Smith's Bible Dictionary

(Frankie) #1

(brick fortress), (2 Kings 3:25) Kir-ha’resh, (Isaiah 16:11) Kir-har’es, (Jeremiah 48:31,36)
These four names are all applied to one place, probably Kir Of Moab OF MOAB, which see.
Kiriah
apparently an ancient or archaic word, meaning a city or town. It may be compared to the word
“burg” or “bury” in our own language. Closely related to Kiriah is Kereth, apparently a Phoenician
form, which occurs occasionally. (Job 29:7; Proverbs 8:3) As a proper name it appears in the Bible
under the forms of Kerioth, Kartah, Kartan, besides those immediately following.
Kiriathaim
[KIRJATHAIM]
Kirioth
(two cities), a place in Moab the palaces of which were threatened by Amos with destruction
by fire, (Amos 2:2) unless indeed the word means simply “the cities,” which is probably the case
also in (Jeremiah 48:4)
Kirjath
(a city), the last of the cities enumerated as belonging to the tribe of Benjamin, (Joshua 18:28)
probably identical with the better-known place Kirjath-jearim.
Kirjatharba
(the city of Arba), an early name of the city which after the conquest is generally known as
Hebron. (Joshua 14:15; Judges 1:10) The identity of Kirjath-arba with Hebron is constantly asserted.
(Genesis 23:2; 35:27; Joshua 14:15; 15:13,54; 20:7; 21:11)
Kirjatharim
(city of forests), an abbreviated form of the name Kirjath-jearim, which occurs only in (Ezra
2:25)
Kirjathbaal
[KIRJATH-JEARIM]
Kirjathhuzoth
(city of streets), a place to which Balak accompanied Balaam immediately after his arrival in
Moab, (Numbers 22:39) and which is nowhere else mentioned. It appears to have lain between the
Arnon (Wady Mojeb) and Bamoth-baal. Comp. vs. (Numbers 22:36) and Numb 22:41
Kirjathjearim
(the city of forests), first mentioned as one of the four cities of the Gibeonites, (Joshua 9:17) it
next occurs as one of the landmarks of the northern boundary of Judah, ch (Joshua 15:9) and as the
point at which the western and southern boundaries of Benjamin coincided, ch. (Joshua 18:14,15)
and in the last two passages we find that it bore another, perhaps earlier, name—that of the great
Canaanite deity Baal, namely Baalah and KIRJATH-BAAL. At this place the ark remained for
twenty years. (1 Samuel 7:2) At the close of that time Kirjath-jearim lost its sacred treasure, on its
removal by David to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. (1 Chronicles 13:5,6; 2 Chronicles 1:4;
2 Samuel 6:2) etc. To Eusebius and Jerome it appears to have been well known. They describe it
as a village at the ninth mile between Jerusalem and Diospolis (Lydda). These requirements are
exactly fulfilled in the small modern village of Kuriet-el-Enab—now usually known as Abu Gosh,
from the robber chief whose headquarters it was—on the road from Jaffa and Jerusalem.
Kirjathsannah
(city of books). [Debir]
Kirjathsepher

Free download pdf