[107] 2 Sam. xv. 13–30, xvii. 17, xviii. 18.
[108] 1 Kings i. 5–53. The Hebrew eben means “a rock” as well as “a stone” (Gesenius, “Lex.”). Gen. xlix. 24; Job xxviii. 3.
[109] The learned fancy which makes the Cherethites (“hewers”) and Pelethites (“swift ones”)—who are otherwise called Kāri (“stabbers”) and “runners”—to have been mercenary Philistines and Carians, has no solid foundation in any ancient statement. A “Gittite” was a dweller in Gath—like David himself—but not of necessity a Philistine.
[110] 1 Kings i. 33, 38, 45; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14. The naḥal is noticed in the latter passage; and, in 2 Sam. xv. 23, the term applies to the Kidron, as also in 1 Kings ii. 37, xv. 13; 2 Kings xxiii. 6, 12; 2 Chron. xv. 16, xxix. 16, xxx. 14; Neh. ii. 15; Jer. xxxi. 40; and probably 2 Chron. xxxii. 4. Josephus (“Wars,” V. iv. 2) calls the Kidron spring “Solomon’s Pool.”
[111] Ezek. xliii. 12; Micah iv. i. Josephus, “Ant.,” VIII. iii. 9, XI. iv. 1; “Wars,” V. v. 1, tô anôtatô khthamalon autou.
[112] “Ant.,” XIV. iv. 2; “Wars” V. v. i.
[113] Yoma, v. 2.
[114] The Bîr el Arwâḥ, or “Well of Souls.”
[115] See my account of the rock granary at Yâfa, near Nazareth (“Mem. West Pal. Survey,” i. pp. 353, 354). It is a cave with inner chambers, and two tiers of grain wells under the floor.
[116] Bordeaux Pilgrim, 333 A. D., “Sunt ibi et statuæ duæ Hadriani, et non est longe a statuis lapis pertusus, ad quem veniunt Judæi singulis annis et unguent eum et lamentant se cum gemitu,” etc.