And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its pasture lands, and Jahaz with its pasture lands,
All Commentaries on Joshua 21:36 Go To Joshua 21
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Four cities. There are no more, though there be five names: for Misor is the same city as Bosor, which is to be observed in some other places, where the number of names exceeds the number of cities. (Challoner)
With regard to the 36th and 37th verses, there seems to have been great confusion in the Hebrew manuscripts both ancient and modern. In some they have been totally omitted, in others only a part. (Haydock)
The famous manuscript of Hillel, and the Masorets, reject them, (Calmet) because they had reckoned only 656 verses in Josue, and these two verses would destroy their authority. Hence they erased them wherever they might be found; and Kimchi assures us, that he never could meet with them "in any manuscript (thus) corrected. "Yet the Paralipomena universally acknowledge them, (Kennicott) as the context of Josue must also do, otherwise there will be only eight cities instead of twelve, and four will be wanting to complete the number of forty-eight. The Protestant version therefore is forced to admit them, (Haydock) as they are found in the Eng. Polyglot, on the authority of some ancient manuscripts. They do not, however, express them so fully as the Septuagint have done. (Kennicott)
These read, "And beyond the Jordan, over-against Jericho, out of the tribe of Ruben, the city of refuge for the slayer, Bosor, in the wilderness, (Misor) and her suburbs, and Jazer and her suburbs, (37) and Gedson and her suburbs, and Mapha (Alexandrian copy reads Maspha) and her suburbs, four cities. "(Grabe)
Protestants only admit, "And out of the tribe of Ruben, Bezer with her suburbs, and Jahazah.Kedemoth.and Mephaath with her suburbs, four cities. "Kennicott finds in some Hebrew manuscripts, "the city of refuge for the slayer, Bosor "one manuscript has, "in the wilderness "(Haydock)
These verses were not in the Hebrew text of the Hexapla, as they are obelized in the Septuagint and in the Syriac manuscript of Masius; and yet, as they are found in the old Greek and Syriac versions, and in the Chaldean paraphrase, they were probably omitted between the year 100 and 200. They are left out in several printed editions of the Hebrew Bible, and even in that of Jablonski, (1699) though in opposition to his better judgment and all the manuscripts which he had consulted: legunt omnia nostra manuscripts. Michaelis (1720) reprinted this text, with some few emendations, particularly with these two verse very laudably inserted. (Kennicott, 2 Diss.)
In the Bened. edition of St. Jerome, Martianay observes, that the Hebrew manuscripts of St. Jerome seem to have been mutilated, for if they had admitted this 36th verse, St. Jerome would have translated it, and it would have been found in the more ancient manuscripts of the Latin edition, where it is wanting. Hence this editor leaves it out. He also remarks that other Hebrew manuscripts omit "a city of refuge for the slayer, in the desert. "The last word, he says, occurs in several copies of the best note; and Houbigant inserts it on the authority of the oratorian manuscript 54. (Haydock)
In some editions of the Vulgate, this verse is transposed, and placed after the cities of Gad. (Louvain; R. Steph.;)
It is therefore, probable that St. Jerome found it not in Hebrew but, if he inserted it, he borrowed it from the Septuagint. The Syriac version places these verses before the 34th and 35th. All this shows that the Hebrew manuscripts have not been kept with great care in this place. Some have surmised that the Septuagint have inserted this necessary supplement from Paralipomenon. But they do not entirely agree with that book, so that it seems that they found these verses in their Hebrew copies. (Calmet)
We have already given the Hebrew and Septuagint as it is found in the common editions. In Paralipomenon (vi. 78,) it is thus expressed: Beyond the Jordan also, over-against Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan, out of the tribe of Ruben, Bosor in the wilderness, with its suburbs, and Jassa.79. Cade moth also. And Mephaath with its suburbs. The word Misor, which Grabe's Septuagint and the Vulgate leave untranslated, is the Hebrew word which denotes a plain, (Haydock) as Aquila and Symmachus agree, and as appears chap. xx. 8. Deuteronomy iv. 43, where Bosor is said to have been upon the plain of the wilderness. This city was the famous Bosra, in the desert Arabia, between Philadelphia and Jazer, towards the east. (Calmet)
We might translate, "the cities of refuge, Bosor in the wilderness, which is also the plain "of Moab, ver. 21. (Haydock)
Jaser, or Jassa, (chap. xiii. 18,) different from that ver. 37, which lay on the river of the same name in the tribe of Gad. (Calmet)
