Judges 1:36

the border of the Amorites The text describes a boundary line; but there was no boundary between the Israelites and the Amorites, i.e. the old Canaanite population, for they occupied the same territory. Some recensions of LXX (cod. A, Lucian), Ethiop., Syro-Hex., read -the border of the Amorite was the Edomite"; this suggests that the Hebr. text should be corrected to the border of the Edomite. The verse indicates the S. frontier of Judah which extended -unto the border of Edom," Joshua 15:1.

the ascent of Akrabbim i.e. -the Scorpions" Pass" Numbers 34:4; Joshua 15:3, must be one of the chief passes which lead up from the -Arâbah S. of the Dead Sea, probably the Naḳb eṣ-Ṣafâ, on the N. side of the Wadi el-Fiḳra.

from the rock Not -from Sela" mg., for it is doubtful whether any city is called Sela in the O.T. The reference is to some conspicuous rock which served as a land-mark; Moore thinks of the cliff of eṣ-Ṣufçj, at the S.W. of the Dead Sea, and, omitting the prep. -from," renders -to Sela." But it is doubtful whether this cliff is sufficiently striking (Lagrange, Livre des Juges, p. 21), and we want a direction not eastwards but westwards. Accordingly the Rock at Kadesh (-Ain Ḳades, 50 m. S. of Beer-sheba) has been suggested; see Numbers 20:8. It is a "large single mass, or a small hill of solid rock" standing out conspicuously from the earth covered hills (Clay Trumbull, Kadesh-Barnea, pp. 272 4); moreover Kadesh-barnea is mentioned as one of the chief points on the S. frontier of Judah, Numbers 34:4; Joshua 15:3. But then why should the nameless Rock and not Kadesh itself be spoken of here? It is, in fact, impossible to be sure where -the Rock" was. It cannot be Petra (LXX etc.), the famous capital of the Nabataeans, for this is too far south.

The verse is obviously out of connexion with its context. As a description of the southern limit of Judah it would be in place after Judges 1:16 (the Kenites) or Judges 1:17 (Simeon); but we cannot feel certain as to its original position in the document. It is a mutilated fragment, and, since the southern limit of Judah was also the limit of Israelite territory, it was probably placed where it stands to round off the country occupied by the various tribes.