Neiel
Ne'iel
[many Ne'iel] (Heb. Neiel', נעַיאֵל -, dwelling place of 'God; Sept. Ναοήλ v.r. Α᾿νιήλ, Ι᾿ναηλ; Vulg. Nehiel), a town in the territory of Asher, near the southern or south-eastern border (Jos 19:27). Eusebius and Jerome (who call it the "village Baetoanaea,"Βαιτοαναιά) place it in the mountain (Carmel), sixteen miles east (N.T.) of Caesarea Palaestina, where medicinal springs were found (Onomast. s.v. Aniel, Α᾿νιήλ, the reading of the Alexand. MS. of the Sept. in the above passage); a position which exactly agrees with that of the modern village Bistan, adjoining the spring Ain-Haud, a short distance east of Athlit (Van de Velde, Map). The description of the boundary is quite indistinct at this point, SEE TRIBE; and if we regard merely the associated names Jiphthah-el (the present Jefat) and Cabul (now Kabul), we might locate Neiel at the modern Minar (supposing a mere interchange of liquids in the name), a village conspicuously situated half-way between them (Robinson, New Res. 3:87, 103); although Beth-emek (q.v.) is mentioned immediately before Neiel, and lies much farther interior (at Amkah). Keil (Comment. on Josh. ad loc.) thinks that the statement of the text assigns both these latter places a position south of the border and within Zebulon; while Knobel (Commentar, ad loc. Joshua) is inclined to identify Neiel with the NEAH of Jos 19:13, which, however, lay too far east. For other views, see Rosenmuller, Scholia, ad loc.
