JIREH 920
Belaud had already remarked {Pala^st. p. 816, 8C7) that the Gopatata (XrrS';) of the Talmudic Avritings, three raUes from Sepphoris, was probably identical with this place. It is doubtless tlie modem Jefat, which lies four or five English miles from Scfurieh. It was first visited and identified by Schultz (Hitter, Erdk. xvi, 763 s(i.). The valley in question would thus answer to the great wady Abilin, which runs south-westerly from Jefat, the bouiidar}^ between Asher and Zebulon following the line of hills "l)etween Sukhnin and Kefr Menda, in which tliis wady has its head (Robinson, ut sup.), rather than to the deeper wady Jiddin, considerably south of this, and running in the" same direction, on the southern side of which stands the village of Arukah, therefore not al- together answering to Beth-Emek (as thought by Dr. Smith, liibliothtca Sacra, 1853, p. 121), which was thus situated on the valley Jiphthah-el (Josh, xix, 27). Dr. Thomson, while justly objecting to the latter valley, as being too far north {Land and Bool; i, 472), proposes as the site of Jiphthah the ruined site Jiftah, '■ situated on the edge of the long valley [rather plain] of Turan," which he would identify with the " valley of Jiphtlwh- el" (ib. ii, 122); but this, on the other hand, lies even south of Humaneh (Rimmon), which undoubtedly lay within Zebulon (1 Chron. vi, 77). The title (S^'J, rav- ine, and not hn, wady, i. e. "valley watered by a brook ;" see Gcsenins, Lexic. s. v.) properly designates this fine pass (hence the superlative name, God's Defile), which connects the rich plain el-Buttauf on the east with the yet more fertile plain of Acre on the west, and is described by the Scottish deputation as "inclosed with steep wooded hills ; sometimes it narrows almost to the struitness of a defile. . . . The valley is long, and declines very gently towards the west ; the hillS on either side are often finely wooded, sometimes rocky and picturesque. The road is one of the best in Pales- tine, and was no doubt much frequented in ancient days" {Report, p. 309, 310). There seems also to be an allu- sion to the etymological force of the name (q. d. the openiny out of a gorge into a plain) in the statement (Josh, xix, 14), " And the out{)oinfjs thereof are in the valley of Jiphthah-el" (comp. Deut. xxxiii, 18, "And of Zeljulon he said. Rejoice, Zebulon, in thy goinr/s out").
Jireh. See Jkiiovah-jireii.
Jizchaki. See Rashi ; Saktar.
Jo'ab {llch. y'odb', Z^i"', Jehovah is his father ; Sept. 'liot'ifi, but 'lw/3«/3 in 1 Chron. ii, IG), the name of I lire ■ men. See also Atauoth-bktii-Joab.
1. Tiio son of Seraiah (son of Kenaz, of the tribe of Judah\ and progenitor of the inhabitants of Charashim or craftsmen (1 Chron. iv, 11). B.C. post 1567.
2. One of the three sons of Zeniiah, the sister of Da- vid (2 S.im. viii, 16; xx, 13), and "captain of the host" (generalissimo of the army) during nearly the whole of David's reign (2 Sam. ii, 13; x, 7; xi, 1 ; 1 Kings xi, 15; 2 Sam. xviii, 2). It is a little remarkable that he is designated by his maternal parentage only, his father's name being nowhere mentioned in the Scriptures. Jo- sephiis ('I w«/3oc), indeed, gives (.4 H/.vii, 1,3) the father's name as Siiri\'i^oi'pi), but this may be merely a repeti- tion of the jireceding Sarouiah (2opom«). Perhaps he was a foreigner. lie seems to have resided at Bethle- hem, anil to have died before his sons, as we find men- tion of his se|)ulchre at that jilace (2 Sam. ii, 32).
.Foal) first appears associated with his two brothers, Altishai and Asaliel, in the command of David's troops against Abner, who liad set up the claims of a son of Saul in opjiosition to those of David, then reigning in Hebron. Tlie armies having met at the i)ool of (iibeon, a general action was brought on, in wliich Al)ner was worsted, B.C. 1053. See (iiniiox. In his fiight he had the misfortune to kill Joab's brother, the swift-footed Asahcl. by whom he was pursued (2 Sam. ii, 13-32). See AuxKit; Asaiiki.. Joab smothered for a time his resentment agauist the sheddcr of his brother's blood ;
JOAB