Joshua 15:59

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.

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.

Fourth group. Towns north of the last mentioned, of which Beth-zur and Gedor are represented by "Beit-sur" and "Jedur." After Joshua 15:59 follows in the Greek version a fifth group of eleven towns, which appears to have dropped in very ancient times out of the Hebrew text, probably because some transcriber passed unawares from the word "villages" at the end of Joshua 15:59, to the same word at the end of the missing passage. The omitted group contains the towns of an important, well-known, and populous district lying immediately south of Jerusalem, and containing such towns as Tekoah 2 Samuel 14:2; Nehemiah 3:5, Nehemiah 3:27; Amos 1:1; Bethlehem, the native town of David and of Christ Genesis 35:19; and Aetan, a Grecised form of Etam 2 Chronicles 11:6.

Maarath and Eltekon have not yet been discovered. Beth-anoth (probably a contraction of Beth-ayanoth) has been discovered by Wolcott in the ruins of Beit-anum, on the east of Halhl (Rob. Bibl. Res. p. 279; cf. Pal. ii. p. 186). Between Joshua 15:59 and Joshua 15:60, the fifth group of towns given in the Septuagint is wanting in the Masoretic text. This group lay to the north of the fourth, and reached as far as Jerusalem, It comprised a district in which even now there are at least fifteen places and ruins, so that we have not an arbitrary interpolation made by the lxx, as Jerome assumed, but rather a gap in the Hebrew text, arising from the fact that an ancient copyist passed by mistake from the word וחצריהן in Joshua 15:59 to the same word at the close of the missing section. In the Alexandrian version the section reads as follows in Cod. Al. and Vat.: Θεκώ καὶ Ἐφραθά, αὕτη ἐστὶ Βαιθλέεμ, καὶ Φαγώρ καὶ Αἰτὰν καὶ Καολὸν καὶ Τατὰμ καὶ Θωβἠς (Cod. Al. Σωρὴς) καὶ Καρέμ καὶ Γαλὲμ καὶ Θεθὴρ (Cod. Al. Βαιθῆρ) καὶ Μαμοχώ, πόλεις ἕνδεκα καὶ αἱ κῶμαι αὐτῶν. - Theko, the well-known Tekoah, the home of the wise woman and of the prophet Amos (2 Samuel 14:2; Amos 1:1), was fortified by Rehoboam, and still inhabited after the captivity (2 Chronicles 11:6; Nehemiah 3:5, Nehemiah 3:27).

It is the present Tekua, on the top of a mountain covered with ancient ruins, two hours to the south of Bethlehem (Rob. ii. pp. 181-184; Tobler, Denkbl. aus Jerus. pp. 682ff.). Ephratah, i.e., Bethlehem, the family seat of the house of David (Ruth 1:1; Ruth 4:11; 1 Samuel 16:4; 1 Samuel 17:12.; Micah 5:2), was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:6), and is a place frequently mentioned. It was the birth-place of Christ (Matthew 2:1.; Luke 2:4), and still exists under the ancient name of Beit-lahm, two hours to the south of Jerusalem (Seetzen, ii. pp. 37ff.; Rob. ii. pp. 159ff.; Tobler, Topogr. v. Jerus. ii. pp. 464ff.). Bethlehem did not receive the name of Ephratah for the first time from the Calebite family of Ephrathites (1 Chronicles 2:19, 1 Chronicles 2:50; 1 Chronicles 4:4), but was known by that name even in Jacob's time (Genesis 35:19; Genesis 48:7). Phagor, which was near to Bethlehem according to the Onom. (s. v. Fogor), and is also called Phaora, is the present Faghur, a heap of ruins to the south-west of Bethlehem (Rob. Bibl. Res. p. 275). Aetan was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:6), and has been preserved in the Wady and Ain Attan between Bethlehem and Faghur (Tobler, Dritte Wand. pp. 88, 89). Kulon, the present village of Kulomeh, an hour and a half west by north from Jerusalem on the road to Ramleh (see Rob. ii. p. 146; Bibl. Res. p. 158: it is called Kolony by Seetzen, ii. p. 64). Tatam cannot be traced.

( 1 Chronicles 6:42-45 ). The plural המּקלט ערי is incorrect, for only one of the cities thereafter named, viz., Hebron, was a city of refuge for homicides, and in Joshua 21:13 it is correctly written מקלט עיר. After יתּיר retfA the usual addition ואת־מגרשׁיה is omitted, 1 Chronicles 6:59 . Before Bethshemesh the name Juttah has been lost, and before Geba ( 1 Chronicles 6:60 ) the name Gibeon, so that only eleven cities are mentioned, but the sum is rightly given as thirteen. Instead of the name חילן, 1 Chronicles 6:58 , there is found in Joshua 21:15 and Joshua 15:51 חלן; instead of עין, Joshua 21:16 , we have in 1 Chronicles 6:59 the more correct name עשׁן; and the name עלּמת, 1 Chronicles 6:60 , is in Joshua 21:18 עלמון.

( 1 Chronicles 6:42-45 ). The plural המּקלט ערי is incorrect, for only one of the cities thereafter named, viz., Hebron, was a city of refuge for homicides, and in Joshua 21:13 it is correctly written מקלט עיר. After יתּיר retfA the usual addition ואת־מגרשׁיה is omitted, 1 Chronicles 6:59 . Before Bethshemesh the name Juttah has been lost, and before Geba ( 1 Chronicles 6:60 ) the name Gibeon, so that only eleven cities are mentioned, but the sum is rightly given as thirteen. Instead of the name חילן, 1 Chronicles 6:58 , there is found in Joshua 21:15 and Joshua 15:51 חלן; instead of עין, Joshua 21:16 , we have in 1 Chronicles 6:59 the more correct name עשׁן; and the name עלּמת, 1 Chronicles 6:60 , is in Joshua 21:18 עלמון.