Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Chronicles 4:32
And their villages [were], Etam, and Ain, Rimmon, and Tochen, and Ashan, five cities:
32. And their villages were] These villages ( rm) are called at the end of the verse cities, but sometimes rm are described as un-walled (Lev 25:31) and sometimes as dependencies of cities (1Ch 4:33 of this ch.). In these two cases rm would be distinguished from cities.
Etam ] In the parallel passage, Jos 19:7, Etam is omitted and the villages (“cities”) are reckoned as four not five.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And their villages were Etam, and Ain, Rimmon, and Tochen, and Ashan, five cities. There are but four mentioned in
Jos 19:7 one might be added since, or new built, namely, Tochen; these, according to Kimchi, were all that remained for them to dwell in, in the times of David; and therefore they were obliged to seek out for new settlements for themselves and flocks, as in 1Ch 4:39, &c.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Instead of the five cities, Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan, only four are mentioned in Jos 19:7, viz., Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan; is written instead of , and is wanting. According to Movers, p. 73, and Berth. in his commentary on the passage, the list of these cities must have been at first as follows: (one city), , , and ; in Joshua must have fallen out by mistake, in our text has been erroneously exchanged for the better known city in the tribe of Judah, while by reckoning both and the number four has become five. These conjectures are shown to be groundless by the order of the names in our text. For had been exchanged for , would not stand in the first place, at the head of the four or five cities, but would have occupied the place of , which is connected with in Jos 19:7 and Jos 15:43. Then again, the face that in Jos 15:32 is separated from by the cop., and in Jos 19:7 is reckoned by itself as one city as in our verse, is decisive against taking and together as one name. The want of the conjunction, moreover, between the two names here and in Jos 19:7, and the uniting of the two words into one name, , Neh 11:29, is explained by the supposition that the towns lay in the immediate neighbourhood of each other, so that they were at a later time united, or at least might be regarded as one city. Rimmon is perhaps the same as the ruin Rum er Rummanim, four hours to the north of Beersheba; and Ain is probably to be identified with a large half-ruined and very ancient well which lies at from thirty to thirty-five minutes distance, cf. on Jos 15:32. Finally, the assertion that the name has come into our text by an ex change of the unknown for the name of this better known city of Judah, is founded upon a double geographical error. It rests (1) upon the erroneous assumption that besides the Etam in the high lands of Judah to the south of Bethlehem, there was no other city of this name, and that the Etam mentioned in Jdg 15:8, Jdg 15:11 is identical with that in the high lands of Judah; and (2) on the mistaken idea that Ether was also situated in the high lands of Judah, whereas it was, according to Jos 15:42, one of the cities of the Shephelah; and the Simeonites, moreover, had no cities in the high lands of Judah, but had their dwelling-places assigned to them in the Negeb and the Shephelah. The existence of a second Etam, besides that in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem, is placed beyond doubt by Jdg 15:8 and Jdg 15:11; for mention is there made of an Etam in the plain of Judah, which is to be sought in the neighbourhood of Khuweilife, on the border of the Negeb and the mountainous district: cf. on Jdg 15:8. It is this Etam which is spoken of in our verse, and it is rightly grouped with Ain and Rimmon, which were situated in the Negeb, while Tochen and Ashan were in the Shephelah. The statement of Jos 19:7 and Jos 15:42 leaves no doubt as to the fact that the of our verse is only another name for . Etam must therefore have come into the possession of the Simeonites after Joshua’s time, but as to when, or under what circumstances, we have no information.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(32) And their villages.This belongs to 1Ch. 4:31. The verb should be cancelled.
Etam, and Ain, Rimmon . . .Why are these five cities separated from the former thirteen? The old Jewish expositors Rashi and Kimchi assert, that whereas the thirteen were lost to the Simeonites from the time of David, these five remained in their possession. The separation is made in Joshua 19 as well as here. (Many MSS. read and Rimmon.)
Five cities.Jos. 19:7 : Ain, Rimmon, and Ether, and Ashan; four cities and their villages. Etam may be a mistake for Ether. But there were two Etams, one in the hills of Judah, south of Bethlehem (see 1Ch. 4:3, Note; 2Ch. 11:6), and one in the south of Judah (Jdg. 15:8)perhaps the place intended here. Ether occurs in Jos. 15:42 along with Ashan. Both were in the lowlands of Judah. Ain and Rimmon are spoken of as one place (Neh. 11:29): they must have been close to each other (comp. Buda-Pesth). Tochen only here.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1Ch 4:32 And their villages [were], Etam, and Ain, Rimmon, and Tochen, and Ashan, five cities:
Ver. 32. Five cities. ] Called before villages, because unwalled, haply. The Hague in Holland hath two thousand households in it: the inhabitants will not wall it, they say, as desiring to have it counted rather the principal village of Europe, than a lesser city.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Etam: Ether, or Etham, was situated near Malatha, according to Eusebius. Jos 19:7, Ether, Remmon
Ashan: Eusebius say Beth-ashan was sixteen miles west of Jerusalem.
Reciprocal: Jdg 15:11 – the rock Etam 1Ch 6:59 – Ashan 2Ch 11:6 – Etam Zec 14:10 – Rimmon