Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
Joshua 19:10-16
And the third lot came up for the children of Zebulun according to their families:
and the border of their inheritance was unto Sarid:
The Inheritance of Zebulun fell above the plain of Jezreel, between this plain and the
mountains of Naphtali, so that it was bounded by Asher on the west and north-west
(v. 27), by Naphtali on the north and north-east (v. 34), and by Issachar on the southeast
and south, and touched neither the Mediterranean Sea nor the Jordan. It
embraced a very fertile country, however, with the fine broad plain of el Buttauf , the
me'ga pedi'on above Nazareth called Asochis in Joseph. vita , §41, 45 (see Rob. iii. p.
189, Bibl. Res. pp. 105ff.; Ritter , Erdk. xvi. pp. 742, 758-9).
Verse 10. "And the boundary (the territory) of their inheritance was (went) to
Sarid." This is no doubt the centre of the southern boundary, from which it is traced
in a westerly direction in v. 11, and in an easterly direction in v. 12, in the same
manner as in Josh 16:6. Unfortunately, Sarid cannot be determined with certainty.
Knobel's opinion, is, that the name, which signifies "hole" or "incision," after the
analogy of saarad (OT:8277), perforavit , and saaraT (OT:8295), incidit , does not
refer to a town, but to some other locality, probably the southern opening of the deep
and narrow wady which comes down from the basin of Nazareth, and is about an
hour to the south-east of Nazareth, between two steep mountains ( Seetzen , ii. pp.
151-2; Rob. iii. p. 183). This locality appears suitable enough. But it is also possible
that Sarid may be found in one of the two heaps of ruins on the south side of the
Mons praecipitii upon V. de Velde's map (so called from Luke 4:29).
Verse 11. From this point "the border went up westwards, namely to Mar'ala, and
touched Dabbasheth, and still farther to the brook of Jokneam." If Jokneam of
Carmel has been preserved in the Tell Kaimûn (see at Josh 12:22), the brook before
Jokneam is probably the Wady el Milh , on the eastern side of which, near the point
where it opens into the plain, stands Kaimûn , and through which the road runs from
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