Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 15:21
And the uttermost cities of the tribe of the children of Judah toward the coast of Edom southward were Kabzeel, and Eder, and Jagur,
21. And the uttermost cities ] The writer commences with the cities at the extremity of the territory of Judah, the S.E. point of the Dead Sea, on the Edomite frontier.
toward the coast of Edom southward ] For “ coast,” see above, ch. Jos 13:16. ( a) First we have a group of nine cities within the Negeb at the south-east:
(1) Kabzeel = “ which God gathers,” the birth-place of Benaiah, one of David’s heroes (2Sa 23:20); (2) Eder and (3) Jagur are altogether unknown; (4) Kinah, possibly the territory of the Kenites who settled at Arad; (5) Dimonah = Dibon (Neh 11:25); (6) Adadah, identified by Robinson with Sudeid; (7) Kedesh, (8) Hazor, and (9) Ithnan are unknown.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
List of the towns of the tribe of Judah. These are arranged in four divisions, according to the natural features of the district; namely,, those of the Negeb or south country Jos 15:21-32; of the valley, or the plain (Shephelah, Jos 15:33-47); of the mountains Jos 15:48-60; and of the wilderness Jos 15:61-62. Many of the identifications are still conjectural only.
Jos 15:21-32. The Negeb was for the most part rocky and arid, and cannot have been at any time very thickly populated.
Jos 15:21
Kabzeel was the native place of Benaiah 2Sa 23:20, who was famous as a slayer of lions. The Negeb was a principal haunt of these beasts.
Jos 15:24
Telem may be the Telaim of 1Sa 15:4, where Saul mustered his army for the expedition against the Amalekites. It is possibly to be looked for at El-Kuseir, a spot where the various routes toward different parts of the Negeb converge, and which is occupied by the Arab tribe the Dhullam, a word identical with Telem in its consonants. Bealoth is probably the Baalath-beer – Ramath of the south Jos 19:8, and was one of the towns afterward assigned to the Simeonites. It is identified with the modern Kurnub.
Jos 15:25
And Hezron which is Hazor – In this verse are the names of two towns only, not of four. Two places bearing the common topographical appellation, Hazor (enclosure) are here mentioned and distinguished as Hazor Hadattah and Kerioth-Hezron, otherwise termed Hazor, simply: the former has been identified by some with El-Hudhera; the latter is probably the modern El-Kuryetein. Kerioth, prefixed to a name, bespeaks military occupation, as Hazor points to pastoral pursuits. The place would therefore seem to be an ancient pastoral settlement which had been fortified by the Anakims, and called accordingly Kerioth; to which name the men of Judah, after they had captured it, added that of Hezron, in honor of one of their leading ancestors (compare Gen 46:12; Rth 4:18). Kerioth was the home of Judas the traitor, if the ordinary derivation of Iscariot (= ‘ysh qeryoth), i. e. man of Kerioth) be accepted: Mat 10:4.
Jos 15:26
Moladah is probably the modern El-Milh, and like Hazar-shual (Berrishail near Gaza) ( enclosure of foxes) occurs Jos 19:2-3; 1Ch 4:28, as a town belonging to Simeon, and Neh 11:26-27 as a place occupied by Jews after the captivity.
Jos 15:29-32
Baalah Jos 19:3 is found in the modern Deir-el-Belah, near Gaza. Iim, i. e. ruinous heaps or conical hills (Num 21:11 note) is by some connected with Azem; and the compound name, Ije Azem, is traced in El-Aujeh, in the country of the Azazimeh Arabs, in whose name the ancient Azem may perhaps be traced. Eltolad is connected with Wady-el-Thoula, in the extreme south of the Negeb. Chesil appears to be the town called Bethul Jos 19:4, and probably the Bethel 1Sa 30:27 situated not far from Ziklag. The name Chesil ( fool) was most likely bestowed by way of opprobrium (compare the change of Bethel, house of God, into Bethaven, house of vanity, Hos 4:15). As Chesil signifies the group of stars known as Orion (compare Job 38:31; Amo 5:8), probably it was the worship of the heavenly bodies in particular that was carried on here. Bethel may have been the ancient name, and the spot was perhaps the very one near Beer-sheba where Abraham planted a tamarisk tree Gen 21:33.
The place is probably El Khulasah, the Elusa of ecclesiastical writers, situated some fifteen miles southwest of Beer-sheba. Jerome testifies to the fact, that the worship of Venus as the morning star was practiced there, and Sozomen appears to be speaking of this place, when he mentions a Bethel Bethelia in the territory of Gaza, populous and famous for an ancient and splendid temple. The site of Ziklag is uncertain. Madmannah and Sansannah correspond to Beth-marcaboth ( house of chariots) and Hazar-susah (horse enclosure) in Jos 19:5 1Ch 4:31. The latter names point to two stations of passage on or near the high road between Egypt and Palestine, and are represented by the modern Minyay and Wady-es-Suny, on the caravan route south of Gaza. Shilhim or Sharuhen, Jos 19:6, and Shaaraim 1Ch 4:31 is traced in Khirbet-es-Seram, near El Aujeh. Ain and Rimmon were possibly originally two towns, but in process of time became so connected as to be treated as one name Neh 11:29. The place is probably the present Um-er-Rummamim, i. e. mother of pomegranates, a place about ten miles north of Beer-sheba.
Jos 15:32
Twenty and nine – The King James Version gives 34 names. The difference is due either to the confusion by an early copyist of letters similar in form which were used as numerals; or to the separation in the King James Version of names which in the original were one (e. g. Jos 15:25).
Jos 15:33-47
The valley or the Shephelah, is bounded on the south by the Negeb, on the west by the Mediterranean, on the north by the plain of Sharon, on the east by the mountains Jos 15:48. It is a well-defined district, of an undulating surface and highly fertile character, thickly dotted, even at the present time, with villages, which are for the most part situated on the different hills. The towns in this district, like those in the Negeb, are classed in four groups.
Jos 15:33-36
First group of fourteen towns: these belong to the northeastern portion of the Shephelah. Eshtaol and Zoreah were afterward assigned to the tribe of Dan, and inhabited by Danites Jdg 13:25; Jdg 18:2, Jdg 18:8,Jdg 18:11. The latter place was the home of Samson Jdg 13:2. It was one of the cities fortified by Rehoboam 2Ch 11:10, and was re-occupied by the Jews after the captivity Neh 11:29. It is probably the modern Surah. (Eshtaol has been identified with Eshua (Conder)). Both places were in later times partly populated by Judahites from Kirjath-jearim; perhaps after the departure of the colony of Danites for Dan-Laish. Zanoah is the present Zanna, not far from Surah. Socoh is the modern Shuweikah. Sharaim is perhaps to be sought in the modern Zakariya. Gederah (wall or fortress) was a name borne with various terminations by several places.
Jos 15:37-41
Second group of towns, containing those in the middle portion of the Shephelah, and of which some only Jos 10:3, Jos 10:10 can be identified.
Jos 15:42-44
Third group; towns in the south of the Shephelah. For Libnah see Jos 10:29. Mareshah is believed to be near Beit-jibrin, the ancient Eleutheropolis.
Jos 15:45-47
Fourth group: the towns of the Philistine seacoast: see Jos 13:3.
Jos 15:48-60
This highland district extends from the Negeb on the south to Jerusalem, and is bounded by the Shephelah on the west, and the wilderness Jos 15:61-62 on the east. The mountains, which are of limestone, rise to a height of near 3,000 feet. At present, the highlands of Judah present a somewhat dreary and monotonous aspect. The peaks are for the most part barren, though crowned almost everywhere with the ruins of ancient towns, and bearing on their sides marks of former cultivation. Many of the valleys, especially toward the south, are, however, still very productive. The towns here enumerated are given in six groups.
Jos 15:48-51
First group: towns on the southwest. Dannah (is identified with Idnah (Conder)). Jattir (Attir), and Eshtemoh (Semua) were priestly cities Jos 21:14; 1Ch 6:57, and the place to which David, after routing the Amalekites, sent presents 1Sa 30:27-28. Socoh is Suweikeh.
Jos 15:52-54
Second group of nine towns, situated somewhat to the north of the last mentioned. Of these Dumah is perhaps the ruined village Ed Daumeh, in the neighborhood of Hebron; and Beth-tappuah, i. e. house of apples, Teffuh, a place which has still a good number of inhabitants, is conspicuous for its olive groves and vineyards, and bears on every side the traces of industry and thrift.
Jos 15:55-57
Third group; lying eastward of the towns named in the last two, and next to the wilderness.
Jos 15:55
The four towns retain their ancient names with but little change. Maon 1Sa 23:24; 1Sa 25:2, the home of Nabal, is to be looked for in the conical hill, Main, the top of which is covered with ruins. It lies eight or nine miles southeast of Hebron Carmel 1Sa 25:2, the modern Kurmul, is a little to the north of Main. The name belongs to more than one place Jos 12:22. Ziph gave its name to the wilderness into which David fled from Saul 1Sa 23:14.
Jos 15:58, Jos 15:59
Fourth group. Towns north of the last mentioned, of which Beth-zur and Gedor are represented by Beit-sur and Jedur.
After Jos 15:59 follows in the Greek version a fifth group of eleven towns, which appears to have dropped in very ancient times out of the Hebrew text, probably because some transcriber passed unawares from the word villages at the end of Jos 15:59, to the same word at the end of the missing passage. The omitted group contains the towns of an important, well-known, and populous district lying immediately south of Jerusalem, and containing such towns as Tekoah 2Sa 14:2; Neh 3:5, Neh 3:27; Amo 1:1; Bethlehem, the native town of David and of Christ Gen 35:19; and Aetan, a Grecised form of Etam 2Ch 11:6.
Jos 15:61, Jos 15:62
This district, including the towns in the wilderness, the scene of Davids wanderings (1Sa 23:24; Psa 63:1-11 title), and of the preaching of the Baptist Mat 3:1, and perhaps of our Lords temptation Matt. 4, extended from the northern limit of Judah along the Dead Sea to the Negeb; it was bounded on the west by that part of the mountains or highlands of Judah, which adjoined Bethlehem and Maon. It abounds in limestone rocks, perforated by numerous caverns, and often of fantastic shapes. It is badly supplied with water, and hence, is for the most part barren, though affording in many parts, now quite desolate, clear tokens of former cultivation. It contained only a thin population in the days of Joshua.
Jos 15:62
The city of Salt is not mentioned elsewhere, but was no doubt connected with the valley of salt 2Sa 8:13. The name itself, and the mention of En-gedi (Gen 14:7 note) suggest that its site must be looked for near the Dead Sea.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
The uttermost cities; those which were on the borders of the land, not the midland cities. It is apparent that all the cities belonging to this tribe are not mentioned in this catalogue.
Kabzeel, called Jekabzeel, Neh 11:25.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21-63. the uttermost cities of thetribe of the children of JudahThere is given a list of citieswithin the tribal territory of Judah, arranged in four divisions,corresponding to the districts of which it consistedthe cities inthe southern part (Jos15:21-32), those in the lowlands (Jos15:33-47), those in the highlands (Jos15:48-60), and those in the desert (Jos 15:61;Jos 15:62). One gets the best ideaof the relative situation of these cities by looking at the map.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the uttermost cities of the tribe of the children of Judah,…. That is, those cities which were the outward part of the tribe of Judah, the southern border of it; for the midland cities are not in this part, of the description reckoned, which reaches from hence to the end of Jos 15:32;
toward the coast of Edom southward: it begins about the dead sea, and goes on in that part of the land of Canaan which bordered on Idumea, and so proceeds on westward towards Gaza, and the Mediterranean sea: the cities in this part of the tribe
were Kabzeel, called Jekabzeel, Ne 11:25; and was the native place of Benaiah, one of David’s mighty men, 2Sa 23:20;
and Eder and Jagur; of which we have no mention elsewhere.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In vv. 21-63 there follows a list of the towns of the tribe of Judah, arranged in the four districts into which the land was divided, according to the nature of the soil, viz., the south-land ( negeb), the lowland ( shephelah) on the Mediterranean Sea, the mountains, and the desert of Judah.
Jos 15:21-32 The towns in the south land. – Negeb (south-land) was the name given to the southernmost district of Canaan in its full extent, from the Arabah, at the southern end of the Dead Sea, right across to the coast of the Mediterranean, and from the southern border of Canaan, as described in Jos 15:2-4, as far north as Wady Sheriah, below Gaza, on the western side, and up to the mountains and desert of Judah on the east, stretching across the wadys of es Seba, Milh, and Ehdeib, above which that part of Palestine commences where rain is more abundant, and to which, as we have already observed at Num 13:17, the Negeb formed a kind of intermediate link between the fertile land and the desert. It was a line of steppe-land, with certain patches here and there that admitted of cultivation, but in which tracts of heath prevailed, for the most part covered with grass and bushes, where only grazing could be carried on with any success. The term which Eusebius and Jerome employ for Negeb in the Onom. is Daromas, but they carry it farther northwards than the Negeb of the Old Testament (see Reland, Pal. Ill. pp. 185ff.). The numerous towns mentioned in Jos 15:21-32 as standing in the Negeb, may none of them have been large or of any importance. In the list before us we find that, as a rule, several names are closely connected together by the copula vav, and in this way the whole may be divided into four separate groups of towns.
Jos 15:21-23 First group of nine places. – Jos 15:21. The towns “ from,” i.e., at “ the end of the tribe-territory of Judah, towards the territory of Edom.” Kabzeel: the home of the hero Benaiah (2Sa 23:20), probably identical with Jakabzeel, which is mentioned in Neh 11:25 in connection with Dibon, but has not been discovered. This also applies to Eder and Jagur.
Jos 15:22 Kinah: also unknown. Knobel connects it with the town of the Kenites, who settled in the domain of Arad, but this is hardly correct; for which the exception of Jdg 1:16, where the Kenites are said to have settled in the south of Arad, though not till after the division of the land, the Kenites are always found in the western portion of the Negeb (1Sa 15:6; 1Sa 27:10; 1Sa 30:29), whereas Kinah is unquestionably to be looked for in the east. Dimonah, probably the same as Dibon (Neh 11:25); possibly the ruins of el Dheib, on the south side of the wady of the same name, to the north-east of Arad ( V. de Velde, Mem. p. 252), although Robinson (Pal. ii. p. 473) writes the name Ehdeib. Adadah is quite unknown.
Jos 15:23 Kedesh, possibly Kadesh-barnea (Jos 15:3). Hazor might then be Hezron, in the neighbourhood of Kadesh-barnea (Jos 15:3). Ithnan is unknown.
Jos 15:24-25 Second group of five or six places. – Of these, Ziph and Telem are not met with again, unless Telem is the same as Telaim, where Saul mustered his army to go against the Amalekites (1Sa 15:4). Their situation is unknown. There was another Ziph upon the mountains (see Jos 15:55). Knobel supposes the one mentioned here to be the ruins of Kuseifeh, to the south-west of Arad ( Rob. Pal. ii. p. 620). Ziph would then be contracted from Ceziph; but the contraction of Achzib (Jos 19:29) into Zib does not present a corresponding analogy, as in that case the abbreviated form is the later one, whereas in the case of Ziph a lengthening of the name must have taken place by the addition of a D. Bealoth, probably the same as the Simeonitish Baaloth-beer (Jos 19:8), which is called Baal simply in 1Ch 4:33, and which was also called Ramath-negeb (Jos 19:8) and Ramoth-negeb (1Sa 30:27). It is not to be identified with Baalath, however (Jos 19:45; 1Ki 9:18), as V. de Velde supposes (Reise, ii. pp. 151-2). Knobel fancies it may be the ridge and place called Kubbet el Baul, between Milh and Kurnub ( Rob. ii. p. 617); but Baul and Baal are very different. Hazor Hadatta ( Chazor Chadathah), i.e., new Hazor, might be the ruins of el Hudhaira on the south of Jebel Khulil ( Rob. Appendix). Kenoth was supposed by Robinson (Pal. ii. p. 472, and Appendix) to be the ruins of el Kuryetein, on the north-east of Arad and at the foot of the mountains, and with this V. de Velde agrees. Reland (Pal. p. 708) connects the following word Hezron with Kenoth, so as to read Kenoth-hezron, i.e., Hezron’s towns, also called Hazor. This is favoured by the Sept. and Syriac, in which the two words are linked together to form one name, and probably by the Chaldee as well, also by the absence of the copula vav ( and) before Hezron, which is not omitted anywhere else throughout this section, except at the beginning of the different groups of towns, as, for example, before Ziph in Jos 15:24, and Amam in Jos 15:26, and therefore ought to stand before Hezron if it is an independent town. The Masoretic pointing cannot be regarded as a decisive proof of the contrary.
Jos 15:26-28 Third group of nine towns. – Jos 15:26. Amam is not mentioned again, and is quite unknown. Shema, which is called Sheba in Jos 19:2, and is mentioned among the towns of the Simeonites between Beersheba and Moladah, is supposed by Knobel to the ruins of Sawe ( Sweh) between Milh and Beersheba (see V. de Velde, ii. p. 148). Molada, which was given to the Simeonites (Jos 19:2; 1Ch 4:28) and was still inhabited by Jews after the captivity (Neh 11:26), was the later , an Idumaean fortress ( Josephus, Ant. 18:6, 2), which Eusebius and Jerome describe as being twenty Roman miles, i.e., eight hours, to the south of Hebron on the road to Aila (Elath). It has been identified by Robinson (Pal. ii. p. 621) in the ruins of el Milh, by the Wady Malath or Malahh.
Jos 15:27 Hazar-gaddah, Heshmon, and Beth-palet have not yet been identified. The last of the three is mentioned again in Neh 11:26, by the side of Molada, as still inhabited by Judaeans.
Jos 15:28 Hazor-shual, i.e., fox-court, which was assigned to the Simeonites (Jos 19:3) and still inhabited after the captivity (Neh 11:27), answers, so far as the name if concerned, to the ruins of Thly ( Rob. Pal. iii. App.). Beersheba, which was a well-known place in connection with the history of the patriarchs (Gen 21:14., Jos 22:19, etc.), and is frequently mentioned afterwards as the southern boundary of the land of Israel (Jdg 20:1; 2Sa 17:11, etc.), was also given up to the Simeonites (Jos 19:2), and still inhabited after the captivity (Neh 11:27). It is the present Bir es Seba on the Wady es Seba (see at Gen 21:31). Bizjothjah is unknown.
Jos 15:29-32 The four groups of thirteen towns in the western portion of the Negeb.
Jos 15:29 Baalah, which was assigned to the Simeonites, is called Balah in Jos 19:3, and Bilhah in 1Ch 4:29. Knobel identifies it with the present Deir Belah, some hours to the south-west of Gaza Rob. iii. App.; Ritter, Erdk. xvi. pp. 41, 42); but it cannot have been so far to the west, or so near the coast as this. Iim (or Ivvim, according to the of the lxx) is probably the ruins of Beit-auwa ( Rob. iii. App.). Azem, which was also given up to the Simeonites (Jos 19:3; 1Ch 4:29), is supposed by Knobel to be Eboda, the present Abdeh, eight hours to the south of Elusa, a considerable mass of ruins on a ridge of rock ( Rob. i. p. 287), because the name signifies firmness or strength, which is also the meaning of the Arabic name-a very precarious reason.
Jos 15:30-31 Eltolad, which was given to the Simeonites (Jos 19:4), and is called Tolad (without the Arabic article) in 1Ch 4:29, has not been discovered. Chesil, for which the lxx have , is probably, as Reland supposes, simply another name, or as Knobel suggests a corrupt reading for, Bethul or Bethuel, which is mentioned in Jos 19:4 and 1Ch 4:30, between Eltolad and Hormah, as a town of the Simeonites, and the same place as Beth-el in 1Sa 30:27. As this name points to the seat of some ancient sanctuary, and there was an idol called Khalasa worshipped by the Arabs before the time of Mohamet, and also because Jerome observes ( vita Hilar. c. 25) that there was a temple of Venus at Elusa, in which the Saracens worshipped Lucifer (see Tuch, Deutsch. Morgenl. Ztschr. iii. pp. 194ff.), Knobel supposes Bethul ( Chesil) to be Elusa, a considerable collection of ruins five hours and a half to the south of Beersheba (see Rob. i. p. 296): assuming first of all that the name el Khulasa, as the Arabs called this place, was derived from the Mahometan idol already referred to; and secondly, that the Saracen Lucifer mentioned by Jerome was the very same idol whose image and temple Janhari and Kamus call el Khalasa. Hormah: i.e., Zephoth, the present Sepata (see at Jos 12:14). Ziklag, which was assigned to the Simeonites (Jos 19:5; 1Ch 4:30), burnt down by the Amalekites (1Sa 30:1.), and still inhabited after the captivity (Neh 11:28), is supposed by Rowland to be the ancient place called Asluj or Kasluj, a few hours to the east of Zepata, with which Knobel, however, in a most remarkable manner, identifies the Asluj to the south-west of Milh on the road to Abdeh, which is more than thirty-five miles distant (see Rob. Pal. ii. p. 621). Both places are too far to the south and east to suit Ziklag, which is to be sought for much farther west. So far as the situation is concerned, the ruins of Tell Sheriah or Tell Mellala, one of which is supposed by V. de Velde to contain the relics of Ziklag, would suit much better; or even, as Ritter supposes (Erdk. xvi. pp. 132-3), Tell el Hasy, which is half an hour to the south-west of Ajlan, and in which Felix Fabri found the ruins of a castle and of an ancient town, in fact of the ancient Ziklag, though Robinson (i. pp. 389ff.) could discover nothing that indicted in any way the existence of a town or building of any kind. Madmannah and Sansannah cannot be traced with any certainty. Madmannah, which is confounded in the Onom. ( s. v. Medemena) with Madmena, a place to the north of Jerusalem mentioned in Isa 10:31, though elsewhere it is correctly described as Menois oppidum juxta civitatem Gazam , has probably been preserved in the present Miniay or Minieh, to the south of Gaza. Sansannah, Knobel compares with the Wady Suni, mentioned by Robinson (i. p. 299), to the south of Gaza, which possibly received its name from some town in the neighbourhood. But in the place of them we find Beth-marcaboth (i.e., carriage-house) and Hazar-susa (i.e., horse-court) mentioned in Jos 19:5 and 1Ch 4:31 among the towns of the Simeonites, which Reland very properly regards as the same as Madmannah and Sansannah, since it is very evident from the meaning of the former names that they were simply secondary names, which were given to them as stations for carriages and horses.
Jos 15:32 Lebaoth, one of the Simeonite towns, called Beth-lebaoth (i.e., lion-house) in Jos 19:6, and Beth-birei in 1Ch 4:31, has not been discovered yet. Shilchim, called Sharuchen in Jos 19:6, and Shaaraim in 1Ch 4:31, may possibly have been preserved in Tell Sheriah, almost half-way between Gaza and Beersheba ( V. de Velde, ii. p. 154). Ain and Rimmon are given as Simeonite towns, and being written without the copula, are treated as one name in Jos 19:7 and 1Ch 4:32, although they are reckoned as two separate towns in Jos 19:7. But as they were also called En Rimmon after the captivity, and are given as one single place in Neh 11:29, they were probably so close together that in the course of time they grew into one. Rimmon, which is mentioned in Zec 14:10 as the southern boundary of Judah, probably the Eremmon of the Onom. (“a very large village of the Judaeans, sixteen miles to the south of Eleutheropolis in Daroma”), was probably the present ruin called Um er Rummanim, four hours to the north of Beersheba ( Rob. iii. p. 8). Not more than thirty or thirty-five minutes distant from this, between Tell Khuweilifeh ( Rob. iii. p. 8) or Chewelfeh ( V. de Velde) and Tell Hhora, you find a large old but half-destroyed well, the large stones of which seem to belong to a very early period of the Israelitish history ( V. de Velde, ii. p. 153). This was mentioned as a very important drinking-place even in the lifetime of Saladin, whilst to the present day the Tillah Arabs water their flocks there (see Rob. iii. p. 8). To all appearance this was Ain (see V. de Velde, Mem. p. 344). “ All the cities were twenty and nine, and their villages.” This does not agree with the number of towns mentioned by name, which is not twenty-nine, but thirty-six; to that the number twenty-nine is probably an error of the text of old standing, which has arisen from a copyist confounding together different numeral letters that resembled one another.
(Note: Some commentators and critics explain this difference on the supposition that originally the list contained a smaller number of names (only twenty-nine), but that it was afterwards enlarged by the addition of several other places by a different hand, whilst the number of the whole was left just as it was before. But such a conjecture presupposes greater thoughtlessness on the part of the editor than we have any right to attribute to the author of our book. If the author himself made these additions to his original sources, as Hvernick supposes, or the Jehovist completed the author’s list from his second document, as Knobel imagines, either the one or the other would certainly have altered the sum of the whole, as he has not proceeded in so thoughtless a manner in any other case. The only way in which this conjecture could be defended, would be by supposing, as J. D. Michaelis and others have done, that the names added were originally placed in the margin, and that these marginal glosses were afterwards interpolated by some thoughtless copyist into the text. But this conjecture is also rendered improbable by the circumstance that, in the lists of towns contained in our book, not only do other differences of the same kind occur, as in v. 36, where we find only fourteen instead of fifteen, and in Jos 19:6, where only thirteen are given instead of fourteen, but also differences of the very opposite kind, – namely, where the gross sum given is larger than the number of names, as, for example, in Jos 19:15, where only five names are given instead of twelve, and in Jos 19:38, where only sixteen are given instead of nineteen, and where it can be shown that there are gaps in the text, as towns are omitted which the tribes actually received and ceded to the Levites. If we add to this the fact that there are two large gaps in our Masoretic text in Jos 15:59-60, and Jos 21:35, which proceed from copyists, and also that many errors occur in the numbers given in other historical books of the Old Testament, we are not warranted in tracing the differences in question to any other cause than errors in the text.)
Jos 15:33-47 Towns in the lowland or shephelah. – The lowland ( shephelah), which is generally rendered in the Sept., rarely (Deu 1:7), but which is transferred as a proper name in Oba 1:19; Jer 32:44; Jer 33:13, as well as in 1 Macc. 12:38, where even Luther has Sephela, is the name given to the land between the mountains of Judah and the Mediterranean Sea, – a broad plain of undulating appearance, intersected by heights and low ranges of hills, with fertile soil, in which corn fields alternate with meadows, gardens, and extensive olive groves. It is still tolerably well cultivated, and is covered with villages, which are situated for the most part upon the different hills. Towards the south, the shephelah was bounded by the Negeb _(Jos 15:21); on the north, it reached to Ramleh and Lydda, or Diospolis, where the plain of Sharon began, – a plain which extended as far as Carmel, and was renowned for the beauty of its flowers. Towards the east the hills multiply and shape themselves into a hilly landscape, which forms the intermediate link between the mountains and the plain, and which is distinguished from the shephelah itself, in Jos 10:40 and Jos 12:8, under the name of Ashedoth, or slopes, whereas here it is reckoned as forming part of the shephelah. This hilly tract is more thickly studded with villages than even the actual plain (See Rob. Pal. ii. p. 363, and iii. p. 29.) The towns in the shephelah are divided into four groups.
Jos 15:33-36 The first group contains the towns in the northern part of the hilly region or slopes, which are reckoned as forming part of the lowland: in all, fourteen towns. The most northerly part of this district was given up to the tribe of Dan on the second division (Jos 19:41.). Eshtaol and Zoreah, which were assigned to the tribe of Dan (Jos 19:41), and were partly inhabited by Danites (Jdg 13:25; Jdg 18:2, Jdg 18:8, Jdg 18:11) and partly by families of Judah, who had gone out from Kirjath-jearim (1Ch 1:53; 1Ch 4:2), probably after the removal of the 600 Danites to Laish-Dan (Jos 19:47; Jdg 18:1), were situated, according to the Onom. ( s. v. Esthaul and Saara), ten Roman miles to the north of Eleutheropolis, on the road to Nicopolis. Zoreah, the home of Samson, who was buried between Zoreah and Eshtaol (Jdg 13:2; Jdg 16:31), was fortified by Rehoboam, and still inhabited by Judaeans after the captivity (2Ch 11:10; Neh 11:29); it has been preserved in the ruins of Sur, at the south-western end of the mountain range which bounds the Wady es Surar on the north ( Rob. ii. p. 341, and Bibl. Res. p. 153). Eshtaol has probably been preserved in Um Eshteiyeh, to the south-west ( Rob. ii. p. 342). Ashnah is possibly to be read Ashvah, according to the lxx, Cod. Vat. ( ). In that case it might resemble a town on the east of Zorea ( Tobler, p. 180), as Knobel supposes.
Jos 15:34 Zanoah was still inhabited by Judaeans after the captivity (Neh 11:30; Neh 3:13), and is the present Zanua, not far from Zoreah, towards the east (see Rob. ii. p. 343). Engannim and Tappuah are still unknown. Enam, the same as Enaim (Gen 38:14: rendered “an open place”), on the road from Adullam to Timnah on the mountains (Jos 15:57), has not yet been discovered.
Jos 15:35 Jarmuth, i.e., Jarmk; see Jos 10:3. Adullam has not yet been discovered with certainty (see at Jos 12:15). Socoh, which was fortified by Rehoboam, and taken by the Philistines in the reign of Ahaz (2Ch 11:7; 2Ch 28:18), is the present Shuweikeh by the Wady Sumt, half an hour to the south-west of Jarmk, three hours and a half to the south-west of Jerusalem (see Rob. ii. pp. 343, 349). The Onom. ( s. v. Socoh) mentions two viculi named Sochoth, one upon the mountain, the other in the plain, nine Roman miles from Eleutheropolis on the road to Jerusalem. On Azekah, see at Jos 10:10.
Jos 15:36 Sharaim, which was on the west of Socoh and Azekah, according to 1Sa 17:52, and is called or in the Sept., is probably to be sought for in the present Tell Zakariya and the village of Kefr Zakariya opposite, between which there is the broad deep valley called Wady Sumt, which is only twenty minutes in breadth ( Rob. ii. p. 350). This is the more probable as the Hebrew name is a dual. Adithaim is unknown. Gederah is possibly the same as the Gederoth which was taken by the Philistines in the time of Ahaz (2Ch 28:18), and the Gedrus of the Onom. ( s. v. Gaedur, or Gahedur), ten Roman miles to the south of Diospolis, on the road to Eleutheropolis, as the Gederoth in Jos 15:41 was in the actual plain, and therefore did not stand between Diospolis and Eleutheropolis. Gederothaim is supposed by Winer, Knobel, and others, to be an ancient gloss. This is possible no doubt, but it is not certain, as neither the omission of the name from the Sept., nor the circumstance that the full number of towns is given as fourteen, and that this is not the number obtained if we reckon Gederothaim, can be adduced as a decisive proof, since this difference may have arisen in the same manner as the similar discrepancy in Jos 15:32.
Jos 15:37-41 The second group, containing the towns of the actual plain in its full extent from north to south, between the hilly region and the line of coast held by the Philistines: sixteen towns in all.
Jos 15:37 Zenan, probably the same as Zaanan (Mic 1:11), is supposed by Knobel to be the ruins of Chirbet-es-Senat, a short distance to the north of Beit-jibrin ( Tobler, Dritte Wand. p. 124). Hadashah, according to the Mishnah Erub. v. vi. the smallest place in Judah, containing only fifty houses, is unknown, and a different place from the Adasa of 1 Macc. 7:40, 45, and Joseph. Ant. xii. 10, 5, as this was to the north of Jerusalem ( Onom.). – Migdal-gad is unknown. Knobel supposes it to be the small hill called Jedeideh, with ruins upon it, towards the north of Beit-jibrin ( V. de Velde, R. ii. pp. 162, 188).
Jos 15:38 Dilean is unknown; for Bet Dula, three full hours to the east of Beit-jibrin, with some relics of antiquity ( Tobler, pp. 150-1), with which Knobel identifies it, is upon the mountains and not in the plain. Mizpeh, i.e., specula, a different place from the Mizpeh of Benjamin (Jos 18:26), was on the north of Eleutheropolis, according to the Onom. ( s. v. Maspha), and therefore may possibly be the castle Alba Specula, or Alba Custodia of the middle ages, the present Tell es Saphieh, in the middle of the plain and upon the top of a lofty hill, from which there is an extensive prospect in all directions (see Rob. ii. p. 363). Joktheel has possibly been preserved in the ruins of Keitulaneh ( Rob. Pal. iii. App.), which are said to lie in that neighbourhood.
Jos 15:39 Lachish, i.e., Um Lakis (see at Jos 10:3). Bozkath is unknown: according to Knobel, it may possibly be the ruins of Tubakah, on the south of Um Lakis and Ajlan ( Rob. ii. pp. 388, 648). Eglon, i.e., Ajlan; see at Jos 10:3.
Jos 15:40 Cabbon, probably the heap of ruins called Kubeibeh or Kebeibeh, “which must at some time or other have been a strong fortification, and have formed the key to the central mountains of Judah” ( v. de Velde, R. ii. p. 156), and which lie to the south of Beit-jibrin, and two hours and a half to the east of Ajlan ( Rob. Pal. ii. p. 394). Lachmas: according to Knobel a corruption of Lachmam, which is the reading given in many MSS and editions, whilst the Vulgate has Leheman, and Luther (and the Eng. Ver). Lahmam. Knobel connects it with the ruins of el Lahem to the south of Beit-jibrin ( Tobler). Kithlish ( Chitlis) is unknown, unless it is to be found in Tell Chilchis, to the S.S.E. of Beit-jibrin ( V. de Velde, R. ii. p. 157).
Jos 15:41 Gederoth, Beth-dagon, and Naamah have not yet been traced. The village mentioned in the Onom. ( s. v. Beth-dagon) as grandis vicus Capher-dagon , and said to lie between Diospolis and Jamnia, the present Beit-dejan ( Rob. iii. p. 30), was far beyond the northern boundary of the tribe of Judah. Makkedah: see at Jos 10:10.
Jos 15:42-44 The third group, consisting of the towns in the southern half of the hilly region: nine towns.
Jos 15:42 Libnah: see at Jos 10:29. Ether and Ashan, which were afterwards given to the Simeonites (Jos 19:7), and are probably to be sought for on the border of the Negeb, have not yet been discovered. The conjecture that Ether is connected with the ruins of Attrah ( Rob. iii. App.) in the province of Gaza, is a very uncertain one. Ashan, probably the same as Kor-ashan (1Sa 30:30), became a priests’ city afterwards (1Ch 6:44; see at Jos 21:16).
Jos 15:43 Jiphtah, Ashnah, and Nezib have not yet been traced. Beit-nesib, to the east of Beit-jibrin on the Wady Sur ( Rob. ii. p. 344, and iii. p. 13), the Neesib of the Onom., seven Roman miles to the east of Eleutheropolis, does not suit this group so far as its situation is concerned, as it lies within the limits of the first group.
Jos 15:44 Keilah, which is mentioned in the history of David (1 Sam 23), and then again after the captivity (Neh 3:17), is neither the , Ceila of the Onom., on the east of Eleutheropolis, the present Kila ( Tobler, Dritte Wand. p. 151), which lies upon the mountains of Judah; nor is it to be found, as Knobel supposes, in the ruins of Jugaleh ( Rob. iii. App.), as they lie to the south of the mountains of Hebron, whereas Keilah is to be sought for in the shephelah, or at all events to the west or south-west of the mountains of Hebron. Achzib (Mic 1:14), the same as Chesib (Gen 38:5), has been preserved in the ruins at Kussbeh, a place with a fountain ( Rob. ii. p. 391), i.e., the fountain of Kesba, about five hours south by west from Beit-jibrin. Mareshah, which was fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch 11:8; cf. Mic 1:15), and was the place where Asa defeated Zerah the Ethiopian (2Ch 14:9), the home of Eliezer (2Ch 20:37), and afterwards the important town of Marissa (see v. Raumer, Pal. pp. 211-12), was between Hebron and Ashdod, since Judas Maccabaeus is represented in 1 Macc. 5:65-68 (where the reading should be instead of , according to Joseph. Ant. xii. 8, 6) as going from Hebron through Marissa into the land of the Philistines, and turning to Ashdod. According to the Onom. ( s. v. Mareshah), it was lying in ruins in the time of Eusebius, and was about two Roman miles from Eleutheropolis-a description which applies exactly to the ruins of Maresh, twenty-four minutes to the south of Beit-jibrin, which Robinson supposes for this reason to be Maresa ( Rob. ii. p. 422), whereas Knobel finds it in Beit-mirsim, a place four hours to the south of Beit-jibrin.
(Note: Knobel founds his opinion partly upon 2Ch 14:9, according to which Mareshah was in the valley of Zephatah, which is the bason-like plain at Mirsim, and partly upon the fact that the Onom. also places Moraste on the east (south-east) of Eleutheropolis; and Jerome (ad Mich. Jos 1:1) describes Morasthi as haud grandem viculum juxta Eleutheropolin, and as sepulcrum quondam Micheae prophetae nunc ecclesiam (ep. 108 ad Eustoch. 14); and this ecclesia is in all probability the ruins of a church called Santa Hanneh, twenty minutes to the south-east of Beit-jibrin, and only ten minutes to the east of Marash, which makes the assumption a very natural one, that the Maresa and Morasthi of the fathers are only different parts of the same place, viz., of Moreseth-gath, the home of Micah (Mic 1:1, Mic 1:14; Jer 26:18). But neither of these is decisive. The valley of Zephatah might be the large open plain which Robinson mentions (ii. p. 355) near Beit-jibrin; and the conjecture that Morasthi, which Euseb. and Jer. place , contra orientem Eleutheropoleos , is preserved in the ruins which lie in a straight line towards the south from Beit-jibrin, and are called Marash, has not much probability in it.)
Jos 15:45-47 The fourth group, consisting of the towns of the Philistine line of coast, the northern part of which was afterwards given up to the tribe of Dan (Dan Jos 19:43), but which remained almost entirely in the hands of the Philistines (see at Jos 13:3).
(Note: There is no force in the reasons adduced by Ewald, Bertheau, and Knobel, for regarding these verses as spurious, or as a later interpolation from a different source. For the statement, that the “Elohist” merely mentions those towns of which the Hebrews had taken possession, and which they held either partially or wholly in his own day, and also that his list of the places belonging to Judah in the shephelah never goes near the sea, are assertions without the least foundation, which are proved to be erroneous by the simple fact, that according to the express statement in Jos 15:12, the Mediterranean Sea formed the western boundary of the tribe of Judah; and according to Jos 13:6, Joshua was to distribute by lot even those parts of Canaan which had not yet been conquered. The difference, however, which actually exists between the verses before us and the other groups of towns, namely, that in this case the “towns” (or daughters) are mentioned as well as the villages, and that the towns are not summed up at the end, may be sufficiently explained from the facts themselves, namely, from the circumstance that the Philistine cities mentioned were capitals of small principalities, which embraced not only villages, but also small towns, and for that very reason did not form connected groups, like the towns of the other districts.)
Jos 15:45 Ekron, i.e., Akir (see Jos 13:3). “ Her daughters ” are the other towns of the principality of Ekron that were dependent upon the capital, and the villages and farms.
Jos 15:46 Judah was also to receive “ from Ekron westwards all that lay on the side of Ashdod and their (i.e., Ekron’s and Ashdod’s) villages. ” The different places in this district are not given, because Judah never actually obtained possession of them.
Jos 15:47 Ashdod, now Esdd, and Gaza, now Ghuzzeh: see at Jos 13:3. Also “ the daughter towns and villages, unto the brook of Egypt (Wady el Arish: see Jos 15:4), and the great sea with its territory,” i.e., the tract of land lying between Gaza and the coast of the Mediterranean. Gath and Askalon are not mentioned, because they are both of them included in the boundaries named. Askalon was between Ashdod and Gaza, by the sea-coast (see at Jos 13:3), and Gath on the east of Ekron and Ashdod (see Jos 13:3), so that, as a matter of course, it was assigned to Judah.
Jos 15:48-60 The towns on the mountains are divided into five, or more correctly, into six groups. The mountains of Judah, which rise precipitously from the Negeb, between the hilly district on the west, which is reckoned as part of the shephelah, and the desert of Judah, extending to the Dead Sea on the east (Jos 15:61), attain the height of 3000 feet above the level of the sea, in the neighbourhood of Hebron, and run northwards to the broad wady of Beit-hanina, above Jerusalem. They are a large rugged range of limestone mountains, with many barren and naked peaks, whilst the sides are for the most part covered with grass, shrubs, bushes, and trees, and the whole range is intersected by many very fruitful valleys. Josephus describes it as abounding in corn, fruit, and wine; and to the present day it contains many orchards, olive grounds, and vineyards, rising in terraces up the sides of the mountains, whilst the valleys and lower grounds yield plentiful harvests of wheat, millet, and other kinds of corn. In ancient times, therefore, the whole of this district was thickly covered with towns (see Rob. ii. pp. 185, 191-2, and C. v. Raumer, Pal. pp. 45ff.).
Jos 15:48-51 The first group consists of eleven towns on the south-west of the mountains.
Jos 15:48 Shamir has probably been preserved in the ruins of Um Shaumerah, mentioned by Robinson (iii. App.), though the situation of these ruins has not yet been precisely determined. Jattir, which was given up to the priests (Jos 21:14), and is mentioned again in 1Sa 30:27, is described in the Onom. ( s. v. Jether) as a large placed inhabited by Christians, twenty miles from Eleutheropolis, in interiori Daroma juxta Malathan , – a description which suits the ruins of Attir, in the southern portion of the mountains (see Rob. ii. p. 194; called Ater by Seetzen, R. iii. p. 6). Socoh, two hours N.W. of this, the present Shuweikeh ( Rob. ii. p. 194), called Suche by Seetzen (R. iii. p. 29), a village about four hours from Hebron.
Jos 15:49 Dannah ( Sept., Syr., Renna) is unknown. Knobel imagines that Dannah should be Danah, for Deanah, plur. Deanoth, which would then be suggestive of Zanute, the last inhabited place upon the mountains, five hours from Hebron, between Shuweikeh and Attir (see Rob. ii. p. 626; Seetzen, iii. p. 27, 29). Kirjath-sannah, or Debir, has not been traced (see at Jos 10:38).
Jos 15:50 Anab, on the north-east of Socoh (see at Jos 11:21). Eshtemoh, or Eshtemoa, which was ceded to the priests (Jos 21:14; 1Ch 6:42), and is mentioned again in 1Sa 30:28; 1Ch 4:17, 1Ch 4:19, is the present Semua, an inhabited village, with remains of walls, and a castle of ancient date, on the east of Socoh ( Rob. ii. pp. 194, 626; Seetzen, iii. 28; and v. Schubert, R. ii. p. 458). Anim, contracted, according to the probable conjecture of Wilson, from Ayanim (fountains), a place still preserved in the ruins of the village of el Ghuwein, on the south of Semua, though Robinson erroneously connects it with Ain (Jos 15:32: see Rob. Pal. ii. p. 626).
Jos 15:51 Goshen, Holon, and Giloh, are still unknown. On Goshen, see at Jos 10:41. Holon was given up to the priests (Jos 21:15; 1Ch 6:43); and Giloh is mentioned in 2Sa 15:12 as the birth-place of Ahithophel.
Jos 15:52-54 The second group of nine towns, to the north of the former, in the country round Hebron.
Jos 15:52 Arab is still unknown; for we cannot connect it, as Knobel does, with the ruins of Husn el Ghurab in the neighbourhood of Semua ( Rob. i. p. 312), as these ruins lie within the former group of towns. Duma, according to Eusebius the largest place in the Daromas in his time, and seventeen miles from Eleutheropolis, is probably the ruined village of Daumeh, by the Wady Dilbeh ( Rob. i. p. 314), which is fourteen miles in a straight line to the south-east of Eleutheropolis according to the map. Es’an ( Eshean) can hardly be identified with Asan (1Ch 4:32), as Van de Velde supposes, but is more likely Korasan (1Sa 30:30). In that case we might connect it with the ruins of Khursah, on the north-west of Daumeh, two hours and a half to the south-west of Hebron ( Rob. iii. p. 5). As the Septuagint reading is , Knobel conjectures that Eshean is a corrupt reading for Shema (1Ch 2:43), and connects it with the ruins of Simia, on the south of Daumeh ( Seetzen, iii. 28, and Rob. iii. App.).
Jos 15:53 Janum is still unknown. Beth-tappuah has been preserved in the village of Teffuh, about two hours to the west of Hebron ( Rob. ii. p. 428). Apheka has not been discovered.
Jos 15:54 Humtah is also unknown. Kirjath-arba, or Hebron: see at Jos 10:3. Zior has also not been traced; though, “so far as the name is concerned, it might have been preserved in the heights of Tugra, near to Hebron” ( Knobel).
Jos 15:55-57 The third group of ten towns, to the east of both the former groups, towards the desert.
Jos 15:55 Maon, the home of Nabal (1Sa 25:2), on the border of the desert of Judah, which is here called the desert of Maon (1Sa 23:25), has been preserved in Tell Man, on a conical mountain commanding an extensive prospect, east by north of Semua, three hours and three-quarters to the S.S.E. of Hebron ( Rob. ii. p. 193). Carmel, a town and mountain mentioned in the history of David, and again in the time of Uzziah (1Sa 15:12; 1Sa 25:2.; 2Ch 26:10). In the time of the Romans it was a large place, with a Roman garrison ( Onom.), and is the present Kurmul, on the north-west of Maon, where there are considerable ruins of a very ancient date ( Rob. ii. pp. 196ff.). Ziph, in the desert of that name, to which David fled from Saul (1Sa 23:14., 1Sa 26:2-3), was fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch 11:8), and has been preserved in the ruins upon the hill Ziph, an hour and three-quarters to the south-east of Hebron ( Rob. ii. p. 191). Juttah, which was assigned to the priests (Jos 21:16), and was a vicus praegrandis Judaeorum in the time of the fathers ( Onom. s. v. Jethan), was eighteen Roman miles to the south (south-east) of Eleutheropolis, and is the present Jutta or Jitta, a large Mahometan place with ruins, an hour and three-quarters to the south of Hebron ( Seetzen, iii. p. 8; Rob. ii. p. 191, 628).
Jos 15:56 Jezreel, the home of Ahinoam (1Sa 25:43; 1Sa 27:3, etc.), a different place from the Jezreel in the plain of Esdraelon, has not yet been discovered. This also applies to Jokdeam and Zanoah, which are only met with here.
Jos 15:57 Cain ( Hakkain) is possibly the same as Jukin, on the south-east of Hebron ( Rob. ii. p. 449). Gibeah cannot be the Gabatha near Bethlehem, mentioned in the Onom. ( s. v. Gabathaon), or the Gibea mentioned by Robinson (ii. p. 327), i.e., the village of Jeba, on a hill in the Wady el Musurr, as this does not come within the limits of the present group; it must rather be one of the two places ( Gebaa and Gebatha) described as viculi contra orientalem plagam Daromae , though their situation has not yet been discovered. Timnah, probably the place already mentioned in Gen 38:12., has not been discovered.
Jos 15:58-59 The fourth group of six towns, on the north of Hebron or of the last two groups. – Halhul, according to the Onom. ( s. v. Elul) a place near Hebron named Alula, has been preserved in the ruins of Halhl, an hour and a half to the north of Hebron ( Rob. i. p. 319, ii. p. 186, and Bibl. Res. p. 281). Beth-zur, which was fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch 11:7), and is frequently mentioned in the time of the Maccabees as a border defence against the Idumaeans (1 Macc. 4:29, 61, etc.), was twenty (? fifteen) Roman miles from Jerusalem, according to the Onom. ( s. v. Beth-zur), on the road to Hebron. It is the present heap of ruins called Beit-zur on the north-west of Halhl ( Rob. Bibl. Res. pp. 276-7; Ritter, Erdk. xvi. pp. 236, 267-8). Gedor, the ruins of Jedr, an hour and a half to the north-west ( Rob. ii. p. 338; Bibl. Res. pp. 282-3).
Jos 15:59 Maarath and Eltekon have not yet been discovered. Beth-anoth (probably a contraction of Beth-ayanoth) has been discovered by Wolcott in the ruins of Beit-anum, on the east of Halhl ( Rob. Bibl. Res. p. 279; cf. Pal. ii. p. 186).
Between Jos 15:59 and Jos 15:60, the fifth group of towns given in the Septuagint is wanting in the Masoretic text. This group lay to the north of the fourth, and reached as far as Jerusalem, It comprised a district in which even now there are at least fifteen places and ruins, so that we have not an arbitrary interpolation made by the lxx, as Jerome assumed, but rather a gap in the Hebrew text, arising from the fact that an ancient copyist passed by mistake from the word in Jos 15:59 to the same word at the close of the missing section. In the Alexandrian version the section reads as follows in Cod. Al. and Vat.: , , ( Cod. Al. ) ( Cod. Al. ) , . – Theko, the well-known Tekoah, the home of the wise woman and of the prophet Amos (2Sa 14:2; Amo 1:1), was fortified by Rehoboam, and still inhabited after the captivity (2Ch 11:6; Neh 3:5, Neh 3:27). It is the present Tekua, on the top of a mountain covered with ancient ruins, two hours to the south of Bethlehem ( Rob. ii. pp. 181-184; Tobler, Denkbl. aus Jerus. pp. 682ff.). Ephratah, i.e., Bethlehem, the family seat of the house of David (Rth 1:1; Rth 4:11; 1Sa 16:4; 1Sa 17:12.; Mic 5:2), was fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch 11:6), and is a place frequently mentioned. It was the birth-place of Christ (Mat 2:1.; Luk 2:4), and still exists under the ancient name of Beit-lahm, two hours to the south of Jerusalem ( Seetzen, ii. pp. 37ff.; Rob. ii. pp. 159ff.; Tobler, Topogr. v. Jerus. ii. pp. 464ff.). Bethlehem did not receive the name of Ephratah for the first time from the Calebite family of Ephrathites (1Ch 2:19, 1Ch 2:50; 1Ch 4:4), but was known by that name even in Jacob’s time (Gen 35:19; Gen 48:7). Phagor, which was near to Bethlehem according to the Onom. ( s. v. Fogor), and is also called Phaora, is the present Faghur, a heap of ruins to the south-west of Bethlehem ( Rob. Bibl. Res. p. 275). Aetan was fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch 11:6), and has been preserved in the Wady and Ain Attan between Bethlehem and Faghur ( Tobler, Dritte Wand. pp. 88, 89). Kulon, the present village of Kulomeh, an hour and a half west by north from Jerusalem on the road to Ramleh (see Rob. ii. p. 146; Bibl. Res. p. 158: it is called Kolony by Seetzen, ii. p. 64). Tatam cannot be traced. Sores (for Thobes appears to be only a copyist’s error) is probably Saris, a small village four hours to the east of Jerusalem, upon a ridge on the south of Wady Aly ( Rob. Bibl. Res. pp. 154-5). Karem, now Ain Karim, a large flourishing village two hours to the wets of Jerusalem, with a Franciscan convent dedicated to John the Baptist in the middle, and a fountain ( Rob. ii. p. 141; Bibl. Res. p. 271). Galem, a different place from the Gallim on the north of Jerusalem (Isa 10:30), has not yet been discovered. Baither, now a small dirty village called Bettir or Bittir, with a beautiful spring, and with gardens arrange din terraces on the western slope of the Wady Bittir, to the south-west of Jerusalem ( Rob. Bibl. Res. p. 266). Manocho, possibly the same place as Manachat (1Ch 8:6), has not been found.
Jos 15:60 The sixth group of only two towns, to the west of Jerusalem, on the northern border of the tribe of Judah. – Kirjath-baal, or Kirjath-jearim, the present Kureyet el Enab; see at Jos 15:9, and Jos 9:17. Rabbah ( Ha-rabbah, the great) is quite unknown.
Jos 15:61-62 The towns in the desert of Judah, which ran along the Dead Sea from the northern border of Judah (Jos 15:6, Jos 15:7) to Wady Fikreh on the south, and reached to the districts of Maon, Ziph, Tekoah, and Bethlehem towards the west. This tract of land is for the most part a terrible desert, with a soil composed of chalk, marl, and limestone, and with bald mountains covered with flint and hornstone, and without the slightest trace of vegetation on the side bordering on the Dead Sea (see v. Schubert, Reise, iii. pp. 94, 96; Rob. ii. pp. 202, 475, 477). Yet wherever there are springs even this desert is covered with a luxuriant vegetation, as far as the influence of the water extends ( Seetzen, ii. pp. 249, 258); and even in those parts which are now completely desolate, there are traces of the work of man of a very ancient date in all directions ( Rob. ii. p. 187). Six towns are mentioned in the verses before us. Beth-arabah: see at Jos 15:6. Middin and Secaca are unknown. According to Knobel, Middin is probably the ruins of Mird or Mardeh, to the west of the northern end of the Dead Sea ( Rob. ii. p. 270).
Jos 15:62 Nibsan, also unknown. The city of salt (salt town), in which the Edomites sustained repeated defeats (2Sa 8:13; Psa 60:2; 2Ki 14:7; 1Ch 18:12; 2Ch 25:11), was no doubt at the southern end of the Dead Sea, in the Salt Valley ( Rob. ii. p. 483). Engedi, on the Dead Sea (Eze 47:10), to which David also fled to escape from Saul (1Sa 24:1.), according to the Onom. ( s. v. Engaddi) a vicus praegrandis , the present Ain-Jidi, a spring upon a shelf of the high rocky coast on the west of the Dead Sea, with ruins of different ancient buildings (see Seetzen, ii. pp. 227-8; Rob. ii. pp. 214ff.; Lynch, pp. 178-9, 199, 200).
Jos 15:63 In Jos 15:63 there follows a notice to the effect that the Judaeans were unable to expel the Jebusites from Jerusalem, which points back to the time immediately after Joshua, when the Judaeans had taken Jerusalem and burned it (Jdg 1:8), but were still unable to maintain possession. This notice is not at variance with either Jos 18:28 or Jdg 1:21, since it neither affirms that Jerusalem belonged to the tribe of Judah, nor that Judah alone laid claim to the possession of the town to the exclusion of the Benjamites (see the explanation of Jdg 1:8).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Cities of Judah, vs. 21-63
The cities of the tribe of Judah named here are in eleven groups, and are the larger places. The smaller towns and villages were adjacent to the cities named and are unnamed. Most of these cities are not otherwise known in the Bible record. ‘
The first twenty-nine (vs. 21-32) are in the southern area, and were later assigned to Simeon. Several were on the southern border. Perhaps the most notable are Beer-sheba, prominent from the time of the patriarchs (Gen 21:31; Gen 26:33), and Ziklag, which was possessed later by the Philistines, then given by them to David, when he fled from Saul (1Sa 27:6).
The second group of fourteen (vs. 33-36) were in the valley southwest of Jerusalem. Sixteen cities are in the group from verses 37-41. They were in the west next to the Philistines. Chief among them are Lachish and Eglon, which were fortified cities. Group four (vs. 42-44) numbered nine, including places prominently mentioned in the southern campaign of Joshua, such as Libnah They were in the western foothills. Verses 45-47 name the cities and areas taken over by the Philistines and largely inhabited by them throughout Israel’s history. The group in verses 48-51 numbered eleven and included Debir, in the mountain area south of Hebron. The next group numbered nine (vs. 51-54) and were also in the mountains around the chief of them, Hebron, south of Jerusalem. The ten cities, vs. 55-57, were later the haunt of David in his flight from Saul, in the far south beyond Beer-sheba (1Samuel chapters 25-26). The next six cities (vs. 58-59) are in the highlands just north of Hebron. Verse 60 refers to two cities west of Jerusalem next to the tribal border. Six cities named in verses 61-62 lay in the wilderness area next to the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea.
The statement of verse 63, that the children of Judah could not drive the Jebusites out of Jerusalem, shows their decreasing faith after the initial conquest of the land. If they had trusted the Lord He had assured them their enemies could not stand before them. While people of Judah lived in the environs of Jerusalem, it was assigned to the tribe of Benjamin, and continued for the most part to be inhabited and ruled by the Jebusites. (1Sa 5:6).
From chapter 15 may be seen that 1) God blesses those who go out with courage like Caleb, and their blessings may be shared by their family; 2) it is possible to relax and lose what one had once, or to falter in one’s battles and never acquire it.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(21) And the uttermost cities.The cities of the tribe of Judah are given under four heads: (a) towards Edom; (b) in the Shephlah, or plain of the coast (Jos. 15:33, &c.); (c) in the mountains (Jos. 15:48); (d) in the wilderness (Jos. 15:61).
Of those in Jos. 15:21-32, the first twenty-nine, Conder identifies only fourviz., Adadah, Jos. 15:22 (Adadah); Kerioth Hezron (some see a trace of Kerioth in the sobriquet of Judas Is-cariot, the man of Kerioth), Jos. 15:25 (Hudreh); Beer-sheba, Jos. 15:28 (Br es-seba); and Ain Rimmon, Jos. 15:32 ( Umm er-Rumnn). It is not easy to say precisely how the twenty-nine are to be obtained from the thirty-three, but evidently some of the Hazors are villages attached to the cities.
(31) Ziklag.It is noticeable that Ziklag became the property of the kings of Judah by the gift of Achish, who bestowed it on David (1Sa. 27:6). not by the gift of Joshua to Judah. The partial character of the conquest and the division of unconquered territory to the tribes is thus illustrated.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
The Listing of Cities and Towns, Villages and Encampments of Judah ( Jos 15:21-63 ). |
The making of lists of places is well testified to in the ancient world, and the cities and towns and encampments of Judah are now listed. We do not know whether these were as first surveyed, or as compiled at the time of the writer himself. They seem to be split into twelve groups, probably representing a theoretical twelve sub-tribes. Twelve seems to have been seen as the number for a confederacy. Thus Judah were setting up an inner confederacy on the pattern of the tribal confederacy, anticipating expanding it into twelve.
First come twenty nine ‘cities’ in the Negeb, the grazing lands to the south (Jos 15:21-32) (thirty six names are mentioned thus the names include ‘villages’); then fourteen in the north of the Shephelah (the lowlands) followed by sixteen in the north west, then another nine in the south (Jos 15:33-44), followed by three in the Coastal Plain (Jos 15:45-47) to the west, possibly representing two ‘districts’ (but see later on Jos 15:59); and then in the eastern hill country, first eleven in the south west, then nine to the north of these, then ten towards the east, then six to the north of Hebron, then two on Judah’s northern border (Jos 15:48-60); and finally six in ‘the wilderness’ (the extreme eastern slopes of the hill country which were desert country looking over the steaming Jordan rift valley by the Dead Sea)
Jos 15:21-32
‘ And the uttermost cities of the tribe of the children of Judah toward the border of Edom in the Negeb were Kabzeel, and Eder, and Jagur, and Kinah, and Dimonah, and Adadah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Ithnan. Ziph, and Telem, and Bealoth, and Hazor-hadattah, and Kerioth-hezron (the same is Hazor). Amam, and Shema, and Moladah, and Hazar-gaddah, and Heshmon, and Beth-pelet, and Hazar-shual, and Beersheba, and Biziothiah. Baalah, and Iim, and Ezem, and Eltolad, and Chesil, and Hormah, and Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah, and Lebaoth, and Shilhim, and Ain, and Rimmon. All the cities are twenty nine with their villages.’
The list of towns and encampments in the Negeb includes a number also found in Jos 19:1-9, e.g. Beersheba (or Sheba), Moladah, Hazar-shual, Balah (Baalah), Ezem, Eltolad, Hormah, Ziklag, Beth-lebaoth (Lebaoth), Ain, and Rimmon. Not similar are Bethul (although possibly the same as Chesil), Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah, Sharuhen, Ether and Ashan. This was because those who surveyed on behalf of Judah included within their count many of the encampments of Simeon which were within their borders, and over which they shared control. ‘Hazor’ (hazar) specifically indicates an enclosure or camp of wandering shepherds and was therefore a common name/name attachment in the area. As camps tended to move on in the Negeb the marking of their movements was far from easy. They were a moving city.
Kabzeel, called Jekabzeel in Neh 11:25, was the native place of Benaiah, one of David’s mighty men (2Sa 23:20). Eder and Jagur are unknown. Kinah may be connected with a Kenite encampment. Dimonah may be the Dibon of Neh 11:25 (compare Isa 15:2 with Isa 15:9). Adadah has been posited as ‘Arara, a ruined site twenty five kilometres (fifteen miles) south east of Beersheba, Kedesh as possibly Kadesh-barnea, Hazor as another encampment, and Ithnan is unknown. Ziph is unknown. Telem may be Telaim in the east of the Negeb (1Sa 15:4), Bealoth the same as Baalath-beer (Jos 19:8), Hazor-hadattah means ‘new Hazor’, another encampment, and Kerioth-hezron (the same is Hazor) a further encampment.
Amam, Shema, Moladah (the Malatha mentioned by Josephus?), Hazar-gaddah, Heshmon, and Beth-pelet have no details known. Hazar-shual means ‘foxes den’, which may signify human foxes, and Beersheba is ‘the well of the seven’ (or ‘the oath’), abundantly supplied with water and often cited as the furthest extent of the land (‘from Dan to Beersheba’ – Jdg 20:1; 1Sa 3:20 ; 2Sa 3:10; 2Sa 17:11; 2Sa 24:2 ; 2Sa 24:15; 1Ki 4:25; 1Ch 21:2 ; 2Ch 30:5; Amo 8:14).
Biziothiah, Baalah, Iim, Ezem, Eltolad and Chesil are not known. Hormah means ‘devoted’ and could be any devoted site, but possibly that mentioned in Num 20:3. Ziklag is probably that mentioned in 1Sa 27:6; 1Sa 30:1 ; 1Sa 30:14; 1Sa 30:26 where David was a Philistine mercenary leader. Madmannah, and Sansannah, and Lebaoth, and Shilhim, are all unknown. Rimmon may be Khirbet Umm er-Rumamin, fifteen kilometres (nine miles) north east of Beersheba on the border of the Negeb and the Shephelah, in which case Ain may be the nearby spring of Khuweilfeh.
As will be noted the Negeb was in no way an empty place, although its occupation depended very much on where water could be found.
Jos 15:33-36
‘ In the Shephelah, Eshtaol, and Zorah, and Ashnah, and Zanoah, and En-gannim, Tappuah and Enam, Jarmuth, and Adullam, and Socoh and Azekah, and Shaaraim, and Adithaim, and Gederah, and Gederothaim. Fourteen cities and their villages.’
The Shephelah were the lowlands, the lower, shallower slopes of the hill country. Apart from the Coastal Plain it was the land that offered most, but was vulnerable to attack. As it stands there are in fact in this list fifteen names, but Gederothaim (plural ending) probably represents ‘the villages of Gederah’ thus making one with Gedarah. These fourteen cities were clustered to the north of the area.
Zorah and Eshtaol were on the Danite border (Jos 19:41; see also Jdg 13:25; Jdg 18:2; Jdg 18:8; Jdg 18:11). Judah and Dan may have shared them and their related lands, Dan the land to the north, Judah the land to the south, or it may be that after receiving their lot Judah passed the cities on to Dan. But the probability is that they were settled by both, some looking to Dan and some to Judah. Zorah was mentioned in the Amarna letters as Zarkha and is probably Sar‘a, a Canaanite city twenty five kilometres (fifteen miles) west of Jerusalem, on the north side of the Wadi al-Sarar (the valley of Sorek), with Eshtaol close by. Both places overlook the broad basin of the Wadi, near its entrance into the Judaean highlands.
Ashnah in the north east must be distinguished from Ashnah in the south in Jos 15:43. Zanoah is Khirbet Zanu‘ (Neh 3:13; Neh 11:30), three kilometres south of Bethshemesh, west of modern Zanoah. This is to be distinguished from Zanoah in the hill country (Jos 15:56). En-gannim means ‘spring of gardens’ and was near Zanoah. Tappuah meaning ‘quince’ was east of Azekah, possibly Beit Netif. The place name may derive from a Calebite of Hebron (1Ch 2:43). It was not the Tappuah of Jos 12:17; Jos 16:8. The name was a popular one.
“And Enam, Jarmuth, and Adullam, and Socoh and Azekah, and Shaaraim, and Adithaim, and Gederah, and Gederothaim.” For Enam compare Enaim (Gen 38:14; Gen 38:21). It means ‘two springs’. It stood on the way from Adullam to Timnah and was where Tamar seduced Judah. Jarmuth was a member of the first confederacy that attacked Gibeon (see on Jos 10:3). Adullam is identified as Tell esh-Sheikh Madhkur midway between Jerusalem and Lachish. Its king was slain by Joshua (Jos 12:15). David later hid in a nearby cave when running from Saul (1Sa 22:1-2; 2Sa 23:13). It was fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch 11:7).
Socoh was south-east of Azekah and was where the Philistines were defeated when Goliath was killed (1Sa 17:1). It was later an important administrative centre in the days of Hezekiah, mentioned on inscriptions found in Lachish. There was another Socoh in the highlands (Jos 15:48). The site of Azekah is unknown but its signal lights could be seen from Lachish in the days of Sennacherib of Assyria as described in inscribed potsherds discovered in the remains of the gatehouse in Lachish, written in Hebrew. For Shaaraim compare 1Sa 17:52. It was on the way from Azekah towards the parting of the ways to Ekron and Gath. On the basis of the LXX rendering Sakareim it has been identified with Tell Zakariyeh, north west of Socoh at the entrance of the Wadi es-Sunt. Adithaim is not identified (LXX omits). Gederah is different from Gederoth (Jos 15:41). It may be the same as Geder (Jos 12:13). It means a wall or fence. It may be identified with Khirbet Judraya on the north side of the Vale of Elah opposite Socoh. Gederothaim, rendered in LXX ‘and its villages’ was probably a technical name for villages connected to Gederah. These fourteen cities with their villages were in the north eastern part of the Judaean Shephelah.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Catalog of the Cities of Judah.
v. 21. And the uttermost of the tribe of the children of Judah toward the coast of Edom southward were Kabzeel, and Eder, and Jagur,
v. 22. and Kinah, and Dimonah, and Adadah,
v. 23. and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Ithnan, v. 24. Ziph, and Telem, and Bealoth, v. 25. and Hazor, Hadattah, and Kerioth, and Hezron, v. 26. Amam, and Shema, and Moladah, v. 27. and Hazargaddah, and Hesh-mon, and Beth-palet, v. 28. and Hazar-shual, and Beer-sheba, and Bizjothjah, v. 29. Baalah, and lina, and Azem, v. 30. and Eitolad, and Chesil, and Hormah, v. 31. and Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah, v. 32. and Lebaoth, and Shilhim, and Ain, and Bimmon. All the cities are twenty and nine, with their villages, v. 33. And in the valley, v. 34. and Zanoah, and En-gannim, Tappuah, and Enam, v. 35. Jarmuth, and Adullam, Socoh, and Azekah,
v. 36. and Sharaim, and Adithaim, and Gederah, and Gederothaim: fourteen cities with their villages, v. 37. Zenan, and Hadashah, and Migdalgad, v. 38. and Dilean, and Mizpeh, and Joktheel, v. 39. Lachish, and Bozkath, and Eglon, v. 40. and Cabbon, and Lahmam, and Kithlish, v. 41. and Gederoth, Bethdagon, and Waamah, and Makkedah: sixteen cities with their villages.
v. 42. Libnah, and Ether, and Ashan, v. 43. and Jiphtah, and Ashnah, and Nezib, v. 44. and Keilah, and Achzib, and Mareshah: nine cities with their villages; v. 45. Ekron, with her towns and her villages; v. 46. from Ekron even unto the sea, all that lay near Ashdod, with their villages: v. 47. Ashdod, with her towns and her villages, Gaza, with her towns and her villages, unto the river of Egypt and the Great Sea and the border thereof.
v. 48. And in the mountains, Shamir, and Jattir, and Socoh, v. 49. and Dannah, and Kirjath-sannah, which is Debir, v. 50. and Anab, and Eshtemoh, and Anim, v. 51. and Goshen, and Holon, and Giloh: eleven cities with their villages; v. 52. Arab, and Dumah, and Eshean, v. 53. and Janum, and Beth-tappuah, and Aphekah, v. 54. and Humtah, and Kirjatharba, which is Hebron, and Zior: nine cities with their villages; v. 55. Maon, Carmel, and Ziph, and Juttah, v. 56. and Jezreel, and Jokdeam, and Zanoah, v. 57. Cain, Gibeah, and Timnah: ten cities with their villages; v. 58. Halhul, Bethzur, and Gedor, v. 59. and Maarath, and Bethanoth, and Eitekon; six cities with their villages; v. 60. Kirjathbaal, which is Kirjathjearim, and Babbah: two cities with their villages.
v. 61. In the wilderness, near the Dead Sea, Betharabah, Middin, and Secacah, v. 62. and Nibshan, and the City of Salt, and Engedi: six cities with their villages. v. 63. As for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
NASB (UPDATED TEXT): Jos 15:21-32
21Now the cities at the extremity of the tribe of the sons of Judah toward the border of Edom in the south were Kabzeel and Eder and Jagur,
22and Kinah and Dimonah and Adadah,
23and Kedesh and Hazor and Ithnan,
24Ziph and Telem and Bealoth,
25and Hazor-hadattah and Kerioth-hezron (that is, Hazor),
26Amam and Shema and Moladah,
27and Hazar-gaddah and Heshmon and Beth-pelet,
28and Hazar-shual and Beersheba and Biziothiah,
29Baalah and Iim and Ezem,
30and Eltolad and Chesil and Hormah,
31and Ziklag and Madmannah and Sansannah,
32and Lebaoth and Shilhim and Ain and Rimmon; in all, twenty-nine cities with their villages.
Jos 15:21-32 This names the cities located in the far south (Negev).
Jos 15:25 Kerioth-hezron This village is often associated with Judas Iscariot (man of Kerioth), but this is only one of several other possible meanings of Iscariot.
Although NASB and RSV (NRSV) translate this as the name of one village, the MT has an accent mark between them, which denotes two cities. This would have reflected the tradition received by the Masoretic scholars.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Kabzeel: Neh 11:25
Eder: Gen 35:21
Reciprocal: Jos 10:40 – all the country 2Sa 23:20 – Kabzeel 1Ch 11:22 – Kabzeel Jer 17:26 – from the cities Oba 1:19 – the south
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The towns in Judah 15:21-62
The writer grouped the towns in Judah according to that tribe’s four districts. This part of Canaan contained four distinct regions: the southern Negev, the lowland plain (Shephelah), the mountains (hill country), and the desert.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The Negev (south land) formed a region between the more fertile parts of Judah to the north and the desert to the south. The writer listed four groups of towns: the first nine (Jos 15:21-23), the second five (Jos 15:24-25), the third nine (Jos 15:26-28), and the fourth 13 (Jos 15:29-32).