Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 1:36

"And the border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward." — Judges 1:36 (ASV)

The coast of the Amorites. — This notice is added to account for the obstinate resistance of the Amorites by showing the extent of their domain, which reached far to the south of Petra. Hazezon Tamar, “the sanctuary of the palm,” afterwards called Engedi, “the goat’s fountain,” belonged to them (Genesis 14:7; 2 Chronicles 20:2; Tristram, Land of Israel, page 784). Another opinion given is that the verse is added to summarize the chapter. It shows that neither the northern, eastern, nor western boundaries were thoroughly secured, but only that of the southern tribes.

From the going up to Akrabbim. — This is the same as Maaleh Akrabbim (Joshua 15:3) and “the ascent of scorpions” (Numbers 34:4). It is probably the Wady-es-Zuweirah (De Saulcy, La Terre Sainte, i. 528), where scorpions abound to this day under every stone, or the Wady-es-Sufah.

Robinson supposes it to be the line of rocks that crosses the Jordan valley at right angles, eleven miles south of the Dead Sea (Biblical Researches, volume II, page 120). It is the Akrabattine of 1 Maccabees 5:3. This ascent formed the southern boundary of the Holy Land, being a wall of cliffs that separates the Jordan valley from the wilderness.

From the rock. — This refers to “Ras-Selah,” that is, from Petra, the famous capital of Idumea (2 Kings 14:7; Isaiah 16:1; Obadiah 1:3). Keil and Delitzsch refer it to the well-known rock at Kadesh-Meribah (Numbers 20:8–10).

And upward. — It is uncertain whether this means “and beyond,” that is, their border extended even farther south; or, “and northwards,” that is, this was their extreme southern limit.

The history of the Twelve Tribes is nowhere separately detailed in Scripture. The reader will find the character and career of each tribe graphically sketched in Dean Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine, Judges 3–11; and more briefly in his Lectures on the Jewish Church, volume 1, pages 261–281.