Joshua 19:18

Jos 19:18 And their border was toward Jezreel, and Chesulloth, and Shunem,

Ver. 18. And their border was toward Jezreel, &c.] In a rich and fat soil, according to that was foretold by Jacob and Moses; {Gen 49:14-15 Deu 33:18-19} - "And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant: and he bowed his shoulders to bear, and became a servant to tribute." This was a low poor spirit, and his posterity were, for the general, very unworthy and vile: for his lot here fell in Galilee. Now "doth any good come from Galilee?" saith good Nathanael.

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.

Jos 19:18. Jezreel — The royal city, 1Ki 21:1. This tribe, because it lay between Benjamin on the south and Zebulun on the north, is not here described by its borders, which were the same with theirs, but by some of its cities.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 18. Jezreel] This city, according to Calmet, was situated in an open country, having the town of Legion on the west, Bethshan on the east, on the south the mountains of Gilboa, and on the north those of Hermon.

Shunem] This city was rendered famous by being the occasional abode of the prophet Elisha, and the place where he restored the son of a pious woman to life. 2Kg 4:8. It was the place where the Philistines were encamped on that ruinous day in which the Israelites were totally routed at Gilboa, and Saul and his sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, killed. 1Sa 28:4; 1Sa 31:1, &c.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(18) Zerin (sheet 8), Iksal (sheet 6), Sûlem (sheet 9).

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

18. And their border] lay above that of Manasseh, and, according to Josephus, “extended in length from Carmel to the Jordan, and in breadth to Mount Tabor.”

was toward Jezreel] Observe in this verse that the description of the boundaries of this tribe, though begun, is not continued. Instead, the names of the cities are given, which were included in it.

Jezreel] (= the planting, or seed-plot, of God, now Zerin), stood in the celebrated plain of the name between Gilboa and little Hermon on the brow of a very steep rocky slope of at least 100 feet in a strong and central position, commanding the view towards the Jordan on the east (2Ki_9:17), and visible from Carmel on the west (1Ki_18:46). The splendid site induced Ahab to make it his chief residence. Here (a) he had his palace and “ivory house” (1Ki_21:1; 1Ki_22:39); here (b) he had a watch-tower whence sentinels were able to give timely notice of danger (2Ki_9:17); here (c) Jezebel lived, and from her high window facing eastward watched the entrance of the conquering Jehu (2Ki_9:30).

Chesulloth] (= “the loins”) was probably so called from its position on the slopes of some mountain, possibly between Jezreel and Shunem. On Mr Grove’s map it is marked direct north of Jezreel, and is identified with Chisloth-tabor, the “Xaloth” of Josephus (B. J. iii. 3.1), the “Chasalus” of Jerome.

and Shunem] Now Solâm, three miles to the N.E. of Jezreel in the Esdraelon plain, “full in view of the sacred spot on Mount Carmel, and situated in the midst of the finest corn-fields in the world.” Here (a) the Philistines encamped before the fatal battle of Gilboa (1Sa_28:4); here (b) was the native place of Abishag (1Ki_1:3); here (c) Elisha often lodged in the house of the “Shunammite woman,” and here (d) he raised her son to life (2Ki_4:8-37; 2Ki_8:1-6).

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 Hapharaim,.... The first of these is by Jerom (y) called Aphraim, a city of the tribe of Issachar; and adds, there is at this day a village called Affarea, six miles from Legion to the north:

and Shion; of Seon or Soen, the same with Shion here, he says (z), there was a village of this name shown in his time near Mount Tabor:

and Anaharath, of which we have no account elsewhere.

(y) Ut supra, (De loc. Heb.) fol. 88. I. (z) lbid. fol. 94. K.

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

Jezreel and its famous and fertile plain are the choicest part of the inheritance of Issachar Jos 17:16.

Shunem - Here the Philistines pitched before the battle of Gilboa 1Sa 28:4. The place is also known as the home of Abishag 1Ki 1:3, and in connection with Elisha 2Ki 4:8; 2Ki 8:1. It is identified with “Solam” (or, Sulem), a small and poor village on the slope of Little Hermon.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Jezrael. This was a city of the first note, (Menochius) situated in the vale between Mount Hermon and Gelboe, having Bethsan on the east. --- Sunem, where Eliseus raised the child to life, five miles south of Thabor. (St. Jerome) --- Here the Philistines were encamped the day before the battle, in which Saul was slain and Israel dispersed, 1 Kings xxviii. 4. (Calmet)

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).

Jezreel, the royal city, 1Ki 21:1. This tribe, because it lay between Benjamin on the south and Zebulun on the north, is not here described by its borders, which were the same with theirs; but by some of its cities. Shunera, the birth-place of Abishag, 1Ki 1:3.

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

18. Their border was toward Jezreel — Or, rather, it encompassed this city. The writer begins to trace the border, but really enumerates the cities included within it. These were all in the eastern part of the plain of Esdraelon. Jezreel, a name often applied to the plain of Esdraelon, is here limited to a city standing on a gentle swell which rises out of it. It was the chief residence of King Ahab, and seat of the worship of Baal and Astarte, the cult of the Phenician Jezebel. It was remarkable for its central location, and the great beauty and commanding character of its site. Its modern name is Zerin, containing only a few wretched hovels clustering around an old, ruined tower.

Chesulloth — Probably the same as Chisloth-tabor in Jos_19:12. [Shunem was at the modern village of Solam, which lies at the western base of the Little Hermon, and about three miles north of Jezreel. Here the Philistines encamped before Saul’s last battle, (1Sa_28:4,) and here was the home of the Shunammite woman whose son Elisha raised to life. 2Ki_4:8.

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

Jezreel. The valley (qme) of Jezreel, known in later Greek as the plain of Esdrsela or Esdraclon (RAPC Jdt 1:8 7:2 2Ma 12:4-9) was "the perennial battlefield of Palestine from that time to the present" (Cooper, "Egyptian Obelisks," p. 33). Lieut. Conder ("Quart. Paper, Pal. Expl. Fund," Jan., 1873), however, takes exception to this statement. "The great battles of Joshua," he says, "were fought far to the south." We presume he would make an exception on behalf of the action by the waters of Merom, and that he does not wish us to forget that the majority of Joshua"s other "battles" were sieges. "David"s wars were fought with the Philistines," he continues, "while the invasions of the Syrians were directed to the neighbourhood of Samaria." But here, again, he would seem to have forgotten 1Sa_29:1 1Ki_20:26 2Ki_13:17, 2Ki_13:25, while he expressly admits that the great battles of Gilboa and Megiddo, in which Saul and Josiah were defeated and met their deaths, were fought here. And we have already seen that twice did the Egyptians invade Syria by this plain. One of these invasions took place while Moses was in Egypt, under Thothmes III The other was the famous expedition of Rameses II against Syria, about the time of Deborah and Barak. If we add to these the victory of Gideon over the Midianites and the overthrow of Sisera, we shall have reason to think that the epithet "the battlefield of Palestine" applied to this plain is not altogether misplaced, especially if, with a large number of critics, we regard the Book of Judith as founded on fact, but relating to events of some other time than that of Nebuchadnezzar. "Well may it be fertile," exclaims Mr. Bartlett ("From Egypt to Palestine," p. 478), "for it has drunk the blood of the Midianite, the Philistine, the Jew, the Roman, the Babylonian, the Egyptian, the Frenchman, the Englishman, the Saracen, and the Turk. It is a singular group to summon up to the imagination, Gideon, Saul, and Jonathan, Deborah, Barak, and Sisera, Ahab, Jezebel, Jehu, Josiah, Omri, and Azariah, Holofernes and Judith, Vespasian and Josephus, Saladin and the Knights Templar, Bonaparte and Kleber." The list is a striking one. But certain it is that the plains of Jezreel have been noted as the highway of every conqueror who wished to make the fertile fields of Palestine his own. The Israelitish invasion alone seems to have been decided elsewhere than on that plain, stretching as it does from the foot of Carmel in a southeasterly direction, and divided in the direction of Jordan by Mount Gilboa and Little Hermon into three distinct branches, in the midst of the southernmost and most extensive of which stands the famous city of Jezreel God"s acre, or sowing ground, as the name indicates. Here Barak and Deborah fell upon the hosts of Jabin, (Jud_1:4:14) descending suddenly from the heights of Tabor with 10, 000 men upon the vast and evidently undisciplined host that lay in the plain. Here Gideon encountered the vast host of the Midianites, (Jud_1:7:12) who, after laying waste the south country, finally encamped in this fertile plain (accurately called qme in Jud_1:6:38), and with their leaders Oreb and Zeeb, and their princes Zebah and Zalmunna, were swept away in one of those sudden and irrational panics so often fatal to Eastern armies. Here Saul, hard by Jezreel, dispirited by his visit to the witch of Endor, on the north of Gilboa, gathered his men together as a forlorn hope, to await the attack of the Philistines, their numbers at first swelled by a number of Israelites whom Saul"s tyranny and oppression had driven into exile. (1Sa 29) Advancing to Jezreel, the Philistine host carried all before them, and drove the Israelites in headlong flight up the steeps of Gilboa, where Saul and his sons fell fighting bravely to the last. (1Sa 30) In the later and sadder days of the Israelitish monarchy, when the ten tribes had been carried into captivity by the Assyrian conqueror, Josiah courted disaster by a rash onslaught upon the Egyptian troops as they marched against Assyria. No details of this fight at Megiddo are preserved, save the fatal fire of the Egyptian archers, who marked Josiah as their victim, and drove, no doubt, his leaderless troops from the field. (2Ki_23:29 2Ch_35:22) At Jezreel, too, Ahab made his capital. Hither Elijah, when "the hand of the Lord was upon him", (1Ki_18:46) ran after the wondrous scene on Mount Carmel, when he alone, in a strength not his own, withstood the "prophets of Baal, even four hundred and fifty men." Here Jehoram stood on the hill, with its commanding view, watching with an uneasy distrust the furious rush of Jehu with his troop from the other side Jordan, and here, in the plat of Naboth the Jezreelite, so fatal to Ahab and his house, did the vengeance decreed overtake the unhappy monarch, (2Ki_9:25) The spot may be still identified. It is the modern Zerin. Ritter describes it (and so does Robinson) as standing on the edge of a precipice 100 feet high, and commanding a fine view of the plain of Beth-shean on the east, and of Esdraelon on the west. There is a tower here which commands the same view as the watchmen of Jehoram commanded, bearing witness to the accuracy of the historian. So in 1Ki_4:12, the mention of Taanach, Megiddo, and the region of Bethshean, as beneath (ltjJmi). Jezreel is another instance of topographical detail which marks the correctness of the record. Another point is that we read in the narrative above mentioned of "chariots." Wilson ("Lands of the Bible," 2:303) was surprised, on leaving the rugged heights of the hill country, to find how easily, if the civilisation of Palestine permitted, excellent roads might be made throughout this region; and Canon Tristram ("Land of Israel," p. 421) has remarked on the desolate appearance now presented by that fertile region, the result of the insecurity for life and property which is so commonly remarked by all who have travelled in the East. Here, where under a better rule would be the abode of peace and plenty, no cultivator of the land dare venture to pass the night, exposed to the depredations of the wild tribes that infest the country. Only a mountain fastness, hard to climb and comparatively easy to defend, affords a secure retreat for those who would live peaceably in that once favoured land. Shunem. Now Sulem: the place of the encampment of the Philistines before they "pitched in Aphek". (1Sa_28:4 1Sa_29:1) It was "five Roman miles south of Mount Tabor" (Vandevelde) and an hour and a half (i.e. about six miles) north of Jezreel (Keil and Delitzsch). Here Abishag the Shunammite lived, (1Ki_1:3 1Ki_2:17, 1Ki_2:21) and here Elisha lodged, and afterwards restored the son of his entertainers to life. (2Ki 4 2Ki 8)

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

Jezreel - The royal city, 1 Kings xxi, 1. This tribe, because it lay between Benjamin on the south, and Zebulun on the north, is not here described by its borders, which were the same with theirs; but by some of its cities.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.