Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea— As Jacob mentions his sons according to seniority, in regard to their respective mothers, this would have been, according to that method, Issachar's place. Though it may not be thought necessary to assign a reason why Zebulun has here, in Deuteronomy 33:18 and Judges 10:17 the precedence; it seems not improbable, that this distinction was grounded on the same principles as that of Jacob, Moses, Ephraim, &c. who, in similar circumstances, and for the same reason, are mentioned before Esau, Aaron, and Manasseh, &c. i.e.. according to the election of Grace, of which more shall be said in another place. Zebulun's portion of the country was preferable to Issachar's; for, besides the advantages he had in common with him, and that our Lord chiefly resided in this tribe, and hence was called a Nazarene, he is here promised a sea-coast, with harbours commodious for ships, and bordering on Phoenicia, the mother of navigation and commerce. Durell. If Jacob had been present at the division of the promised land, he could hardly have given a more exact description of Zebulun's lot; for it extended from the Mediterranean on the west, to the lake of Gennesareth on the east side.
Zidon— The town so called is not meant here; for Zebulun's border was very distant from it; but the country belonging to the Zidonians, or Phoenicians, it being not unfrequent in Scripture to use the capital for the province. The blessing may be paraphrased thus, "Zebulun's dwellings shall spread themselves along the coasts of the sea: there he shall have commodious havens, and stretch the number of the ports he shall frequent, as far as the country of Zidon."