"AND Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman, and said unto her, . . . Come to the king, and speak on this manner unto him. So Joab put the words in her mouth."-2 Samuel xiv. 2, &c. (See whole passage.)

"And Rehoboam built cities for defence in Judah. He built even. . . Tekoa . . .”—2 Chronicles xi. 5,6.

"And they arose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah.. Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper."--2 Chronicles xx. 20.

"And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord."-Nehemiah iii. 5, 27.

"O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction."-Jeremiah vi. 1.

"The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa. Amos i. 1. (1 Chronicles xi. 28, xxvii. 9.)

"Tekû'a lies on an elevated hill, not steep, but broad on the top, and covered with ruins to the extent of four or five acres. These consist chiefly in the foundations of houses built of squared stones. At the north-east part are the remains of a large square tower or castle, still the highest point of all. Near the middle of the site are the ruins of a Greek church; among which are several fragments of columns, and a baptismal font... There are many cisterns excavated in the rocks; and not far off is a living spring, from which our Arabs brought us fine water. The high position of Tekû'a gives it a wide prospect . . . On the south . . . a deep valley runs off towards the Dead Sea. The view in this direction is bounded only by the level mountains of Moab, with frequent bursts of the Dead Sea, seen through the openings among the rugged and desolate intervening mountains.

...

"... Here then are the remains of the Tekoa of the Old Testament; whence Joab called the ' wise woman' to plead in behalf of Absalom; and which, fortified by Rehoboam, was afterwards the birthplace of the prophet Amos, and gave its name also to the adjacent desert on the east.

"Eusebius and Jerome describe Tekoa as lying twelve miles from Jerusalem, and six miles from Bethlehem towards the south; and the latter further remarks, that from Bethlehem he had Tekoa daily before his eyes... About A.D. 765, Tekoa... was a Christian place, and had a church; and in the time of the crusades it was still inhabited by Christians, who afforded aid to the crusaders during the siege of Jerusalem... In A. D. 1138, Tekoa was sacked by a party of Turks from beyond the Jordan; whether it ever recovered from this blow we are not informed; nor do we know anything further as to the time of its abandonment.". ROBINSON'S Researches, vol. ii. pp. 182-184.

SCRIPTURE NOTICES.

"THEN Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord."-Genesis xiii. 18.

"And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba, . . . and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her . . . and ... Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. And the field and the cave therein were made sure unto Abraham, for a possession of a burying place, by the sons of Heth."-Genesis xxiii. 2, 19, 20. (See whole chapter.)

"And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned... And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him."-Genesis xxxv. 27, 29.

"And (Israel) said to him (Joseph), Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks . . . So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem."—Genesis xxxvii. 14.

"And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain; and see the land, what it is. . . Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron . . . (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) And they came unto the brook of Eschol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. The place was called the brook (or valley) Eschol, (i. e. a cluster of grapes,) because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence."-Numbers xiii. 17, &c.

"And Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him, unto Hebron; and they fought against it; and they took it. . ."-Joshua x. 36, 37.

"And they gave them (the Levites) the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah. . . But the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession," (because that he had wholly followed the Lord God of Israel. See ch. xiv. 6— 15, xv. 13, &c.; Judges i. 10.) " Thus they gave to the children of Aaron the priest Hebron . . . to be a city of refuge for the slayer "-Joshua xxi. 11-13.

"And Samson

arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.”—Judges xvi. 3.

"And... David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron .. And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah . . . And the time that David was king in Hebron, over the house of Judah, was seven years and six months."-2 Samuel ii. 1, &c.

"And they buried Abner in Hebron: and the king lifted up his voice, and wept at the grave of Abner”. . . -2 Samuel iii. 32.

"And David commanded his young men, and they slew them (the murderers of Ishbosheth), and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up over the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth, and buried it in the sepulchre of Abner in Hebron."-2 Samuel iv. 1, 12.

"Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and they anointed David king over Israel."-2 Samuel v. 9, &c.

"So (Absalom) arose, and went to Hebron. But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as ye hear the sound of the trumpet, then ye shall say, Absalom reigneth in

Hebron."-2 Samuel xv. 1, &c.

[See also Joshua xi. 21, xii. 10, xiv. 13, xv. 13, 14, 54, xx. 7; 2 Chron. xi. 10.]

"The region around Hebron abounds with vineyards, and the grapes are the finest in Palestine. Each vineyard has a small house or tower of stone, which serves for a keeper's lodge; and, during the vintage, we were