The sixth lot came out to the children of Naphtali ,.... The tribe of Naphtali, and directed what should be the inheritance of this tribe: even for the children of Naphtali, according to their families ; which was to be divided among them, according to the number of their, families. read more
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 F4 "Ab querceto in Tzahanannimis", Junius &... read more
And then the coast turneth westward to Aznothtabor ,.... This was the southern border, reaching from east to west; it began at Aznothtabor, which Jerom F7 De loc. Heb. fol. 88. I. says was a village in his time belonging to the country of Diocaesarea, in the plains; there is another place called Chislothtabor, on the borders of Zebulun, Joshua 19:12 , and goeth out from thence to Hukkok : there the southern border ended, which was in the border of Asher, and is the same with... read more
And the fenced cities are Ziddim ,.... The later name of Ziddim, according to the Talmud F9 Ut supra. (T. Hieros. Megillah, fol. 70. 1.) , was Cepharchitiya, or the village of wheat, perhaps from the large quantity or goodness of wheat there: Zer is called by Jerom F11 De loc. Heb. fol. 95. A. Sor, and interpreted Tyre, the metropolis of Phoenicia, very wrongly, and, in the tribe of Naphtali: and Hammath probably was built by the youngest son of Canaan, Genesis 10:18 ... read more
And Adamah ,.... Adamah is different from Adami, Joshua 19:33 ; and may seem to confirm the notion of some, that Nekeb there is an epithet of it, and so distinguishes it from Adamah here: and Ramah ; of Ramah, as there were several places of this name; see Gill on Joshua 19:29 , and Hazor was a royal city, of which; see Gill on Joshua 11:1 . read more
And Kedesh ,.... This is Kedesh in Galilee, in Mount Naphtali, to distinguish it from others of the same name; it was one of the cities of refuge, Joshua 20:7 . Jerom says F13 Ut supra, (De loc. Heb.) fol. 90. B. in his day it was called Cidissus, and was twenty miles from Tyre by Paneas; See Gill on Joshua 12:22 . and Edrei is a different place from one of that name in the kingdom of Og, Numbers 21:33 , and Enhazor , of which we read nowhere else. read more
And Iron ,.... Of Iron no mention is made elsewhere: and Migdalel , which Jerom calls Magdiel, he says F13 De loc. Heb. fol. 93. L. was shown a small village, five miles from Dara, as you go to Ptolemais: and Horem is not mentioned anywhere elsewhere; and Bethanath ; Jerom also relates F14 Ibid. fol. 89. H. , that Bathana, in the tribe of Naphtali, was a village that went by the name of Betbanes, fifteen miles from Caesarea: and Bethshemesh was another city, in... read more
And to Judah upon Jordan - It is certain that the tribe of Naphtali did not border on the east upon Judah, for there were several tribes betwixt them. Some think that as these two tribes were bounded by Jordan on the east, they might be considered as in some sort conjoined, because of the easy passage to each other by means of the river; but this might be said of several other tribes as well as of these. There is considerable difficulty in the text as it now stands; but if, with the... read more
Chinnereth - See the note on Joshua 11:2 . read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Joshua 19:32-39
Naphtali lay furthest north of all the tribes, bordering on Mount Libanus. The city of Leshem, or Liash, lay on the utmost edge of it to the north, and therefore when the Danites had made themselves masters of it, and called it Dan, the length of Canaan from north to south was reckoned from Dan to Beersheba. It had Zebulun on the south, Asher on the west, and Judah upon Jordan, probably a city of that name, and so distinguished from the tribe of Judah on the east. It was in the lot of this... read more