2 Samuel 18 Footnotes

18:6 Ephraim’s tribal territory was west of the Jordan River, but the “forest of Ephraim” mentioned here is in Transjordan (see 17:22). This forest could share the name for several reasons. The name may preserve the memory of a major battle fought there in which the Ephraimites lost forty-two thousand men (Jdg 12:1-6), or it may have come from an individual or group that shared the name of the Israelite tribe. Finally, the name Ephraim came to refer to all the northern Israelite tribes, and the separate kingdom of “Israel,” in contrast to Judah (e.g., Is 7:2; 9:9; 11:13; 17:3; Jr 7:15; 31:9,20; Hs 4:17; Zch 9:13). Hence it applied to Israelite territory on both sides of the Jordan.