The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 192

S,ri&. As it is not mentioned in eh. xv. 2 Sam. iii. 14, &c.) ; but in royal me.rrie.gea 20, it would appear to hn,e escaped in the a dowry was often given. "Sargon gave in-rnsion of Bcnhadnd. Possibly it was too Cilicia as e. dowry with his daughter. . . , strong for him] and Megiddo [Josh. xii. 21; Antioohus Soter ga,e his ole.ims on Mace- xvii. 11; Judg. v. 19. Tbis place was chosen donia e.s e. dowry to his step-daughter Philo., partly because of its central position-it stood when she married Antigonus Gone.tas. Coele- on the margin of the plnin of Esdraelon, Syria and Palestine were promised as a dowry the battle-field of Palestine, and the battles to Ptolemy Epiphe.nes, when he manied fought tbere prove its strategical importance, Cleopatra, sister of Antiochus the Great," Judg. v. 19 (cf. 1 Sam. xxxi. 1); 2 Kings &c. (Rawlinson). Gezer being e. wedding xxiii. 29; Judith iii. 9, 10-and partly, per- present, its conquest must have taken place haps, because the high road from Egypt to years before the date to which the history Damascus passed through it. It dominated is now brought down] unto his daughter, the passes of Ep}:iraim (see Judith iv. 7). It Solomon's wife. has till recently been identified withel-Lejjun Ver. 17.-And Solomon built Gezer [In (from Legio. Compare our Chester, &c.) the case of Gezer it was an actual rebuild- (Robinson, ii 116 sqq.; Stanley, S. and P., ing. But as applied to Beth-boron, &c., p. 347; Porter, 2S6, 2S7); but Conder(" Tent- " built " probably means enlarged, strength- work, " p. 67) gives good reasons for fixing ened] and Beth-horon the nether [mentioned the site at the" large ruins between Jezreel in connexion with Gezer, Josh. xvi. 3 (cf. x. and Bethshean, which still bears the name 10). It is deserving of mention that the of JJlu)edd'a, i.e., on the eastern side of the two cities of Beth-boron still survive in the plainj and Gezer [This co=anded the ap- modem villages of Beitur el-tahta and proach from Egypt, and would protect the el-fok," names which a.re "clearly corrup- southern frontier of Solomon's kingdom. See tions of Beth-boron "the Nether•• and II the Josh. x. 33; xii 12; xxi. 21; Judges i. 29; Upper" (Stanley, S. and P., p. 208). One 2 Sam. v. 25; 1 Chron. xx. 4. It stands on lies at the foot of the ravine, on an eminence, the great maritime plain, and is also on the the other at the summit of the pass. Like coast road between Egypt and Jerusalem. Megiddo and Gezer, this town, too, lay on e. The site was identified (in 1874) by M. high road, viz., that between Jerusalem and Clermont Ganneau with Tell Jezer. The the sea coast. The selection of Beth-boron name means "cnt off," "isolated" (Gesen.) for fortification by Solomon is also justified " The origin of the title is at once clear, for by history-three decisive battles having the site is an out-lier-to use a geological been fought here (see Josh. x. 10; 1 Mace. term-of the main line of hills, and the iii. 13-24, and Jos., Bell Jud. ii. 19. position co=ands one of the important 8. The object of the king in fortifying passes to Jerusalem" (Conder, p. 6). this place was to protect the uplands of The mention of Gezer leads to e. paren- Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim against in- thesis of considerable length (vers. 16-19). vasion from the Philistine plain. It is per- haps not unnoteworthy that, according to our The question of the levy is put a.side for the author, it was Beth-boron the nether the.• time, whilst the historian explains how it Solomon "bnilt," e.s this would ne.turally wa.s that the king came to bnild Gezer. He have suffered more than its loftierneighbour then proceeds to mention the other towns from war. According to 2 Chron. viii. 6, bniltduringthesamercign. however, Solomon bnilt Beth-boron the Ver. 16.-For Pharaoh king of Egypt had upper also. gone up and taken Gezer and bnmt it with Ver. 18.-And Baala.th [probably the fire [The total destruction of the place and place mentioned in Josh. xix. 44, and there- its inhabitants by fire and sword looks more fore e. town of Dan. By some it has been like an act of vengeance for some grave identified, but on wholly insufficient grounds offence than like ordinary warfare], and -the mention of Tadmor immediately after- slain the Canaa.nites that dwelt 1n the city wards being the chief-with Baalbek. This [Though Gezer was allotted to Ephraim is one of the names which prove how (Josh. xvi. 3) and designated as e. Levitical ancient and widespread was the worship of city (ib., xxi. 21), the Canaanite inhabitants Baal (Gesen., Thesaurus, 226; Diet. Bib., i, had never been dispossessed (Josh. xvi. 10 ; 147, 148)] and Tadmor 1n the wilderness, 1n LXX. 11 Canaanites and Perizzites ;" cf. Judg. the land. [Whether this is (1) the fe.mous i. 29), and they would seem to have enjoyed Palmyra., or (2) Tamar, an obscure town of e. sort of independence], a.nd given lt for a south Judah, is e. question which has been much disputed. It should be stated in the present [C'J")~~. dotatio, dowry. It is the first place that the Oethib has ion, but the c11Stom of the-·East for the husband to pur- Keri, after 2 Chron. viii. 4, reads ioin, as do chase his wife by e. present (Gen. :uix. 18 ; all the versions; and BCCOndly tba1 a Tamar ill OH, IX. 10-28.] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 198