the Nazarite threatened to destroy the harmony of sentiment which had hitherto reigned between him and Elisama. He praised, among others, Hilkiah and Ananias, (the sons of that Onias who had built Leontopolis) who, being the principal advisers of Cleopatra the queen of Egypt, had prevailed on her not to consent to the sending of the auxiliaries whom, to the amount of six thousand men, her son and joint regent, Ptolemy Lathyrus, had despatched to Antiochus Cyzicenus, to raise the siege of Samaria. Every thing which was connected with the Hellenists of Egypt was intolerable to Elisama, and above all, to hear their chiefs mentioned with praise in the Holy Land itself. Their host made peace between them, remarking that Jehovah had himself decided in this case, by the miserable and ignominious fate which had befallen these auxiliaries; and they were completely reconciled when the Nazarite spoke of Iddo as his friend. They separated in peace and love, and with the hope to meet again in a few days in the presence of Jehovah, at the rejoicings for the victory. On the following morning, Elisama, quite refreshed, grasped his staff, and, with Helon and Sallu, set out for Ziklag. ----- Footnote 26: Numb. vi. ----- Their road led them first through Gazara, which had been a city of the Philistines, burnt after they were conquered, and rebuilt by Solomon,[27] and very recently strongly fortified by the Maccabees;[28] next to Noba, celebrated for the terrible vengeance which Saul took there upon the priest Ahimelech, and on all the other inhabitants, for their crime in giving to David, when he fled from before Saul, the loaves of the shew-bread and the sword of Goliath.[29] Leaving this place they descended from the hills into the plain of Sephela. They here came again into the scenes of harvest, and reached the town of Gath, which stands at the limit of the territory of Dan, hearing on every side shouts of joy and pious thankfulness. Gath was once the fourth among the five chief cities of the Philistines, and in later times an apple of discord between them and the Israelites, passing from the hand of one party to that of the other. The giant Goliath was a Philistine of Gath. It had been razed by king Uzziah,[30] and since that time had been a very insignificant place. ----- Footnote 27: 1 Kings ix. 15. Footnote 28: 1 Maccab. ix. 52. Footnote 29: 1 Sam. xxii. 19. Footnote 30: 2 Chron. xxvi. 6. -----