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To the east of the city is the Mount of Olives (Olivet),
elevated 2555 feet above the level of the Mediterranean Sea; between it and the
city is a deep narrow valley, called the valley of Kidron; it commences at the
northeast, where there is a little plain, and extends to the south of the spring
En Rogel, where the valley obtains a larger extent and forms a little plain or
level piece of ground.
To the south and west there is likewise a valley, large and
deep, called the valley of Gichon;* more southwardly, looking eastward, it bears
the name of the valley of Rephaim,† and extends to the just-mentioned little
plain, or the level near the spring Rogel, where, therefore, both the valleys
Kedron and Gichon unite. Jerusalem is thus surrounded on three sides with deep
valleys, entirely so on the south and east, partially at the west, whilst at the
north and the northwest there is a plain.
* It appears to me that the stream Gichon, which rises at
the Upper Pool (see farther, under En Shiloach, “the spring of Siloah”), once
flowed through this valley to that of Kedron, near the En Rogel. Here also was
the שדה כובס the washer’s or fuller’s field,
whence the valley is calledמסילת שדה כובס “the
way or the course (of the water) into the fuller’s field.” (Isaiah 7:3.)
† I hold that Emek Rephaim is synonymous with theעמק הפגרים Emek Hapegarim, the valley of the
corpses of Jer. 31:40, since it appears, from Psalm 88:11, that Rephaim
signifies the same with Pegarin, i. e. the dead body.
Between the valleys of Kedron and Rephaim, and to the west
of the spring Shiloach, there is a small narrow valley, running in a northern
direction, and is partly embraced within the limits of the city at the
northwest; I refer to the valley Gé Ben Hinnom גי בן
הנם. Josephus, Bell. Jud., b. vi., chap. v., calls it Tyropoeon, i.e. Cheesemakers’ Valley. It also separates Mount Moriah from Zion.
Moriah, also called the Temple Mount, is 2280 feet in
height, and lies to the west of Kedron, and at its west side is the northern
part of the valley Ben Hinnom, consequently that portion called Tyropoeon; as
the first name is applied to that part which lies beyond the limits of the city,
but not to the northern division, which is within Jerusalem. Mount Zion is 2381
feet in height; it lies to the southwest of Moriah, and to the south of the
city.*
* The passage of Psalm 48:3, הר
ציון ירכתי צפון “The Mount Zion, on the sides of the north,” is extremely
obscure, since Zion is at the south; we must therefore explain it as though it
read וירכת׳ “and the sides,” meaning, first
Zion the upper city, and then the lower town or the northern part, or Jerusalem
proper, as will be spoken of more hereafter. (See also Pesiktah Rabbethi, 41,
and Zohar to Vayiggash, fol. 206, where this remarkably irregular passage is
already discussed.)
We will now say something concerning the boundary line
between Judah and Benjamin (Joshua 15:7), which we broke off above, and refer to
this passage.
The En Rogel mentioned in Joshua 15:7, is unquestionably
the well which is one hundred and twenty-two feet deep, and covered over with a
very ancient cupola, and bears now the name of Bir Juab (the well of Joab). I am
unable to determine whence this name is derived; but the Arabic† version already
gave the above with Bir Juab. This well, or rather spring, is found in the
southern part of the Kidron valley, and near it is the above-mentioned Sedé
Kobes, whilst En Rogel may signify the same idea, that of fuller’s or washer’s
spring, since the washing or fulling of cloth was performed with the feet; hence
Rogel is fuller, a washer with the feet, from Regel, foot. Jonathan also
renders En Rogel with עין קצדא Ein Katzdah,
“The fuller’s spring.”
† I greatly doubt whether this version is by Rabbi Saadiah
Gaon רבנו
סעדיה הגאון; for I think that the
Pentateuch alone is the genuine work of Saadiah; and although he translated the
entire remainder of Holy Writ, the other portions of the usual Arabic version
are the work, for the most part, of later writers. Nevertheless, there is found
in the very ancient Al Aleppo (Chaleb), which is said to have been built already
in the time of David, an Arabic translation of the entire Holy Bible in
manuscript, which is universally held to be the work of Rabbenu Saadiah.
The northern line of Judah now ran from this spring upward
through the valley of Hinnom, turned then to the west, up to Mount Zion, which
lies to the west of this valley, (Ps. 15:8, “and goeth up to the top of the
mount, that lieth before the valley of Hinnom westward;” at that time this mount
was not yet called Zion, which name was not applied to it before the time of
David, wherefore it is described briefly as “the mount.”) To the south of Mount
Zion is the valley Rephaim, the most southern part of the valley of Gichon. I
made diligent inquiry to ascertain by what name the Arabs call it, and I learned
that it is in their language Wady Rafaath, i. e., Rephaim; the plural of Rafa in
Arabic being Rafaath, as Rephaim is the plural of Raphé in Hebrew. I felt,
therefore, convinced that my view on the subject was quite correct. I mention
this thus circumstantially, since nearly universally, although erroneously, this
valley is taken for the Gé Ben Hinnom.
Although Joshua defeated the King of Jerusalem (Jos. 12:10)
it nevertheless appears that the city was not at that time taken possession of
by the Israelites. It was captured only after Joshua’s death (Jud. 1:8). But the
Jebusites were not finally conquered till the time of David and Joab, who were
the first to capture the City of David, the fort of (Mezudath) Zion. It appears
that it did not lie on the top of the mount, but on the declivity of the same,
towards the valley of Hinnom; since we read of a going down to the fort of Zion
(2 Sam. 5:17); and an “ascending” from the same to the valley of Rephaim is also
spoken of (ibid. 19).* The Millo מלוא (ib. 5:9)
was on the eastern declivity of Mount Zion, towards the spring of Siloah
(שלוח). In 2 Kings 12:21, we read
בית מלא היורד סלא, “they smote Joash at
Beth-Millo, which goeth down to Silla.” I explain the last word to mean
Shiloach, exchanging ס for
ש and א for
ח, such an exchange of letters being quite
common, and that it means at the Millo which leads down to Shiloach.
In the same neighbourhood, to the southwest of the Temple
Mount, was also the house of Solomon, built for his wife, the daughter of
Pharaoh, whence a staircase led to the temple. (See 1 Kings 10:5; 2 Chron. 9:4,
and Neh. 3:15.)
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