Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
conjecture. For, in the first place, not only would it be a surprising thing to find the
places mentioned as boundaries included among the towns of the territory belonging
to the tribe, especially as some of the places so mentioned did not belong to Zebulun
at all; but the copula vav , with which the enumeration of the towns commences, is
equally surprising, since this is introduced in other cases with he'aariym (OT:5892)
wªhaayuw (OT:1961) ( wayihªyuw (OT:1961)), e.g., Josh 18:21; 15:21. And, in the
second place, it is not a probable thing in itself, that, with the exception of the five
towns mentioned in v. 15, the other towns of Zebulun should all be situated upon the
border. And lastly, the towns of Kartah and Dimnah , which Zebulun gave up to the
Levites (Josh 21:34), are actually wanting. Under these circumstances, it is a natural
conclusion that there is a gap in the text here, just as in Josh 15:59 and 21:36.
Joshua 19:17-23
And the fourth lot came out to Issachar, for the children of Issachar according to
their families.
The Inheritance of Issachar. - In this instance only towns are given, and the
boundaries are not delineated, with the exception of the eastern portion of the
northern boundary and the boundary line; at the same time, they may easily be traced
from the boundaries of the surrounding tribes. Issachar received for the most part the
large and very fertile plain of Jezreel (see at Josh 17:16, and Ritter , Erdk. xvi. pp.
689ff.), and was bounded on the south by Manasseh, on the west by Manasseh and
Asher, on the north by Zebulun, and farther east by Naphtali also, and on the east by
the Jordan.
Verse 18. "And their boundary was towards Jezreel," i.e., their territory extended
beyond Jezreel. Jezreel , the summer residence of Ahab and his house (1 Kings 18:45-
46, etc.), was situated upon a mountain, with an extensive and splendid prospect over
the large plain that was called by its name. It was afterwards called Esdraela , a place
described in the Onom. ( s. v. Jezreel ) as standing between Scythopolis and Legio; it
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