Joshua 19:9

Out of the portion of the children of Judah was the inheritance of the children of Simeon: for the part of the children of Judah was too much for them: therefore the children of Simeon had their inheritance within the inheritance of them.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

19:1-9 The men of Judah did not oppose taking away the cities within their border, when convinced that they had more than was right. If a true believer has obtained an unintended and improper advantage in any thing, he will give it up without murmuring. Love seeketh not her own, and doth not behave unseemly; it will induce those in whom it richly dwells, to part with their own to supply what is lacking to their brethren.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thirteen - Fourteen names have been given. The error is probably due to the use of letters for numbers, which has led to many similar mistakes in other places (see Joshua 15:32).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 19

Jos 19:1-9. The Lot of Simeon.

1. the second lot came forth to Simeon—The next lot that was drawn at Shiloh, gave the tribe of Simeon his inheritance within the territory, which had been assigned to that of Judah. The knowledge of Canaan possessed by the Israelites, when the division of the land commenced, was but very general, being derived from the rapid sweep they had made over it during the course of conquest; and it was on the ground of that rough survey alone that the distribution proceeded, by which Judah received an inheritance. Time showed that this territory was too large (Jos 19:9), either for their numbers, however great, to occupy and their arms to defend, or too large in proportion to the allotments of the other tribes. Justice therefore required (what kind and brotherly feeling readily dictated) a modification of their possession; and a part of it was appropriated to Simeon. By thus establishing it within the original domain of another tribe, the prophecy of Jacob in regard to Simeon was fulfilled (Ge 49:7); for from its boundaries being not traced, there is reason to conclude that its people were divided and dispersed among those of Judah; and though one group of its cities named (Jos 19:2-6), gives the idea of a compact district, as it is usually represented by map makers, the other group (Jos 19:7, 8) were situated, two in the south, and two elsewhere, with tracts of the country around them.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Out of the portion of the children of Judah was the inheritance of the children of Simeon,.... Which is the reason why no description is given of the border of their inheritance, because that is before given in the account of the lot of Judah:

for the part of the children of Judah was too much for them: they had more cities than they could fill with people, and more land than they could cultivate; they had an hundred fourteen cities with their villages:

therefore the children of Simeon had their inheritance within the inheritance of them; the one being a small tribe, and the other large, and for the reasons given; See Gill on Joshua 19:1.

Geneva Study Bible

Out of the portion of the children of Judah was the inheritance of the children of Simeon: for the part of the children of Judah was too {b} much for them: therefore the children of Simeon had their inheritance within the inheritance of them.

(b) But this large portion was given them by God's providence to declare their increase in time to come.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. of the children of Simeon] In this “Negeb” or “land of the south,” Simeon now took up his abode. Like Reuben on the east of Jordan, the tribe was destined to have little influence on the subsequent history, to be divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel (Genesis 49:5-7). In the prophecy of Moses he is not even mentioned (Deuteronomy 33), nor are we told what part he took at the time of the division of the kingdom. “As time rolled on, the tribe gradually crossed the imperceptible boundary between civilisation and barbarism, between Palestine and the Desert, and, in ‘the days of Hezekiah’ (1 Chronicles 4:28-43), they wandered forth to the east to seek pasture for their flocks, and ‘smote the tents’ of the pastoral tribes who had ‘dwelt there of old;’ and roved along across the ’Arabah till they arrived at the ‘Mount Seir’—the range of Petra—and ‘smote the rest of the Amalekites, and dwelt there unto this day.’ ” Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 161. “It is startling to find that a tribe professing to be” of the “sons of Israel,” and holding no connection with the Arabs of the district, is still to be found in the country around Petra, literally fulfilling an ancient prediction:—“They of the South (= the Negeb) shall possess the mount of Esau.” See Pusey’s Commentary on Obadiah 1:19.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - Therefore the children of Simeon had their inheritance. Of the later history of the children of Simeon we find a little recorded in 1 Chronicles 4:39-42, and some suppose that the event recorded there is a fulfilment of the prophecy in Obadiah 1:19. Dr. Pusey mentions a tribe still existing in the south, professing to be of the sons of Israel, and holding no connection with the Arabs of the neighbourhood, and supposes them to be the descendants of the five hundred Simeonites who took possession of Mount Seir in the days of Hezekiah. No border seems to have been given of Simeon. Joshua 19:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In addition to the towns mentioned, the Simeonites received all the villages round about the towns to Baalath-beer, the Ramah of the south. This place, up to which the territory of the Simeonites extended, though without its being actually assigned to the Simeonites, is simply called Baal in 1 Chronicles 4:33, and is probably the same as Bealoth in Joshua 15:24, though its situation has not yet been determined (see at Joshua 15:24). It cannot be identified, however, with Ramet el Khulil, an hour to the north of Hebron, which Roediger supposes to be the Ramah of the south, since the territory of Simeon, which was situated in the Negeb, and had only two towns in the shephelah, cannot possibly have extended into the mountains to a point on the north of Hebron. So far as the situation is concerned, V. de Velde would be more likely to be correct, when he identifies Rama of the south with Tell Lekiyeh on the north of Beersheba, if this conjecture only rested upon a better foundation than the untenable assumption, that Baalath-beer is the same as the Baalath of Dan in Joshua 19:44.