Judges 1:15

Verse 15. See Clarke on Jud 1:12.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(15) A blessing—i.e., “a present” (Gen_33:11).

A south land.—The word also means “a dry and barren land” (Psa_126:4). The LXX. read “hast given me (in marriage) into a south land.”

Springs of water.—In thus asking for the fertile land which lay at the foot of the mountain slope, she showed herself at once more provident and less bashful than her husband.

The upper springs and the nether springs.—The word here rendered “springs” is gulloth, i.e., “bubblings.” Probably the district for which she asked was called “the upper Gulloth” and “the lower Gulloth,” just as we have “the upper and the nether Beth-horon” (Beit-ur el-foka and el-tahti). The addition of “the deep green glen” to the arid mountain tract of Debir enormously increased the value of her portion. “The source of this incident,” says Dean Stanley, “was first discovered by Dr. Rosen. . . . The word gulloth well applies to this beautiful rivulet. The spots are now called Ain-Nunkûr and Dewîr-ban, about one hour south-west of Hebron. Underneath the hill on which Debir stood is a deep valley, rich with verdure from a copious rivulet, which, rising at the crest of the glen, falls with a continuity unusual in Judean hills down to its lowest depth” (Jewish Church, ii. 264, and Sin. Palest., p. 165. Mr. Wilton, in his Negeb, p. 16, identifies it with Kurnuil). Othniel had a son, Hathath (1Ch_4:13), and his posterity continued to late times (Jdt_6:15).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. a blessing] i.e. a present as implying good-will, cf. Gen_33:11; 1Sa_25:27 etc.

thou hast set me in the land of the South] the Negeb (Jdg_1:9 note), where the waterless district of Debir was situated.

springs of water] Gullath- or Golath-maim, so LXX. cod. A Jos_15:19, an ancient place-name, called after the springs mentioned further on: land in Palestine is valueless without springs. Gullath or Golath, pronounced Gulloth in the text, has the ending ath as in other old Canaanite names, e.g. Zephath, Baalath, Zarephath; the rendering ‘springs’ is conjectural; in Zec_4:3, 1Ki_7:41 f. the word means ‘bowl.’

the upper springs and the nether springs] Gullath-illith and Gullath-taḥtith (changing the plur. of the text to sing.), proper names, without the article. These must have lain between Debir and Hebron; if Debir is eḍ-Ḍâharîyeh, the springs of Seil ed-Dilbeh1[23], 7 m. N. of Dâharîyeh, answer to the requirements. They are 14 in number, feeding a stream which runs for 3 or 4 miles and does not dry up. The springs fall into three groups, and may well correspond with Gullath-upper and Gullath-lower. This attractive story was no doubt told to explain how the springs came to be in the possession of the Othnielites of Debir, when they ought by rights to belong to the clan of Caleb in Hebron; cf. the stories of the wells of Rehoboth and Beer-sheba, Gen_26:22-33.

[23] Given in the P.E.F. large Map of W. Palestine, sheet xxi.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs. See Gill on Jos 15:19.

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Judges 1:16

jdg 1:16

jdg 1:16

jdg 1:16And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father in law,.... The posterity of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses; for though Jethro returned to his own country, after he had paid a visit to Moses in the wilderness, yet Hobab his son, at the persuasion of Moses, travelled with him and Israel through the wilderness, and went with them into Canaan, at least some of his descendants, and settled there, some in one part of the land, and some in another, of whom we read in several places of Scripture; they continued to the days of Jeremiah, and then went by the name of Rechabites, so called from Rechab, a descendant of Jethro: these

went up out of the city of palm trees; from the city of Jericho, as the Targum, so called from the great number of palm trees which grew near it, see Deu 34:3. This is to be understood not of the city itself, that was utterly destroyed by Joshua, and the rebuilding of it was forbidden under a curse, but the country adjacent, the valley in which it stood, which was set with palm trees; here was a grove of palm trees (m), and the garden of balsam, which grew nowhere else, as Strabo (n) says; and who also observes, that here was a royal palace in his time; this belonged to Herod king of Judea in the times of Augustus Caesar, to whose palm tree groves there Horace (o) refers. Here the Kenites first settled when they came first over Jordan with Joshua, being a most pleasant and delightful place, and suitable to such persons who dwelt in tents, as they did, and answered to the promise of Moses to Hobab, Num 10:29; and here it seems they had remained to this time: and now they left it, and came

with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah; which was also a convenient place for the habitation of such persons, who loved a solitary life. Perhaps the Canaanites about Jericho might be troublesome to them, and therefore chose to stay no longer, there; or, having a peculiar affection for the tribe of Judah, they chose to be within their lot; and the rather, as they were a warlike and valiant tribe, they might expect the greater safety and protection among them:

which lieth, in the south of Arad; that is, which wilderness of Judah lay there, of which name there was a country or city, see Num 21:1; and here some of them dwelt to the times of Saul, the Amalekites then having got possession of the southern parts, which they infested and were troublesome to, see Sa1 15:6,

and they went and dwelt among the people; of the tribe of Judah, near some of the cities which were in the wilderness; of which see Jos 15:63.

(m) Justin. e Trogo, l. 36. c. 3. (n) Geograph. l. 16. p. 525. (o) Praeferat Herodis. Palmetis Pinguibus----De Arte Poet. ver. 184.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

Ver. 15. To convince all] To set them down, to leave them excuseless, speechless, self-condemned, ελεγξαι.

Of all their hard speeches] Their rude, crude, crooked, cross speeches, uttered with perverse lips; so Solomon calls them, Pro 4:24, as if the upper lip stood where the nether lip should.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Arid land. A man barren of anything gainful, as he contains nothing but Torah.

Streams of water. Wetland, "territory supplied abundantly with water."

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.