The Calebite Genealogy of Maacah Sheba and Machbenah in the Southern Judean Highlands

1 Chronicles 2:48-49 preserves a corner of the Calebite genealogy through Caleb's concubine Maacah: "Maachah, Caleb's concubine, bare Sheber, and Tirhanah. She bare also Shaaph the father of Madmannah, Sheva the father of Machbenah, and the father of Gibea: and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah." Like many Chronicler entries, the names yield not just people but towns — each son becomes the eponymous father of a Judean hill country settlement. The Calebite branch of Judah occupied the southern hill country around Hebron, anchoring the conquest in the family tree of the spy who alongside Joshua had stood firm at Kadesh-barnea.

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