The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 265

Rn<l Knobel identify with S1trona, or city is mentioned e.s one of the cities of pur- Snroneh, a pl1tee near the sea of Tiberias. ,·eynnce to Solomon's court (1 Kings iv. 12), See, howeYer, Acts ,iii. 32----38. Madon is with Deth-shee.n, Taanach, e.nd Megiddo, mmtioned in eh. xi. 1, and hits been eon- It has been identified by explorers, from jcctnrally identified mth Madin, near the Robinson downwards, with Tell-el-Ko.imun, sea of Galilee. Sh!mron-meron is also on the southern slopes of Mount Carmel. mentioned in eh. xi. 1. It appears among It is the Cammona, 01· Cima.no, of the Ono- the cities assigned to Zebnlnn in eh. xix. masticon, the " Cyamon over ago.inst Esdra- 15. Ewald(' Hist Israel,' ii. 2 e.) remarks elon" of Judith vii. 3. It was 11 Levitical on 'the antiquity of this list, referring as city (eh. xxi. 34), but in the list in Chron. it does to cities which are never heard of vi. we miss it in its proper place, and find again. Achshaph lay "ithin the borders of it taking the place of Kibzaim in Ephraim. Asher (eh. xix. 25). It has been supposed But, as the margin of our version remarks in to be the modern Yasif, near the shores of the latter chapter (ver. 68), the names of the the Mediterranean (see note on eh. xi. 1). cities in the two lists very frequently do Ta.a.nach a.nd Megiddo are frequently not correspond. mentioned together (see eh. xvii. 11 ; Ver. 23.-The nations of Gilgal. Or ,Tudg. i. 27; ,. 19). The former became a the nations that belong to Gilgal. This is Le,itical city. The latter, being in the identified by Vandevelde and Conder with great plain of J ezreel, or Esdraelon, lay in the Jiljnlieh in the plain of Sharon, north of way of most Eastern conquerors. Hence we Antipatris, and is therefore, iI this identifi- find it mentioned in the Ka.rnak inscription cation be correct, a third Gilgal. The word by the name of Magedi in the victorious ''nations" most probably signifies a diversity expedition of Thothmes III., in which of tribes of various races gathered together "the whole of the Syrian, Palestinian, and under the headship of the king of Gilgal, Arabian nations were overcome and forced much in the same way that the kingdom of to pay tribute." (Cooper, 'Egyptian Obe- Mercia arose in England from a confused lisks,' p. 33 ; see also 'Records of the Past,' mass of various tribes, gathered together on i. 30). The great battle on the slopes of the marches, or military frontiers, between Mount Tabor we.s carried on as far as Me- Britons, Saxons and English, or in the same giddo (Judg. v. 19). Not far from this were way that the Austrian and Turkish empires the Midianites pitched, who fell victims to have been formed out of a congeries of va- the valour of Gideon (Jndg. vii.). Another riollB nationalities. So we read of " Tidal and a disastrous battle of Megiddo, age.inst king of nations" in Gen. xiv. 1. But others the king of Egypt, weakened Judree., and regard the "nations" (Goim) mentioned caused it to fall an easy victory to the there as equivalent to the Gutium of the power of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings xxiii. Babylonian tablets-i.e., Semitic tribes im- 29. 30; 2 Chron. xxxv. 20-24. The valley perfectly organised, then dwelling in Baby- of Megiddo, or Megiddon, is mentioned in lonia, and prefer the LXX. reading, 0apya;\, Zach_ xii. 11. Solomon fortified Megiddo in Gen. xiv. 1, which Sir Henry Rawlinson (1 Kings ix. 15), assigned it to Be.a.no., the considers equivalent to the Accadian Tur son of Ahilud, with Taane.ch, as one of the Gal, or "great chief." So Se.yce, 'Bahl. Lit.,' cities required to pronde food for the p. 23 ; Tomkins, • Studies on the Time of royal household (1 Kings iv. 12. ). And Abraham.' See Introduction III. the Jewish writer of the Apocalypse makes Ver. 24.-Tirza.h meets us as the residence this great battle - field of his race the of the kings of Israel for a time in the narra- scene of the battle of the great day of the tive in 1 Kings. Jeroboam's wife went thither Almighty (Rev. xn. 14, 16). For Arma- after her interview with Ahijah (eh. xiv. 17l. geddon is Har Me.geddon, the mountain of Baa.she. dwelt there (eh. xv. 21, 33 ; xvi. 6 , Me.geddon, or Megiddo. Megiddo and Taa- Elah was slain there by Zimri (eh. xvi. 9, 10 , ne.ch are also found in later periods of Egyp- and it remained the capital until Omri built tian history. The Mohar mentioned above Samaria (eh. xvi. 23, 24). Thenceforward (eh. i. 4) notices the former among the we hear no more of it till the time of Me- places he nsited (' Records of the Past,' nahem (2 Kings xv. 14, 16), when it dis- vol. ii.), while the latter is among the appears from history. It has been variously places captured by Shishak, as an inscrip- identified-by Robinson and Vandevelde tion testifies. The latest explorers reject (whom Knobel follows) with Te.Jluze., two the identification with Legio, or Lejjun, and hours' journey north of Shechem; by Conder suggest Mejedda, at the foot o! Gil boa, near with Teiasu, where there are numerous rock Beth - shean. See Palestine Exploration sepulchres. It was a place of great beauty, Fund, Quarterly Paper, January, 1877. if we may judge from Cant. _vi. 4, "Thou Yer. 22.-Kedesh, i.e., Kedesh-Ne.phte.li art beautiful, 0 my love, as Tu-ze.h, comely (•et: eh. xix. 7). Jolmea.m of Carmel This as Jeruse.lP.m," OH, XII, 1-24.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 209