Joshua 19:46

And Mejarkon, and Rakkon,.... Of the two first of these we read no where else.

And Mejarkon, and Rakkon, with the border before Japho. Me-jarkon - waters of yellowness [Septuagint, apo thalassees Ierakoon]. The name was derived from a fountain or stream in the neighbourhood of the city.

(41-46) All the towns mentioned here are identified by Conder. Zorah—Sur’ahEshtaol—Eshû’aIr-shemesh—Ain Sheme Shaalabbin—SelbîtAjalon—YâloJethlah—(Ruin) Beit TulAre all in sheet 17Elon—Beit ElloThimnathah—(Ruin) TibnehSheet 14Ekron-(akir, sheet 16)13For Gath-rimmon, Conder suggests Gath; but this he identifies with Tell-es-Safi, which is well within the territory of Judah (to the south of sheet 16). Me-jarkon, “the yellow water,” is thought to be the river ’Aujeh (sheet 13), and Rakkon, Tell-er-Rakkeit, to the north of the mouth of it. Japho is Jaffa, on the same sheet.

Verse 46. Japho.] The place since called Joppa, lying on the Mediterranean, and the chief sea-port, in the possession of the twelve tribes.

46. Me-jarkon, and Rakkon] still remain to be discovered. with the border before Japho] i.e. with the whole district extending to the suburbs opposite to Japho. Japho] (= “beauty”) is the Hebrew form of the more familiar Joppa (2 Chronicles 2:16; Ezekiel 3:7). It was situated on the south-west coast of Palestine, and having a harbour attached to it was afterwards the port of Jerusalem. It was the spot (a) whither the cedar and pinewood were floated from Phœnicia by Hiram, king of Tyre, for Solomon’s temple (2 Chronicles 2:16); (b) whither similar materials were conveyed by the permission of Cyrus for the rebuilding of the second temple under Zerubbabel (Ezekiel 3:7); (c) where Jonah took ship to flee “from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3); (d) where Jonathan Maccabæus met Ptolemy (1Ma 11:6); (e) where St Peter had the vision on the housetop of Simon the tanner (Acts 10:9-18). On the east the town is surrounded by a wide circle of gardens and groves of noble trees. “The figs and oranges of Joppa are noted for their size and flavour. The water-melons, which thrive on the sandy soil around, are in great repute, and are carried in great numbers to Alexandria and Cairo. Through all Syria, too, they have a reputation.… The horticulturist Bové, who visited the place in 1832, observed three kinds of figs, apricots, almonds, pomegranates, peaches, oranges, pears, and apples, plums, bananas and grapes, while the sugar-cane grows to the height of five or six feet.” Ritter, Geog. Pal. iv. 259. In a.d. 1188 Saladin destroyed its fortifications, to be rebuilt by Richard of England, who was here confined by sickness. In 1253 it was occupied by St Louis, and afterwards fell into the hands first of the Sultans of Egypt and then of the Turks.

Japho (the modern Jaffa, or Yafa), elsewhere (see the margin) called Joppa, is often mentioned in the history of the Maccabees and was, as it still is, the leading port of access to Jerusalem both

[46. Japho — The ancient Joppa, modern Jaffa, the famous seaport town of Palestine, distinguishable alike in sacred and common history.