Joshua 19:15

15 Included also were Kattah and Nahalal and Shimron and Idalah and Bethlehem; twelve * cities with their villages.

Joshua 19:15 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 19:15

And Kattath, and Nahallal
Of the two first of these we read nowhere else, but in ( Joshua 21:34 Joshua 21:35 ) ( Judges 1:30 ) ;

and Shimron
was a royal city, the king of which Joshua took and hanged, ( Joshua 11:1 ) ( 12:20 ) ;

and Idalah
is a place Bochart conjectures ^F20 where the goddess Venus was worshipped, Idalia being one of her names;

and Bethlehem
is a different place from that which was the birthplace of our Lord, called Bethlehem of Judah, to distinguish it from this:

twelve cities with their villages;
more are named, but some of them belonged to other tribes, and only lay on the borders of this; and others might not be properly cities, but small towns.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 Canaan, l. 1. c. 3. col. 356.

Joshua 19:15 In-Context

13 From there it continued eastward toward the sunrise to Gath-hepher, to Eth-kazin, and it proceeded to Rimmon which stretches to Neah.

14 The border circled around it on the north to Hannathon, and it ended at the valley of Iphtahel.

15 Included also were Kattah and Nahalal and Shimron and Idalah and Bethlehem; twelve cities with their villages.

16 This was the inheritance of the sons of Zebulun according to their families, these cities with their villages.

17 The fourth lot fell to Issachar, to the sons of Issachar according to their families.