a distan if live or >i\ miles from the shore. The
bound trj then ran northward from the valley of Jiph- thah-el (Jefat) to thai of the Leontes, and reaching Zidi.u.it turned and came down by Tyre to Achzih (Ecdippa, now es-ZiV). See Tribe. It is usually stated that tie- whole of the Phoenician territories, in- cluding Sidon, were assigned to this tribe (comp. Jo- Bephus, An/, v. 1. 22; see Reland, Palaxt. p. ."» 7 r> sq.). But there are various considerations which militate
against this conclusion (see the Pictorial Bible, Num. xxvi, 24 ; Josh, xix, 24 ; Judg. i, 31), and tend to show that the assigned frontier-line was drawn out to the sea south of Sidon. The strongest text for the inclu- sion of Sidon (Tyre was not then founded) is that in which it is mentioned to the reproach of the Asherites, that they did not drive out the Sidonians (Judg. i, 31). This Michaelis is disposed to reject as an interpolation ; but Kitto (Pict. Bib. in loc.) conceives it to denote that the Asherites were unable to expel the Sidonians, who by that time had encroached southward into parts of the coast actually assigned to the Asherites; and he strengthens this by referring to the subsequent founda- tion of Tyre, as evincing the disposition of the Sido- nians to colonize the coast south of their own proper territories. The Asherites were for a long time unable to gain possession of the territories actually assigned them, and "dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhab- itants of the land" (Judg. i, 32); and, "as it is not usual to say of a larger number that it dwells among the smaller, the inference is that they expelled but comparatively few of the Canaanites, leaving them, in fact, a majority of the population" (Bush, note on Judg. i, 32). See Sidon.
The following is a list of the places within this tribe that are mentioned in the Bible, with the modern lo- calities to which they appear to correspond. Such of the latter as have not been identified by any traveller are enclosed in brackets :
Abdon.
Town.
Abdeh.
Aceho.
do.
A /. ka.
Achshaph.
do.
Kesaf.
Achzih.
do.
Es-Zib.
Ahlab.
do.
[Athlit]?'
Alnmmelech.
do.
[El-Habaji]1
Aloth.
District,
See Bealoth.
Amad.
Town.
[.!?»«/]?
Aphek or Aphik.
do.
[Tell Kismql
Bealoth.
District.
[PI. of Akka] ?
Beten.
Town.
El-Baneh.
Beth-dagon.
do.
[Hajeljl
Beth-enuk.
do.
A mka.
CabuL
do.
Kabul.
Carmel.
Mountain.
Jebel Mar-Elias.
llali.
Town.
A Ha.
Ilnnimon.
do.
Hawaii
Hebron.
do.
See AnnoN.
Ilelbah.
do.
[Ilaifi,] f
llelkath.
do.
Ukritli t
Hosah.
do.
[El-Ghaziyeh]1
Jiphthah-cL
Valley.
Wady AbilinT
Kan all.
Town.
Kama.
Eishon.
Brook.
A'alir Mukatta.
Mashal or Mishal. Town. Misalli.
MeieL do. [Eistav]t
l'ti.l. nir.i-'. do. See Aocno.
Ramah. do. Rarru It.
Rehob (Josh, xix, 30). do. [Tell Kurtiani ] ?
Ii. hob (Josh, xix, '2S). do. [/iezieA] ?
Sbibor-libnath. River. [ Wady Milheh] ?
Ummah. Town. Alum'?
Zebulon. do. A Win ?
This territory contained some of the richest soil in all Palestine (Stanley, p. 265 ; Kenrick, Phan. p. 35), and in its productiveness it well fulfilled the promise involved in the name "Asher," and in the blessings which had been pronounced on him by Jacob and ly Moses. Here was the oil in which he was to " dip his foot," the "bread" which was to be "fat," and the " royal dainties" in which he was to indulge (for the crops, see Robinson, new ed. of Researches, iii, 102; for the oil, Kenrick, p. 31 ; Belaud, p. 817) ; and here in the metallic manufactures of the Phoenicians (Ken- rick, p. 38) were the " iron and brass" for his "shoes." The Phoenician settlements were even at that early period in full vigor (Zidon was then distinguished by the name. Kabbah = "the Strong," Josh, xix, 28); and it is not surprising that Asher was soon contented to partake their luxuries, and to "dwell among them" without attempting the conquest and extermination enjoined in regard to all the Canaanites (Judg. i, 31, 32). Accordingly he did not drive out the inhabitants of Aceho, nor Dor (Sept. adds this name), nor Zidon, nor Ahlab, nor Aehzib, nor Helbah, nor Aphik, nor
ASHER
/SBeST-D-a'apn ? \\
MANAS S EH »
"^ Scale of Miles
60 to aDiyrec
Map of the Tribe of Asher. Rehob (Judg. i, 31), all which seem to have been in the shore-strip preoccupied by the Phoenicians, and the natural consequence of this inert acquiescence is immediately visible. While Zebulun and Naphtali "jeoparded their lives unto the death" in the struggle against Sisera, Asher was content to forget the peril of his fellows in the creeks and harbors of his new
ASHERAH
allies (Judg. v, 17, 18). At the numbering of Israel at Sinai, Asher was more numerous than either Ephra- im, Manasseh, or Benjamin (Num. i, 32-41), but in the reign of David, so insignificant had the tribe be- come, that its name is altogether omitted from the list of the chief rulers (1 Chron. xxvii, 16-22) ; and it is with a kind of astonishment that it is related that
I "divers of Asher and Manasseh and Zebulun" came
I to Jerusalem to the Passover of Hezekiah (2 Chron. xxx, 11). With the exception of Simeon, Asher is
j the only tribe west of the Jordan which furnished no hero or judge to the nation. " One name alone shines out of the general obscurity — the aged widow, ' Anna, the daughter of Phanuel oi the tribe of Aser,' who, in