From the above sketch of the history of Maha- naim it will be seen that the biblical narrative affords but little assistance in identifying its exact site. From Gn 32 it seems clear that it lay some- where near the Jordan to the N. of the Jabbok and of the great gorge (or Bithron,2S 2”). Accord- ing to Jos 13 it was situated on the border of Gad and Manasseh, a position which ees with the history of themonarchy. Conder (Heth and Moab, p. 179 ff.) places it near el-Bukeva, to the E. of es-Salt ; but this is too far south. More probable is the view of Merrill (Hast of the Jordan, p. 433 ff.), who identifies Mahanaim with Khurbet Suleikhat, at the entrance of the Wady Suleikhat, 3 miles N. of the Wady ‘Ajlun. He points out that the present ruins stand some 300 feet above the plain, and command an extensive view across the valley to the W., and down the valley almost to the juncture of Wady Zerka (Jabbok) with the Jordan. This situation agrees admirably with the details supplied in 2S 18, according to which the watch- man of Mahanaim discerned the Cushite and Ahimaaz from a considerable distance (v.™) Τὸ also throws light on the statement of v.* (‘Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain’), the point being that Ahimaaz chose the tonaes but more level route along the plain, and so outstripped the Cushite, who made his way across the intervening hilly country. Earlier travellers (Seetzen, Reisen, i. 385; Robinson, Phys. Geogr. p. 78f.) place Ma- hanaim at the modern Mahne, which according to the old Jewish traveller Parchi (Benj. of Tudela, ii. 408) lay about half a day’s journey due E. of Bethshean. The latter statement is certainly erroneous, but in any case Majne is too far from the Jordan, and its position in the midst of the mountains of Gilead does not suit the narrative of 2S. Buhl, however (GAP p. 257), seems to
* It is noteworthy that Luc. gives Maasar, κ.«. Mabanaim instead of Ephraim, but this ma: Smith, HGH. p. S4 ff.
be only a correction; see
p. 8357; Buhl, GAP ν. 121; Budde, Ai. u, Sam,
214 MAHANEH-DAN
MAHLI
place Mahne (or Mihne) considerably farther S., slightly to the N. of the Wady ‘Ajlun; the latter he would then identify with the gorge (or Bithron) of 25 259 (ἐδ. p. 121). J. F. STENNING.
MAHANEH-DAN (ΠΤ πη, παρεμβολὴ Adv). —The name occurs twice: in Jg 18” of a place ‘ behind,’ i.e. W. of Kiriath-jearim, in Jg 13% of a place between Zorah and Eshtaol, where Samson began his work. Whether one identifies Kiriath-jearim (which see) with Khirbet'Erma or with Abi Ghosh, it is scarcely possible to take both these references to be to the same place. Nor has the name been found. Itis true that Williams (Holy City, i. 12, note) had a site pointed out to him, north of Wad Ismail, as bearing the name Beit Mahanem. Both name and situation are tempting, but the statement lacks confirmation. Guérin (Judée, i. p. 62 ff.)
laces the Mahaneh-dan of 18” near ‘ Abou-Goch,’ ut he ignores the other. Moore on Jg 13” accepts the position assigned to Mahaneh-dan in 18”, and thinks there is no support for the supposition that there were two camps of Dan. It seems probable, however, that the name, since it was never attached to a town, was floating rather loosely in this quarter of Palestine. The author of 13% then understood it to refer to the original war-camp which the Danites occupied at the time of the conquest, before their permanent settlement ; the author of the clause in 18 took it to be the name of the first camp which the 600 Danites occupied outside their own terri- tory when they marched northward to attack Laish. (Cf. ZDPV x. p. 137 with Guthe’s note). A. C. WELCH.
MAHARAI (270 ; B Noepé, Neepé, Menpd; A Maepael, Moopd, Moopat).—A native of Netophah in Judah, the modern Beit Nettif (Buhl, GAP p- 194), in the Wady es-Sunt, or Vale of Elah, the third of the five valleys which, cutting right through the Shephélah, connected the Philistine plain with the hill-country of Judea. Maharai was one of David’s thirty heroes (2 S 23%, 1 Ch 11%), and according to 1 Ch 2718 was of the family of Zerah, and captain of the temple guard for the tenth monthly course.
J. Ἐς STENNING.
MAHATH (nn>).—1. The eponym of a Kohathite family, 1 Ch 6% [Heb.®] (B Μέθ, A Madé), 2 Ch 29" (B Μαάθ, A Maéé), perhaps to be identified with Ahimoth (nions ‘my brother is death’) of 1Ch 6% [Heb.], B ᾿Αλειμώθ. See Gray, Heb. Prop. Names, 281, note 1. 2. A Levite in the time of Hezekiah, 2 Ch 8118 (B Μαέθ, A Ναέθ).
MAHAVITE, THE (o 927).—The designation in 1 Ch 11" of Eliel, one of David’s heroes. The MT is unintelligible and certainly corrupt. Ber- theau proposes to emend to ‘ounta ‘the Maha- naimite’; Kittel, following the Vulg. Mahumites, reads ‘o:np7. LXX B has Mel, A Mawelv.
MAHAZIOTH (nin> and nixunp ‘visions’; B Μελζώθ, A Maafid).—The Hemanite chief of the 23rd course of singers, 1 Ch 25+%°, On the extra- ordinary conglomeration of names in v.‘ and the supposition that they are really a fragment of a hymn, see W. R. Smith, O7JC? 143, note 1, and art. GENEALOGY, vol. ii. p. 124%.