20, according to
which the South is vacant. Judah thus extends in the South, over Edom,
in the West, over Philistia, in the North, over the former territory of
the ten tribes, and hence also over the territory of Benjamin, which
formerly lay betwixt Judah and Joseph. Benjamin is indemnified by
Gilead. The whole of Canaan comes thus to Judah and Benjamin. Joseph,
to whose damage, according to ver. 18, this enlargement of Judah's
territory must lead, must be transferred altogether to heathenish
territory. We expect to find, in ver. 20, how he is indemnified.

Ver. 20. "_And the exiles of this host of the children of Israel (shall
possess) what are Canaanites unto Zarephath, and the exiles of
Jerusalem that are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the South._"

The circumstance that the Athnach stands below [Hebrew: sprd] indicates
that [Hebrew: irwv] implies the common property of the exiles of this
host, and of the exiles of Jerusalem. The "Sons of Israel," in this
context, can only be the ten tribes; for they are here indemnified for
their former territory, which, according to ver. 19, has become the
possession of Judah. "The exiles of this host" is equivalent to: "This
whole host of exiles,"--the whole mass of the ten tribes, carried away
according to prophetic foresight (compare Amos v. 27: "And I carry you
away beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, the God of hosts"), as opposed to
a piecemeal carrying away, such as had once already taken place before
the time of the prophet in respect to Judah, but not in respect to the
children of Israel; compare Joel iv. (iii.) 6. That the "Canaanites
unto Zarephath"--_i.e._, the Ph[oe]nicians, whose territory formed part
of the promised land, but had never, in former times, come into the
real possession of Israel--are the objects of conquest, and that,
hence, we cannot explain as _Caspari_ does, "Who are among the
Canaanites, even unto Zarephath," is evident from the circumstance,
that all the neighbouring nations appear as objects of the conquering
activity;--that the great mass of the Israelitish exiles were not among
the Canaanites;--that the [Hebrew: b] could, in that case, not have
been omitted;--and that the South country is too small [Pg 406] a space
for the children of Israel, and of Jerusalem together. Sepharad, the
very name of which is scarcely known, is mentioned as a particularizing
designation of the utmost distance. The description becomes complete by
its returning