Ver. 3. From Sihor, which is before Egypt— Here the sacred historian, intending, in a particular manner, to describe the extent of the country of the Philistines, fixes its northern limits at the river Sihor, which, it is generally thought, was only the Pelusiack branch of the Nile. See on Numbers 34:5.
Le Clerc, Calmet, Mills, Bishop Clayton, and many others, are of this opinion.
Even unto the borders of Ekron northward— Ekron was a considerable city in the land of the Philistines, particularly famous for the altars of Beelzebub, called, in the New Testament, the prince of the devils. He was esteemed the chief deity of the country. Ekron was a portion of the tribe of Judah, and afterwards of Dan; but neither of them took it from its original possessors.
Which is counted to the Canaanite— The first possessors of the country were the descendants of Canaan, the youngest son of Ham. With respect to the Philistines, they, it is well known, sprung from Mizraim, the second son of Ham; and, in a course of time, dispossessed the Avims of the places they held in the land of Canaan, and there settled themselves under the name of Philistines. See on Genesis 10:13 and Deuteronomy 2:23.
Five lords of the Philistines— The whole country of the Philistines, from Sihor to Ekron, was divided into five governments. The Scripture calls them chiefs, saraim, or saranaim; an old Phoenician word, as some think, signifying the same as sarim in Hebrews 1.e. prince or governor: the LXX translate it, satrapes, and the Vulgate petty kings; which does not answer, so well as the expression used by the LXX, to the idea that the Scripture gives of the government of the Philistines, which was rather aristocratical than monarchical. Achish, king of Gath in the time of David, is perhaps the only one of these lords who became absolute in his government. The land of the Philistines was of inconsiderable extent, not above forty English miles long, and very narrow, but rendered famous for its fertility and commerce. The Avites are to be distinguished from the Hivites, who inhabited the country near mount Hermon, to the north of Canaan; the latter dwelt on the west, and did not make a separate government. Though they, as well as the Philistines, were deprived of their country by the Caphtorims, yet some of them remained in certain districts, where they lived under the dominion of their conquerors.