"Baal-Hermon," "Senir" Deuteronomy 3:9, and "Mount Hermon," are here not so much three names of the one great snow-clad eminence in which the Anti-Lebanon terminates toward the south, as three parts of the mountain - perhaps the "three summits" in which it terminates.

And the children of the half tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land,.... Not in the land of the Hagarites, but in the land of Gilead and Bashan beyond Jordan, given them by Moses. The writer, having reckoned the genealogies of some of the principal men of Reuben and Gad, proceeds to give a short account of some principal men in this half tribe:

they increased from Bashan; where they first settled, and extended their possessions:

unto Baalhermon and Senir, and unto Mount Hermon; mountains which lay to the north of the land of Canaan, and are what geographers call Antilibanus.

The families of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, and the leading away of the East-Jordan Israelites into the Assyrian exile. - 1 Chronicles 5:23. The half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan was very numerous (רבוּ המּה), "and they dwelt in the land of Bashan (i.e., the Bashan inhabited by Gad, 1 Chronicles 5:12) (northwards) to Baal Hermon," - i.e., according to the more accurate designation of the place in Joshua 12:7 and Joshua 13:5, in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon, probably the present Bnjas, at the foot of Hermon (see on Numbers 34:8), - "and Senir and Mount Hermon." שׂניר, which according to Deuteronomy 3:9 was the name of Hermon or Antilibanus in use among the Amorites, is here and in Ezekiel 27:5 the name of a part of those mountains (vide on Deuteronomy 3:9), just as "mount Hermon" is the name of another part of this range.

And the children of the half tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land: they increased from Bashan unto {k} Baalhermon and Senir, and unto mount Hermon.

(k) Otherwise called Baal-gad.

5:1-26 Genealogies. - This chapter gives some account of the two tribes and a half seated on the east side of Jordan. They were made captives by the king of Assyria, because they had forsaken the Lord. Only two things are here recorded concerning these tribes. 1. They all shared in a victory. Happy is that people who live in harmony together, who assist each other against the common enemies of their souls, trusting in the Lord, and calling upon him. 2. They shared in captivity. They would have the best land, not considering that it lay most exposed. The desire of earthly objects draws to a distance from God's ordinances, and prepares men for destruction.