Nehemiah 11:30

Zanoah, Adullam, and in their villages, at Lachish, and the fields thereof, at Azekah, and in the villages thereof. And they dwelt from Beersheba unto the valley of Hinnom.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(30) From Beer-sheba unto the valley of Hinnom.—The men of Judah spread from the extreme south to the extreme north of Judah, an extent of some fifty miles.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:1-36 The distribution of the people. - In all ages, men have preferred their own ease and advantage to the public good. Even the professors of religion too commonly seek their own, and not the things of Christ. Few have had such attachment to holy things and holy places, as to renounce pleasure for their sake. Yet surely, our souls should delight to dwell where holy persons and opportunities of spiritual improvement most abound. If we have not this love to the city of our God, and to every thing that assists our communion with the Saviour, how shall we be willing to depart hence; to be absent from the body, that we may be present with the Lord? To the carnal-minded, the perfect holiness of the New Jerusalem would be still harder to bear than the holiness of God's church on earth. Let us seek first the favour of God, and his glory; let us study to be patient, contented, and useful in our several stations, and wait, with cheerful hope, for admission into the holy city of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Many of the places mentioned in these verses are mentioned in Joshua 15:27-39; Joshua 18:21-28.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

25. some of the children of Judah dwelt at Kirjath-arba—The whole region in which the villages here mentioned were situated had been completely devastated by the Chaldean invasion; and, therefore, it must be assumed, that these villages had been rebuilt before "the children dwelt in them."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And for the villages, with their fields,.... The cities and villages in the country, an account of the inhabitants of them next follows:

some of the children of Judah dwelt at Kirjatharba, and in the villages thereof; the same with Hebron, Joshua 15:54

and at Dibon; the same with Dimonah, Joshua 15:22

and at Jekabzeel, and in the villages thereof; the same with Kabzeel, one of the uttermost cities of the tribe of Judah southward, Joshua 15:21, of which city was Benaiah, one of David's worthies, 2 Samuel 23:20, from hence to the end of Nehemiah 11:30 mention is made of various cities and towns, in the tribe of Judah, inhabited by the men of it, which are to be met with in Joshua 15:1 excepting Jeshua and Mekonah, Nehemiah 11:26, of which we nowhere else read.

Geneva Study Bible

Zanoah, Adullam, and in their villages, at Lachish, and the fields thereof, at Azekah, and in the villages thereof. And they dwelt from Beersheba unto the valley of Hinnom.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

30. Zanoah] Cf. Joshua 15:34; cf. Joshua 3:13.

Adullam] Cf. Joshua 15:35.

Lachish] Cf. Joshua 15:39.

Azekah] Cf. Joshua 15:35.

And they dwelt] R.V. So they encamped.

from Beer-sheba unto the valley of Hinnom] i.e. from the extreme southern point of Israel to the northern boundary of the tribe of Judah, the ravine or valley of Hinnom (Gay-Hinnom = Gehenna). See Joshua 15:8. On the ‘valley of Hinnom,’ see note on Nehemiah 2:13. That this list is of later date than the days of Nehemiah, is a probable inference from a comparison of the numerous towns described in this chapter as being occupied by the men of Judah, with the few names of towns, which, if we may so understand the allusions in chap. 3, were occupied by Jews, at the time of the rebuilding of the walls, i.e. Jericho, Tekoa, Gibeon, Mizpah, Zanoah, Beth-haccerem, Beth-zur, Keilah.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 30. - Zanoah and Adullam appear in close connection with Jarmuth in Joshua 15:34, 35. Zanoah was not a place of any importance, but Adullam, near which was David's cave, is often mentioned. It had its own king in the time of Joshua (Joshua 12:15), was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:7), and remained a city of some strength under the Maccabees (2 Macc. 12:38). Lachish is a place even more celebrated than Adullam. Its king, Japhia, warred with Joshua (Joshua 12:3-16). It was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:9). Amaziah took refuge there when conspiracy threatened him at Jerusalem (2 Kings 14:19); and Sennacherib "besieged it with all his power" (2 Chronicles 22:9). Azekah is joined with Jarmuth and Adullam in Joshua 15:35. Like Adullam and Lachish, it was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:9). They (i.e. the children of Judah) dwelt from Beer-sheba to the valley of Hinnom. The southernmost and the northernmost parts of Judaea are here mentioned. Nehemiah 11:30

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The inhabitants of the towns of Judah and Benjamin. - The heads who, with their houses, inhabited country districts are here no longer enumerated, but only the towns, with their adjacent neighbourhoods, which were inhabited by Jews and Benjamites; and even these are but summarily mentioned.

Nehemiah 11:25-30

The districts inhabited by the children of Judah. "And with respect to the towns in their fields, there dwelt of the sons of Judah in Kirjath-arba and its daughters," etc. The use of אל as an introductory or emphatic particle is peculiar to this passage, ל ,egassap being elsewhere customary in this sense; comp. Ew. 310, a. אל denotes a respect to something. חצרים, properly enclosures, signifies, according to Leviticus 25:31, villages, towns, boroughs, without walls. שׂדות, fields, field boundaries. בּנותיה, the villages and estates belonging to a town; as frequently in the lists of towns in the book of Joshua. Kirjath-arba is Hebron, Genesis 23:2. Jekabzeel, like Kabzeel, Joshua 15:21. חצריה, its enclosed places, the estates belonging to a town, as in Joshua 15:45. Jeshua, mentioned only here, and unknown. Moladah and Beth-phelet, Joshua 15:26-27. Hazar-shual, i.e., Fox-court, probably to be sought for in the ruins of Thaly; see rem. on Joshua 15:28. Beersheba, now Bir es Seba; see rem. on Genesis 21:31. Ziklag, at the ancient Asluj, see Joshua 15:31. Mekonah, mentioned only here, and unknown. En-rimmon; see rem. on 1 Chronicles 4:32. Zareah, Jarmuth, Zanoah, and Adullam in the plains (see Joshua 15:33-35), where were also Lachish and Azekah; see on 2 Chronicles 11:9. - In Nehemiah 11:30 the whole region then inhabited by Jews is comprised in the words: "And they dwelt from Beer-sheba (the south-western boundary of Canaan) to the valley of Hinnom, in Jerusalem," through which ran the boundaries of the tribes of Benjamin and Judah (Joshua 15:8).