Matthew Henry on Joshua 15:20–end
We have here a list of the several cities that fell within the lot of the tribe of Judah, which are mentioned by name, that they might know their own, and both keep it and keep to it, and might neither through cowardice nor sloth lose the possession of what was their own.
I. The cities are here named, and numbered in several classes, which they then could account for the reason of better than we can now. Here are, 1. Some that are said to be the uttermost cities towards the coast of Edom, Jos 15:21-32. Here are thirty-eight named, and yet said to be twenty-nine (Jos 15:32), because nine of these were afterwards transferred to the lot of Simeon, and are reckoned as belonging to that, as appea…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Joshua 15:21
CITIES OF JUDAH. (Jos. 15:21-63)
the uttermost cities of the tribe of the children of Judah--There is given a list of cities within the tribal territory of Judah, arranged in four divisions, corresponding to the districts of which it consisted--the cities in the southern part (Jos 15:21-32), those in the lowlands (Jos 15:33-47), those in the highlands (Jos 15:48-60), and those in the desert (Jos 15:61-62). One gets the best idea of the relative situation of these cities by looking at the map.
Next: Joshua Chapter 16
Adam Clarke on Joshua 15:60
Kirjath-baal - The same as Baalah. See on Jos 15:9 (note).
John Gill on Joshua 15:61
In the wilderness,.... The wilderness of Judea, which was not a desert and uninhabited but had many cities and villages in it, those that follow:
Betharabah; the first of these seems to be in the borders of Judah and Benjamin, and so is ascribed to both; see Joshua 15:6,
Middin, and Secacah; of the two last we read nowhere else, only in Judges 5:10; what we translate "ye that sit in judgment", Kimchi interprets, "ye that dwell by Middin", and says it is the name of a place in Joshua, and mentions this passage.
