25 
cities of refuge to every man, it seems likely that these 
neighbourhoods might come to be familiarly known as Land 
of the Third or Third Land, as we speak of Tithe-land. Thus 
I understand the Land of Shalisha to be the neighbourhood of 
Shechem, to reach which from Gibeah Saul would have passed 
through Mount Ephraim, according to the narrative. The 
next locality in the series is the Land of Shalim. It must be 
borne in mind, that if Saul went as far north as Shechem, he 
had travelled thirty miles from home, and he would probably 
think of returning. Observe, then, that he came out of the 
Land of Benjamin, and passed from the Land of Shalim 
through the Land of Benjamin, before he passed to the Land 
of Zuph. Note also that he passes through Benjamin on his 
return without calling at his home, so that the circumstances 
of his route were probably such as to prevent him from doing 
so. His way back was different to that which he had taken to 
reach Shechem or Shalisha, and as it was different and longer, 
for it could not be shorter, so it would have been taken for an 
object, or the further search for the asses. On arriving at 
Shalisha, then, Saul finds himself near Shalem, which the 
history of Jacob has also made familiar. Shalem was to the 
east of Shechem, leading to valleys which dip down into the 
Ghor or Hollow of the Jordan. SauTs Land of Shalim is 
another word altogether. Fully transliterated in the English- 
man’s Hebrew Concordance , Jacob's Shalem is [Shdh- 
lelim’), meaning “ Peace"; while Saul's Shalim is ( Shah - 
n galeem’), meaning “ Hollows," and corresponding exactly 
with the meaning of the present Arabic name of the Jordan 
valley, which is el Ghor , or the Hollow. 
Thus Saul proceeds from the Land of Shalisha, probably in 
the Plains of Mukna and Bajib, in the neighbourhood of 
Shechem; and, turning eastward, he passes Shalem and 
descends into the Ghor of the Jordan, or Land of Shalim. 
Thus he was brought again southward to the Land of Benjamin, 
which extended to the Jordan, but in that part was separated 
from the highlands of his home by tremendous declivities 
broken by deep and precipitous defiles and ravines. If the lost 
animals had turned from the highland on to these declivities, 
and had descended to the plain of the Jordan by the summit 
of a spur or the depth of a ravine, by taking this route Saul 
would intercept them. Once in the deep valley, he goes on 
passing his distant home until he arrives at the end of the 
Plain of Jericho, where the Dead Sea blocks further progress 
m the valley, and an easy passage upward to the highland 
occurs. Then he commences his ascent by one of the ancient 
