Genesis 10:19

Gen 10:19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.

Ver. 19. And the border of the Canaanites.] Which was afterwards enlarged to the Israelites by the addition of two kingdoms beyond Jordan.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10:19 The territory of Canaan is specifically marked off because it would be taken from its inhabitants and given to Israel (see 15:18; Num 34:2-12; Ezek 47:15-20; 48:1-28). • An ancient north-south seacoast highway (the Via Maris) extended from Sidon . . . to Gerar, connecting Egypt to Mesopotamia. • Modern Gaza is 11 miles northwest of Gerar. • Sodom and Gomorrah were cities on the border of the land southeast of the Dead Sea. • Admah and Zeboiim are mentioned 15 times in connection with Sodom and Gomorrah (14:2, 8; Deut 29:23; see Hos 11:8). All four cities were destroyed by God to cleanse the land (see Gen 19). • Lasha was possibly in the northern region of the Dead Sea.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(19, 20) The border . . . —The boundaries given are Sidon in the north, Gerar and Gaza in the south and south-west, and thence to the Dead Sea. The only Lasha known is a place famous for its hot springs on the east of the Red Sea Though the Phœnicians may-have occupied this town on their way to Palestine, it could not have been one of their boundaries, so that it is probably some place destroyed in the convulsion which overthrew the cities of the plain. We must notice also that while Sidon is Aradus and Hamath were considerably above it. It is probable, therefore, that both the Arvadite and the Hamathite were still wandering tribes without settlements when this table was drawn up.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. And the border of the Canaanite] This verse describes the geographical limits of the extension of the Canaanite peoples in a southerly direction, with Zidon as the starting-point in the north. As the limit on the south-west, we have “toward Gerar unto Gaza,” and on the south-east “toward Sodom and Gomorrah, &c. unto Lasha.” This would represent a triangle, having Zidon on the north, with Gaza and Lasha on the south-west and south-east. The description is not free from obscurity. “Toward Gerar unto Gaza” is hardly a natural definition; since Gaza lies to the north of Gerar.

“Lasha,” or, as we should read it, “Lesha,” was identified by Jerome with “Callirrhoe” on the east side of the Dead Sea; but, as the name does not occur elsewhere, this is only a traditional conjecture. Kittel (Biblia Hebraica) identifies it with “Bela,” or “Zoar” (Gen_14:2) which is mentioned together with the four “cities of the plain.”

For “Lasha,” Wellhausen conjectures “unto Laish” in the north-east of Palestine, which would give a fourth geographical limit of the Canaanite border, and alter the scheme of delimitation from a triangular to a four-sided area of country.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon,.... This is to be understood, not of the Canaanites, properly so called, but of them in general; and is a description of the bounds of the land of Canaan, as possessed by the people of Israel: the northern or north west border of it was Sidon, see Gen 10:15 and is to be understood of the country which reached from that city towards the east almost as far as Jordan:

as thou comest from Gerar unto Gaza; two cities of the Philistines, well known in Scripture, the former for being the place where Abraham and Isaac sometimes sojourned, and the latter for Samson's exploits in it; these were the southern or south west border of the land of Canaan:

as thou goest unto Sodom and Gomorrah, and Admah and Zeboim; four cities destroyed by fire from heaven, as is after related in this book; these lay to the south or south east part of the land:

even unto Lashah; which, according to the Targum of Jonathan, is Callirrhoe, a place famous for hot waters, which run into the Dead sea, and who in this is followed by Jerom; but since it was not in the southern part of Judea, as Lashah was, Bochart proposes (a) Lusa, as being more likely to be the place, a city of the Arabs, which Ptolemy (b) puts in the midway between the Mediterranean and the Red sea; but this is objected to by Reland (c), since the southern borders of the land of Canaan were from the extremity of the Dead sea unto the Mediterranean sea, from which Lusa was at a great distance: the Samaritan version of this verse is very different from the Hebrew, and is this,"and the border of the Canaanites was from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates, and unto the hinder sea:''i.e. the western or Mediterranean.

(a) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 37. col. 309. (b) Geograph. l. 5. c. 17. (c) Palestina Illustrata, tom. 2. p. 871.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

To Lesa, or Laisa, to the north, on the Jordan, as Sodom was on the southern extremity of that river. Sidon and Gaza were on the Mediterranean sea, north and south; so that these four cities are like four points, determining the extent of the promised land, which, as it was important for the Israelites to know, Moses descends to these particulars in speaking of the Chanaanites.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

From Sidon, i.e. the city and country of Sidon, on the north-west.

Unto Gaza, on the south-west.

Zeboim, on the south and south-east.

Lasha, on the north-east.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

19. The territory of the Canaanites is now described, in general terms, as commencing at the Phenician city of Sidon and running southward to Gerer and Gaza, cities of the Philistines, then spreading eastward to the great plain of Siddim, which is now covered by the southern portion of the Dead Sea, but which, at the time this narrative was written, was occupied by the cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim. This statement shows that this chapter must have been written at least as early as the time of Abraham. The location of Lasha is unknown, although Jerome, and others following him, identify it with Callirhoe, north-east of the Dead Sea. But there are no remains there, and the identification is doubtful.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon (its northern boundary), as thou comesti.e. as thou goest, in the direction ofto Gerar, between Kadesh and Shur (Gen_20:1) unto Gaza (now called Guzzeh, at the south-west corner of Palestine); as thou gout, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, (vide Gen_19:24) Callirrhoe (Hieronymus, Jerusalem Targum, Josephus, Rosenm Keil, Kalisch); possibly a variation of Laish and Leshem, a Sidonian city near the sources of the Jordan (Murphy).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

border

line between one person's land and another person's land

from Sidon, in the direction of Gerar, as far as Gaza

The direction south can be stated explicitly if needed. AT: "from Sidon city in the north as far south as Gaza town, which is near Gerar" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

as one goes toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboyim, as far as Lasha

The direction "east" or "inland" can be stated explicitly if needed. AT: "then east toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboyim towns, as far as Lasha" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

These were the sons of Ham

The word "these" refers to the people and people groups who were listed in verses Genesis 6-19.

by their languages

"broken up according to their different languages"

in their lands

"in their homelands"

translationWords

Canaan

Sidon

Gaza

Sodom

Gomorrah

Ham

nation

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

גבול הכנעני THE BOUNDARY OF THE CANAANITE means the end of his land: wherever גבול occurs it signifies end and extremity.

באכה AS THOU COMEST - This word is a noun. I think it is a colloquial expression like that used by a person who says to another: This boundary stretches until you come to such and such a boundary.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ויהי, now the Torah mentions the territorial boundaries extending from Tzidon to Sodom, but fails to list all the boundaries, seeing that these will be mentioned independently on future occasions. The story here has as its function to inform us that it had been G’d’s will that the Canaanites settle permanently in one region until the time came for their destruction in the days of Moses and Joshua, seeing that G’d had chosen the Israelites to dwell in that land. In fact, settlement of the Canaanite tribes in the land later to become the land of Israel was for the sake of the Israelites. When the Israelites would take over that country which had been developed agriculturally, and in which their remained most of the infra structure of a wealthy nation, it saved them the trouble of developing virgin land, [as did the Europeans who settled in America. Ed.] The Torah points that out specifically in Deuteronomy 6,11 writing that G’d is bringing the Jewish people to a land with beautiful cities which they did not have to build, houses full of every good thing that the Jews did not have to accumulate, water cisterns full with supplies of drinking water, etc. It is clear from the verse in Deut. 32,8 to which we referred already, that the sections of territory occupied by the Canaanites had been designed from the outset as the territory that would, when the time was ripe, be allocated to the 12 tribes of the Jewish people. The Canaanites preceded the Israelites, seeing that they had been cursed to be slaves to the descendants of Shem, i.e. Israel. A slave prepares things so that his master can subsequently enjoy them.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.