Joshua 19:33

And their coast was from Heleph, from Allon to Zaanannim, and Adami, Nekeb, and Jabneel, unto Lakum; and the outgoings thereof were at Jordan:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(33) And their coast was . . .—This verse is thus translated by Conder, “Their coast was from Heleph and the Plain of Bitzanannim and Adami, Nekeb, and Jabneel,unto Lakum,and the outgoings were at Jordan.”

The east border of the tribe is Jordan, including the waters of Merom and the Sea of Galilee. The tribe of Issachar on the south, and the tribes of Zebulun and Asher on the west, are conterminous with Naphtali.

The places mentioned are identified as follows:—

Heleph.—(Beit Lif, sheet 4). The plain of Bitzanannim (Kh.-Bessum, sheet 6). Adami (Kh.-Admah, sheet 9): this is the southernmost of all the towns named. Nekeb (Kh.-Seiyâdeh, sheet 6). Jabneel (Yemma, sheet 5). All the above places, except Heleph, lie near the Sea of Galilee, on the south-west side.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

19:17-51 Joshua waited till all the tribes were settled, before he asked any provision for himself. He was content to be unfixed, till he saw them all placed, and herein is an example to all in public places, to prefer the common welfare before private advantage. Those who labour most to do good to others, seek an inheritance in the Canaan above: but it will be soon enough to enter thereon, when they have done all the service to their brethren of which they are capable. Nor can any thing more effectually assure them of their title to it, than endeavouring to bring others to desire, to seek, and to obtain it. Our Lord Jesus came and dwelt on earth, not in pomp but poverty, providing rest for man, yet himself not having where to lay his head; for Christ pleased not himself. Nor would he enter upon his inheritance, till by his obedience to death he secured the eternal inheritance for all his people; nor will he account his own glory completed, till every ransomed sinner is put in possession of his heavenly rest.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

From Allon to Zaanannim - Render "from the oak forest at Zaanannim." From Judges 4:11 it appears that this oak or oak-forest was near Kedesh.

Adami, Nekeb - Render "Adami of the Pass." Possibly the ancient "Deir el Ahmar" ("red cloister"), which derives its name from the color of the soil in the neighborhood, as perhaps Adami did. The spot lies about 8 miles northwest of Baalbek.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Jos 19:32-39. Of Naphtali.

32-39. the sixth lot came out to the children of Naphtali—Although the cities mentioned have not been discovered, it is evident, from Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh, that is, on the northwest of Lake Merom (Jud 4:11), that the boundary described (Jos 19:34) ran from the southwest towards the northeast, up to the sources of the Jordan.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Their coast; their northern border, drawn from west to east, as appears, because when this coast is described and brought to its end, the coast is said to turn from the east westward, Joshua 19:34. The outgoings, i.e. the end of that coast.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And their coast was from Heleph,.... That is, their northern coast, reaching from west to east, as appears by the ending of it at Jordan; the Alexandrian copy of the Greek version calls it Mlepeh, the Targum, Meheleph, and Jerom, Mealeb, which he calls the border of Naphtali; which, though to the north, cannot be expressly said what and where it was:

from Allon to Zaanannim; or rather from the oak, or from the plain in Zaanannim (d); for it seems to be the same with the plain of Zanaaim, Judges 4:11.

and Adami, Nekeb; some make these to be but one city, and the latter only an epithet of the former; but the Talmudists (e) make them two, as we do, and call the first Damin, and the latter Ziadetha; but what and where either of them were exactly is not known; for Adami cannot be the same with Adam, Joshua 3:16; as some think; for that was in Peraea, on the other side Jordan; See Gill on Joshua 3:16,

and Jabneel; Jabneel is different from that which was on the borders of Judah, Joshua 15:11; and is called by the Jews (f) since Cepherjamah:

unto Lakum; of which we nowhere else read:

and the outgoings thereof were at Jordan; here the coast ended this way.

(d) "Ab querceto in Tzahanannimis", Junius & Tremellius; so Piscator. (e) T. Hieros. Megillah, fol. 70. 1.((f) T. Hieros. Megillah, fol. 70. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

And their coast was from {h} Heleph, from Allon to Zaanannim, and Adami, Nekeb, and Jabneel, unto Lakum; and the outgoings thereof were at Jordan:

(h) These cities were in the country of Zaanannim.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

33. And their coast] The territory appropriated to the tribe was bounded (a) on the west by Asher, (b) on the south by Zebulun and Issachar, (c) on the east by the Sea of Gennesaret and the Jordan, while (d) on the north it reached far up into Cœle-Syria, “the splendid valley which separates the two ranges of Lebanon.”

from Heleph] Apparently the west border towards Asher is first described, with the north and east boundary. The southern border is defined in Joshua 19:34. Heleph is unknown.

Allon to Zaanannim] = the oak, or terebinth, by Zaanannim. It is the same place, on the N. W. of Lake Merom, as that mentioned in Jdg 4:11, where Sisera was slain by Jael, “the wife of Heber the Kenite,” and derived its name Zaanannim or Zaanaim, the unloading of Tents, from the strange sight of the encampment of nomads in tents amidst the regular cities and villages of the mountains.” “Even to the present day the Bedouins more or less friendly disposed wander about in the north of Palestine, in the plain of Jezreel, on Gilboa, and on Tabor.” See Lange’s Commentary. “The reconnaissance survey along the watershed from Hûnin led across a succession of mountain peaks, forming the great western vale of the Jordan. The highlands—we are in the tribe of Naphtali—form a series of valleys with which the country is intersected, the ridges between them being described as somewhat of the character of open glades, gently sloping towards the sea. The hills are well wooded, though the oaks are being thinned out to supply the Damascus market with charcoal. At the last peak the hill slopes to the southward, overlooking a little plain, one mile wide and two long, lying sheltered among the surrounding hills. This is the plain of Zaanaim.” Our Work in Palestine, pp. 174, 175.

Adami, Nekeb, Jabneel, Lakum, are all unknown.

and the outgoings thereof] The boundary is traced from the southwest towards the north-east to the sources of the Jordan, above the Lake of Galilee.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 33. - From Allon to Zaanannim. Or, the oak which is at Zaanannim (cf. Allon-bachuth, the oak of weeping, Genesis 35:8). Zaanannim is the same as the Zaanaim mentioned in Judges 4:11. For (1) the Keri is Zaanannim there, and the word here rightly translated "oak" is rendered there "plain," as in Genesis 12:6 and elsewhere. It has been supposed to lie northwest of Lake Huleh, the ancient Merom, whence we find that the scene of that famous battle was assigned to the tribe of Naphtali. The border of Naphtali is more lightly traced than any previous one, and is regarded as being sufficiently defined, save toward the north, by the boundaries of the other tribes. Joshua 19:33

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"Its boundary was (its territory reached) from Heleph, from the oak-forest at Zaanannim, and Adami Nekeb and Jabneel to Lakkum; and its outgoings were the Jordan." Heleph is unknown, though in all probability it was to the south of Zaanannim, and not very far distant. According to Judges 4:11, the oak-forest (allon: see the remarks on Genesis 12:6) at Zaanannim was near Kedesh, on the north-west of Lake Huleh. There are still many oaks in that neighbourhood (Rob. Bibl. Res. p. 386); and on the south of Bint Jebail Robinson crossed a low mountain-range which was covered with small oak trees (Pal. iii. p. 372). Adami hannekeb, i.e., Adami of the pass (Nekeb, judging from the analogy of the Arabic, signifying foramen, via inter montes), is supposed by Knobel to be Deir-el-ahmar, i.e., red cloister, a place which is still inhabited, three hours to the north-west of Baalbek, on the pass from the cedars to Baalbek (Seetzen, i. pp. 181, 185; Burckhardt, Syr. p. 60; and Ritter, Erdk. xvii. p. 150), so called from the reddish colour of the soil in the neighbourhood, which would explain the name Adami. Knobel also connects Jabneel with the lake Jemun, Jemuni, or Jammune, some hours to the north-west of Baalbek, on the eastern side of the western Lebanon range (Rob. Bibl. Res. p. 548; Ritter, xvii. pp. 304ff.), where there are still considerable ruins of a very early date to be found, especially the ruins of an ancient temple and a celebrated place of pilgrimage, with which the name "god's building" agrees. And lastly, he associates Lakkum with the mountains of Lokham, as the northern part of Lebanon on the Syrian mountains, from the latitude of Laodicea to that of Antioch on the western side of the Orontes, is called by the Arabian geographers Isztachri, Abulfeda, and others. So far as the names are concerned, these combinations seem appropriate enough, but they are hardly tenable. The resemblance between the names Lakkum and Lokham is only in appearance, as the Hebrew name is written with ק and the Arabic with כ. Moreover, the mountains of Lokham are much too far north for the name to be adduced as an explanation of Lakkum. The interpretation of Adami Nekeb and Jabneel is also irreconcilable with the circumstance that the lake Jamun was two hours to the west of the red convent, so that the boundary, which starts from the west, and is drawn first of all towards the north, and then to the north-east and east, must have run last of all from the red convent, and not from the Jamun lake to the Jordan. As Jabneel is mentioned after Adami Nekeb, it must be sought for to the east of Adami Nekeb, whereas the Jamun lake lies in the very opposite direction, namely, directly to the west of the red convent. The three places mentioned, therefore, cannot be precisely determined at present. The Jordan, where the boundary of Asher terminated, was no doubt the upper Jordan, or rather the Nahr Hasbany, one of the sources of the Jordan, which formed, together with the Huleh lake and the Jordan itself, between Lake Huleh and the Sea of Tiberias, and down to the point where it issues from the latter, the eastern boundary of Asher.