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whereof ye say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and . . in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south for I will cause their captivity to return, saith the Lord."-Jeremiah xxxii. 6, &c.; see whole chapter.

[1 Kings ii. 26; 1 Chron. xxvii. 12; Ezra ii. 23; Jer. xxix. 27.]

"'Anâta is situated on a broad ridge at the distance of one hour and a quarter from Jerusalem, (towards the north.) There can be no question that this is the ancient Anathoth, the birth-place of the prophet Jeremiah..

"Anâta seems to have been once a walled town and a place of strength. . . . Portions of the wall remain, built of large hewn stones, and apparently ancient; as are also the foundations of some of the houses. One of our party found the fragments of a column or two among the ruins. The houses are few, and the people seemed poor and miserable, amounting only to a few scores. The village lies where the broad ridge slopes off gradually towards the S. E. On this side are tilled fields; and we had passed several others in our way. The grain was still standing; the time of harvest not having yet come. Fig-trees and olive-trees are also scattered around. From the vicinity of 'Anâta a favourite species of building-stone is carried to Jerusalem; and we met several troops of donkeys loaded in this manner with the materials of future dwellings, a hewn stone being slung upon each side of the poor animal. Larger stones are transported on camels.

"From this point there is an extensive view over the whole eastern slope of the mountainous tract of Benjamin, including also the valley of the Jordan and the northern part of the Dead Sea. The region before us

was that alluded to by the prophet Isaiah, near the end of the tenth chapter, where the approach of Sennacherib towards Jerusalem is described; and from the spot where we now stood, several of the places there mentioned were visible. Thus Ramah, on its conical hill, and Gibeah were before us. . ."-ROBINSON's Researches, vol. ii. pp. 109, 110.

GIBEAH OF SAUL, GIBEAH OF BENJAMIN, OR GIBEATH. (JEBA.)

SCRIPTURE NOTICES.

"... The children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel . . . And the children of Israel ... encamped against Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin . . . And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed. . of the Israelites that day, twenty and two thousand men. And the people, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed. of the children of Israel again, eighteen thousand men . . . Then all the children of Israel . . . went up, and came unto the house of God,' and wept. . . And... inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin, my brother?

...

And the Lord said, Go up . . . And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah. And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin, on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city: and they began to smite of the people and kill, as at other times, in the high-ways. . . . . And the children of

1 At Shiloh, near to Mizpeh, where the Israelites then were.

Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city unto the highways. And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array . . and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah. And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore: and the Lord smote Benjamin before Israel... So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten; for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites, because they trusted unto the liers in wait which they had set beside Gibeah. And the liers in wait hasted, and rushed upon Gibeah; . . and smote all the city with the edge of the sword. Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke rise out of the city. And when the men of Israel retired in the battle, Benjamin began to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons; for they said, Surely they are smitten down before us . . But when the flame began to arise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and behold, the flame of the city ascended up to heaven. And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin were amazed: for they saw that evil was come upon them. Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel.. but the battle overtook them . . . Thus they enclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and trode them down with ease, over against Gibeah toward the sun-rising. . . And they turned, and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon (and) six hundred men abode in the rock Rimmon four months. . .”—Judges xx. 14, &c. (See the whole of chapters xix. xx. xxi.)

"And Saul also went home to Gibeah . . .” (after Samuel had anointed him king over Israel.)-1 Samuel x. 26. (See also xi. 4.)

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"Saul went up to his house, to Gibeah of Saul." -1 Samuel xv. 34.-See also xxii. 6. (See Michmash.)

"Then came up the Ziphites to Saul in Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah?"-1 Samuel xxiii. 19. (See also xxvi. 1.)

...

"And they . . brought (the ark of God) out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah."-2 Samuel vi. 3. "Let seven men of his (Saul's) sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul; . and Rizpeh.. took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.”2 Samuel xxi. 6-10.

"Gibeah of Saul is fled."-Isaiah x. 29. "Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah.”—Hosea v. 8.

They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah.”- -Hosea ix. 9.

"Oh Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah."-Hosea x. 9.

[See also Joshua xviii. 28; 1 Sam. xiv. 2, xxiii. 19; 1 Sam. x. 26, xi. 4, xiv. 2, 5, 16, xv. 34, xxiii. 19, xxvi. 1; Judges xix. 14.]

Gibeah of Benjamin was the birthplace of King Saul, and continued to be his residence after he began his reign; and here Jonathan's adventure against the Philistines took place. Here the Gibeonites hanged up the seven descendants of Saul, when Rizpah "took sackcloth and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest, until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest upon them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night."

The dreadful wickedness of some of the inhabitants of Gibeah led to the almost total destruction of the

tribe of Benjamin, when the city and its neighbourhood became the scene of fierce contest with the rest of the children of Israel, and "the flame of the city ascended up to heaven.” Jerome speaks of Gibeah as level with the ground when he wrote, and it has been ever since unvisited by travellers.-See ROBINSON, vol. ii. p. 115.

Jeba, which Mr. Robinson says with little doubt represents the ancient Gibeah, "lies upon a low, and rather round eminence on a broad ridge, which shelves down toward the Jordan valley, and spreads out below the village into a fine sloping plain with fields of grain. . . The views of the Dead Sea and Jordan, and of the Eastern mountains, were here (very) extensive; while across the deep ravine on the north we could see the next village on our route, Mŭkhmâs, the ancient Michmash, lying directly over against Jeba.. about N. E.

"The village of Jeba is small, . . and is half in ruins. Among these are occasionally seen large hewn stones, indicating antiquity. There is here the ruin of a square tower,.. and a small building having the appearance of an ancient church.

"Besides Mukhmâs, we could here see several other villages, (amongst which was that of) Rimmôn. This village forms a remarkable object in the landscape; being situated on and around the summit of a conical chalky hill, and visible in all directions. There can be

little doubt of its being the identical rock Rimmon,1 to which the remnant of the Benjamites fled after the slaughter of the tribe at Gibeah." (Judges xx. 45, xxi. 13.) ROBINSON'S Researches, vol. ii. p. 113.

MICHMASH. (MUKHMAS.)

SCRIPTURE NOTICES.

"SAUL chose him three thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in Mount Beth-el, and a thousand were with

1 About fifteen miles north of Jerusalem.

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