Chapter LXXVI: Appendix (3)

153 – “Such writing was common in ancient times: I have seen
numerous specimens of it certainly _more than two thousand
years old_, and still as distinct as when they were first
inscribed on the plaster.” Thomson’s _Land and the Book_,
p. 471, Mill’s _Modern Samaritans_.

154 – The acoustic properties of this valley are interesting,
the more so that several times they are incidentally
brought to our notice in Holy Writ (comp. Josh. viii. 33;
Judg. ix. 7). It is impossible to conceive a spot more
admirably adapted for Joshua’s purpose than this one, in
the very centre of the newly acquired land, nor one which
could more exactly fulfil all the required conditions....
A single voice might be heard by many thousands, shut in
and conveyed up and down by the enclosing hills. In the
early morning we could not only see from Gerizim a man
driving his ass down a path on Mount Ebal, _but could hear
every word he uttered as he urged it on_; and in order to
test the matter more certainly, on a subsequent occasion
two of our party _stationed themselves on opposite
sides of the valley, and with perfect ease recited the
commandments antiphonally_.” Tristram’s _Land of Israel_,
pp. 149, 150.

155 – It was probably on this occasion that the Egyptian coffin
containing the embalmed body of their great ancestor
was laid by the two tribes of the house of Joseph in the
_parcel of ground_ near Shechem, _which Jacob bought of
the sons of Hamor_ (Gen. xxxiii. 19; l. 25).

156 – Or another place of the same name now called _Jilgilia_,
situated near Bethel in the direct route from Shechem to
Ai.

157 – They became “slaves of the Sanctuary,” = Deo donati. Comp.
Ezra viii. 20; 1 Chron. ix. 2; Num. viii. 16, 19. On the
subsequent breaking of this compact by Saul, see 2 Sam.
xxi. 1–5.

158 – In this same locality Judas Maccabæus won his first great
victory over the forces of Syria (1 Macc. iii. 16–24), and
later the Roman army under Cestius Gallus was totally cut
up by the insurgent Jews (Joseph. _B. J._ II. 19, 8, 9).
See Stanley’s _S. and P._ p. 212; Smith’s _Bib. Dict._,
Article _Beth-horon_.

159 – See Keil _on Joshua_, p. 219; and Article _Makkedah_ in
Smith’s _Bib. Dictionary_.

160 – “As the British chiefs were driven to the Land’s End
before the advance of the Saxon, so at this Land’s End of
Palestine the kings were gathered for this last struggle.”
_S. and P._ p. 391.

161 – See Keil _on Joshua_, x. 39. The etymology, however, is
not certain. It was also called Kirjath-sannah, _city of
palms_ (Josh. xv. 49). See Wilton’s _Negeb_, 212 _n._

162 – The position of _Shiloh_ is very definitely described in
Judg. xxi. 19, as _on the north side of Bethel, on the
east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to
Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah_. Exactly in the
position here indicated, Dr Robinson found a ruin called
_Seilûn_. “We were,” he says, “on the east of the great
road between Bethel and Shechem, and in passing on towards
the latter place we came, after half-an-hour, to the
village of Lebonah, now _El-Lubban_.” _Bib. Res._ II. 269.
“The selection of the site for the Tabernacle belongs to
this period, and could belong to no other. The place of
the sanctuary was naturally fixed by the place of the Ark.
This was, in the first instance, at Gilgal. But as the
conquerors advanced into the interior, a more central
situation became necessary. This was found in a spot
unmarked by any natural features of strength or beauty,
or by any ancient recollections, recommended only by its
comparative seclusion, near the central thoroughfare of
Palestine, yet not actually upon it.” Stanley, _Lectures
on Jewish History_, p. 278.

163 – Gibeon, Gibeah, Geba and Gaba, all mean _hill_; Ramah and
Ramathaim, _eminence_; Mizpah, _a watch-tower_.

164 – Article _Ephraim_ in Smith’s _Bib. Dict._

165 – It has been compared to the plain of Stirling, situated
in like manner at the opening of the Scottish Highlands,
and in like manner the scene of almost all the decisive
battles of Scottish history. Stanley’s _S. and P._
p. 337 _n._

166 – Porter’s _Handbook of Syria and Palestine_, II. 352.

167 – By some derived from Cinnoor (κινύρα, _cithara_, a “harp”),
as if in allusion to the oval shape of the lake.

168 – Porter’s _Handbook of Syria and Palestine_, II. 363;
Pusey’s _Lectures on Daniel_, p. 294.

169 – Keil _on Josh._ xxiv. 26–28.

170 – Holy Scripture itself suggests (Heb. iv. 8) the
consideration of Joshua as a type of Christ. The following
amongst many other typical resemblances may be pointed out:
(1) the name common to both; (2) Joshua brings the people
of God into the land of Promise, and divides it among
the tribes; Jesus brings His people into the presence
of God, and assigns to them their mansions; (3) as Joshua
succeeded Moses and completed his work, so the Gospel of
Christ succeeded the Law, announced One by whom all that
believe are justified from all things from which we could
not be justified by the Law of Moses (Acts xiii. 39). See
Article _Joshua_ in Smith’s _Dictionary_; Pearson _on the
Creed_, Art. II.

171 – See p. 35.

172 – Such is the explanation of Josephus, _Ant._ V. ii. § 2,
who adds that the siege lasted some time.

173 – See the marginal date at Judges, chap. xvii. It is to be
observed that (i) Dan was not yet settled, Judg. xviii. 1;
(ii) Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, was living (Judg.
xx. 28), as also the grandson of Moses; (iii) the iniquity
of Gibeah is mentioned, Hos. x. 9, as the first open sin of
Israel in Canaan. See Angus’ _Bible Handbook_, 460 _n._

174 – Kitto’s _Bibl. Illus._ II. 447.

175 – See p. 218.

176 – Mr Thomson compares it with the soil of the lower portion
of the Mississippi; “even now the region produces large
crops of wheat, barley, maize, sesame, rice, and other
plants, with very little labour ... while horses, cattle,
and sheep fatten on the rich pastures, and large herds
of black buffaloes luxuriate in the streams and in
the deep mire of the marshes.” Thomson’s _Land and the
Book_, p. 214; Robinson, _Bib. Res._ III. 396; Blunt’s
_Coincidences_, Pt. II. 108–110.

177 – In the English version the reading is _the son of
Manasseh_ (Judg. xviii. 30), a name probably substituted
out of respect for the great Lawgiver, whose name is
preserved in several Hebrew MSS. and the Vulgate. See
Articles _Micah_, _Jonathan_, _Manasseh_, and _Laish_ in
Smith’s _Bib. Dict._

178 – Comp. Livy, XXX. 7; XXVIII. 37; in XXXIII. 46, XXXIV. 61
they are called _judices_. Stanley’s _Lectures_, p. 292.

179 – See p. 216.

180 – See Blunt’s _Coincidences_, Pt. II. v. 114–117.

181 – Stanley’s _Lectures on Jewish History_, p. 317.

182 – “The ploughman still carries his goad――a weapon apparently
more fitted for the hand of the soldier than the peaceful
husbandman. The one I saw was of the ‘oak of Bashan,’ and
measured upwards of 10 feet in length. At one end was an
iron spear, and at the other a piece of the same metal
flattened. One can well understand how a warrior might use
such a weapon with effect in the battle-field.” Porter’s
_Syria and Damascus_, II. 35. Comp. Homer, _Il._ VI. 135.

183 – Identified by Thomson with _Harothieh_, the Arabic form
of the Hebrew Harosheth, an enormous double mound about
8 miles from Megiddo, exactly in the line of the retreat
of the Canaanites, at the entrance of the pass to Esdraelon
from the plain of Acre. “It was,” he writes, “probably
called Harosheth _of the Gentiles_, or _nations_, because
it belonged to those Gentiles of Acre and the neighbouring
plains whom we know from Judg. i. 31 the Hebrews could not
subdue.” _The Land and the Book_, p. 437.

184 – Compare the family name of Hannibal, Barca = fulmen belli.
See _Barak_ in Smith’s _Bib. Dict._; Joseph. _Ant._ V. 5,
§ 2.

185 – Probably = _height_, “rising abruptly to a height of
about 1000 ft. from the north-eastern arm of the plain
of Esdraelon, and standing entirely insulated, except on
the W., where a narrow ridge connects it with the hills of
Nazareth.” See Robinson, _Bib. Res._ II. 352.

186 – See pp. 78, 194.

187 – See note 109.

188 – Or the “Oak of the Unloading of Tents,” Stanley’s
_Lectures_, p. 326. “The black tents of the Turkman and
Kurds, strangers like the Kenites, may still be seen
pitched among the oaks and terebinths that encompass the
little plain of Kedesh; proving that after the lapse of
more than 3000 years the state of society in the country
is but little changed.” Porter’s _Handbook of Syria and
Palestine_, II. 444. For the forests of Naphtali, see
p. 219.

189 – See p. 226.

190 – Thomson, _Land and the Book_, p. 435.

191 – Josephus, _Ant._ V. 5, § 4. See Thomson, p. 436.

192 – “As in like case in the battle of Cressy.” Stanley’s
_Lectures_, p. 324.

193 – “I have seen this stream swollen and rapid, after heavy
rains, when the winter torrents of Galilee and Carmel flow
into it; then it is a river ‘with waters to swim in, a
river that cannot be passed over;’ and I can well imagine
the hosts of Sisera, his chariots and horses, struggling
there.” _Domestic Life in Palestine_, pp. 111, 112. “When
largely swollen during the great rains of winter it is
_spongy_ enough――much easier to find than to get over――I
once crossed through the lower part of Esdraelon ...
and had no little trouble with its _bottomless mire_
and _tangled grass_.” Thomson, _L. and B._, p. 435; and
compare Van de Velde, I. p. 289. Some of the results of
this battle were nearly reproduced in the battle of Mount
Tabor, April 16, 1799, when many of the fugitive Turks were
drowned in the Kishon. See Smith’s _Bib. Dict._, Article
_Kishon_.

194 – See Thomson, _The Land and the Book_, p. 441.

195 – See p. 194.

196 – “In precisely the same manner do the Bedawîn Arabs, these
modern Midianites, come up the Wady of Jezreel and Wady
Sherrar, _after the people have sown_, and destroy the
increase of the earth; and not only destroy the increase
of the field, but commit wholesale murder, as these
did upon the brethren of Gideon at Tabor.... Both these
valleys are now swarming with these _children of the East_,
come over Jordan to consume the land.” Thomson, _The Land
and the Book_, p. 448; _Domestic Life in Palestine_, pp.
178, 179. “This is one of the chief causes of the present
poverty of the country.”

197 – Stanley, _S. and P._ p. 151; Smith’s _Dict._, Article
_Caves_.

198 – “The summer threshing-floors are in the open country, and
on an elevated position, to catch the wind when winnowing
the grain, and of course they would be altogether unsafe
at such a time, while the vineyards are hid away in the
wadies and out on the wooded hills, and thus adapted
for concealment. Indeed, I myself have seen grain thus
concealed in this same country, during the lawless days
of civil war.” Thomson, _The Land and the Book_, p. 448.

199 – “It is worthy of remark that the men of Issachar are not
mentioned, and we can from this point readily imagine
the reason. The people of Issachar lived here on this
great plain (Esdraelon), and were, of course, altogether
surrounded by and at the mercy of the Midianites, as these
villages of Sulan, Shŭtta, Zer’in, &c., now are in the
power of these Bedawîn. They therefore _could not_ join
the army of Gideon.” Thomson, _The Land and the Book_,
p. 449; Stanley’s _Lectures_, p. 344.

200 – Thomson, _The Land and the Book_, p. 449.

201 – The _Zabit_ or _Agha_ of the police at Cairo carries with
him at night “a torch which burns soon after it is lighted,
without a flame, excepting when it is waved through the
air, when it suddenly blazes forth: it therefore answers
the same purpose as our dark lantern. _The burning end_ is
sometimes concealed in a small pot or jar, or covered with
something else, where not required to give light.” Lane’s
_Modern Egyptians_, I. ch. iv.; Smith’s _Bib. Dict._

202 – For similar stratagems, see Liv. xxii. 16; Sall. _de Bell.
Jug._ ch. 99.

203 – See p. 55.

204 – See Article _Zebah_, in Smith’s _Bib. Dict._; Josephus,
_Ant._ V. 6, § 5.

205 – Rendered in Isai. xvii. 13 a “_rolling_ thing.” Probably
the allusion is to the wild artichoke which “in growing
throws out numerous branches of equal size and length in
all directions, forming a sort of sphere or globe, a foot
or more in diameter. When ripe and dry in autumn, these
branches become light and dry as a feather, the parent
stem breaks off at the ground, and the wind carries these
vegetable globes whithersoever it pleaseth.... The Arabs
derive one of their many forms of cursing from this plant;
‘May you be whirled like the ’akkûb (wild artichoke),
before the wind, until you are caught in the thorns, or
plunged into the sea.’” Thomson, _Land and the Book_,
p. 564.

206 – For subsequent mention of this deliverance, see 1 Sam.
xii. 11; Ps. lxxxiii. 11; Isai. ix. 4, x. 26; Heb. xi. 32.

207 – See pp. 31, 55.

208 – See p. 209.

209 – “Several lofty precipices of Gerizim literally overhang
the city, any one of which would answer Jotham’s purpose.
Nor would it be difficult to be heard, as everybody knows
who has listened to the _public crier_ of villages on
Lebanon. In the stillness of the evening, after the people
have returned home from their distant fields, he ascends
the mountain-side above the place, or to the roof of some
prominent house, and then _lifts up his voice and cries_
as Jotham did. Indeed, the people in these mountainous
countries are able, from long practice, so to pitch their
voices as to be heard distinctly at distances almost
incredible. They talk with persons across enormous wadies,
and give the most minute directions, which are perfectly
understood; and in doing this they seem to speak very
little louder than their usual tone of conversation.
Jotham, therefore, might easily be heard by the greater
part of the inhabitants of Shechem.... The very trees
which most abound at Nablous (Shechem) are the olive, the
fig, the vine, and the bramble.” Thomson, _The Land and
the Book_, p. 474; Stanley’s _Lectures_, p. 350; Tristram,
p. 150.

210 – See Calendar, p. 155.

211 – “Situated 13 Roman miles from Shechem, on the road to
Scythopolis. There it still is; its name――_Tubâs_――hardly
changed; the village on a rising ground to the left of
the road, a thriving, compact, and strong-looking place,
surrounded by immense woods of olives.” See Robinson, _Bib.
Res._ III. p. 305; Smith’s _Bib. Dict._, Article _Thebez_.

212 – See 2 Sam. xi. 21.

213 – Lev. xviii. 21; Deut. xii. 31.

214 – Signifying 1st _an ear of corn_, and 2ndly _a stream or
flood_.

215 – The PHILISTINES, a race of “strangers,” appear to have
made three immigrations into the fertile south-western
Lowland of Palestine, just as there were different
immigrations of Saxons and Danes into England. (i) The
_first_ came from the _Casluhim_ (Gen. x. 14); (ii) the
_second_ and chief from the _Caphtorim_ (Deut. ii. 23;
Jer. xlvii. 4; Am. ix. 7), either from some part of Egypt,
or of Asia Minor and its adjacent islands, probably Crete;
(iii) the _third_ from the _Cherethim_ (1 Sam. xxx. 14).
The earliest immigrants having expelled the _Avim_ (Deut.
ii. 23) had in the time of Abraham and Isaac established a
kingdom, the capital of which was at Gerar, and possessed
a standing army (Gen. xxi. 22; xxvi. 26). After the Exodus,
Gerar disappears from history, and the power of Philistia
is concentrated in five new towns, _Gaza_, _Ashdod_,
_Ashkelon_, _Gath_, _Ekron_, each raised on its slight
eminence above the maritime plain, each possessing its
dependent or “daughter towns” and villages (Josh. xv.
45–47; 1 Ch. xviii. 1), and each having its own king or
prince, who all consulted and acted as one. “The third
immigration of the _Cherethim_ would account for the
sudden increase of the strength of the Philistines at this
period.” See Pusey, _Comment. on Amos_ ix. 7.

216 – See pp. 158, 159.

217 – See p. 229.

218 – Thomson, _The Land and the Book_, p. 566.

219 – Thomson, _The Land and the Book_, p. 552. “So great is the
dread of fire in harvest-time, that the Arabs punish with
death any one who sets fire to a wheat-field, even though
done by accident.” _Ibid._ p. 553.

220 – “The five cities of the Philistines divided, as it were,
their idolatry between them; Ashdod being the chief seat
of the worship of _Dagon_; Ashkelon of _Derceto_; Ekron of
_Baal-zebub_; Gaza of the god _Marna_ (‘nature’).” Pusey,
_Comment. on Amos_ i. 8.

221 – Kurtz’s _Sacred History_, p. 171.

222 – Some think during the judgeship of Ehud, others during
that of Gideon. Kurtz, p. 164.

223 – See Calendar, p. 155.

224 – For David’s subsequent connection with Moab, see p. 303.

225 – The situation of Ramathaim = _double eminence_, is
uncertain. “But the place long pointed out as Samuel’s
tomb, and therefore the site of his birth, 1 Sam.
xxv. 1, is the height, most conspicuous of all in the
neighbourhood of Jerusalem, immediately above the town
of Gibeon, known to the Crusaders as ‘Montjoye,’ being
the spot from whence they first saw Jerusalem, now
called _Neby Samwil_, ‘the Prophet Samuel.’” Smith’s
_Bib. Dict._, Article _Ramah_, No. 2.

226 – See Smith’s _Bib. Dict._, Article _Mantle_.

227 – According to some, it was now that Shiloh was destroyed.
See Ps. lxxviii. 60 sq., and Jer. vii. 12.

228 – “Ashdod, as well as Ekron, have their name from their
strength; Ashdod = _the mighty_, like Valentia; Ekron =
_the firm-rooted_.” Pusey, _Comment. on Amos_ i. 8.

229 – A name which suggests an early worship of the Sun there.
In Josh. xix. 41, it is called _Ir-shemesh_. It is now
called _’Ain es-Shems_, about 2 miles from the great
Philistine plain, and 7 from Ekron. Thomson, _Land and
Book_, p. 535.

230 – For subsequent notices of such schools at Bethel and
Jericho see 2 Kings ii. 3, 5; at Gilgal, iv. 38; vi. 1; on
Mount Carmel, 1 Kings xviii. 30–42; 2 Kings ii. 25; iv. 25.

231 – See also Judg. vi. 8; 1 Sam. ii. 27.

232 – See Kurtz’s _Sacred History_, p. 176.

233 – It is to be remembered that God had promised to Abraham
that _kings_ should come from him (Gen. xvii. 6); Jacob
had prophesied that the _Sceptre_ should not depart from
Judah till Shiloh came (Gen. xlix. 10); and Moses had
distinctly anticipated, nay, provided for the election of
a king by laying down specific directions concerning the
kingdom (Deut. xvii. 14–20). The elders, therefore, of
Israel might well have inferred that it was the Divine
intention ultimately to give the nation a monarchical
constitution, and consequently that it was their duty
patiently to await the development of the Divine counsels.
See Kurtz’s _Sacred History_, p. 177.

234 – According to the law as laid down in the above quotation
from Deuteronomy, (i) The nomination of any Israelite
king rested with Jehovah, whose Will would be made known
through the High-priest, or the voice of a Prophet, or
the sacred lot, a provision which could not fail to remind
him that he was not an irresponsible autocrat, but the
representative and viceroy of Jehovah: (ii) The monarch
must be a native Israelite, not a foreigner, or even
a proselyte: (iii) On his accession he must transcribe
a copy of the Law, that he might know it and keep its
Statutes: (iv) He was forbidden to maintain any large body
of cavalry with a view to aggressive warfare: (v) He was
to eschew the usual accompaniment of Oriental despotism,
a numerous _Harem_, and the excessive accumulation of gold
and silver, which could only be acquired by oppressive
exactions from his subjects. Jahn’s _Heb. Comm._ 64, 65.

235 – See p. 232.

236 – See Calendar, p. 155.

237 – Now Jeb’a, see 1 Sam. xiii. 16 (_margin_); Robinson, _Bib.
Res._ I. 441, _n._; Porter’s _Handbook_, p. 214.

238 – “East, and west, and north, through the three valleys
which radiate from the uplands of Michmash――to Ophrah on
the north, through the pass of Beth-horon on the west,
and down the ravine of the hyenas, ‘toward the wilderness
of the Jordan on the East.’” Stanley’s _S. and P._ 204;
Robinson, _Bib. Res._ I. 441.

239 – The deep gorge of the Wâdy-Suweinît, or Harith.
“Immediately on leaving Jeb’a we descend by a rugged,
zigzag track, apparently intended only for goats, into
Wâdy-es-Suweinît, here tolerably wide, though deep and
rocky. A few hundred yards to the right it contracts to
a narrow ravine, shut in by high, almost perpendicular
cliffs, above which on each side the ground is tolerably
level. This is doubtless the scene of Jonathan’s adventure.”
Porter’s _Handbook_, I. 215; Robinson, I. 440, 441.

240 – Smith’s _Bib. Dict._, Article _Jonathan_; Stanley’s
_S. and P._ p. 205.

241 – See p. 156.

242 – See p. 132.

243 – Comp. (i.) Num. xiv. 45; (ii.) Judg. iii. 13; (iii.) Judg.
vi. 3.

244 – The family belonged to the greatest house in Judah, the
descent being as follows: _Judah_, _Pharez_, _Hezron_,
_Ram_, _Amminadab_, _Nahshon_ (Num. i. 7), _Salmon_, who
married Rahab the Canaanite, _Boaz_, _Obed_, _Jesse_.
(Ruth iv. 18–22; 1 Chr. ii. 5–12.)

JESSE.
┌─────────┴─────────┐
_Eliab._ ┌ ABISHAI.
_Abinadab._ _Zeruiah._ ┤ JOAB.
_Shammah._ └ ASAHEL.
_Nethaneel._
_Raddai._ _Abigail._ ─ AMASA.
_Ozem._
[_One not given._ 1 Chr. ii. 15.]
DAVID.
[Comp. 1 Sam. xvi. 7–10 with 1 Chr. ii. 13–17.]

245 – Article _David_ in Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._

246 – Identified by Robinson with the _Wady es-Sŭmt_. “It took
its name Elah of old from the terebinth, of which the
largest specimen we saw in Palestine still stands in the
vicinity; just as now it takes its name _es-Sumt_ from the
acacias which are scattered in it.”――_Bibl. Dict._ II. 21.

247 – In all ages the favourite weapon of the shepherds of Syria.
See Thomson, _The Land and the Book_, p. 572.

248 – “We do not know how long a period intervened between the
return of David to his father’s house and his appearance
before the king on the morning of the _duel_ with Goliath.
If it were two or three years, it is possible that David
had, in the meanwhile, suddenly shot up from boyhood to
youth, tall and robust, and his personal appearance might
have so changed as to bear little resemblance to the ruddy
lad who played skilfully on the harp. It is a fact that
lads of this country, particularly of the higher classes,
are often very fair, fullfaced, and handsome, until about
fourteen years of age, but during the next two or three
years a surprising change takes place. They not only
spring into fullgrown manhood as if by magic, but all
their former beauty disappears; their complexion becomes
dark, their features harsh and angular, and the whole
expression of countenance stern, and even disagreeable.
I have often been accosted by such persons, formerly
intimate acquaintances, but who had suddenly grown
entirely out of my knowledge, nor could I, without
difficulty, recognize them.” Thomson’s _Land and the Book_,
p. 569.

249 – Used as a protection from gnats.

250 – See _Naioth_ in Smith’s _Bib. Dict._ It was now, probably,
that he became acquainted with the prophets _Nathan_ and
_Gad_.

251 – See Matt. xii. 3; Mark ii. 23; Luke vi. 3, 4.

252 – Compare the histories of Coriolanus and Themistocles.

253 – See titles of Psalms xxxiv. and lvi.

254 – Thomson, _The Land and the Book_, p. 148.

255 – See Robinson, I. 481, 2; Van de Velde, II. 156.

256 – Comp. the story of Alexander in the Desert of Gedrosia.

257 – Compare Psalms cxl., cxlii.

258 – Robinson, _Bib. Res._ I. 492.

259 – See Psalm liv.

260 – Its original name was Hazazon-Tamar (_the pruning of the
palm_), on account of the palm-groves which surrounded it
(Gen. xiv. 7; 2 Chr. xx. 2). Wilton’s _Negeb_, 120. “We
were now in the ‘wilderness of Engedi,’ where David and
his men lived among ‘the rocks of the wild goats’....
The whole scene is drawn to the life. On all sides the
country is full of caverns, which might then serve as
lurking-places for David and his men, as they do for
outlaws at the present day.”――Robinson, _Bib. Res._ I.
p. 500.

261 – See Psalm lvii.

262 – Psalms liv., lvii., lxiii. by their titles relate to this
period, and it has been remarked that “probably these
Psalms made the Psalter so dear to Alfred and to Wallace
during their like wanderings.”――Smith’s _Bib. Dict._, Art.
_David_.

263 – See Smith’s _Bib. Dict._, Article _Hachilah_.

264 – “I noticed, at all the encampments which we passed, that
the sheikh’s tent was distinguished from the rest by a
tall spear stuck upright in the ground in front of it; and
it is the custom, when a party is out on an excursion for
robbery or for war, that when they halt to rest, the spot
where the chief reclines is thus designated.... The cruse
of water is in exact accordance with the customs of the
people at this day. No one ventures to travel over these
deserts without his cruse of water, and it is very common
to place one at the ‘bolster,’ so that the owner can
reach it during the night. The Arabs eat their dinner
in the evening, and it is generally of such a nature as
to create thirst, and the quantity of water which they
drink is enormous. The _cruse_ is, therefore, in perpetual
demand.”――Thomson’s _L. and B._ 367.

265 – Compare the story of the Persian king and Themistocles.

266 – Wilton’s _Negeb_, p. 207.

267 – “A lasting memorial of this battle was the law, which
traced its origin to the arrangement made by David,
formerly in the attack on Nabal (1 Sam. xxv. 13), and
now again more completely, for the equal division of the
plunder amongst the two-thirds who followed to the field,
and the one-third who remained to guard the baggage”
(1 Sam. xxx. 21–25). Smith’s _Bib. Dict._

268 – See Robinson, _Bib. Res._ II. 325. “Shunem (_Sulem_)
afforded an admirable camping-ground for a large army,
_Jebel ed Dûhy_ rising abruptly behind, and the top
of it commanding a perfect view of the great plain in
every direction, so that there could be no surprise,
nor could their march be impeded, or their retreat cut
off.”――Thomson’s _Land and the Book_, 451.

269 – Probably the same as the Spring of Harod or _Trembling_,
at which Gideon’s three hundred lapped (see p. 247), and
“identical with the fountain of Jalûd, a few miles to
the east of the modern village of Jezreel.” Hewitt’s
_Scripture Geography_, p. 33.

270 – “The rock on which Endor is built has been hollowed out
by the hand of nature into large caverns, whose dark and
gloomy entrances brought involuntarily to my mind the
witch of the days of Saul.” Van de Velde, II. 383.

271 – Beth-shan (now _Beisan_) was one of the Canaanite
strongholds which the Israelites had never taken. (See
p. 225.) Situated on a _tell_ or hill, about 200 ft.
high, on the slope of the range of Gilboa, it was a very
strong position, with nearly perpendicular sides, and was
abundantly supplied with water. Thomson, 455. Stanley, _S.
and P._ 346.

272 – Jabesh-gilead “was on the mountain-range east of the
Jordan, _in full view of Beth-shan_, and these brave
men would creep up to the _tell_, without being seen,
while the deafening roar of the noisy cascades leaping
through the deep ravines dividing the city would render
it impossible for them to be heard.” Thomson, _The Land
and the Book_, p. 445. Van de Velde, II. p. 360.

273 – See pp. 283, 284.

274 – See p. 44.

275 – See p. 215.

276 – See p. 53.

277 – Compare the combat of the Horatii and Curiatii. _Livy_, I.
xxiv., xxv.

278 – See p. 210, and Art. _Ishbosheth_ in Smith’s _Bib. Dict._

279 – See p. 219.

280 – “The situation of Jerusalem is in several respects
singular amongst the cities of Palestine. Its elevation is
remarkable, occasioned, not from its being on the summit
of one of the numerous hills of Judæa, like most of the
towns and villages, but because it is on the edge of
one of the highest table-lands of the country. Hebron,
indeed, is higher still, by some hundred feet; and from
the south, accordingly, the approach to Jerusalem is by
a slight descent. But from every other side, the ascent
is perpetual; and, to the traveller approaching Jerusalem
from the west or east, it must always have presented the
appearance, beyond any other capital of the then known
world――we may add, beyond any important city that has ever
existed on the earth――of a _mountain city, enthroned on a
mountain fastness_.” (Comp. Ps. lxviii. 15, 16; lxxxvii. 1;
cxxv. 1; lxxvi. 1, 2; lxvi. 4.) But besides being thus
elevated, Jerusalem was separated from the rocky plateau
of which it forms a part by deep and precipitous ravines
on its south-eastern, southern, and western sides, out of
which the rocky slopes of the city “rose like the walls
of a fortress out of its ditches, so that from them it
must have appeared quite impregnable.” “Something of the
same effect is produced by those vast rents which, under
the name of ‘Tago,’ surround or divide Ronda, Alhama, and
Granada, on the table-lands which crown the summits of the
Spanish mountains. But in Palestine, Jerusalem alone is so
entrenched, and from this cause derived, in great measure,
her early strength and subsequent greatness.” Stanley’s
_Sinai and Palestine_, p. 172. Robinson’s _Bib. Res._ I.
258–260.

281 – Stanley’s _Sinai and Palestine_, p. 176.

282 – See p. 225, and Kitto’s _Daily Bible Illustr._ III. 340.

283 – Joseph. _Ant._ VII. 3. § 1. See Article _Jerusalem_ in
Smith’s _Bib. Dict._ Kurtz’s _Sacred History_, p. 183.

284 – “It was necessary for the commerce of Phœnicia that she
should enjoy the friendship of whatever power commanded
the great lines of inland traffic, which ran through
Cœle-Syria and Damascus, by Hamath and Tadmor, to the
Euphrates.” Rawlinson’s _Bampton Lectures_, p. 97.
Kenrick’s _Phœnicia_, pp. 201–205. Heeren’s _Researches_,
II. pp. 116, 117.

285 – See p. 124. Blunt’s _Coincidences_, p. 130.

286 – i. _The Army._ In early times all males above twenty and
under fifty years of age were required to serve in the
wars, and formed a kind of national militia (Deut. xx.
5–9). A standing army, as we have already seen, was
first formed at the early part of Saul’s reign (1 Sam.
xiii. 2; xiv. 52). Under David the national forces were
divided into twelve divisions of 24,000 men, each division
commanded by its own officer, and liable to be called on
to serve in their respective months (1 Chr. xxvii. 1–15).
Unlike the armies of the surrounding nations, that of
the Israelites was composed only of infantry, and but few
chariots were as yet introduced (2 Sam. viii. 4). Over the
entire force of the nation JOAB was commander-in-chief by
right of his services before Jebus, and whenever the king
was absent, he led the troops to battle.

ii. _The Royal Body-guard_, or _the Cherethites and
Pelethites_. To defend the person of the king a force was
now for the first time organized, consisting of foreign
mercenaries, the command of which was entrusted to the
Levite BENAIAH, the son of the high-priest Jehoiada.
(For whose exploits, see 2 Sam. xxiii. 20, 21; 1 Chr.
xi. 22–25.)

iii. _The Heroes_ or _Mighty Men_. Round the king when
a fugitive in the cave of Adullam had gathered, as we
have seen, a body of six hundred men. This number David
always preserved, but elevated it to a sort of military
Order, with the special title of the GIBBORIM, _Heroes_
or _Mighty Men_. This body was divided into 3 divisions of
200 each, and 30 divisions of 20 each. The lowest rank in
this order consisted of the captains of the 30 divisions,
who were known as _the Thirty_; then came the captains of
the three larger divisions, who were known as _the Three_;
and lastly, the commander of the whole force, who was
known as _the Captain of the Mighty Men_, and was at this
time ABISHAI, David’s nephew (2 Sam. xxiii. 8–39; 1 Chr.
xi. 9–47). See Articles _David_ and _Army_ in Smith’s
_Bibl. Dict._ Kitto’s _Bibl. Illustr._ III. pp. 301–304.

287 – See note 215.

288 – See pp. 49, 50.

289 – See p. 304.

290 – See p. 192.

291 – See p. 256.

292 – Already mentioned as the place where the bedstead of the
giant Og was deposited (see p. 186). It was on the road
between Heshbon and Bosra, on the edge of the desert, near
one of the sources of the Jabbok. Afterwards from Ptolemy
Philadelphus (B.C. 285–247) it received the name of
_Philadelphia_, and in the Christian era became the seat
of a bishop and one of the 19 sees of “Palestina Tertia.”
Smith’s _Bib. Dict._, Article _Rabbah_.

293 – See p. 271.

294 – See p. 165.

295 – To this sad period belong Psalms xxxii. li.

296 – “The ruins which now adorn the ‘royal city’ are of a
later Roman date; but the commanding position of the
citadel remains, and the unusual sight of a living stream,
abounding in fish, marks the significance of Joab’s song
of victory――_I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken
the city of waters_.” _Sinai and Palestine_, p. 323.

297 – See Kitto’s _Daily Bibl. Illustr._ III. 395.

298 – A village about six miles to the south of Bethlehem, the
birthplace of the prophet _Amos_ (Am. i. 1).

299 – See p. 238.

300 – See the dates in margin, 2 Sam. xv.

301 – What was Ahithophel’s motive for this defection is
not stated; but it is to be remembered that he was
the grandfather of Bath-sheba (Comp. 2 Sam. xx. 3 and
xxiii. 34), and was doubtless well aware of the sad fate
of Uriah, his son Eliam’s brother-officer. See Blunt’s
_Coincidences_, p. II. x. pp. 136, 137. Art. _Ahithophel_,
Smith’s _Bib. Dict._

302 – See Ps. xli. 9; lv. 12, 13, 20.

303 – Probably an inhabitant of Erech, a place of uncertain site.
See Smith’s _Bib. Dict._

304 – Compare the account of Abner and Rizpah, p. 320.

305 – To this period belong Psalms iii., iv., xlii.

306 – Thomson, _The Land and the Book_, p. 490.

307 – Ibid.

308 – “Now for the first time called _Israel_, as distinct
from Judah. But it is likely that, although it now first
appears, this distinction had actually grown up while
David reigned over Judah only, and Ishbosheth over the
other tribes.” Kitto, _Bibl. Illustr._ III. 424.

309 – Sometimes called Abel-maim, _Abel on the waters_ (2 Chr.
xvi. 4). “Taking advantage of an oblong knoll of natural
rock that rises above the surrounding plain, the original
inhabitants raised a high mound sufficiently large for
their city. With a deep ‘trench’ (2 Sam. xx. 15) and
strong wall, it must have been almost impregnable. The
country on every side is most lovely, well watered, and
very fertile. The neighbouring fountains and brooks would
convert any part of this country into a paradise of fruits
and flowers; and such, no doubt, was Abel, when she was
called a ‘mother in Israel.’” (2 Sam. xx. 19.) Thomson,
_The Land and the Book_, p. 217.

310 – See Calendar, p. 155, and Article _Rizpah_, in Smith’s
_Bib. Dict._

311 – See Rawlinson’s _Five Great Monarchies_, II. 333, _n._

312 – Jahn’s _Hebrew Commonwealth_, p. 76.

313 – The life of David admits of a fivefold division.
(i) His shepherd life at Bethlehem; (ii) His courtier
life with Saul at Gibeah; (iii) His life as an outlaw;
(iv) His Kingly life at Hebron during 7½ years, and
(v) at Jerusalem during 33 years, in all 40. His history
will be ever memorable, whether we regard _the work he
achieved_, or _his own personal character_.

(i) _His work._ “He had succeeded to a kingdom distracted
with civil dissension, environed on every side, or
occupied by powerful and victorious enemies, without
a capital, almost without an army, without any bond of
union between the tribes. He left a compact and united
state, stretching from the frontier of Egypt to the foot
of Lebanon, from the Euphrates to the sea. He had crushed
the power of the Philistines, subdued or curbed all the
adjacent kingdoms; he had formed a lasting and important
alliance with the great city of Tyre. He had organized
an immense disposable force: every month 24,000 men,
furnished in rotation by the tribes, appeared in arms,
and were trained as the standing militia of the country.
At the head of his army were officers of consummate
experience, and, what was more highly esteemed in the
warfare of the time, of extraordinary personal activity,
strength, and valour[314].” He had also given especial
attention to the management of public worship, as the
most efficacious means of promoting religion and morality,
and, consequently, obedience to the Invisible, Supreme
Monarch. The solemn transfer of the Ark of the Covenant,
at which almost all the people were present, had made
a deep impression on their minds, and had awakened them
to a sincere adoration of Jehovah. These favourable
dispositions he had upheld and strengthened by suitable
regulations in the service of the priests and Levites,
and especially by the instructive and animating Psalms,
which were composed partly by himself, and partly by other
poets and prophets[315]. “In comparison with the hymns
of David, the sacred poetry of all other nations sinks
into mediocrity. They have embodied so exquisitely the
universal language of religious emotion that they have
entered, with unquestioned propriety, into the ritual
of the holier and more perfect religion of Christ. The
songs which cheered the solitudes of the desert caves of
Engedi, or resounded from the voice of the Hebrew people
as they wound along the glens or the hill-sides of Judea,
have been repeated for ages in almost every part of the
habitable world, in the remotest islands of the ocean,
among the forests of America or the sands of Africa[316].”

(ii) _His character._ Obedience to the Divine commands
was ever with David the axiom of his life, and in every
step he took he shewed the greatest anxiety to act as
God’s servant (2 Sam. ii. 1; 1 Sam. xxiii. 2, 4). All
deliverance from danger, and all victories from first to
last, he ascribed to the Divine aid, and neither in the
hour of danger, nor the more trying hour of prosperity,
did he go after “strange gods,” or introduce any
idolatrous rites. It was, probably, to this feature of his
administration that God referred, when He described him as
_a man after His own heart_ (1 Sam. xiii. 14, Comp. Acts
xiii. 22), rather than to his private virtues. And yet
these were of no mean order. “Shepherd, soldier, poet,
king, the romantic friend, the chivalrous leader, the
devoted father,” he was eminent alike for his exalted
piety, and his noble patriotism. “During a war of seven
years he never lifted his sword against a subject, and
at the end of it he punished no rebels, and remembered no
offence but the murder of his rival (2 Sam. iv. 10–12).”
The adultery with Bath-sheba, the murder of Uriah, the
numbering of the people, with a view, probably, to foreign
conquests, are the deep blots on his fame, and the chief
instances in which he forgot alike himself and his God.
“And yet when we look at the piety of his youth, the depth
of his contrition, the strength of his faith, the fervour
of his devotion, the loftiness and variety of his genius,
the largeness and warmth of his heart, his eminent valour
in any age of warriors, his justice and wisdom as a ruler,
and, above all, his adherence to the worship and will of
God, we may well regard him as a model of kingly authority
and spiritual obedience[317].”

Moreover, not only was he the ancestor of Christ after the
flesh, not only was the blessing of the Promise expressly
transferred to his family, but in his humiliation and
exaltation, as the king of the people of God, and as the
vanquisher of heathen nations, he was a type of HIM whose
coming he foretold in many of the Psalms, and who is not
called the son of Abraham, or of Jacob, or of Moses, but
the “_Son of David_.” Kurtz’s _Sacred History_, p. 189;
Article _David_, in Smith’s _Bib. Dict._

314 – Milman’s _History of the Jews_, I. 305.

315 – Jahn’s _Hebrew Commonwealth_, p. 75.

316 – Milman’s _History of the Jews_, I. 307.

317 – Angus, _Bible Handbook_, p. 437; Jahn’s _Hebrew
Commonwealth_, p. 76; Chandler’s _Life of David_,
pp. 582–587.

318 – See _Table of Weights and Measures_ in the _Appendix_,
pp. 492, 493. “Each country needed what the other could
supply. The wheat of the plains of Galilee and the
oil of the hill-country of Judah maintained the royal
household of Hiram (Comp. Acts xii. 20); the skill of
the Phœnician artists supplied the want of it among the
Israelites.”――Kenrick’s _Phœnicia_, p. 355.

319 – See p. 346. Milman’s _History of the Jews_, I. 311.

320 – Milman’s _History of the Jews_, I. 315.

321 – “These successive terraces were an imitation of the
Assyrian style of architecture, which at this time
prevailed more or less all over Syria, and particularly
at Tyre.” Lewin’s _Jerusalem_, p. 255; Art. _Palace_ in
Smith’s _Bib. Dict._

322 – The chief architect of the Temple was Hiram (1 K. vii.
13, 40), called also Huram in 2 Chr. ii. 13; iv. 11, 16,
an Israelite on his mother’s side, of the tribe of Dan or
Naphtali, by birth a Tyrian.

323 – In 2 Chron. iii. 4, the height is said to have been 120
cubits. See Milman’s _History of the Jews_, I. p. 313.

324 – See p. 122.

325 – “Such a copious use of gold was a practice known to
the Phœnicians, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians.”
Rawlinson’s _Bampton Lectures_, p. 107.

326 – The functions of the priests and Levites had already been
duly arranged by David. (i) The Priests were divided into
24 courses (1 Chr. xxiv. 1–19; 2 Chr. xxiii. 8; Luke i. 5),
each of which served in rotation for one week, the special
services of the week being assigned by lot (Luke i. 9).
(ii) Of the Levites 24,000 were over the work of the
temple; 6,000 were officers and judges; 4,000 were porters
or sentries, and as such bore arms (1 Chr. ix. 19; 2 Chr.
xxxi. 2); 4,000 formed the choir of singers and musicians.
See Arts. _Priests_ and _Levites_ in Smith’s _Bib. Dict._

327 – Comp. Psalms xxiv, xlvii, xcvii, xcviii, cvi.

328 – See p. 153.

329 – So called from its cedar pillars. Similarly the halls of
the Nimroud palace “were supported by rows of pillars,
not of stone, but of wood, and the Hall of Lebanon was
supported by 3 rows of cedar pillars, 15 in a row, making
45 in the whole.” Lewin’s _Jerusalem_, p. 270. Rawlinson’s
_Bampton Lectures_, p. 106.

330 – Baalath was a town of Dan near the Philistine plain. For
the two Beth-horons, see p. 212. “The importance of the
road on which the two Beth-horons are situated, the main
approach to the interior of the country from the hostile
districts on both sides of Palestine――Philistia and Egypt
on the west, Moab and Ammon on the east――at once explains
and justifies the frequent fortification of these towns
at different periods of the history. This road is still,
as in ancient times, the great road of communication and
heavy transport between Jerusalem and the sea-coast.”
Robinson’s _Bibl. Res._ II. 252. Smith’s _Bib. Dict._,
Art. _Beth-horon_.

331 – The exact site of Gezer has not been found, but it must
have been between the lower Beth-horon and the sea, on the
regular coast-road of communication with Egypt. Smith’s
_Bibl. Dict._

332 – For Hazor see pp. 201, 214. For Megiddo (now _el-Lejjûn_),
see p. 240. It was a principal station on the caravan
route from Egypt to Damascus, “and for a long while
possessed a large khan, mentioned by Maundrell and many
travellers after him.” Van de Velde, I. 353.

333 – Tiphsah (= πόρος, “a ford”), the Thapsacus of the Greeks
and Romans, “must have been a place of considerable
trade, the land-traffic between the East and West passing
through it, first on account of its fordway (which was
the lowest upon the Euphrates), and then on account of
its bridge, while it was likewise the point where goods
were both embarked for transport down the stream, and
also disembarked from boats which had come up to it, to be
conveyed on to their final destination by land.” Smith’s
_Bib. Dict._

334 – “A region variously identified with (i) the south of
Arabia, (ii) Sofala on the coast of Africa opposite to
Madagascar, and (iii) India; the first was probably its
locality, though the Jewish fleets may also have visited
India.” Kenrick’s _Phœnicia_, p. 357.

335 – Milman’s _History of the Jews_, I. 322. “Notwithstanding
the long export of silver from the mines of Tartessus by
the Phœnicians, who drew from them the wealth by which
they founded so many powerful colonies, the Carthaginians,
who succeeded the Phœnicians in their possession, derived
from them the revenues by which they were enabled to pay
their mercenary armies. Even in the Roman times 40,000
men were employed as miners within a circuit of 400 stadia
near Carthagena, and the workings yielded a revenue to the
republic of 20,500 drachmas daily.” Kenrick’s _Phœnicia_,
p. 211.

336 – “The Palace of Solomon was below the Temple Platform,
and in laying the solid foundations of Millo, provision
had been made for a double passage from the Palace to
the Temple, about 250 ft. long and 42 ft. wide, formed
of bevelled stones, and rising by a gentle incline to
one of the gates of the Inner Temple. This marvellous
subterranean approach, impregnable from its nature to
the ravages of time, still remains, though painfully
disfigured; it is called to this day the Temple of
Solomon.” Lewin’s _Jerusalem_, p. 270.

337 – See Milman’s _History of the Jews_, I. 326–328; Art.
_Solomon_ in Smith’s _Bib. Dict._; Jahn’s _Hebrew
Commonwealth_, 78, 79; Kitto’s _Daily Bible Illustrations_,
IV. 127–132.

338 – See p. 254.

339 – The disunion of the kingdom of Solomon, though apparently
sudden, had been brought about by many pre-disposing
causes. From the earliest period there had been a jealous
rivalry between the powerful tribes of Ephraim and Judah,
like that between the houses of York and Lancaster in our
own history.

For upwards of 400 years the leadership of the nation
had been practically in the hands of Ephraim. From this
tribe had come the great hero Joshua; to it belonged, at
least by his place of birth, the great prophet Samuel;
and though from “little Benjamin” had come the first king,
yet hereditary ties as well as geographical position had
united it to the house of Joseph. Within the boundaries,
moreover, of Ephraim had been the sanctuaries of Shechem
and Shiloh, which would naturally make it the resort of
numbers from all parts of the country. Hence the spirit
of jealousy this tribe was ever ready to evince if any
exploit was performed or advantage gained in which it
had not the lion’s share. Hence its complaints against
Gideon[340], against Jephthah[341], against David[342].

But its influence, hitherto so great, began to wane when
the victories of the latter prince exalted the tribe of
Judah to its proud pre-eminence. For seven years Ephraim
supported Ishbosheth’s rival throne at Mahanaim, but when
he died, and David captured Jebus, gave to the nation
a fortress and a capital, and transferred thither the
Tabernacle, the glories of Shechem and of Shiloh began
to vanish away. For a time David’s personal influence
preserved the semblance of union, and many Ephraimites
were in high favour about his person (1 Chr. xii. 30;
xxvii. 10, 14), but the restoration of the king after the
rebellion of Absalom was the signal for an outburst of
the old rivalry, which well-nigh precipitated a disruption
(2 Sam. xx. 1), and when the smouldering feelings of
jealousy were fanned into exasperation by the oppressive
taxation of Solomon and the insane folly of his son,
a leader only was required, like Jeroboam, to make the
separation complete. See Blunt’s _Script. Coincid._ 164–175.

340 – See p. 249.

341 – See p. 257.

342 – See p. 342.

343 – “The whole area of Palestine was nearly equal to that
of the kingdom of Holland (13,610 sq. m.), or rather
more than that of the 6 northern counties of England
(13,136 sq. m.). The kingdom of Judah was rather less than
Northumberland, Durham, and Westmoreland (3,683 sq. m.);
the kingdom of Israel was very nearly as large as
Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cumberland (9,453 sq. m.).”
See Smith’s _Bib. Dict._, Article _Kingdom of Israel_.

344 – See p. 250.

345 – See p. 358, n.

346 – The month of the Vintage in Northern Palestine. See the
Calendar, p. 155.

347 – “This success is found to have been commemorated by
Shishak on the outside of the great temple of Karnak; and
here in a long list of captured towns and districts, which
Shishak boasts of having added to his dominions, occurs
the ‘_Melchi Yuda_,’ or kingdom of Judah, the conquest
of which by this king is thus distinctly noticed in the
Egyptian records.” Rawlinson’s _Bampton Lectures_, p. 126;
Herod. II. p. 376.

348 – Rawlinson’s _Bampton Lectures_, p. 127.

349 – Hadad or Adad was a Syrian god, probably the sun, still
worshipped at Damascus in the time of Josephus (_Ant._ IX.
4, 6), and from it several Syrian names are derived, as
Hadadezer, i.e. _Hadad has helped_, Ben-Hadad, _worshipper
of Hadad_.

350 – “In the territory of Ephraim, the fertile plains and to a
certain extent wooded hills, which have been often noticed
as its characteristic ornaments, at once gave an opening
to the formation of parks and pleasure-grounds similar
to those which were the ‘Paradises’ of Assyrian and
Persian monarchs. One of these was Tirzah (_Tellûzah?_)
of unknown site, but evidently near Shechem, and of
proverbial beauty,” Cant. vi. 4. Stanley’s _S. and P._ 243.
It “was to Shechem what Windsor is to London, and had
been the seat of a Canaanitish king before the conquest of
the country by the Israelites” (Josh. xii. 24). Porter’s
_Handbk._ II. 348.

351 – “No better site for a capital could have been selected
in the length and breadth of Palestine, combining a
strong position, rich environs, central situation, and
an elevation sufficient to catch the cool healthy breezes
from the sea.” Porter’s _Handbook_, II. 345. “Situated on
its steep height, in a plain itself girt in by hills, it
was enabled, not less promptly than Jerusalem, to resist
the successive assaults made upon it by the Syrian and
Assyrian armies. The first were baffled altogether, the
second took it only after a three years’ siege, that
is three times as long as that which reduced Jerusalem”
(2 Kings xviii. 10). Stanley, _S. and P._ 244.

352 – The meaning of the expression “making streets in Samaria,”
1 Kings xx. 34.

353 – Ithobalus = _Baal with him_, Ethbaal = _with Baal_.

354 – Kenrick’s _Phœnicia_, p. 362. The date of Ethbaal’s reign
may be given at about B.C. 940–908. Smith’s _Bib. Dict._

355 – See p. 219.

356 – See p. 256.

357 – That is, for 3 years and 6 months (Comp. Lk. iv. 25).
“The annals of Tyre record a drought of a year’s duration
in the reign of Ithobaal, who continued to reign at Tyre
during a considerable portion of Ahab’s reign in Israel.”
Kenrick’s _Phœnicia_, 362; Rawlinson’s _Bampton Lectures_,
128, 129.

358 – Carmel, nearly always found with the definite article, =
_the park_, or _the well-wooded place_, and is famous even
now for its “impenetrable brushwood of evergreens and oaks.”
(See Isai. xxxiii. 9, xxxv. 2; Mic. vii. 14; Amos i. 2.)
This well-known ridge, rising at the west end about 600,
and the east about 1600 feet above the sea, stretches from
the Mediterranean inland a little more than 12 miles, and
separates the plain of Esdraelon from the plain of Sharon.