For Fellowship, see Communion.
J. Hastings.
FENCE.-^Tliis Eng. word is not used in NT. In AV of UT it translates various Hebrew words. In the case of three of these, the tr. is a mistake, and is changed in RV (Is 5=, 2 S 23', Job 10"). The words from the stems zur and bAzar, nis and ns;, denote fortifications or fortified places (e.g. 2 Ch 8° 11=', Dt3°etc.) Tho.se from the stem qfidar, -ni, denote a stone wall (Ps 6'2», Job 19«). RV tr. the words of this stem by ' fence ' in many places where we find ' wall ' or ' hedge ' in AV. A fence is properly that which fends or defends. The fence described in the Heb. words of this group is ordinarily the enclosure defending a field or vine- yard or sneepfold. See Hedge.
W J P5efchpr
FENCED CITIES (lynp nj;, properly 'cut off' from outside, and hence inaccessible ; RV generally substitutes 'fortified' for 'fenced'). — Collections of houses in ancient times may be classed under three heads: (1) Cities, walled or fenced. (2) Unwalled towns and villages, with towers for resort of i-illagers in times of danger. (3) Un- walled towns and villages.
The number or size of the houses did not affect the question. A city might be of very small extent. Gn 19™ ' Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one : Oh ! let me cscajie thither (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.' On the other hand, the suburbs of a city might become so extensive that it became equiva- lent to a town without walls. Zee 2" 'Jerusalem shall be inhabited a.s villages without walls, for the multitude of men and cattle therein.'
Towns and villages that were without walls were a prey to any hostile foraging |)arty, and were considered of no accoant. Lv 25="- " 'If a
man sell a dwelling-house in a walled city, then he may redeem it. . . . But the houses of the villages, which have no wall round about them, shall be reckoned with the fields of the country.' As a village or town prospered and more solid houses were built, they would for purposes of defence be joined together, and the to^vn would thus become a walled city. Towns and villages appear to have been dependent upon fenced cities both for admini- strative purposes and for protection of the inhabit- ants. Jos IS'" ' Ashdod with her to^vns and her vUlages ; Gaza with her towns and her vOlages. ' As an indication of absolute security, a land of safety is pictured as 'a land of unwalled villages . . . dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates' (Ezk 38"). The suburbs of the cities were occupied by cattle (Jos 14'' 21=). The villages, however, were not wholly without protection. The Israelites could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley or low country because they had chariots of iron (Jg l'", Jos 17"). Both at Jericho and Damascus hou.ses were built on the city walls (Jos 2", 2 Co 11=3).
Sufficient still exi.sts of the remains of the ancient cities of Palestine, together with the historical accounts, to give us a clear idea of the positions and the general configuration of their walls. They were built in commanding positions both in the hill-country and the plains, and on the seashore they were generally on promontories. In many cases most inaccessible positions wero taken advantage of, so that the battering-rait might be of no avail. Dt 1=» ' The cities are great, and fenced up to heaven.' Cisterns were cut in the rock for the supply of rain-water, so as to be independent of water from without (2 Ch 26'°, Neh 9^, Jos. BJ V. iv. 3, vil. viii. 3).
There are many remains of ancient cities still exposed to view in various parts of Palestine, inhabited by nomadic tribes, where the system of defence can yet be observed : as an example, Masada, built by Jonathan Maccabreus, and strengthened by Herod the Great, may be men- tioned. None of the remains, however, can be accurately ascribed to the time of Joshua, though the sites may not have changed, and it is doubtful whether at that early date the walls of fenced cities were of the same solid type as that which necessarily obtained when the battering - ram came into use. Some of the fenced cities men- tioned in the Book of Joshua were taken by stratagem, but others were taken by assault by a nation which did not possess the mechanical con- trivances required for the capture of cities with strong walls. From what remains of the ruins of Jericho (as.suined to be near 'Ain es-Sult.ln), it may be inferred that these walls were built from the earliest date of sun-burnt bricks ; and from the knowledge we now possess of the walls about Jerusalem, it may be considered that at the time of the capture of the city by Joab the walls were built of small stones.
The stones of the ancient towers and walls of Jerusalem still existing are of considerable size, some of those in the wall of the temple enclosure weighing nearly 90 tons. At Baalbek the great temple stands on a massive wall, with courses of stone averaging 3 ft. 9 in. in height. Thirty feet in advance of tliis, N., S., and W., is a protecting wall, 10 ft. thick, of monoliths weighing 600 to 800 tons each, three of them being estimated to weigh over 1000 tons each.