Clarke's Bible Commentary - Joshua 15:36
Verse 36. Gederah] See the note on chap. xii. 13. Fourteen cities] Well reckoned, we shall find fifteen cities here; but probably Gederah and Gederothaim (ver. 36) are the same. See the note on ver. 32.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 36. And Sharaim , etc.] Sharaim seems to be the Saara of Jerom, which he describes as a village on the borders of Eleutheropolis, to the north as you go to Nicopolis (or Emmaus), about ten miles from it in the tribe of Dan or Judah f343 ; there was a place called Bethshaaraim, where the sanhedrim sometimes sat f344 , and where R. Judah was buried f345 . This seems to be the same with Shaaraim in ( 1 Samuel 17:52); and Adithaim ; Jerom observes f346 , under the word “Adithaim”, that there is a village called Adia, near Gaza, and another Aditha, near Diospolis (or Lydda), to the east; and Gederah , which seems to be the same Jerom calls Gaddera, in the tribe of Judah f347 , now, he says, called a village belonging to the country of Aelia (or Jerusalem), by the name of Gadera, about the turpentine tree. and Gederothaim , of which we nowhere else read; Kimchi thinks Gederah and Gederothaim were one city: fourteen cities with their villages ; but, upon counting them, it will appear there are fifteen, which may be reduced to fourteen, if with Kimchi we take the two last to be but one, who in this way reconciles it; or with Jarchi make Tappuah and Enam to be one also, called Entappuah, which is the way he takes to solve the difficulty; but perhaps the case is this, that one of the places in the account was not a city, but a village.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 20-63 - Here is a list of the cities of Judah. But we do not here fin 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 littl among the thousands of Judah, Mic 5:2, except that it was thu honoured, was now so little as not to be accounted one of the cities __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
ושׁערים 8189 ועדיתים 5723 והגדרה 1449 וגדרתים 1453 ערים 5892 ארבע 702 עשׂרה 6240 וחצריהן׃ 2691
