Joshua 15:13

CALEB POSSESSES HEBRON AND DEBIR

"And unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a portion among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of Jehovah to Joshua, even Kiriath-arba, which Arba was the father of Anak (the same is Hebron). And Caleb drove out thence the three sons of Anak: Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak. And he went up thence against the inhabitants of Debir: now the name of Debir beforetime was Kiriath-sepher. And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kiriath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. And it came to pass that when she came unto him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she alighted from off her ass; and Caleb said, What wouldst thou? And she said, Give me a blessing; for that thou hast set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs and the nether springs."

The first chapter of Judges carries this same episode in almost exactly the same language given here. Plummer affirmed that the author of Judges copied this episode from Joshua, declaring that:

"We may safely regard this quotation of the Book of Joshua in that of Judges as evidence that Joshua was in existence when Judges was written, just as the quotations of Deuteronomy in Joshua may naturally be taken as evidence that Deuteronomy was in existence when Joshua was written."[3]

"Thou hast set me in the land of the South ..." Some of the versions use "Negeb" here instead of "South," but the true meaning of what Caleb's daughter here said was that, "You have given me a dry or an arid estate."[4] It was for that reason that she requested springs, which her father willingly gave her. From Judges 3:9, it is apparent that Othniel was an able and successful commander. He was, as here stated, a brother of Caleb, and his being called the "son of Kenaz" means that Kenaz was the father of both Caleb and Othniel, hence, his being called Kenezite (Joshua 14:6).

The balance of this chapter is given over to the enumeration of the cities of Judah. There are well over a hundred of these, some of more than one name. And there is a wide disparity in the spelling of most of them, as a glance at the Septuagint (LXX) will prove. A full discussion of all of these would be equivalent to a detailed history of Israel itself, although, of course, we have already given many notes and comments on many of the places mentioned here. A number of commentators have pointed out that this list was complied by a person who was thoroughly familiar with the geography of Palestine. As an old preacher replied, "Why not? God made Palestine; so, of course, he was familiar with it!"

These cities are here classified as to their general location, the first group, composed of 36 cities, lying along the southern border (Joshua 15:20-32). It is of interest that the Sacred Text refers to this group as composed of "twenty-nine" cities, whereas, there are actually 36 names of places mentioned. Longacre cited this as "an error."[5] We do not know if the discrepancy is a simple error, or whether the names of certain "villages" which were not reckoned as cities in some way found their way into the text. Certainly, the "error" if it is that has been there a long time. It also appears in the LXX.[6]

The second group was "in the lowland" (Joshua 15:33) and was composed of fifteen cities (Joshua 15:33-36), and again we have a discrepancy in the summary of these which speaks of them as "fourteen cities" (Joshua 15:36). The Septuagint omitted the reference to "fourteen cities."

The third group, composed of sixteen cities (Joshua 15:37-41) were on the intermediate plateau called the Shephelah.

A fourth group (Joshua 15:42-44) was composed of nine cities (Joshua 15:44). Apparently, both this group and the following one lay between the Shephelah and the coast. These are the non-Philistines. And, the next group is composed of the Philistine cities.

A fifth group of Philistine cities, Ekron, Ashdod, and Gaza were the westernmost cities of Judah toward the Mediterranean (Joshua 15:45-47). These were three in number.

A sixth group (Joshua 15:48-50) was composed of eleven cities, and they occupied sites in the hill-country.

A seventh group (Joshua 15:52:54) were the northernmost of the hill-country cities, lying just south of Jerusalem. There were nine of these.

An eighth group (Joshua 15:55-57) was composed of ten cities, these cities lying along the plains of Esdraelon.

A ninth group (Joshua 15:58-59) was composed of six cities.

A tenth group (Joshua 15:60-62) tallied eight cities. The reason for two paragraphs in this group is not known.

Joshua 15:63, the final verse in the chapter, has a note about the city of the Jebusites (Jerusalem) which Judah could not take, and which apparently remained independent until the times of David who took the city and made it his capital.

The grand total of cities enumerated here Isaiah 119.