Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
 "Where do you get this crazy idea that anyone claims this? 1 Samuel 
mentions that the Philistines gathered together at )PQ, a town mentioned in 
Joshua 19:30. This was in the area alloted to Asher, in central to northern 
Canaan.  From there they marched to where Saul's army was encamped."
> > (a)  There is an Aphek located north of Mt. Carmel, in Asher.  But the 
> > Philistines were never anywhere close to being that far north, for 
> > heaven's sake.
> And where do you get this idea? The text clearly states that Saul had his
> army in the Jesreel valley, to the east and slightly to the north of )PQ. 
> If
> the Philistines wanted to get to Saul and his army, they had to go that 
> far
> north. Didn't you look at a map?
Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.17/1931 - Release Date: 02/02/2009 
19:21


Karl, most scholars who deal with biblical hostorical geography have for 
decades accepted that of the 5 different towns called Aphek in the Bible, 
the one mentioned in Josh. 12, in 1 Sam. 4 and in 1 Sam. 29 are all the 
same, and are located in the southern Sharon, on the sources of the Yarkon, 
near modern Rosh Ha'ayin. This Aphek also appears in the Thotimose
III list and a few other sources. It was intensively excavated by M. 
Kochavi. You can read about it in any standard Bible encyclopedia. The idea 
was that this was the northernmost place under direct Philistine control, 
which is why they used it in both stories 1 Sam. to gather their forces in 
order to attack the Israelites. I chapter 29, that's where they gathered 
while Saul was in the Jezreel Valley, and after releasing David they then 
marched up the main road (the so-called "Via Maris") to the Valley and 
encamped at Shunem, across from Saul's encampment in Jezreel.

Yigal Levin