Joshua 11:1

1. Jabin (signifying he shall know, or he is wise) was probably the royal title of the kings of Hazor.

Hazor was a Phenician fortified city in the north of Palestine. It was the principal city of the whole of the North, “the head of all those kingdoms.” Joshua 11:10. [After its destruction by Joshua it was rebuilt and occupied by another Jabin, who attained vast power, and for twenty years greatly oppressed Israel, (Judges 4:2-3,) but was in turn defeated by Barak. It was subsequently fortified by Solomon, (1 Kings 9:15,) but was afterward captured by Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria. 2 Kings 15:29. Travellers are not agreed as to its site. Dr. Thomson thinks it is at the modern Hazere, about twelve miles west of the Lake Merom. Stanley locates it on an eminence just above Cesarea Philippi; Robinson at Tell Khureibeh, a rocky peak three miles west of Lake Merom; and Porter inclines to locate it a few miles south of this, on a bank of the Wady Hendaj.]

Madon was a leading city in the same vicinity, but its locality is now unknown.

Shimron, called also Shimron-Merom, (Joshua 12:20,) was the chief place in a small district afterward belonging to Zebulun, eleven miles northeast of Nazareth. Schwarz thinks that it is the same as the modern Semuniyeh, a few miles west of Nazareth.

Achshaph was in the territory of Asher. Joshua 19:25. Robinson identifies it with the ruined town now called Kasaf, ten or twelve miles northwest of Lake Merom.