Joshua 15:52

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, Joshua 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, 1 Chronicles 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, Genesis 21:31; See Gill on "Joshua 15:28"; and Moladah; another of the cities of Judah, Joshua 15:26. {z} Vid. Noldium, p. 280. No. 1200. Joshua 19:3 Ver. 3. And Hazarshual,.... See Gill on "Joshua 15:28"; and Balah, and Azem; of these places see Gill "Joshua 15:29"; for Balah is the same with Baalah there, and with Bilhah 1 Chronicles 4:29; and Azem with Ezem there. Joshua 19:4 Ver. 4. And Eltolad, and Bethul, and Hormah. These were all cities of Judah, Joshua 15:30; Eltolad is the same with Tolad, and Bethul with Bethuel, 1 Chronicles 4:29, and with Chesil, Joshua 15:30, mentioned there along with Hormah; See Gill on "Joshua 15:30". Joshua 19:5 Ver. 5. And Ziklag,....

Prince of a place so called, in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:31 Sheva the father of Machbenah, and the father of Gibeah; prince of two cities of those names in the same tribe; of the latter see Joshua 15:57, and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah; Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, had a daughter of this name, but neither he nor she are here meant, Joshua 15:16 but by whom Caleb, the son of Hezron, had this daughter, is not said; perhaps by Maachah his concubine last mentioned. 1 Chronicles 2:50 Ver. 50. These were the sons of Caleb the son of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah,.... This is another Caleb, the grandson of Caleb the son of Hezron, called after his name; he was the son of Hur, the firstborn of his wife Ephratah, 1 Chronicles 2:19. Shobal the father of Kirjathjearim: of the inhabitants of that place; they sprung from him; or, as the Targum, he was prince of Kirjathjearim, a city in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:60. 1 Chronicles 2:51 Ver. 51. Salma the father of Bethlehem,.... Or prince of Bethlehem, as the Targum; not the same as in 1 Chronicles 2:11 he was the son of Nahshon, this of the younger Caleb: Hareph, the father of Bethgader; prince of a place of that name called Gedor, 1 Chronicles 4:4, and where this man's name is Penuel; Gedor was in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:58. 1 Chronicles 2:52 Ver. 52. And Shobal, the father of Kirjathjearim had sons,....

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.

Arab,.... Arab is the same Jerom (i) calls Ereb, and was in his time a village in the south, and was called Heromith: and Dumah; Duma, Jerom says (k), was a large village in the south, also on the borders of Eleutheropolis, seventeen miles from it: and Eshean, of which we have no account. (i) De loc. Heb. fol. 91. B. (k) Ibid. fol. 90. K.

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.

Second group of nine towns, situated somewhat to the north of the last mentioned. Of these Dumah is perhaps the ruined village "Ed Daumeh," in the neighborhood of Hebron; and Beth-tappuah, i. e. "house of apples," "Teffuh," a place which has still a good number of inhabitants, is conspicuous for its olive groves and vineyards, and bears on every side the traces of industry and thrift.

The second group of nine towns, to the north of the former, in the country round Hebron. Joshua 15:52 Arab is still unknown; for we cannot connect it, as Knobel does, with the ruins of Husn el Ghurab in the neighbourhood of Semua (Rob. i. p. 312), as these ruins lie within the former group of towns. Duma, according to Eusebius the largest place in the Daromas in his time, and seventeen miles from Eleutheropolis, is probably the ruined village of Daumeh, by the Wady Dilbeh (Rob. i. p. 314), which is fourteen miles in a straight line to the south-east of Eleutheropolis according to the map. Es'an (Eshean) can hardly be identified with Asan (1 Chronicles 4:32), as Van de Velde supposes, but is more likely Korasan (1 Samuel 30:30). In that case we might connect it with the ruins of Khursah, on the north-west of Daumeh, two hours and a half to the south-west of Hebron (Rob. iii. p. 5). As the Septuagint reading is Σομά, Knobel conjectures that Eshean is a corrupt reading for Shema (1 Chronicles 2:43), and connects it with the ruins of Simia, on the south of Daumeh (Seetzen, iii. 28, and Rob. iii.App.).

Verse 37. - Hezro appears as Hezrai in Samuel. (For Carmel, which lay south of Hebron, see Joshua 15:55 .) Naarai the son of Ezbai . The differences between these words and those of the parallel (ver. 35), "Paarai the Arbite," or Arab ( Joshua 15:52 ), are not formidable to reconcile. 1 Chronicles 11:37