Nehemiah 11:29-30

Towns In The Shephelah (The Western Lowlands) (Nehemiah 11:29).

The Shephelah was the name given to the low hills and valleys which separated the Coastal Plain from the Central Highlands. It was well populated.

Nehemiah 11:29

‘And in Zorah, and in Jarmuth,'

Moving northward to the northern Shephelah (lowlands), west of Jerusalem, we come to Zorah and Jarmuth. Zorah was in the lowland hills of Judah (Joshua 15:33), and associated with the stories about Samson (Judges 13:2). It was possibly the Zarkha of the Amarna letters. It was north of Azekah. Jarmuth was five kilometres (three miles) south of Beth-shemesh, eighteen miles west of Jerusalem. It was previously a large Amorite city before the conquest (Joshua 10:3; Joshua 15:35).

Nehemiah 11:30

‘Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages, Lachish and its fields, Azekah and its towns. So they encamped from Beer-sheba to the valley of Hinnom.'

Zorah, Jarmuth, Zanoah, Adullam and Azekah are all names echoing Joshua. They are seen as close together, along with a number of other towns, in Joshua 15:33. These may well have indicated the western border of the Province of Judah, or may even have been outside that border. Lachish was in the lowlands further south and outside the border.

For Zanoah see Nehemiah 3:13; Joshua 15:34. It was three kilometres (two miles) south of Beth-shemesh. The men of Zanoah were named as involved in the building of the walls (Nehemiah 3:13). Adullam was a former Canaanite city (Joshua 12:15), later fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:7) and referred to by Micah 1:15. It was midway between Jerusalem and Lachish. Lachish was a large Judean city in the southern Shephelah, outside the new Province of Judah, forty kilometres (thirty miles) south west of Jerusalem. Its capture by the Assyrians was seen as a notable achievement (their having failed to capture Jerusalem) and was shown on a relief sculpture in the palace of Nineveh. Azekah was in the territory of Judah (Joshua 15:35) and was north of Lachish, both cities being referred to in the Lachish letters as resisting the Assyrian invasion (see also Jeremiah 34:7) before finally succumbing (Isaiah 37:8). It was seen in Joshua as being on the extremity of Judah (Joshua 10:10; compare 1 Samuel 17:1), and was one of Rehoboam's fortified border cities.