Joshua 15:17

Now it might have been expected by them, that as Joshua was of the tribe of Ephraim, that he would have favoured their cause on that account, and that they should have obtained the grant of an addition by that means; but Joshua was impartial in his administration, and showed no favour and affection on that score, as appears by what follows. Joshua 17:15 Ver. 15. And Joshua answered them,....

15:13-19 Achsah obtained some land by Caleb's free grant. He gave her a south land. Land indeed, but a south land, dry and apt to be parched. She obtained more, on her request, and he gave the upper and the nether springs. Those who understand it but of one field, watered both with the rain of heaven, and the springs that issued out of the earth, countenance the allusion commonly made to this, when we pray for spiritual and heavenly blessings which relate to our souls, as blessings of the upper springs, and those which relate to the body and the life that now is, as blessings of the nether springs. All the blessings, both of the upper and the nether springs, belong to the children of God. As related to Christ, they have them freely given of the Father, for the lot of their inheritance.

And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it,.... The relation of Othniel to Caleb is a little intricate, and, as it is understood, occasions objections to the marriage of Caleb's daughter to him; it seems, at first sight, that he was Caleb's own brother, a younger brother, and so uncle to his daughter, and such marriages were forbidden, Leviticus 18:14 . Jarchi thinks he was the brother of Caleb by his mother's side; Kimchi, both by father and mother's side; but not to observe, that besides the word "brother" sometimes signifies only a kinsman, or near relation, and not precisely a brother; it is not Othniel that is called the brother of Caleb, but Kenaz, who was the father of Othniel; so that Caleb was Othniel's uncle, and Achsah and Othniel were brothers' children, or first cousins, between whom marriage was allowed of: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife; according to the tenor of his proclamation, and the promise he made.

17 . Othniel the son of Kenaz ] The younger brother of Caleb (comp. Jdg 1:13 ; Jdg 3:9 ; 1 Chronicles 4:13 ). But it is not certain from these passages whether Kenaz was his father, or, as some think, the more remote ancestor and head of the tribe, whose descendants were called “sons of Kenaz” ( Numbers 32:12 ). If Jephunneh was the father of Caleb, he was probably the father of Othniel also. The next mention of him is in Jdg 3:9 , where we find him the first Judge of Israel after the death of Joshua (for his genealogy see 1 Chronicles 4:13-14 ), delivering the Israelites from the tyranny of the Mesopotamian king, Chushanrishathaim. the brother of Caleb ] There is a doubt here whether Othniel was “filius Kenasi, frat er Calebi,” or “filius Kenasi frat ris Calebi.” For the second explanation comp. 2 Samuel 13:3 ; 2 Samuel 13:32 , “Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David’s brother; for the first, 1 Samuel 26:6 , “Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, and brother to Joab;” this is adopted by the Maronites , the LXX., and the Vulgate. and he gave him Achsah ] She had probably remained with her father at Hebron.

Object. This marriage was unlawful. Answ. No; for it was not Othniel, but Kenaz, who was Caleb’s brother; and besides, the word brother is commonly used for any kinsman; and that Caleb was not properly Othniel’s brother sufficiently appears, because Caleb is constantly called the son of Jephunneh; and Othniel, the son of Kenaz here, and 1 Chronicles 4:13 .

Jos 15:16-20. Othniel, for His Valor, Has Achsah to Wife. 16-20. He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher—This offer was made as an incentive to youthful bravery (see on [196]1Sa 17:25); and the prize was won by Othniel, Caleb's younger brother (Jud 1:13; 3:9). This was the occasion of drawing out the latent energies of him who was destined to be the first judge in Israel.

Verse 17. - The brother of Caleb. The Hebrew does not inform us whether Othniel or Kenaz were Caleb's brother. But the fact (see note on Joshua 14:6) that Caleb was the son of Jephunneh leads to the idea that the latter is meant. Othniel was a valiant and capable commander, as we learn from Judges 3:9 . Joshua 15:17

Othniel took the town and received the promised prize. Othniel, according to Judges 3:9 the first judge of the Israelites after Joshua's death, is called כלב אחי קנז בּן, i.e., either "the son of Kenaz (and) brother of Caleb," or "the son of Kenaz the brother of Caleb." The second rendering is quite admissible (comp. 2 Samuel 13:3 , 2 Samuel 13:32 , with 1 Chronicles 2:13 ), but the former is the more usual; and for this the Masorites have decided, since they have separated achi Caleb from ben-Kenaz by a tiphchah. And this is the correct one, as "the son of Kenaz" is equivalent to "the Kenizzite" ( Joshua 14:6 ). According to Judges 1:13 and Judges 3:9 , Othniel was Caleb's younger brother. Caleb gave him his daughter for a wife, as marriage with a brother's daughter was not forbidden in the law (see my Bibl. Archol. ii. 107, note 14).

Descendants of Kenaz. - קנז is a descendant of Hezron the son of Pharez, as may be inferred from the fact that Caleb the son of Jephunneh, a descendant of Hezron's son Caleb, is called in Numbers 32:12 and Joshua 14:6 קנזּי, and consequently was also a descendant of Kenaz. Othniel and Seraiah, introduced here as קנז בּני, are not sons (in the narrower sense of the word), but more distant descendants of Kenaz; for Othniel and Caleb the son of Jephunneh were, according to Joshua 15:17 and Judges 1:13 , brothers. (Note: The words used in Judges 1:13, cf. Joshua 15:17, of the relationship of Othniel and Caleb, הקּטון כלב אחי בּן־קנז, may be, it is true, taken in different senses, either as signifying filius Kenasi fratris Caleb, according to which, not Othniel, but Kenaz, was a younger brother of Caleb; or in this way, filius Kenasi, frater Calebi minor, as we have interpreted them in the text, and also in the commentary on Joshua 15:17. This interpretation we still hold to be certainly the correct one, notwithstanding what Bachmann (Buch der Richter, on 1 Chronicles 1:13) has brought forward against it and in favour of the other interpretation, and cannot see that his chief reasons are decisive. The assertion that we must predicate of Othniel, if he be a younger brother of Caleb, an unsuitably advanced age, is not convincing. Caleb was eighty-five years of age at the division of the land of Canaan (Joshua 14:10).

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