he second Heb. capital was at Hebron, Saul’s adherents having their centre at Mahanaim in Gilead. The well of Sirah (2 S 3%) retains its name (‘Ain Sdrah) north of Hebron. The con- uests of David extended north of Hermon to ibhath (perhaps Kefr Dubbeh) in the Baalbek plains, but not to Kadesh farther north (2S 88 24°), now Kades, on the Orontes. Damascus and Edom were subdued, with Moaband Ammon. The border towards Pheenicia extended to Dan-jaan (Danian) near Achzib south of Tyre (24°), but the region from near Accho to Cabul (Kabil) was ceded later to Tyre by Solomon (1 K 913), whose king- dom extended, however, north of Damascus to Tadmor (1 Καὶ 98). Tadmor retained its native name at Palmyra to the lst cent. A.D., as attested Ὁ a Palmyro-Gr. bilingual on the site. Tiphsa (Thapsacus on the Euphrates south of Carchemish) is stated { K 4%) to have been the limit of his power, including the country of the Hittite princes (v.4, cf. 9% 10°); and Gezer, recently wasted b the Egyptians, was ceded to Israel (1 K 9"). We thus reach the period of greatest prosperity, when zorpe (2 Ch 2"*) was a Heb. port as well as Elath (1 K 95) on the Gulf of ‘Akabah. The Pho- nicians and the Hittites (1 K 10”) in Syria remained, however, as dependent allies. he Cherethites and Pelethites (2S 20%) may have been guards from Philistia like the Gittites (151),
Gath (but see art. CHERETHITES). Mahanaim is described (2S 1833) as situated in a ‘ round,’ not far from a forest (v.*), and the remarkable basin on the Gilead plateau in which the ruins of Makhneh stand is not far from the southern oak and fir woods, whence es-Sa/¢ (the Saltus of later times) was named.
The third Heb, capital at Jerusalem had existed from the 15th cent. B.c. as a city. It requires to be separately treated (see JERUSALEM), but was
chosen, probably in at Shechem, from military and political considera- tions. The southern mountains have always been the last refuge from foreign invaders from the plains. even in Solomon’s age, with the loss of Damascus (1 Καὶ 115); and Zereda (Surdeh) in Ephraim be- came a centre of revolt (v.™, cf. LXX additions, 1K 1Q@at.), to his own record, extended over all Palestine except Upper Galilee, which was conquered by the Syrians (15%). The earlier boundary of Israel and Judah seems to have been near the Michmash Mee (v.%, cf. 2Ch 13” 16!6, Zec 14, 2 Καὶ 238); an probabl of Shechem. The site of Elijah’s sacrifice (1 K 18) is supposed to have been at the southern Carmel, now called el-Mahrakah—‘the place of burning.’ The Aphek of the Syrian wars (1 K 20”) is probably Vik, on the precipices east of the Sea of Galilee. (1 K 21) is attested by the remains of rock-cut winepresses e4st of the town, though no vines are now grown.
plains. was probably not the distant Thapsacus on the
for a town called Keratiya exists south-west of |
PALESTINE 651
reference to the older centre
The gradual decay of the kingdom began,
Shishak’s conquests (14*), according
irzah, the northern capital (1 Καὶ 1653), was at Teiasir, an ancient site north-east
k of
The vine cultivation of Jezreel
A new capital at Samaria now appears in history (1 K 16%) in a well-watered mountain region, at
Sebastieh west of Shechem, but much exposed to invasion both from the western and the northern
Tiphsah (2 K 151°), smitten by Menahem,
Euphrates, but the modern Tafsah (spelt with the final guttural) south of Shechem ; for the Hittites were still an independent people, unconquered Ὁ Assyria till the time of Sargon (cf. 2 K 75), an the conquests of Jeroboam I. in Syria (2 K 14%) extended only to Hamath, half-way to the Hittite capital at Carchemish (2 Ch 35”), now Jerdbis on the Euphrates.
After the Captivity geographical indications are less numerous, but many new towns are noticed (Ezr 2), such as Netophah (Beit Netif in the Shephélah), Azmaveth (Hizmeh), Neballat (Bir Nibdla), and Ono (Kefr ‘Ana) in Benjamin, Elam exh Beit ‘Alam west of Hebron) and others
ready noticed: ‘the other Nebo’ (Neh 753) may be Nida in the same district ; the villages in the Shephélah were colonized by men of Judah and Benjamin, who spread as far as Ziklag, Lachish, and Lod (Neh 1133). The ΤΟΡΟΡΤΆΠΙΟΝΙ notices of the poetical and prophetic books do not require special consideration, but that of the Song of
ongs is remarkable as covering the whole of Palestine east and west of Jordan, and as indicat- ing the various natural features of the different regions—the flowers of Sharon (2'), the mountains of Bether (probably Bittir near Jerusalem, 2"), the pastures of Gilead (4'), the wild summits of Lebanon and Hermon (4°), the fertile plain round Tirzah (6*), the hills above Damascus (7*), the pools still found beneath Heshbon (7*), and perhaps the copses of Carmel, and the ‘circle’ of Mahanaim (015. 7°).
The geography of the Hasmonman period, in the First Book of Maccabees, is evidence of the genuine character of that work. The revolt began at Modin (Medieh) on the hills east of Lydda; and the three great passes at Bethhoron, Bethzur, and
Berzetho (Bir ez-Zeit), on the west, south, and north of Jerusalem, were defended by Judas, Adasa, the site of his last victory, was at “AdasaA near Gibeon. Bethzacharias (Beit Skaria), where Eleazar was killed under the elephant (1 Mac 6”), was within sight of Jerusalem on the south. The raids of Judas were carried over the whole of Eastern Palestine and into Philistia and Edom, but the only parts securely held were in the mountains