Θεον Μυιαν, τέτο γαρ ην ονομα τῷ θεῷ,---being ill, sent to inquire of Accaron, the God-Fly: for that (Accaron) was the name of the deity. It seems, I think, plain, that these writers did not imagine the term Accaron related to a place, the same which we stile Ekron; but to a deity, worshipped by that name under the symbol of a fly. As to Josephus it is manifest past contradiction, that he speaks determinately of the term Azzagav, as the proper name of the deity. On this account we may be assured, that the reading in the next page is faulty, where it is made to refer to a place Ekron and its inhabitants---προς δε τον Ακκαρωνιτων επεμπες παρ' αυτε πυνθανόμενος. It should be-προς τον Ακκαρών επεμπες, παρ' αυτε πυνθανόμενος. Ρ. 475. You sent to Accaron, (the God) to inquire of him, not to the people of Accaron, or Ekron, in Palestine. The ellipsis, as the passage now stands, is too bold: and by no means warrantable.

ence to a place he would have used the word with the Greek inflexion προς Θεον Μυιαν Ακκαρώνος, as his custom is in other places.

Αρχοντες Ακκαρώνος, c. 1 and 2. p. 312, 315.

μέχρι πολεως Ακκαρώνος. Antig. 1. vi.

The true Place ascertained.

It may be asked, If the message were not sent to Ekron, or Accaron, in the southern part of Judah, to what place was it directed? I answer to Baal of the Tyrians and Sidonians, whose temple and oracle seem to have been about this time famous. The worship of this deity had been introduced into the kingdom of Israel by Ahab, the father of this very prince, with whom we have been so much concerned.

1 Kings, ch. xvi. ver. 30. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him.

V. 31. And it came to pass-that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians; and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.

V. 32. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.

Hence we find it intimated, that Ahab had visited the shrine and altar of this deity at Tyre or Sidon, and when he married a princess of that country, he introduced these fo

reign rites into his own kingdom; and raised an house and altar to Baal in Samaria.

I

But

the priests were all slain by Elijah; and the temple consequently deserted: and probably for a time ruined. When therefore Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, who resided in Samaria, wanted to know about his recovery: he sent messengers to inquire, not of Baalzebub the God of Ekron: but of Baal, sov Muiav, the Fly God, called Accaron; whose temple will be found to have been at Tyre. To this interpretation the authors of the Greek version bear witness. Και απέστειλεν αγγέλες, και είπε

προς αυτές, δευτε και

επιζητήζατε εν τω Βααλ (i. e. ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ Βααλ) Μυιαν θεον Ακκαρών, ει ζήσομαι εκ της αρρωστίας. And he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, and inquire, in the temple of Baal, of the Fly-God Accaron, if I shall recover of my infirmity. The angel of the Lord gave immediate directions to Elijah to go and meet these messengers, and to say unto them—E παρα το μη είναι θεον εν Ισραηλ ὑμεις πορευεσθε επι ζητησαι εν τῷ Βααλ Μυιαν Θεον Ακκάρων. Is it, because there is no God in Israel, that ye go to inquire in the house of Baal of the Fly-God Accaron? It is repeated in the sixth verse.-E.

11 Kings ch. xviii. v. 40.

παρὰ τὸ μη είναι θεον εν Ισραηλ συ πορευη επιζητη σαι εν τω Βααλ Μυιαν θεον Ακκάρων. The same occurs, v. 16. We have seen that Josephus accords with the authors of the Greek version; as does Gregory Nazianzen: and from them we may infer that Accaron was the name of the Deus Musca, who was worshipped in the temple of Baal at Tyre; and that Ahab was the first recorded, who applied to this oracle, when he fetched his idolatrous wife from that part of the world. From hence I should think, as I have before urged, that there was not in this passage any reference to the city Ekron in the tribe of Dan: but to a temple and deity belonging to the king of the Tyrians and Sidonians. Josephus says expressly of the God introduced at Samaria

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· Ουτος ὁ Βααλ Τυρίων ην θεος. This Baal was o a deity of the Tyrians. The original, as it stands now expresses it differently.

by which is signified the God of : זבוב אלהי עקרון

Ekron, or Accaron. But we have seen that the fly was certainly worshipped under the name

'Ant. l. ix. c. 6. p. 489. There was no city Accaron, nor people called Accaronitæ, in Tyre or Sidon; from whence we may be assured, that the name could not relate to a place, or people: but to a deity of the former city.

F

of Achor and Josephus plainly intimates, that Accaron in the passage before us was

I

2

not the name of a place, but a deity, the ɛos Muia, or Fly-God: and that his temple was at Tyre. The authors of the Greek version seem to give the same interpretation: and we may determine their meaning by the authority of those who copied from them. Such was Zonaras, who speaks of this deity in the feminine--3 Νοσησας δε προς την Ακκάρων, θεον μυιας ωνομασμένην, επεμψεν. If the meaning of a passage can be at all ascertained by the collocation of the terms, of which it is composed, the interpretation is as follows.---Upon Ahaziah's being ill he sent to the goddess Accaron, which was stiled the Fly Deity. This is cer

There was no Accaronitæ here, nor any place stiled Ekron, or Accaron.

εκαλείτο.

The deity in the original is stiled Baal: and Baal-zebub : and agreeably to this Josephus tells us-o de Jeos Axaby Baux The God of Ahab (and we may presume, of his son, Ahaziah) was named Baal. He adds Ouros Baaλ Tugiwr την θεός. Αχαβος δε τω πενθερῳ βελόμενος χαρισασθαί Ιθοβααλ Τυρίων οντι βασιλει και Σιδωνίων ναον τε αυτῳ κατεσκευασεν εν Σαμαρεία, και TęcOntas aπedeže. 1. ix. c. vi. p. 448. This Baal was a Tyrian deity to whom Ahab, out of regard to Ithobaal his wife's father, king both of the Tyrians and Sidonians, had raised a temple in Samaria and appointed priests.

3 Zonaras Annal. 1. 2. p. 96.