Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 19:31
This [is] the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Asher according to their families, these cities with their villages.
31. the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Asher ] The territory of Asher extended from the Nahr Zerka on the south, to Zidon on the north, and contained some of the richest soil of the country, and the maritime portion of the fertile plain of Esdraelon, and commanded all approaches to Palestine from the sea on the north. Its soil well fulfilled the prophetic descriptions of Jacob and Moses. Here Asher could “dip his foot” in the oil of his luxuriant olive-groves (Deu 33:24) such as still distinguish this region, and fatten on the bread, the fruit of the rich plain of Phnicia and his fertile upland valleys (Gen 49:20). Here he could “yield royal dainties” (Gen 49:20), “oil and wine from his olives and vineyards, and milk and butter from his pastures;” while under his shoes (Deu 33:25) was the iron ore of the southern slopes of Lebanon, and the brass or copper of the neighbouring Phnician territory. See Stanley’s S. and P., p. 362; Pusey’s Lectures on the Book of Daniel, p. 294; Porter’s Handbook of Sinai and Palestine, ii. p. 363. But to the richness of his soil and the proximity of the Phnician towns the degeneracy and subsequent obscurity of Asher may be mainly traced. At the numbering of Israel at Sinai, the tribe was more numerous than either Ephraim, Manasseh, or Benjamin (Num 1:32-41), “but in the reign of David, so insignificant had it become, that its name is altogether omitted from the list of the chief rulers” (1Ch 27:16-22). “The Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites” (Jdg 1:32), and “though not nominally, or even really, a subject people, they were so thoroughly checked in their plans of conquest, and dashed their strength so uselessly against the strong rock of Phnician power, that in the shock of failure they settled down as a people admitted to be strong, and allowed to exist side by side with the Phnicians, under certain statutes and arrangements mutually entered into.” Ritter’s Compar. Geo. of Palestine, iii. 187, 188. With the exception of the aged widow, “Anna, the daughter of Phanuel” (Luk 2:36), no name “shines out of the general obscurity” of the tribe. “The contemptuous allusion in the Song of Deborah sums up this whole history, when in the great gathering of the tribes against Sisera, Asher continued on the sea-shore and abode in his creeks,” So insignificant was the tribe to which was assigned the fortress which Napoleon called the key of Palestine. Stanley’s S. and P., p. 265.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This [is] the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Asher,…. As before described, a goodly heritage; it was, according to the prediction of Jacob and Moses, Ge 49:20; a very fruitful country. Josephus c says, the country from Carmel called the valley, because it was such, even all over against Sidon, fell to the Asherites, Asher had Mount Libanus on the north, Naphtali on the east, Zebulun on the south and southeast, the sea on the west:
according to their families; the number of them, so their lot was divided to them:
these cities with their villages; before named.
c Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 22.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Gen 49:20, Deu 33:24, Deu 33:25