Na'halal (Ileb. XahaM', Vsn:. posture ; Sept. NnnXoA v. r. 'SaiiaaX, and even l'f,\,\.f ; Vulg. Xadlol ; Auth. Vers, once " Naliallal," Josh, xix, 15), a city, in the tribe of Zebulun. on the border of Issachar (Josh, xix, 15), but inhabited by Canaanites tril)utary to Israel (Judg. i, 30, where the name is '• Nahalol"), givcu
NAHALIEL
825
NAHASH
with its "suburbs" to the MerariteLevites (Josh, xxi, 35). It is mentioned between Kithlish and Shimron. Eusebius erroneously locates it E. of the Jordan {Ono- viast. s. V. NetXd). " The Jerusalem Talmud {Mer/ilkih, chap, i ; Maaser Sheni, chap, v), as quoted by Schwarz (Palest, p. 172) and Reland {Falasf. p. 717), asserts that Nahalal (or Mahalal, as it is in some copies) was in post- Biblical times called Mahlul; and this Schwarz identi- fies with the modern Malul, a village in the plain of Esdraelon under the mountains which enclose the plain on the north, four miles west of Nazareth, and two from Japhia ; an identification concurred in by Van de Velde (Memoir, s. v.). One Hebrew MS. (30 Kennicott) lends countenance to it by reading bbriTO, i. e. Mahalal, in Josh, xxi, 85. If the town was in the great plain, we can understand whj^ the Israelites were unable to drive out the Canaanites from it, since their chariots must have been extremel}'^ formidable as long as they re- mained on level or smooth ground" (Smith). This site, liowever, has been appropriated by Porter to that of the ancient Maralaii (q.v.).
Naha'Iiel ()l&h.Nachali'el' ,'b^''^t^^, possession [or valley'\ of God; Sept. fiaaXu'jX v. r. Mavai'iX), the fifty- fourth encampment of the Israelites in the wilderness, between Mattanah and Bamoth (Numb, xxi, 19) ; ap- parently in the northern part of the plain Ard Ramadan, south-east of Jebel Humeh, perhaps on the northern branch of Wady Waleh (Burckhardt, ii, G35). See ExoDE. It lay " beyond," that is, north of the Arnon (ver. 13), and between Mattanah and Bamoth, the next after Bamoth being Pisgah. It does not occur in the catalogue of Numb, xxxiii, nor anywhere besides the passage quoted above. By Eusebius and Jerome (Ono- viast. s. V. Naaliel) it is mentioned as close to the Ar- non. jVIr. Grove, in Smith's Diet., suggests that "its name seems to imply that it was a stream or wady, and it is not impossibly preserved in that of the Wady En- cheyle, which runs into tlie Mojeb, the ancient Arnon, a short distance to the east of the place at which the road between Rabba and Aroer crosses the ravine of the lat- ter river. The name Encheyle, when written in Hebrew letters (nbiHSX), is little more than bx^^bna trans- posed." See, however, Mattanah.
Nahal'Ial (Josh, xxi, 35). See Kviialal.
Na'halol (Heb. NahaloV, VbiTi, pasture; Sept. NnaXioA V. r, E>>ai.ifidv and Ao^iavu ; Vulg. Nudlol), a slightly different orthography (Judg. i,.30) for the name Nahalal (q.v.).
Na'ham (Heb. Nach'am, DTO, consolation; Sept. T^axkji V. r. Naxf'V, Na^fS), a brother of Hodiah, the second or Jewish wife of Mered; and "father" ofKeilah and Eshtemoa (1 Chron. iv, 19). B.C. post 1G12. He seems to have been the same called Ishbah (q, v.) in ver. 17. See Meked.
Naham'ani (Heb. Nachamany', ''S'ariS, repent- ing or compassionate ; Sept. Nrts/zavi), one of the Jews who returned with Zerubbabel from the captivity (Neh. vii, 7). B.C. 536. His name is omitted in the parallel list of Ezra ii, 2.
Na'harai [others Nakar'at or Xakara'i] (1 Chron. xi, 39). See Naiiari.
Naharaim. See Aram-Naharaim,
Na'hari (Heb. Nacharay', ^'ntli, sncn-er; Sept. 'Naapai v. r. N«xw|0 ; Vulg. Naarai; A. V. [in later ed.] "Nahar" [the more correct form] in 1 Chron. xi, 39; Sept. Naxnpni ; Vulg. Naharai in 2 Sam. xxiii, 37), a Berothite, one of David's chieftains, and armor-bearer of Joab, son of Zeruiah (1 Chron. xi, 39 ; 2 Sam. xxiii, 37). B.C. cir. 1013.
Na'hash (Heb. Nackash', TTTO, serpent, as often ; Sept. Naae ; Joseph. 'Sad(rt]g ; Vulg. Nads), the name
of two persons. For the city of Nahash (Auth. Vers. 1 Chron. iv, 12, marg.), see Ir-nahash.
1. A king of the Ammonites, near the beginning of Saul's reign. B.C. 1092. A message came from the peo- ple of Jabesh-gilead soliciting immediate help against the fierce hostility of this Ammonitish chief. He haa apparently acquired a name for his military achieve- ments before directing an assault against the city of Jabesh (see 1 Sam, xii, 12) ; for though it was a ^veU- fortified place, and the largest town in the transjordanic territory of Manasseh, the inhabitants seem to have thought it a hopeless matter to contend against so for- midable an adversar}-. They were ready to submit to his supremacy if he would enter into covenant with them on somewhat reasonable terms ; but as he, in the pride and insolence of power, declared he woidd insist on plucking out all their right eyes, and casting it as a re- proach on Israel, the inhabitants were obliged to appeal to their fellow-countrj'raen. The mutilating barbarity proposed to the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead by Nahash is a practice that was formerly very common in the East. Mr. Hanway, in his Journey in Persia, gives several instances of it. See Eye. Accordingly the in- habitants of Jabesh-gilead obtained a truce of seven days, and despatched messengers to Gibeah to inform Saul of their extremity (1 Sam. xi, 1-4). Saul felt the greatness of the emergency, and took prompt measures to relieve the place and discomfit the army of Nahash. See Jabesh-gilead. In this he was perfectly success- ful; and neither Nahash nor his people ventured any more to attack Israel during the reign of Saul. See Saul. If we might rely on the testimony of Josephus {A nt. vi, 5, 3), Nahash himself fell in the rout that en- sued. But of this the sacred narrative is entirely silent ; and the probability is (for we have no reason to suppose Nahash to have been an official designation or a com- mon name among the Ammonites) that the Nahash whom Saul discomfited was the same who afterwards showed kindness to David. How this kindness was exhibited, or at what particular time, we are not told ; but we can have little doubt that it occurred some time during the fierce persecutions which David endured at the hands of Said,when the king of Ammon,like the kmg of Gath, might deem it a stroke of policy, in respect to Saul, to befriend the man whom he was pursuing as au enemj% Jewish traditions afiirm that it consisted in his having afforded protection to one of David's broth- ers, who escaped alone when his family were massacred bj' the treacherous king of Moab, to whose care they had been intrusted by David (1 Sam. xxii, 3, 4), and who found an asylum with Nahash. (See the Midrash of R. Tanchum, as quoted by S. Jarchi on 2 Sam. x. 2.) See David. David was not unmindful of the kindness he had received from Nahash ; and wishing to cultivate peaceful relations with his son and successor Hanun, he sent messengers to condole with him on receiving intelli- gence of the death of Nahash (2 Sam. x, 2). B3' the folly of Hanun this well-meant embassy turned into the occasion of a bloody war, which placed David for a time in some peril, but from which he at last emerged com- pletely triumphant. See Hanux.