- DOPHKAH knocking, an encampment of the Israelites in the wilderness
(Numbers 33:12). It was in the desert of Sin, on the eastern shore of the
western arm of the Red Sea, somewhere in the Wady Feiran. - DOR dwelling, the Dora of the Romans, an ancient royal city of the
Canaanites (Joshua 11:1, 2; 12:23). It was the most southern settlement of
the Phoenicians on the coast of Syria. The original inhabitants seem never
to have been expelled, although they were made tributary by David. It was
one of Solomon’s commissariat districts (Judges 1:27; 1 Kings 4:11). It has
been identified with Tantura (so named from the supposed resemblance of
its tower to a tantur, i.e., “a horn”). This tower fell in 1895, and nothing
remains but debris and foundation walls, the remains of an old Crusading
fortress. It is about 8 miles north of Caesarea, “a sad and sickly hamlet of
wretched huts on a naked sea-beach.” - DORCAS a female antelope, or gazelle, a pious Christian widow at
Joppa whom Peter restored to life (Acts 9:36-41). She was a Hellenistic
Jewess, called Tabitha by the Jews and Dorcas by the Greeks. - DOTHAN two wells, a famous pasture-ground where Joseph found his
brethren watching their flocks. Here, at the suggestion of Judah, they sold
him to the Ishmaelite merchants (Genesis 37:17). It is mentioned on
monuments in B.C. 1600.
It was the residence of Elisha (2 Kings 6:13), and the scene of a remarkable
vision of chariots and horses of fire surrounding the mountain on which the
city stood. It is identified with the modern Tell-Dothan, on the south side
of the plain of Jezreel, about 12 miles north of Samaria, among the hills of
Gilboa. The “two wells” are still in existence, one of which bears the name
of the “pit of Joseph” (Jubb Yusuf).
- DOUGH (batsek, meaning “swelling,” i.e., in fermentation). The dough
the Israelites had prepared for baking was carried away by them out of
Egypt in their kneading-troughs (Exodus 12:34, 39). In the process of
baking, the dough had to be turned (Hos. 7:8). - DOVE In their wild state doves generally build their nests in the clefts of
rocks, but when domesticated “dove-cots” are prepared for them (Cant.
2:14; Jeremiah 48:28; Isaiah 60:8). The dove was placed on the standards
of the Assyrians and Babylonians in honour, it is supposed, of Semiramis
(Jeremiah 25:38; Vulg., “fierceness of the dove;” comp. Jeremiah 46:16;