Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
mentioned here and the Shimron of Zebulun. There is also no probability in Knobel's
conjecture, that the Shimron last named is the same as the small village of Semunieh ,
probably the Simonias of Josephus (Vita, §24), on the west of Nazareth (see Rob. Pal.
iii. p. 201). Achshaph , a border town of Ashwer (Josh 19:25), is also unknown, and
is neither to be sought, as Robinson supposes (Bibl. Res. pp. 55), in the ruins of Kesâf
, which lie even farther north than Abel ( Abil ), in the tribe of Naphtali, and therefore
much too far to the north to have formed the boundary of Asher; nor to be identified
with Acco ( Ptolemais ), as Knobel imagines, since Acco has nothing in common with
Achshaph except the letter caph (see also at Josh 19:25).
Verse 2. Jabin also allied himself with the kings of the north "upon the mountains,"
i.e., the mountains of Naphtali (Josh 20:7), and "in the Arabah to the south of
Chinnereth" (ch. 19:35), i.e., in the Ghor to the south of the sea of Galilee, and "in the
lowland," i.e., the northern portion of it, as far down as Joppa, and "upon the heights
of Dor." The town of Dor , which was built by Phoenicians, who settled there on
account of the abundance of the purple mussels ( Steph. Byz. s. v. Doo'ros ), was
allotted to the Manassites in the territory of Asher (Josh 17:11; cf. 19:26), and taken
possession of by the children of Joseph (1 Chron 7:29). It was situated on the
Mediterranean Sea, below the promontory of Carmel, nine Roman miles north of
Caesarea, and is at the present time a hamlet called Tantura or Tortura , with very
considerable ruins ( Wilson , The Holy Land, ii. 249, and V. de Velde , Journey, i. p.
251). The old town was a little more than a mile to the north, on a small range of
hills, which is covered with ruins ( Ritter , Erdk. xvi. pp. 608-9; V. de Velde , Mem. p.
307), and on the north of which there are rocky ranges, with many grottos, and houses
cut in the rock itself ( Buckingham , Syria, i. pp. 101-2). These are "the heights of
Dor," or "the high range of Dor" (Josh 12:23; 1 Kings 4:11).
Verse 3. "Namely, with the Canaanites on the east and west, the Amorites" and
other tribes dwelling upon the mountains (vid., Josh 3:10), and "the Hivites under the
Hermon in the land of Mizpah," i.e., the country below Hasbeya , between Nahr
Hasbany on the east, and Merj. Ayûn on the west, with the village of Mutulleh or
Mtelleh , at present inhabited by Druses, which stands upon a hill more than 200 feet
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