The tribe of Naphtali (Ezek 48:3-48:3)

“Adjoining the territory of Asher,

From the east side

To the west side,

Naphtali was

One portion.”

Once again, there is very little description of the territory of Naphtali, just that it is east and west of Asher. In Joshua, chapter 19, they had a huge territory along the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee, east of Asher.

The tribe of Naphtali (Josh 19:32-19:39)

“The sixth lot came out for the tribe of Naphtali, for the tribe of Naphtali, according to its families. Its boundary ran from Heleph, from the oak in Zaanannim, and Adami-nekeb, and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum. It ended at the Jordan. Then the boundary turns westward to Aznoth-tabor, and goes from there to Hukkok, touching Zebulun at the south, and Asher on the west, and on the east the Jordan. The fortified towns are Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth, Adamah, Ramah, Hazor, Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor, Iron, Migdal-el, Horem, Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh, nineteen towns with their villages. This is the inheritance of the tribe of Naphtali according to its families, the towns with their villages.”

The northeastern Naphtali gets a pretty big area that borders the Jordan River, surrounded by the half-tribe of Manasseh, Issachar, Zebulun, and Asher, with Lebanon to the north. The eastern border is the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee, with Manasseh on the other side of the Jordan. Chinnereth will become Galilee on the eastern border. There is a mention of 19 towns, but only 16 are fortified. Edrei is a different town than the one in Numbers, chapter 21, named in the battle with the giant King Og. The following 11 towns are only mentioned here and nowhere else in the biblical books: Heleph, Adami-nekeb, Lakkum, Aznoth-tabor, Ziddim, Zer, Rakkath, En-hazor, Iron, Migdal-el, and Horem.