2 Chronicles 11:10

And Zorah, and Aijalon, and Hebron, which are in Judah and in Benjamin fenced cities.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) Zorah.—Sur’ah; a ruin on the ridge north of the Wady-es-Surar. The birthplace of Samson.

Aijalon.—Yalo, north of Sur’ah, four leagues west of Gibeon. Zorah and Aijalon, or Ajalon, may have become Benjamite cities at the epoch of the migration of Dan (Judges 18). (See Joshua 19:41-42; also Joshua 15:33; Joshua 10:12.) Of the fifteen fortified cities here enumerated these two lay farthest north.

Hebron.—El Khalil (Genesis 23:2).

Which are in Judah and in Benjamin.—This refers to the entire list.

Fenced cities.—‘Arê metsûrôth (“cities of ramparts,” or “strongholds”); a phrase peculiar to the chronicler. (Comp. 2Chronicles 12:4.) “The fifteen cities [excluding Zorah and Ajalon] were on the south and west of Jerusalem. Hence Rehoboam appears to have been more afraid of an attack from the south and west—that is, from the Egyptians—than of a war with the northern kingdom.” (Bertheau.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:1-12 A few good words might have prevented the rebellion of Rehoboam's subjects; but all the force of his kingdom cannot bring them back. And it is in vain to contend with the purpose of God, when it is made known to us. Even those who are destitute of true faith, will at times pay some regard to the word of God, and be kept by it from wrong actions, to which they are prone by nature.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The site of Adoraim is uncertain. For Lachish, see Joshua 10:3; Azekah, Joshua 10:10; Zorah, Joshua 15:33; Aijalon, Joshua 10:12; Hebron, Joshua 14:15. No one of the cities was really within the limits of the tribe of Benjamin. The writer uses the phrase "Judah and Benjamin" merely as the common designation of the southern kingdom (compare 2 Chronicles 11:12 and 2 Chronicles 11:23).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5-11. built cities for defence in Judah—This is evidently used as the name of the southern kingdom. Rehoboam, having now a bitter enemy in Israel, deemed it prudent to lose no time in fortifying several cities that lay along the frontier of his kingdom. Jeroboam, on his side, took a similar precaution (1Ki 12:25). Of the fifteen cities named, Aijalon, now Yalo, and Zorah, now Surah, between Jerusalem and Jabneh [Robinson], lay within the province of Benjamin. Gath, though a Philistine city, had been subject to Solomon. And Etham, which was on the border of Simeon, now incorporated with the kingdom of Israel, was fortified to repel danger from that quarter. These fortresses Rehoboam placed under able commanders and stocked them with provisions and military stores, sufficient, if necessary, to stand a siege. In the crippled state of his kingdom, he seems to have been afraid lest it might be made the prey of some powerful neighbors.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Zorah,.... The same with Zoreah, Joshua 15:33,

and Aijalon; there was a city of the tribe of Dan of this name, in the valley of which the moon stood still in the times of Joshua, Joshua 10:12, but whether the same with this, and now belonging to Judah, or another of the same name, is not certain:

and Hebron; a city in the mountainous part of Judah, and a city of refuge, about twenty miles from Jerusalem, Joshua 15:54,

which are in Judah and in Benjamin fenced cities; as they were now made by Rehoboam.

Geneva Study Bible

And Zorah, and Aijalon, and Hebron, which are in Judah and in Benjamin fenced cities.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. Zorah] Joshua 15:33 (R.V.). It was situated in the Shephelah.

Aijalon] The modern Yalo, about midway between Ramleh and Jerusalem. Bädeker, pp. 15, 18. It is an ancient place mentioned in the Tell-el-Amarna letters and in Joshua 10:12, R.V. (“Valley of Aijalon,” i.e. the modern Merj ibn Omêr). Cp. 2 Chronicles 28:18, R.V.

and in Benjamin] None of the fifteen cities seems to have been in Benjamin. Zorah and Aijalon were in Dan (Joshua 19:41-42, R.V.), while the remaining thirteen were in Judah. Cp. 2 Chronicles 11:5.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - Zorah. The people of Zorah, or Zoreah, were the Zareathites of 1 Chronicles 2:53; it was the home of Manoah, and the native place of Samson (see Joshua 15:33; Joshua 19:41. Other interesting references are Judges 13:25; Judges 16:31; Judges 18:2-11; Nehemiah 11:29). It belonged to the original allotment of Dan, and is constantly named in company with Eshtaol. Aijalon. The modern Jalo; also originally belonged to allotment of Dan (Joshua 10:12; Joshua 19:42; Joshua 21:24. Other interesting references are Judges 1:35; 1 Samuel 14:31; 1 Kings 14:30; 1 Chronicles 6:66, 69, 2 Chronicles 28:18). Hebron. One of the most ancient of cities still lasting, rivalling in this respect Damascus. It belonged to Judah and to its hill country (Joshua 15:54; Joshua 20:7); it was about twenty Roman miles south of Jerusalem. Its original name was Kirjath Arba. In Numbers 13:22 it is said that it was built "seven years before Zoan in Egypt," but it is not said when Zoan was built. It now contains about five thousand population, but scarcely a tithe of them Jews. Its long stretch of history is full of incidents of interest, and is partially illustrated by the references that follow: Genesis 13:18; Genesis 23:2-19, 20; Genesis 35:27; Genesis 37:14; Numbers 13:22, 23; Joshua 10:36; Joshua 14:6-15; Joshua 15:13, 14; Joshua 21:11-13; 2 Samuel 4:12; 2 Samuel 5:5; Nehemiah 11:25. 2 Chronicles 11:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Zorah, Samson's birthplace, is represented by the ruin Sura, at the south-west end of the ridge, which encloses the Wady es Surar on the north; see on Joshua 15:33. To the north of that again lay Ajalon, now the village Jlo, on the verge of the plain Merj ibn Omeir, four leagues to the west of Gibeon; see on Joshua 10:12 and Joshua 19:42. Finally, Hebron, the ancient city of the patriarchs, now called el Khalil (The friend of God, i.e., Abraham); see on Genesis 23:2. All these fenced cities lay in the tribal domain of Judah, with the exception of Zorah and Ajalon, which were assigned to the tribe of Dan (Joshua 19:41.). These two were probably afterwards, in the time of the judges, when a part of the Danites emigrated from Zorah and Eshtaol to the north of Palestine (Judges 18:1), taken possession of by Benjamites, and were afterwards reckoned to the land of Benjamin, and are here named as cities which Rehoboam fortified in Benjamin. If we glance for a moment at the geographical position of the whole fifteen cities, we see that they lay partly to the south of Jerusalem, on the road which went by Hebron to Beersheba and Egypt, partly on the western slopes of the hill country of Judah, on the road by Beit-Jibrin to Gaza, while only a few lay to the north of this road towards the Philistine plain, and there were none to the north to defend the kingdom against invasions from that side. "Rehoboam seems, therefore, to have had much more apprehension of an attack from the south and west, i.e., from the Egyptians, than of a war with the northern kingdom" (Berth.). Hence we may conclude that Rehoboam fortified these cities only after the inroad of the Egyptian king Shishak.