Page:Keil and Delitzsch,Biblical commentary the old testament the pentateuch, trad James Martin, volume 1, 1885.djvu/210

 himself against them, he and his servants, by night,” - i.e., he divided his men into companies, who fell upon the enemy by night from different sides - “ smote them, and pursued them to Hobah, to the left (or north) of Damascus.” Hobah has probably been preserved in the village of Noba, mentioned by Troilo, a quarter of a mile to the north of Damascus. So far as the situation of Dan is concerned, this passage proves that it cannot have been identical with Leshem or Laish in the valley of Beth Rehob, which the Danites conquered and named Dan (Jdg 18:28-29; Jos 19:47); for this Laish-Dan was on the central source of the Jordan, el Leddan in Tell el Kady, which does not lie in either of the two roads, leading from the vale of Siddim or of the Jordan to Damascus. This Dan belonged to Gilead (Deu 34:1), and is no doubt the same as the Dan-Jaan mentioned in 2Sa 24:6 in connection with Gilead, and to be sought for in northern Peraea to the south-west of Damascus.