Joshua 15:18

18 One day Acsah came to Othniel and urged him [a] to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you desire?”

Joshua 15:18 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 15:18

And it came to pass, as she came [unto him]
To her husband, being conducted from her father's house to his, in order to consummate the marriage, just as we may suppose when she was got to her husband's house, before she lighted off the beast on which she rode:

that she moved him to ask of her father a field;
or persuaded him to make such a request to him, or that he would give her leave to make it; that is, Achsah put Othniel her espoused husband upon it, to entreat her father Caleb, or suffer her to use her interest with him to obtain a field of him, over and above, and something better, than what he had already given;

and she lighted off [her] ass;
she leaped or threw herself from it; or bowing herself, she fell off on her feet, as Jarchi interprets it, and in an humble manner made her obeisance to her father; though De Dieu, from the use of the word in the Ethiopic language, gives a different sense, as if she continued on her ass, and did not alight, waiting the success of her husband's request; or that her father, taking notice of this, might ask the reason of it, which would give her an opportunity of asking the favour of him, which she judged was a proper time of doing it; and there are some versions which seem to countenance this sense the Septuagint version is,

``she cried from off the ass;''

and the Vulgate Latin version,

``she sighed as she sat upon the ass:''

and Caleb said unto her, what wouldest thou?
what wouldest thou have? what is thy request for he perceived, by the posture she put herself in, that she had something to say to him.

Joshua 15:18 In-Context

16 And Caleb said, “To the man who strikes down Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage.”
17 So Othniel son of Caleb’s brother Kenaz captured the city, and Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him in marriage.
18 One day Acsah came to Othniel and urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you desire?”
19 “Give me a blessing,” she answered. “Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me springs of water as well.”
20 This is the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Judah.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Hebrew and some LXX manuscripts; other LXX manuscripts and he urged her; see Judges 1:14.
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