Telem may be the Telaim of 1 Samuel 15:4, where Saul mustered his army for the expedition against the Amalekites. It is possibly to be looked for at "El-Kuseir", a spot where the various routes toward different parts of the Negeb converge, and which is occupied by the Arab tribe the "Dhullam", a word identical with Telem in its consonants. Bealoth is probably the "Baalath-beer - Ramath of the south" Joshua 19:8, and was one of the towns afterward assigned to the Simeonites. It is identified with the modern Kurnub.

Ziph - There were two cities of this name in the tribe of Judah, that mentioned here, and another Joshua 15:55. One of these two is noted for the refuge of David when persecuted by Saul; and the attempts made by its inhabitants to deliver him into the hands of his persecutor. See 1 Samuel 23:14-24.

Ziph,.... Ziph was of the tribe of Judah in the south, on the borders of Eleutheropolis, as Jerom says (d) and was eight miles from Hebron to the east; and in his time a village was shown, where David was hid; but that Ziph seems to be in another part of this tribe near Carmel, and from whence a wilderness had its name; see Joshua 15:55,

and Telem is supposed to be the same with Telaim, 1 Samuel 15:4,

and Bealoth; of this city we read nowhere else.

(d) De loc. Heb. fol. 95. G.

Second group of five or six places. - Of these, Ziph and Telem are not met with again, unless Telem is the same as Telaim, where Saul mustered his army to go against the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:4). Their situation is unknown. There was another Ziph upon the mountains (see Joshua 15:55). Knobel supposes the one mentioned here to be the ruins of Kuseifeh, to the south-west of Arad (Rob. Pal. ii. p. 620). Ziph would then be contracted from Ceziph; but the contraction of Achzib (Joshua 19:29) into Zib does not present a corresponding analogy, as in that case the abbreviated form is the later one, whereas in the case of Ziph a lengthening of the name must have taken place by the addition of a D. Bealoth, probably the same as the Simeonitish Baaloth-beer (Joshua 19:8), which is called Baal simply in 1 Chronicles 4:33, and which was also called Ramath-negeb (Joshua 19:8) and Ramoth-negeb (1 Samuel 30:27). It is not to be identified with Baalath, however (Joshua 19:45; 1 Kings 9:18), as V. de Velde supposes (Reise, ii. pp. 151-2). Knobel fancies it may be the ridge and place called Kubbet el Baul, between Milh and Kurnub (Rob. ii. p. 617); but Baul and Baal are very different. Hazor Hadatta (Chazor Chadathah), i.e., new Hazor, might be the ruins of el Hudhaira on the south of Jebel Khulil (Rob. Appendix). Kenoth was supposed by Robinson (Pal. ii. p. 472, and Appendix) to be the ruins of el Kuryetein, on the north-east of Arad and at the foot of the mountains, and with this V. de Velde agrees. Reland (Pal. p. 708) connects the following word Hezron with Kenoth, so as to read Kenoth-hezron, i.e., Hezron's towns, also called Hazor. This is favoured by the Sept. and Syriac, in which the two words are linked together to form one name, and probably by the Chaldee as well, also by the absence of the copula vav (and) before Hezron, which is not omitted anywhere else throughout this section, except at the beginning of the different groups of towns, as, for example, before Ziph in Joshua 15:24, and Amam in Joshua 15:26, and therefore ought to stand before Hezron if it is an independent town. The Masoretic pointing cannot be regarded as a decisive proof of the contrary.

Ziph, and Telem, and Bealoth,

15:20-63 Here is a list of the cities of Judah. But we do not here find Bethlehem, afterwards the city of David, and ennobled by the birth of our Lord Jesus in it. That city, which, at the best, was but little among the thousands of Judah, Mic 5:2, except that it was thus honoured, was now so little as not to be accounted one of the cities.