Bible Dictionary
Kanah
Kanah was both a stream forming part of the boundary between Ephraim and Manasseh and a town on the northern border of Asher. The name refers to reeds.
Definition
Kanah names both a brook and a town. The brook Kanah formed part of the boundary between Ephraim and Manasseh. The town Kanah lay on the northern boundary of Asher. The name means “reeds” or “a place of reeds.”
Biblical Usage
Kanah appears in the territorial descriptions of Joshua, where the brook marks the boundary of Ephraim and Manasseh and the town is listed in Asher’s territory.
Historical Background
The brook has been identified with Wady Kanah or with other reed-filled streams reaching the Mediterranean near Jaffa. The town has been identified with Qana or Ain-Kana southeast of Tyre, near extensive ruins and rock-cut figures.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Reedy; brook of reeds. (1.) A stream forming the boundary between Ephraim and Manasseh, from the Mediterranean eastward to Tappuah (Josh. 16:8). It has been identified with the sedgy streams that constitute the Wady Talaik, which enters the sea between Joppa and Caesarea. Others identify it with the river’ Aujeh. (2.) A town in the north of Asher (Josh. 19:28). It has been identified with ‘Ain-Kana, a village on the brow of a valley some 7 miles south-east of Tyre. About a mile north of this place are many colossal ruins strown about. And in the side of a neighbouring ravine are figures of men, women, and children cut in the face of the rock. These are supposed to be of Phoenician origin.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(a place of reeds).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>ka'-na (qanah, "reeds"):</p><p>(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."</p><p>(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).</p><p>W. Ewing</p>