102 THE DEAD SEA WATERSHED.
may have taken temporary shelter, before he hurried away to the Jordan and Gilead. David's intention to take this route appears to have become known to Mephibosheth, who antici- pated the entrance of David and his forces into the neighbour- hood of his patrimonial estate around Jeba (Gibeah of Saul), by sending a present, which met David " a little past the top of the hill " (Olives) but which however the king refused to accept, in consequence of eliciting from Ziba, his master's intention to intrigue for the restoration of himself to the throne which his father had lost, and for which David had to struggle. Perhaps this rebuff became known to Shimei at Bahurim ('Almit), and excited the anger which he displayed along the hill side, without regard to his own safety, as David went either towards Wady Farah or towards Hizmeh. The latter seems the preferable route, because, while David's immediate object was temporary shelter among the natural fastnesses by the way of the wilderness, his destination in the event of receiving unfavourable intelligence was Mahanaim on the north of Gilead. The temporary shelter which David selected with the further object in view, might have been the rocky fastness on the east of Jeba and south of Mukhmas, from which his friend Jonathan had expelled the Philistines. This natural fortress is three miles beyond 'Almit, and fifteen miles due west of the Jordan with a direct and main road to the fords. Here David got the advice to leave " this night and pass quickly over the water," 2 Sam. xvii, 16, 21, and he accomplished the march before daylight. If the more direct route to Gilead had been taken by Jisr Damieh and the Kiver Jabbok, it could scarcely have been accomplished in a night by a considerable body of armed men, for the distance is not far short of eight-and-twenty miles. The shorter route is therefore preferred. The further discussion of this interesting period in the history of David, must await the
extension of the Survey to the east of Jordan.
