Palestine Exploration Quarterly

ISSN: 0031-0328 (Print) 1743-1301 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ypeq20

Notes on the Geography of Palestine

Caleb Hauser

To cite this article: Caleb Hauser (1907) Notes on the Geography of Palestine, Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 39:4, 284-290, DOI: 10.1179/peq.1907.39.4.284

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/peq.1907.39.4.284

Published online: 20 Nov 2013.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 3

View related articles

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ypeq20

Download by: [University of Birmingham] Date: 07 May 2016, At: 06:31 284 NOTES ON TIlE GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE.

man said-this· together with all the other small indications he had gathered-ordinary travellers scarcely ever carry grain for food. We were behind the party and must needs be careful. It was now six in tlte morning. We could· calculate that eighteen hours had elapsed since they had been resting there, for the rock under which the camels had been tethered would only throw sufficient shade to shelter them at midday. They had therefore been there at twelve o'clock the preceding day.

(To be. contin~ted.)

NOTES ON THE GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE.

By the Rev. CALEB HAUSER, M.A.

I. Mahanaim.-Dr. Grove and Col. Conder have argued that this important place" should be sought south of the Jabbok rather than at the northern site of Mal}neh, where later travellers have placed it." I shall endeavour to show that the identification of Mahanaim with Ma1).neh is, nevertheless, correct. The passages· .in Joshua and 1 Chronicles, in which Mahanaim, as a Levitical city of Gad, is placed on the frontier of Gad and ·Manasseh(Josh. xxi, 38; xiii, 26, 30; 1 Chron. vi, 80) rather point to Jebel tAjltln as the .region in which it must be sought. An identification of this place must, however, in order to be decisive, be based on a critical study of the typography of two important events: Jacob's journey to meet Esau, and the battle between· the armies of David and

Downloaded by [University of Birmingham] at 06:31 07 May 2016 Absalom. The typography of this later event shall be illustrated in .the following note on the Wood of Ephraim; here we shall review Jacob's movements with strict regard to typographical notices. Departing from Mizpah (possibly Suf) the patriarch came to Mahanaim apparently on his way to the Promised Land (Gen .. xxxi, 13; xxxiii, 17·sqq.). At Mahanaim, where he "saw the camp of God encamped" (Septuagint), he resolved, in firm reliance on divine protection, to reconcile his brother Esau. Hence the course of his journey was changed; and while his messengers went NOTES ON THE GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE. 285

to interview Esau and ,vere hastily returning with the mountaineer at their heels, Jacob was leisurely pasturing his flocks and herds toward the J abbok southwards, which he seems. to have reached just as his messengers returned from the land of Seir. That same night, having divided his "people" and property into two com- panies, and having made an appeal to the God of Abraham and Isaac, he lodged there, remaining on the north side of the Jabbok. But it was not the intention of Jacob" to place a natural barrier between himself and the brother 'whom he feared." Therefore a forward movement began on··the following day when Jacob sent his servants with presents for Esau on across before him, while he, with his household and property, intended to ford the Jabbok under cover of the night. So, after lodging yet awhile on the northern bank, he arose that night, taking his wives, women-servants, and sons; and, having his property also brought over, passed over the ford of J abbok with them. A return to the opposite bank is not mentioned. Jacob was left alone, having separated himself from his household, to c<;>mmunewith God, it seems. He wrestled with God on the ridge of a hill near by, and remained the victor. But returning at sunrise to his own near the Jabbok, he was observed to halt on his thigh as he crossed the ridge, which -he called Penuel, "the appearance of God," in commemoration of the event. Hereupon the meeting with Esau; after whose departure, Jacob, re-crossing the Jabbok, moved to Succoth, his goal being Canaan. Thus, if we place Mahan~im north of the J abbok, the narrative is perfectly intelligible; ,vhereas if we assume a site south of the Jabbok, we shall have Jacob sending his servants before him, across the J abbok northward, with presents for Esau who was coming from the south ! Now if it be possible to identify the the Wood of Ephraim in a satisfactory location, that is with regard to l\!ahanaim as at l\laQ.neh, then this identification must be correct.

Downloaded by [University of Birmingham] at 06:31 07 May 2016 For .another indication of the position of 1vlahanaim, see the note on Peniacomia, No. XIII. II. The Wood of Ephraim, the scene of the battle .between the armies of David and Absalonl (2 Sam. xviii, 6) should be sought east of Jordan. Here Josephus places it. It was near Mahanaim; for David, who had made his residence, there (2 Sam. xvii, 24, 27 ; xix, 32; 1 I{ings ii, 8), stood by the gate-side (2 Sam. xviii, 3, 4) ready to succour his people, who had gone .out into the conflict. The victory won and Absalom" s~ain,. Ahimaaz and Cushi brought 286 ,NOTES ON THE. GEOGRAPHY OF PAL}JS'l'INE.

tidings to the king, \vho, still waiting the1'e, was sitting between 'the "two gates" of the city wall (2 Sam. xviii, 24). Indeed, the people also who had fought the battle returned to Mahanaim that same day (2 Sanl. xix, 2). Furthermore, the Wood of Ephrainl does not -seem to have been as near the Jorrdan as some, misled by the phrase "by way of the plain" (""?~, 2 Sam. xviii, 23), have supposed; , ·for Israel and Absalom had pitched in the Land of Gilead (2 Sam. 'xvii, 26), to attack Mahanaim from the east, it seems. The Wood of 'Ephraim must therefore be sought on the slopes of Northern Ajltln, near Mahanaim. Here, indeed, E\uch woods of oak (2 Sam. xviii, 10) and other trees are still to be found. Conder speaks in glowing terms of "the beauty of the ravines of Gilead between Wady Hesban in the south and the Hieromax in the north," and

0() bserves: "Beside clear mountain brooks the horseman wanders through glades of oak and terebinth, with dark pines above" (Heth and Moab, p. 193). Here, near the head of Wady el-Ghafr (Northern ~Ajltt1n, pp. 179, 181), is a castle of the same nanle, the site of Ephron (so Buhl), destroyed by Judas l\1accabaeus (1 ~Iacc. v, 46- v3; 2 Mace. xii, 27), also the site of r'/€¢VpOVV (Polybius, v, 70, 12). No\v Ephron and Ephrain~ are one and the same, since the ending :-ain~ or -ain sometimes interchanges with -on. The Wood of -Ephraim was therefore along the upper course of Wady el-Ghafr, less than 15 miles from l\1a1,lneh,which is l\1ahanaim. III. Seii'ah and the Mountain of Ephraim.-The town was prob- .ably the first one that Ehud could reach; for" he escaped to Seirath. And it came to pass when he was come (to Seinih) that he ble\v a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim " (Judges iii, 26, 27). This mountain was, without doubt, the spur reaching out from Ophra, the New Testament Ephraim, to the Jordan valley. Another con- sideration compels us to locate the l\1ountain of Ephraim just here. ·Ehud blew the trumpet to summon the Israelites for imnwdiate

Downloaded by [University of Birmingham] at 06:31 07 May 2016 .service cd the fords of the Jordan. "And the children of Israel \vent dow,n with hin~ from the mrntnt and he before them. .'. . And they went down after him and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, .and suffered not a man to pass over" (Judges iii, 27, 28). All this time in the City of Palm Trees, King Eglon's servants, not a\vare of what had befallen ·him, were waiting to be readmi.tted into his presence; and they could not have waited many hours before -unlocking the doors of the parlour~ On seeing what had happened, they would flee back tol\ioab, one might reasonably suppose. NOTES ON THE GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE. 287

Ehud therefore, intent· upon preventing them at the fords, canno "have scoured the mountains of the ttribe of Ephraim. Then, too Seirah is so connected with the PeszUm that were by Gilgal (Judges iii, 19, 26) that we may look" for the site of Seirah not far from Gilgal. The required site is lhnrn Sirah, some 4 or 5 miles north west of Jericho. ." IV. J.1iollnt Halak, "the smooth (or bare) mountain that goeth up to Seir " (Josh. xi, 17 ; xii, 7), the extent of Joshua's conquests in Southern Palestine, is generally identified ,vith some· mount~in in the imnlediate vicinity of the 'Arabah. Trumbull seeks to identify this landmark with the northern wall of Wady el-Fikreh. 'He says, in J{adesh Batrnea: "The northern wall of this wady is a bare and bald rampart of rock,. forming a natural· boun~ary as it 'goeth up to Seir'; a landmark both impressive and unique, 'which corresponds with all the Old Testament mentions of tp.e l\lount Halak .." But Joshua's conquests extended farther south. Hormah was one of the cities whose kings Joshua smote (Josh. xii, 14), and according to Joshua, x, 40, 41, the Hebrew commander ." smote all the country of the hills and of the south from" J{adesh Barnect even unto Gaza"; he took all the Negeb (Josh. x, 16). It is adnlitted that Seir in Deut. i, 44, is not identical with Mount, Seir, but was west of the Arabak, wheresoever Hormah must be located. And as ,ve may regard .the identification of Hornlah, lor Zephath, with Es-Sebaita satisfactory, ,ve may seek Mount Halak even to the west of that ruin and· south~ of ~Ain Kadis,' or Kadesh. In correspondence with the southern boundary of Judah, -as laid do,vn in a recent paper (Q'ttarterly Statement, 1906, p. 220), ,ve find suitably situated Jebel Yelek, a grand landmark for' all who travel from Egypt to the country known of old as Seir. We may, therefore, with much confidence identify the Mount Halak with .Jebel Yelek. The change from ~~to y also occurs in ~ukko~ and Downloaded by [University of Birmingham] at 06:31 07 May 2016 Yakftk. V. Bayith.-In Isaiah xv. 2, the Hebre'w 1':1"'" Ji"':liTiTSy is variously rendered. Duhm and Cheyne (S.B.O.T.) read" iTJiSy

,':l"" 11:1 "the daughter of Dibon goeth up." The text, as it I :stands, nlay, however, be translated thus: "He (the destroyer) is gone up to the Temple (Bayith), and Dibon (is gone up) to the high places (Barnoth) to weep. Over Nebo and 1\ladeba l\loab shall howl, on all their heads baldness, every beard cut off." The Temple, 288 NOTES ON THE GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE.

situated in the line of the conqueror's march, being destroyed, Moab (Dibon also named in its place) is represented as ascending to the ancient sanctuaries in the remoter hills and mountains, there, to weep and howl. FurtherUl0re, if BayUh be th,e correct reading" the beginning of this chapter appears to contain an eft'ective climax:. Ar (the met1'opolis) of Moab is laid waste and brought to silence; Kir (the castle) of l\1:oab is laid waste and brought to silence; he

is gone to Bayith (the temple, fafT' €fox~v) of ~Ioab. On what shall l\1:oab then rely ~ In distress she flees to the high places. But where was the Temple of l\1:oab~ Presumably near the metropolis, Rabbah, as the context does not allow of its location within the city. We may perhaps identify it. with Beit el-Kurrn, also called .l{a~r Rabba, the Castle of Rabba. Beit is evidently Bayith, and el-Kurm may be a later addition, occasioned by the vineyards, traces of which Tristram observed in close proximity to the ruins (Land of Moab, p. 133). The ruins now v,isible are indeed those of a temple of later date; De Saulcy describes them as "the remains of a Illagnificent tetrastylic temple, evidently of the same period as the temple of Baalbek; that is to say, coeval with the age of Adrian and the Antonines" (Dead Sea and Bible Lands, Vol. I, p. 294). But Herodian policy, exemplified in the recon- struction and embellishment of the Jewish sanctuary, may have given to Moab what Tristram also regarded as a "magnificent. and massive temple." Indeed, from a passage in De Saulcy I infer· that older material, taken from the previous temple, was used in its reconstruction. After enumerating various fragments of sculpture found among the ruins, and expressing the opinion that these were portions of the temple, De Saulcy remarks: "Rut there are others also, which cannot have belonged to it. Mouldings and bases of columns of a much more simple style are found here and there. These, with blocks of lava and sculptured fragments of the same

Downloaded by [University of Birmingham] at 06:31 07 May 2016 material, are evident signs of the pre-existence of buildings on this spot, much more ancient, and most probably of Moabitic origin" (ibid., p. 296). Here, then, are indications of the ancient Temple of Moab, probably destroyed in fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy. VI. Oboth.-After the Israelites had departed from Mount Hor, they journeyed by the way of the Red Sea, to compass the Land of Edom (Num. xxi, 4; Dent. ii, 8). After entering the mountains' near Elath at Ezion-Geber, their journey was a hurried one. Excepting the halt at Zalmonah, near the southern frontier, they NOTES ON THE GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE. 289

tarried not till they had the Edomite capital behind them: for Punon, the next station, was, as Eusebius and Jerome, identifying it with 4>atvwv, Phenon, inform us, between· Petra and Zoar. Consequently the following station, Oboth, must be sought a considerable distance north of Petra. We are therefore safe in identifying the name Oboth with Ghuweibeh. At,the head of the Wady of that name are ruins which are not named on the maps, but are probably. also called Ghuweibeh. Here, then, was Oboth. The Arabic name preserves the radicals of the Hebrew, but the .aleph of the latter has become ghain. Palmer's map has el-'Vaibeh.l VII. Avith, the city of Hadad, who was the fourth king of the :Edomites, probably was situated in the region of Jebel Ghuweitheh, ;south of the Arnon, as Palmer (Desert of the Exodus, map of J\1oab, facing p. 471) has indicated, inserting Avith here with an inter- rogation point affixed. The notice that Hadad smote Midian in . the field of Moab (Gen. 36, 35) may be adduced in support of the proposed identification. The }lotitia Dignitatum, giving Auatha as .a military station of Arabia, indicates its position near the Arnon. The name precedes that of Gomoha (~Gomola = Beth Gamul). For Avith Eusebius has r€O€cl, Jerome Gitfhairn. In Ghuweitheh the radicals of A uatha, Avith, are preserved. VIII. Shicron, R. V. Shekkm'on, was on the northern boundary o()f Judah's inheritance, apparent,ly between Ekron and Jabneel -(Josh. xv, 11). The Tell es-Sellakeh, north-west of Akir, is in a suitable position. Passing to Tell es-Sellakeh and thence over an intervening mountain to the site of Jabneel, the boundary will follow .a more natural course than that laid down on the maps. Sellakeh preserves, in slightly different order, the radicals of Shekkaron, the .loss of the final n being of frequent occurrence. IX. JJl01chrath of the Moabite Stone.-Tristram states that to the ,south of I(erak was pointed out among other names that of J\1okhrath

Downloaded by [University of Birmingham] at 06:31 07 May 2016 (Land of JJloab, p. 88), and remarks, on p. 118: "It has been ,suggested that ll1ahk'henah is the Arabic equivalent for Mocrath, .mentioned on the J\1oabite Stone as the place from which Mesha re-peopled Ataroth, after he had exterminated its former ,Israelitish :inhabitants." Other suggestions as to the identification of Mokhrath ,are not known to the present writer, and this one seems unsatis- iactory, since Tvlahk'henah is not near enough to 'Attarus. A very

1 Robinson's Kadesh (el Weiheh) must also have been an ancient Oboth. 290 . TIlE ,ACRA OF .THE GREEKS.,

satis~actory .site is that ofJ.}[ukaulr near by, and the loss of· the. final t in the name is not unusual. The name having taken the Latin form Mochae1'us has survived as M1tka1t1'. Compare Maehael'us; = Af'kha1tr. x. Ch~sulloth on Egyptian ¥onll.rnents.-Agreeing with Col. Conder; (Tent fVork in Palestine, Vol. II, p. 345) in identifying Nos. 53 and. 54 of the Karnak Temple list of Canaanite nantes with 'Afftleh and el-Fftleh respectively, I find Chesulloth represented in No. 56" which Prof .. W. M. ~tJiiller (Ency. Biblica, col. 3546) transliterates; Ti-Slt-1'a-ti, the Tusulti of the Tell Amarna Tablets. Chesulloth is in correct relative position with regard to the names that precede and follow it: Anaharath, the two Ophels, and Nekeb, Shihon~ Rimmon. (To be concluded.)

THE ACRA OP THE GREEKS.

By J..1\1. TENz..

IN the Quarrtm'ly Statement of January, 1906, and July, 1907~ Sir Charles vVatson gives an elaborate description of the site of Acra, naming many' historical passages in support of his theory" which places Acra within the Haramarea. But within. the same area stood the Temple, with its extensive, courts to accommodate the great national assemblies at the Jewish

Downloaded by [University of Birmingham] at 06:31 07 May 2016 festivals, and at the south-east area was a piece of land, 600 feet, froln the south-east corner to the double gate, and 300 feet in breadth, being the site of Solomon's Palace, as suggested by Sir Charles Warren in the Quarterly Statement of 1869-70, page 343.. This view can also be supported by history and' exploration. The wall running round from the double gate by the south-west angle to Barclay's gate would not then have been in existence, but. would have been built by Herod when he enlarged the Temple courts. Herod built the wall from the valley below on a piece of land of