What is…
Shihor-Libnath

Meaning: black-white

This is the ancient name of a stream or river that served as a boundary marker on the border of Asher, probably the modern Nahr Zerka (aka Nahr Zerq), i.e., the “crocodile brook,” or “blue river,” which rises in the Mount Carmel range and enters the Mediterranean a little to the north of Caesarea (Joshua 19:26).

In modern times, crocodiles were still found in the Zerka. William Thomson suspected “that long ages ago some Egyptians, accustomed to worship this ugly creature, settled here (viz., at Caesarea), and brought their gods with them. Once here they would not easily be exterminated” (Dr. William McClure Thomson, Land and the Book, 1859).

More information

• Rivers of the Bible
• What is the Tribe of Asher?
• Carmel
• What is The Sea mentioned in Scripture?
• Answers about Ancient Egypt in the Bible
• Answers about idolatry and false gods in the Bible