Charles Ellicott Commentary Joshua 19:24

"And the fifth lot came out for the tribe of the children of Asher according to their families." — Joshua 19:24 (ASV)

The fifth lot ... for ... Asher ... (and Joshua 19:32 ) the sixth ... for ... Naphtali. — Asher and Naphtali had been associated with Dan in the exodus, and with him had encamped on the north side of the tabernacle, and had brought up the rear. These two, each dissociated from his own brother (namely, Asher from Gad and Naphtali from Dan), are paired together in their inheritance in Palestine (compare Naphtali and Manasseh in Revelation 7:0, and see Names on the Gates of Pearl, pp. 199, 200).

The tribe of Asher was more akin to the house of Judah, for Zilpah, the mother of Asher, was Leah’s handmaid; and Naphtali to the house of Joseph, for Bilhah, Naphtali’s mother, was Rachel’s handmaid. But in all cases the lot of the inheritance of the tribe seems to have fallen in such a way as to favor the construction of a united Israel—a Dodecaphulon, to use St. Paul’s word—an organized body of twelve tribes.