Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
there are at least fifteen places and ruins, so that we have not an arbitrary
interpolation made by the LXX, as Jerome assumed, but rather a gap in the Hebrew
text, arising from the fact that an ancient copyist passed by mistake from the word
wªchatsªreeyhen (OT:2691) in v. 59 to the same word at the close of the missing
section. In the Alexandrian version the section reads as follows in Cod. Al. and Vat.:
Ehekoo' kai' Efratha' ahu'tee esti' Baithle'em kai' Fagoo'r kai' Aita'n kai' Koulo'n
kai' Tata'm kai' Thoobee's ( Cod. Al. Dooree's ) kai' Kare'm kai' Gale'm kai'
Thethee'r ( Cod. Al. Baithee'r ) kai' Manochoo' po'leis he'ndeka kai' ahi koo'mai
autoo'n . - Theko , the well-known Tekoah, the home of the wise woman and of the
prophet Amos (2 Sam 14:2; Amos 1:1), was fortified by Rehoboam, and still
inhabited after the captivity (2 Chron 11:6; Neh 3:5,27).
It is the present Tekua , on the top of a mountain covered with ancient ruins, two
hours to the south of Bethlehem ( Rob. ii. pp. 181-184; Tobler , Denkbl. aus Jerus. pp.
682ff.). Ephratah , i.e., Bethlehem , the family seat of the house of David (Rut. Josh
1:1; 4:11; 1 Sam 16:4; 17:12ff.; Mic 5:2), was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron 11:6),
and is a place frequently mentioned. It was the birth-place of Christ (Matt 2:1ff.;
Luke 2:4), and still exists under the ancient name of Beit-lahm , two hours to the
south of Jerusalem ( Seetzen , ii. pp. 37ff.; Rob. ii. pp. 159ff.; Tobler , Topogr. v.
Jerus. ii. pp. 464ff.). Bethlehem did not receive the name of Ephratah for the first
time from the Calebite family of Ephrathites (1 Chron 2:19,50; 4:4), but was known
by that name even in Jacob's time (Gen 35:19; 48:7). Phagor , which was near to
Bethlehem according to the Onom. ( s. v. Fogor ), and is also called Phaora , is the
present Faghur , a heap of ruins to the south-west of Bethlehem ( Rob. Bibl. Res. p.
275).
Aetan was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron 11:6), and has been preserved in the
Wady and Ain Attan between Bethlehem and Faghur ( Tobler , Dritte Wand. pp. 88,
89). Kulon , the present village of Kulomeh , an hour and a half west by north from
Jerusalem on the road to Ramleh (see Rob. ii. p. 146; Bibl. Res. p. 158: it is called
Kolony by Seetzen , ii. p. 64). Tatam cannot be traced. Sores (for Thobes appears to
be only a copyist's error) is probably Saris , a small village four hours to the east of
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