view is further strengthened by the notice inJosh. xviii,
16. When David was hiding from Saul in the cave of Adullam, wc are told that the Philistines, no doubt tak- ing advantage of intestine troubles, invaded the moun- tain fastnesses of Israel. A band of them pitched in the valley of Rephaim, and at the same time seized and garrisoned Bethlehem, David's native place (2 Sam. xxiii, 13, 14). It was then that three of his warriors, to gratify a wish of their chief, broke through the enemies' line, and drew water from the well by the gate of Beth- lehem. The narrative shows clearly that the valley of Rephaim could not have been far distant from Bethle- hem i 1 ( Ihron. xi, 15-19). The '• hold" (ver. 14) in which David found himself seems (though it is not clear) to have been the cave of Adullam. the scene of the com- mencement of his freebooting life; but, wherever situ- ated, we need not doubt that ii was the same fastness as that mentioned in 2 Sam. v, 17, since in both cases the same word (iTMXfitt, with the definite article), and that not a usual one, is employed. The story shows very clearly the predatory nature of these incursions of the Philistines. It, was in '-harvest time" (ver. 1.'!). They had come to carry off the ripe crops, for which the valley was proverbial (Isa. xvii, 5), just as at Pas-dam- mini ( 1 Chron. xi, 13) wc find them in the parcel of ground full of barley, at Lehi in the field oflentiles (2 Sam. xxiii, 11), or at Keilah in the threshing-floors (I Sam. xxiii, 1). Their animals (rprf) were scattered among the ripe corn receiving their load of plunder. The "garrison," or the officer in charge of the expedi- tion, was on the watch in the village of Bethlehem. On two other occasions, soon after David was proclaimed kin^. the Philistines invaded the mountains and drew up their armies on the same plain; they were at once attacked by David's veterans and routed with great slaughter (2 Sam. v. is, 22; 1 Chron. xiv. 9-13). The destruction inflicted on them and on their idols was so Bignal thai it gave the place a new name, and impressed ttsell on the popular mind of Israel with such distinct- ness thai tie prophel Isaiah could employ it, centuries after, as a s\ mbol of a tremendous impending judgment of God nothing 1.- than the desolation and destruc- 'i 't' the whole earth | Da. xxviii, 21, 22). See P] r \-
ZI.M. Moi X I.
Bui lr. >ni none of these notices do we learn anything of the position of the valley. JosephllS ill one place
(•!"'. \ii. t, h says dial the valley of Hie giants was near Jerusalem ; and in another place (vii, 1J. n. when narrating the story of the drawing of water from the
well at Bethlehem, in which he makes a strange blun- der, he says the valley extended from Jerusalem "to the city of Bethlehem." Eusebius and Jerome, on the other band, place it on the north of Jerusalem (Onomast. s. v. •• Raphaim" i. and in the territory of Benjamin (ibid. 8. y. •• l'.mec Raphaim"). Their notices, however, are brief and unsatisfactory (see Onomast. s. v. " Coelas Titano- nmi." and the excellent note by Bonfrere). A position north-wesl of the city is adopted by Filrsl (JBandw. ii, 383 b), apparently on the ground of the terms of Josh. xv,8, and xviii. 16, which certainly do leave it doubtful whether the valley is on the north of the boundary or the boundary on the north of the valley; and Tobler, in his last investigations (Dritte Wanderung. p. 202), con- clusively adopts the Wady DerJasin i W.Makhrior, on Van de Yelde's map ), one of the side valleys of the great Wady Beit Ilaniua, as the valley of Rephaim. This position is open to the obvious objection of too great distance from both Bethlehem and the cave of Adullam (according to any position assignable to the latter) to meet the requirements of 2 Sam. xxiii, 13. Since the latter part of the loth century the name has been at- tached to the upland plain which stretches south of Jerusalem, and is crossed by the road to Bethlehem the Buk'ah of tin' modern Arabs (Tobler, Jerusalem, ii, 401). Dr. Robinson says, "As we advanced (towards the holy city) we had on the right low hills, and on the left the cultivated valley or plain of Rephaim, or the •e-ianis.' with gentle hills beyond. This plain is broad, and descends gradually towards the south-west until it contracts in that direction into a deeper and narrower valley, called Wady el-Werd, which unites farther on with Wady Ahmed, and finds its way to the Mediterra- nean. The plain of Rephaim extends nearly to the ' city, which, as seen from it, appears to be almost on the same level. As wc advanced the plain was terminated by a slight rocky ridge, forming the brow of the valley of Ilinnom" (Reseurc/im, i, "_' 1 '. ' ) . It is true that this tract has more of the nature of a plateau or plain considera- bly elevated than a valley in the ordinary sense. But ' on the south-west it does partake more of this charae- 1 ter (see Bonar, Land of Promise, p. 177). and possibly in designating so « ide and open a tract by the name of the Rephaim valley there was a sort of play on the giant race with which il was associated, as if it, like them, musl set at naught ordinary dimensions. South of Mount Zion— the most southern pari of the valley of Gihon— is called Wady Rafaalh by the Arabs, which corresponds to Rephaim in Hebrew. Hence Schwarz infers that this is the true valley of Kephaim, though usually taken for that of the son of Ilinnom (Palest, p. 240). See Jerusalem.