Joshua 15:36

36 and Shaaraim and Adithaim and Gederah and Gederothaim; fourteen * cities with their villages.

Joshua 15:36 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 15:36

And Sharaim
Sharaim seems to be the Saara of Jerom, which he describes as a village on the borders of Eleutheropolis, to the north as you go to Nicopolis (or Emmaus), about ten miles from it in the tribe of Dan or Judah F15; there was a place called Bethshaaraim, where the sanhedrim sometimes sat F16, and where R. Judah was buried F17. This seems to be the same with Shaaraim in ( 1 Samuel 17:52 ) ;

and Adithaim;
Jerom observes F18, under the word "Adithaim", that there is a village called Adia, near Gaza, and another Aditha, near Diospolis (or Lydda), to the east;

and Gederah,
which seems to be the same Jerom calls Gaddera, in the tribe of Judah F19, now, he says, called a village belonging to the country of Aelia (or Jerusalem), by the name of Gadera, about the turpentine tree.

and Gederothaim,
of which we nowhere else read; Kimchi thinks Gederah and Gederothaim were one city:

fourteen cities with their villages;
but, upon counting them, it will appear there are fifteen, which may be reduced to fourteen, if with Kimchi we take the two last to be but one, who in this way reconciles it; or with Jarchi make Tappuah and Enam to be one also, called Entappuah, which is the way he takes to solve the difficulty; but perhaps the case is this, that one of the places in the account was not a city, but a village.


FOOTNOTES:

F15 Ut supra. (De loc. Heb. fol. 88. E.)
F16 T. Bab. Roshhashauah, fol. 31. 2.
F17 Gloss. in T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 47. 1.
F18 Ut supra, (De loc. Heb.) fol. 88. F.
F19 De loc. Heb. fol. 92. B.

Joshua 15:36 In-Context

34 and Zanoah and En-gannim, Tappuah and Enam,
35 Jarmuth and Adullam, Socoh and Azekah,
36 and Shaaraim and Adithaim and Gederah and Gederothaim; fourteen cities with their villages.
37 Zenan and Hadashah and Migdal-gad,
38 and Dilean and Mizpeh and Joktheel,
New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California.  All rights reserved.