Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Joshua 15:21-36
The Listing of Cities and Towns, Villages and Encampments of Judah (Joshua 15:21). |
The making of lists of places is well testified to in the ancient world, and the cities and towns and encampments of Judah are now listed. We do not know whether these were as first surveyed, or as compiled at the time of the writer himself. They seem to be split into twelve groups, probably representing a theoretical twelve sub-tribes. Twelve seems to have been seen as the number for a confederacy. Thus Judah were setting up an inner confederacy on the pattern of the tribal confederacy, anticipating expanding it into twelve.
First come twenty nine ‘cities' in the Negeb, the grazing lands to the south (Joshua 15:21) (thirty six names are mentioned thus the names include ‘villages'); then fourteen in the north of the Shephelah (the lowlands) followed by sixteen in the north west, then another nine in the south (Joshua 15:33), followed by three in the Coastal Plain (Joshua 15:45) to the west, possibly representing two ‘districts' (but see later on Joshua 15:59); and then in the eastern hill country, first eleven in the south west, then nine to the north of these, then ten towards the east, then six to the north of Hebron, then two on Judah's northern border (Joshua 15:48); and finally six in ‘the wilderness' (the extreme eastern slopes of the hill country which were desert country looking over the steaming Jordan rift valley by the Dead Sea)
‘ And the uttermost cities of the tribe of the children of Judah toward the border of Edom in the Negeb were Kabzeel, and Eder, and Jagur, and Kinah, and Dimonah, and Adadah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Ithnan. Ziph, and Telem, and Bealoth, and Hazor-hadattah, and Kerioth-hezron (the same is Hazor). Amam, and Shema, and Moladah, and Hazar-gaddah, and Heshmon, and Beth-pelet, and Hazar-shual, and Beersheba, and Biziothiah. Baalah, and Iim, and Ezem, and Eltolad, and Chesil, and Hormah, and Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah, and Lebaoth, and Shilhim, and Ain, and Rimmon. All the cities are twenty nine with their villages.'
The list of towns and encampments in the Negeb includes a number also found in Joshua 19:1, e.g. Beersheba (or Sheba), Moladah, Hazar-shual, Balah (Baalah), Ezem, Eltolad, Hormah, Ziklag, Beth-lebaoth (Lebaoth), Ain, and Rimmon. Not similar are Bethul (although possibly the same as Chesil), Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah, Sharuhen, Ether and Ashan. This was because those who surveyed on behalf of Judah included within their count many of the encampments of Simeon which were within their borders, and over which they shared control. ‘Hazor' (hazar) specifically indicates an enclosure or camp of wandering shepherds and was therefore a common name/name attachment in the area. As camps tended to move on in the Negeb the marking of their movements was far from easy. They were a moving city.
Kabzeel, called Jekabzeel in Nehemiah 11:25, was the native place of Benaiah, one of David's mighty men (2 Samuel 23:20). Eder and Jagur are unknown. Kinah may be connected with a Kenite encampment. Dimonah may be the Dibon of Nehemiah 11:25 (compare Isaiah 15:2 with Isaiah 15:9). Adadah has been posited as ‘Arara, a ruined site twenty five kilometres (fifteen miles) south east of Beersheba, Kedesh as possibly Kadesh-barnea, Hazor as another encampment, and Ithnan is unknown. Ziph is unknown. Telem may be Telaim in the east of the Negeb (1 Samuel 15:4), Bealoth the same as Baalath-beer (Joshua 19:8), Hazor-hadattah means ‘new Hazor', another encampment, and Kerioth-hezron (the same is Hazor) a further encampment.
Amam, Shema, Moladah (the Malatha mentioned by Josephus?), Hazar-gaddah, Heshmon, and Beth-pelet have no details known. Hazar-shual means ‘foxes den', which may signify human foxes, and Beersheba is ‘the well of the seven' (or ‘the oath'), abundantly supplied with water and often cited as the furthest extent of the land (‘from Dan to Beersheba' - Judges 20:1; 1Sa 3:20; 2 Samuel 3:10; 2 Samuel 17:11; 2Sa 24:2; 2 Samuel 24:15; 1 Kings 4:25; 1Ch 21:2; 2 Chronicles 30:5; Amos 8:14).
Biziothiah, Baalah, Iim, Ezem, Eltolad and Chesil are not known. Hormah means ‘devoted' and could be any devoted site, but possibly that mentioned in Numbers 20:3. Ziklag is probably that mentioned in 1 Samuel 27:6; 1Sa 30:1; 1 Samuel 30:14; 1 Samuel 30:26 where David was a Philistine mercenary leader. Madmannah, and Sansannah, and Lebaoth, and Shilhim, are all unknown. Rimmon may be Khirbet Umm er-Rumamin, fifteen kilometres (nine miles) north east of Beersheba on the border of the Negeb and the Shephelah, in which case Ain may be the nearby spring of Khuweilfeh.
As will be noted the Negeb was in no way an empty place, although its occupation depended very much on where water could be found.
‘ In the Shephelah, Eshtaol, and Zorah, and Ashnah, and Zanoah, and En-gannim, Tappuah and Enam, Jarmuth, and Adullam, and Socoh and Azekah, and Shaaraim, and Adithaim, and Gederah, and Gederothaim. Fourteen cities and their villages.'
The Shephelah were the lowlands, the lower, shallower slopes of the hill country. Apart from the Coastal Plain it was the land that offered most, but was vulnerable to attack. As it stands there are in fact in this list fifteen names, but Gederothaim (plural ending) probably represents ‘the villages of Gederah' thus making one with Gedarah. These fourteen cities were clustered to the north of the area.
Zorah and Eshtaol were on the Danite border (Joshua 19:41; see also Judges 13:25; Judges 18:2; Judges 18:8; Judges 18:11). Judah and Dan may have shared them and their related lands, Dan the land to the north, Judah the land to the south, or it may be that after receiving their lot Judah passed the cities on to Dan. But the probability is that they were settled by both, some looking to Dan and some to Judah. Zorah was mentioned in the Amarna letters as Zarkha and is probably Sar‘a, a Canaanite city twenty five kilometres (fifteen miles) west of Jerusalem, on the north side of the Wadi al-Sarar (the valley of Sorek), with Eshtaol close by. Both places overlook the broad basin of the Wadi, near its entrance into the Judaean highlands.
Ashnah in the north east must be distinguished from Ashnah in the south in Joshua 15:43. Zanoah is Khirbet Zanu‘ (Nehemiah 3:13; Nehemiah 11:30), three kilometres south of Bethshemesh, west of modern Zanoah. This is to be distinguished from Zanoah in the hill country (Joshua 15:56). En-gannim means ‘spring of gardens' and was near Zanoah. Tappuah meaning ‘quince' was east of Azekah, possibly Beit Netif. The place name may derive from a Calebite of Hebron (1 Chronicles 2:43). It was not the Tappuah of Joshua 12:17; Joshua 16:8. The name was a popular one.
“And Enam, Jarmuth, and Adullam, and Socoh and Azekah, and Shaaraim, and Adithaim, and Gederah, and Gederothaim.” For Enam compare Enaim (Genesis 38:14; Genesis 38:21). It means ‘two springs'. It stood on the way from Adullam to Timnah and was where Tamar seduced Judah. Jarmuth was a member of the first confederacy that attacked Gibeon (see on Joshua 10:3). Adullam is identified as Tell esh-Sheikh Madhkur midway between Jerusalem and Lachish. Its king was slain by Joshua (Joshua 12:15). David later hid in a nearby cave when running from Saul (1 Samuel 22:1; 2 Samuel 23:13). It was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:7).
Socoh was south-east of Azekah and was where the Philistines were defeated when Goliath was killed (1 Samuel 17:1). It was later an important administrative centre in the days of Hezekiah, mentioned on inscriptions found in Lachish. There was another Socoh in the highlands (Joshua 15:48). The site of Azekah is unknown but its signal lights could be seen from Lachish in the days of Sennacherib of Assyria as described in inscribed potsherds discovered in the remains of the gatehouse in Lachish, written in Hebrew. For Shaaraim compare 1 Samuel 17:52. It was on the way from Azekah towards the parting of the ways to Ekron and Gath. On the basis of the LXX rendering Sakareim it has been identified with Tell Zakariyeh, north west of Socoh at the entrance of the Wadi es-Sunt. Adithaim is not identified (LXX omits). Gederah is different from Gederoth (Joshua 15:41). It may be the same as Geder (Joshua 12:13). It means a wall or fence. It may be identified with Khirbet Judraya on the north side of the Vale of Elah opposite Socoh. Gederothaim, rendered in LXX ‘and its villages' was probably a technical name for villages connected to Gederah. These fourteen cities with their villages were in the north eastern part of the Judaean Shephelah.