The inheritance of Judah was not anywhere near the border of Naphtali. How, then, could the border of Naphtali extend to Judah upon Jordan to the east? One explanation notes that on the eastern side of the Jordan, as it leaves the Sea of Chinnereth, were a number of villages of tents called Havoth-jair (Judges 10:3-5). This Jair was a grandson of Hezron, the father of Caleb, by a later wife of the tribe of Manasseh, but the grandfather was of Judah (see 1 Chron. 2:21-23). According to the law of Moses, every one of the children of Israel kept himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers, and thus the possessions of Jair were reckoned as belonging, not to the tribe of Manasseh, but to that of Judah, and this may explain how the territory of Naphtali, which was opposite Havoth-jair, is said to extend “to Judah upon Jordan toward the sunrising.”

Perhaps a more plausible explanation would be to have the territory of Issachar extending down the west side of the Jordan to the territory of Benjamin and Judah.

 Issachar would thus have the west valley of the Jordan as Gad had the east valley (ch. 13:27).

Literally, “ears of Tabor.” The site has been identified with Umm Jebeil, in the vicinity of Mt. Tabor. Beyond Mt. Tabor, Zebulun and Asher would form the southern and western boundaries.