The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 139

after 1111, their brethren; or calcul11ted that prudence would be the better part of valour, seeing it was not self-evident they would succeed in their enterprise. Li,;ssoNs, 1. The sinfulness of war, especially of civil war. 2. The paramount authority of God in civil e.nd poliUcal, no less than in private and religious, affairs. 3. 'l'he presence of God's finger in e.ll social and national movements, in the establishment and overthrow of kings, in the permitting or hindering (as his wisdom determines) of civil strife, etc. 4. 'l'he wisdom of obeying God.-W. Vers. 6-17.-The strengthening of a kingdom,, I. THE ERECTION OF FORTRESSES. (Vers. 6-12.) 1. Their object. To defend the frontiers of the kingdom, against both Israel on the north and Egypt on the south, for which last special need existed, con- sidering the friendly relations which bad subsisted between Jeroboam and Shisbak. Shisbak's invasion, which soon followed, showed Rehoboam's apprehensions not to have been baseless. Though wars are seldom justifiable, it is never wrong or unwise on the part of a prudent monarch to consult for the protection of his country and people. 2. Their names. (1) In the hi.nd of Judah. (a) On the southern frontier: Bethlehem, mentioned in Jacob's time (Gen. xxxv. 19), two hours south of Jerusalem, the birthplace of David and of Christ (1 Sam. xvi. 1 ; Micah v. 1 ; Matt. ii. 5, 11), now Beit-Lahm. Etam, a. town probably between Bethlehem and Tekoa, the present village Urtas, south of Bethlehem, near which is the spring called 'Ain A tan. Tekoa, now Tekua, "on the summit of a. hill covered with ancient ruins, two hours south of Bethlehem" (Keil). Beth-zur (Josh. xv. 68), a. town on the watershed, identified with the modern Beth-sur, a. ruin midway between Urtas and Hebron. (b) On the western boundary towards the Philistines: Soco (Josh. xv. 35), the present Shuweike in Wady Sumt, three hours and a. half south-west from Jerusalem. .Adullam (Josh. xv. 35), a. very old Canaanitish town, that lay in the so-called Shephelah, or lowland, of Judah, probably to be identified with the present Deir Dubban, two hours north of Eleutheropolis. Gath, one of the five chief towns of the Philistines (Josh. xiii. 3), first subjected to the Israelites by David (1 Chron. xviii. 1), and under Solomon ruled by its own king, who paid tribute to the Israelitish throne (1 Kings ii. 39); according to the' Onomasticon,' situated five Roman miles from Eleutheropolis, on the road to Dios- polis; otherwise not yet identified, though Conder looks for it in the direction of Tell- es-Safi. Mareshah (Josh. xv. 44), near to which Asa defeated the Ethiopian king Zernh (eh. xiv. 9), according to Eusebius, lay two Roman miles from, and in all probability is to be sought for in, the ruin Merash, twenty-four minutes sonth of Beit Jibr!n (Eleu- theropolis) . .Adoram, shortened into Dora (Josephus, 'Ant.,' xiv. 5. 3), is the present- day JJwra, a. village seven miles and a half west of Hebron, surrounded by olive-groves and corn-fields (Robinson). Lachish, in the lowland of Judah (Josh. xv. 39), is probably the present ruin Lakis, three miles west-south-west from Beit Jibr!n, situated "on a. circular height covered with ancient walls and marble fragments, and overgrown with thistles and bushes" (Robinson, Ritter, Keil; Pressel in Herzog, viii.157; Reihm, i. 876), though Conder prefers to find it in Tell-el-hesy, near Eglon. Azekah (J osb. xv. 35), east of Ephes-dammim (1 Sam. xvii. 1), has not been discovered. (c) On the border of the Edomites: Hebron, originally Kirjath-arba, i.e. the city of Arba, "a great man among the Anakims" (Josh. xiv. 15; xv. 13; xxi. 11), afterwards a settlement of the patriarchs (Gen. xxiii. 2; xx:xv. 27), now called El-Khalil, "the friend of God," in the hill country of Judah, seven hours from Jerusalem, one of the oldest towns of which we possess knowledge, having been "built seven years before Zoan in Egypt" (Numb. xiii. 22). Ziph, probably in the hill country of Judah (Josh. xv. 55), to be looked for in the present ruin Tell Ziph, an hour and a quarter south-east of Hebron. (2) In the land of Benjamin, as a protection against the north. Zorah (Josh. xv. 33), not Samson's birthplace (Judg. xiii. 2), represented by the ruin Sura, ten Roman miles from Eleutheropolis, on the roe.d to Nicopolis, but a place lying on a high peak of the northern slope of the WMi-Serar. Aijalon, the present village of Jalo, on the verge of the plain Merj-ibn-Omeir, four leagues west of Gibeon. These last-named towns belonged originally to Dan, but after the disruption of the kingdom they appear to have to.lien to the tribe of Benjamin. 3. The equipment of these strongholds. Captains were appointed, provisions laid up, and shields and spears stored up in every city (ver. 11), 140 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [cH, xr. 1-28,