166 THE SHEPHERD KINGS OP EGYPT. 



any of tlie names mentioned, had their origin in that of Tiria.- 

 There are, however, geographical names still surviving in the 

 south, such as Dhahariyeh and Datraiyeh near the Khalil, with 

 Hadhira, Taraibeh, Madherah and Tarfa not far off, which, along 

 with Azazimeh, Sufah and Shahabiyeh, give us what, I think, 

 are good indications of the whole family of Achuzam having 

 once resided there. Tell Zif, Wady Khashebeh, Keseifeh and the 

 Jehallin Ai^abs, all in the same region, lend additional weight to the 

 opinion.^ Asareel is the fourth of the grandsons of Achuzam, and 

 his name keeps up, to a certain extent, the remembrance of Ashchiir. 

 Two Israelite names connect with his, — -those of Asriel (Numbers 

 xxvi. 31), a son of Gilead or (1 Chron. vii. 14,) of Manasseh, and of 

 Asarelah (1 Chron. xxv. 2, 14), a son of Asaph. Another Levite is 

 called Assir, a word of the same meaning and form (Exodus vi. 24). 

 In 2 Samuel ii. 9 we find the Ashurites mentioned as a people 

 dwelling near Gilead. They are not Israelites, and may be of this 

 Asareel or of his ancestor Ashchur. Gesenius has shown that the 

 word Asherah, generally translated " grove," is the name of a god, 

 as appears from 2 Kings xxiii. 6, and other passages in which it 

 occurs. It may, perhaps, be associated with the Ashchur line, and 

 possibly with Asareel. Azareel (1 Chron. xii. 6) is, like Asarelah 

 and Assir, a Levitical name. It appears also in 1 Chron. xxv. 18 

 and Nehem. xi. 13, in connection with the same family; but in 

 1 Chron. xxvii. 22, it belongs to the tribe of Dan, and in Ezra x. 41 

 to an Israelite whose line is not mentioned. Azi'iel agrees with 

 Asriel in pertaining te the tribe of Manasseh (1 Chron. v. 24), 

 although (1 Chron. xxvii. 19,) it also belongs to Naphtali. It is 

 worthy of note that with Azareel among the Levites we find Milalai 

 Gilalai (Nehem. xii. 36), Galal (1 Chron. ix. 15, 16), Zuph, Zophai 

 or Ziph (1 Chron. vi. 26, 35). The patriarch Levi may have 

 married into the family of Asareel. Since we find that Asareel 

 and Azareel, although words of different form, are related, it is not 

 impossible that the Ezra of 1 Chron. iv. 17, instead of being, as 

 many commentators suppose, a son of Asareel, is the same person. A 

 station of the Israelites named Mosera or Moseroth, withoixt doing 

 any violence to etymology as in former cases, may fitly be a memorial 

 of the youngest son of Jehaleleel. It is mentioned (Numbers xxxiii. 

 30,) very soon after Tarah. From this place the Mishraites (1 Chron. 



* Vide Note 4 ; also Eitter's Comparative Geography of Palestine. 



