8. Uses of Caves. — (1.) CaVes^rere used aa dweUmg- plcuxs by the early Inhabitants of Syria. The Horites, the ancient inhabitants of Idumasa Proper, were trog- lodytes, or dwellers in caves, as their name imports. Jerome records that in his time Idum»a, or the whole southern region ftt>m EleutheropoUs to Petra and Ailab, was full of habitations in caves, the inhabitants using subterranean dwellings on account of the great heat (Comm. on Obad» ▼, 6). **The excavations at Deir Dubb&n and on the south side of the wady, leading to Santa Hanneh, are probably the dwellings of the an- cient Horites" (Robinson, ii, 353), and they are pecul- iarly numerous around Beit Jibrin (EleutheropoUs) (ii, 425). The Scriptures abound with references to habitations in rocks ; among others, see Num. xxiv, 21 ; Cant, ii, 14 ; Jer. xlix, 16 ; Obad. 8. Even at the pres- ent time many persons live in caves. The inhabitants of Anab, a town on the east of the Jordan, all live in grottoes or caves hollowed out of the rock (Bucking- ham's Traicds among the Arab Tribes^ p. 61). In the neighborhood of Hebron peasants still live in caves, and especially during summer, to be near their flocks (Wilkinson's Travels^ i, 818). Poor families live in caverns in the rocks which seem formerly to have been inhabited as a sort of village, near the ruins of El Burj ; so also at Siloam, and in the neighborhood of Nazareth. For the rock-dwellings and temples of Idumasa, see Pbtra.
(2.) Caves afforded excellent refuge in the time of icar. Thus the Israelites (1 Sam. xiii, 6) are said to have hid themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits (see also Jer. xli, 9 ; Josephns, Ant. xii, 11, 1). Hence, then, to ** enter into the rock, to go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth" (Isa. ii, 19), would, to the Is- raelites, be a very proper and funiliar way to express terror and consternation. Such were most of the caves noticed above, especially the strongholds of Adullam and Engedi.
(8.) Not only have the caves of Palestine afforded refiige from enemies, but during the earthquaies also,
by which the oonntry has been so often Tisitod^ tiie in- I habitants have found in them a safe retreat. Thia was j the case in the great convulsion of 1887, when Safet ! was destroyed ; and to this mode of retreat the prophet I Isaiah perhaps alludes (Isa. ii, 10, 19, 21 ; see Robin- son, iii, 821 ; Stanley, p. 151).
(4.) Caverns were also treqnenily fortified when oc^ cupied by soldiers. Thus Bacchides, the general of Demetrius, in his expedition against Judea, Aw^'jiTnp**^ at Messaloth, near Arbela, and reduced to submission the occupants of the caves (1 Mace, ix, 2 ; oomp. Joae- phus. Ant. xii, 11, 1). Messaloth is jffobably riiW, steps or terraces (comp. 2 Chron. ix, 11 ; see Gesenius, Thes. p. 957). The Messaloth of the book of Macca- bees and the robber-caves of Arbela are thus probably identical, and are the same as the fortified cavern near Mejdel (Magdala), called Kalaat Ibn Maan, or 1^- eon's Castle, mentioned by several travellers. They are said by Bnrckhardt to be capable of containing 600 men (Reland, p. 858, 575 ; Burckhardt, Syria, p. 881 ; Irby and Mangles, p. 91 ; Lightfoot, Cent. Chorogr. ii, 281 ; Robinson, iil, 279 ; Raumer, p. 108 ; comp. also Hos. X, 14). See Beth-arbel. Josephns also speaks of the robber inhabitants of Trachonitis, who lived in large caverns, presenting no prominence above ground, but widely extended below (Ant, xv, 10, 1). These banditti annoyed much the trade with Damascus, but were put down by Herod. Strabo alludes very dis- tinctiy to this in his description of Trachonitis, and describes one of the caverns as capable of holding 4000 men (Strabo, xvi, 756 ; Raumer, p. 68 ; Jolliffe, 7>ot- els in Pal. i, 197). Josephus {Ant. xiv, 16, 6) relates the manner in which one of these caves, occupied hj robbers, or rather insurgents, was attacked by sol- diers let down from above in chests and baskets, from which they dragged forth the inmates with hooks, and killed or thrust them down the precipices ; or, setting fire to their stores of fuel, destroyed them by suffcca- tion. These caves are said to have been in Galilee, not &r ftxim Sepphoris, and are probacy the same as those which Josephus himself, in providing for the de- fence of Galilee, fortified near Gennesaret, which else- where he calls the caves of Arbela (War^ i, 16, 2-4 ; ii, 20, 6 ; Life, 87). See Arbela. This description of caves of robbers reminds us of our Lord's words, in which he reproaches the Jews with having made the Temple a den of thieves, tnniXaiov Xyorwi' (Matt, xxi, 18). A fortified cavern existed in the time of the Cru- sades. It is mentioned by William of Tyre (xxii, 15- 21) as situate in the country beyond the Jordan, six- teen Roman miles frt>m Tiberias. Lastly, it was the caves which lie beneath and around so many of the Jewish cities that formed the last hiding-places of the Jewish leaders in the war with the Romans. Josephns himself relates the story of his own concealment in the caves of Jotapata ; and after the capture of Jerusalem, John of Gischala, Simon, and many other Jews, en- deavored to conceal themselves in the caverns beneath the city ; while in some of them great spoil and vast numbers of dead bodies were found of those who had perished during the siege by hunger or fr^m wounds (Josephus, War, iii, 8, 1 ; vi, 9, 4).