out reason agreed upon by commentators, that this Selah was the fame city with that called by the Greeks and Latins, Petra, lying in Arabia Petræa, thought to be fo named from this its chief city: though others rather think, that as this city had its name from its fituation on a rock, fo the adjacent tract was called Arabia Petræa, from its being overfpread with fuch rocks or rocky hills.

CHA P.

IV.

8.

Jeroboam,

reftore the

of Gath

In ver. 25. of this fourteenth chapter, we are informed, that Jeroboam, the fan of Joash King of Ifrael, restored the coaft of fon of Joath, Ifrael from the entering in of Hamath, unto the fea of the plain, how faid to according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Jonah the coaft of li prophet, who was of Gath-hepher. Of the entering in of Ha- rael. And math I have before spoken; and that by the Sea of the Plain, hepher. is meant the Salt Sea (otherwife called by common writers, the Dead Sea, and the Afphaltite Lake), is clear from Deut. iii. 17. Why this King is faid to restore thefe parts, may be gathered from 1 Kings xv. 20. and 2 Kings x. 33. For in the former place we have an account, that Benhadad the King of Syria had fmote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-beth-maachah, and all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphthali; and in the latter place we read, that Hazael, a succeeding King of Syria, fmote all the country beyond Jordan. The only place mentioned in the text we are speaking of, and not before described, is Gath-hepher, the birth-place, or at least dwelling-place, of Jonas the prophet. This is exprefsly faid, by Eufebius and Jerom, to be fituated in the tribe of Zabulon; and the latter tells us in his preface to the prophecy of Jonah, that it was two miles distant from Sephorim, or Diocefarea, in the way thence to Tiberias; that it was no great place, and that the fepulchre of Jonah was fhewn there in his time. He also further obferves, that some confounded this place with Gath near Lydda, or Diofpolis, and lying in the country of the Philiftines whereas the facred Hiftory plainly diftinguishes this from that, by the addition of Hepher thereto. Whereby fome fuppofe is denoted, that it lay in a tract of Zabulon, called the land of Hepher, 1 Kings iv. 10. and that the King of Hepher,

CHAP. faid to be flain by Joshua, Josh. xii. 17. was King of this IV. land of Hepher. But this is only conjecture. Upon the tes

9.

Of Kir be

Affyria.

timony of Eufebius and Jerom, concerning the fituation of Gath-hepher in the tribe of Zabulon, it seems very probable, that it was the fame with Gittah-hepher, mentioned as lying in the eastern coaft of Zabulon, Josh. xix. 1'3.

In chap. xvi. ver. 9. we read, that Tiglath-pilefer, King of longing to Affyria, went up against Damafcus, and took it, and carried the the King of people of it captive to Kir. This place is rendered in the vulgar Latin, Cyrene, which cannot be understood of the city or country lying in Africk, and well known, and frequently mentioned by Greek and Latin writers under the name of Cyrene; forafmuch as the King of Affyria (at least in those days) had nothing to do with this Cyrene. Wherefore, by Kir and the Cyrene in the Latin verfion, must be understood fome city or country lying within the dominions of the King of Affyria. And accordingly we find a river Cyrrhus, and cities called Cyropolis, and Cyrena, and Carine, mentioned by writers as lying in these parts; and a part of Media, called Syromedia, from these Syrians, as is probably thought, being carried captive hither.

10.

Of Halah,

zan, &c.

whither the

captive.

In chap. xvii. we have an account of the final captivity of Habor, Go- the Ifraelites or ten tribes, by Shalmanefer King of Affyria, who is faid ver. 6. to carry Ifrael away into Affyria, and to ten tribes place them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and were carried in the cities of the Medes. In 1 Chron. v. 26. it is said, that the King of Affyria brought the Reubenites and Gadites, and half tribe of Manaffeh, unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan. That by the river Gozan is here denoted the country about that river, and which by Ptolemy is called Gauzanitis, is so probable, as to be agreed upon by the generality of writers. The word Halah may be otherwise written agreeably to the Hebrew Chalach; and therefore is very probably thought to denote the country in the north part of Affyria, called by Ptolemy, Calacine or Calachene. In like manner, Habor may be written, agreeably to the original, Chabor; whence it is probably thought to be the mountain (or the mountainous country) between Media and Affyria, called

IV.

called by Ptolemy Chaboras. And laftly, Harah, mentioned in CHA P. 1 Chron. v. 26. is thought by fome to denote the fame with the cities of the Medes, in this 2 Kings xvii. 6. which, they fay, is confirmed by the obfervation, that Media is by the Greeks fometimes called Aria, and the Medes Arii (namely, in Herodot. vii. 62. and Paufan. in Corinth.). It is certain, that in the east or fouth-eaft parts adjoining to, or not far from Media, we meet with a country, called Aria or Ariene.

11.

Of Cuthah,

In ver. 24. chap. xvii. of this second book of Kings we are informed, that the King of Affyria brought men from Babylon, and Avah. and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria, instead of the children of Ifrael. I need not fpeak any thing more of Babylon and Hamath; and I need but remind the reader, that it has been before obferved in my account of the Garden of Eden, that Cuthah here mentioned was in all probability the fame with Cufh, which is faid by Mofes to be encompassed by the river Gihon, and that accordingly it is much the fame with the country called by the Greeks Sufiana, (where we read of the Coffei and Ciffii, &c.) and to this very day is faid to be called Chufeftan. As for Ava, what city or country is denoted hereby, is hard to be accounted for. We do indeed read Deut. ii. 23. of the Avims; but then in the fame text we read alfo, that the Caphtorim (or Philistines) deftroyed them, and dwelt in their ftead, long before thefe times. And therefore Ava here mentioned cannot with any probability denote the country of the Avims, mentioned in the forecited. place of Deuteronomy, as fome have imagined. Nor does it appear, that the King of Affyria had then under his subjection the parts where these Avims are faid to dwell; nay, the contrary rather appears. The moft probable opinion in this matter feems to be that of the learned Grotius, who has observed, that there are by Ptolemy mentioned a people of Bactriana, under the name of Avadiæ. It is not to be omitted, that the place here called Ava feems in all probability to be the fame, that is called Ivah, chap. xviii. ver. 34. and chap. xix. ver. 13.

12.

The Sepharvaim above mentioned is very probably con- of Sepharjectured vaim.

IV.

CHAP. jectured by the learned to be the city called Sipphara by Ptolemy, and by Abydenus, the city of the Sippareni. It is called by a plural name in Ptolemy, as well as by a dual in the Hebrew, probably, because the river Euphrates ran through it, and fo divided it as it were into two cities.

34.

Of Henah.

15.

In chap. xviii. ver. 34. together with the Gods of Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and Ivah, we have mention made of the Gods of Arpad and Henah. As to Arpad, thereby is probably denoted the country lying above the land of Hamath, and over against which lies the small island, called Aradus by the Greeks and Latins; which name contains in it apparent footsteps of the Hebrew name Arpad or Arvad.

Others take Hebut it seems clear

As for Henah, I can neither meet with in others, nor think myself of any fatisfactory account of it. Grotius thinks it might be, perhaps, Ange in Arabia Felix. nah and Ivah to be the names of two idols: from chap. xix. ver. 13. that they were both cities. The Chaldee Paraphraft renders them as two verbs. The Syriack and Arabick Interpreters render, what is Ivah in our tranflation, all along by Avah; and Henah by Noa.

In chap. xix. ver. 12. befides Gozan, and Haran, and the Of Rezeph. children of Eden, which were in Thelafar (which have been all spoken of already), we have mention made of Rezeph. Now fince we find in Ptolemy mention made of Refapha in the country Palmyrene, on the weft of the Euphrates, and above spoken of; and alfo of Rezipha, a city of Mefopotamia, and fo on the eaft of the Euphrates; it is very probable, that one of these two might be the place here called Rezeph; and most probably the last, as carrying in it the greatest affinity to the letters of the Hebrew word.

16.

In the hiftory of the reign of the good King Jofiah, we Of Carche- have mention made of Carchemish by Euphrates, 2 Chron. XXXV. 20. This is probably thought to be the fame, called by the Greeks and Latins, Circefium.

mith.

17.

Of Riblah.

In 2 Kings xxiii. 33. we read, that Pharaoh-necob put Jeboabaz, the fon of Jofiah, in bands at Riblah, in the land of Hamath. Where the land of Hamath lay, has already been fhewn. And it is hence evident, that Riblah lay in the land

of

IV.

of Hamath; and confequently out of the land of Canaan, con- CHA P. trary to the opinion of fome. Hence others more reasonably suppose it to be Antioch, or elfe Apamea, or fome other of the cities fituated on the river Orontes; on which ftood Epiphania, called Hamath in the days of Jerom, and therefore probably thought by him to be the Hamath mentioned so often in Scripture.

18.

Of the books

And thus I have gone through the second book of Kings. The places mentioned in the books of the Chronicles are of Chroni chiefly the fame with those mentioned in the books of the fa- cles, &c. cred History already gone through: some few that are mentioned peculiarly in these books of the Chronicles, and are not mentioned in the other preceding facred books, I have inserted in their proper places, into the geography of the books of Kings. As to the following books of the facred Scripture, the principal places mentioned in them, and of which, I think, we have any tolerable knowledge, have alfo been taken notice of before; excepting the cities and other places lying in Perfia or Media, or adjoining to the Perfian empire, and mentioned in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Efther, Ezekiel, Daniel, and fome other; of these therefore I shall speak something in the following chapter.

CHAP.