The inheritance of the tribe of Judah is described first by its general boundaries on all four sides Joshua 15:1; then reference is again made, for the sake of completeness, to the special inheritance of Caleb which lay within these boundaries Joshua 15:13; and lastly a list of the towns is given Jo... [ Continue Reading ]
THE STONE OF BOHAN - This stone perhaps commemorated some deed of valor belonging to the wars of Joshua (compare 1 Samuel 7:12). The stone was erected on the slope of a hill (see the marginal reference), no doubt one of the range which hounds the Jordan valley on the west. But its exact site is whol... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GOING UP TO ADUMMIM - Rather, “the ascent or pass of Adummim” (compare Joshua 15:3, margin), on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Its name signifies “red” and is explained by Jerome as given because of the frequent bloodshed there by robbers. This road is the scene of the parable of the Good S... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VALLEY OF THE SON OF HINNOM - This valley begins on the west of Jerusalem at the road to Joppa, and turning southeastward round the foot of Mount Zion joins the deeper valley of Kedron on the south of the city. It was in this ravine, more particularly at Tophet in the more wild and precipitous p... [ Continue Reading ]
Nephtoab is probably the modern “Ain Lifta”, two miles and a half northwestward of Jerusalem: and Mount Ephron is conjecturally connected with the city Ephrain 2 Chronicles 13:19 or Ophrah Joshua 18:23.... [ Continue Reading ]
Mount Seir is not the well-known range of Edom. The name ( “shaggy mountain”) is applicable to any rugged or well-wooded hill. Here it probably denotes the range which runs southwestward from Kirjath-jearim to the Wady Surar. Mount Jearim, i. e. “woody mountain,” is through its other name, Chesalon,... [ Continue Reading ]
JABNEEL - The modern “Yebna”, about three miles from the coast and twelve miles south of Joppa. It is called Jabneh in 2 Chronicles 26:6, where Uzziah is recorded to have taken it from the Philistines and destroyed its fortifications. The town is repeatedly mentioned with its haven in the wars of th... [ Continue Reading ]
See the marginal references.... [ Continue Reading ]
The name Debir belonged to two other places; namely,, that named in Joshua 15:7, between Jerusalem and Jericho, and the Gadite town mentioned in Joshua 13:26. The Debir here meant appears (and its site has been conjecturally placed at Dhaheriyeh (Conder)) to have been situated in the mountain distri... [ Continue Reading ]
Othniel was probably Caleb’s younger brother; the expression “son of Kenaz” being only an equivalent for the “Kenezite” Joshua 14:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
AFIELD - In Judges 1:14, “the field,” i. e. the well-known field asked by Achsah and given by Caleb as a “blessing,” i. e. as a token of goodwill, which when the Book of Judges was written had become historical. The “field” in question was doubtless in the neighborhood of Debir, and was especially v... [ Continue Reading ]
A SOUTH LAND - This term (“negeb”) which is often equivalent to a proper name Joshua 15:21, importing the well-defined district which formed the south of the promised land (Numbers 13:17 note), seems here used in its more general sense Psalms 126:4, for a dry or barren land. The rendering of this pa... [ Continue Reading ]
List of the towns of the tribe of Judah. These are arranged in four divisions, according to the natural features of the district; namely,, those of the Negeb or south country Joshua 15:21; of “the valley,” or “the plain” (“Shephelah”, Joshua 15:33); of “the mountains” Joshua 15:48; and of “the wilde... [ Continue Reading ]