Joshua 19:27 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Joshua 19:27
And turneth toward the sunrising to Bethdagon, and reacheth to Zebulun, and to the valley of Jiphthahel toward the north side of Bethemek, and Neiel, and goeth out to Cabul on the left hand,
to turn back (hence · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
sunrising
מִזְרַ֣חmiz.Rach
H4217
sunrise · noun, common masculine singular construct
Beth-dagon
בֵּ֣יתbeit
H1016
Beth-Dagon · proper noun, a place name
reacheth
וּפָגַ֣עu.fa.Ga'
H6293
to impinge · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Zebulun
בִּ֠זְבֻלוּןBiz.vu.lun
H2074
Zebulon · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
valley
וּבְגֵ֨יu.ve.Gei
H1516
a gorge (from its lofty sides · conjunction + preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
Jiphthah-el
יִפְתַּחyif.tach-
H3317
Jiphtach-el · proper noun, a place name
side
צָפ֛וֹנָהtza.Fo.nah
H6828
properly · noun, common feminine singular absolute + directional suffix
Beth-emek
בֵּ֥יתbeit
H1025
Beth-ha-Emek · proper noun, a place name
Neiel
וּנְעִיאֵ֑לu.ne.'i.'El
H5272
Neiel · conjunction + proper noun, a place name
out
וְיָצָ֥אve.ya.Tza'
H3318
to go (causatively · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Cabul
כָּב֖וּלka.Vul
H3521
Cabul · proper noun, a place name
hand
מִשְּׂמֹֽאלmi.se.Mol
H8040
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Kings 9:13 And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day.
1 Samuel 5:2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Joshua 19:24-31
The lot of Asher lay upon the coast of the great sea. We read not of any famous person of this tribe but Anna the prophetess, who was a constant resident in the temple at the time of our Saviour's birth, Luk 2:36. Nor were there many famous places in this tribe. Aphek (mentioned Jos 19:30) was the place near which Benhadad was beaten by Ahad, Kg1 20:30. But close adjoining to this tribe were the celebrated sea-port towns of Tyre and Sidon, which we read so much of. Tyre is called here that strong city (Jos 19:29), but Bishop Patrick thinks it was not the same Tyre that we read of afterwards, for that was built on an island; this old strong city was on the continent. And it is conjectured by…
to Carmel . . . and to Shihor-libnath--that is, the "black" or "muddy river"; probably the Nahr Belka, below Dor (Tantoura); for that town belonged to Asher (Jos 17:10). Thence the boundary line turned eastward to Beth-dagon, a town at the junction of Zebulun and Naphtali, and ran northwards as far as Cabul, with other towns, among which is mentioned (Jos 19:28) "great Zidon," so called on account of its being even then the flourishing metropolis of the Phœnicians. Though included in the inheritance of Asher, this town was never possessed by them (Jdg 1:31).
Adam Clarke on Joshua 19:27
Cabul on the left hand - That is, to the north of Cabul, for so the left hand, when referring to place, is understood among the Hebrews. We must not confound this town or Cabul with the twenty cities given by Solomon to Hiram, with which he was displeased, and which in contempt he called the land of Cabul, the dirty or paltry land, Kg1 9:11-13 : there was evidently a town of this name, widely different from the land so called, long before the time of Solomon, and therefore this cannot be adduced as an argument that the book of Joshua was written after the days of David. The town in question is supposed to be the same which Josephus in his Life calls Χωβουλω Choboulo, and which he says was si…
Asher — Happy, Jacob’s eigth son; his mother was Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid (Gen. 30:13). Of the tribe founded by him nothing is recorded beyond its holding a place in the list of the tribes (35:26; 46:17; Ex.…
Beth-dagon — House of Dagon. (1.) A city in the low country or plain of Judah, near Philistia (Josh. 15:41); the modern Beit Degan, about 5 miles from Lydda. (2.) A city near the south-east border of Asher (Josh.…
Bethdagon — (house of Dagon).
Bethemek — (house of the valley), a place on or near the border of Asher, on the north side of which was the ravine of Jiphthah-el (Joshua 19:27)
Cabul — How little! as nothing. (1.) A town on the eastern border of Asher (Josh. 19:27), probably one of the towns given by Solomon to Hiram; the modern Kabul, some 8 miles east of Accho, on the very…
Dagon — Little fish; diminutive from dag = a fish, the fish-god; the national god of the Philistines (Judg. 16:23). This idol had the body of a fish with the head and hands of a man. It was an…
Dagon’s house — (1 Sam. 5:2), or Beth-dagon, as elsewhere rendered (Josh. 15: 41; 19:27), was the sanctuary or temple of Dagon. The Beth-dagon of Josh. 15:41 was one of the cities of the tribe of Judah, in the…
Jiphthahel — (which God opens), The valley of, a valley which served as one of the landmarks for the boundary of both Zebulun, (Joshua 19:14) and Asher. (Joshua 19:27) Dr. Robinson suggests that Jiphthah-el was…
Neiel — Dwelling-place of God, a town in the territory of Asher, near its southern border (Josh. 19:27). It has been identified with the ruin Y’anin, near the outlet of the Wady esh Sha-ghur, less than 2…
Tabor — A height. (1.) Now Jebel et-Tur, a cone-like prominent mountain, 11 miles west of the Sea of Galilee. It is about 1,843 feet high. The view from the summit of it is said to be singularly extensive…
Asher
John Gill on Joshua 19:27
And turneth towards the sunrising,.... Or eastward:
to Bethdagon; there was a city of this name in the tribe of Judah; see Gill on Joshua 15:41. Dagon, being a god of the Phoenicians, had temples built for him in various places in Canaan:
and reacheth to Zebulun; not the tribe of Zebulun, but a city so called, the same Josephus (o) calls a strong city of Galilee, which had the name of Men, perhaps from the populousness of it, and separated Ptolemais from Judea:
and to the valley of Jiphthahel; see Joshua 19:14,
toward the north side of Bethemek; of Bethemek no mention is made elsewhere: perhaps here was an idol temple before dedicated to the god of the valleys; see 1 Kings 20:28,
and Ne…
Joshua 19:10-31
10. And the third lot came up for the children of Zebulun according to their families: and the border of their inheritance was unto Sarid:
10. Ascendit autem sors tertia filiis Zabulon per familias suas: et fuit terminus haereditatis eorum usque ad Sarid.
11. And their border went up toward the sea, and Maralah, and reached to Dabbasheth, and reached to the river that is before Jokneam;
11. Ascenditque terminus eorum ad mare: et Maralah, et pertingit ad Dabbaseth: pervenitque ad flumen quod est e regione Jocneam.
12. And turned from Sarid eastward toward the sunrising unto the border of Chislothtabor, and then goeth out to Daberath, and goeth up to Japhia,
12. Revertitu…
The Inheritance of Asher. - Asher received its territory along the Mediterranean Sea from Carmel to the northern boundary of Canaan itself. The description commences with the central portion, viz., the neighbourhood of Acco (Jos 19:25), going first of all towards the south (Jos 19:26, Jos 19:27), and then to the north (Jos 19:28, Jos 19:30).
Jos 19:25
The territory of the Asherites was as follows. Helkath, which was given up to the Levites (Jos 21:31, and Ch1 6:75, where Hukok is an old copyist's error), is the present Jelka, three hours to the east of Acco (Akka: Scholz, Reise, p. 257), or Jerka, a Druse village situated upon an eminence, and judging from the remains, an ancient place (Van…
The land allocated to the tribe of Asher included the Plain of Acco on the Mediterranean coast and western Galilee. To the southwest, Asher touched Carmel, sharing at least a short common border with land allotted to the tribe of Manasseh. To the north, the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon limited Asher’s expansion.
Rashi on Joshua 19:13
East of Gitoh-cheifer. To the east of Gat-hacheifer which is the name of the city of [the prophet] Yonah ben Amtai.
Ittoh-kotzin. This was the name of the city.
It circled around to Neioh. [From Rimmon] it circled to Neioh. In other words, from there, the boundary circled around to Neioh. Targum Yonason also explains it this way: “It extended to Rimmon, and from there it circled to Neioh.”3Rashi goes to great pain to refute those who say that the word הַמְתאָר is connected to רִמוֹן and thus translate, Rimon-misoar as though this was the name of the city.
Asher, The Tribe Of · Bounds of their inheritance — Bounds of their inheritance
Beth-Emek · A city of the territory of the tribe of Asher — A city of the territory of the tribe of Asher
Cabul · 1. A city in the north of Palestine — 1. A city in the north of Palestine
Jiphthah-El · A valley in Zebu — A valley in Zebu
Neiel · A landmark on the boundary of the tribe of Asher — A landmark on the boundary of the tribe of Asher
Valleys · Mentioned in scripture: Jephthah-el — Mentioned in scripture: Jephthah-el
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
