12 It turned from Sarid eastward toward the sunrise to the border of Chisloth Tabor. It went out to Daberath, and went up to Japhia.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
And turned from Sarid eastward,.... This describes the southern border, going on from west to east:
towards the sunrising, unto the border of Chislothtabor; this Jerom places in the tribe of Issachar, it bordered on both tribes; and he says (l), that in his time there was a little village called Chaselus, eight miles from Diocaesarea, at the foot of Mount Tabor in the plains:
and then goeth out to Daberath; which also was a city in the tribe of Issachar, given to the Levites, Joshua 21:28. Jerom (m) speaks of a little village of the Jews by Mount Tabor, of the country belonging to Diocaesarea, called Dabira; this place is still in being. Mr. Maundrell says (n), at the bottom of Tabor westward stands Debarah, supposed by some to take its name from Deborah, the famous judge and deliverer of Israel:
and goeth up to Japhia; this Jerom (o) says is the town called Sycamine, as you go from Caesarea to Ptolemais, above the sea, because of Mount Carmel, called Epha, thought by some to be the Jebba of Pliny (p). It seems, however, to be the Japha of Josephus (q), which he speaks of as being a strong fortified place both by nature and art.
(l) De loc. Hebrews. fol. 88. D. H. (m) lbid. fol. 90. I. (n) Journey from Aleppo, &c. p. 115. (o) De loc. Hebrews. fol. 92. K. (p) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 19. (q) De Bello Jude. l. 3. c. 6. sect. 31.
"And from Sarid the boundary turned eastwards toward the sun-rising to the territory of Chisloth-tabor, and went out to Dabrath, and went up to Japhia." Chisloth-tabor, i.e., according to Kimchi's explanation lumbi Taboris (French, les flancs), was at any rate a place on the side of Tabor, possibly the same as Kesulloth in Joshua 19:18, as Masius and others suppose, and probably the same place as the Xaloth of Josephus (Bell. Jude. iii. 3, 1), which was situated in the "great plain," and the vicus Chasalus of the Onom. (juxta montem Thabor in campestribus), i.e., the present village of Iksl or Ksl, upon a rocky height on the west of Thabor, with many tombs in the rocks (Rob. iii. p. 182). Dabrath, a place in the tribe of Issachar that was given up to the Levites (Joshua 21:28; 1-Chronicles 6:57), called Dabaritta in Josephus (Bell. Jude. ii. 21, 3) and Dabira in the Onom. (villula in monte Thabor), the present Deburieh, an insignificant village which stands in a very picturesque manner upon a stratum of rock at the western foot of Tabor (Rob. iii. p. 210; V. de Velde, R. ii. p. 324). Japhia certainly cannot be the present Hepha or Haifa (Khaifa) on the Mediterranean, and near to Carmel (Rel. Pal. p. 826, and Ges. Thes. s. v.); but it is just as certain that it cannot be the present Jafa, a place half an hour to the south-west of Nazareth, as Robinson (Pal. iii. p. 200) and Knobel suppose, since the boundary was running eastwards, and cannot possibly have turned back again towards the west, and run from Deburieh beyond Sarid. If the positions assigned to Chisloth-tabor and Dabrath are correct, Japhia must be sought for on the east of Deburieh.
*More commentary available at chapter level.