might report it to his father; since he might have returned on not finding them at Shechem, that being the place he was sent to, and would have been sufficient to have shown obedience to his father’s commands, though perhaps it might not have come up to his full sense and meaning.

m Bunting’s Travels, p. 79. Ainsworth in loc. n Apud Drusium in loc. o Onomastic. Sacra, p. 526. p Loc. Heb. fol. 90. H. q Bunting, ut supra, (m) p. 80.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(17) Dothan.This town was twelve miles north of Shechem, and is famous as being the place where Elisha struck the Syrian army with blindness (2Ki. 6:13-23) It is situated in a small but fertile valley, and Jacobs sons, having exhausted the produce of the larger plain round Shechem, had moved northward thither. Not having found them at Shechem, Joseph did not know where to go, but wandered about in the fieldthe open downstill he met some one who could give him information. Had he been a practised hunter, like Esau, he would have followed them by the tracks of the cattle.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

17. To Dothan “About seventeen miles farther north . Dothan, or Dothaim, ( two wells,) is situated just south of the great plain of Esdraelon, from which it is separated only by two or three low swells of ground, the name being still attached to a fine green knoll, from the base of which springs a fountain . The pasturage being exhausted in the valley of Shechem, the shepherds had moved northwards to richer grazing grounds, on the margin of the great plain that has always been the granary of Palestine.” Newhall.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments