Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
6; v. Raumer , Pal. p. 196). Kirjath has not yet been discovered, and must not be
confounded with Kirjath-jearim, which belonged to the tribe of Judah (v. 14; cf. Josh
15:60).
Inheritance of the Tribes of Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher,
Naphtali, and Dan. Ch. 19.
Joshua 19:1-9
And the second lot came forth to Simeon, even for the tribe of the children of
Simeon according to their families: and their inheritance was within the
inheritance of the children of Judah.
The Inheritance of Simeon fell within the inheritance of the children of Judah,
because the land allotted to them at Gilgal was larger than they required (v. 9). Thus
the curse pronounced upon Simeon by Jacob of dispersion in Israel (Gen 49:7) was
fulfilled upon this tribe in a very peculiar manner, and in a different manner from that
pronounced upon Levi. The towns allotted to the tribe of Simeon are divided into two
groups, the first (vv. 2-6) consisting of thirteen or fourteen towns, all situated in the
Negeb (or south country); the second (v. 7) of four towns, two of which were in the
Negeb and two in the shephelah. All these eighteen towns have already been
enumerated among the towns of Judah (Josh 15:26-32,42), and are mentioned again
in 1 Chron 4:28-32, in just the same order, and with only slight differences in the
spelling of some of the names. If the classification of the names in two groups might
seem to indicate that Simeon received a connected portion of land in Judah, this idea
is overthrown at once by the circumstance that two of the four towns in the second
group were in the south land and two in the lowland, and, judging from Josh
15:32,42, at a great distance from one another. At the same time, we cannot decide
this point with any certainty, as the situation of several of the towns is still unknown.
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