Half tribe of Manasseh. Throughout this part of the narrative, when the body politic, rather than the descent of the tribe, is to be indicated, we have, not מַטֶּה, but שֶׁבֶט. See above, Joshua 13:29.
An altar. The original has the altar. Over against אֶל־מוּל. It is difficult to fix the meaning of this expression. מוּל seems to have meant the front of anything, and therefore אֶל־מוּל would naturally mean towards the front of, or in front of.
Thus we have had the expression in Joshua 8:33 (where see note), where it seems to mean, in the direction of, and in Joshua 9:1, where it seems to have the same meaning. With verbs of motion it signifies towards, as in Exodus 34:3, and 1 Samuel 17:30.
Here it clearly cannot be pressed to mean across Jordan. See note below. The borders of Jordan. As above, 1 Samuel 17:10, the circles of Jordan. At the passage of the children of Israel. The word translated "the passage of," literally," unto over," has originally the sense of "across."
Here, however, it means "towards the region opposite to the sons of Israel," i.e; in the direction of the country on the other side Jordan. The country across Jordan was usually designated as בְּעֵבֶר or מֵעֵבֶר Jordan.
אֶל־עֵבֶר, the phrase used here, we find in Exodus 28:26, apparently in the sense of across (so Exodus 39:19). In Deuteronomy 30:13 it is used of moving in the direction of a place, "across" or "over the sea."
In Ezekiel 1:9, Ezekiel 1:12, with the addition of פָנָיו, the phrase means "straight forward." In 1 Samuel 14:40 לְעֵבֶר אֶהַד means "on one side." In 1 Kings 7:1-51. לְעֵבֶר means "over." Thus the altar was not necessarily on the other side Jordan.