Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 19:22
And the coast reacheth to Tabor, and Shahazimah, and Beth-shemesh; and the outgoings of their border were at Jordan: sixteen cities with their villages.
22. and the coast reacheth to Tabor ] Not the mountain, but a town upon the mountain, given to the Levites (1Ch 6:77), and to Shahazimah and Beth-shemesh. The site of neither of these places is known, for the Beth-shemesh here mentioned is not the town of that name in the tribe of Judah (ch. Jos 15:10)
the outgoings of their border ] The Jordan formed the eastern boundary of the tribe, but how far its territory extended down into the Jordan Valley is not stated.
sixteen cities ] Which number is correct, if Tabor is taken as a city. Being a border town, it is not remarkable that here it is reckoned to Issachar, and in 1Ch 6:77 to Zebulun.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 22. Beth-shemesh] The house or temple of the sun; there were several cities or towns of this name in Palestine; an ample proof that the worship of this celestial luminary had generally prevailed in that idolatrous country.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And the coast reacheth to Tabor,…. Tabor was the name of a mountain in those parts; it is generally supposed to be the mountain on which our Lord was transfigured, though it is not sufficiently evident;
[See comments on Jer 46:18]. There was a city of this name near it, 1Ch 6:77, and which is meant here, and which either gave unto or received name from the mount. The Greeks call it Itabyrium, and it is described by Polybius g as situated on a hill rising in the form of a pap or breast, and has an ascent of more than fifteen furlongs, and he calls it a city;
and Shahazimah is not mentioned any where else;
and Bethshemesh; there seem to have been several cities, at least more than one, of the name of Bethshemesh; one in the tribe of Judah,
Jos 21:16; and another in the tribe of Naphtali, Jos 19:38; which perhaps may be the same with this, it lying on the borders of both tribes. In this, and so in others of the same name, was a temple dedicated to the sun by the Heathens, as there was one of the same name in Egypt for the same reason, Jer 43:13;
and the outgoings of their border were at Jordan; here it ended: so Josephus says, that the border of this tribe in the length of it were Mount Carmel (at one end), and the river (i.e. Jordan, at the other); and at the breadth of it the mountain Itabyrium, or Mount Tabor: it had Jordan on the east, the sea on the west, Zebulun on the north, and Manasseh on the south:
sixteen cities with their villages; which was the sum total of them.
g Hist. l. 5. p. 413.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(22) Tabor (? Deburieh, sheet 6). Beth-shemesh (Ain Esh-shemsiyeh, near Beth-shean). The rest are not identified. Of these places, Shunem and Jezreel are famous in later history: Shunem especially in the story of Elisha (2 Kings 4).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. Coast reacheth This probably means the northern coast or border, where it joined on Zebulun. Tabor is here generally supposed to mean not the mountain, but a town on it afterwards given to the Levites. 1Ch 6:77.
Sixteen cities This is exactly the number given above, if Tabor be taken as a city.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And the border reached to Tabor, and Shahazumah, and Bethshemesh, and the goings out of their border were at Jordan. Sixteen cities with their villages.’
Tabor is clearly a town connected with Mount Tabor on the Zebulun border and shared with Zebulun (see Jdg 4:6; Jdg 4:14; Jdg 8:18; 1Ch 6:77). Shahazumah is unknown. Beth-shemesh (‘house of the sun (or of Shemesh)’) was a popular name for towns related to sun worship. This one may have been shared with Naphtali being on the Issachar-Naphtali border (Jos 19:38). These sixteen cities with their villages delineate the inheritance of Issachar.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
coast = boundary.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Tabor: Jos 19:12, Jdg 4:6, 1Ch 6:77, Jer 46:18
Bethshemesh: Jos 19:38, Jos 21:16, 1Sa 6:9-19, 1Ki 4:9, 2Ki 14:11-13
Reciprocal: Jos 19:34 – Aznothtabor 1Sa 10:3 – Tabor Psa 89:12 – Tabor