²¹and Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath that were born in the land slew, because they came down to take away their cattle. =21.= _the men of Gath that were born in the land_] i.e. the Philistine population. _they came down_] This phrase suits a descent from the hills of Ephraim into the Philistine lowlands. The raid presumably took place after the period of the Exodus and the settlement of Israel in Canaan. Yet it is also possible that the story should be classed with certain traditions which ignore the narrative of the Egyptian sojourn and the Exodus――see Cook, _Encyclopedia Britannica_¹¹, s.v. _Genesis_, p. 584, col. 2. ²²And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him. =22.= _And Ephraim their father_] i.e. the tribe, or district, to which the clans, _Ezer_ and _Elead_, belonged. ²³And he went in to his wife, and she conceived, and bare a son, and he called his name Beriah, because it went evil with his house. =23.= _Beriah, because it went evil_] Hebrew =Beri‘ah because it went berā‘ah=, a play on the sound of the name. This is a feature characteristic of the patriarchal narratives in Genesis, compare Genesis xxx. 11, etc. It is interesting to find it in the tradition upon which the Chronicler here depends. Compare also iv. 9 (note). ²⁴And his daughter was Sheerah, who built Beth-horon the nether and the upper, and Uzzen-sheerah. ²⁵And Rephah was his son, and Resheph, and Telah his son, and Tahan his son; ²⁶Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son; ²⁷Nun¹ his son, Joshua his son. ¹ Hebrew _Non_. =24.= _Beth-horon_] See vi. 68, note. =28, 29.= SETTLEMENTS OF THE SONS OF JOSEPH. The writer of these verses does not intend to give a full list of the seats of Ephraim (verse 28) and Manasseh (verse 29); but apparently to indicate the area and position of their territory by the mention of towns on the borders. ²⁸And their possessions and habitations were Beth-el and the towns¹ thereof, and eastward Naaran², and westward Gezer, with the towns thereof; Shechem also and the towns thereof, unto Azzah³ and the towns thereof: ¹ Hebrew _daughters_. ² In Joshua xvi. 7, _Naarah_. ³ Many MSS. read, _Ayyah_. =28.= _Beth-el_] the southern boundary. Beth-el is the modern _Beitîn_, ten miles north of Jerusalem (Bädeker, _Palestine_⁵, p. 217). The city was on the border of Ephraim and Benjamin and in Joshua xviii. 22 is assigned to Benjamin, but it was originally conquered by Ephraim (Judges i. 22), and during the division of the kingdom it belonged to the North: compare 1 Kings xii. 29, 32; 2 Chronicles xiii. 19, note. _Naaran_] the eastern boundary. In Joshua xvi. 7, _Naarath_ (Revised Version _Naarah_). _Gezer ... Shechem_] On Gezer the western, and Shechem the northern boundary――see the note on vi. 67.