Patriarchal PalestineSayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
History
Patriarchal Palestine
Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
Jews -- History -- To 953 B.C.; Palestine -- History
Three names further on we find another compound with _el_, Har-el, "the
mount of God." In Ezek. xliii. 15 Har-el is used to denote the "altar"
which should stand in the temple on Mount Moriah, and Mount Moriah is
itself called "the Mount of the Lord" in the Book of Genesis (xxii. 14).
It may be, therefore, that in the Har-el of the Egyptian list we have
the name of the mountain whereon the temple of Solomon was afterwards to
be built. However this may be, the names which follow it show that we
are in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. One after the other come Lebau,
Na'mana or Na'amah (Josh. xv. 41), Meromim "the heights," 'Ani "the two
springs," Rehob, Ekron, Hekalim "the palaces," the Abel or "meadow" of
Autar'a, the Abel, the Gantau or "gardens," the Maqerput or "tilled
ground," and the 'Aina or "Spring" of Carmel, which corresponds with the
Gath-Carmel of the Tel el-Amarna tablets, the Carmel of Judah of the Old
Testament. Then we have Beth-Ya, a name which reminds us of that of
"Bithia, the daughter of Pharaoh," whom Mered, the descendant of Caleb,
took to wife, and whose stepson was Yered, "the father of Gedor" (1
Chron. iv. 18). Beth-Ya is followed by Tapun, which was fortified by the
Greeks after the death of Judas Maccabaeus (1 Macc. ix. 50), by the Abel
of Yertu or Yered, perhaps the district of the Jordan, by Halkal, and by
Jacob-el, a name formed in the same way as that of Joseph-el. We may see
in it an evidence that the memory of the patriarch was kept alive in the
south of Palestine. The next two names are unknown, but they are
followed by Rabatu or Rabbah of Judah, Magharatu, the Ma'arath of Josh,
xv. 59, 'Emequ, "the valley" of Hebron, Sirta and Bârtu, the _Bar
has-Sirak_, or "Well of Sirah" of 2 Sam. iii. 26. Then come Beth-sa-el
or Beth-el in its Babylonian dress; Beth-Anta or Beth-Anath (Josh. xv.
59), where the Babylonian goddess Anatu was worshipped; Helkath (2 Sam.
ii. 16); the Spring of Qan'am; Gibeah of Judah (2 Sam. vi. 3, 4; see
Josh. xviii. 28); Zelah (Josh. xviii. 28), called Zilu by Ebed-Tob of
Jerusalem; and Zafta, the Biblical Zephath (Judges i. 17). The last
three names in the catalogue--Barqna, Hum, and Aktomes--have left no
traces in Scriptural or classical geography.
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