Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 19:2
And they had in their inheritance Beer-sheba, or Sheba, and Moladah,
2. And they had in their inheritance ] First Group. 1. Beersheba, see note ch. Jos 15:28; or Shema, so ch. Jos 15:26: comp. 1Ch 4:28 with Gen 26:33; Genesis 2. Moladah = el-Milh, see ch. Jos 15:26, about four English miles from Tel Arad, eighteen from Hebron, and nine or ten due east of Beersheba;
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 2. Beer-sheba] The well of the oath. See Clarke on Ge 21:31.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Beer-sheba, Sheba, or,
or Sheba, i.e. otherwise called; for that Beer-sheba and Sheba were one and the same city is manifest, both from Jos 19:6, where all the cities are reckoned to be but thirteen; and from 1Ch 4:28, where Simeons cities are enumerated, and Sheba omitted as superfluous.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And they had in their inheritance Beersheba and Sheba,…. Or, Beersheba, that is, Sheba; for so the particle “vau” is sometimes used z, and must be so used here; or otherwise, instead of thirteen, it will appear that there are fourteen cities, contrary to the account of them, Jos 19:6; so Kimchi and Ben Melech make them one city. And it may be observed, that in the enumeration of the cities of Simeon, 1Ch 4:28; Sheba is left out, and only Beersheba is mentioned; which, was a well known place in, the farthest border of the land of Israel southward, and the reason of its name is manifest, Ge 21:31;
[See comments on Jos 15:28];
and Moladah; another of the cities of Judah, Jos 15:26.
z Vid. Noldium, p. 280. No. 1200.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. Beer-sheba See on Jos 15:28. Sheba is probably a repetition of the copyist, otherwise there would be fourteen cities instead of thirteen, as stated in Jos 19:6.
As the cities of Simeon were taken out of the portion originally assigned to Judah, all whose sites are now known are described in the notes on chap. 15 . Some of the names here given do not appear there, some may be different names of the same place, but in the absence of any certain knowledge of them we do best to abstain from mere conjectural comments.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And they had in their inheritance Beersheba, that is Sheba, and Moladah, and Hazar-shual, and Balah, and Ezem, and Eltolad, and Bethul, and Hormah, and Ziklag, and Beth-marcaboth, and Hazar-susah, and Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen. Thirteen cities with their villages.’
The cities in which Simeon would have a part are now listed. It would seem that Beersheba, or a part of it, was regularly called Sheba (Gen 26:33) and therefore both names were given. Possibly one name was used by Judah and the other by Simeon (in virtually the same listing in 1Ch 4:28 Sheba is omitted, presumably for this reason). Beersheba was the place where Abraham made a covenant with the Philistine trading settlement and which he established as a sacred place. It means ‘well of the seven’ referring to the seven ewes which sealed the covenant (Gen 21:32-33). It was later a favourite place of pilgrimage and thus continued in Israelite eyes as a sacred place (Amo 5:5; Amo 8:14), and Sheba (see Gen 26:33) may have been a section of it populated by Simeon so that ‘Beersheba and Sheba’ are one ‘city’.
Note in respect of these cities named here the similar list in Jos 15:26-32 in the portion of Judah, where most are duplicated. They had been allocated to Judah but were now reallocated to Simeon. There was possibly joint oversight. Judah and Simeon were both sons of Leah, (as indeed were Issachar and Zebulun who also developed closely together). City names not similar are Bethul (although possibly the same as Chesil), Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah and Sharuhen (compare 1Ch 4:30-31).
Beth-marcaboth (‘house of chariots’) is uncertain but its connection with Hormah and Ziklag suggests it was probably a strong-point on the Judaean-Philistine border. The name suggests that it might have been a Canaanite arsenal at this time. Hazar-susah (‘horse encampment’) was probably nearby. Sharuhen is possibly Tell el-Far‘a, twenty four kilometres (fifteen miles) south of Gaza or Tell el-Huweilfeh, half a kilometre (less than half a mile) north of Khirbet Rammamein. A ‘Srhn’ is referred to in Egyptian sources as a Hyksos fortress which resisted Ahmose for three years around 1550 BC. Some of these may be alternative names to those mentioned in Jos 15:31-32.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jos 19:2 And they had in their inheritance Beersheba, or Sheba, and Moladah, Jos 19:3 And Hazarshual, and Balah, and Azem, Jos 19:4 And Eltolad, and Bethul, and Hormah,
Ver. 2-4, &c. These, though but bare names of places, should not be skipped over in our course of reading, as being a part of God’s Holy Word: but to speak particularly of their signification or site, would be a work of more difficulty than use: and besides, it is but curiosity to search into those things whereof we can neither have proof nor profit.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Beersheba: Sheba
and Moladah: Jos 15:28, Gen 21:31, 1Ch 4:28-30, Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad, Bethuel, Neh 11:26-30