Kanah

KANAH (kā'na, Heb. qānâh, reeds)

A brook running from south of Shechem westward to the Mediterranean Sea. It formed a part of the boundary between the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (Josh.16.8; Josh.17.9).A city near the boundary of the tribes of Asher (Josh.19.28), probably modern Kana, about eight miles (thirteen km.) SE of Tyre.

2. The town marks the boundary of the territory of Asher in the extreme N (Josh 19:28). The village of Qanah still lives on and is about six m. SE of Tyre.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

(qanah, "reeds"):

(1) The name of a "brook," i.e. wady, or "torrent bed," which formed part of the boundary between Ephraim and Manasseh (Jos 16:8; 17:9). The border of Ephraim went out westward from Tappuah to the brook Kanah, ending at the sea; the border of Manasseh from Tappuah, which belonged to Ephraim, "went down unto the brook of Kanah, southward of the brook." There seems no good reason to doubt the identification of "the brook Kanah" with the modern Wady Kanah. The transition from the heavy "q" to the lighter "k" is easy, so the phonetic difficulty is not serious. The stream rises in the Southwest of Shechem, flows through Wady Ishkar, and, joining the `Aujeh, reaches the sea not far to the North of Jaffa. Guerin, influenced, apparently, by the masses of reeds of various kinds which fill the river, argues in favor of Nahr el-Fallq, to the North of Arsuf. He identifies it with Nahr el-Kasab, "river of reeds," mentioned by Beha ed-Din, the Moslem historian. But this last must be identified with Nahr el-Mafjir, 13 miles farther North, too far North for "the brook Kanah."

(2) A town on the northern boundary of Asher (Jos 19:28), probably identical with the village of Qana, about 7 miles Southeast of Tyre (SWP, I, 51, 64, Sh I).