Joshua 15:21

And the uttermost cities of the tribe of the children of Judah toward the coast of Edom southward were Kabzeel, and Eder, and Jagur,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21) And the uttermost cities.—The cities of the tribe of Judah are given under four heads: (a) towards Edom; (b) in the Shephêlah, or plain of the coast (Joshua 15:33, &c.); (c) in the mountains (Joshua 15:48); (d) in the wilderness (Joshua 15:61).

Of those in Joshua 15:21-32, the first twenty-nine, Conder identifies only four—viz., Adadah, Joshua 15:22 (Ad’adah); Kerioth Hezron (some see a trace of Kerioth in the sobriquet of Judas Is-cariot, the man of Kerioth), Joshua 15:25 (Hudîreh); Beer-sheba, Joshua 15:28 (Bîr es-seb’a); and Ain Rimmon, Joshua 15:32 ( Umm er-Rumânûn). It is not easy to say precisely how the twenty-nine are to be obtained from the thirty-three, but evidently some of the Hazors are villages attached to the cities.

(31) Ziklag.—It is noticeable that Ziklag became the property of the kings of Judah by the gift of Achish, who bestowed it on David (1Samuel 27:6). not by the gift of Joshua to Judah. The partial character of the conquest and the division of unconquered territory to the tribes is thus illustrated.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:20-63 Here is a list of the cities of Judah. But we do not here find Bethlehem, afterwards the city of David, and ennobled by the birth of our Lord Jesus in it. That city, which, at the best, was but little among the thousands of Judah, Mic 5:2, except that it was thus honoured, was now so little as not to be accounted one of the cities.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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 15:21-32; of "the valley," or "the plain" ("Shephelah", Joshua 15:33-47); of "the mountains" Joshua 15:48-60; and of "the wilderness" Joshua 15:61-62. Many of the identifications are still conjectural only.

Joshua 15:21-32. The Negeb was for the most part rocky and arid, and cannot have been at any time very thickly populated.

Joshua 15:21

Kabzeel was the native place of Benaiah 2 Samuel 23:20, who was famous as a slayer of lions. The Negeb was a principal haunt of these beasts.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Jos 15:21-63. Cities of Judah.

21-63. the uttermost cities of the tribe of the children of Judah—There is given a list of cities within the tribal territory of Judah, arranged in four divisions, corresponding to the districts of which it consisted—the cities in the southern part (Jos 15:21-32), those in the lowlands (Jos 15:33-47), those in the highlands (Jos 15:48-60), and those in the desert (Jos 15:61, 62). One gets the best idea of the relative situation of these cities by looking at the map.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The uttermost cities; those which were on the borders of the land, not the midland cities. It is apparent that all the cities belonging to this tribe are not mentioned in this catalogue.

Kabzeel, called Jekabzeel, Nehemiah 11:25.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the uttermost cities of the tribe of the children of Judah,.... That is, those cities which were the outward part of the tribe of Judah, the southern border of it; for the midland cities are not in this part, of the description reckoned, which reaches from hence to the end of Joshua 15:32,

toward the coast of Edom southward: it begins about the dead sea, and goes on in that part of the land of Canaan which bordered on Idumea, and so proceeds on westward towards Gaza, and the Mediterranean sea: the cities in this part of the tribe

were Kabzeel, called Jekabzeel, Nehemiah 11:25; and was the native place of Benaiah, one of David's mighty men, 2 Samuel 23:20,

and Eder and Jagur; of which we have no mention elsewhere.

Geneva Study Bible

And the uttermost cities of the tribe of the children of Judah toward the coast of Edom southward were Kabzeel, and Eder, and Jagur,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

21. And the uttermost cities] The writer commences with the cities at the extremity of the territory of Judah, the S.E. point of the Dead Sea, on the Edomite frontier.

toward the coast of Edom southward] For “coast,” see above, ch. Joshua 13:16. (a) First we have a group of nine cities within the Negeb at the south-east:—

(1) Kabzeel = “which God gathers,” the birth-place of Benaiah, one of David’s heroes (2 Samuel 23:20); (2) Eder and (3) Jagur are altogether unknown; (4) Kinah, possibly the territory of the Kenites who settled at Arad; (5) Dimonah = Dibon (Nehemiah 11:25); (6) Adadah, identified by Robinson with Sudeid; (7) Kedesh, (8) Hazor, and (9) Ithnan are unknown.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - Coast. Rather, border (see note ver. 4). Southward. The term here used (see above, ver. 19) for "south" is the one which has the signification of dryness. It is, however, occasionally used in a less strict sense, as in Joshua 19:24. Though the south country was in the main an arid region, yet its intersection by numerous wadys, with their attendant streams, provided fertile spots at intervals, where the traveller might rest, cattle might be watered, and corn and other produce raised. The only places of any importance in Scripture history mentioned here are Beersheba (see Genesis 21:31), and Hormah (see Numbers 14:45; Numbers 21:3; and cf. Joshua 12:14; Joshua 19:4; and Judges 1:17). This last passage explains why the city is mentioned among the cities of Simeon as well as Judah, and is another instance of the remarkable accuracy of our author. Ziklag is famous as the residence of David (1 Samuel 27:6). It is noteworthy that t was given to him by Achish, king of Gath, in whose possession it therefore was at that time. It was burnt by the roving hands of Amalekites (1 Samuel 30:1). Joshua 15:21

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In vv. 21-63 there follows a list of the towns of the tribe of Judah, arranged in the four districts into which the land was divided, according to the nature of the soil, viz., the south-land (negeb), the lowland (shephelah) on the Mediterranean Sea, the mountains, and the desert of Judah.

Joshua 15:21-32

The towns in the south land. - Negeb (south-land) was the name given to the southernmost district of Canaan in its full extent, from the Arabah, at the southern end of the Dead Sea, right across to the coast of the Mediterranean, and from the southern border of Canaan, as described in Joshua 15:2-4, as far north as Wady Sheriah, below Gaza, on the western side, and up to the mountains and desert of Judah on the east, stretching across the wadys of es Seba, Milh, and Ehdeib, above which that part of Palestine commences where rain is more abundant, and to which, as we have already observed at Numbers 13:17, the Negeb formed a kind of intermediate link between the fertile land and the desert. It was a line of steppe-land, with certain patches here and there that admitted of cultivation, but in which tracts of heath prevailed, for the most part covered with grass and bushes, where only grazing could be carried on with any success. The term which Eusebius and Jerome employ for Negeb in the Onom. is Daromas, but they carry it farther northwards than the Negeb of the Old Testament (see Reland, Pal. Ill. pp. 185ff.). The numerous towns mentioned in Joshua 15:21-32 as standing in the Negeb, may none of them have been large or of any importance. In the list before us we find that, as a rule, several names are closely connected together by the copula vav, and in this way the whole may be divided into four separate groups of towns.

Joshua 15:21-23

First group of nine places. - Joshua 15:21. The towns "from," i.e., at "the end of the tribe-territory of Judah, towards the territory of Edom." Kabzeel: the home of the hero Benaiah (2 Samuel 23:20), probably identical with Jakabzeel, which is mentioned in Nehemiah 11:25 in connection with Dibon, but has not been discovered. This also applies to Eder and Jagur.