Then the boundary goes in another direction, turning on the western side southward from the mountain that lies to the south, opposite Beth-horon, and it ends at Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), a city belonging to the people of Judah. This forms the western side.
Benjamin lay between Judah and Joseph by God's wise ordering: little Benjamin needed Joseph's strength nearby, yet the Lord Himself covered him all the day long. This position later bound Benjamin to Judah in loyalty to David's throne and Jerusalem's temple, as Providence had appointed.
AI summary
Commenting on Joshua 18:11-28
And the border was drawn thence,.... From Bethhoron: and compassed the corner of the sea southward; it is hard to say what sea is meant, or what by it. Fuller (k) conjectures, that as the Hebrews call any confluence of water a sea, as we call such a "mere", the great waters in Gibeon may be meant, Jer 41:12; for it cannot mean the Mediterranean...
Benjamin's northern line matched Ephraim's southern boundary all the way to Lower Beth-horon, already explained when we covered Ephraim's lot. At Beth-horon it bent south along the western side, ending at Kirjath-jearim, the Judaean town we noted earlier.
AI summary
Commenting on Joshua 18:12-14