Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
Verse 33-36. The first group contains the towns in the northern part of the hilly
region or slopes, which are reckoned as forming part of the lowland: in all, fourteen
towns. The most northerly part of this district was given up to the tribe of Dan on the
second division (Josh 19:41ff.). Eshtaol and Zoreah , which were assigned to the
tribe of Dan (Dan 19:41 ), and were partly inhabited by Danites (Judg 13:25;
18:2,8,11) and partly by families of Judah, who had gone out from Kirjath-jearim (1
Chron 1:53; 4:2), probably after the removal of the 600 Danites to Laish-Dan (Josh
19:47; Judg 18:1), were situated, according to the Onom. ( s. v. Esthaul and Saara ),
ten Roman miles to the north of Eleutheropolis, on the road to Nicopolis. Zoreah , the
home of Samson, who was buried between Zoreah and Eshtaol (Judg 13:2; 16:31),
was fortified by Rehoboam, and still inhabited by Judaeans after the captivity (2
Chron 11:10; Neh 11:29); it has been preserved in the ruins of Surá , at the southwestern
end of the mountain range which bounds the Wady es Surar on the north (
Rob. ii. p. 341, and Bibl. Res. p. 153). Eshtaol has probably been preserved in Um
Eshteiyeh , to the south-west ( Rob. ii. p. 342). Ashnah is possibly to be read Ashvah ,
according to the LXX, Cod. Vat. ( A'ssa ). In that case it might resemble a town on
the east of Zorea ( Tobler , p. 180), as Knobel supposes.
Verse 34. Zanoah was still inhabited by Judaeans after the captivity (Neh 11:30;
3:13), and is the present Zanua , not far from Zoreah, towards the east (see Rob. ii. p.
343). Engannim and Tappuah are still unknown. Enam , the same as Enaim (Gen
38:14: rendered "an open place"), on the road from Adullam to Timnah on the
mountains (v.
57), has not yet been discovered.
Verse 35. Jarmuth , i.e., Jarmûk; see Josh 10:3. Adullam has not yet been discovered
with certainty (see at Josh 12:15). Socoh , which was fortified by Rehoboam, and
taken by the Philistines in the reign of Ahaz (2 Chron 11:7; 28:18), is the present
Shuweikeh by the Wady Sumt, half an hour to the south-west of Jarmûk , 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 ,
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