So the people went out into the field against Israel,.... Josephus e calls it a great field, with a wood behind it:
and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim; or near it f rather; not in a wood in the tribe of Ephraim, which lay on this side Jordan; whereas this battle was fought on the other side Jordan, in the land of Gilead, not far from Mahanaim, where was this wood; and which was so called, either from the slaughter of the Ephraimites here in the times of Jephthah, Judges 12:4; or from the Ephraimites feeding their cattle here and near it; for the Jews say g, that Joshua gave them a grant to feed their cattle in any wood in any of the tribes of Israel; and lying near Jordan, they used to drive their cattle over to this place, from whence it had its name.
e Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 10.) sect. 2. f ביער "ad sylvam", Junius Tremellius "prope sylvam", Piscator. g In Jarchi, Kimchi, & Abarbinel, in loc.