MA8PHA
789
ICASPHA
play on the Hebrew words is not unnatural if we
suppose that the spot itself or some neighbouring
height was already called Maspha. The name seems
to nave gradually extended from the height to the
whole region (Judges, xi, 29). The monument was
probably a cairn or a dolmen. While the latter is
suggested by the flat surface on which they ate
(verse 46; Joseph us, "Ant.", T, xix, II; Conder, "Heth
and Moab, 241), the sepulchral destination of the
dolmens and the ambiguity of the Hebrew militate
against this view (Schumacher, Across the Jordan
pass.'*).
Aroimd Jacob's monument Israel assembled to re-
5 el Ammon (Judges, x, 17). Thither they summoned ephte, "and Jephte spoke all his words before the Lord at Maspha" (Judges, xi, U). By Maspha of Galaad (a region?) he marched against Ammon, and after victory " to Maspha to his house " . The Septua- gint translates by aKoxla the rendezvous of Israel, and the place by which Jephte passed over against Ammon. They thus distinguish between the sanctuary and town, and a watch-tower on the height above (cf. Palmer, op. cit., II, 512-513); but in Osee, y, 1, they likewise use the common noun when parallelism mam- festly requires the proper name. At Maspha prob- ably Jephte was buried (Judges, xii, 7, anci variants in Kittel, and perhaps Josephus, "Antiquities'* V, vii, 12).
identification. — We cannot decide whether the Maspha of Jacob and Jephte is identical with Ramath hdm-Mf9p^h (Jos., xiii, 26), or both with Rdmoth Gil'ed (III Kings, iv, 13), nor even whether Maspha refers to one or many places. In Jephte's history it seems near the borders of Ammon, in ^hat of Judas Macca- basus far to the N. E., and, if we place here the events of Judges, xxi-xxii, near the Western frontier (G. A. Smith, "Hist. Geog. of H. Land", 586). Jacob was coming from Padan Aram and probably approached Galaad by the Hajj route. Turning westward N. of Jabeoc he would traverse the valley of Jerash. About four miles from Jerash, S. E. of Mahneh (before Mahanaim?), on a high mountain overhanging the valley, is the village of S (if in a locality rich in dol- mens. Many identify with Maspha this place whose derivation may be identical with and whose name recalls the 2€j8«t^ of Josephus, 1. c. But Dr. Schumacher discovered N. E. of Jerash Tell Md^fah, whose summit dominating all the surrounding heights is strewn with dolmens and stone-hewn altars. The ideal site, exact preservation of the ancient name and the veneration still attaching to the spot (it is still a ma*bad) all justif^r its identification with Maspha.
For identification with Ramath GUead and es-Salt cf.: — SCBWARTS, Tebuolh ha-Arez, 269, 270 (Jerusalem, 1900); v. RicflS. Btbliache Geographte (Freibui^ im Br.. 1872). 64. Against it cf. Driver, Commentary on DeiUeronomu (Edin- bunh, 1902).
For SOf: etc.: — Conder, HHh and Moab (London, 1889), 181; Armbtrono, Names and Places in the Old Testament (London, 1887); OUPHANT. Land of Oalaad (London, 1880), 209-18; Buhl, Oeooraphxe des Alten PaUlstina (Freiburg im Br., '96); Mbrrxll, East of Jordan, 365-374; Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 487, 679 (London, 1907); Mittheilungen und Nachriehten des deut. palnst. Vereins, 1897, 66; 1899, If, 06.
Maspha op Benjamin. — History. — Maspha was assigned to Benjamin by Josue (Jos., xviii, 26) . Here, according to many, Israel assembled to avenge the outrage on the Levite's wife, and swore not to give their daughters in marriage to the survivors. But as they would scarcely have gathered in the heart of the enemy's country, others place the events of Judges, xx-xxi, at Maspha of Galaad. Note that Jabes Galaad is mentioned in close connexion with the camp of Israel. Further, Judges, xx. 3, implies that Maspha was outside the borders of Benjamin. To Maspha Samuel when Judge convoked all Israel, prayed for them there while they defeated the Philistines, and erected a monument to commemorate the victoiy be- tween Maspha and Sen (I Kings, vii, 5>12). Here he
held some of his chief assizes (Kings, x, 13-16), and
his final assembly for the election of Saul (ibid., 17).
Two hundred and fifty years later Maspha was forti-
fied by Asa, King of Juda, with the materials left be-
hind at Rama by King Baasa in his hasty march
northwards against the Syrians (III Kings, xv, 22;
II Par., xvi, 6). Jerusalem destroyed (586 b. c.)
Godolias, Governor of Juda, made Maspha his head-
Quarters (Jer., xli, 6; IV Kings, xxv, 23 sq.) and there
tne tragic events of Jer^ xlii, took place. In the re-
building of the walls of Jerusalem the lords of Maspha
took an active part (II Esd., iii, 7, 15, 17). Some in-
fer from verse 7 that Maspha was the seat of govern-
ment (HSlscher, " Pal&stina in der Pers. und Hellen.
Zeit", 29); but this is unlikely (Smith, " Jerusaleni**,
II, 354 n.) . Judas Machabeus, preparing for war with
the Syrians, gathered his men to Maspha, over
against Jerusalem: for in Maspha was a place of
prayer heretofore in Isnier' (I Mach., iii, 46), and
transported thither the ritualistic observances.
Identification: — (a) Many moderns suggest Nebt- Sdmwtl, the most striking position around Jerusalem, and identify Maspha with Rama and Ramathaim- Sophim, relying chiefly on the connexion with Samuel implied by the mociem name. In that case the rendezvous for the Benjaminite war must be sought in Galaad or Ephraim, perhaps near Silo, and the "house of the Lord" (Jer., xli, 6) cannot refer to Jerusalem, (b) Gu^rin (Jud^e^ I, 395-4(K2) placed Maspha at Sh&fat, a village on high ground overlooking Jerusalem, but his etymology is suspect, and SMfat suits neither III Kmgs, xv, 22, nor I Mach., iii, 46. The same objections hold for Tell el-Fiil only three miles N. of Jerusalem, (c) Others suggest Tell en-Ndsbeh, which commands a narrow defile on the high road two miles S. of el-B!reh. (d) Perhaps the best conjecture is el-Blreh, which has a copious water supply, IS sufficiently northerly to permit of a camp there against Benjamin, lies on the road from Silo to Jerusalem, and is near Bethel (cf. Josephus, " Antiq.", V, ii, 10). This identification was expressly made by Surius ("Le Pieux P^lerin'*, III. ii, 547, Brussels, 1660), and by some copies of the map of Sanuto (1306) (Rohricht "Zeitschr. des deut. paliist. Ver- eins, " 1898, Map 6). Near the village is a large spring, 'In MfsbAh, whose name may be a modernization of Maspha. Burchard (1283), indeed, identifies el-Btreh with Machmas (" Peregrinationes medii aevi quatuor", Leipzig, 1873. p. 56), and similarly others [e. g. Maun- drell (1697) in "Pinkerton Voyages", X, 337]; but Machmas was certainly elsewhere, and the identifica- tion serves only to show that the homophony of Be-
roth and Blreh is not conclusive.
For the testimony of Eusebius and the Franks cf . Heidet in ViGOUROUx, Diet, de la Bible, s. v. For identification with (a) cf., Schwartz, op. cit., 152, 402; Armstrong, op. cU., 127; Robinson, Biblical Researches, II (Boston, 1841), 139-149; Survey of Western Palestine, Memoirs, III, 144: Buhl, op. eit., 167; Fischer Guthe, Map of Palestine; (b) Srafat: — V. RiBSS, op. cit., p. 64 ; Gatt in Das heilige Land (Cologne, 1879), 119-126; 154-160; 184-194; Stanley, -Sinai and Palestine, (London, 1871) 226; Haoen, Index Topogrcmhicus (Paris, 1908); DE Saulct, Voyage atUour de la Mer Morte, I (Paris, 1883). 112-115: (c) Vin cent, /2eru«BiWi9u«( 1898), 630; (1899), 315-316; (1901), 151; (1902), 458; Conder, Palestine Explora- tion Fund Quarterly (1898), 169, 251; Raboisson. Les Mizpeh (Paris, 1807); (d) Heidet in Remie Biblique, 1894,321-356, 450; 1895. 97; Idem in Revue d'Orient, 1898, 295-300; Ixi Pales- tine, Guide historique et pratique (Paris, 1904), 317 sqq.
Maspha of Juda (ham-Mi^peh, Masepha, Mcw^a) is placed in*the Sephela, in the second group of towns
- in the lot of Juda ", between Delea and Jechtel (Jos.,
XV, 38). Eusebius and Jerome place it in the temtory of Eleutheropolis near the road to Elia. William of Tyre mentions a crusading fortress eight miles N. of Ascalon near the frontiers of Palestine and Simeon, called Tell es-Saphi-Blanche Garde-Alba Specula. This is undoubtedly Tell es-S&ftyeh and is commonlv identified with Maspha. Both places served to watch Ascalon. The map of Madaba calls the place 2a^i^a«
