Biblical Geography and History

by Charles Foster Kent

Campaigns Against the Moabites and Ammonites. The Moabites, who, during the period of settlement, had pushed forward to the fords of the Jordan, were apparently the first to be attacked and to become subject to David. The Ammonites, recognizing the significance of the new west-Jordan power, assumed the initiative and insulted David's messengers. To aid them in the conflict they called in certain of the Aramean princes in the north. After the downfall of the old Hittite kingdom these Aramean peoples had pressed in from the northeast and taken possession of the greater part of central and eastern Syria. The desert highway that ran through the Ammonite capital led northward through these Aramean states and thus established a close commercial and political bond between the two peoples. The Arameans, living on the plains and in close touch with the most advanced civilization of the Semitic world, were possessed of chariots and all the equipment of ancient warfare. In these allied forces, therefore, the armies of David met no mean foes; but in the school of constant and strenuous warfare he had developed a strong fighting force, and in Joab he possessed one of the best generals of the age.

Situation of Rabbath-Ammon. The decisive battles of this campaign were fought near or in Rabbath-Ammon. The city was surrounded by rolling plains, especially on the west, which offered ample opportunity for the manœuvring of armies. The strength of the city itself consisted in its huge acropolis, surrounded, like Jerusalem, by deep valleys. On the north it was connected with the surrounding hills by a low, narrow neck of rock. At this point were built great protecting walls and towers. The hill itself consisted of three terraces rising from east to west, with a main gateway on the south side. Each of the succeeding terraces was defended by a wall. The highest area, which included several acres, rose nearly three hundred feet above the surrounding valleys, and it was, therefore, the largest and in many ways the strongest natural fortress in all Palestine.

The Water City. The Water City,^[(96)] which was first captured by Joab, was probably in the valley of the Jabbok, which runs along the southern side of the acropolis. This valley, and that which comes in from the north along the western side of the acropolis, is the site of the modern city of Amman. The great Roman city was also built for the most part in the Valley of the Jabbok, or, as it is now called, the Wady Amman. Here the waters of the brook, which were carried by aqueducts along different levels and which were supplemented by gushing springs, fully justify the name of Water City. Situated in the valley, it was most exposed to the attack of the Hebrews. When it was captured, the supply of water and food would be cut off from the citadel above, so that, as indicated by the biblical narrative, the fall of the entire city would be the inevitable result of a long siege.

Extent of David's Empire. The conquest of the Ammonites and the Moabites and the defeat of the Arameans enabled David to extend the bounds of his empire to the desert. In the northeast it probably never extended beyond Mount Hermon, which was its natural boundary in that direction. In the south he fought a decisive battle with the Edomites in the Valley of Salt, which was probably at the southwestern end of the Dead Sea near the border line between southern Judah and Edom. This Arab race, in its difficult mountain fastnesses, was held in control by means of Hebrew garrisons established throughout the land. By this means David's southern boundary was extended to the eastern arm of the Red Sea and the Sinaitic Peninsula, thus attaining in every direction its natural barriers. In less than one generation, as a result of the energy, tact, and broad statesmanship of David, the physical limitations of Palestine were overcome and a strong empire was established along the southeastern Mediterranean.

Absalom's Rebellion. As later events quickly proved, however, the unity of the Hebrew Empire was chiefly dependent upon the personal charm and ability of the man who built it up. The discordant elements were still present and only required an opportunity to break forth into a flame of civil war. Absalom, inspired by a treasonable ambition, succeeded in winning away the affections of the southern tribes and in stirring up the rivalry between the north and the south. This rivalry was traceable not only to racial differences, but to the fundamental variations between the physical environment and contour of Northern and Southern Israel. It was natural that Absalom's rebellion should be launched in Hebron, the old capital of David's kingdom. In fleeing from the rebels David aimed to put between himself and them that great natural barrier, the Jordan valley, which separates Palestine into its two great divisions. Among the hills and deep wadies of the land of Gilead he felt most secure. Here he was in the midst of a prosperous people, intensely loyal to a ruler whose wars and victories had at last given them immunity from the attack of their strong foes. This part of Palestine was least swayed by the passions of the hour and most loyal to its deliverer. Here also David could rally his followers, without identifying himself with the tribes of the north, as opposed to those of the south.

David East of the Jordan. In fleeing from Jerusalem, David did not follow the line of the modern carriage-road down to the Jordan, but went farther north, over the Mount of Olives, avoiding the barren wilderness of Judea, which lay immediately to the east. According to the Targums, Bahurim, the home of the Benjamite Shimei, is to be identified with Almon, the present Almit, one mile beyond Anathoth. By continuing a little farther north it was possible to reach the direct highway from Michmash to the Jordan by way of Jericho. David probably crossed the Jordan at the upper of the two southern fords. From this point many roads led northeastward into Gilead (cf. p. 81). At Ishbaal's capital, Mahanaim, somewhere north of the Jabbok, he made his head-quarters. The forest of Ephraim was doubtless either immediately north or south of the Jabbok, not far from the Jordan, among the wild hills and deep ravines still clad with great groves of oaks,^[(97)] whose spreading branches often reach down to only a few feet from the ground. The traveller through that region to-day has little difficulty in picking out in imagination the great oak whose extended branches he can picture catching and holding the head of the fleeing Absalom.

Rebellion of the Northern Tribes. The wild and sudden rebellion which sprang up among the northern tribes because David in his hour of triumph had shown favor to the tribes of the south spread far up the Jordan valley. Its leader was a certain Sheba, of the hill country of Ephraim. The rebellion was quickly put down in central Israel, but the rebels took their final stand far in the north, in the city of Abel-beth-maacah, at the northwestern end of the Jordan valley. It is to-day an imposing mound, standing out in the midst of the valley, overlooking miles of verdant meadow land, with a lofty and easily defended acropolis. Ruins on the southeast are indicative of its strength and importance. Through the intercession of a brave woman, the people of the city turned over the rebel to Joab, and thus the rebellion was put down. The contrast, however, between the level, unbroken fields about Abel-beth-maacah and the gray limestone hills that encircled Hebron is significant of the wide breach between the north and the south, which the tact of a David could only temporarily heal.

Scene of Adonijah's Conspiracy and Solomon's Accession. The closing scene in the tragedy of David's family life was in Jerusalem. Overwhelmed by the crimes of his sons and the burden of his own great sin, the king in his later days retired more and more from public life. The question of who should succeed him was still open. The conspiracy of his oldest son, Adonijah, by which this ambitious prince sought to make his succession sure, culminated in a great feast "by the Serpent's Stone, which is beside En-rogel or the Fuller's Spring." By many the Fuller's Spring is identified with the Virgin's Fount in the Kidron valley^[(54)] southeast of Jerusalem. But this identification is impossible, for it was at Gihon, which is clearly the ancient name of the Virgin's Fount, that Solomon a little later was proclaimed king at the command of David. Thus in II Chronicles 32:30 it is stated that "Hezekiah stopped the upper spring of the waters of Gihon and brought them straight down on the west side of the city of David," that is, to the present Pool of Siloam on the western side of Ophel (cf. also II Chron. 33:14). This accords perfectly with the statement in I Kings, that when Solomon was proclaimed king at Gihon, he and his followers went up again to the city which lay on the heights. The scene of Adonijah's feast,^[(98)] therefore, must have been below the royal gardens to the south of the city where the Valley of Hinnom joins the Kidron. It was also probably a little north of the Well of Job, which is apparently here called the Fuller's Spring (cf. Josh. 15:7). Either it received water from the Virgin's Fount, or else from a more direct source, so that it was called a spring. In the days of Isaiah the open space about was known as the Fuller's Field, which according to Isaiah 7:3, was near the end of the conduit of the upper pool, by the highway which probably ran past the southeastern end of the city. From this point it was not difficult to hear the sound of the trumpets at the Gihon Spring, higher up but obscured by a ridge of Ophel.

Capture of Gezer. The policy of David's successor, Solomon, was one of organization rather than of expansion. Through alliances, sealed in the usual oriental fashion by marriages, he sought to insure the peace of his empire. His alliance with Egypt brought for a brief moment an Egyptian army to the border of Palestine. The aim of this expedition was to aid Solomon in capturing Gezer, the last stronghold left in the hands of the Canaanites. This important strategic point Solomon further fortified, making it one of the seven great fortresses upon which he depended for the defence of his land.

Solomon's Fortresses. Solomon also fortified Lower Beth-horon, which was situated on the flat, fertile hill which commanded a wide view over the western plains. This stronghold guarded the important highway that led up from the coast, past Gibeon to Jerusalem, with an eastern branch running directly to the Jordan. In the same way the old Canaanite city of Megiddo, on the southwestern side of the Plain of Esdraelon, was fortified, thus enabling Solomon to control the great trade route from Damascus and Phœnicia to Philistia and Egypt. In the north the city of Hazor, a little east of Lake Huleh, on the road which ran north from the Sea of Galilee, was made the chief stronghold. It was a city often mentioned in the Tell el-Amarna letters, as well as in the story of an Egyptian traveller of the fourteenth century B.C. In the south, Jerusalem was the great military centre. Tamar, which is probably to be identified with the Thamara of Eusebius and Jerome, southwest of the Dead Sea, a day's journey from Hebron, guarded the road which ran to Ezion-geber and Elath on the eastern arm of the Red Sea. Baalath, the seventh stronghold, has not yet been identified. From its position in the list, it would seem to be one of the southern fortresses, though it may be identical with Kirjath-jearaim, which guarded the western approaches to Jerusalem through the Valley of Sorek.