Joshua 9:17

on the third day A three days" journey it might well be "according to the slow pace of eastern armies and caravans." Stanley's S. & P. p. 209.

Chephirah "a village," afterwards allotted to Benjamin (Joshua 18:26). It was an inhabited city in the times of Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra 2:25; Nehemiah 7:29). On the western declivity of the mountain range, 11 miles from Jerusalem, and 4 from Kirjath-jearim, is a ruined village called Kefîr, which doubtless marks the site of the old city of Chephirah. After remaining unknown, or at least unnoticed, for more than 2000 years, its site was discovered by Dr Robinson in 1852. See Robinson, Bible Res. III. 146.

Beeroth Mentioned afterwards along with other Benjamite cities among the places whose inhabitants returned with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:25; Nehemiah 7:29). It is commonly identified with the large village of El-Birchbetween Jerusalem and Bethel.

Kirjath-jearimi.e. "the city of woods," or "groves," written Kirjath-arimin Ezra 2:25, and Kiriathiariusin 1Es 5:19. It derived its name from its olive, fig, and other plantations, as its modern representative, Kuriet-el-Enab, "the city of grapes," does from its vineyards. It was afterwards allotted to Judah, and here the Ark remained from the time of its return from the Philistines to the reign of David (1 Samuel 7:2; 2Sa 6:2; 1 Chronicles 13:5-6; Psalms 132:6), where David is said to have found the Ark in "the fields of the wood." Before the Israelitish conquest it was known as Baalah and Kirjath-baal (Joshua 15:9; Joshua 15:60), names which point to its early sanctity as one of the special seats of the worship of Baal.