The earliest notice in Scripture of city-building is of Enoch by Cain, in the land of his exile. (Genesis 4:17) After the confusion of tongues the descendants of Nimrod founded Babel, Erech, Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar, and Asshur, a branch from the same stock, built Nineveh, Rehoboth-by-the-river, Calah and Resen, the last being "a great city." The earliest description of a city, properly so called, is that of Sodom, (Genesis 19:1-22) Even before the time of Abraham there were cities in Egypt, (Genesis 12:14,15; Numbers 13:22) and the Israelites, during their sojourn there, were employed in building or fortifying the "treasure cities" of Pithom and Raamses. (Exodus 1:11) Fenced cities , fortified with high walls, (3:5) were occupied and perhaps partly rebuilt after the conquest, by the settled inhabitants of Syria on both sides of the Jordan.

sit'-iz, plan, (kikkar ha-yarden): Included Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Zoar. The locality is first referred to in Genesis 13:10, where it is said that Lot "lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the Plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt, as thou goest unto Zoar." The word translated plain is kikkar, "circle." In this ver, and in the 11th, as well as in 1 Kings 7:46 and Matthew 3:5, we have the full phrase "circle of the Jordan." Elsewhere (Genesis 13:12; Genesis 19:17, 29 Deuteronomy 34:3 2 Samuel 18:23) the word for "circle" is used alone with the article. Until recently the traditional view that this circle of the Jordan was at the south end of the Dead Sea was universally maintained. The arguments in favor of this view are:

(1) The name of Sodom is preserved in Jebel Usdum-Usdum having the same consonants with Sodom; moreover, the name is known to have referred to a place in that region as early as the days of Galen (De Simpl. medic. Facult., 4, 19) who describes certain "salts of Sodom" from the mountains surrounding the lake which are called Sodom.

(2) Zoar seems to have been represented in the Middle Ages by a place which the Crusaders called Segore, and Arabic writers Zoghar. Under the name Zughar or Sughar the place is often referred to by medieval Arabian geographers as situated South of Jericho "at the end of the Dead Sea" and as a station on the route between the Gulf of Akabah and Jericho, two days' journey from Jericho. Ptolemy (v.17, 5) reckons Zoar as belonging to Arabia Petrea. Eusebius (Onom., 261) describes the Dead Sea as lying between Jericho and Zoar. Josephus (Ant., I, xi, 4) makes the Dead Sea extend 580 stadia "as far as Zoar of Arabia" (Wars, IV, viii, 4). These references would locate Zoar at the base of the mountains just Southeast of the Dead Sea, and, as it was within easy reach of Sodom, from which Lot fled, would fix the Cities of the Plain in that locality. Jerome (Comm. on Isaiah 15:5) says that Zoar was in the borders of Moab.

On the other hand, it is maintained that the "kikkar of the Jordan" lay North of the Dead Sea for the following reasons:

(1) That is the region which is visible from the heights of Bethel whence Abraham and Lot looked down upon it (Genesis 13:10), while the south end of the lake is not visible. But it may be answered that the phrase need not be limited to the actual region in sight, but may have included the whole known extension of the valley.

(2) Zoar was said to be in range of Moses' vision from the top of Pisgah (Deuteronomy 34:1-3) whereas the south end of the Dead Sea is invisible from that point, on account of intervening mountains. But this description in Deuteronomy evidently is not intended to be limited to the points which are actually visible, but should be understood as describing the extreme limits of the land some points of which are visible in their near vicinity. Certainly the vision did not comprehend all portions of Dan or Judah "unto the hinder sea." The phrase from Jericho Zoar is like "from Dan to Beersheba." The mountain heights overlooking Zoar were certainly visible.

(3) In Genesis 14 the four kings coming up from Kadesh attacked the Amorites "that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar" before reaching Sodom, and Hazezon-tamar is to be identified with Engedi. On the other hand, it is possible that it is to be identified with the Tamar of Ezekiel 47:19; Ezekiel 48:28, and that this place lay Southwest of the Dead Sea. Or, if that explanation is not accepted, it is proper to note that the course of this expedition led at first a considerable distance South of the Dead Sea through Mt. Seir to El-paran, when "they smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites." In accomplishing this they would naturally be led along the highland to Hebron from which they could easily descend to Engedi, whence they could proceed without difficulty to the south end of the end Sea. Besides, it is by no means certain that there was not an easy passage along the whole western shore of the Dead Sea at that time. See DEAD SEA.

(4) It is argued that the region at the south end of the Dead Sea could not be described "as the garden of the Lord," etc. Neither, for that matter, could the region around the north end be so described in its present condition. But, on the other hand, the region South of the sea is by no means as devoid of vegetation as is sometimes represented, while there are convincing arguments to prove that formerly it was much more extensive and fertile than now. To the fertility of this area there is no more capable witness than Professor Hull, though he is an ardent advocate of the location of these cities at the north end of the lake. This appears both in his original diary, and in his more mature and condensed account contained in his article on the Dead Sea in Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible (five volumes), where he writes, "When, in December, 1883. the writer found himself standing on the edge of the terrace overlooking the Ghor, he beheld at his feet a wide plain stretching away northward toward the margin of the Dead Sea, and to a large extent green with vegetation and thickets of small trees. To the right in an open space were seen several large Bedouin camps, from which the shouts of wild men, the barking of dogs, and the bellowing of camels ascended. Numerous flocks of black goats and white sheep were being tended by women in long blue cloaks; and on the party of travelers being observed, groups of merry children came tripping up toward the path accompanied by a few of the elders, and, ranging themselves in a line, courteously returned salutations. Here the Arabs remain enjoying the warmth, of the plain till the increasing heat of the summer's sun calls them away to their high pasture grounds on the table-land of Edom and Moab. At a short distance farther toward the shore of the lake is the village of Es-Safieh, inhabited by a tribe of fellahin called the Ghawarneh, who by means of irrigation from the Wady el-Hessi cultivate with success fields of wheat, maize, dhurah, indigo and cotton, while they rear herds of camels and flocks of sheep and goats. On the produce of these fields the Arabs largely depend for their supplies of food and raiment, which they obtain by a kind of rude, often compulsory, barter."

LITERATURE.

Authorities favoring the south end of the Dead Sea: Dillmann, Genesis, 111; Robinson, BRP2, II, 187:ff; G. A. Smith, Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 505; Baedeker-Socin, Palestine, III, 146; Buhl, Buhl, Geographic des alten Palastina, 117, 271, 274; see also especially Samuel Wolcott, "Site of Sodom," Bibliotheca Sacra, XXV, 112-51. Favoring the north end: Sir George Grove in various articles in Smith, Dictionary of the Bible; Canon Tristram, Land of Moab, 330; Selah Merrill, East of the Jordan, 232-39; W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book.

George Frederick Wright

CITIES, LEVITICAL

See LEVITICAL CITIES; CITY.

FORTIFICATION; FORT; FORTIFIED CITIES; FORTRESS

for-ti-fi-ka'-shun (including):

I. IN RECENT EXCAVATIONS

1. Excavation of Tells

2. Sites

3. Primitive Character

4. Walls

5. Towers

6. Acropolis or Castle

7. Masonry

8. Gates

9. Water Supply

II. IN BIBLICAL HISTORY

1. Before the Monarchy

2. In the Period of the Monarchy

3. In the Period of the Return

III. IN THE PSALMS AND THE PROPHETS

1. The Psalms

2. The Prophets

IV. IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

1. In Paul's Epistles

2. In the Acts of the Apostles

3. In the Gospel History

LITERATURE

Has a number of words representing its various elements and aspects:

(1) mibhtsar, is the term generally rendered "fenced" or "defenced city." In both the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) of Isaiah and Jeremiah we find for the most part the more formal "defenced city." It is found by itself (Isaiah 17:3); with `ir, "city" (1 Samuel 6:18 2 Kings 3:19; plural `are mibhtsar, "fenced (the American Standard Revised Version "fortified") cities," Numbers 32:17); with tsor, "Tyre" (Joshua 19:29 2 Samuel 24:7, where it is rendered "stronghold").

(2) misgabh, "high fort" (Isaiah 25:12 Jeremiah 48:1 the Revised Version, margin; Psalm 9:9, and many other places in the Pss).

(3) ma`oz, "fortress," "stronghold" (Judges 6:26 Psalm 31:2 Daniel 11:39).

(4) metsudhah, "fort" the King James Version, "stronghold" the Revised Version (British and American) (2 Samuel 5:9, 17).

(5) metsurah, "fort" (Isaiah 29:3 the King James Version; plural the Revised Version (British and American) "siege works").

(6) mutstsabh (Isaiah 29:3, "fort" the English Revised Version, "mount" the King James Version, "posted troops" the American Standard Revised Version).

(7) dayeq, "fort" (for the siege of a city, the wall of circumvallation cast up by the besiegers, 2 Kings 25:1 Jeremiah 52:4 Ezekiel 4:2; Ezekiel 17:17; Ezekiel 21:22; Ezekiel 26:8).

(8) matsor, "fortress" (Jeremiah 10:17 margin, wall of circumvallation: Habakkuk 2:1, "tower" the King James Version, "fortress" the Revised Version, margin; Zechariah 9:3).

(9) birah, "palace" the King James Version, "castle" the Revised Version (British and American) (Nehemiah 2:8; Nehemiah 7:2). Birah Grecized is baris, which has the double meaning of "palace" and "fortress." Nehemiah's "castle" figures largely in the books of Maccabees and in Josephus, and is the Castle of Antonia of the Acts of the Apostles.

(10) ochuroma (2 Corinthians 10:4, its only occurrence in the New Testament though it is the chief equivalent of mibhtsar in the Septuagint). In this connection it is to be noted that chomah, is Hebrew for "wall," Greek teichos; chel or cheyl, is Hebrew for the "ditch," or "rampart," or "bastion" of a fortress; mighdal, "tower"; pinnah plural pinnoth, "corner towers."

Fortified Places:

From the very beginning of their history as a nation the Israelites were acquainted with fortified cities. The report of cities "great and fortified up to heaven," inhabited by the sons of Anak, by Amalekites, Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites and Canaanites, struck terror into the hearts of the Israelites in the wilderness, and called forth murmurings from them on their way to Canaan (Numbers 13:28 Deuteronomy 1:28). Not that these cities were at all of the extent or population of modern cities, or of Nineveh, Babylon and Memphis of old. But to a people who were as yet little better than a horde of fugitives accustomed to the simple camp life of the wilderness and unacquainted with appliances for siege and assault, the prospect of scaling the walls and conquering the inhabitants was appalling. The cities of the Canaanites were already old when Joshua led the Israelites to the conquest of the land. Not a little of their history has become known to us, and the character of their defensive works has been disclosed by Palestinian excavation in recent years.

I. In Recent Excavations.

1. Excavation of Tells:

It has been largely to the tells, or mounds of buried cities, chiefly in the southwest of the land, that exploration has been directed. The Palestine Exploration Fund, drawing its resources from Great Britain and also from America, was the first, and has all along been the foremost, in the work of excavation. Through the labors of Professor Flinders Petrie at Tell el-Hesy; of Dr. F. J. Bliss, and Professor Stewart Macalister at Tell Zakariyah, Tell ec-Safi, Tell ej-Judeideh, Tell Sandahannah, and more recently of Professor Macalister at Gezer, the Fund has added largely to our knowledge of the fenced cities of Canaan. The work of Sir Charles Warren, Sir Charles W. Wilson, Colonel Conder and other explorers at Jerusalem under the same auspices has been of great value for illustrating the defensive works of a later time. Germany and Austria have not been behind. The excavation, first, of Tell Ta'anek in the Plain of Esdraelon, and, at the present time (1911), of Jericho by Professor E. Sellin, formerly of Vienna, now of Rostock; and of Tell el-Mutesellim, the ancient Megiddo, by Gottlieb Schumacher, has yielded results of the highest importance. Since 1908 an American expedition from Harvard University, first under Schumacher and now under Dr. Reisner, who had previously excavated at the Pyramids and other places in Egypt, has explored with remarkable results the site of the capital of the Northern Kingdom, Samaria. Excavations have also been conducted by the German Orient Committee at Sinjerli which have thrown a flood of light upon the archaeology of Northern Syria and especially upon the wonderful Hittite people. The memoirs and reports of these excavations have furnished abundance of material for tracing the evolution and understanding the anatomy of the tell. They usefully supplement the Scripture narratives, and confirm them in many particulars.

2. Sites:

These cities of the primitive inhabitants of Canaan occupied sites easily capable of defense. They were built either upon a projecting spur of a mountain ridge, like Gezer, Megiddo, Tell ec-Safi (believed to be the ancient Gath) and primitive Jerusalem, or upon an isolated eminence in the plain like Tell el-Hesy (Lachish) or Taanach. Compared with modern cities the area was small-in the case of Gezer about a quarter of a mile square, Lachish 15 acres, Megiddo and Taanach 12 to 13 acres. A sufficient water supply within easy reach was an essential feature. Speaking of Gezer, Professor Macalister says: "Water, the first necessity of life, was in abundance. The three primitive modes of livelihood-hunting, pasturing, and agriculture-could be practiced here better than in many places. Further, for defense-another prime necessity in early days-the hill is admirably fitted. It is steep and not easy to climb; and being fairly high it commands a wide prospect, so that the approach of enemies can be seen and prepared for" (Bible Side-Lights from Gezer, 25, 26).

3. Primitive Character:

Their history goes back in most cases to a very remote antiquity. "It cannot have been much later than 3000 B.C.," says Professor Macalister regarding Gezer, "when a primitive race of men first realized that the bare rocky hill (as it then was) would be a suitable dwelling-place. This tribe was a cave-dwelling race" (as above; and PEFS, 1904, 311). The primitive race had occupied the hill perhaps five hundred years when the Canaanites drove them out, as they in turn were driven out by the Israelites. But the nature of their original habitations, the earliest relics of their social life, and what can be gathered of their religious rites all bear witness to a remote antiquity. From the mound of Tell el-Hesy, now almost certainly identified with the site of Lachish, eleven cities, one above the other have been disinterred, the eleventh or highest having nine cities between itself and the first Amorite buildings reared upon the original bluff. This lowest city is believed to go back some 2000 years B.C., Professor Flinders Petrie having dated the successive cities by means of the pottery found in the strata of the mound. One of the eleven cities, possibly the fourth from the bottom, was that of Lachish, which fell a prey to Joshua (Joshua 10:32), the walls of which, built of crude brick and 10-12 ft. in thickness, are a witness to its character as a fenced city (Bliss, A Mound of Many Cities, chapter iv).

4. Walls:

While the site of the Canaanite city was chosen for its natural strength, the first settlers soon felt the need of some fortification. At Sinjerli the excavators have been able to trace the general growth of the site from a group of shepherds' huts into a walled town. The earliest fortification attempted was a rampart of earth following the natural contour of the hill (PEFS, 1903, 113). Within some such enclosing wall, houses were built and the inhabitants lived and pursued their avocations safely. The primitive earthbank in the case of Gezer was in course of time replaced first by an inner and then by an outer wall in succession. The outer wall when it was added to strengthen the inner was the chel, rendered in the English version "bulwark" (Isaiah 26:1) or "rampart" (Nahum 3:8, where the waters of the Nile served the same purpose). Professor Macalister estimates that the inner wall of Gezer had fallen into disuse and ruin by about 1450 B.C. and that it was the outer that saw the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites. "Even in its present ruined form," says Professor Macalister, "the outer city wall is an imposing structure. In places it still stands to a height of from 10 to 14 ft., and these can hardly be regarded as being much more than the underground foundations. The outer face of the city wall, towering above the hill on which the city was built, may well have seemed impregnable to the messengers of Moses" (Bible Side-Lights, 142). The walls of a later time, as we learn from Assyrian representations, were provided with battlements, very often crenellated, and "thy pinnacles of rubies" (Isaiah 54:12, the Revised Version (British and American), the Revised Version, margin "windows") may refer to them. For the purpose of strengthening the walls, especially at the least defensible points, revetments or facings of stone or kiln-burnt bricks were sometimes added. Even these again would be rendered less assailable by a trench (chel) serving to cut off a fortress from adjacent level or sloping ground, as may still be seen outside the North wall of Jerusalem, and many parts ofthe walls of Constantinople.

5. Towers:

Towers were sometimes built at the corners or at points on the wall where attack was to be apprehended (Ze 1:16; 2 Chronicles 14:7). Such towers have been disclosed on the crest of the hill at Tell Zakariyah. At Gezer 30 towers were found round the outer wall. On the walls of Sinjerli there rose no fewer than 800 towers (Garstang, Land of the Hittites, 273). On the evidence of the excavations at this ancient Hittite site we gather that the cities about the time of the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan "were already surrounded by masoned walls, supported by numerous external towers, and entered through gateways barred by a pair of double doors and guarded by wing towers on either hand" (Land of the Hittites, 367). For illustrations, see CITY.

6. Acropolis or Castle:

Every one of these ancient cities had an inner fortress which would be an internal means of protection, and the last refuge of the defenders in extremity. At Tell Zakariyah the acropolis wall has been traced, and its shape has been found to be conditioned by the contours of the hill on which it stood. In an old Hittite settlement a fortress has been found rectangular in shape and supported by an outer and lower wall at a distance of 12 to 30 yds. (Land of the Hittites, 162). There is evidence that the mound or bluff originally occupied remained the fortress or acropolis of the city when it spread out over a larger area, and this seems to have been the case for some time at least with the Jebusite fort taken by David and made the capital of the kingdom. At Sinjerli, while there was a wall surrounding the whole township, there was an outer as well as an inner defensive wall to the citadel. Upon this citadel were found palaces from which the Assyrian king, Tiglath-pileser I, copied the plan of a Hittite palace, called in Assyrian Hilani.

7. Masonry:

The excavations enable us to see the progress of the art of fortification from very primitive beginnings. Crude brick and rough stone-work were the materials of the earliest walls. They are usually found of uncoursed masonry in which the large stones are undressed field boulders. The facings of stone and the joints in walls were often packed with pebbles or with limestone chippings, the stones themselves being more or less roughly trimmed and dressed to shape by a hammer. Corner-stones are found in the towers showing marks of the chisel, but it is not till well on in the Hebrew period that stones are found with bosses and marginal drafting. At Zakariyah the walls of the acropolis were of rubble laid in mud, mixed with straw without lime, and they contained some well-worked stones, irregularly intermingled with field stones of various sizes. At a later time mortar was used to cover the walls and give greater strength and support. But the clay used for the purpose was apt to crack unless it was given consistency by treading with the feet and mixing with water. Thus we read of a wall daubed with untempered mortar (Ezekiel 13:10-16; Ezekiel 22:28; compare Nahum 3:14). In the masonry of the Hittite fortress (see (6) above) the masonry of the inner wall is rough, dry stonewalling, while the outer is built of stones roughly pentagonal in shape, irregular in size, fitted to one another and laid without mortar, somewhat like the Cyclopean walls of the earliest periods of Greek history.

SeeGEZER.

8. Gates:

The gates of the fenced cities of Canaan may not have had the social importance which the city gate came to possess in later times, but they were an important element in the defensive works of a city. They were as few as possible, so as to give only the necessary ingress and egress. The gate of Jericho was shut and secured at nightfall (Joshua 2:5). The gate of Gaza had two leaves which were not hinged to the two gate-posts, but turned on pins moving in sockets in the sill and lintel, the bar stretching between the two posts and let into them to secure the gate (Judges 16:3, with Moore's notes). The hundred gates of Babylon, according to Herodotus, were all of brass (i.179); and Yahweh promises to Cyrus to break in pieces the doors of brass and to cut in sunder the bars of iron (Isaiah 45:2). That the bars were sometimes of wood is clear from what is said of the bars of Nineveh (Habakkuk 3:13). To protect the gate it was supplied with towers. Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate and at the valley gate, and fortilled them (2 Chronicles 26:9). In the inner wall of Gezer, to which reference has been made, a gate of very remarkable structure has been found. The wall is of stone, but the gateway consists of a passage between two solid towers of brick. The passage is 9 ft. wide and 42 ft. long, roughly paved with stones. Stone slabs on each side of the passageway bear traces of fire, and the absence of any wooden barrier may be due to a conflagration at the capture of the city. The towers remain standing and rise to a total height of about 16 ft. In later times watchmen were set on the tower over the gate to descry the approach of friend or foe or messenger (2 Samuel 18:24), and the tower had chambers in it which might be occupied by visitors or by a guard. For the more general purposes see GATE.

9. Water Supply:

One of the essential requisites of the primitive Canaanite fortress was a supply of water. At Gezer a copious spring within easy reach was available. Tell el-Hesy commands the only springs in that region (A Mound of Many Cities, 16). It is a strong point in favor of the modern theory of the ridge of Ophel being the site of Zion or David's town that the Virgin's Fountain, the only perennial spring in the whole circuit of Jerusalem, was close to it, and would have been an inducement to the Jebusites to build their fortress there. In the sites that have been excavated, cisterns, sometimes vaulted over and with steps down into them, have been constantly found. Traces have also been observed of concealed passages or tunnels by which access has been obtained to the nearest spring. Some such explanation has been given of the "gutter" (2 Samuel 5:8 the King James Version, "watercourse" the Revised Version (British and American)), by which Joab obtained access to the fortress of Jebus and enabled David to capture it (1 Chronicles 11:6; compare Vincent, Canaan d'apres l'exploration recente, 26). During an investment of a fortified city by an enemy, it was a point in strategy for the inhabitants to secure the fountain and to divert or conceal the stream flowing from it so that the besiegers might be left without a water supply (2 Kings 3:19, 25 2 Chronicles 32:3; compare also 2 Samuel 12:26, 27, Century Bible, Kennedy's note).

II. In Biblical History.

1. Before the Monarchy:

On the passage of the Jordan the Israelites found in Jericho a walled city of great strength barring their progress. The excavations recently made have disclosed the common features of Canaanite fortresses-an outer wall, surrounding the entire area, 6 1/2 ft. thick, a citadel and protecting walls of hardly less substantial workmanship. Nearby also is the essential spring to furnish the water supply. Within the citadel were found the walls and rooms of Canaanite houses, and in many cases remains of infants buried in jars under the clay floors (Driver, Modern Research as Illustrating the Bible, 91). These examples of "foundation sacrifices" with which the excavations at Gezer have made us familiar give point to the account of the resettlement of the city in the days of Ahab, when Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho, laying the foundation thereof with the loss of Abiram, his firstborn, and setting up the gates thereof with the loss of his youngest son Segub (1 Kings 16:34).

SeeCORNER-STONE; CANAAN.

In the Book of Jud we read of the strong tower, or citadel, of Thebez, into which the inhabitants had crowded and to which Abimelech was setting fire when a woman upon the wall hurled a millstone upon him and broke his skull (Judges 9:51). It does not appear that at this period the Israelites were in possession of the strongholds of the land, for when the Philistines overran the country, they had no fortresses to flee to, but "did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in coverts, and in pits" (1 Samuel 13:6).

2. In the Period of the Monarchy:

When David captured the Jebusite fortress (2 Samuel 5:6) and transferred his capital from Hebron to Jerusalem, a new era of independence and even of conquest began. The natural strength of David's town, with such fortification as had been added, made it impregnable to any Philistine or Syrian foe, and one of the strongest fortresses in Western Asia.

Although Solomon was a man of peace, he included among the great buildings which he executed fortresses and works of defense. He built the wall of Jerusalem round about. He built Millo (called Akra ("citadel") in the Septuagint), and closed the breaches of the city of David, so that there might be no vulnerable point found in the defenses of the city (1 Kings 9:15). This fortification is represented in Septuagint, which has here an addition to the Massoretic Text, as securing the complete subjection of the original inhabitants who remained. Solomon also built Hazor to watch Damascus, Megiddo to guard the plain of Jezreel, and Gezer overlooking the maritime plain, his work being one of refortification rather than of building from the foundation. He fortified also Beth-horon, Upper and Nether, to block the way against Philistine invasion. The store cities, and cities to accommodate his chariots and horses, were also part of his military system (1 Kings 9:18).

The disruption of the kingdoms, and the jealousy and hostility that followed between Judah and Israel, necessitated fresh undertakings of fortification, on the part of both kingdoms. Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defense in Judah. He fortified the strongholds and provisioned them and stored arms within them in case of siege (2 Chronicles 11:5). One of Jeroboam's first acts on ascending the throne was to build the two fortresses, Shechem to guard Mt. Ephraim, and Penuel to protect Gilead (1 Kings 12:25). Baasha later pushed his frontier within a few miles of Jerusalem, fortifying Ramah to overawe Asa in his very capital. The long war which lasted through the reigns of Jeroboam, Nadab, Baasha and Elah, kings of Israel, was largely a war of sieges, one of them, that of Gibbethon, having apparently lasted 27 years (1 Kings 15:27, compared with 1 Kings 16:15).

With Omri there arose in Israel a powerful ruler whose name is mentioned with respect in the Assyrian monuments, which designate the kingdom of Israel Mat Bit Khumri, "the land of the house of Omri." He was the builder of Samaria which remained the capital of the Northern Kingdom till its fall in 722 B.C. In excavations but recently carried on by the archaeological expedition of Harvard University, the walls of Omri's palace and fortress were laid bare, giving an impression of the great strength of the place.

While Solomon built the wall of Jerusalem, we read that Uzziah built towers at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them (2 Chronicles 26:9). Jotham his son, continued his father's labors in the further fortification of the city (2 Chronicles 27:3, 1). Hezekiah had good reason to add still further to the strength of the city, seeing that he had to bear the brunt of Sennacherib's expedition to the west. Sennacherib boasts that of Hezekiah's fortified towns, he captured 46, with innumerable fortresses besides (Schrader, Schrader, The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament, I, 286), but he cannot tell that Jerusalem was among them, for it came through the ordeal unscathed. In the reign of Manasseh Jerusalem was captured and the king himself carried away to Nineveh, but on his repentance he was restored to the throne and set himself to strengthen the fortifications of the city (2 Chronicles 33:14). The city was unable, however, to hold out against Nebuchadrezzar and his captains; for it was taken in 597 B.C., and King Jehoiachin and the flower of the population were deported to Babylon. After a siege of two years it was again taken in 586 B.C., and temple and city were destroyed, and the walls razed to the ground.

3. In the Period of the Return:

The patriotic labor of Nehemiah in the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem belongs properly to the history of the city (see JERUSALEM). In the Maccabean struggle, the Akra (APC 1Macc 1:33; 3:45, etc.), the citadel, was long held by a Syrian garrison, and was in the end delivered up to the high priest by Demetrius (APC 1Macc 10:32). Notable also still later was the castle of Antonia (Acts 22:24) on the site of the earlier castle of Nehemiah's day (Nehemiah 2:8; Nehemiah 7:2).

III. In the Psalms and the Prophets.

1. The Psalms

Under the image of a fortress, or mountain fastness, inaccessible to any common foot, where there is perfect safety from enemies and persecutors, the Psalmist delights to express his confidence in God. Yahweh, in virtue of His righteous judgments, is a high tower to the downtrodden, a place of refuge and security (misgabh) to those who are in trouble (Psalm 9:9). When he exults in the strength of God who has given him deliverance, he multiplies words to utter his confidence: "I love Thee, O Yahweh, my strength. Yahweh is my rock, and my fortress (metsudhah),. my God. my high tower (misgabh)" (Psalm 18:1, 2). Thirteen times in the Psalms we find this word: Psalm 9:9; Psalm 18:2; Psalm 46:7, 11; 59:9, 16, 17 (where the King James Version translates "defence" and the Revised Version (British and American) "high tower"), etc. Elsewhere metsudhah is employed (Psalm 31:2; literally, "house of fortresses"; Psalm 91:2; Psalm 144:2). If we were at liberty to accept such psalms as Psalms 18:59 as Davidic, the appropriateness of them to the circumstances of the Shepherd King when persecuted by Saul, taking refuge in the cave of Adullam and enduring the perils and anxieties of an outlaw's life, would at once be apparent.

2. The Prophets:

Although Jeremiah has been called the weeping prophet, yet for the fearless fulfillment of his commission to a gainsaying people, God made him "a fortified city (`ir mibhtsar), and an iron pillar, and brazen walls" (Jeremiah 1:18; compare Jeremiah 6:27; Jeremiah 15:20). Hosea in the Northern Kingdom predicted the destruction of its "fortresses" (mibhtsar) by the invading Assyrians (10:14; compare 8:14). The prophets in proclaiming God's message to their day addressed themselves not only to Israel and Judah, but also to those great world-powers with which the Hebrew people had relations. In the oracles of the prophets to the nations-to Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Syria, Edom, and others-we obtain glimpses of great and fortified cities like No-amon (Thebes), Babylon, Nineveh, Damascus, whose natural defenses and added fortifications did not save them from capture and destruction. And the teaching of the prophets for the comfort of Israel and Judah is that Yahweh was a better defense to them than the great rivers of Assyria and Egypt were to those nations. When Nineveh was at the height of her pride, fierceness and worldly glory, Nahum asks her: "Art thou better than No-amon (Thebes of Egypt), that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about her; whose rampart (chel) was the sea (the Nile), and her wall (chomah) was of the sea?" (Nahum 3:8). Of Nineveh itself we know that it was protected, not only by walls and fortresses of great strength, but also by canals and streams drawn round the city. Yet Nahum declares in his sublime apostrophe: "All thy fortresses shall be like figtrees with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater" (Nahum 3:12). Babylon had walls whose strength and height, as described by Herodotus and other historians, were fabulous. Its great monarch Nebuchadrezzar was in his day the greatest ruler of the East, and Sir Henry Layard has told that scarcely a brick unearthed in the mounds of the great Babylonian plain was without his name. Yet when the day of reckoning came, the wall, said to be mountain-high, and 80 ft. thick, with its moat so broad that an arrow could not be shot over it, and all its elaborate works of defense, were as if they had not been; it surrendered to Cyrus without a blow being struck. It is in the visions of the prophets, in the universal peace which is to accompany the restoration of Israel, that we hear of "them that are at rest, that dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates" (Ezekiel 38:11). "In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation will he appoint for walls and bulwarks" (chel) (Isaiah 26:1). "Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, desolation nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise" (Isaiah 60:18). Building of fenced cities, with riding upon horses and military preparation, was a note of the false prophet, who urged alliances with foreign powers such as Assyria and Egypt, anal relied too much upon the material resources of the nation. The true prophet realized that the strength of the nation lay in God and urged the people to put their trust in Him (Hosea 8:14). "Jerusalem," says Zechariah in the days of the Return, "shall be inhabited as villages without walls, by reason of the multitude of men and cattle therein.

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LEVITICAL CITIES

le-vit'-i-kal

I. LEGAL PROVISIONS

1. Numbers

2. Deuteronomy

II. WELLHAUSEN'S VIEW

III. ALTERNATIVE VIEW AND EVIDENCE

1. Traces of the Cities

2. Wellhausen's Arguments Answered

3. Van Hoonacker's Reply

4. Ezekiel's Vision

5. Priestly Cities and Cities in Which Priests Dwell

LITERATURE

I. Legal Provisions.

1. Numbers: Numbers 35:1-8 provides that 48 cities should be given to the Levites, each surrounded by a pasturage. The exact details are not quite clear, for in the Hebrew, Numbers 35:4 would naturally be read as meaning that the pasturage was a radius of 1,000 cubits from the city walls, while 35:5 makes each city the center of a square, each side of which was 2,000 cubits long. Extant variants in the versions suggest, however, that the text has suffered slightly in transmission. Originally there seems to have been no discrepancy between the two verses, and it may be doubted whether the intent was that the city was always to be in the mathematical center of the patch. The Levites were to have the right of redeeming the houses at any time, and in default of redemption they were to go out in the Jubilee. The field was not to be sold (Leviticus 25:32 f).

2. Deuteronomy:

Deuteronomy 18:8 undoubtedly recognizes patrimonial possessions of the Levites outside the religious capital, and sees no inconsistency with its earlier statement that Levi had no portion or inheritance with Israel (18:1). The explanation lies in the fact that these cities were not a tribal portion like the territories of the secular tribes. The area occupied by the whole 48 jointly would only have amounted to less than 16 miles.

II. Wellhausen's View.

Joshua 21 relates that this command was fulfilled by the allocation of 48 cities, but it is clear that some of those cities were not in fact reduced into possession; see e.g. Joshua 16:10 Judges 1:29 as to Gezer, and Judges 1:27 as to Taanach. Wellhausen treats the whole arrangement as fictitious. His main reasons are: (1) that the arrangement is physically impracticable in a mountainous country, and (2) that "there is not a historical trace of the existence of the Levitical cities." Many remained in the hands of the Canaanites till a late period, while others were "important but by no means ecclesiastical towns" (Prolegomena, 160). Two pages later he says that "four of them were demonstrably famous old seats of worship," and conjectures that most, if not all, were ancient sanctuaries. He also regards Ezekiel's scheme of a heave offering of land (Ezekiel 45) as the origin of the idea. Yet "Jerus and the temple, which, properly speaking, occasioned the whole arrangement, are buried in silence with a diligence which is in the highest degree surprising" (p. 164).

III. Alternative View and Evidence.

1. Traces of the Cities:

In point of fact, there are traces of some of the Levitical cities in the later history. Such are Anathoth (1 Kings 2:26 Jeremiah 1:1; Jeremiah 32), Jattir (2 Samuel 20:26, where, as shown in the article PRIESTS AND LEVITES (which see), Jattirite should be read for the Massoretic Jairite), Beth-shemesh (1 Samuel 6:13-15; see PRIESTS AND LEVITES as to the text). (From Amos 7:17 it appears that Amaziah of Bethel had land, but we do not know that he was of Levitical descent or where the land was.)

2. Wellhausen's Arguments Answered:

Further, the fact that many other Levitical cities appear to have been centers of worship points to the presence of priests. Was the great high place of Gibeon (1 Kings 3:4) unserved by priests? It is surely natural to suppose that during the period between the capture of the Ark and its transport to Jerusalem there was a tendency for high places to spring up in cities where there were priests rather than elsewhere; indeed there would probably be a disposition on the part of unemployed priests to go astray in a direction that would prove lucrative.

3. Van Hoonacker's Reply:

With regard to the other objection, Van Hoonacker's answer is convincing: "As to the way in which the measurements were to be carried out in the mountainous country of Palestine, the legislator doubtless knew what method was usually employed. Besides, we are free to believe that he only gives these figures as approximate indications" (Sacerdoce levitique, 433).

4. Ezekiel's Vision:

The same writer's reply to theory that the idea originated with Ezekiel is wholly admirable. "Strictly we could ask.... whether Ezekiel did not found himself on the description of the camp of the Israelites in the desert. It is only too manifest that the division and appointment of the territory as presented in Ezekiel 48 of the prophet are scarcely inspired by practical necessities, that they have a very pronounced character of ideal vision; and `as no fancy is pure fancy,' we ought also to find the elements which are at the basis of Ezekiel's vision. The tents of the tribe of Levi ranged around the tabernacle explain themselves in the Priestly Code; we may doubt whether the Levites, deprived of territory (Ezekiel 44:28) and nevertheless grouped on a common territory, in the conditions described in Ezekiel 48, explain themselves with equal facility. A camp is readily conceived on the pattern of a chessboard, but not the country of Canaan. We need not stop there. It is in fact certain that Ezekiel here has in view the protection of the holiness of the temple from all profanation; and in the realm of the ideal, the means are appropriate to the end" (op. cit., 425).

5. Priestly Cities and Cities in Which Priests Dwell:

Lastly there runs through Wellhausen's discussion the confusion between a city where priests may be dwelling and a priestly city. There were priests in Jerusalem, as there are today in London or Chicago; but none of these three places can be regarded as a priestly city in the same sense as the Levitical cities. Not one of them has ever been a patrimonial city of priests, or could be the origin of such an arrangement.

While therefore the whole of the cities mentioned in Joshua 21 were certainly not reduced into possession at the time of the conquest, the Wellhausen theory on this matter cannot be sustained.

LITERATURE.

J. Wellhausen, Prolegomena, 159-63; A. Van Hoonacker, Sacerdoce levitique, 423-35 (very brilliant and important).

Harold M. Wiener

REFUGE, CITIES OF

`are ha-miqlaT; poleis ton phugadeuterion (compare 1 Maccabees 10:28), and other forms):

1. Location:

Six cities, three on each side of the Jordan, were set apart and placed in the hands of the Levites, to serve as places of asylum for such as might shed blood unwittingly. On the East of the Jordan they were Bezer in the lot of Reuben, Ramoth-gilead in the tribe of Gad, and Golan in the territory of Manasseh. On the West of the Jordan they were Hebron in Judah, Shechem in Mt. Ephraim, and Kedesh in Naphtali (Numbers 35:6, 14 Joshua 20:2, 7; 21:13, 21, 27, 32, 38; Bezer is named in Joshua 21:36, but not described as a City of Refuge). An account of these cities is given in separate articles under their names. Deuteronomy 19:2 speaks of three cities thus to be set apart, referring apparently to the land West of the Jordan.

2. Purpose:

From time immemorial in the East, if a man were slain the duty of avenging him has lain as a sacred obligation upon his nearest relative. In districts where more primitive conditions prevail, even to this day, the distinction between intentional and unintentional killing is not too strictly observed, and men are often done to death in revenge for what was the purest accident. To prevent such a thing where possible, and to provide for a right administration of justice, these cities were instituted. Open highways were to be maintained along, which the manslayer might have an unobstructed course to the city gate.

3. Regulations:

The regulations concerning the Cities of Refuge are found in Numbers 35 Deuteronomy 19:1-13 Joshua 20. Briefly, everything was to be done to facilitate the flight of the manslayer, lest the avenger of blood, i.e. the nearest of kin, should pursue him with hot heart, and, overtaking him, should smite him mortally. Upon reaching the city he was to be received by the elders and his case heard. If this was satisfactory, they gave him asylum until a regular trial could be carried out. They took him, apparently, to the city or district from which he had fled, and there, among those who knew him, witnesses were examined. If it were proved that he was not a willful slayer, that he had no grudge against the person killed, and had shown no sign of purpose to injure him, then he was declared innocent and conducted back to the city in which he had taken refuge, where he must stay until the death of the high priest. Then he was free to return home in safety. Until that event he must on no account go beyond the city boundaries. If he did, the avenger of blood might slay him without blame. On the other hand, if he were found guilty of deliberate murder, there was no more protection for him. He was handed over to the avenger of blood who, with his own hand, took the murderer's life. Blood-money, i.e. money paid in compensation for the murder, in settlement of the avenger's claim, was in no circumstances permitted; nor could the refugee be ransomed, so that he might "come again to dwell in the land" until the death of the high priest (Numbers 35:32).

A similar right of refuge seems to have been recognized in Israel as attaching to the altar in the temple at Jerusalem (1 Kings 1:50; 1 Kings 2:28; compare Exodus 21:12 f). This may be compared with the right of asylum connected with the temples of the heathen.

W. Ewing

CITIES OF REFUGE

See REFUGE, CITIES OF.

CITIES, STORE

stor.

See CITY.

FENCED CITIES

See FORTIFICATION.

PLAIN, CITIES OF THE

See CITIES OF THE PLAIN.

1390. Gibah -- "hill," three cities in Palestine
... << 1389, 1390. Gibah. 1391 >>. "hill," three cities in Palestine. Transliteration:
Gibah Phonetic Spelling: (ghib-aw') Short Definition: Gibeah. ...
/hebrew/1390.htm - 6k

2540. Chammon -- "hot (spring)," two cities, one in Asher and one ...
... Chammon. 2541 >>. "hot (spring)," two cities, one in Asher and one in Naphtali.
Transliteration: Chammon Phonetic Spelling: (kham-mone') Short Definition: Hammon ...
/hebrew/2540.htm - 6k

1446. Gedor -- "wall," three cities in Isr., also a Benjamite
... Gedor or Gedor. 1447 >>. "wall," three cities in Isr., also a Benjamite.
Transliteration: Gedor or Gedor Phonetic Spelling: (ghed-ore') Short Definition: ...
/hebrew/1446.htm - 6k

6177. Aroer -- three cities in Isr.
... << 6176, 6177. Aroer or Aroer or Aror. 6178 >>. three cities in Isr. ... Word Origin
from arar Definition three cities in Isr. NASB Word Usage Aroer (16). Aroer. ...
/hebrew/6177.htm - 6k

3157. Yizreel -- "God sows," two Israelites, also two cities in ...
... << 3156, 3157. Yizreel. 3158 >>. "God sows," two Israelites, also two cities
in Isr., also a valley in Northern Israel. Transliteration ...
/hebrew/3157.htm - 6k

2995. Yabneel -- "El causes to build," two cities in Isr.
... << 2994, 2995. Yabneel. 2996 >>. "El causes to build," two cities in Isr. ... Word Origin
from banah and el Definition "El causes to build," two cities in Isr. ...
/hebrew/2995.htm - 6k

7216. Ramoth -- "heights," the name of several cities in Isr.
... Ramoth or Ramoth. 7217 >>. "heights," the name of several cities in Isr. ... Word Origin
from rum Definition "heights," the name of several cities in Isr. ...
/hebrew/7216.htm - 6k

823. Ashnah -- two cities in Judah
... << 822, 823. Ashnah. 824 >>. two cities in Judah. Transliteration: Ashnah
Phonetic Spelling: (ash-naw') Short Definition: Ashnah. Word ...
/hebrew/823.htm - 6k

2182. Zanoach -- two cities in Judah
... << 2181, 2182. Zanoach. 2183 >>. two cities in Judah. Transliteration: Zanoach
Phonetic Spelling: (zaw-no'-akh) Short Definition: Zanoah. ...
/hebrew/2182.htm - 6k