Joshua 15:35

Jarmuth, and Adullam, Socoh, and Azekah,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

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

"The valley" or the Shephelah, is bounded on the south by the Negeb, on the west by the Mediterranean, on the north by the plain of Sharon, on the east by "the mountains" Joshua 15:48. It is a well-defined district, of an undulating surface and highly fertile character, thickly dotted, even at the present time, with villages, which are for the most part situated on the different hills. The towns in this district, like those in the Negeb, are classed in four groups.

Joshua 15:33-36

First group of fourteen towns: these belong to the northeastern portion of the Shephelah. Eshtaol and Zoreah were afterward assigned to the tribe of Dan, and inhabited by Danites Judges 13:25; Judges 18:2, Judges 18:8,Judges 18:11. The latter place was the home of Samson Judges 13:2. It was one of the cities fortified by Rehoboam 2 Chronicles 11:10, and was re-occupied by the Jews after the captivity Nehemiah 11:29. It is probably the modern Surah. (Eshtaol has been identified with Eshua (Conder)). Both places were in later times partly populated by Judahites from Kirjath-jearim; perhaps after the departure of the colony of Danites for Dan-Laish. Zanoah is the present "Zanna", not far from Surah. Socoh is the modern "Shuweikah". Sharaim is perhaps to be sought in the modern "Zakariya". Gederah ("wall" or "fortress") was a name borne with various terminations by several places.

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

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Jarmuth, and Adullam,.... The two first of these were royal cities, of which see Joshua 10:3,

Socoh; Jerom says (m) there were two little villages in his day of the name of Socho, as you go to Aelia (or Jerusalem), from Eleutheropolis, in the ninth mile on the public way, one in the mountain, and the other in the plain, (the same with this,) both of which were called Socoth: of this place was Antigonus, president of the sanhedrim, and successor of Simeon the just, called in the Misnah (n) a man of Socho:

and Azekah; See Gill on Joshua 10:10; it appears to be near to Socoh from 1 Samuel 17:1, where the Philistines are said to pitch their camp between them.

(m) De loc. Heb. fol. 94. I.((n) Pirke Abot, c. 1. sect. 3.

Geneva Study Bible

Jarmuth, and Adullam, Socoh, and Azekah,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Joshua 15:35

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Jarmuth, i.e., Jarmk; see Joshua 10:3. Adullam has not yet been discovered with certainty (see at Joshua 12:15). Socoh, which was fortified by Rehoboam, and taken by the Philistines in the reign of Ahaz (2 Chronicles 11:7; 2 Chronicles 28:18), is the present Shuweikeh by the Wady Sumt, half an hour to the south-west of Jarmk, three hours and a half to the south-west of Jerusalem (see Rob. ii. pp. 343, 349). The Onom. (s. v. Socoh) mentions two viculi named Sochoth, one upon the mountain, the other in the plain, nine Roman miles from Eleutheropolis on the road to Jerusalem. On Azekah, see at Joshua 10:10.