full of hollows, a town in the highlands of Judah ( Joshua 15:58 ). It is now a small village of the same name, and is situated about 5 miles north-east of Hebron on the way to Jerusalem. There is an old Jewish tradition that Gad, David's seer ( 2 Samuel 24:11 ), was buried here.
grief; looking for grief
(trembling ), a town of Judah in the mountain district. ( Joshua 16:68 ) The name still remains unaltered attached to a conspicuous hill a mile to the left of the road from Jerusalem to Hebron, between three and four miles from the latter.
HALHUL
hal'-hul (chalchul):
A city in the hill country of Judah (Joshua 15:58), "Halhul, Beth-zur and Gedor." It is without doubt the modern Chalchul, a village on a hill, surrounded by fine fields and vineyards, some 4 miles North of Hebron and less than a mile to the East of the modern carriage road. It is conspicuous from a considerable distance on account of its ancient mosque, Wely Nebi Yulnas, the "shrine of the Prophet Jonah"--a tradition going back at least to the 14th century. The mosque, which has a minaret or tower, is built upon a rock platform artificially leveled. In the 14th century it was stated by Isaac Chilo (a Jewish pilgrim) that the tomb of Gad the Seer (1 Samuel 22:5; 2 Samuel 24:11) was situated in this town. Beth-zur (Belt Sur) and Gedor (Jedur) are both near. In Josephus (BJ, IV, ix, 6) we read of an Alurus (where the Idumeans assembled), and in Jerome (OS 119 7) of a village Alula near Hebron, which both probably refer to the same place (PEF, III, 305; Sh XXI).
E. W. G. Masterman
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