Wady Suleikhat, 9 miles north of the Jabbok. If we fix Mahanaim here we can understand why the name is in the dual form—the two Mahans or camps—for the ruins lie on both sides of the stream which here runs down the Wady Suleikhat into the Jordan. Khurbet Suleikhat is some 300 feet above the plain, and among the foot-hills, in such a way that it overlooks the valley, while the road running north and south along the valley passes nearly a mile to the west of it. A watchman from a tower could see to the north a considerable distance, also clear across the valley to the west, and down the valley to the south a long stretch, nearly or quite to the point where the Jabbok and the Jordan unite, at the foot of Kurn Surtabeh.
We can now understand the account of the messengers who bore the news of Absalom's death to David. The battle between Joab and Absalom took place a little to the south-east of Mahanaim. Josephus says that Joab "put his army in battle array over against the enemy in the great plain where he had a wood behind him" (Antiq. vii. 9, 8, and 10, 1-5). Absalom's men were routed, and fled through the forests and valleys, pursued by David's men. The battle was scattered over the face of all the country (2 Sam. xviii. 8), and probably extended to the foot-hills. The two messengers appear to start from some point on the hills, where Joab stood on vantage ground. "The Cushite," an Ethiopian slave of Joab's, attempted to go across over deep wadies and broken ground; but Ahimaaz, who knew the country better, struck down to the Jordan Valley, and ran by the way of the Plain (the Kikkar) where he had a level and smooth road all the rest of the way. Consequently, although he started second, he arrived first. David sat between the two gates at Mahanaim, and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate unto the wall, whence he descried the messengers approaching.
