Joshua 15:60

Kirjathbaal, which is Kirjathjearim, and Rabbah; two cities with their villages:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(60) Kirjath-jearim has been already pointed out on the boundary-line of the tribe (Joshua 15:9). Rabbah is marked as Rubba.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:20-63 Here is a list of the cities of Judah. But we do not here find Bethlehem, afterwards the city of David, and ennobled by the birth of our Lord Jesus in it. That city, which, at the best, was but little among the thousands of Judah, Mic 5:2, except that it was thus honoured, was now so little as not to be accounted one of the cities.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Fourth group. Towns north of the last mentioned, of which Beth-zur and Gedor are represented by "Beit-sur" and "Jedur."

After Joshua 15:59 follows in the Greek version a fifth group of eleven towns, which appears to have dropped in very ancient times out of the Hebrew text, probably because some transcriber passed unawares from the word "villages" at the end of Joshua 15:59, to the same word at the end of the missing passage. The omitted group contains the towns of an important, well-known, and populous district lying immediately south of Jerusalem, and containing such towns as Tekoah 2 Samuel 14:2; Nehemiah 3:5, Nehemiah 3:27; Amos 1:1; Bethlehem, the native town of David and of Christ Genesis 35:19; and Aetan, a Grecised form of Etam 2 Chronicles 11:6.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Jos 15:21-63. Cities of Judah.

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.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Kirjathbaal, (which is Kirjathjearim,),.... Of Kirjathbaal, and its several names; see Gill on Joshua 15:9,

and Rabbah, of which we nowhere else read; for this is a very different city from the Rabbah of the children of Ammon, 2 Samuel 12:26,

two cities with their villages; why these are reckoned by themselves is not certain.

Geneva Study Bible

Kirjathbaal, which is Kirjathjearim, and Rabbah; two cities with their villages:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

60. Kirjath-baal] Group V. consists of two cities on the west of Jerusalem:—

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 60. - Kirjath Baal. Before these words the LXX. insert the names of eleven more cities, among which Tekoah and Bethlehem are included. For the former see 2 Samuel 14:2; 2 Chronicles 11:6; 2 Chronicles 20:20. The prophet Amos was one of its herdsmen (Amos 1:1). We learn from 1 Maccab. 9:33, etc., that it was near Jordan, and had a waste district in its vicinity. It has been identified with Teku'a, two hours south of Bethlehem. Of Bethlehem itself, the home of Ruth and David, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, it is unnecessary to speak. But the incidents related concerning Bethlehem in Judges 17, 19. (which seem to indicate that the author of the book had special information about Bethlehem), as well as the narrative of the Book of Ruth, lead us to suppose that the verse inserted here by the LXX. is genuine, since Bethlehem was, in early times, a town of sufficient importance to be noticed in a list like this, and that its omission in the Hebrew text is due to the mistake of some transcriber. Joshua 15:60

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The sixth group of only two towns, to the west of Jerusalem, on the northern border of the tribe of Judah. - Kirjath-baal, or Kirjath-jearim, the present Kureyet el Enab; see at Joshua 15:9, and Joshua 9:17. Rabbah (Ha-rabbah, the great) is quite unknown.