The strong hold of Tyre - This must have been the old city of Tyre, which was built on the main land: the new city was built on a rock in the sea.

And came to the strong hold of Tyre,.... That is, old Tyre, which stood thirty furlongs from new Tyre, the island (y); of which See Gill on Isa 23:1; this must be understood of the parts near unto it; for that itself was not within the land of Israel, and so its inhabitants not to be numbered:

and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: which were possessed by them, and from whence they were not driven out by the Israelites; to all places contiguous to them, Joab and his captains came to take the number of them:

and they went out to the south of Judah: even to Beersheba; passing through the western part of the land, they came to the southern part of it, even as far as Beersheba, which was the extreme part of the land to the south.

(y) Strabo. Geograph. l. 16. p. 521.

the land of Tahtim-hodshi--that is, the land lately acquired; namely, that of the Hagarites conquered by Saul (Ch1 5:10). The progress was northward. Thence they crossed the country, and, proceeding along the western coast to the southern extremities of the country, they at length arrived in Jerusalem, having completed the enumeration of the whole kingdom in the space of nine months and twenty days.