Beth-marcaboth = “house of chariots.”
Hazar - susim = “village of horses;” for which Hazarsusah is an equivalent (susah being used as a collective word).
Beth-birei. — Probably a corrupt writing of Beth-lebaoth, “house of lionesses” (Joshua 19:6), for which Joshua 15:32 has the contraction Lebaoth. There were lions in the wilds of Judah (1 Samuel 17:34). (Comp. Judges 14:5; 1 Kings 13:24.)
Shaaraim (two gates) is Sharuhen (Joshua 19:6), and Shilhim (Joshua 15:32). Sharuhen is known from Egyptian inscriptions (Sharuhuna).
These were their cities unto the reign of David, and their villages. — Joshua 19:6 shows that this is the right punctuation: “And Beth-lebaoth and Sharuhen: thirteen towns, and their villages.”
Unto the reign of David. — Does this mean that in the age of David the thirteen cities passed from the possession of the Simeonites? Ziklag, at all events, was at that time a Philistine borough (1 Samuel 27:6).