This is the lot of Zebulun, who, though born of Leah after Issachar, yet was blessed by Jacob and Moses before him; and therefore it was so ordered that his lot was drawn before that of Issachar, north of which it lay and south of Asher. 1. The lot of this tribe was washed by the great sea on the west, and by the sea of Tiberias on the east, answering Jacob's prophecy (Gen 49:13), Zebulun shall be a haven of ships, trading ships on the great sea and fishing ships on the sea of Galilee. 2. Though there were some places in this tribe which were made famous in the Old Testament, especially Mount Carmel, on which the famous trial was between God and Baal in Elijah's time, yet it was made much more illustrious in the New Testament; for within the lot of this tribe was Nazareth, where our blessed Saviour spent so much of his time on earth, and from which he was called Jesus of Nazareth, and Mount Tabor on which he was transfigured, and that coast of the sea of Galilee on which Christ preached so many sermons and wrought so many miracles.

Baalath-beer - The well of the mistresses. Probably so called from some superstitious or impure worship set up there.

And from thence passeth on along on the east to Gittahhepher,.... Which was the native place of Jonah the prophet, Kg2 14:25; and where Jerom says (r) his grave was shown, and was a small village in his time two miles from Sippore, then called Diocaesarea:

to Ittahkazin; of this place we have no account elsewhere, but it was not far from the former:

and goeth out to Remmonmethoar to Neah; where the eastern border ended. Some versions make Remmonmethoar distinct places; but where either of them were exactly is not known: some, as the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, render the word "Methoar which goes about"; that is, the border went about from Remmon to Neah, which by Jerom is called Anna, and who observes (s), that there is another village called Anna, ten miles from Neapolis, as you go to Aelia; and by whom also Methoar is reckoned a distinct place, and called Amathar.

(r) Praefat. in Jonam. (s) De loc. Heb. fol. 38. H.

OF ZEBULUN. (Jos 19:10-16)

the third lot came up for the children of Zebulun--The boundaries of the possession assigned to them extended from the Lake of Chinnereth (Sea of Galilee) on the east, to the Mediterranean on the west. Although they do not seem at first to have touched on the western shore--a part of Manasseh running north into Asher (Jos 17:10) --they afterwards did, according to the prediction of Moses (Deu 33:19). The extent from north to south cannot be very exactly traced; the sites of many of the places through which the boundary line is drawn being unknown. Some of the cities were of note.