snw usum esse sermnnibus." Comp, Amos ii, 13 ; iii, 4, 12; iv, 1; vi, 12; vii, 1; and see the striking remarks of Dr. Pusey, Introil. to A mos.
In the genealogies of Judah (1 Chron.. ii, 24, and iv, 5), Ashur, a posthumous son of Hezron and a brother of Caleb, is mentioned as the father t)f Tekoa, which appears to mean that he was the f(Hnider of Tekoa, or at least the owner of that village. See Kcidiger in Ge- sen. T/iesdur. iii, 1518.
The common people among the Tekoites displayed great activity in the repairs of the wall of Jerusalem under Nehemiah. They undertook two lengths of the rebuilding (Neh. iii, 5, 27). It is, however, specially mentione<l that their "lords" (Sn"'3TX) took no part in the work.
Tekoa is known still as TehVa, and, though it lies somewhat aside from the ordinary route, has been vis- ited and described by several recent travellers. Its dis- tance from Beit-Lahra agrees precisely with that as- signed by the early writers as the distance between Tekoa and Bethlehem. It is within sight also of the "Frank Mountain," beyond question the famous Hero- dium, or site f)f Herod's Castle, which Josephus (Wai; iv, 9, 5) represents as near the ancient Tekoa. It lies on an elevated hill, which spreads itself out into an irreg- ular plain of moderate extent. Its " high position'' (Rob- inson, Bill. Bes. i, 48G) " gives it a wide prospect. To- wards the north-east the land slopes down towards Wady Khureitiin ; on the other sides the hill is surrounded by a belt of level table-land; beyond which are valleys, and then other higher hills. On the south, at some dis- tance, another deep valley runs off south-east towards the Dead Sea. The view in this direction is bounded only by the level mountains of Moab, with frequent bursts of the Dead Sea, seen through openings among the rugged and desolate intervening mountains." In the spring there are often encampments of shepherds there, consisting of tents covered with the black goat- skins so commonly used for that purpose ; they are sup- ported on poles and turned up in part on one side, so as to enable a person without to look into the interior. F'locks pasture near the tents and on the remoter hill- sides in every direction. There are horses and cattle and camels also, though these are not so numerous as the sheep and goats. A well of living water, on the outskirts of the village, is a centre of great interest and activity, the women coming and going with their pitch- ers, and men filling the troughs to water the animals which they have driven thither for that puri)ose. The general aspect of the region is sterile and unattractive; though here and there are patches of verdure, and some of the fields, which have yielded an early crop, may be seen recently ploughed up, as if for some new species of cultivation. Fleecy clouds, white as the driven snow, float towards the Dead Sea, and their shadows, as they chase each other over the landscape, seem to be fit em- blems of the changes in the destiny of men and nations, of which there is so much to remind one at such a time and in such a place. Various ruins exist at Tekoa, such as the walls of houses, cisterns, broken columns, and heaps of building-stones. Some of these stones have the so-called " bevelled" edges which are supposed to show a Hebrew origin. There was a convent here at the bcgiiming of the 6th century, established by St. Tabus, and a Christian settlement in the time of the Crusaders; and undoubtedly mf)St of these remains be- long to modern times rather than ancient. Among these should be mentioned a baptismal font, sculptured out of a limestone block, three feet nine inches deep, with an internal diameter at the top of four feet, and designed evidently for baptism as administered in the (ireek Church. It stands in the open air, like a simi- lar one at Jufna, near Beitin, the ancient Bethel. See more fully in the Christiim Reridi; (N. Y.), 1853, p. 519.
Near TckiVa, among the same mountains, on the brink of a frightful precipice, are the ruins of Khureitun, pos-
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sibly a corruption of Kerioth (Josh, xv, 25), and in that case perhaps the birthplace of Judas the traitor, who was thence called Iscariot, i. e. " man of Kerioth." It is impossible to survey the scenery of the place and not to feel that a dark spirit would find itself in its own ele- ment amid the seclusion and wildness of such a spot. High up from the bottom of the ravine is an opening in the face of the rocks which leads into an immense sub- terranean labyrinth, which many suppose may have been the Cave of Adnllam, in which David and his fol- lowers sought refuge from the pursuit of Saul. It is large enough to contain himdreds of men, and is capa- ble of defence against almost any attack that cotdd be made upon it from without. When a party of the Turks fell upon Tekii'a and sacked it, A.D. 1138, most of the inhabitants, anticipating the danger, fled to this cavern, and thus saved their lives. It may be questioned (Rob- inson, i, 481) whether this was the actual place of Da- vid's retreat; but it illustrates, at all events, that peculiar geological formation of tlie country which accounts for such frequent allusions to " dens and caves'' in the nar- rations of the Bible. It is a common opinion of the na- tives that some of the passages of this particular exca- vation extend as far as to Hebron, several miles distant, and that all the cord at Jerusalem would not be suffi- cient to serve as clue for traversing its windings. See Odoli.am,