Joshua 15:24

15:20-63 Here is a list of the cities of Judah. But we do not here find Bethlehem, afterwards the city of David, and ennobled by the birth of our Lord Jesus in it. That city, which, at the best, was but little among the thousands of Judah, Mic 5:2, except that it was thus honoured, was now so little as not to be accounted one of the cities.

Ziph,.... Ziph was of the tribe of Judah in the south, on the borders of Eleutheropolis, as Jerom says (d) and was eight miles from Hebron to the east; and in his time a village was shown, where David was hid; but that Ziph seems to be in another part of this tribe near Carmel, and from whence a wilderness had its name; see Joshua 15:55 , and Telem is supposed to be the same with Telaim, 1 Samuel 15:4, and Bealoth; of this city we read nowhere else. (d) De loc. Heb. fol. 95. G.

24 . Ziph ] ( b ) With this town commences a second group of five cities :— (1) Ziph , not identified; (2) Telem , not identified—not to be confounded with Telaim , where Saul collected and numbered his forces before his attack on Amalek ( 1 Samuel 15:4 ); (3) Bealoth = Bealoth-beer, on the road towards Hebron; (4) Hazor-hadattah = “ New Hazor ;” (5) Kerioth-Hezron , which is Hazor ; the names are to be joined together, like Kirjath-arba and Kirjath-jearim.

Jos 15:21-63. Cities of Judah. 21-63. the uttermost cities of the tribe of the children of Judah—There is given a list of cities within the tribal territory of Judah, arranged in four divisions, corresponding to the districts of which it consisted—the cities in the southern part (Jos 15:21-32), those in the lowlands (Jos 15:33-47), those in the highlands (Jos 15:48-60), and those in the desert (Jos 15:61, 62). One gets the best idea of the relative situation of these cities by looking at the map.

Telem may be the Telaim of 1 Samuel 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" Joshua 19:8 , and was one of the towns afterward assigned to the Simeonites. It is identified with the modern Kurnub.

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 ( 1 Samuel 15:4 ). Their situation is unknown. There was another Ziph upon the mountains (see Joshua 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 ( Joshua 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 ( Joshua 19:8 ), which is called Baal simply in 1 Chronicles 4:33 , and which was also called Ramath-negeb ( Joshua 19:8 ) and Ramoth-negeb ( 1 Samuel 30:27 ). It is not to be identified with Baalath, however ( Joshua 19:45 ; 1 Kings 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 Joshua 15:24 , and Amam in Joshua 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.

[Reformed Biblical] of all flesh, or of all men; the way which all men go; I am about to die, as all men must, #Hebrews 9:27 . The same phrase is #1 Kings 2:2 . ## Ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, i.e. you know assuredly; your own experience puts it out of all question. ## Not one thing hath failed. ## Quest. How is this true, when so great a part of the promised land and people yet remain unconquered? ## Answ. God promised them to destroy all their enemies, and to give them the whole land, not at once , but by degrees, by little and little , as is expressed #Deuteronomy 7:22 , and as was most convenient for them. Ver. 15. The accomplishment of God’s promises is a pledge or assurance that he will also fulfil his threatenings; both of them depending upon the same ground, the faithfulness of God. Ver. 16. No text from Poole on this verse. ## JOSHUA CHAPTER 24 Joshua assemble all the tribes at Shechem, #Joshua 24:1 . A brief history of God’s benefits from Terah: he exhorts them faithfully to serve the true God, #Joshua 24:2-13 . Reneweth a covenant between them and God; promising for himself and his house; the people four several times promising for themselves, #Joshua 24:11-25 . He writes this in the book of the law, and sets up a stone for a witness, #Joshua 24:26-28 . His age, death, and burial, #Joshua 24:29-31 . The burying of Joseph’s bones, #Joshua 24:32 . The death and burial of Eleazar, #Joshua 24:33 . Ver. 1. Gathered all the tribes of Israel, to wit, by their representatives, as #Joshua 23:2.