Joshua 15:15

And he went up thence to the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:13-19 Achsah obtained some land by Caleb's free grant. He gave her a south land. Land indeed, but a south land, dry and apt to be parched. She obtained more, on her request, and he gave the upper and the nether springs. Those who understand it but of one field, watered both with the rain of heaven, and the springs that issued out of the earth, countenance the allusion commonly made to this, when we pray for spiritual and heavenly blessings which relate to our souls, as blessings of the upper springs, and those which relate to the body and the life that now is, as blessings of the nether springs. All the blessings, both of the upper and the nether springs, belong to the children of God. As related to Christ, they have them freely given of the Father, for the lot of their inheritance.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The name Debir belonged to two other places; namely,, that named in Joshua 15:7, between Jerusalem and Jericho, and the Gadite town mentioned in Joshua 13:26. The Debir here meant appears (and its site has been conjecturally placed at Dhaheriyeh (Conder)) to have been situated in the mountain district south of Hebron. It was one of the towns afterward assigned to the Levites. Its other name Joshua 15:49, "Kirjath-sannah", i. e. perhaps, "city of palm branches," or "city of law, or sacred learning," no less than the two given in the text, would indicate that Debir was an ancient seat of Canaanite learning, for Debir probably is equivalent to "oracle," and Kirjath-sepher means "city of books." This plurality of names marks the importance of the town, as the inducement held out in Joshua 15:16, by Caleb, to secure its capture (compare 1 Samuel 17:25; 1 Samuel 18:17), points to its strength.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15. Debir—"oracle." Its former name, Kirjath-sepher, signifies "city of the book," being probably a place where public registers were kept.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Debir; the same mentioned above, Joshua 15:7. The name of Debir before was

Kirjath-sepher: this clause seems to be added to distinguish this from the other Debir subdued by Joshua, Joshua 10:38,39.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he went up from thence to the inhabitants of Debir,.... Having conquered Hebron, and got possession of that, Caleb marched to Debir, a city not many miles from Hebron, and seems to have been in the country, and part of the land, which was given him; of which See Gill on Joshua 10:38,

and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher; or "the city of books"; either a place of literature, a sort of an academy, or where was a public library; the Targum calls it Kirjatharche, or the city of the archives, in which were laid up the public records of the Canaanites; the same is called Kirjathsannah for the like reason; see Gill on Joshua 15:49.

Geneva Study Bible

And he went up thence to the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15. to the inhabitants of Debir] On Debir see above, Joshua 11:21. Joshua had conquered and devoted it.

Debir before was Kirjath-sepher] = “the city of Books”, “citee of lettrys;” Wyclif, or (Joshua 15:49) Kirjath-Sannah = “city of palm.”

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - Kirjath-sepher (see note on Joshua 10:38). Joshua 15:15

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

From Hebron Caleb went against the Inhabitants of Debir, to the south of Hebron. This town, which has not yet been discovered (see at Joshua 10:38), must have been very strong and hard to conquer; for Caleb offered a prize to the conqueror, promising to give his daughter Achzah for a wife to any one that should take it, just as Saul afterwards promised to give his daughter to the conqueror of Goliath (1 Samuel 17:25; 1 Samuel 18:17).