And it went out. Luz was not situated directly opposite Mount Bethel, but lay farther inward toward the south, for Scripture says (18:12), “and its extremities were at the wilderness of Beth-aven,” indicating that the transverse boundary line ended there. Since the boundary passed from there toward Luz, Luz must have been situated inward to the south. Therefore, Scripture says, “and it went out from Bethel to Luz.” Luz belonged to Joseph.

And it passed. In a straight line.

To the longitudinal border. That is, to the lengthwise boundary itself, which was Benjamin’s northern border, at Ataroth-addar (ibid., verse 13). Scripture specifies “the longitudinal border” because another Ataroth lay on the transverse boundary, on the eastern side of Joseph’s inheritance, as stated in verse 7: “It descended from Janoah to Ataroth.”

And it descended westward. From there, the boundary descended westward as far as the Great Sea.

And they inherited. The children of Ephraim received a separate lot, and the half-tribe of Manasseh received a separate lot. Scripture calls them a single lot only because their territories emerged adjacent to one another within the same region. Here it explains that Manasseh and Ephraim inherited, each according to a separate lot.

And it was. From this general territory, which extended across the entire width of the Land of Israel from east to west, the children of Ephraim received the eastern half, while Manasseh received the western half. However, within Manasseh’s half there were also certain cities set apart for the children of Ephraim, as Scripture enumerates here.

“And the territory of” the children of Ephraim—and the boundary was. Because Scripture enumerates two types of territory here, it first says, “And the territory of the children of Ephraim,” meaning everything belonging to them, including the cities set apart for them. It now begins to describe the boundary of their principal inheritance on the eastern side, which belonged exclusively to Ephraim; in verse 8 it will describe the cities set apart for them.

The boundary of their inheritance on the east. That is, their territory occupied the eastern half of the land’s length, while the western half belonged to Manasseh.

From Ataroth-addar to Beth-horon. This constituted the width of their inheritance from south to north. Both Lower Beth-horon and Upper Beth-horon belonged to Ephraim, as stated in I Chronicles 7:24.

And it went out. On the northern side of the boundary—that is, from its northeastern corner at Upper Beth-horon—the boundary extended outward, widened, and proceeded westward as far as Michmethath.

And the boundary turned. Scripture now describes the northern boundary line from Beth-horon to the far eastern end. The boundary turned eastward, meaning toward the east, for here it is being traced from west to east, and the line proceeded by turning in two directions—the meaning of “turned”—in the shape of the letter dalet. It explains how: the line proceeded diagonally from Beth-horon as far as Taanath-shiloh, which lay on the border opposite Bethel to its north, as stated in Judges 21:19. This line ran from west to east. From there, it passed it and came east of Janoah: the line proceeded from north to south until it passed along Janoah’s eastern side. This enables you to understand the teaching of the Sages (Zevachim 118b): “In three places the Divine Presence rested, and all were within Benjamin’s portion.” How could Shiloh have been within Benjamin’s portion? Shiloh was north of Bethel, so Joseph’s territory seemingly intervened between them. However, according to what was explained above, the territory from Taanath-shiloh and Jericho eastward did not belong to Joseph. From there, a strip belonging to Benjamin extended along the entire eastern side of Joseph’s inheritance as far as Shiloh, and the Tabernacle was erected upon this strip. This also explains the verse: “Behold, there is an annual festival of Hashem in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, east of the road that ascends from Bethel to Shechem” (Judges 21:19). They celebrated this festival east of Shiloh, along that road, which belonged to Benjamin. The Benjaminites were therefore permitted to seize wives there from among the dancing women, since those women had entered the territory of their inheritance.

And it descended, etc. The entire boundary here proceeded diagonally, until the northern boundary line met the southern line extending from the waters of Jericho. Thus, Scripture says, “and it met Jericho,” for there it met the first boundary line, leaving Ephraim only a narrow strip extending to the Jordan. We now know Ephraim’s boundaries on all four sides: on the south, from Ataroth-addar to the Jordan; on the north, from Beth-horon to the Jordan; on the west, from south to north, from Ataroth-addar to Beth-horon; and on the east, the two boundary lines met diagonally, leaving only a narrow strip. In addition, Ephraim possessed the territory extending northward from Beth-horon to Michmethath.

From Tappuah. Scripture now enumerates the cities set apart for the children of Ephraim within Manasseh’s territory on its southern side. The territory westward from Ataroth-addar and below belonged to Manasseh, and Ephraim’s continuous boundary had ended. Thus, the entire western half extending from Beth-horon—apart from the strip reaching to Michmethath—and westward from Ataroth-addar as far as the sea belonged to Manasseh. Only at Tappuah, situated on Manasseh’s southern side, did the cities set apart for Ephraim begin. They are called “set apart” because Ephraim’s continuous territory had already ended, and the land between Ataroth and Tappuah belonged to Manasseh. “The land of Tappuah” means that the district north of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, as explained below (chapter 17), whereas Tappuah itself belonged to Ephraim. From there, the boundary of the cities set apart proceeded westward to the Brook of Kanah—that is, along the brook’s southern side, for its northern side belonged to Manasseh, as explained below (17:10)—and extended as far as the sea. The entire territory south of it belonged to Ephraim, and therefore Gezer also belonged to Ephraim.

And the cities. The verse should be read: “This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim,” etc., “together with the cities” that were set apart. That is, Scripture has explained both the inheritance of the tribe of Ephraim, which formed one continuous territory in the eastern part of Joseph’s inheritance and whose boundaries were described in verses 5–7, and the cities set apart for Ephraim, which were separated from that territory by Manasseh’s inheritance and lay in the southern part of the western region of Joseph’s inheritance.

All the cities. All the cities in this region, together with their dependent villages. The word mivdalot (“set apart”) has the same meaning as muvdalot, with a shuruk.

And they did not dispossess. For Gezer belonged to Ephraim and was among the cities set apart for them.