Judges 1:31

Asher dwelt in a productive strip of country (Genesis 49:20), extending northwards from Carmel along the sea-coast (Judges 5:17) to Phoenicia; P indicates the boundaries in Joshua 19:24-31, but not many of the places can be identified. Occupying an indefinite territory between the Phoenicians and the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun, the Asherites seem to have been only partially identified with Israel; historically their importance was small, they took no part in the combination against Sisera (Judges 5:17), and here it is implied that they could not hold their own against the older population. In the period of Seti I and Ramses II Egyptian sources mention "A-sa-ru, a somewhat vigorous state located in the -Hinterland" of S. Phoenicia up to the Lebanon, the very district occupied by the tribe of Asher. "Asaru is simply the Egyptian form of Asher; but until fresh discoveries reveal the nature of the connexion between the two, no safe conclusions can be drawn for purposes of history. It has been supposed that some part of the Israelite nation, at any rate the tribe of Asher, was resident in Palestine under the 18th Dynasty, i.e. circ.1400 b.c., before the time of Moses. See W.Max Müller, Asien u. Europa, p. 236 ff.

Acco is the mod. -Akka (so in the Amarna tablets nos. 157 9), the S. Jean d'Acre of the Crusaders, N. of Carmel on the coast; in Acts 21:7 it is called Ptolemais, probably after Ptolemy II. This is the southernmost point on the coast in the present list; the northernmost is Zidon, the mod. Ṣaida, called Ziduna in the Am. tablets (nos. 147, 149, 150 f.), the famous Phoenician city. The Phoenicians are called Zidonians in the O.T., Judges 3:3; 1 Kings 11:5; they were never subjected by Israel. It is significant that Tyre, which is situated between these two points, is not mentioned.

Ahlab is probably only another form of Helbah, of which a third form is MahalabJoshua 19:29 (read -from Mahalab to Achzib"). It seems to be the place called Maḫallibaby Sennacherib (Taylor Cyl. COT, 288), who mentions Achzib and Acco in the same line. It is conjectured (Moore) that this was the old name of Râs el-Abyaḍ, the -promontorium album" of Pliny, three hours S. of Tyre.

Achzib called Ecdippa by the classical geographers, is the mod. ez-Zîb, 2½ hours N. of -Akka on the coast; Joshua 19:29.

Aphik … Rehob Joshua 19:30, not uncommon names; in this region they have not been identified. Rehob (Josh. ib., Joshua 21:31; 1 Chronicles 6:75) may be the Egyptian Raḥubu, N. of the Kishon (Müller, As. u. Eur., p. 153); it is probable that both places were inland, not on the coast.