So Benhadad hearkened unto King Asa, and sent the captains
of
the hosts which he had against the cities of
Israel
He broke off his alliance with the king of Israel; and as he had
a standing army, with proper officers, he sent them directly to
take the cities of Israel:
and he smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abelbethmaachah, and all
Cinneroth,
with all the land of Naphtali;
places which lay on the northern part of Israel, the nearest to
Syria. Ijon some place in the tribe of Naphtali, others in Asher;
it seems to be on the extreme border of the land northward, as
Dan also was; hence the phrase from Dan to Beersheba, i.e. from
north to south. Abelbethmaachah is the same with Abelmaim, (
2
Chronicles 16:4 ) which perhaps is the same with that Abela,
placed by Jerome
F24 between Damascus and Paneas, supposed to be the Enhydra of Pliny {y}. Cinneroth is the same with Gennesaret, a fruitful country in Galilee, from which is a sea or lake of that name, mentioned in the New Testament, and was in the tribe of Naphtali, the land of which was seized upon at this time.
