VALLEY OF ELAH. (WADY ES-SUMT.)

SCRIPTURE NOTICES.

"Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephes-Dammin. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side and there was a valley between them . . . And (David) took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook (valley), and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand and he drew near to the Philistine."-1 Samuel xvii. See whole chapter. (xxi. 9.)

"We left (the high hill called) Beit Nettîf at seven o'clock, descending into Wady es-Sumt. The hill-side was covered with fine groves of olive-trees, some of them planted in rows like a regular orchard, which is not usually the case. Twenty minutes brought us to the bottom, and we now followed down Wady es-Sumt. This valley is formed by the junction of three . . . (others'), at a point directly south of Beit Nettîf. is a fine fertile plain, with moderate hills on each side. It was now covered with fields of grain, except towards the western part, where are a good many acacia trees, here called Sumt, from which the valley takes its name. We crossed the water-bed of the valley, now dry. On our left, in a gap of the southern hill, we now had the

The bottom

1 Wady el-Musurr, coming from the east-north-east; Wady es-Sŭr, a large valley from the south, and a sinaller one from the north-north-east, just under Beit Nettîf.

ruins of Shuweikeh, the Socoh of the plain of Judah, which is enumerated with Jarmuth, Adullam, and Azekah,' and lay nine Roman miles from Eleutheropolis, towards Jerusalem. It was, therefore, not far from Jarmuth, as it now also lies not far distant from Yarmûk, about half an hour.

"Another mention of Socoh enables us to determine the ancient name of this fine valley, and fixes it as the scene of a memorable event in Scripture history, the combat of David and Goliath. We are told that the Philistines were gathered together at Socoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Socoh and Azekah. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side; and there was a valley between them.

"The mention of Azekah shows that the Socoh meant can only be this place; and the valley between the armies, the valley of Elah, in which the combat took place, could well be no other than the present Wady es-Sumt.2 It took its name Elah (or Turpentine Valley), of old, from the turpentine trees, of which the largest specimen we saw in Palestine still stands in the vicinity; just as now it takes its name from the acacias which are scattered in it.

"We now pursued our way down the valley, rejoicing in having thus been able to discover and visit the spot where the youthful warrior, in firm reliance on the God of Israel, made his first glorious essay as the champion of his people."-ROBINSON's Researches, vol. ii.

1 Joshua xv. 35.

2 Monastic tradition points out the place of David's combat as a spot not less than five or six hours distant from Socoh, and few, if any travellers before Dr. Robinson discovered the mistake.

ZORAH, SOCOH, GIBEAH, GEDOR, ZANAOH, TIMNATH,

JARMUTH.

ZORAH. (SUR À H.)

SCRIPTURE NOTICES.

"AND there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manaoh; and his wife was barren . . . And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her Lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come upon his head and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines . . . And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson . . . And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.”—Judges xiii. 2, &c.

"Then his brethren . . . buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the burying-place of Manoah his father.” -Judges xvi. 31.

[Josh. xv. 33, xix. 41; Judges xviii. 2, 11; 2 Chron. xi. 10.]

SOCOH, OR SHOCHOH. (SHUWEIKEH.)

SCRIPTURE NOTICE.

"Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered at Shochoh, which belongeth Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammin."-1 Samuel xvii. 1.

[2 Chron. xxviii. 18.]

GIBEAH (JEB’AH), GEDOR (JEDÛR), ZANOAH (ZANŮA).

"(AMONG the cities of Judah in the mountains) Gibeah

66

1

Gedor." -Joshua xv. 57, 58.

(In the valley) Zanoah.”—Joshua xv. 34.

[1 Chron. xii. 7; Neh. xi. 30.]

1 It is doubtful whether the narrative in 1 Chron. iv. 39, refers to this

place.

TIMNATH. (TIBNEH.)

SCRIPTURE NOTICE.

"AND Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines; now, therefore, get her for me to wife."-Judges xix. 1, &c. (See the whole of this and the following chapter.)

[2 Chron. xxviii. 18.]

JARMUTH. (YARMUK.)

SCRIPTURE NOTICES.

"AND they brought forth those five kings unto (Joshua) out of the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon . . . and . Joshua smote them, and slew them.. ."-Joshua x. 23, 26, &c. [Neh. xi. 29.]

"(In the valley) Jarmuth. . "-Joshua xv. 35.

Dr. Robinson visited two lofty eminences, Beit 'Atâb and Beit Nettîf, the latter in the neighbourhood of Wady Sumt, the former further north, in hope of being able to identify from their summits several ancient places in the surrounding country, which, he says, "is full of sites of ruins and villages, some inhabited, and some deserted, at least for portions in the year." From Beit 'Atâb he saw the ruin called 'Ain Shems, which he afterwards visited and identified with Bethshemesh,1 situated in the fine deep valley called Es-Surâr "while

1 See Bethshemesh.

on the high ground north of it was seen the site of Sur'ah, in which we could not but recognise the ancient Zorah, the birth-place of Samson, first given to Judah, but afterwards assigned to Dan."

The

The village of Beit-Nettîf lies upon the highest part of the high ridge situated between the two great valleys of Sumt and Sur'âr, which were spread out like fertile plains, full of fields of grain. "We found the view from this high spot to embrace a larger number of villages and sites than almost any other we visited. At about one hour's distance, upon the hills south of Wady es-Sumt, lies the Socoh1 of the plain of Judah. village of Jeb'ah, situated upon an isolated hill in the midst of Wady el-Musŭrr, is doubtless the Gibeah of the mountains of the Judah; and Jedûr, a place with ruins on the brow of the high mountain ridge towards the south, is the Gedor of the same mountains. In Sur'ah and 'Ain Shems, we have the Zorah and Bethshemesh of Scripture. Not far from Zorah lay also Zanoah, which was re-inhabited after the exile; and to this the name and site of Zânu'a still correspond. In Tibneh we may recognise the Timnah or Timnath of Dan, the city of Samson's wife, to which he went down' from Zorah; it lies south of west from Zorah, and not more than an hour distant from it. We were therefore now amid the scenes of Samson's history and exploits. Yarmuk seems to represent the Jarmuth of Scripture, a city in the plain of Judah, not far from Socoh." -See ROBINSON'S Researches, vol. ii. pp. 327, 337–344.

2

1 See more of this Socoh under "Valley of Elah." There was also a Socoh of the mountains, mentioned under "Maon."

2 Another Zanoah, and also another Timnah, lay upon the mountains of Judah, (Joshua xv. 56, 57;) and a third Timnah, or Thamna, lay not far from Lydda.