Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
Verse 48-60. The towns on the mountains are divided into five, or more correctly,
into six groups. The mountains of Judah, which rise precipitously from the Negeb,
between the hilly district on the west, which is reckoned as part of the shephelah ,
and the desert of Judah, extending to the Dead Sea on the east (v. 61), attain the
height of 3000 feet above the level of the sea, in the neighbourhood of Hebron, and
run northwards to the broad wady of Beit-hanina, above Jerusalem. They are a large
rugged range of limestone mountains, with many barren and naked peaks, whilst the
sides are for the most part covered with grass, shrubs, bushes, and trees, and the
whole range is intersected by many very fruitful valleys. Josephus describes it as
abounding in corn, fruit, and wine; and to the present day it contains many orchards,
olive grounds, and vineyards, rising in terraces up the sides of the mountains, whilst
the valleys and lower grounds yield plentiful harvests of wheat, millet, and other
kinds of corn. In ancient times, therefore, the whole of this district was thickly
covered with towns (see Rob. ii. pp. 185, 191-2, and
C. v. Raumer , Pal. pp. 45ff.).
Verse 48-51. The first group consists of eleven towns on the south-west of the
mountains.
Verse 48. Shamir has probably been preserved in the ruins of Um Shaumerah ,
mentioned by Robinson (iii. App.), though the situation of these ruins has not yet
been precisely determined. Jattir , which was given up to the priests (Josh 21:14), and
is mentioned again in 1 Sam 30:27, is described in the Onom. ( s. v. Jether ) as a large
placed inhabited by Christians, twenty miles from Eleutheropolis, in interiori
Daroma juxta Malathan , - a description which suits the ruins of Attir , in the
southern portion of the mountains (see Rob. ii. p. 194; called Ater by Seetzen , R. iii.
p. 6). Socoh , two hours N.W. of this, the present Shuweikeh ( Rob. ii. p. 194), called
Suêche by Seetzen (R. iii. p. 29), a village about four hours from Hebron.
Verse 49. Dannah ( Sept., Syr., Renna ) is unknown. Knobel imagines that Dannah
should be Danah , for Deanah, plur. Deanoth , which would then be suggestive of
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