Bibelkommentare

INTRODUCTION TO Joshua 15

In this chapter are related the boundaries of the lot of the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:1; and the assignment of Hebron to Caleb, from whence he drove out the giants, and of Debir, which was taken by Othniel his brother, to whom, on that account, he gave his daughter in marriage, who made a further request to her father, which was granted, Joshua 15:13; and then follows an account of the several cities by name, which fell to the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:20.

This then was the lot of the tribe of the children of Judah by their families,.... The land of Canaan was divided by lot to the several tribes, and the tribe of Judah had its lot first; of the manner of casting lots; see Gill on Numbers 26:55; It seems as if the lot was first cast for the tribes of Judah and Joseph, when the former had the southern, and the latter the northern part of the land for their portion, which was done in Gilgal; after this lots were cast in Shiloh for the other seven tribes, who had the land divided among them, which lay between Judah and Joseph, or between the southern and northern parts of the land, see Joshua 18:1, &c. and it seems that not only the land was divided to the tribes by lot, but that the portion of land which belonged to each tribe was divided in the same way to the several families and households belonging thereunto; as is here suggested, with respect to the tribe of Judah, whose lot reached

even to the border of Edom; or Idumea, which lay to the south of the land of Canaan:

the wilderness of Zin southward was the uttermost part of the south coast; the same with Kadesh, and lay upon the borders of Edom; see Numbers 33:36.

And their south border was from the shore of the salt sea,.... Sometimes called the dead sea, the sea of Sodom, and the lake Asphaltites, which, as Jarchi observes, was southeast of the land of Israel:

from the bay that looketh southward; or the "tongue", as the Hebrew, which the Targum and Kimchi interpret of a rock or promontory, the point that ran out into the sea, looking to the southeast.

And it went out to the south side of Maalehacrabbim,.... Or the ascent of Akrabbim, as it is called; see Gill on Numbers 34:4,

and passed along to Zin, and ascended upon the south side unto Kadeshbarnea; which perfectly agrees with the southern border of the land, as described in Numbers 34:4,

and passed along to Hezron, and went up to Adar; which two places being near to one another, as is very likely, are put together, as if one place, and called Hazaraddar, Numbers 34:4; and mention is made of Hezron, which is Hazor, Joshua 15:25; but not of Adar:

and fetched a compass to Karkaa; which Jerom (w) calls Acchara, a village in the wilderness; and if the same with Carcaria, it was according to him a day's journey from Petra in Idumea; but that is not likely; see Judges 8:10.

(w) De loc. Heb. fol. 88. E. 90. C.

From thence it passed towards Azmon, and went out unto the river of Egypt,.... In like manner is this coast described, Numbers 34:5; it is called by Jerom (x) Asemona, and said to be a city in the desert, to the south of Judah, dividing Egypt, and the lot of the tribe of Judah, leading to the sea:

and the outgoings of that coast were at the sea; the Mediterranean sea; or to the west, as the Targum; this was the utmost border of the tribe of Judah this way:

this shall be your south coast; of the lot that fell to the tribe of Judah.

(x) De loc. Heb. fol. 87. K.

And the east border was the salt sea, even unto the end of Jordan,.... To the place where Jordan fell into it; so that this border was the whole length of the salt sea, which Josephus says (y) was five hundred eighty furlongs; and, according to Pliny (z), an hundred miles:

and their border in the north quarter was from the bay of the sea,

at the uttermost part of Jordan; this northern border began where the eastern ended, at the bay or creek of the sea, where Jordan fell into it.

(y) De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 4. (z) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 16.

And the border went up to Bethhoglah,.... A place in the tribe of Benjamin, mentioned along with Jericho, and probably near it, Joshua 18:21; Jerom (a) speaks of a place called Betagla, in his time, which was three miles from Jericho, and two from Jordan, and perhaps is this same place:

and passed along by the north of Betharabah; another city belonged to Benjamin, Joshua 18:22; and lay in a as its name shows; or in a plain, as the Targum:

and the border went up to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben; by whom, or on whose account, it was placed, either as a sepulchral stone, he being buried there, or in memory of some famous exploit done by him there, he being one of those of the tribe of Reuben, that came with Joshua to assist in the war against the Canaanites; or it was set for a sign of the border, as Kimchi thinks, it being the boundary between Judah and Benjamin, Joshua 18:17. Bunting says (b) it is near Bahurim, in the valley just in the king's way, and is of an extraordinary greatness, shining like marble.

(a) De loc. Heb. fol. 87. G. (b) Travels, &c. p. 144.

And the border went up towards Debir,.... This was neither the Debir in the tribe of Gad, on the other side Jordan, Joshua 13:26; nor that in the tribe of Judah near Hebron, Joshua 15:15; but a third city of that name, and was not far from Jericho:

from the valley of Achor; where Achan was put to death, and had its name from thence; which, according to Jarchi, lay between the stone of Bohan and Debir:

and so northward, looking towards Gilgal; not the place where Israel were encamped when this lot was made, but it seems to be the same that is called Geliloth, Joshua 18:17,

that is, the going up to Adummim; which, Jerom says (c), was formerly a little village, now in ruins, in the lot of the tribe of Judah, which place is called to this day Maledomim; and by the Greeks "the ascent of the red ones", because of the blood which was there frequently shed by thieves: it lies on the borders of Judah and Benjamin, as you go from Jerusalem to Jericho, where there is a garrison of soldiers for the help of travellers, and is supposed to be the place where the man fell among thieves in his way from the one to the other, Luke 10:30. It was four miles distant from Jericho to the west, according to Adrichomius (d), and was a mountain, and part of the mountains of Engaddi:

which is on the south side of the river; which some take to be the brook Kidron; but that is not very likely, being too near Jerusalem for this place: it may be rendered "the valley", so Jarchi, either the valley of Achor, before mentioned, or however a valley that ran along by the mount or ascent of Adummim, which lay to the south of it:

and the border passed to the waters of Enshemesh: or the "fountain of the sun"; but of it we have no account what and where it was. It might be so called, because dedicated to the sun by the idolatrous Canaanites, or because of the sun's influence on the waters of it. Our city, Bath, is, by Antoninus (e), called "aquae solis", the waters of the sun; though there is a fountain in Cyrene, so called, for a reason just the reverse, it being, as Mela (f) and Pliny (g) affirm, hottest the middle of the night, and then grows cooler by little and little; and when it is light is cold, and when the sun is risen is colder still, and at noon exceeding cold; and, according to Vossius (h), it is the same with the fountain of Jupiter Ammon; and so it appears to be from Herodotus (i), by whom it is also called the "fountain of the sun", and which he places in Thebes, though Pliny distinguishes them:

and the goings out thereof were at Enrogel; which signifies "the fountain of the fuller"; so the Targum renders it, and probably was a fountain where fullers cleansed their clothes; and was called Rogel, as Jarchi and Kimchi say, because they used to tread them with their feet when they washed them. This was a place near Jerusalem, as appears from 1 Kings 1:9; near to which perhaps was the fuller's monument, at the corner tower of Jerusalem, Josephus (k) speaks of, as there was also a place not far from it called the fuller's field, Isaiah 7:3; according to Bunting (l), it had its name from travellers washing their feet here.

(c) De loc. Heb. fol. 88. E. F. (d) Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 14. (e) Vid. Cambden's Britannia, p. 141. (f) De Situ Orbis, l. 1. c. 8. (g) Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 103. (h) Observat. in Pompon. Mel. ut supra. (De Situ Orbis, l. 1. c. 8.) (i) Melpomene, sive, l. 4. c. 181. (k) De Bello Jud. l. 5. c. 4. sect. 2.((l) Travels, p. 148.