The Calebite Family Settlements Around Bethlehem

The Chronicler's detailed genealogy of Caleb's descendants in 1 Chronicles 2:42-55 preserves the names of a cluster of small Judahite settlements around Bethlehem that the Calebite-Bethlehemite clan founded or maintained: "The sons of Salma; Bethlehem, and the Netophathites, Ataroth, the house of Joab, and half of the Manahethites, the Zorites." The list reads like a snapshot of the rural community network of the late monarchy or early postexile period, recording families whose lineage traced back through Caleb and Hur down to settlements that filled the highland villages south of Jerusalem.

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