Bible Commentaries

The Second Allotment (continued). The Territories of Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, Dan. The Inheritance of Joshua

1-9. The lot of Simeon. Observe that no borders are named, and the lot includes towns previously taken by Judah (Joshua 15:31-32): see Joshua 19:9. This tribe was settled in the Negeb, or 'south country,' that slopes away from the Hebron range towards the desert, bounded on the W. by the Mediterranean and on the E. by the Dead Sea and the Valley of Edom.

10-16. The lot of Zebulun: in the low hills W. of Nazareth and E. of Accho.

17-23. The lot of Issachar: comprising the plain of Esdraelon.

22. Tabor] Here Zebulun, Issachar, and Naphtali had a common border.

24-31. The lot of Asher: the coast and low hills, from Carmel to Tyre.

32-39. The lot of Naphtali: the high mountains of upper Galilee, and plateau E. of Mt. Tabor to the W. shores of the Sea of Galilee, and the Jordan Valley N. of it.

40-48. The lot of Dan: (a) the original inheritance (Joshua 19:40-46); (b) the later acquisition in the N. (Joshua 19:47-48). The territory in the S. lies W. of Benjamin along the two parallel valleys that lead through the Shephelah to the sea, viz. Aijalon and Sorek. The song of Deborah. (Judges 5:17) seems to imply that the Danites had then reached the coast, but the maritime plain was probably never fully occupied by them, and what they had held of it was soon abandoned in favour of a new colony(Joshua 19:47-48).

In LXX our Joshua 19:48 follows 46, where it is more naturally in place, and both it and Joshua 19:47 (which follows it in LXX) contain additional matter about the Danites' struggle with the Amorites, which fits in well with Judges 1:34, where we are told that 'the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the hill-country; for they would not suffer them to come down into the valley.' This obviously gives the reason for the expedition northward.

47. The taking of Leshem (called in Judges 'Laish') is related in Judges 18:7, Judges 18:27-29.

49-51. Concluding section: Joshua's own inheritance. Joshua and his comrade Caleb (Joshua 15:13), the sole representatives of the generation of the exodus, receive each a special 'inheritance' of his own choice.

50. According to the word of the Lord] cp. Numbers 14:24, Numbers 14:30 with Joshua 14:9, Joshua 14:10. Timnath-serah] cp. Joshua 24:30 called Timnath-heres in Judges 2:9, probably Kefr-Hâris, 9 m. S. of Shechem.