Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
identifies the Asluj to the south-west of Milh on the road to Abdeh, which is more
than thirty-five miles distant (see Rob. Pal. ii. p. 621). Both places are too far to the
south and east to suit Ziklag, which is to be sought for much farther west. So far as
the situation is concerned, the ruins of Tell Sheriah or Tell Mellala , one of which is
supposed by V. de Velde to contain the relics of Ziklag, would suit much better; or
even, as Ritter supposes (Erdk. xvi. pp. 132-3), Tell el Hasy , which is half an hour to
the south-west of Ajlan, and in which Felix Fabri found the ruins of a castle and of
an ancient town, in fact of the ancient Ziklag, though Robinson (i. pp. 389ff.) could
discover nothing that indicted in any way the existence of a town or building of any
kind.
Madmannah and Sansannah cannot be traced with any certainty. Madmannah ,
which is confounded in the Onom. ( s. v. Medemena ) with Madmena , a place to the
north of Jerusalem mentioned in Isa 10:31, though elsewhere it is correctly described
as Menois oppidum juxta civitatem Gazam , has probably been preserved in the
present Miniay or Minieh , to the south of Gaza. Sansannah, Knobel compares with
the Wady Suni , mentioned by Robinson (i. p. 299), to the south of Gaza, which
possibly received its name from some town in the neighbourhood. But in the place of
them we find Beth-marcaboth (i.e., carriage-house) and Hazar-susa (i.e., horse-court)
mentioned in Josh 19:5 and 1 Chron 4:31 among the towns of the Simeonites, which
Reland very properly regards as the same as Madmannah and Sansannah, since it is
very evident from the meaning of the former names that they were simply secondary
names, which were given to them as stations for carriages and horses.
Verse 32. Lebaoth , one of the Simeonite towns, called Beth-lebaoth (i.e., lionhouse)
in Josh 19:6, and Beth-birei in 1 Chron 4:31, has not been discovered yet.
Shilchim , called Sharuchen in Josh 19:6, and Shaaraim in 1 Chron 4:31, may
possibly have been preserved in Tell Sheriah , almost half-way between Gaza and
Beersheba ( V. de Velde , ii. p. 154). Ain and Rimmon are given as Simeonite towns,
and being written without the copula, are treated as one name in Josh 19:7 and 1
Chron 4:32, although they are reckoned as two separate towns in Josh 19:7. But as
they were also called En Rimmon after the captivity, and are given as one single place
in Neh 11:29, they were probably so close together that in the course of time they
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