File:Palestine in the times of Elijah and Elisha (Smith, 1915).jpg

English: During this period the frontiers of the various kingdoms were uncertain, and oscillated violently.

That between Judah and N. Israel (Samaria) moved between Bethel and Geba (H.G.H.L., 251): Bethel, a sanctuary of N. Israel; Geba, long remembered as the N. limit of Judah (1 Kings xv. 22, 2 Kings xxiii. 8). The gorge of Michmash (W. Suweinit) was the natural line; but Israel strove for a footing to the S. at Ramah (1 Kings xv. 17), and Judah to the N. at Bethel (2 Chron. xiii. 19). Geba and Mispah (Neby Samwil, or more probably Tell en-Nasbeh, see Map 25) were the two outposts of Judah (1 Kings xv. 21f.). Nor did this frontier run to Jordan by the W. Suweinit, but crossed the latter, and by an uncertain line reached the N. end of the Dead Sea, leaving Jericho with N. Israel (1 Kings xvi. 34, 2 Kings ii. 4). On the W. we may assume that Israel did not extend so far S. as the Beth-horons, for Gibbethon (?Kibbiah, 16 miles S.E. of Joppa) was held by Philistines. The S. limit of Judah must have varied much; it was assailed by Edom and Moab, with whom 2 Chron. xx. 1 associates the Me'unim (sic, and not Arnm^on as in the text), or people of Ma'an, E. of Petra. Jehoshaphat endeavoured to reopen trade with Ophir through Ezion-Geber on the Gulf of 'Akabah, and Amaziah took from Edom a rock-fortress on the way thither, in the Valley of Salt, perhaps the W. el-Milh. Judah's W. frontier was uncertain, Gibbethon was Philistine, Bethshemesh belonged to Judah (2 Kings xiv. 11), and Libnah was won by the Philistines (2 Chron. xx. 10). Gath (site uncertain), said to have been fortified with Mareshah by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 5ff.), was taken by Hazael of Aram (2 Kings xii. 17).

The territories of N. Israel varied immensely during the period. Omri held E. Palestine from as far S. as Medeba, Yahaz, and *Ataroth; and probably from the Arnon, N. over Gilead, and perhaps Bashan as well. In W. Palestine his farthest N. limit is uncertain—^hardly N. of Dan. But he lost some cities to Ben-hadad (1 Kings xx. 34), and Mesha recovered from Ahab Moab, as far N. at least as Medeba. Mt. Carmel is assumed by the story of Elijah to have belonged to N. Israel. But neither it nor the coast to the S. can have long continued Israelite. The change, under Omri, of the capital from the E. watershed to the W. at Samaria, was connected, of course, with the Phoenician alliance, under which alone Carmel could have been held by Israel. About 839 the whole of Israel's domains E. of Jordan were lost to Hazael of Damascus and the Ammonites (2 Kings x. 32 ff., cp. Amos i. 3, 13). He also invaded W. Palestine by Esdraelon and the pass thence by Dothan on to Sharon. Towards the end of the century, Aram (Syria) was weakened by Assyrian invasions, Joash of Israel recovered many cities, and the former limits of the kingdom were restored under his son, Jeroboam II, except to the S. in Moab.

The position of Aphek is uncertain. It may have lain in Esdraelon, but was more probably in

Sharon, to which the Aramaean forces strategically came with the view of attacking Samaria from the W., the easiest approach to it. The map places it at El-Mejdel (see also Map 23, C 1). Guthe (M. u. N.D.P.V.), 1911, 33 f.) argues for Mejdel Yaba, but agrees that this is too far S. for the attack on Samaria; see on Map 33. For the site of Abel-Meholah, at Tell el-Hammi S. of Beth-shan, see Holscher, Z.D.P.V., xxxiii. 16 f., and Thomson, id., xxxvii. 187. Ramoth-Gilead (if not Gadara ?) was certainly the modern er-Remtheh (for which see Map 21, D 4). Tishbeh, Elijah's home, was in Gilead, and the brook Chereth (usually but wrongly identified with W. Kelt above Jericho) was probably a neighbouring wady (perhaps the W. Yabis); certainly it lay E. of Jordan (1 Kings xvii. 3, before=Yi. of). The entering in of Hamath wd^^ somewhere on the Orontes, by Riblah. Karkar, where Ahab and Ben-hadad fought Shalmaneser II, lay N. of this map, towards Hamath (see Maps 1 and 2). In 2 Kings vii. 6, for Egypt=^Misraim (whose kings, along with those of the Hittites, Aram *' hired against Israel") read Musri or Musrim, i.e. the Musri of N. Syria, off the extreme N.E. corner of the Levant. In 2 Kings viii. 21, for Sa'ir read either with Ewald So'ar, or with LXX Se'ir, the land of Edom, which is the more probable.