Third group; lying eastward of the towns named in the last two, and next to "the wilderness."

Joshua 15:55

The four towns retain their ancient names with but little change. Maon 1 Samuel 23:24; 1 Samuel 25:2, the home of Nabal, is to be looked for in the conical hill, "Main," the top of which is covered with ruins. It lies eight or nine miles southeast of Hebron Carmel 1 Samuel 25:2, the modern "Kurmul," is a little to the north of "Main." The name belongs to more than one place Joshua 12:22. Ziph gave its name to "the wilderness" into which David fled from Saul 1 Samuel 23:14.

Maon - In a desert to which this town gave name, David took refuge for a considerable time from the persecution of Saul; and in this place Nabal the Carmelite had great possessions. See 1 Samuel 23:24, 1 Samuel 23:25; 1 Samuel 25:2.

Carmel - Not the celebrated mount of that name, but a village, the residence of Nabal. See 1 Samuel 25:2. It was near Maon, mentioned above, and was about ten miles eastward of Hebron. It is the place where Saul erected a trophy to himself after the defeat of the Amalekites; see 1 Samuel 15:12.

Ziph - See on Joshua 15:24 (note).

Maon, Carmel,.... Maon was the dwelling place of Nabal the Carmelite, whose possessions were in Carmel, and were not far from one another, 1 Samuel 25:2. It gave name to a wilderness near where David hid himself from Saul, 1 Samuel 23:25; Jerom (p) places it to the east of Daroma, who also informs (q) us, that there was in his time a village that went by the name of Carmelia, ten miles from Hebron towards the east, and where was a Roman garrison.

and Ziph, according to the same writer (r), was eight miles from Hebron to the east; and there was a village shown in his time where David was hid; this gave name to a wilderness also, 1 Samuel 23:14,

and Juttah, which Jerom calls (s) Jeshan, was in his time a large village of the Jews, eighteen miles from Eleutheropolis, to the southern part in Daroma. Reland (t) conjectures that this was the native place of John the Baptist; and that, instead of "a city of Judah", it should be read "the city Juta", Luke 1:39.

(p) De loc. Heb. fol. 93. E. (q) lbid. fol. 92. C. (r) Ibid. fol. 95. G. (s) Ibid. fol. 92. I.((t) Palestin. Illustrat. tom. 2. p. 870.

The third group of ten towns, to the east of both the former groups, towards the desert.

Joshua 15:55

Maon, the home of Nabal (1 Samuel 25:2), on the border of the desert of Judah, which is here called the desert of Maon (1 Samuel 23:25), has been preserved in Tell Man, on a conical mountain commanding an extensive prospect, east by north of Semua, three hours and three-quarters to the S.S.E. of Hebron (Rob. ii. p. 193). Carmel, a town and mountain mentioned in the history of David, and again in the time of Uzziah (1 Samuel 15:12; 1 Samuel 25:2.; 2 Chronicles 26:10). In the time of the Romans it was a large place, with a Roman garrison (Onom.), and is the present Kurmul, on the north-west of Maon, where there are considerable ruins of a very ancient date (Rob. ii. pp. 196ff.). Ziph, in the desert of that name, to which David fled from Saul (1 Samuel 23:14., 1 Samuel 26:2-3), was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:8), and has been preserved in the ruins upon the hill Ziph, an hour and three-quarters to the south-east of Hebron (Rob. ii. p. 191). Juttah, which was assigned to the priests (Joshua 21:16), and was a vicus praegrandis Judaeorum in the time of the fathers (Onom. s. v. Jethan), was eighteen Roman miles to the south (south-east) of Eleutheropolis, and is the present Jutta or Jitta, a large Mahometan place with ruins, an hour and three-quarters to the south of Hebron (Seetzen, iii. p. 8; Rob. ii. p. 191, 628).

Maon, Carmel, and Ziph, and Juttah,

15:55 Ziph - Which gave its name to the neighbouring mountains, 1Sam 26:1.

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.