| Kir'jath-je'arim. (the city of forests). First mentioned as one of the four cities of the Gibeonites, Joshua 9:17, it next occurs as one of the landmarks of the northern boundary of Judah, Jos 15:9, and as the point at which the western and southern boundaries of Benjamin coincided, Jos 18:14-15, and in the last two passages, we find that it bore another, perhaps earlier, name -- that of the great Canaanite deity Baal, namely Baalah and Kirjath-Baal . At this place, the Ark remained for twenty years. 1 Samuel 7:2. At the close of that time, Kirjath-jearim lost its sacred treasure, on its removal by David to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. 1 Chronicles 13:5-6; 2 Chronicles 1:4; 2 Samuel 6:2 etc. To Eusebius and Jerome, it appears to have been well known. They describe it as a village at the ninth mile between Jerusalem and Diospolis (Lydda). These requirements are exactly fulfilled in the small modern village of Kuriet-el-Enab -- now usually known as Abu Gosh, from the robber chief whose headquarters it was -- on the road from Jaffa and Jerusalem. Smith's Bible Dictionary or |
Occurences In Authorized Version
15 Verse(s)