Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
this village Gesser. The objections of Van de Velde against the identity of Jubab and Gazer are without
any force.
It does not necessarily follow from the expression "went up," that Lachish stood on
higher ground than Gezer, as going up often signifies nothing more than making a
hostile attack upon a fortification. And no importance can be attached to the
conjecture, that with the great distance of Jubab from Um Lakis, the king of Gezer
would have come to the help of the kings of Makkedah and Libnah, who were much
nearer and were attacked first, as the circumstances which determined his conduct are
too thoroughly unknown to us, for it to be possible to pronounce an opinion upon the
subject with any certainty.) and answers very well to the situation of El Kubab , a
village of considerable size on a steep hill at the extreme north of the mountain chain
which runs to the north-west of Zorea, and slopes off towards the north into the broad
plain of Merj el Omeir, almost in the middle of the road from Ramleh to Yalo. For
this village, with which Van Semden identifies Gezer ( Van de Velde , Mem. p. 315),
was exactly four Roman miles north by west of Anwas, according to Robinson's map,
and not quite four hours from Akir (Ekron), the most northerly city of the Philistines;
so that Josephus (Ant. vii. 4, 1) could very properly describe Gazara as the frontier of
the territory of the Philistines. Robinson discovered no signs of antiquity, it is true, on
his journey through Kubab, but in all probability he did not look for them, as he did
not regard the village as a place of any importance in connection with ancient history
(Bibl. Res. pp. 143-4).
Verse 34-35. From Lachish Joshua proceeded eastwards against Eglon (Ajlan, see v.
3), took the town, and did to it as he had done to Lachish.
Verse 36-37. From Eglon he went up from the lowland to the mountains, attacked
Hebron and took it, and did to this town and its king, and the towns belonging to it, as
he had already done to the others. The king of Hebron cannot of course be the one
who was taken in the cave of Makkedah and put to death there, but his successor,
who had entered upon the government while Joshua was occupied with the conquest
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