The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 333

swept nwa:, in one of those sudden 11nd ir- now presented by that fertile region, tho rntional pitnics so often fatal to Eastern result of the insecurity for life and property armies. Here S111tl, hard by Jezreel, dispi- which is so commonly remarked by all who rited b, his ,isit to the witch of Endor, have travelled in the East. Here, where on the 'north of Gilboe., g11thered his men u.nder a better rule would be the a.bode of together as • forlorn hope, to await the peace e.nd plenty, no cultivator of the land attack of the Philistines, their numbers at dare venture to pass the night, exposed to first swelled b, a number of Israelites the depredations of the wild tribes that whom Saul's tyranny and oppression had infest the country. Only a mounts.in fe.st- driven into erile (1 Sam. :nix.). Advanc- ness, hard to climb e.nd comparatively easy ing to J ezreel, the Philistine host carried to defend, affords a. secure retreo.t for those e.ll before them, and dro,e the Israelites who would live peo.cee.bly in tho.t onoe in headlong flight up the steeps of Gilboa, favoured land. Shunem. Now Sulem: the where San! and his sons fell fighting place of the encampment of the Philistines bra,el_, to the last (1 Sam. xxx. ). In the before they "pitched in 11.phek" (1 Sam. later and sadder da,s of the tsraelitish xxviii. 4; xxix. 1). It was "five Romo.n monarchv, when the· ten tribes had been miles south of Mount Tabor" (Vandevelde) carried into captinty by the Assyrian con- and an hour and a half (i.e. about six miles) queror, Josiah conrted disaster by a rash north of Jezreel (Keil and Delitzsch). Here onslaught upon the Egyptian troops as they Abishag the Shuna.mmite lived (1 Kings i. 3; marched against Assyria. No details of this ii. 17, 21), and here Elisha lodged, e.nd after- fight at Megiddo are preserved, save the fatal wards restored the son of his entertainers fire of the Egyptian archers, who marked to life (2 Kings iv., viii.). Josiah as their nctim, and drove, no doubt, Ver. 21.-En-ga.nnJ.m. Supposed to be his leaderless troops from the field (2 the same o.s the "garden house" (the Beth- Kings xxiii. 29; 2 Chron. mv. 22). At ge.n of the LXX.) mentioned in 2 Kings ix. Jezreel, too, Ahab me.de his capital. Hither 27) where Ahaziah, king of Judah, met with Elijah, when "the hand of the Lord was the wound of which he afterwards died at upon him" (1 Kings xviii. 46), ran after the Megiddo. It we.s one of the Levitica.l cities wondrous scene on Mou.nt Carmel, when he of Issachar (eh. x:x.i. 29). Robinson, Van- a.lone, in a strength not bis own, withstood develde, and others identify it with the the "prophets of Baal, even four hu.ndred modem Jenin, the Ginme. of Josephus. The and fifty men." Here Jehoram stood on the meaning of the name is " fountain of the hill, with its commanding view, watching gardens" and the present Jenin is situated, with an u.neasy distrust the fnrious rush of so Robinson tells us, in the midst . of Jehu with bis troop from the other side gardens. Jordan, and here, in the plat of Naboth the Ver. 22.-The coast rea.cheth. Literally, Jezreelite, so fatal to Ahab and his house, the border skirteth, as in ver. 11. Ta.bor. did the vengeance decreed overtake the u.n- Perhaps the same as Chisloth-Tabor in ver. happy monarch (2 Kings ix. 25). The spot 12 (cf. 1 Chron. vi. 77). It would therefore may be still identified. It is the modern be, e.s Mount Tabor certs.inly was, on the Zerin. Ritter describes it (and so does boundary between the tribes of Issa.char and Robinson) as standing on the edge of e. Zebulnn. Beth-shemesh. Not the well- precipice 100 feet high, e.nd ~omme.nding e. known town in the tribe of Judah (eh. xv. 10). fine new of the plain of Beth-shee.n on the The repetition of this name is a. proof of the east, e.nd of Esdraelon on the west. There extent to which sun-worship prevailed in is a tower here which commands the same Palestine before the Israelite invasion. view as the watchmen of Jehoram com- manded, bearing witness to the e.ccnre.cy of Ver. 23.-This la the IIllleritance of the the historian. So in 1 Kings iv. 12, the tribe of Issa.cha.r. Ja.cob, whose dying eye mention of Taanach, Megiddo, and the region pierced far into the future, discerned before- hand the Hitua.tion of the tribe of Issa.char, of Beth-shean, as beneath(~ T1IJT:)t,:)). Jezreel and its results upon its conduct. Situated is another instance of topographical detail in the midst of this fertile plain, accessible which marks the correctness af the record. alike to Egypt by the we.y of the Shephele.h, A.nother point is that we read in the narra- and to the east by way of the fords of tive above mentioned of "chariots." Wilson the J orde.n, the tribe of Issachar became in (' Lands of the Bible,' ii. 303) was sur- the end the prey of the various nationalities, prised, on leaving the rugged heights of the who made the plain of Esdra.elon their hill-country, to find how easily, if the battle-field, and it we.a the first to " bow his civilisation of Palestine permitted, excellent shoulder to bear" and to '' become a. servant roads might be ma.de throughout thls region ; unto tribute" (Gen. xlix. 15), It seems to and Ca.non Tristra.m ('Land of Israel,' p. 421) have been to the east of Manasseh (see bas remarked on the desolate appearance eh. xvii. 10), and me.y have extendeGI. much OH, XIX, 1-51.J 'I'HE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 281