II. CHAP. faid in the prophecy of Joel, chap. iii. ver. 2, 12. where God fpeaks thus: I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them for my people, &c.—Let the heathen be weakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I fit to judge all the heathen round about. If Jehoshaphat be taken as a proper name, it is fcarcely to be doubted, but that it was fo named from the King of Judah of that name. But then it will be difficult to affign any good reason, why it was fo named from the faid King, if, according to the common opinion, it be the valley lying on the east of Jerufalem, between it and mount Olivet, and through which the brook Kidron, or Cedron, runs, whence it is otherwife called the valley of Cedron. Hence others fuppofe by the valley of Jehoshaphat to be denoted, in the forecited prophecy, the place where Jehoshaphat had that moft fignal victory, recorded 2 Chron. xx. which they fuppofe to make but one continued valley with that between Jerufalem and mount Olivet, the channel of the Cedron being continued from the one to the other. And hence it is further fuppofed, that by what is faid in the forementioned prophecy, is to be understood an allufion to the great overthrow given by Jehoshaphat to his enemies; that God would in like manner overthrow the enemies of his church in his appointed time. Laftly, others take the word Jehoshaphat to be not a proper name, but appellative, and fo to denote the judgment of God, or the great judgment. And in this fense it is left wholly uncertain, what valley is there peculiarly spoken of. I have referved the mention of Gihon to this last place, because it is not agreed whether it be a mountain or a fountain. That it fhould be a fountain, and head of a ftream, fome are induced to think, because they find the fame name given to one of the rivers of Paradife; and alfo mention made of the upper water-course f Gihon, which Hezekiah stopped, and brought ftraight down to the weft fide of the city of David, 2 Chron. xxxii. 30. Others think, that it was the name, not only of a fountain, but also of an adjoining mountain, or hill. And, from what is before faid of it in the text just now cited, its fituation is generally affigned to be near mount Sion, and 20. Of the mount or fountain Gihon. on II. on the weft fide thereof. It was at this Gihon, that Solomon, CHAP. by the special order of David, was anointed King over Ifrael, as we read Kings i. 33. And this is thought to carry in it fome inducement to fuppofe, that Gihon was a fountain; David making choice of this fountain for anointing Solomon, in oppofition to his other son Adonijah, who was at the same time setting up for King, near Enrogel; i. e. the well, or fountain of Rogel, on another fide of Jerufalem, of which more fect. 36. And thus much for old Jerufalem. Proceed we now with the feries of the facred Hiftory. 31. Of the val or of the The firft war David had, after he was made King over all Ifrael, and had fixed his royal feat at Jerufalem, was with the ley of the Philistines, who came and fpread themselves in the valley of Rephaim, Rephaim, chap. v. ver. 18. It is evident from Josh. xv. 8. Giants. that this valley (there rendered the valley of Giants) lies near to Jerufalem, and in the confines of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The road from Jerufalem to Bethlehem, as Mr. Maundrel informs us, lies through this valley, famous for being the theatre of several victories obtained here by David over the Philiftines. Whence fome will have it to be called the valley of the Rephaim, or Giants, as being the place where the Rephaim, or men of gigantic stature and strength among the Philistines, were fubdued by David, or his worthies. It might perhaps take this name from fome of the Rephaim, living in these parts in the more early times after the flood; this opinion receiving fome countenance from the Rephaim being mentioned among the Hittites, Perizzites, Amorites, &c. Gen. xv. 20, 21. as I above obferved in Vol. I. p. 162. chap. viii. §. 52. As for Baal-perazim, mentioned chap. v. ver. 20. it is evident, from the circumstances of the facred Hiftory, that it lay either in this valley of Rephaim, or near it; and it seems to be the fame that is called mount Perazim, Ifai. xxviii. 21. David having given the Philistines feveral defeats, is faid, chap. viii. ver. 1. to have fubdued them, and to have taken Metheg-ammah out of their hands. This name Methegammah is variously understood by expofitors; fome taking it for an appellative, others for a proper name. It is evident, 22. Of Baalperazim. 23. Of Methegammah. that CHAP. that the writer of the book of Chronicles understood thereby II. Gath and her towns. For whereas it is faid, 2 Sam. viii. I. And after this it came to pass, that David fmote the Philistines, and fubdued them; and David took Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines; in the other place, viz. 1 Chron. xviii. 1. it is related thus: Now after this it came to pass, that David fmote the Philistines, and subdued them; and took Gath and her towns out of the hand of the Philistines. 24. Of the val After this we have an account in the remaining part of ty of Salt. the eighth chapter, how David extended his dominion as far as to the river Euphrates, fubduing the Syrians of Zobah and Damafcus; and how the King of Hamath fent his fon to congratulate him upon his victory over the King of Zobah; and how he dedicated to God the filver and gold which he had taken from the Syrians, and Moabites, and Ammonites, and Philistines, and Amalekites; and how he fubdued Edom, making a great flaughter of the Edomites. Of all these people and countries we have spoken already, and shall speak again of Zobah and Hamath in the ensuing paragraphs, viz. 28, 29. What is here more particularly to be remarked is concerning the valley of Salt, mentioned ver. 13. of this eighth chapter. As to its fituation, it appears from 2 Kings xiv. 7. that it lay near the land of Edom, and therefore in all probability near the Salt Sea alfo, the parts adjacent to the faid fea abounding with falt. As to the people who are smitten or overcome in this valley, they are faid 2 Sam. viii. 13. to be the Syrians; but in 1 Chron. xviii. 12. they are faid to be the Edomites. And it is not to be queftioned, but this laft is the truest reading, not only on account of the situation of the valley of Salt near to the Edomites, and at a great diftance from the Syrians, according to the acceptation of the word in those days; but also, because both the Greek, and Syriack, and Arabick interpreters did evidently read it Edom, not Aram, as it now ftands in the Hebrew Bibles in this place of Samuel. And the error in the prefent Hebrew text clearly arofe from the fimilitude of the Hebrew words and, two of the confonants in the Hebrew words, which we render Edom and Aram, being exactly the fame; and the other, II. other, viz. the Hebrew D and R being very much alike, as C H A P. 7 and 7; and fo easily to be mistaken the one for the other. David being established in his kingdom, enquires, chap. ix. whether there was not any left of the house of Saul, that he might fhew him kindness for Jonathan's fake. And hearing of Mephibofheth, a fon of Jonathan's, he fends for him from Lodebar, which was a place fituated on the east of Jordan, and probably in the half tribe of Manaffeh on that fide the river Jordan; at least it was not far from Mahanaim, as may be gathered from chap. xvii. 27. where we read, that Machir the fon of Ammiel of Lodebar (and the fame with whom Mephibofheth lived, before that David fent for him) brought beds and other neceffaries to David, when he was come to Mahanaim. 25. Of Lodebar. 26. Of the to the north land of If The Ammonites having bafely abused the servants of David, hereupon enfued a war. In order to which, the Am- kingdoras monites fent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and the adjoining Syrians of Zobah, twenty thoufand footmen; and of the and northKing of Maacah a thousand men; and of Ifh-tob twelve eat of the thousand men which were all put to flight by the foldiers of rael. David. I have in the former volume fpoken fomething of Ish-tob, and alfo of Hamath, and in this fame volume of Zobah; but it may not be unuseful however to take notice here together of the refpective fituation of these several kingdoms, as also of the kingdoms of Rehob and Maacah, mentioned in this tenth chapter, and of the kingdom of Gefhur, mentioned in the thirteenth chapter of this fecond book of Samuel forafmuch as all these were neighbouring kingdoms bordering on the land of Ifrael, to the north and north-eaft. 27. Of the Beth-rehob. I fhall begin with the kingdom of Rehob, or, as it is otherwife called, Beth-rehob. For as we are told, 2 Sam. x. 6. kingdom of that the children of Ammon fent and hired the Syrians of Beth- Rehob, or rehab; fo ver. 8. of the fame chapter we read, that the Syrians of Rehob, &c. were by themfeives in the field. So that it is not to be doubted, but that Rehob and Beth-rehob were one and the fame country or kingdom, fo named from its principal city Rehob. For Jofh. xix. 28. we find a city of II. CHA P. of this name allotted to the tribe of Asher; and Judg. i. 31. we read, that the faid Rehob was one of the cities, out of which Afher did not drive out his inhabitants. Whence, as it may be rationally inferred, that it was a great and ftrong city; fo it may be inferred also, that it lay in the north part of the land of Ifrael; forafmuch as Afher was one of the northern tribes of Ifrael. And fince it is further certain from the Scripture, that, of the two most northern tribes on the weft of Jordan, Afher was that fituated on the Mediterranean Sea; and fince we are also informed, Judg. xviii. 28. that Laish was in the valley by Beth-rehob; and this Laifh was certainly the fame afterwards called Dan in the Old Teftament, and Cæfarea Philippi in the New Testament: from all these circumftances laid together, we are enabled to make more than a conjecture, as to the fituation of the city and kingdom of Rehob; namely, that it was fituated in the north part of the tribe of Afher, on the weft of Laish, or the city Dan. And this fituation is ftill more confirmed by what is faid of Rehob, Num. xiii. 21. that the fpies went up and fearched the land of Canaan, from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob; whereby is denoted the length of Canaan, from the wilderness of Zin fouthwards, to Rehob northwards. 28. Of the Of the abovementioned kingdoms, that which I shall here kingdom of fpeak of next is the kingdom of Hamath, as probably adHamath. joining to the kingdom of Rehob northwards. Which opi nion is, I think, put out of doubt by the text laft cited, which in the whole runs thus: So they (i. e. the spies) went up and fearched the land, from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. By which laft clause it seems plainly denoted, that Rehob was that part of Canaan that joined on next to the country or kingdom of Hamath. And this expreffion in the faid claufe, as men come to Hamath, is of the fame importance with that other expreffion fo frequently used in the facred writings, unto the entrance of Hamath, or unto the entering into Hamath, or entering in of Hamath. The plain meaning of which feems to be no other, than unto the border of Hamath, or where one began to enter into the king dom |