PART II. from the Danites that poffeffed it. 22. Of the camp of Dan. 23. Of Tim nath. 24. Of Sorek. 25. It was afterwards named in the times of the New Testament, Cæfarea Philippi, and has been spoken of before. The camp of Dan, ch. xiii. ver. 25. is the fame place with Mahaneh-dan, ch. xviii. ver. 12. the former being only the latter expreffed in English. It was fo called from the Danites encamping here, in their expedition against Laish; and it was fituated near Kirjath-jearim in Judah, as we are expressly told, ch. xviii. ver. 12. Of Kirjathjearim we shall speak in the next chapter. Timnath is remarkable for Sampfon's falling in love with a woman of that place. It is not improbably thought to be the fame that is Josh. xv. 10. called Timnah, and Jofh. xix. 43. Timnatha. It was firft affigned to the tribe of Judah, but afterwards to the tribe of Dan. Hither it probably was, that Judah, the patriarch of the tribe of Judah, went up to his fheep-fhearers, Gen. xxxviii. 12. In Eufebius and Jerom's days there was a great town, named Thamna, lying in the borders of Diofpolis, towards Jerufalem. But this feems to have been rather Timnathheres, the city of Joshua. Another woman beloved by Sampfon. was Delilah, whofe name, on account of her treacherous behaviour to Sampfon, is become proverbial. She lived in the valley of Sorek, chap. xvi. ver. 4. There was in the time of Eufebius and Jerom a town called Caphar-Sorek, (i. e. the town of Sorek,) on the north of Eleutheropolis, near Zorah, where Sampson was born. What we render the valley of Sorek is rendered by others the brook of Sorek. The other places mentioned in the history of Sampson are such as are only there mentioned, and of which nothing of certainty can be had as to their fituation, except the cities of Gaza and Afhkelon; of which I fhall speak when I come to treat of the five lordships of the Philistines. The next place here to be spoken of is Ramah, menOf Ramah. tioned in the ftory of the Levite, whofe concubine was abused at Gibeah. For this Levite fetting out in the evening from Bethlehem-Judah, when he was come by Jebus, Jebus, or Jerufalem, would not go thither to lodge all CHAP. VI. night, but faid to his fervant, Come and let us draw near to one of these places to lodge all night, in Gibeah, or in Ramoth, chap. xix. ver. 13. From this text it is evident, that these two places were at no great distance from Jebus, or from one another. We are told by Eufebius and Jerom, that Ramah lay fix miles to the north of Jerufalem, overagainst Bethel. And Jofephus (Antiq. viii. c. 6.) makes the city Ramathon to be distant forty furlongs from Jerufalem, which agrees pretty well with the distance affigned by the two other writers. This is supposed to be the Ramah mentioned in the New Teftament out of Jeremy, in reference to the murder of the infants about Bethlehem. And it is styled by Eufebius and Jerom Ramah, the city of Saul, probably as lying near to Gibeah, of which I shall speak when I come to the hiftory of Saul; as alfo of Mizpeh and Jabefh-Gilead. The other places that occur in the history of the Levite, and the fight between the Benjamites and other Ifraelites, are of uncertain pofition, being either mentioned there only, or fo little faid of them elsewhere, as to give no good light in the matter. There is indeed mention, Josh. xv. 32. of Rimmon, a city in the tribe of Judah, and 1 Chron. vi. 77. of another Rimmon in the tribe of Zebulun; but it is not likely that the rock Rimmon, to which the remainder of the Benjamites betook themselves, was fo called, as lying near either of thefe. Of 26. mentioned of Ruth. In the history of Ruth there occur, I think, only two names of places, viz. Moab, the name of a country fo of places called, and already spoken of; and Bethlehem-Judah, in the book which has also been spoken of in the New Testament already, of which somewhat more will be faid, as we go along the history of David, in the second Volume. A CHRONOLOGICAL ACCOUNT OF THE SACRED HISTORY Contained in the Books of EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS, DEUTERONOMY, JOSHUA, JUDGES, AND RUTH, Described, together with the general Chronology of part of Genefis, of the two Books of Samuel, and part of the first Book of Kings, in Two TABLES. The firft is a CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE of the Sojourning of the Children of Ifrael, and their Fathers, in the Land of Canaan, and in the Land of Egypt, containing the Space of four hundred and thirty years, Exod. xii. 40, The fecond is a CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE of the interval from the Exodus to the beginning of the Building of Solomon's Temple, containing the Space of four hundred and fourfcore years, 1 Kings vi. 1. |