4. 123, kikkdr, seems to be equivalent to 12""2. from the root *H3, to more in a circle; "22 therefore signifies a circuit, or" the region round about any place" (allied to which are ki'kXoc , circus, ami circl ; < lesenius, Thesaur. p. 7171. Hence, with the article ~2~n. hak- kikkar. it was applied topographically to "the regi m "t
PLAIN 26
the Jordan," especially the southern pari of it, in which the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah once stood. Ii is so . n times in Genesis I siii, LO, 11, 1"-': xix, 17. 25, 28, 29); also in 2 Sam. xviii. 23; 1 Kings vii, 16; 2 Chron. iv, 17: ami apparently in Neh. iii. •-'"-': xii,28. Ri land Buggests thai the name may have been derived from the windings of the river {Palwst. p. 274; run,).. Stanley, S. andP. p. 278 I. Though uniformly rendered plain in the A. V., and i Trepioucog in the
Sept.. ii appears to have all the definiteness of a proper name. It musl be confessed thai it is nol < asy to trace any connection between a "circular form" and the nat- ure or aspeel of the .Ionian valley, and ii is difficull nol to suspeel thai kikkar is an archaic term which existed in ol the Hebrews, and was afterwards adopted into their language. Sec Jordan.
The word is also very frequently used in Scripture to
"a piece of money," generally "a talent" in the
A.V. (Exod. xxv. 39; l Chron. xx. ■_'. etc.); also "a
cake" or "loaf of bread" I 1 Sam. x, 3; Prov. vi, 26).
Their circular form doubtless suggested the name.
5. --~~z. mishdr, with the article lisj">a?1. This
word comes fr he rool ~-~. to bt straight or even .•
hor signifies a plain or level country; thus in 1'sa. xxvi. l2,"My fool standeth in an even place." thai is, "in a plain ;" also, figuratively, rectitude or justice, as in Psa. Ixvii, 1." I'lem shalt judge the people righteous- fustice). Willi the article it has a topograph- ical signification, and has usually the definiteness of a proper name. In the A. V. it is uniformly rendered plain. It occur- in the Bible in the following passages: Dent. iii. 10; iv, 13; Josh, xiii, 9, 16, 17. 21; xx. 8; 1 ... 23, 25; -' Chron. xxvi, 10; Jer. xlviii, 8, 21. In each of these, with one exception, it is used tor the district in the neighborhood of Heshbon ami Dibon —the Belka of the modern Arabs, their most noted past- ure-ground; a district which, from the scanty descrip- tion- we possess of it. seems to resemble the - Downs" of England in the regularity of its undulations, the ex- cellence of iis turf, and its lilncss for the growth of
8 PLAIN
"plain" (Deut.i. 1.7. etc) ; but in Dent. xi,30, •• cham- paign :" in l'./ek. n1\ ii. 8, " deserl ;" and in Josh. xv. 6; sviii, 18, " Arabah" (Gesen. Thesaur. p. 1066; Stanley, S. and /'. p. 481 t. The Sept. usually has 'Apafla, biut sometimes Svapri. See Arabah.
7. ri5S'Z.'. shepheldk, a Una plain, from the root PBfcJ, to h, depressed. In the A. V. it i- rendered -plain" in Jer. xvii, 20; Obad. 19; Zech. vii. 7: -low plain-" in 1 Chron. xxvii, 28 ; 2 Chron. ix, 27 ; but elsewhere " vale" or "valley." It has all the definitem — ofa prop, r name, being the specific designation of the maritime plain of Philislia. To the Hebrew- llii-. and tlii- only, was the
Shephelah. Shephelah ha- some claims of its own to no- tice. It was one oi i in -i i. uacious of these old He- brew terms. It appear- iii the Cnek text and in the
A. V. of the l k oi m.i, cabei - I Mace. xii. 38), and is
preserved on each of its oilier occurrences, even in such corrupt dialects a- the Samaritan version of the Fenta- teuch, and the Targumsof Pseudo-Jonathan and of rabbi Joseph. And although it would appear to be no longer known in ii- original seat, it ha- transferred itself to other countries, and appear- in Spain a- Seville, and en the east coast of Africa as Sofala. See Shephelah.
The plain of Esdraelon, which to the modern travel- ler in the Holy Land forms the third ofitS three most
remarkable depressions, i- designated in the original by
neither of the above term-, but by ~"V. emek, an ap- pellative noun frequently employed in the Bible for the smaller valleys of the country—" the valley of .b /reel." Perhaps Esdraelon may anciently have been considered a- consisting of two portions : the valley of .h/rccl. the eastern and -mailer: the plain ofMegiddo, the western
and more extensive of the two. See Esdraelon.
II. The following are the principal plains of Palestine alluded to in the Bible, pro,, eding from north to south:
1. The great plain or valley of Coele-Syria, the -hol- low land" of the Greeks, which separates the two ranges of Lebanon and Antilebanon, is the most remarkable of them all. It is called in the Bible the Bika'ath Aven i Amos i. 5), and also probably the Bika'ath Lebanon
flocks. There is no difficulty in recognising the same (.',„sll. xi. ,7 . xii>7) and Bika'ath Mizpeh (xL 8), and
district in the statement of 2 Chron. xxvi. 10. It is evident from several circumstances that Uzziah had been a greal conqueror on the east of Jordan, a- well as .,n the shore of the Mediterranean (see Ewald's re- marks, Geschichte, iii. 588, note), and he kept his cattle on the rich pastun - of Philistines on the one hand, ami Ammonites on the other. Tims in all the passages quoted above the word mishdr seems to be restricted to one special district, ami to belong to it as exclusively as *),tph-l<ih did to the low land of I'hilistia. or arabah to the -unl. eii district of the Jordan valley. It is there- fore puzzling io find it used in one passage 1 1 Kings xx.