Nehemiah 11:25

Towns In The Former Judean Uplands (Nehemiah 11:25).

These towns in the former Judean uplands were on the whole outside the Persian Province of Judah, but had seemingly been resettled by the returnees. This is in no way an attempt to list all the towns in Judah. Rather the aim was to indicate how widespread God's people were throughout the ancient land.

Nehemiah 11:25

‘And as for the villages, with their fields, some of the children of Judah dwelt in Kiriath-arba and its towns, and in Dibon and its towns, and in Jekabzeel and its villages,

‘As for the villages, with their fields.' Probably better translated ‘as for the towns with their surrounding countryside.' ‘Kiriath-arba and its towns' indicated Hebron and its satellite towns (Judges 1:10), and by this time the area was at least partly Idumaean. The Edomites had occupied a southern Judah devastated by the Babyonian invasion, as they fled from the Arab invasion of Edom. Dibon is unknown, but is possibly the Dimonah of Joshua 15:22. Jekabzeel was probably south of Hebron in the Negeb, and so clearly in ‘foreign' territory (that is, outside the Persian province of Judah). It is clear, therefore, that in order to take up residence in their native cities, some Jews had taken up residence outside of the Persian province of Judah, in cities which contained Jewish inhabitants who had not been much affected by the Exile.