SHEPHELAH AND THE NEGEB. 211 part of which is mentioned eighteen or twenty times in the Bible, under the general name Shephelah, rendered in English by vale, as in Deuteronomy i. 7; or valleys, Joshua ix. I; or low plains, 1 Chronicles xxvii. 28; or low country, 2 Chronicles xxvi. 10. The last, I suppose, is the more correct translation, and is now generally adopted. In this wide sense the Shephelah included the territory originally given to the tribe of Dan, and also a considerable part of western and south-western Judæa. At an early day the tribes of Dan and Simeon were practically absorbed by Judah, and hence we find in the fifteenth chapter of Joshua many cities in the Shephelah which belonged to that tribe. Beyond this, southwards, is another large region, extending westwards from Wady el 'Arabeh to the Mediterranean, called Negeb in the Hebrew, and generally translated South or South Country. It is, however, a geographical term, as distinct as Shephelah; and in many places Negeb should not be translated as in Genesis xiii. I, where Abraham is said to have come up from Egypt "into the south," whereas he actually came northwards. The word is Negeb. Again, Moses said to the spies, "Get you up this way southward," while the direction was due north from Kadesh, where the camp was at that time. The word is there also the geographical term Negeb, and to render it south in such cases misleads the reader. There were several distinct Negebs, which together comprehended the whole territory south and south-west of the mountains of Judæa, and faded away by insensible degrees into the vast Wilderness of Wandering. The best account of this general region is given by Wilton, in his remarkable book, "The Negeb," which I advise you by all means to study. All travellers from Sinai to Hebron pass through that country, and Palmer and Drake have recently explored most of it, with admirable courage and success. We may expect still further discoveries from the surveys of the Palestine Exploration Fund expeditions, especially with respect to that portion of the Negeb bordering upon and immediately below the mountains of Judæa. Traversing that region many years ago, the idea was continually suggested, by the antique sound of the names ringing in one's ear as he passes through the Negeb, that a careful scientific survey would reveal 1 Numb. xiii. 17. nearly every Biblical site, bearing names very little changed from those found in the fifteenth chapter of Joshua. The reason for this tenacity of site and name is obvious. From its geographical position the Negeb lies beyond the lines of foreign travel and intercourse, and is so barren and destitute of water that none but tent-dwelling Bedawîn Arabs would ever covet it, take the trouble to conquer it, or consent to live in it. Hence the same nomadic races have always resided in and roamed over it, and the names they gave, once attached to places, would never be changed. What sort of vegetable is this whose stems our muleteers are cutting up and chewing with so much relish? It is the wild artichoke, called in Arabic 'akkûb. We can amuse ourselves with it and its behavior for awhile, and may possibly extract something more valuable than the insipid juice of which our men are so fond. You observe that in growing it throws out numerous branches of equal size and length in all directions, forming a sort of sphere, or globe, a foot or more in diameter. When ripe and dry in autumn, these branches become rigid and light as a feather, the parent stem breaks off at the ground, and the wind carries these vegetable globes whithersoever it pleaseth. At the proper season thousands of them come scudding over the plain, rolling, leaping, bounding, to the dismay both of the horse and his rider. Once, on the plain north of Hamath, my horse became quite unmanageable amongst them. They charged down upon us on the wings of the wind, which broke them from their moorings, and sent them careering over the desert in countless numbers. Our excellent native itinerant, Abu Fâu'ar, had a similar encounter with them on the eastern desert, beyond the Hauran; and his horse was so terrified that he was obliged to alight and lead him. I have long suspected that this wild artichoke is the galgal, which, in Psalm lxxxiii. 13, is rendered wheel, and in Isaiah xvii. 13, a rolling thing. Evidently, our translators knew not what to call it. The first passage reads thus: "O my God, make them like a wheel [galgal]; as the stubble before the wind;" and the second, "Rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing [galgal] before the whirlwind." Now, from the nature of the parallelism, the galgal WILD ARTICHOKE.-HEBREW GALGAL. 213 cannot be a wheel, but something corresponding to chaff. It must also be something that does not fly like the chaff, but, in a striking manner, rolls before the wind. The signification of galgal in Hebrew, and its equivalent in other Shemitic dialects, requires this; and this rolling artichoke meets the case most emphatically, and especially when it rolls before the whirlwind. In the encounter referred to north of Hamath, my eyes were half blinded with the stubble and chaff which filled the air; but it was the extraordinary behavior of this "rolling thing" that riveted my attention. Hundreds of these globes, all bounding like gazelles in one direction over the desert, would suddenly wheel short round at the bidding of a counter-blast, and dash away with equal speed on their new An Arab proverb addresses this rolling thing thus: "Ho! 'akkûb, where do you put up to-night?" to which it answers as it flies, "Where the wind puts up." They also derive one of their many forms of cursing from this plant: "May you be whirled, like the 'akkûb, before the wind, until you are caught in the thorns, or plunged into the sea." If this is not the "wheel" of David, and the "rolling thing" of Isaiah, from which they also borrowed their imprecations upon the wicked, I have seen nothing in the country to suggest the comparison. course. VIII. Beit Jibrin, Eleutheropolis.-Sacred Sites in the Neighborhood.-Betogabra, Eleutheropolis, Beit Jibrîn, and Gath identical.-Khurbet Jett.-Historical Notices of Gath.-Mareshah and Moresheth-gath.-Tell es Sâfieh.-Blanchegarde.-Beit Jibrîn, House of Giants.-Victory of King Asa over Zerah the Ethiopian.—Fortifications at Beit Jibrîn. -Caverns and Excavations.-Inscriptions and Niches.-Purpose or Object of the Excavations.-Rock-cut Tombs.-Cisterns.-Dhikrîn.-Cretaceous Formation.-Deir Dubbân.-Church of Santa Hanneh.-Zorah, Birthplace of Samson.-The Angel, Manoah, and his Wife.—Timnath.—Vineyards of Timnath.—Bees and Honey in the Lion's Carcass.-Honey in the Wood and upon the Ground.-Incident in the Life of Jonathan.-Culture of Bees in Syria and Egypt.-Estimation of Honey in Ancient Times.— Samson's Wedding at Timnath.-Similarity in the Celebration of Ancient and Modern Weddings.-Samson's Wife.-Oriental Wives.-Wady es Sŭnt, Valley of Elah.-Goliath.-David.-Death of Goliath.-Rout of the Philistines.-Shaaraim.-Pursuit of the Philistines by the Israelites.-Sŭnt, Acacia; Elah, Terebinth.-Neither Saul nor Abner recognize David.—The Biblical Account in 1 Samuel, chaps. xvi. xvii.—David at Gath. -King Achish.-Deception of David, and the Palliating Circumstances.-Ziklag, 'Asloog.-Wady 'Asluj.-Aphek, in the Plain of Esdraelon.—Return of David from Aphek to Ziklag.-Pursuit of the Amalekites.-A Sick Egyptian.-Death of King Saul.-David sends Presents to his former Friends.-Character of David's Followers.-Despotism of King Saul.-Debtors in Oriental Countries.—Inhabitants of Beit Jibrîn carrying Arms. Use of the Sling.-David's Eminent Accomplishments.-The Lion and the Bear. April 18th. How is it ascertained that Beit Jibrîn is the site of the ancient Eleutheropolis? The identification is due to the skill of Dr. Robinson and his companion, Dr. Smith; and the process of discovery and verification is detailed with great care in his "Researches." Owing to the fact that Eusebius and Jerome take this as the central station from which to mark the direction and distance of many other places, there are few geographical points in the country of greater value; and Dr. Robinson very justly magnifies its importance. I have |