Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary

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. Neh 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 Lev 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, Gen 23:2. Jekabzeel, like Kabzeel, Jos 15:21. חצריה, its enclosed places, the estates belonging to a town, as in Jos 15:45. Jeshua, mentioned only here, and unknown. Moladah and Beth-phelet, Jos 15:26-27. Hazar-shual, i.e., Fox-court, probably to be sought for in the ruins of Thaly; see rem. on Jos 15:28. Beersheba, now Bir es Seba; see rem. on Gen 21:31. Ziklag, at the ancient Asluj, see Jos 15:31. Mekonah, mentioned only here, and unknown. En-rimmon; see rem. on Ch1 4:32. Zareah, Jarmuth, Zanoah, and Adullam in the plains (see Jos 15:33-35), where were also Lachish and Azekah; see on Ch2 11:9. - In Neh 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 (Jos 15:8). Neh 11:31-35 The dwellings of the Benjamites. Neh 11:31 The children of Benjamin dwelt from Geba to Michmash, Aija, etc. Geba, according to Kg2 23:8 and Jos 14:10, the northern boundary of the kingdom of Judah, is the half-ruined village of Jibia in the Wady el Jib, three leagues north of Jerusalem, and three-quarters of a league north-east of Ramah (Er Ram); see on Jos 18:24. Michmash (מכמשׁ or מכמס), now Mukhmas, sixty-three minutes north-east of Geba, and three and a half leagues north of Jerusalem; see rem. on Sa1 13:2. Aija (עיּא or עיּת, Isa 10:28), probably one with העי, Jos 7:2; Jos 8:1., the situation of which is still a matter of dispute, Van de Velde supposing it to be the present Tell el Hadshar, three-quarters of a league south-east of Beitin; while Schegg, on the contrary, places it in the position of the present Tayibeh, six leagues north of Jerusalem (see Delitzsch on Isa. at Isa 10:28-32, etc., translation), - a position scarcely according with Isa 10:28., the road from Tayibeh to Michmash and Geba not leading past Migron (Makhrun), which is not far from Beitin. We therefore abide by the view advocated by Krafft and Strauss, that the ruins of Medinet Chai or Gai, east of Geba, point out the situation of the ancient Ai or Ajja; see rem. on Jos 7:2. Bethel is the present Beitin; see on Jos 7:2. The position of Nob is not as yet certainly ascertained, important objections existing to its identification with the village el-Isawije, between Anta and Jerusalem; comp. Valentiner (in the Zeitschrift d. deutsch. morgld. Gesellsch. xii. p. 169), who, on grounds worthy of consideration, transposes Nob to the northern heights before Jerusalem, the road from which leads into the valley of Kidron. Ananiah (ענניה), a place named only here, is conjectured by Van de Velde (after R. Schwartz), Mem. p. 284, to be the present Beit Hanina (Arab. hnı̂nâ), east of Nebi Samwil; against which conjecture even the exchange of ע and ח raises objections; comp. Tobler, Topographie, ii. p. 414. Hazor of Benjamin, supposed by Robinson (Palestine) to be Tell 'Assur, north of Tayibeh, is much more probably found by Tobler, Topographie, ii. p. 400, in Khirbet Arsr, perhaps Assur, Arab. ‛ṣûr, eight minutes eastward of Bir Nebla (between Rama and Gibeon); comp. Van de Velde, Mem. p. 319. Ramah, now er Rm, two leagues north of Jerusalem; see rem. on Jos 18:25. Githaim, whither the Beerothites fled, Sa2 4:3, is not yet discovered. Tobler (dritte Wand. p. 175) considers it very rash to identify it with the village Katanneh in Wady Mansur. Hadid, Ἀδιδά, see rem. on Ezr 2:33. Zeboim, in a valley of the same name (Sa1 13:18), is not yet discovered. Neballat, mentioned only here, is preserved in Beith Nebala, about two leagues north-east of Ludd (Lydda); comp. Rob. Palestine, and Van de Velde, Mem. p. 336. With respect to Lod and Ono, see rem. on Ch1 8:12; and on the valley of craftsmen, comp. Ch1 4:14. The omission of Jericho, Gibeon, and Mizpah is the more remarkable, inasmuch as inhabitants of these towns are mentioned as taking part in the building of the wall (Neh 3:2, Neh 3:7). Neh 11:36 The enumeration concludes with the remark, "Of the Levites came divisions of Judah to Benjamin," which can only signify that divisions of Levites who, according to former arrangements, belonged to Judah, now came to Benjamin, i.e., dwelt among the Benjamites.