an adjoining mountain, or hill. And, from what is before CHAP. II. said of it in the text just now cited, its situation is generally assigned to be near mount Sion, and on the west side thereof. It was at this Gihon, that Solomon, by the special order of David, was anointed King over Israel, as we read 1 Kings i. 33. And this is thought to carry in it some inducement to suppose, that Gihon was a fountain; David making choice of this fountain for anointing Solomon, in opposition to his other son Adonijah, who was at the same time setting up for King, near Enrogel; i. e. the well, or fountain of Rogel, on another side of Jerusalem, of which more sect. 36. And thus much for old Jerusalem. Proceed we now with the series of the sacred history. 21. Of the val or of the The first war David had, after he was made King over all Israel, and had fixed his royal seat at Jerusalem, was ley of the with the Philistines, who came and spread themselves in Rephaim, the valley of Rephaim, chap. v. ver. 18. It is evident Giants. from Josh. xv. 8. that this valley (there rendered the valley of Giants) lies near to Jerusalem, and in the confines of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The road from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, as Mr. Maundrell informs us, lies through this valley, famous for being the theatre of several victories obtained here by David over the Philistines. Whence some will have it to be called the valley of the Rephaim, or Giants, as being the place where the Rephaim, or men of gigantic stature and strength among the Philistines, were subdued by David, or his worthies. It might perhaps take this name from some of the Rephaim living in these parts in the more early times after the flood; this opinion receiving some countenance from the Rephaim being mentioned among the Hittites, Perizzites, Amorites, &c. Gen. xv. 20, 21. as I above observed in Vol. I. Part I. chap. viii. §. 52. 22. As for Baal-perazim, mentioned chap. v. ver. 20. it is Of Baal-peevident, from the circumstances of the sacred history, that razim. it lay either in this valley of Rephaim, or near it; and it seems to be the same that is called mount Perazim, Isaiah xxviii. 21. PART III. 23. Of Methegammah. 24. Of the valley of Salt. David having given the Philistines several defeats, is said, chap. viii. ver. 1. to have subdued them, and to have taken Metheg-ammah out of their hands. This name Methegammah is variously understood by expositors; some taking it for an appellative, others for a proper name. It is evident, that the writer of the book of Chronicles understood thereby Gath and her towns. For whereas it is said, 2 Sam. viii. 1. And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them; and David took Methegammah out of the hand of the Philistines; in the other place, viz. 1 Chron. xviii. 1. it is related thus: Now after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them; and took Gath and her towns out of the hand of the Philistines. After this we have an account in the remaining part of the eighth chapter, how David extended his dominion as far as to the river Euphrates, subduing the Syrians of Zobah and Damascus ; and how the King of Hamath sent his son to congratulate him upon his victory over the King of Zobah; and how he dedicated to God the silver and gold which he had taken from the Syrians, and Moabites, and Ammonites, and Philistines, and Amalekites; and how he subdued Edom, making a great slaughter of the Edomites. Of all these people and countries we have spoken already, and shall speak again of Zobah and Hamath in the ensuing paragraphs, viz. 28, 29. What is here more particularly to be remarked is concerning the valley of Salt, mentioned ver. 13. of this eighth chapter. As to its situation, it appears from 2 Kings xiv. 7. that it lay near the land of Edom, and therefore in all probability near the Salt sea also, the parts adjacent to the said sea abounding with salt. As to the people who are smitten or overcome in this valley, they are said 2 Sam. viii. 13. to be the Syrians; but in 1 Chron. xviii. 12. they are said to be the Edomites. And it is not to be questioned, but this last is the truest reading, not only on account of the situation of the valley of Salt near to the Edomites, and at a great distance from the Syrians, according to the acceptation of the word in those days; but also, because both the Greek, and Syriack, CHAP. II. and Arabick interpreters did evidently read it Edom, not Aram, as it now stands in the Hebrew Bibles in this place of Samuel. And the error in the present Hebrew text clearly arose from the similitude of the Hebrew words two of the consonants in the Hebrew ארם and אדם words, which we render Edom and Aram, being exactly the same; and the other, viz. the Hebrew D and R being very much alike, as 7 and; and so easily to be mistaken the one for the other. David being established in his kingdom, inquires, chap. ix. whether there was not any left of the house of Saul, that he might shew him kindness for Jonathan's sake. And hearing of Mephibosheth, a son of Jonathan's, he sends for him from Lodebar, which was a place situated on the east of Jordan, and probably in the half tribe of Manasseh on that side the river Jordan; at least it was not far from Mahanaim, as may be gathered from chap. xvii. 27. where we read, that Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar (and the same with whom Mephibosheth lived, before that David sent for him) brought beds and other necessaries to David, when he was come to Mahanaim. 25. Of Lodebar. doms ad the north land of Is The Ammonites having basely abused the servants of 26. David, hereupon ensued a war. In order to which, the Of the kingAmmonites sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and joining to the Syrians of Zobah, twenty thousand footmen; and of and norththe King of Maacah a thousand men; and of Ish-tob east of the twelve thousand men: which were all put to flight by the rael. soldiers of David. I have in the former volume spoken something of Ish-tob, and also of Hamath, and in this same volume of Zobah; but it may not be unuseful however to take notice here together of the respective situation of these several kingdoms, as also of the kingdoms of Rehob and Maacah, mentioned in this tenth chapter, and of the kingdom of Geshur, mentioned in the thirteenth chapter of this second book of Samuel: forasmuch as all these were neighbouring kingdoms bordering on the land of Israel, to the north and north-east. PART III. 27. dom of Re hob, or Beth-re hob. I shall begin with the kingdom of Rehob, or, as it is otherwise called, Beth-rehob. For as we are told, 2 Sam. Of the king-x. 6. that the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob; so ver. 8. of the same chapter we read, that the Syrians of Rehob, &c. were by themselves in the field. So that it is not to be doubted, but that Rehob and Bethrehob were one and the same country or kingdom, so named from its principal city Rehob. For Josh. xix. 28. we find a city of this name allotted to the tribe of Asher; and Judg. i. 31. we read, that the said Rehob was one of the cities, out of which Asher did not drive out his inhabitants. Whence, as it may be rationally inferred, that it was a great and strong city; so it may be inferred also, that it lay in the north part of the land of Israel; forasmuch as Asher was one of the northern tribes of Israel. And since it is further certain from the Scripture, that, of the two most northern tribes on the west of Jordan, Asher was that situated on the Mediterranean sea; and since we are also informed, Judg. xviii. 28. that Laish was in the valley by Beth-rehob; and this Laish was certainly the same afterwards called Dan in the Old Testament, and Cæsarea Philippi in the New Testament: from all these circumstances laid together, we are enabled to make more than a conjecture, as to the situation of the city and kingdom of Rehob; namely, that it was situated in the north part of the tribe of Asher, on the west of Laish, or the city Dan. And this situation is still more confirmed by what is said of Rehob, Num. xiii. 21. that the spies went up and searched the land of Canaan, from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob; whereby is denoted the length of Canaan, from the wilderness of Zin southwards, to Rehob northwards. 28. dom of Ha Of the abovementioned kingdoms, that which I shall Of the king- here speak of next is the kingdom of Hamath, as probably math. adjoining to the kingdom of Rehob northwards. Which opinion is, I think, put out of doubt by the text last cited, which in the whole runs thus: So they (i. e. the spies) went up and searched the land, from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. By which last clause CHAP. II. it seems plainly denoted, that Rehob was that part of Canaan that joined on next to the country or kingdom of Hamath. And this expression in the said clause, as men come to Hamath, is of the same importance with that other expression so frequently used in the sacred writings, unto the entrance of Hamath, or unto the entering into Hamath, or entering in of Hamath. The plain meaning of which seems to be no other, than unto the border of Hamath, or where one began to enter into the kingdom of Hamath, as one travelled out of Canaan. I have formerly observed a, that it is most probably thought, that the city Hamath was the same called by the Greeks, Epiphania; the situation of which agrees very well to what we have here said. So that the kingdom of Hamath probably extended itself from the land of Canaan, or more particularly from the kingdom of Rehob southwards, to the city Epiphania northwards, but how much higher is uncertain; and from the coast of the Mediterranean sea westward, to the kingdom of Damascus (or Syria more properly so called) eastward; as may be inferred from Ezek. xlvii. 17-20. This kingdom is frequently denoted in Scripture by the land of Hamath, and herein lay Riblah, 2 Kings xxiii. 33. And as the extent of the land of Israel is frequently denoted by this expression, from Dan unto Beersheba, and Num. xiii. 21. from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob; so 1 Kings viii. 65. it is denoted by this expression, from the entering in of Hamath, unto the river of Egypt; and in like manner, 2 Kings xiv. 25. by this, from the entering in of Hamath, unto the sea of the plain. dom of Zo To the east or south-east of Hamath did adjoin the 29. kingdom of Zobah. For it is plain from Scripture, that ofthe kingit lay between the land of Israel and the river Euphrates, bah. as has been before observed in this chapter. What more is to be added here is this, that though we have very early mention made of Damascus in the Scripture history, even a Vol. I. Part I. chap. vii. sect. 18. |