Nahallal

Nahallal is a Levitical city within the territory of Zebulun. The UPDV records the place under two related spellings: "Nahalal" in the Joshua texts and "Nahalol" in the Judges parallel.

A town in Zebulun

The city appears first in the boundary list of Zebulun's tribal inheritance, set among a group of villages and small towns: "and Kattath, and Nahalal, and Shimeon, and Jiralah, and Bethlehem: twelve cities with their villages" (Jos 19:15). It is one of the named settlements of the northern allotment.

Assigned to the Merarites

When the Levitical cities are distributed, Nahalal is among those given out of Zebulun's territory: "Rimmonah with its suburbs, Nahalal with its suburbs; four cities" (Jos 21:35). The Levite assignment makes it part of the priestly-tribal infrastructure within Zebulun.

Unconquered ground

Judges records that Zebulun could not displace the original inhabitants from this same place, here spelled Nahalol: "Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became subject to slave labor" (Jud 1:30). The town remained populated by Canaanites placed under forced labor rather than being cleared.