From the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that is beside the Sidonians, unto Aphek, to the borders of the Amorites:
All the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that is beside the Sidonians. The second division of the unconquered country comprised on the northwest the portion of Canaan which was then within the Sidonian territory, and a mountainous region of Upper Galilee, remarkable for its caves and fastnesses. "Mearah" signifies cave; and several writers have suggested its identification with a particular cave such as that which was a stronghold of the Crusaders (Robinson's 'Biblical Researches,' 3:, p. 412). But this is an unreliable guess, and, besides, is objectionable, as the original word wants the definite article, which would have been prefixed had there been a reference to some remarkable cave. Far more likely is it the designation of that special district which is known as the cave-country of the Sidonians, where, among the mountains, between which the river Kadisha flows, there are 800 caves or grottoes (De la Roque, 'Palestine').
Unto Aphek - a northern city (see the note at Joshua 19:30), the Aphaca of the classics, situated in Lebanon, on the river Adonis, and famous for a temple of Venus. The modern Afka probably marks its site, which was quite distinct from that of Aphek (1 Kings 20:26-30), and another place of the same name in Esdraelon (1 Samuel 29:1).
To the borders of the Amorites. In tracing the outline of the unconquered country, the historian seems to pass across the country from Aphek, in a northeasterly direction, to a part of Bashan. The third district that remained unsubdued was.