Joshua 19:25

(25) Their border.—The border of Asher on the west is the Mediterranean. On the east of Asher lies the tribe of Naphtali, but most of the towns named in these verses lie well within the territory of Asher. The northern end of the territory of this tribe lies beyond the limits of the Ordnance Survey, for it reaches “unto great Zidon” (Jos_19:28). The southern boundary is said to be Carmel (Jos_19:26), but no town is identified south of Cabul (Kabûl, south-east of Akkah, sheet 5).

The towns identified are as follows:—

(25) El B’aneh, EL-Yasif or Kefr Yasif (sheet 3).

(26) Khurbet-el-Amûd, and M’aîsleh (? Kh.-Muslih) (sheet 3).

Shihor-libnath (river of glass), the river Belus (sheet 5).

(27) Beth-dagon (Tell-’ Daûk), near the mouth of the Belus.

Neiel.—(Y’Arûn, sheet 5).

Cabul.—(Kabûl, south-east of Akkah, sheet 5).

(28) Hebron.—(Abdon, Kh.-Abdeh, sheet 3). Hammon (El Hama, sheet 3).

Kanah (south-east of Tyre, sheet 1).

(29) Tyre.—(es-Sûr, sheet 1). Hosah (‘Ozziyeh, sheet 1). Achzib (es-Zib, sheet 3, on the coast). (See Jos_15:44 for another place of same name.) Ummah (Kh.-Almah, north of Achzib).

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

25. And their border] The general position of the tribe was on the slope of the Galilean mountains from Carmel northwards, with Manasseh on the south, Zebulun and Issachar on the south-east, and Naphtali on the north-east, a narrow, but beautiful and fertile region.

And their border was Helkath] The first boundary given us is that formed by the cities of Helkath, afterwards given to the Levites (ch. Jos_21:31), Hali, Beten, and Achshaph (ch. Jos_12:20), of none of which cities is the situation known to us.

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 Alammelech, and Amad,.... Of the two first of these there is no mention elsewhere:

and Misheal is the same with Mashal, Ch1 6:74; and is by Jerom (l) called Masan, and said to be near Carmel to the sea:

and reacheth to Carmel westward; or, "to the sea", as Carmel is called "Carmel by the sea"; see Gill on Jer 46:18, it is hereby distinguished from Carmel in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:55; (Pliny (m) calls it a promontory):

and to Shihorlibnath; the Vulgate Latin and Septuagint versions make two places of it: but the sum of the cities after given will not admit of it: more rightly Junius renders it Sihor by Libhath, and takes Sihor to be the river Belus, or Pagidus; so called either because of its likeness to the Nile, one of whose names is Sihor, Jer 2:18; or because its waters might be black and muddy; it was the river out of which sand was fetched to make glass of: and Libnath, which has its name from whiteness, the same writer thinks may be the Album Promontorium, or white promontory of Pliny (n), which he places near Ptolemais, between Ecdippa and Tyre, and is very probable.

(l) De loc. Heb. fol. 93. E. (m) Ut supra. (Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 19.) (n) Ibid.

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

Helkath, a Levitical town Jos 21:31, is probably Yerka, a village about seven or eight miles north-west of Acre, in a Wady of the same name. Alammelech was in the “Wady Melik,” which joins the Kishon from the northeast, not far from the sea.

Shihor-libnath - i. e. “black-white.” The two words are now generally admitted to be the name of a river, probably the modern “Nahr Zerka,” or Blue River, which reaches the sea about 8 miles south of Dor, and whose name has a correspondence both to black and white. Possibly we have in the occurrence of the term Shihor here a trace of the contact, which was close and continuous in ancient times, between Phoenicia and Egypt Jos 13:3. Cabul Jos 19:27 still retains its ancient name; it lies between four and five miles west of Jotapata and about ten miles southeast of Acre.

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

Their border, on the north-west side.

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

25. Achshaph — See on Jos_11:1. In this list, as in other extended lists of cities, no note is usually taken of those whose sites are now unknown.

26. [Carmel — A range of connected hills, whose average height is fifteen hundred feet, running from the northern hills of Samaria northwesterly, and terminating in a lofty promontory which projects boldly into the Mediterranean just south of the bay of Acre. All travellers agree in giving glowing descriptions of the grandeur, beauty, and excellency of Carmel. “There is not a flower,” says Van de Velde, “that I have seen in Galilee, or on the plains along the coast, that I did not find on Carmel.” Mr. Carne says: “No mountain in or around Palestine retains its ancient beauty so much as Carmel. its groves are few but luxuriant. It is no place for crags and precipices, or rocks of the wild goats; but its surface is covered with a rich and constant verdure.”] Shihor-libnath, river of whiteness, is a matter of great dispute. Every stream, from the Belus southward to the Crocodile River inclusive, has been selected as the river here mentioned. It must have been south of Dor, (Tantura,) which belonged to Asher. Jos_17:11.

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

Helkath. A Levitical city. (Jos_21:31 1Ch_6:75, where it is called Hukok)

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