Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 15:59
And Maarath, and Beth-anoth, and Eltekon; six cities with their villages:
And Maarath, and Bethanoth, and Eltekon,…. Of these cities we have no account elsewhere; only mention is made of Eltekeh, in the tribe of Dan, Jos 19:44;
six cities with their villages; these were all in the mountainous part of Judea, as were the two following.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(59) Five of these six have been identified.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
[ 59. Bethanoth is found in the ruined village Beit-ainun, about three miles northeast of Hebron. “The principal ruin is a building eighty-three feet long and seventy-two broad. The remains of the town lie on a gentle slope north of this edifice. The foundations remain, and the streets and forms of the dwellings can still be traced.” Robinson. ] Between the 59th and 60th verses the LXX in the Codex Alexandrinus and Vaticanus insert another group of eleven cities, namely, Tekoah, Ephratha or Bethlehem, Phagor, Aitan, Khulan, Tatam, Thobes, Karem, Galem, Thether, and Manocho. Whether these cities have been added by the LXX without authority, or were really found in the earliest MSS. of this book, is a question which is not easy to determine. Hengstenberg maintains the former opinion and Keil the latter. Some find a motive for the erasure of the whole group from the Hebrew text in the desire of the Jews to deny that Jesus sprang from the tribe of Judah.