Joshua 19:15

And Kattath, and Nahallal, and Shimron, and Idalah, and Bethlehem: twelve cities with their villages.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) Nahallal.—(‘Ain Mahil, sheet 6).

Shimron.—(Simûmieh, west of Nazareth, sheet 5).

Idalah.—(El Huwârah, a ruin just south of Bethlehem, sheet 5).

Beth-lehem.—(Beit-Lahm, sheet v.). It seems right to refer Ibzan of Bethlehem (Judges 12:8; Judges 12:10) to this town. The other Bethlehem is called in Judges and Ruth, Bethlehem-Judah; and in Micah, Bethlehem-Ephratah (Judges 17:7; Judges 19:1; Ruth 1:1; Micah 5:2). Bethlehem-Judah is designated Bethlehem only when it is impossible to mistake it for Bethlehem of Zebulun (e.g., Ruth 1:19, and 1Samuel 16:4).

Twelve cities.—Ittah-kazin, Neah, Dabbasheth, and Kattath have not been identified, and they may not all be names of towns.

Benson Commentary

Joshua 19:15. Beth-lehem — Not that where Christ was born, which was in Judah, but another. Twelve cities — They are more numerous here, but the rest either were not cities, properly so called, or were not within this tribe, but only bordering upon it, and belonging to other tribes.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Twelve cities - Only five have been mentioned, and the names in the verses preceding are apparently not names of Zebulonite cities, but merely of points in or near the boundary line. It would therefore appear that seven names have disappeared from the text, and perhaps also the definition of the western frontier.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

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.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Bethlehem; not that where Christ was born, which was in Judah, thence called

Bethlehem Judah, Matthew 2:1, but another.

Twelve cities: there are more numbered here, but the rest either were not cities properly so called, having villages under their jurisdiction; or were not within this tribe, but only bordering upon it, and belonging to other tribes, which is evident of some of them, and may well be presumed of others.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Kattath, and Nahallal,.... Of the two first of these we read nowhere else, but in Joshua 21:34,

and Shimron was a royal city, the king of which Joshua took and hanged, Joshua 11:1,

and Idalah is a place Bochart conjectures (t) where the goddess Venus was worshipped, Idalia being one of her names:

and Bethlehem is a different place from that which was the birthplace of our Lord, called Bethlehem of Judah, to distinguish it from this:

twelve cities with their villages; more are named, but some of them belonged to other tribes, and only lay on the borders of this; and others might not be properly cities, but small towns.

(t) Canaan, l. 1. c. 3. col. 356.

Geneva Study Bible

And Kattath, and Nahallal, and Shimron, and Idalah, and {d} Bethlehem: twelve cities with their villages.

(d) There was another Bethlehem in the tribe of Judah.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15. and Kattath] The account of the cities here appears to be imperfect. We have only the names of five cities given, though there are said to have been “twelve cities and their villages.” There is nothing to which the list of terms here given, introduced by and, can be attached.

Kattath] This also has been supposed to be “Cana of Galilee.”

Nahallal, Shimron (ch. Joshua 11:1), Idalah, are all as yet unknown.

Beth-lehem] This Beth-lehem in Zebulun is not to be confounded with Beth-lehem Ephratah in Judah (Genesis 35:19).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - Beth-lehem. This name, signifying the "house of bread," would naturally enough be given to a place in a fertile situation. We are not to suppose that it was "Bethlehem-Ephratah, among the thousands of Jadah" (Micah 5:2). It is now Beit-lahm, about eight miles in a westerly direction from Nazareth. Joshua 19:15

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The towns of Zebulun were the following. Kattath, probably the same as Kitron, which is mentioned in Judges 1:30 in connection with Nahalol, but which is still unknown. Nehalal, or Nahalol (Judges 1:30), is supposed by V. de Velde (Mem. p. 335), who follows Rabbi Schwartz, to be the present village of Maalul, a place with ruins on the south-west of Nazareth (see Seetzen, ii. p. 143; Rob. iii. App.; and Ritter, Erdk. xvi. p. 700). Simron is supposed by Knobel to be the village of Semunieh (see at Joshua 11:1). But neither of these is very probable. Idalah is supposed by V. de Velde to be the village of Jeda or Jeida, on the west of Semunieh, where are a few relics of antiquity, though Robinson (Bibl. Res. p. 113) states the very opposite. Bethlehem (of Zebulun), which many regard as the home of the judge Ibzan (Judges 12:8), has been preserved under the old name in a miserable village on the north of Jeida and Semunieh (see Seetzen, ii. p. 139; Rob. Bibl. Res. p. 113). The number of the towns is given as twelve, though only five are mentioned by name. It is true that some commentators have found the missing names in the border places mentioned in Joshua 19:11-14, as, after deducting Chisloth-tabor and Dabrath, which belonged to Issachar, the names Sarid, Maralah, Dabbasheth, Japhia, Gittah-hepher, Eth-kazin, and Channathon give just seven towns. Nevertheless there is very little probability in this conjecture. For, in the first place, not only would it be a surprising thing to find the places mentioned as boundaries included among the towns of the territory belonging to the tribe, especially as some of the places so mentioned did not belong to Zebulun at all; but the copula vav, with which the enumeration of the towns commences, is equally surprising, since this is introduced in other cases with הארים והיוּ (ויּהיוּ), e.g., Joshua 18:21; Joshua 15:21. And, in the second place, it is not a probable thing in itself, that, with the exception of the five towns mentioned in Joshua 19:15, the other towns of Zebulun should all be situated upon the border. And lastly, the towns of Kartah and Dimnah, which Zebulun gave up to the Levites (Joshua 21:34), are actually wanting. Under these circumstances, it is a natural conclusion that there is a gap in the text here, just as in Joshua 15:59 and Joshua 21:36.