Joshua 19:6

And Bethlebaoth, and Sharuhen,.... Whether the first is the same with Lebaoth, a city of Judah, Joshua 15:32; and with the Bethleptepha of Josephus (b), and the Betholene of Pliny (c), is not

And Bethlebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities and their villages: Sharuhen , [Septuagint renders it hoi agroi autoon, probably reading sodiyhen] - their fields, as Reland ('Palaestina') conjectures.

Thirteen cities, or, towns, as some of them are called. . Nor are all Simeon’ s cities here numbered, for Etam is added, , unless that were built afterward.

XIX. OF SIMEON (Joshua 19:1-9). (1) Their inheritance was within the inheritance of the children of Judah.—The southern part of the inheritance of Judah was given up to Simeon. (See Judges 1:3; Judges 1:17.) In this fact a prophecy was fulfilled; for the effect of the allotment was to separate Simeon from the tribes with whom he had been united in the journey through the wilderness (viz., Reuben and Gad), who had cast off Simeon, and united themselves with the half tribe of Manasseh instead. Being also separated from Levi, Simeon was still further isolated: with the result that in the final separation of Israel and Judah, after Solomon’s death, the tribe of Simeon, though adhering to the kingdom of the ten tribes (for the children of Simeon were counted strangers in Judah—2 Chronicles 15:9), was separated from the territory of that kingdom by the whole breadth of the kingdom of Judah. Thus were Jacob’s words brought to pass, which he spoke on his death-bed regarding Simeon and Levi: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.(2) Beer-sheba.—Bir-es-seba. Sheba (Shema). (7) Ain, Remmon.—Timm er-Rumâmîn.The rest of the cities of Simeon are not identified in Conder’s Biblical Gazetteer, with the exception of Sharuhen (Tell esh-Sherî’ah, north-west of Beer-sheba). (9) The part of the children of Judah was too much for them.—In Judges 1 we read that Judah invoked the assistance of Simeon to complete the conquest of his inheritance, and also assisted Simeon to conquer his. This fact illustrates the character of the conquest of Canaan by Joshua, and shows that when his work was done, something was still left for the individual tribes to do.

Verse 6. Beth-lebaoth] The house or city of lionesses. Probably so called from the numbers of those animals which bred there.

6. 12. Beth-lebaoth] contrasted with Lebaoth above, Joshua 15:32, is called Beth-birei in 1 Chronicles 4:31; 1 Chronicles 13. Sharuhen = Shilhim in Joshua 15:32 = Shaaraim, 1 Chronicles 4:31.