Joshua 13:19

And Kirjathaim,.... Of which [See comments on Numbers 32:37]; and Sibmah; of which [See comments on Numbers 32:3] and [See comments on Numbers 32:38]; and Zarethshahar, in the mount of the valley;

And Kirjathaim, and Sibmah, and Zarethshahar in the mount of the valley, Kirjathaim - now Kureiyat, or Kureiyeh, at the foot of Jebel-Attarus (Genesis 14:5; Numbers 32:37; Jeremiah 48:1; Jeremiah 48:23; Ezekiel 25:9).

In the mountain bordering upon that valley, which then was famous among the Israelites, whether that where Moses was buried, which was near to the place here following, Beth-peor, ,6, or some other. And this clause is thought to belong to all the cities now mentioned.

OF THE BY MOSES ON THE EAST OF JORDAN (Joshua 13:15-33). (15) Reuben.—See also Numbers 32:33-42 and Deuteronomy 3:16, &c.

Verse 19. Kirjathaim] This city, according to Eusebius, was nine miles distant from Medeba, towards the east. It passed from the Emim to the Moabites, from the Moabites to the Amorites, and from the Amorites to the Israelites, Genesis 14:6; Deuteronomy 2:20. Calmet supposes the Reubenites possessed it till the time they were carried away by the Assyrians; and then the Moabites appear to have taken possession of it anew, as he collects from Jeremiah 48:1 c., and Ezekiel 25:9 &c. Sibmah] A place remarkable for its vines. See Isaiah 16:8-9, Jeremiah 48:32. Zareth-shahar, in the mount of the valley] This probably means a town situated on or near to a hill in some flat country.

19. and Kirjathaim] In Jeremiah 48:1; Jeremiah 48:23 and Ezekiel 25:9 the name is given in our version as Kiriathaim. This place, as well as Dibon, Beth-baal-meon, and Medeba, is found among the proper names recorded on the now celebrated “Moabite stone.” Canon Tristram would identify it with the modern Kureiyat. “The twin hills explain the Hebrew dual and plural terminations.” Land of Moab, p. 275. Sibmah] Hardly 500 paces from Heshbon, according to Jerome. Isaiah and Jeremiah mention it in the lament pronounced over Moab (Isaiah 16:8-9; Jeremiah 48:32). and Zareth-shahar] = “the Splendour of the Dawn,” in Mount Ira-Emak = “the Mountain of the Valley.” Menke places it west of Mount Pisgah, towards the Dead Sea. “Having climbed the hills and traced the feeders of the Callirrhoe to their mountain sources, our next aim was to get down to the shore of the Dead Sea by the unvisited Zara, the ‘Zareth-shahar in the mountain of the valley’ of Joshua 13:19.… At length we reached the Dead Sea shore at Zara, which … is really three miles south of the mouth of the Callirrhoe, and in a wide open belt of land, beyond the opening of Wady Z’gara. The surrounding mountain crescent is beautiful, both in form and colour. The sandstone, gilded by the sun, presents the most gorgeous colouring, red predominating, but white, yellow, and brown patches and streaks abound. Groves of tamarisk and acacia, and all the strange tropical shrubs of Engedi and the Sáfieh, gradually give place to huge tufts of a sort of Pampas-grass ten feet high; and then to impenetrable cane-brakes, which reach to within a few feet of the pebbly shore.… Of Zara, the old Hebrew town of Zareth-shahar, but little remains. A few broken basaltic columns and pieces of wall, about 200 yards back from the shore, and a ruined fort rather nearer the sea, about the middle of the coast-line of the plain, are all that are left, beyond the identity of name. Of Rome, or later work, there is not a vestige. Yet these poor relics have an interest of their own. We are looking here on, perhaps, the only surviving relic of the buildings of the semi-nomad tribe of Reuben, prior to the Babylonish captivity.” Tristram’s Land of Moab, pp. 281–284. See the photograph of the Remains, p. 283.

19. Kirjathaim — The word means the double city, and in the English version is sometimes written Kiriathaim. In its plain Chedorlaomer and his confederate kings smote the Emim in the days of Abraham. Genesis 14:5.