Southward it was Ephraim’s, and northward it was Manasseh’s, and the sea was his border. They reached to Asher on the north, and to Issachar on the east.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 10. East. These two tribes are contiguous to the tribe of Joseph, taken all together, verse 14. Menochius.—Aser extended as far as Mount Carmel, which was not far from Dor, a city of Manasses, verse 11. Calmet. 19:26. The tribes of Issachar and of Zabulon seem, indeed, to come between Manasses and Aser; so that we might say, that the tribe of Joseph finding itself too much straitened, was forced to seek for more room in the cities of the other tribes, which we find it really inhabited, verse 11. We might avoid all difficulties, by translating “they invaded (or made an irruption into) the tribe of Aser,” and so forth as the Hebrew will allow. Thus Dan conquered Lais, which lies at so great a distance from his own portion, and the tribes of Juda and Simeon were frequently intermixed. Calmet.—Aser and Manasses may, however, have been really united on the north-west, or Mediterranean point. Menochius.