Lexical Summary Kesalon: Kesalon Original Word: כְּסָלוֹן Strong's Exhaustive Concordance Chesalon From kacal; fertile; Kesalon, a place in Palestine -- Chesalon. see HEBREW kacal NAS Exhaustive Concordance Word Originfrom kasal Definition a place on the border of Judah NASB Translation Chesalon (1). Brown-Driver-Briggs כְּסָלוֺן proper name, of a location on border of tribe of Judah = הַריְֿעָרִים Joshua 15:10; = Kesla10miles west of Jerusalem, GuérinJud. ii. 11 ff. Memiii. 25. 26 BuhlG. § 92, p. 166. Topical Lexicon Etymology and Sense Kesalon is commonly understood to carry the nuance of “confidence,” “trust,” or “hope,” reflecting the Hebrew root family built on כָּסַל (kasal). The name therefore suggests a place associated with firmness or security, an idea compatible with its mountainous siting on Judah’s western frontier. Biblical Occurrence Joshua 15:10 contains the sole mention: “Then the border turned from Baalah westward to Mount Seir, crossed to the northern slope of Mount Jearim (that is, Kesalon), continued down to Beth Shemesh, and passed on to Timnah.” Here Kesalon serves as a landmark in the long, detailed description of Judah’s tribal inheritance. Geographical Setting • Region: Shephelah–Judean hill country interface, roughly 15 km (9 mi) west of modern Jerusalem. Historical Background 1. Tribal Boundaries: In Joshua 15, the Spirit-inspired record painstakingly surveys Judah’s borders, underscoring God’s orderly distribution of the land promised to Abraham (Genesis 15:18-21). Kesalon functioned as a fixed point anchoring the border’s northern loop before dropping to Beth Shemesh. Theological Significance • Covenant Faithfulness: Every boundary mark, including Kesalon, testifies that “not one of the good promises of the LORD failed” (Joshua 21:45). The precision of geography is a visible guarantee of divine fidelity. Ministry and Devotional Applications 1. God Knows Our Coordinates: The meticulous record of a single ridge in Judah assures believers today that the Lord attends to individual lives with equal precision (Matthew 10:30). Archaeological Considerations • Pottery scatters and terrace systems around modern Kesla match Iron Age occupation patterns. Although definitive inscriptional evidence is lacking, topographical and etymological lines converge sufficiently to maintain the traditional identification. Related Scriptural Themes Deuteronomy 19:14 – immovable boundaries Psalm 16:6 – “the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places” Acts 17:26 – God “determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their land” Kesalon, then, though mentioned only once, stands as a silent yet sturdy witness to God’s faithfulness, the importance of clearly fixed inheritances, and the unshakeable hope granted to His covenant people. Forms and Transliterations כְסָל֑וֹן כסלון chesaLon ḵə·sā·lō·wn ḵəsālōwnLinks Interlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel TextsEnglishman's Concordance Joshua 15:10 HEB: מִצָּפ֖וֹנָה הִ֣יא כְסָל֑וֹן וְיָרַ֥ד בֵּֽית־ NAS: on the north (that is, Chesalon), and went down KJV: Jearim, which [is] Chesalon, on the north side, INT: the north he which Chesalon down to Beth-shemesh 1 Occurrence |