Joshua 13:3

Sihor. From the Hebrew form of the Egyptian Shi-hor, “Pond of Horns,” which appears in Egyptian documents as a body of water at the eastern border of the Delta. Its exact location is unknown. The LXX reads, “from the uninhabited area which is before Egypt.” In certain other places in the Bible (Joshua 15:4, 47; Gen. 15:18; Num. 34:5; 1 Kings 8:65; Isa. 27:12) the expression “river of Egypt” or “stream of Egypt” is used. But these do not refer to the river Nile, because in the Hebrew the word nahal, “a winter torrent,” is used. Also in Jer. 2:18 and 1 Chron. 13:5 Sihor, or Shihor, is used in a way decisively eliminating the Nile. Some think the Sihor to be the brook that runs into the sea at the extreme southern border of Palestine. It flows through a broad, shallow wadi, or valley, that drains the seasonal surplus water from the Wilderness of Paran into the Mediterranean. It is known today as Wadi el-Arish, and is about 47 mi. (75 km.) southwest of Gaza.

Ekron. Site uncertain, but assigned most recently to Khirbet el-Muqanna’, about 11 mi. (17.7 km.) east-northeast of Ashdod, nearer that city than formerly supposed. This territory is probably “counted to the Canaanite” because its original possessors were descendants of Canaan, the youngest of Ham’s sons. However, the Caphtorim dispossessed the Avites who held this territory (see on Gen. 10:14), and dwelt there in their stead (see Deut. 2:23).

Lords. See on Judges 3:3. The word translated “lords” is peculiar to the Philistines. It literally means “axle,” and, in view of the phrase referred to above, “circles of the Philistines” (see on v. 2), is very fitting. These “lords” were heads rather than kings.

Avites. Literally, “ruin dwellers.” These may have been the aborigines of the area around and to the south of the Philistines who preceded the Canaanites, and were dispossessed by the Caphtorim (see Deut. 2:22, 23).