The most completely described region in the Bk. of Joshua is that south of Jerusalem.* The north boundary of Judah ran south of Jericho by Gilgal and Adummim (Tal'at ed-Dumm) to Enrogel in the Kidron Valley ; and, leaving the capital in Benjamin, it ran southward by ‘Rachel’s. Tomb (1 5 10°, Jer 312°) to Nephtoah (Jos 15°), which was at Etam according to the Talmud of Jerusalem (Ain ‘Atdn, south of Bethlehem), whence it ran west to Chesalon (Kesla) and to Kiriath-jearim (Zrma), and south of the valley of Sorek, and to Ekron and Jamnia and the sea. The cities within this border are enumerated (Jos 15) in groups ac- cording as they were in the Neged or ‘dry land,’ the Shephélah or western foot hills, the Har or ‘mountain region,’ and the Midbar or desert. Of those in the Beersheba desert little is known, and the total is given as twenty-nine, while the details amount to thirty-four. Amam, Shema, Hazar- gaddah, Heshmon, and Bethpelet are, however, omitted in the parallel passage (Jos 19°). Of the rest, only Adadah (‘Ad'adah), Kedesh (‘Ain Kades), and Kerioth-hezron (at Jebel Hadhireh) are known, with Beersheba (Bir es-Seb'a), Rimmon (Umm er-Rumémin), and perhaps Ziklag (‘Asluj). In the second list (Jos 19°) Sharuhen stands for Shilhim, and appears to be the present Tell esh- Shervah in the Philistine plains, which is noticed as early as B.C. 1700, when the Egyptians were ad- vancing on Canaan. The second group in the ‘low-
* Throughout this article the identifications of towns, etc. are those which were first proposed by or which commen themselves to the present writer. Space forbids the reasons for his conclusions being stated. The reader may refer to the
separate articles, in some of which a different identification is adopted, and where the authorities are cited.
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lands’ (Jos 15%-*) is much more perfectly known, as lying south-west of the Jerusalem mountains. Of these, Zorah is noticed monumentally in the fifteenth century B.Cc., and is now the village Surah. Eshtaol (2shu'a), Zanoah (Zanth), En- gannim (Umm Jina), Enam (‘Ain ‘Ainah), Jar- muth (Yarmiék), Adullam (‘Aid el-Mia), Socoh (Shuweikeh), and Gederoth (Jedireh) retain their old names little changed. The third group is less known, but seems to have included cities on the edge of the plain of Philistia, ἜΝ which Migdal- ad (Mejdeleh), Lachish (Tell el-Hesy), Eglon (4;lan), Beth-dagon (Beit Dejan), Naamak (Na- ‘aneh), and Makkedah (probably e/-Mughdr) are fixed. Eglon is monumentally noticed in B.c. 1600, Lachish and Makkedah about B.c. 1480-1440, and Beth-dagon in B.c. 701. The fourth group included towns nearer to the Hebron mountains, of which Nezeb (Beit Nusib), Keilah (Kilah), Achzib (‘Ain Kezbeh), and Mareshah (Mer‘ash) are all apparently noticed in the Tel el-Amarna letters of the 15th cent. B.c., and the two latter by Micah (115 10) in the 8th cent. B.c. The three Philistine cities which follow do not appear to have been conquered till the time of Solomon. Ekron (‘Akir), Ashdod (£sdiid), and Gaza (Ghuz- zeh) were, no doubt, ancient sites, but only the latter —an important city long held by Egypt —is noticed in the 15th cent. B.c. The sixth group in the mountains begins in the south, including the Negeb hills. Among these cities (vv.8-°) Jattir ("Adtir), Socoh (Shuwetkeh), Dannah (Idhnah), Debir (Dhaheriyeh), Anab (Anab close to the preceding), Eshtemoa (es-Semia), Anim (Ghuwein), and perhaps Holon (Beit Aula) and Giloh (Jala), are fixed; while in the seventh group nearer Hebron occur Arab (er-Rabiyeh), umah (Démeh), Beth-tappuah (Τ 7 1}, Hebron itself (el-Khalil), and Zior (Stair). The eighth group includes towns farther east in the Hebron hills, such as Maon (Main), Carmel (Kurmud), Ziph vas ), Juttah (Yuttah), Zanoah (Zanu'a), Ha- Kain (Yukin); while Gibeah and Timnah (Jeb‘a and Tibneh) may be ruined sites north-west of Hebron, though this is uncertain, The ninth group is in the mountains north of Hebron, including Halhul (Halhil), Bethzur (Beit Sir), Maarath (Beit Ummédr), Beth-anoth (Beit ‘Ainin), and Eltekon — perhaps Tekoa (Teku‘a). Two towns forming a separate group (v.™) are Kiriath-jearim (Erma), and Rabbah (Rubba) south-west of the receding. The six cities of the desert are less own, but the ‘City of Salt’ (v.®) may be Tell el- Milh east of Beersheba, and the last is nee (Ain Jidy) on the cliff above the Dead Sea. Several of the towns in the southern mountains are noticed in the lists of Thothmes mI. about B.c. 1600, such, for instance, as Carmel; but the Egyptians did not peice far into the mountains, though ea] held Jerusalem before the Hebrew conquest, and knew it by that name (Urusalim), which occurs in the Bk. of Joshua (15®, cf. 101%),
The north boundary of Benjamin ran from Jordan north of Jericho (Jos 1811- to Bethel (Beitin) and to Ataroth-addar (ed-Ddrieh) on the hill south of lower Beth-horon (Beit ‘Ur et-Tahta, i.e. ‘the lower’). The west border ran due south to Kiriath-jearim (‘Erma), joining the border of Judah. The cities included in this mountain region (vv.!-*) are not all known, but among them were Bethel and Parah (Farah), Ophrah (probably Taiyibeh), Chephar-ha-Ammoni (Kefr ‘Ana,, Ophni (thought to be Jufna), and Geba (Jeb'a), with Gibeon (e/-Jib), Ramah (er-Rdm), Beeroth (Bireh), Mizpeh (perhaps Tedd en-Nasbeh), Chephirah (Kefireh), Irpeel (Rafat), Eleph ie: Jerusalem itself, and Kiriath tel-Keurieh, called also Kuriet
el- Anab): all these are within the border.
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The lot of Dan (Jos 19°) was in the low hills