Page:Light and truth.djvu/75

Rh, (Gen. xxxviii. 12,) or Timnah, (2 Chron. xxviii. 18,) situated on the northern border of Judah, was one of the oldest towns of Canaan. In Samson's time it belonged to the Philistines, and he obtained his wife there.

, descendants of Canaan, by Zemar, his tenth son.— (Gen. x. 18.)

. (Gen. xiv 2.) A small city. originally called Bela, at the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, whose king, with four others, rebelled against Chedorlaomer, and was conquered. It was afterwards threatened with the same destruction as Sodom, but spared at Lot's request, who fled to it for safety from the storm of divine wrath.—(Gen. xix. 20, 22.)

. (Judg. vii. 22; 1 Kings xix. 16.) A town in the plain of Jordan, about 10 miles south of Bethshean, and between that and Shechem—distinguished as the birth-place of Elisha, and as the refuge of the Midianites, when pursued by Gideon.

. (John i. 28.) A town on the east bank of Jordan, where there was a ford across the river; whence the name, ["house of passage."] At this place John baptized; and here, too, it is supposed, the Israelites crossed the Jordan, under the conduct of Joshua. It lay about 30 miles north-east of Jerusalem, and is probably the same with Beth-barah.—(Judg. vii. 24.)

. (John iii. 23. A town on the west side of Jordan, eight or ten miles south of Bethshean, abounding in water, and distinguished as a place where John baptized.

, a city east of Jordan.—(Isa. xv. 6.) It is thought to be the same which St. Jerome calls Nemra.

The wilderness of, (Gen. xxi. 21,) was situated south of Jordan, and extended to the peninsula of Sinai, and from the Dead Sea to the desert of Egypt; so that, in its largest sense, it included the deserts of Kadesh and Zin. It was in this wilderness that Hagar dwelt with Ishmael, and to this place David retired, after the 6