Revised Version has “Abel-cheramim” (q.v.), comp. Judges 11:22; 2
Chronicles 16:4.
(2.) Hebrews ‘elon (Genesis 12:6; 13:18; 14:13; 18:1; Deuteronomy 11:30;
Judges 9:6), more correctly “oak,” as in the Revised Version; margin,
“terebinth.”
(3.) Hebrews bik’ah (Genesis 11:2; Nehemiah 6:2; Ezekiel 3:23; Daniel
3:1), properly a valley, as rendered in Isaiah 40:4, a broad plain between
mountains. In Amos 1:5 the margin of Authorized Version has
“Bikathaven.”
(4.) Hebrews kikar, “the circle,” used only of the Ghor, or the low ground
along the Jordan (Genesis 13:10-12; 19:17, 25, 28, 29; Deuteronomy 34:3;
2 Samuel 18:23; 1 Kings 7:46; 2 Chronicles 4:17; Nehemiah 3:22; 12:28),
the floor of the valley through which it flows. This name is applied to the
Jordan valley as far north as Succoth.
(5.) Hebrews mishor, “level ground,” smooth, grassy table-land
(Deuteronomy 3:10; 4:43; Joshua 13:9, 16, 17, 21; 20:8; Jeremiah 48:21),
an expanse of rolling downs without rock or stone. In these passages, with
the article prefixed, it denotes the plain in the tribe of Reuben. In 2
Chronicles 26:10 the plain of Judah is meant. Jerusalem is called “the rock
of the plain” in Jeremiah 21:13, because the hills on which it is built rise
high above the plain.
(6.) Hebrews ‘arabah, the valley from the Sea of Galilee southward to the
Dead Sea (the “sea of the plain,” 2 Kings 14:25; Deuteronomy 1:1; 2:8), a
distance of about 70 miles. It is called by the modern Arabs the Ghor. This
Hebrew name is found in Authorized Version (Joshua 18:18), and is
uniformly used in the Revised Version. Down through the centre of this
plain is a ravine, from 200 to 300 yards wide, and from 50 to 100 feet
deep, through which the Jordan flows in a winding course. This ravine is
called the “lower plain.”
The name Arabah is also applied to the whole Jordan valley from Mount
Hermon to the eastern branch of the Red Sea, a distance of about 200
miles, as well as to that portion of the valley which stretches from the Sea
of Galilee to the same branch of the Red Sea, i.e., to the Gulf of Akabah
about 100 miles in all.