‘ And to Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a portion among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of Yahweh to Joshua, even Kiriath-arba, the father of Anak, the same is Hebron.'
The importance given to this first real settlement of the land comes out in that it is repeated three times (Joshua 14:6-15; Joshua 15:13-19; Judges 1:10-15; compare Joshua 11:21-23). It was seen as a highlight, and an indicator of what was to come. It was the first major settlement of the land. Caleb, although a Kennizite (Numbers 32:12), was a recognised prince of Judah (Numbers 13:3; Numbers 13:6). We must remember that Israel were made up of many nations (Exodus 12:38), incorporated into the tribal system, something not likely to be invented later. Later the Israelites looked back proudly to their ancestry as children of the patriarchs. For details of the giving of this portion see Joshua 14:6-15.
“Even Kiriath-arba.” This means ‘the city of four' or ‘city of Arba' - see Genesis 23:2. LXX described it as ‘the mother-city of the Anakim'. But there is no reason to reject Arba as a name or nickname and it is certainly related to the Anakim in some way, so when we are told here that it was named after a famous ancestor of the Anakim, named Arba, possibly because he had the strength or usefulness of four men (compare Joshua 15:13; Joshua 21:11 - which suggests that LXX translated ‘father' as ‘mother' because it related the latter more to a city) it makes good sense. It was the ancient name of Hebron.
“According to the commandment of YHWH to Joshua.” See Joshua 14:13. Joshua would not have acted without YHWH's command. Compare Deuteronomy 1:26.