Joshua 19:12

19:10-16 In the division to each tribe of Israel, the prophetic blessings of Jacob were fulfilled. They chose for themselves, or it was divided to them by lot, in the manner and places that he foresaw. So sure a rule to go by is the word of prophecy: we see by it what to believe, and it proves beyond all dispute the things that are of God.

And turned from Sarid eastward,.... This describes the southern border, going on from west to east: towards the sunrising, unto the border of Chislothtabor; this Jerom places in the tribe of Issachar, it bordered on both tribes; and he says (l), that in his time there was a little village called Chaselus, eight miles from Diocaesarea, at the foot of Mount Tabor in the plains: and then goeth out to Daberath; which also was a city in the tribe of Issachar, given to the Levites, Joshua 21:28. Jerom (m) speaks of a little village of the Jews by Mount Tabor, of the country belonging to Diocaesarea, called Dabira; this place is still in being. Mr. Maundrell says (n), at the bottom of Tabor westward stands Debarah, supposed by some to take its name from Deborah, the famous judge and deliverer of Israel: and goeth up to Japhia; this Jerom (o) says is the town called Sycamine, as you go from Caesarea to Ptolemais, above the sea, because of Mount Carmel, called Epha, thought by some to be the Jebba of Pliny (p). It seems, however, to be the Japha of Josephus (q), which he speaks of as being a strong fortified place both by nature and art. (l) De loc. Heb. fol. 88. D. H. (m) lbid. fol. 90. I.((n) Journey from Aleppo, &c. p. 115. (o) De loc. Heb. fol. 92. K. (p) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 19. (q) De Bello Jud. l. 3. c. 6. sect. 31.

12 . and turned from Sarid eastward ] As the border turned from Sarid westward, so also it turned from the same point toward the east, toward the sunrising , unto the border of Chisloth-tabor ] now Iksâl , a rocky height two miles and a half to the west of Mount Tabor. Robinson’s Bib. Res . iii. 182. For Tabor, see below, Joshua 19:22 . Daberath ] Thence it went on to Daberath , a Levitical city, Joshua 21:28 ; 1 Chronicles 6:72 , now Debârieh , a small village “lying on the side of a ledge of rocks directly at the foot of Tabor.” and goeth up to Japhia ] “and stieth up aзens Jasie;” Wyclif. Japhia (= glancing ) is two miles south of Nazareth, the modern Yâfa . Note the words “ goeth up ,” and compare the following words of Porter: “For three quarters of an hour more we wind through picturesque glens, their beds green with corn, and their banks dark with the foliage of the dwarf oak, hawthorn, and wild pear. Yâfa now appears on the top of a tell , down in a glen on the right.” Handbook , ii. p. 385. It was fortified by Josephus, and afterwards captured by Trajan and Titus under the orders of Vespasian; and in the storm and sack of the place 15000 of the inhabitants were put to the sword, and 2130 taken captive. The valley of Nazareth lies 400 feet higher than the plain at the western foot of Tabor.

Jos 19:10-16. Of Zebulun. 10-14. the third lot came up for the children of Zebulun—The boundaries of the possession assigned to them extended from the Lake of Chinnereth (Sea of Galilee) on the east, to the Mediterranean on the west. Although they do not seem at first to have touched on the western shore—a part of Manasseh running north into Asher (Jos 17:10)—they afterwards did, according to the prediction of Moses (De 33:19). The extent from north to south cannot be very exactly traced; the sites of many of the places through which the boundary line is drawn being unknown. Some of the cities were of note.

Sarid, not yet identified, was evidently a leading topographical point on the south frontier of Zebulun. The boundary passed westward until it touched the Kishon, near "Tell Kaimon" ( Joshua 12:22 note), and thence, turned northward, leaving Carmel, which belonged to Asher, on its west. The territory of Zebulun accordingly would not anywhere reach to the Mediterranean, though its eastern side abutted on the sea of Galilee, and gave the tribe those "outgoings" attributed to it in the Blessing of Moses ( Deuteronomy 33:18 ). Daberath ( Joshua 19:12 ) is probably "Deburieh."

Verse 12. - Chisloth-Tabor. The loins or flanks of Tabor. Tabor (the name signifies either quarry - see note on Shebarim, probably a kindred word, Joshua 7:5 - or navel), is one of the most conspicuous mountains of Palestine. Like Soracte, above the Campagna of Rome, "the cone-shaped figure of Tabor can be seen on all sides," though it rises only 1,750 feet (French) above the level of the sea, 800 above the plain at its northeastern base, and 600 above Nazareth on the north-west (Ritter, 2:311). Chisloth-Tabor was on the northwest side of the base of Tabor. Tabor has been supposed to have been the scene of the Transfiguration. But Ritter points out that from the time of Antiochus the Great, 200 years before Christ, to the destruction of Jerusalem, the summit of Tabor was a fortress. And he notices that while Jerome and Cyril mention this tradition, Eusebius, who lived 100 years earlier, knows nothing of it. Joshua 19:12

"And from Sarid the boundary turned eastwards toward the sun-rising to the territory of Chisloth-tabor, and went out to Dabrath, and went up to Japhia." Chisloth-tabor, i.e., according to Kimchi's explanation lumbi Taboris (French, les flancs), was at any rate a place on the side of Tabor, possibly the same as Kesulloth in Joshua 19:18 , as Masius and others suppose, and probably the same place as the Xaloth of Josephus (Bell. Jude 3 .3, 1), which was situated in the "great plain," and the vicus Chasalus of the Onom. (juxta montem Thabor in campestribus), i.e., the present village of Iksl or Ksl, upon a rocky height on the west of Thabor, with many tombs in the rocks (Rob. iii. p. 182). Dabrath, a place in the tribe of Issachar that was given up to the Levites ( Joshua 21:28 ; 1 Chronicles 6:57 ), called Dabaritta in Josephus (Bell. Jud. ii. 21, 3) and Dabira in the Onom. (villula in monte Thabor), the present Deburieh, an insignificant village which stands in a very picturesque manner upon a stratum of rock at the western foot of Tabor (Rob. iii. p. 210; V. de Velde, R. ii. p. 324). Japhia certainly cannot be the present Hepha or Haifa (Khaifa) on the Mediterranean, and near to Carmel (Rel. Pal. p. 826, and Ges.

Thes. s. v.); but it is just as certain that it cannot be the present Jafa, a place half an hour to the south-west of Nazareth, as Robinson (Pal. iii. p. 200) and Knobel suppose, since the boundary was running eastwards, and cannot possibly have turned back again towards the west, and run from Deburieh beyond Sarid. If the positions assigned to Chisloth-tabor and Dabrath are correct, Japhia must be sought for on the east of Deburieh.

Verse 29. - The places mentioned in this verse were assigned to Manasseh. Bethshean was on the west of Jordan, and was within the borders of Issachar ( Joshua 17:11-13 ; 1 Kings 4:11, 12 ). Dor was within the borders of Asher ( Joshua 11:1, 2 ; Joshua 12:23 ; Joshua 17:11 ; Judges 1:27, 28 ). Taanach . This place also lay within the borders of Issachar or Asher ( Joshua 17:11, 12 ; Joshua 21:25 ; Judges 5:19 ). Megiddo . This place is constantly coupled with the preceding. It lay on the south of the plain of Esdraelon ( Joshua 12:21 ; Joshua 17:12 ; Judges 1:27 ; 1 Kings 4:12 ). 1 Chronicles 7:29