THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE TERRITORY It has been noticed that there are many incidental features in this narrative which point to a contemporary document. Thus in the lot of Judah we have a full description, both of the frontier-lines (Joshua 15:1), and also of the chief cities contained within them (Jos... [ Continue Reading ]
THE RIVER OF EGYPT] RV 'brook of Egypt,' not the Nile, but the Wâdy el Arish: cp. Joshua 15:47.... [ Continue Reading ]
The E. Frontier, viz. the Dead Sea. 5-11. The N. Frontier. Cp. the account in Joshua 18:15 of the S. Frontier of Benjamin. This is by far the most complicated of the four frontiers, but its line can be fairly well traced. It leaves the Jordan some 4 m. N. of the Dead Sea, and runs W., then SW. past... [ Continue Reading ]
DEBIR] This cannot be the same as the Debir of Joshua 11:21; Joshua 15:15; Joshua 15:49. Perhaps the reading here should be 'toward the wilderness.' THE GOING UP TO (RV 'the ascent of) ADUMMIM] This was the steep pass on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem. ENROGEL] a spring near Jerusalem which supp... [ Continue Reading ]
VALLEY OF THE GIANTS] RV 'vale of Rephaim,' SW. of Jerusalem.... [ Continue Reading ]
KIRJATH-JEARIM] 7 m. NW. of Jerusalem.... [ Continue Reading ]
MOUNT SEIR] in Judah, distinct from the Mt. Seir in Edom. BETH-SHEMESH TIMNAH] in Dan.... [ Continue Reading ]
JABNEEL] on the coast, known later as Jamnia (cp. 1Ma 4:15; 2Ma 12:8), in later days a famous seat of Jewish learning.... [ Continue Reading ]
The W. Frontier, viz. the Mediterranean. Practically, however, the Philistines held the coast for many centuries. 13-19. The inheritance of Caleb. This passage is repeated in Judges 1:10, where, however, the expulsion of the Anakim from Hebron, attributed (Joshua 11:21) to Joshua and Israel, and her... [ Continue Reading ]
CALEB] = 'dog.' He seems to have been of Edomite origin (Joshua 14:6). He was by no means a solitary instance of an alien adopted into the tribe of Judah. In the ancestry of David himself we find the Canaanitess Rahab and the Moabitess Ruth. FATHER OF ANAK] LXX has 'metropolis of Anak': see on Joshu... [ Continue Reading ]
DEBIR] see on Joshua 10:38.... [ Continue Reading ]
OTHNIEL] (='Lion of God'). For his subsequent career see Judges 3:9. 20-62. The cities of Judah. 20-32. Cities in the Negeb, or 'south country': see on Genesis 12:9. 33-47. Cities in the Shephelah, or 'lowland' (not as AV 'valley'): the fertile undulating tract between the central ridge and the m... [ Continue Reading ]
LXX inserts here a list of 11 cities (including Tekoa and 'Ephrata which is Bethlehem') which seems to have dropped out of the Massoretic text. 61, 62. Cities in the 'Wilderness,' i.e. the steep and barren slopes between the Mountain and the Dead Sea eastward.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE JEBUSITES DWELL WITH THE CHILDREN OF JUDAH AT JERUSALEM UNTO THIS DAY] The parallel passage in Judges 1:21 has 'Benjamin' for 'Judah,' which may be an earlier form. At first sight this v. seems to belong to a time anterior, or at latest to the time when David (2 Samuel 5:6.) captured from the Je... [ Continue Reading ]