Joshua 19:41

And the coast of their inheritance was Zorah, and Eshtaol, and Irshemesh,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(41) And the coast . . .—Zorah and Eshtaol, in the tribe of Dan, had been originally assigned to Judah (Joshua 15:33); so also Ekron. But it is not clear whether they are mentioned here as marking the border of Dan and Judah, or actually in the territory of the former. However, Dan is wedged in, as it were, between the powerful tribes of Judah and Ephraim, the unconquered Philistines, and the sea. It is not surprising that their coast “went out from them” (Joshua 19:47) when it was partly unconquered, partly taken from other tribes in the first instance. Conder says it was carved out of the country of Ephraim.

(41-46) All the towns mentioned here are identified by Conder.

Zorah—Sur’ah

Eshtaol—Eshû’a

Ir-shemesh—Ain Sheme Shaalabbin—Selbît

Ajalon—Yâlo

Jethlah—(Ruin) Beit Tul

}

Are all in sheet 17

Elon—Beit Ello

Thimnathah—(Ruin) Tibneh

}

Sheet 14

Ekron-(akir, sheet 16)

{

Gibbethon-(Kibbiah, sheet 14)

Baalath—(Belaîn, sheet 14)

Jehud—El-Yehudîyeh

Bene-berak—Ibn Ibrak

}

Sheet 13

For Gath-rimmon, Conder suggests Gath; but this he identifies with Tell-es-Safi, which is well within the territory of Judah (to the south of sheet 16).

Me-jarkon, “the yellow water,” is thought to be the river ’Aujeh (sheet 13), and Rakkon, Tell-er-Rakkeit, to the north of the mouth of it. Japho is Jaffa, on the same sheet.

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

The number of the fortified cities of Naphtali is remarkable, though it does not tally with the catalogue. It was no doubt good policy to protect the northern frontier by a belt of fortresses, as the south was protected by the fenced cities of Judah. Hammath, a Levitical city (compare Joshua 21:32; 1 Chronicles 6:76), is not to be confounded with the Hamath on the northeastern frontier of the land Numbers 13:21. The name (from a root signifying "to be warm") probably indicates that hot springs existed here; and is perhaps rightly traced in Ammaus, near Tiberias. Rakkath was, according to the rabbis, rebuilt by Herod and called Tiberias. The name ("bank, shore") suits the site of Tiberias very well. Migdal-el, perhaps the Magdala of Matthew 15:39, is now the miserable village of "El Mejdel."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Jos 19:40-48. Of Dan.

40-46. the seventh lot came out for the tribe … Dan—It lay on the west of Benjamin and consisted of portions surrendered by Judah and Ephraim. Its boundaries are not stated, as they were easily distinguishable from the relative position of Dan to the three adjoining tribes.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Their inheritance; which is here described only by its cities, not by its borders, which are in part the same with Judah’s; and their inheritance is in good part taken out of Judah’s too large portion, as appears from divers of the cities here mentioned, which are also reckoned as in Judah’s portion.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the coast of their inheritance was Zorah, and Eshtaol,.... The tribe of Dan is not described by places the boundaries of it, as other tribes, but by its cities, which were chiefly, at least several of them, taken out of the tribe of Judah, as the two first of these most manifestly were; See Gill on Joshua 15:33,

and Irshemesh signifies the city of the sun, as the Targum interprets it, and was so called very probably from a temple in it, dedicated to the idolatrous worship of the sun, but a different place from Bethshemesh in other tribes; though those of that name, as this, had it for the like reason; and so Heliopolis, in Egypt, which signifies the same, where was a temple of the same kind; as there was another city of this name, between the mountains of Libanus and Antilibanus, now called Balbec (p), where the ruins of the temple are yet to be seen: but this was a different place, the Septuagint version calls it Sammaus, and it was, according to Jerom (q), the same with Emmaus, afterwards called Nicopolis; which, if the same Emmaus with that in Luke 24:13; though some doubt it, was sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, or seven miles and a half.

(p) See Maundrell's Journey from Aleppo, &c. p. 120, 138. (q) Comment. in Ezekiel 48.fol. 263. A.

Geneva Study Bible

And the coast of their inheritance was Zorah, and Eshtaol, and Irshemesh,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

41. And the coast] allotted to the tribe, in spite of the numbers just mentioned, was the smallest of all. Compressed into the narrow space between the north-western hills of Judah and the Mediterranean, it was surrounded by the three most powerful tribes of the whole confederacy, Ephraim and Benjamin on the north and east, Judah on the south and south-east.

was Zorah] Observe that the boundaries of this tribe are not defined. They naturally follow from those of Judah, Ephraim, and Benjamin.

Zorah, and Eshtaol] See above, ch. Joshua 15:33. For Ir-shemesh = Beth-shemesh = modern ’Ain-Shems, see above, ch. Joshua 15:10.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 41. - Zorah and Eshtaol. On the border between Judah and Dan, but abandoned by the tribe of Judah to the Danites (see Judges 13:2, 25). "The wild and impassable wadies, the steep, hard, rocky hills, their wildernesses of mastic, clear springs, and frequent caves and precipices, are the fastnesses in which Samson was born, and from which he descended into the plain to harry the Philistines (Lieut. Conder in Pal. Expl. Fund, Quart. Paper, Jan., 1874). Robinson identifies Zorah with Surat. Ir-shemesh. Another sign of sun-worship. Ir-shemaesh is "the city of the sun." Joshua 19:41

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

From Judah the families of Dan received Zorea and Eshtaol (see at Joshua 15:33), and Ir-shemesh, also called Beth-shemesh (1 Kings 4:9), on the border of Judah (see Joshua 15:10); but of these the Danites did not take possession, as they were given up by Judah to the Levites (Joshua 21:16 : see at Joshua 15:10). Saalabbin, or Saalbim, which remained in the hands of the Canaanites (Judges 1:35), is frequently mentioned in the history of David and Solomon (2 Samuel 23:32; 1 Chronicles 11:33; 1 Kings 4:9). It may possibly be the present Selbt (Rob. iii. App.; Bibl. Res. p. 144), some distance to the north of the three places mentioned (Knobel). Ajalon, which was also not taken from the Canaanites (Judges 1:35), was assigned to the Levites (Joshua 21:24; 1 Chronicles 6:54). It is mentioned in the wars with the Philistines (1 Samuel 14:31; 1 Chronicles 8:13), was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:10), and was taken by the Philistines from King Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:18). It has been preserved in the village of Yalo (see at Joshua 10:12). Jethlah is only mentioned here, and has not yet been discovered. So far as the name is concerned, it may possibly be preserved in the Wady Atallah, on the west of Yalo (Bibl. Res. pp. 143-4).