Joshua 19:29

Jos 19:29 And [then] the coast turneth to Ramah, and to the strong city Tyre; and the coast turneth to Hosah; and the outgoings thereof are at the sea from the coast to Achzib:

Ver. 29. To the strong city Tyre.] Founded upon a rock, environed with rocks, and encircled by the sea; whence she held herself invincible, but was sacked by great Alexander, and two thousand of her inhabitants were crucified. Let not the strong man glory in his strength.

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 19:29-30. To Ramah — From the north southward. To the strong city of Tyre — This translation is questionable; for we never read one word of the city of Tyre (unless it be here) until the days of David; though we often read of Sidon in the books of Moses; even in the prophecy of Jacob. It is highly probable some other place is meant by Tzor, as the word is in the Hebrew. And the out-goings thereof, &c. — That is, it ended at the country which belonged to Achzib; for so hebel, which we here translate coast, signifies. Twenty-two cities — Here are more named, but some of them were not within this tribe, but only bordering places.

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

Which was Tyre, a strong city in the sea.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

and then the coast turneth to Ramah--now El-Hamra, which stood where the Leontes (Litany) ends its southern course and flows westward.

and to the strong city Tyre--The original city appears to have stood on the mainland, and was well-fortified. From Tyre the boundary ran to Hosah, an inland town; and then, passing the unconquered district of Achzib (Jdg 1:31), terminated at the seacoast.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 29. The strong city Tyre] I suspect this to be an improper translation. Perhaps the words of the original should be retained: And the coast turneth to Ramah and to the city, מבצר צר mibtsar tsor. Our translators have here left the Hebrew, and followed the Septuagint and Vulgate, a fault of which they are sometimes guilty. The former render the place ̔ως πολεως οχυρωματος των Τυριων, unto the fortified city of the Tyrians. The Vulgate is nearly the same: ad civitatem munitissimam Tyrum, to the well-fortified city Tyre; but this must be incorrect for the famous city of Tyre was not known tiil about A.M. 2760, about two hundred years after the days of Joshua. Homer, who frequently mentions Sidon and the Sidonians, never mentions Tyre; a proof that this afterwards very eminent city was not then known. Homer is allowed by some to have flourished in the time of Joshua, though others make him contemporary with the Israelitish judges.

The word צר Tsor or Tsar, which we translate or change into Tyre, signifies a rock or strong place; and as there were many rocks in the land of Judea, that with a little art were formed into strong places of defense, hence several places might have the name of Tsar or Tyre. The ancient and celebrated Tyre, so much spoken of both in sacred and profane history, was a rock or small island in the sea, about six or seven hundred paces from the main land. In order to reduce this city, Alexander the Great was obliged to fill up the channel between it and the main land, and after all took it with much difficulty. It is generally supposed that a town on the main land, opposite to this fortified rock, went by the same name; one being called old Tyre, the other, new Tyre: it was out of the ruins of the old Tyre, or that which was situated on the main land, that Alexander is said to have filled up the channel between it and the new city. Of this city Isaiah, Isa 23:1-18, and Ezekiel, Eze 27:1-28:26, have given a very grand description, and also predicted its irreparable ruin which prophecies have been most literally fulfilled. See more on the above places.

Achzib] Called afterwards Ecdippe, and now called Zib; it is about nine miles' distance from Ptolemais, towards Tyre.

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

29. and then the coast turneth to Ramah] Having reached Zidon by Kanah, the boundary bent southward by Ramah, and so turned to the “strong,” or “fortified city” of Tyre. Robinson would identify Ramah with Rameh, south-east of Tyre, on a solitary hill in the midst of a basin of green fields, and surrounded by greater heights (Bib. Res. iii. 63).

the strong city Tyre] “The most strengthened citie Tyruns” (Wyclif) here alluded to is not the island of Tyre, but the city standing on the mainland, now Sûr.

turneth to Hosah] From Tyre the border turned toward Hosah, the site of which is unknown, and finally ran towards the sea in the region of Achzib, the modern es-Zib, on the sea-shore, little more than two hours from Acre. The Canaanites, we are told (Jdg_1:31), were afterwards not expelled from it by the tribe of Asher, and in classical times it was known as Ecdippa. It is to be noted that both the fortified city Tyre and great Zidon were included in Asher’s inheritance, but no effort was made by the Israelites to obtain possession of these Phœnician cities.

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.

Ummah also,.... Ummah is not mentioned any where else:

and Aphek; of which; see Gill on Jos 12:18,

and Rehob; of which; see Gill on Jos 19:28,

twenty and two cities with their villages: there are more set down in the account, but some of them did not belong to the tribe, only were on the border of it.

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

Horma. Hebrew, Septuagint, &c., Rama, "a height." --- Of Tyre. When this city was founded, is wrapped up in obscurity. The Tyrian priests claim a very high antiquity; whereas Josephus (Antiquities viii. 2,) allows that the city was founded only 200 years after Josue, on which supposition this name must have been added by a subsequent writer. The matter, however, is so uncertain, that nothing can be concluded. It was a colony of Sidon, Isaias xxiii. 12. Old Tyre was on the continent; the new city was built in an island, where the temple of Jupiter Olympius formerly stood. Alexander made a road between the two cities, when he besieged New Tyre: which, on that account, may be considered either as an island, or as part of the continent. He used for this purpose the ruins of the old city, which he threw into the sea. Hiram had formed a similar road to the temple of Jupiter. (Dius. ap. Josephus, contra Apion i.) Whether Nebuchodonosor besieged the Old or the New Tyre, soon after he had taken Jerusalem, authors are not agreed. St. Jerome (in Ezechiel xxviii., and Amos i., &c.) seems to think that he attacked the new city; whereas Marsham believes that it was built only after the other had fallen a prey to the arms of the Chaldeans. It was only five or 700 paces from the continent. Tyrus quondam insula præalto mari septingentis passibus divisa, nunc vero Alexandri oppugnantis operibu continens. (Pliny, [Natural History?] v. 19.) --- Portion. Hebrew, "from the coast of Achzib," which is the same town as Ecdippe, south of Tyre, and nine miles from Ptolemais. (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).

The coast turneth from the north southward.

To the strong city Tyre; exclusively, for this city was no part of the land given them.

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

29. Ramah — Robinson confidently identifies this place with the modern village Rameh, which stands on an isolated hill about ten miles southeast of Tyre. It has no traces of antiquity except some very ancient sarcophagi. Tyre, a rock, is a colony of Zidon, and is a few miles south on the seacoast. The old city stood on the main land and was strongly fortified.

New Tyre, which was taken by Alexander the Great, was built on a rock in the sea. It is probably Old Tyre that is named in the text, but Keil endeavours to prove that New Tyre was in existence in the days of Joshua, discrediting Josephus, who says that it was built two hundred and forty years before the Temple of Solomon. It was a great commercial emporium, and became the burden of prophecies (see Isaiah 23; Ezekiel 26) which have been remarkably fulfilled. Achzib, now called Zib, is on the coast nine miles north of Acre.

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

The strong city Tyre. Rather, the fortified city. The general impression among commentators appears to be that the island city of Tyre, afterwards so famous, had not as yet come into existence. And the word here used, rxbmi seems to be more in accordance with the idea of a land fortress than of one so exceptionally protected as an island fortress would be. This expression, like "great Zidon" above, implies the comparative antiquity of the Book of Joshua. The island city of Tyre, so famous in later history, was not yet founded. The city on the mainland (called Ancient Tyre by the historians) was "the chief seat of the population till the wars of the Assyrian monarchs against Phoenicia" (Kenrick, "Phoenicia," p. 344).

He adds, "The situation of Palae-Tyrus was one of the most fertile spots on the coast of Phoenicia. The plain, is here about five miles wide; the soft is dark, and the variety of its productions excited the wonder of the Crusaders." William of Tyre, the historian of the Crusades, tells us that, although the territory was scanty in extent, "exiguitatem suam multa redimit ubertate." The position of Tyre, as a city of vast commercial importance and artistic skill in the time of David and Solomon, is clear enough from the sacred records. It appears still (2Sa_24:6, 2Sa_24:7) to have been on the mainland, for the successors of Rameses II, up to the time of Sheshonk, or Shishak, were unwarlike monarchs, and the Assyrian power had not yet attained its subsequent formidable dimensions. We meet with Eth-baal, or Itho-baal, in later Scripture history, remarkable as the murderer of the last of Hiram"s descendants, and the father of the infamous Jezebel, from which we may conclude that a great moral and therefore political declension had taken place since the days of Hiram. The later history of Tyre may be inferred from the prophetic denunciations, intermingled with descriptive passages, found in Isaiah 23, and Eze 26 Eze 27 Joe_3:3-8 and Amo_1:9 had previously complained of the way in which the children of Israel had become the merchandise of Tyre, and had threatened the vengeance of God. But the minute and powerful description in Ezekiel 27, shows that Tyre was still great and prosperous. She was strong enough to resist the attacks of successive Assyrian monarchs. Shalmaneser"s victorious expedition (so Alexander tells us) was driven back from the island fortress of Tyre. Sennacherib, in his vainglorious boast of the cities he has conquered, (Isa 36 Isa 37) makes no mention of Tyre. Even Nebuchadnezzar, though he took and destroyed Palae-Tyrus, appears to have been baffled in his attempt to reduce the island city. Shorn of much of its ancient glory, Tyre still remained powerful, and only succumbed, after a resistance of seven months, to the splendid military genius of Alexander the Great. But Alexander refounded Tyre, and its position and its commercial reputation secured for it a large part of its former importance. The city continued to flourish, even though Phoenicia was for a long period the battleground between the Syrian and the Egyptian monarchies. To Christian readers, the description by Eusebius of the splendid church erected at Tyre by its Bishop Paulinus will have an interest. He describes it as by far the finest in all Phoenicia, and appends the sermon he preached on the occasion. Even in the fourth century after Christ, St. Jerome ("Comm. ad Ezekiel," 26:7) wonders why the prophecy concerning Tyre has never been fulfilled. "Quod sequitur, "nee aedificaberis ultra," videtur facere quaestionem quomodo non sit aedificata, quam hodie cernimus nobilissimam et pulcherrimam civitatem." But the present state of Tyre warns us not to be too hasty in pronouncing any Scripture prophecy to have failed. Even Sidon is not the wretched collection of huts and ruined columns which is all that remains of the once proud city Tyre. And the outgoings thereof are at the sea from the coast to Achzib. Rather, and the western extremity is from Hebel to Achzib. Hebel signifies a region or possession, as in ver. 9. Here, however, it seems to be a proper name. Achzib. "A city of Asher, not conquered by that tribe, (Jud 1:31) now the village of Zib, two-and-a-half hours north of Akka," or Acre (Vandevelde). Keil and Delitzsch make the journey a three hours" one. But Manndrell, who also corroborates St. Jerome in the distance (nine Roman miles), states that he performed the journey hence to Acre in two hours.

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

To Ramah - From the north southward. To Tyre - Exclusively, for this city was no part of the land given them. But this was not the same city we read of afterwards. For that was built on an island, this on the continent. Probably into these strong holds Tyre and Sidon, many of the Canaanites fled, when Joshua invaded them.

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

Hosah ... Akzib ... Ummah ... Aphek ... Rehob

These are the names of places. (See: How to Translate Names)

translationWords

Ramah

Tyre

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

Fortified city of the Rock. Cities of fortress, cities of might.

Rock—צוּר means a rock.

From the lot of Achziv. [חֶבֶל means a rope of Achziv] but here it refers to the lot of Achziv.

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.