HELKATH

(Helʹkath) [portion, plot of land].

A city listed among the boundary sites of the tribe of Asher (Josh. 19:24, 25, 31), later assigned to the Gershonites as a Levitical city. (Josh. 21:27, 30, 31) It appears at 1 Chronicles 6:75 with the variant spelling of Hukok. Its location is conjectural. Yerka, a few miles E of Acco, was the earlier identification, but Tell el-Harbaj, eleven miles (17.7 kilometers) S of Acco and near the base of the Carmel mountain range, is more generally favored today. The New Bible Dictionary by Douglas considers as “perhaps even better, Tell el-Qasis,” somewhat over five miles (8 kilometers) S-SE of Tell el-Harbaj, lying at the entrance to the Valley of Jezreel. Since the towns of Hali and Beten, mentioned after Helkath in the list at Joshua 19:24-26, are generally considered to have been in the southern part of the Plain of Acco, such identification with Tell el-Qasis would indicate a boundary description beginning in the extreme SE corner of the Plain of Acco, rather than one beginning in the N and running S. Further identification of other towns is needed, however, to determine this.