The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 334

further south tha,n is usually supposed. (' Phcenicia,' p. 24), thinks that as crocodilu, Sinoe but sma,11 mention of the Jordan is originally meant a lizard, the lacer/u., Nilo- made in the bounda,ry of Joseph, it ma.y ticus is meant, the river being, in his opinion have extended a,s far or farther south than too shallow in summer to be the haunt oi the Ja,bbok (se_e a.Isa note, eh. xvii. 10). the crocodile proper (see also Tristram, The genero.l belief of explorers a.t present is 'Land of Israel.' p. 103, who believes it that the inheritance of Issa,cha.r extended possible that the crocodile may be found from J ezreel to the Jordan, a,nd from the there, though no specimen ha.a as yet been Sea of Tiberias southward as fa.r as the produced). The Zerka is described in Pales- border of Manasseh, above mentioned. tine Exploration Fond Quarterly Paper, Ver. 25. - Helkath. !'i, Levitical city January, 1874, e.s "a torpid stream .flowing (eh. xxi. 31 ; 1 Chron. v1. 75, where it is through fetid marshes, in which reeds, canes, ea.lied Hukok). and the stunted papyrus grow." When it Ver. 26.-Reacheth. Literally, toucheth, is added, " and where alone in Palestine i.e. skirteth, a,a in vers. 11 a,nd 22. So in the the crocodile is found,'' no evidence is given next verse, with regard to Zebulun. The term in favour of the statement. It empties itself appears to be the inve.ria,ble one when a dis- into the sea between Dor and Ca,sarea, a trict, not a particular place, is spoken of. To few miles north of the latter. Carmel westward. The Ce.nnelrange appears Ver. 27.-Beth-dagoIL We learn that to have been included in the tribe of Asher. Dagon, the fish-god, was worshipped here For we read (eh. xvii. 10, 11) that Asher met as well as in the eouth of Pa.Jestine (see Manasseh on the north, whence we conclude eh. xv. 41). The Valley of Jlphtha.h-el. tha,t it must have cut off Issa.char from the This valley, or gai, is mentioned above, see., and that as Dor was among the towns ver. 14, as the extl'8me northern border of which Manasseh held within the territory Zebulun. Cabul. We read of a Cabul in of Issa.char and Asher, it must therefore 1 Kings ix. 11-13, but it can hardly be this have been within the boundaries of the place, though clearly not far off. For we latter. Shihor-llbnath. For Shihor see read that the name given to that territory eh. xiii. 3. Libnath, which signifies white was given then by Hiram. There is a ~wµ,) or shining, has been supposed by some to Xa/3wXw IlroX,µailo~ u,0op,ov or<1a men- mean the glassy river, from its calm, un- tioned by Josephus. There is a village four broken flow, though this appears improbable, hours north-east of Acre, which still bee.rs since Shihor means turbid. It is far this name. more probable that the current was ren- Ver. 28.-HebroIL Rather, Ebron. It dered turbid by a quantity of chalk or is not the same word as the Hebron in limestone which it carried along in its Judah, but is spelt with Ain instead of course, and hence the name "muddy Hheth. In eh. xxi. 30, 1 Chron. vi. 59, white." Keil thinks it to be the Nahr-el- Abdon is the name of the city assigned to Zerka, or crocodile river, of Pliny, in which the Levites in Asher. Twenty MSS., says Beland, Von Raumer, Knobel, and Rosen- Keil, ha"<e the same reading here. But the miiller agree with him. But when he pro- LXX. has 'E/3pwv here and A/3cwv in eh. ceeds to argue that this river, being blue, xxi. 30. The Hebrewi and i are so much "might answer both to shihor, black, and alike that there is no doubt that the mis- libnath, white," he takes a flight in which take has arisen e111lier than the time when it is impossible to follow him. Gesenius, that translation was made. It is true that from the glazed appearance ot burnt brick the lists of Levitice.1 cities in Joshua rn. or tiles (l'banah), conjectures<that it may be and 1 Chron. vi. do not entirely correspond. the Belue, or "glass river," so c11lled, how- But the resemblance here between tho ever, in ancient times because the fine sand names is too striking to allow of the sup- on its banks en11bled the manufacture of position that two different cities are meant. glass to be carried on here. But this, empty- Great Z!don. This cHy, as well as Tyre, ing itseli into the sea near Acre, has been remained unsubdued, although assigned by thought to be too far north. Vandevelde, Joshua to Asher. The boundnry of Asher however, one of the le.test authorities, as appears to have been traced first towards well as Mr. Conder, is inclined to agree with the west, then eastward, from a middle Gesenius. The difficulty of this identifica- point on the southern border (see note on tion consists in the fact that Carmel and ver. 11), then to have been carried north- Do,· (eh. xvii. 11) are saicl to have been in ward from the sa,me point (the lejt hand Asher (see note on eh. xvii. 10). The Nahr- usually means the north ; see note on Te- el-Zerka has not been found by recent ex- man, eh. xv. 1), on the east side till it plorers to contain crocodiles, but it bas reached Cabul. Then the northern border been thought possible that they have hitherto is traced westward to Bidon. Then the eluded observation. Kenriok, however border turned southward along the sea, 282 TE:E BOOK OF JOSllUA, [ea. xrx.1-61.