And Lebaoth, and Shilhim, and Ain, and Rimmon: all the cities are twenty and nine, with their villages:
(27) And Lebaoth (place of lionesses). It is called (Joshua 19:6) Beth-lebaoth and (1 Chronicles 4:31) Beth-birei [Septuagint, Laboos]; placed by Wilton on a low hill northeast of 'Arad, the site of a ruin called el-Beyudh. There are numerous caves in the neighbourhood, and the footprints of lions have been discovered by several modern travelers.
(28) And Shilhim. The list of cities in the Negeb assigned to Simeon contains (Joshua 19:6) Sharuhen, and that in 1 Chronicles 4:31, Shaaraim, in lieu of Shilhim. These seem to have been variations of the name, or perhaps corruptions of a later age. Its site is supposed by Wilton to be el-Birein (the wells), and Khurbet es-Seram.
(29) And Ain. This is regarded by Robinson ('Biblical Researches,' 2:, p. 625) as a separate place, being mentioned among the cities of the south (see the note at Joshua 19:7; Joshua 21:16). But it may be taken here as qualifying the following word,
Ain Rimmon (fountain of the, pomegranate). It is called, Joshua 19:7, Remmon in our version, though neither in that passage, nor 1 Chronicles 4:32, nor Nehemiah 11:29, is there an alteration in the Hebrew form of the word [Septuagint, Eroomooth]. Wilton identifies it with Umer-rumamim (Arabic, 'the mother of pomegranates') 'beyond Beer-sheba, near the northeast angle of that portion of the Negeb formed by the junction of the hill country with the Wadies Sheriah and Khuweilifeh, the latter always an important watering-place.'
All the cities are twenty and nine, with their villages, х wªchatsreeyhen (H2691)] - and their hamlets; moveable enclosures usually erected in the vicinity of cities (see Joshua 13:23; Leviticus 25:31). In the preceding exposition, as to the number, arrangement, and identification of the cities, we have for the most part followed the theory Mr. Wilton supports in his 'Negeb,' under the impression that, in our present imperfect acquaintance with the region south of Palestine, no more trustworthy guide can be obtained. Not that we put implicit faith in all his interpretations-for we deem some of them merely conjectural, and others doubtful-but his work must be acknowledged to be an interesting and ingenious application of philological reasoning and the researches of modern travelers, to elucidate an obscure department in Biblical geography; and the rules he prescribed to himself in conducting his inquiries into the comparative etymology of the ancient and modern names, as well as into all the conditions required by the various Scripture notices of the cities in the Negeb, are founded upon principles unquestionably sound and comprehensive, though the conclusions to which they have led him remain to be tested by the results of future and systematic exploration.