Judges 1:36

And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(36) The coast of the Amorites.—This notice is added to account for the obstinate resistance of the Amorites, by showing the extent of their domain, which reached far to the south of Petra. Hazezon Tamar, “the sanctuary of the palm,” afterwards called Engedi, “the goat’s fountain,” belonged to them (Genesis 14:7; 2Chronicles 20:2; Tristram, Land of Israel, p. 784). Another opinion given is, that the verse is added to sum up the chapter, by showing that neither the northern, eastern, nor western boundaries were thoroughly secured, but only that of the southern tribes.

From the going up to Akrabbim.—The same as Maaleh Akrabbim (Joshua 15:3), and “the ascent of scorpions” (Numbers 34:4), probably the Wady-es-Zuweirah (De Saulcy, La Terre Sainte, i. 528), where scorpions abound to this day under every stone; or the Wady-es-Sufah. Robinson supposes it to be the line of rocks which crosses the Jordan valley at right angles, eleven miles south of the Dead Sea (Bibl. Res. Ii. 120). It is the Akrabattine of 1 Maccabees 5:3. It formed the southern boundary of the Holy Land, being a wall of cliffs which separates the Jordan valley from the wilderness.

From the rock.—From “Ras-Selah,” i.e., from Petra, the famous capital of Idumea (2Kings 14:7; Isaiah 16:1; Obadiah 1:3). Keil and Delitzsch refer it to the well-known rock at Kadesh-Meribah (Numbers 20:8-10).

And upward.—It is uncertain whether this means “and beyond,” i.e., their border extended even farther south; or, “and northwards,” i.e., this was their extreme southern limit.

The history of the Twelve Tribes is nowhere separately drawn out in Scripture. The reader will find the character and career of each tribe graphically sketched in Dean Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine, Judges 3-11; and more briefly in the Lectures on the Jewish Church, 1:261-281.

Benson Commentary

Jdg 1:36. From the going up to Akrabbim — Which was in the southern part of Canaan, Joshua 15:2-3, from whence it went up toward the north. This is added to show the great power and large extent of this people.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:21-36 The people of Israel were very careless of their duty and interest. Owing to slothfulness and cowardice, they would not be at the pains to complete their conquests. It was also owing to their covetousness: they were willing to let the Canaanites live among them, that they might make advantage of them. They had not the dread and detestation of idolatry they ought to have had. The same unbelief that kept their fathers forty years out of Canaan, kept them now out of the full possession of it. Distrust of the power and promise of God deprived them of advantages, and brought them into troubles. Thus many a believer who begins well is hindered. His graces languish, his lusts revive, Satan plies him with suitable temptations, the world recovers its hold; he brings guilt into his conscience, anguish into his heart, discredit on his character, and reproach on the gospel. Though he may have sharp rebukes, and be so recovered that he does not perish, yet he will have deeply to lament his folly through his remaining days; and upon his dying bed to mourn over the opportunities of glorifying God and serving the church he has lost. We can have no fellowship with the enemies of God within us or around us, but to our hurt; therefore our only wisdom is to maintain unceasing war against them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The going up to Akrabbim - See the margin and references; properly "the ascent of scorpions," with which the whole region abounds.

The rock - Petra, the capital of Idumea, so called from the mass of precipitous rock which encloses the town, and out of which many of its buildings are excavated. The original word "Selah" is always used of the rock at Kadesh-Barnea Numbers 20:8-11, near Petra (compare Obadiah 1:3). This leads us to look for "the ascent of scorpions," here coupled with סלע הס has-sela‛, in the same neighborhood.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

27-36. The same course of subjugation was carried on in the other tribes to a partial extent, and with varying success. Many of the natives, no doubt, during the progress of this exterminating war, saved themselves by flight and became, it is thought, the first colonists in Greece, Italy, and other countries. But a large portion made a stout resistance and retained possession of their old abodes in Canaan. In other cases, when the natives were vanquished, avarice led the Israelites to spare the idolaters, contrary to the express command of God; and their disobedience to His orders in this matter involved them in many troubles which this book describes.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Akrabbim was in the southern part of Canaan, Joshua 15:2,3, from whence it went up towards the north. This is added to show the great power and large extent of this people.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim,.... Of which See Gill on Numbers 34:4 and See Gill on Joshua 15:3,

from the rock, and upwards; even from the city Petra in Idumea, and beyond that; and there was a country near Idumea, called Acrabatane, from this mountain Akrabbim,"Then Judas fought against the children of Esau in Idumea at Arabattine, because they besieged Gael: and he gave them a great overthrow, and abated their courage, and took their spoils.'' (1 Maccabees 5:3)such was the extent of these people, that their coast reached from the places, mentioned to the mountains where the above cities of Dan were; they were the most powerful people among the Canaanites, and lay on both sides of Jordan, and were very troublesome to Israel, yet were at length destroyed, Amos 2:9.

Geneva Study Bible

And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the {p} rock, and upward.

(p) Or Selah, which was a city in Arabia.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

36. the border of the Amorites] The text describes a boundary line; but there was no boundary between the Israelites and the Amorites, i.e. the old Canaanite population, for they occupied the same territory. Some recensions of LXX (cod. A, Lucian), Ethiop., Syro-Hex., read ‘the border of the Amorite was the Edomite’; this suggests that the Hebr. text should be corrected to the border of the Edomite. The verse indicates the S. frontier of Judah which extended ‘unto the border of Edom,’ Joshua 15:1.

the ascent of Akrabbim] i.e. ‘the Scorpions’ Pass’ Numbers 34:4, Joshua 15:3, must be one of the chief passes which lead up from the ‘Arâbah S. of the Dead Sea, probably the Naḳb eṣ-Ṣafâ, on the N. side of the Wadi el-Fiḳra.

from the rock] Not ‘from Sela’ mg., for it is doubtful whether any city is called Sela in the O.T. The reference is to some conspicuous rock which served as a land-mark; Moore thinks of the cliff of eṣ-Ṣufçj, at the S.W. of the Dead Sea, and, omitting the prep. ‘from,’ renders ‘to Sela.’ But it is doubtful whether this cliff is sufficiently striking (Lagrange, Livre des Juges, p. 21), and we want a direction not eastwards but westwards. Accordingly the Rock at Kadesh (‘Ain Ḳades, 50 m. S. of Beer-sheba) has been suggested; see Numbers 20:8. It is a “large single mass, or a small hill of solid rock” standing out conspicuously from the earth covered hills (Clay Trumbull, Kadesh-Barnea, pp. 272–4); moreover Kadesh-barnea is mentioned as one of the chief points on the S. frontier of Judah, Numbers 34:4, Joshua 15:3. But then why should the nameless Rock and not Kadesh itself be spoken of here? It is, in fact, impossible to be sure where ‘the Rock’ was. It cannot be Petra (LXX etc.), the famous capital of the Nabataeans, for this is too far south.

The verse is obviously out of connexion with its context. As a description of the southern limit of Judah it would be in place after Jdg 1:16 (the Kenites) or Jdg 1:17 (Simeon); but we cannot feel certain as to its original position in the document. It is a mutilated fragment, and, since the southern limit of Judah was also the limit of Israelite territory, it was probably placed where it stands to round off the country occupied by the various tribes.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 36. - The going up to Akrabbim. See Joshua 15:3, Maaleh-acrabbim. In Numbers 34:4 "the ascent of Akrabbim." The whole name, put into English, is "the ascent, or going up, of Scorpions," a mountain pass so called from the abundance of scorpions found in the whole region. The exact locality is uncertain, but it is thought to be the pass El-Safeh, immediately to the south of the Dead Sea. The neighbourhood to Mount Hor and Petra is indicated by its connection here with "the rock," in Hebrew has-selah, which is the distinctive name of the rocks or cliffs on which Petra is built, and the name of Petra (the rock) itself. Speaking roughly, a line drawn westward from El-Safeh to the Mediterranean Sea, near the "river of Egypt," formed the southern boundary, of Judah, and of the Amorites whom they displaced. The battle with the Amorites (Deuteronomy 1:44), in which the Israelites were discomfited and pursued, is thought to have been at El-Safeh.



Judges 1:36

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In order to explain the supremacy of the Amorites in the territory of Dan, a short notice is added concerning their extension in the south of Palestine. "The territory of the Amorites was," i.e., extended (viz., at the time of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites), "from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock onwards and farther up." Maaleh-Akrabbim (ascensus scorpiorum) was the sharply projecting line of cliffs which intersected the Ghor below the Dead Sea, and formed the southern boundary of the promised land (see at Numbers 34:4 and Joshua 15:2-3). מהסּלע, from the rock, is not doubt given as a second point upon the boundary of the Amoritish territory, as the repetition of the מן clearly shows, notwithstanding the omission of the copula ו. הסּלע, the rock, is supposed by the majority of commentators to refer to the city of Petra, the ruins of which are still to be seen in the Wady Musa (see Burckhardt, Syr. pp. 703ff.; Rob. Pal. ii. pp. 573ff., iii. 653), and which is distinctly mentioned in 2 Kings 14:7 under the name of הסּלע, and in Isaiah 16:1 is called simply סלע. Petra is to the southeast of the Scorpion heights. Consequently, with this rendering the following word ומעלה (and upward) would have to be taken in the sense of ulterius (and beyond), and Rosenmller's explanation would be the correct one: "The Amorites not only extended as far as the town of Petra, or inhabited it, but they even carried their dwellings beyond this towards the tops of those southern mountains." But a description of the territory of the Amorites in its southern extension into Arabia Petraea does not suit the context of the verse, the object of which is to explain how it was that the Amorites were in a condition to force back the Danites out of the plain into the mountains, to say nothing of the fact that it is questionable whether the Amorites ever really spread so far, for which we have neither scriptural testimony nor evidence of any other kind. On this ground even Bertheau has taken ומעלה as denoting the direction upwards, i.e., towards the north, which unquestionably suits the usage of מעלה as well as the context of the passage. But it is by no means in harmony with this to understand הסּלע as referring to Petra; for in that case we should have two boundary points mentioned, the second of which was farther south than the first. Now a historian who had any acquaintance with the topography, would never have described the extent of the Amoritish territory from south to north in such a way as this, commencing with the Scorpion heights on the north, then passing to Petra, which was farther south, and stating that from this point the territory extended farther towards the north. If ומעלה therefore refers to the extension of the territory of the Amorites in a northerly direction, the expression "from the rock" cannot be understood as relating to the city of Petra, but must denote some other locality well known to the Israelites by that name. Such a locality there undoubtedly was in the rock in the desert of Zin, which had become celebrated through the events that took place at the water of strife (Numbers 20:8, Numbers 20:10), and to which in all probability this expression refers. The rock in question was at the south-west corner of Canaan, on the southern edge of the Rakhma plateau, to which the mountains of the Amorites extended on the south-west (comp. Numbers 14:25, Numbers 14:44-45, with Deuteronomy 1:44). And this would be very appropriately mentioned here as the south-western boundary of the Amorites, in connection with the Scorpion heights as their south-eastern boundary, for the purpose of giving the southern boundary of the Amorites in its full extent from east to west.