THE SHEPHERD KINGS OF EGYPT. MS 



"(1 Kings xvii. 3, 5,) flows into the Jordan near the Zereth region 

 proper. Zohar, who comes next in order, gives no difficulty. He is 

 (Genesis xxiii. 8,) the father of Ephron, who dwelt among the 

 children of Heth at Kirjath Arba or Hebron, and who is himself 

 called a Hittite. His son gives their names to at least two places 

 in Palestine (Joshua xv. 9 ; 2 Chron. xiii. 19), but I have not so far 

 found any geographical equivalent for himself. Ithnan (Joshua xv. 

 23), a town of Judah, may probably be the same word as Ethnan, 

 the name of the last son of Ashchur. 



With the family of Ashchur I hope to be able to show that a part, 

 if not the whole, of the great Philistine stock is ethnically connected. 

 I find, therefore, a descendant of Ashchur in the Abimelech who first 

 ruled over a people of this name in the land of Gerar, at the time of 

 the patriarch Abraham (Genesis xx. 2), the successor, or one of the 

 successors of whom numbered Achuzzath among his friends. This 

 fii'st Abimelech was, I think, the Jehaleleel of 1 Chron. iv. 16, whose 

 children are given as Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria, and Asareel. The evidence, 

 altogether ethnic as distinguished from Biblical, points him out as a 

 son of Achuzam, although occasionally it seems to indicate a similar 

 relationship to Zereth. The name Jehaleleel occurs (2 Chron. xxix. 

 12,) as that of a Levite, and the cognate Mahaleleel, which 

 designates an antediluvian j^atriarch of the line of Seth, is also found 

 (Nehem. xi. 4,) among the descendants of Pharez, the son of Judah. 

 Similar to these is Nahalol, a town of Zebulon (Joshua xix. 15 ; 

 Judges i. 30), out of which the original inhabitants could not be 

 driven by the Israelites. Equally near is the form Nechaliel 

 (Numbers xxi. 19), a station of the Israelites in their wanderings 

 situated within the territory of Moab. The river which bears the 

 name is identified by Burckhardt with the Waleh, and by Robinson 

 with the Enkheileh or Lejum. Seetzen terms it the Alvale. It is 

 worth observing that the root of ISTahaliel, like that of Ahuzam, 

 signifies " possession," and that the word Nahal also denotes a stream 

 or river. The well established connection of the Sanscrit Call and 

 the Egyptian Nile shows that n forms no integral part of this root. 

 Halhul (Joshua xv. 58,) may probably be a reminiscence of Jehaleleel 

 in the south, especially as we find it in the region of Maarath and 

 Zi]Dh. Whatever the Bible tei-m may be which indicated the first 

 abode of this son of Achuzam, his name survives in the monntains 

 of the south known now as Helal and Dhallal, while the Azazimeh 



