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23-451: The Ayalon Valley has been an important route connecting the coastal plain and Jerusalem for generations. Due to its location, several battles were fought in its vicinity. The Hebrew Bible gives the valley its name from Ayalon, a city that the Tribe of Dan possessed before their migration to the north. In the modern period, ancient Ayalon was identified with the former village of Yalo at

46-554: A later date it became the residence of Jonathan Maccabaeus and the seat of his government . Modern scholars have suggested that Michmas was a priestly settlement during the Second Temple period. It was inhabited up until Bar-Kokhba revolt , during the early 2nd century CE. The Mishnah teaches that the finest of the wheat used in the offering of the Omer was taken from Michmas and from Zanoah ( Menachot 8:1). During

69-421: A sharp rock on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez and the name of the other Seneh.’ They clambered up the cliff and overpowered the garrison ‘within as it were an half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plough.’ The main body of the enemy awakened by the mêlée thought they were surrounded by Saul's troops and ‘melted away and they went on beating down one another.’ A divinely sent earthquake,

92-708: Is an area of flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and an upland area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States . The Gulf Coastal Plain of North America extends northwards from the Gulf of Mexico along the Lower Mississippi River to the Ohio River , which is a distance of about 981 miles (1,579 km). The Atlantic Coastal Plain runs from

115-577: The Amorites , before the arrival of the Israelites under Joshua. But since the valley stretches as far to the west as to a point halfway between Sha'alvim and Latrun , the city referenced in these letters may have been any settlement in the valley. Ajalon is mentioned in the accounts of an invasion of Canaan by the Egyptian king Sheshonk I of Egypt in the 10th century BCE. The Valley of Ayalon

138-733: The Deccan Plateau , along the western and eastern coasts of India. They extend for about 6,150 km from the Rann of Kutch in the west to West Bengal in the east. They are broadly divided into the Western Coastal Plains and the Eastern Coastal Plains . The two coastal plains meet at Kanyakumari , the southernmost tip of the Indian mainland. The eastern coastal plain is located between The Bay of Bengal and

161-571: The New Testament . In the Tell el-Amarna letters , written during the last twelve years of Pharaoh Akhenaten and the first regnal year of Tutankhamun (14th century BCE), Abdi-Heba speaks of the destruction of the "city of Ajalon" by the invaders, and describes himself as "afflicted, greatly afflicted" by the calamities that had come on the land, urging the king of Egypt to hasten to his help. This event may have been connected to an attack of

184-485: The New York Bight to Florida. Coastal plains can form in one of two ways. Some start as a continental shelf , a flat piece of land located below sea level, and are created when the ocean level falls, exposing the land. Others develop when river currents carry sediment into the ocean, which is deposited and builds up over time until it forms a coastal plain. The Coastal Plains of India lie on either side of

207-950: The Old Testament and noting the philological similarities between the Arabic name and its Hebrew root, Robinson concluded that the Yalo was indeed Aijalon. Canada Park , Yad La-Shiryon , the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration and the Latrun Monastery are located in the Ayalon Valley. 31°50′25″N 35°01′21″E  /  31.84028°N 35.02250°E  / 31.84028; 35.02250 Coastal plain A coastal plain (also coastal plains , coastal lowland , coastal lowlands )

230-506: The West Bank , which preserves its ancient name. The nearby Israeli settlement Ma'ale Mikhmas , founded in 1981, is also named after the biblical town. Michmas was located near Geba , east of Bethel and south of Migron , and on the road to Jerusalem. Michmas lay on the line of march of an invading army from the north, on the north side of the steep and precipitous Nahal Michmas stream, known in Arabic as Wadi es-Suweinit ("valley of

253-551: The 1980s, 4 clusters of tombs, consisting of roughly 70 burial caves , were found in the vicinity of modern-day Mukhmas. In one of the burial caves, an ancient graffiti of a seven-branched menorah was found, together with a Paleo-Hebrew inscription. In the 1990s, German researchers purchased a ossuary found in Mukhmas bearing the name ‘ Shimeon L[evi] ’, written in the Hebrew alphabet . During World War I , British forces under

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276-626: The Lord to lengthen the day by uttering the command: "Sun, stand thou still on Gibeon ; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Aijalon". Joshua 10:11–14 records that God cooperated with Joshua's request. Following the conquest, the city of Ajalon was apportioned to the Tribe of Dan ( Joshua 19:42 ) and was designated as one of the Levitical cities given to the Kohathites ( Joshua 21:24 and 1 Chronicles 6:69 ). In spite of Joshua's initial victory in

299-743: The Valley of Ajalon, the Amorites continued to live in the city of Ajalon ( Judges 1:34–35 ). Constant Philistine pressure to control the valleys of the Shephelah forced the tribe of Dan to retreat westward, reducing the extent of their territory. Eventually, the Danites abandoned their initial inheritance in the Aijalon area and moved to the extreme northern part of Israel, settling in the city of Laish, which they renamed Dan ( Judges 18 ). The location

322-688: The base of the Bethoron pass , which preserved the ancient, biblical name. Today, the Ayalon Valley is home to several kibbutzim and moshavim , including Sha'alvim , Mishmar Ayalon , Nahshon , and Kfar Bin Nun . The valley is also home to Canada Park , a national park , the Yad La-Shiryon (Armored Corps Museum) , Mini Israel , the Latrun Monastery and Emmaus Nicopolis , an archeological site commonly identified with Emmaus of

345-540: The boundary between the kingdoms of Judah and Israel . Rehoboam , the first king of Judah, fortified the city of Aijalon, supplying officers, weapons and food provisions ( 2 Chronicles 11:5–12 ). Ajalon's identification with Yalo was made by Edward Robinson during his travels in Palestine in 1838. Using the works of Jerome and Eusebius of Caesarea , who describe Aijalon as being two Roman miles from Nicopolis , while also drawing upon descriptions of Aijalon in

368-617: The command of General Allenby were to face the Turks at the same location. Major Vivian Gilbert of the British army relates the story of an unnamed brigade major who was reading his Bible while contemplating the situation against the Ottoman forces. The brigade major remembered a town by the name of Michmash mentioned somewhere in the Bible. He found the verses, and discovered that there

391-498: The eastern Ghats and the western coastal plain is located between the Arabian Sea and the western Ghats. This article related to topography is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Michmash Michmas ( / ˈ m ɪ k m æ ʃ / ; Hebrew : מִכְמָשׂ or מִכְמָס , romanized :  Mīḵmās , lit.   'laid up (concealed) place') was an Israelite and Jewish town located in

414-552: The effects of which were noted by Saul's watchmen, threw the Philistine camp into turmoil. By the time Saul and his men came on the scene, many of the Philistines had slaughtered one another in confusion and the rest had taken to flight. Isaiah mentions the town in the context of Sennacherib 's invasion during the reign of Hezekiah ( Isa 10:28 ). After the captivity the men of the place returned ( Ezr 2:27; Neh 7:31 ). At

437-514: The element of surprise and with confidence in God's help, King Saul 's son Jonathan and his armour-bearer attacked and killed many in the Philistines garrison, causing panic throughout and a Philistine rout. It tells how Jonathan and his armor-bearer showed themselves ‘to the Philistines’ garrison’ on the other side, and how they passed two sharp rocks: ‘there was a sharp rock on the one side, and

460-688: The highlands north of Jerusalem . According to the Hebrew Bible , it belonged to the Tribe of Benjamin . It was the setting of the biblical Battle of Michmash , recounted in 1 Samuel 14 . Michmas was inhabited during the Second Temple period , when, according to the Mishnah , its fine wheat was brought to the Temple . Michmas is identified with the Palestinian village of Mukhmas in

483-680: The little thorn-tree" or "the acacia "). The town is known by its connection with the Philistine war of Saul and Jonathan , as it was the site of the Battle of Michmash recounted in the Bible. In 1 Samuel 13 ‘And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that were present with them, abode in Gibeah of Benjamin , but the Philistines encamped in Michmas. According to this record, with

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506-421: Was also the site of a great victory over the Philistines by King Saul and his son Jonathan . After a daring attack by Jonathan on the Philistine garrison at Michmash , they pursued the Philistines to Aijalon, a distance of fifteen miles ( 1 Samuel 14:31 ). In later years, Aijalon was inhabited by Ephraimites and Benjamites ( 1 Chronicles 6:69 and 1 Chronicles 8:13 ). After the kingdom divided, Ajalon became

529-576: Was first mentioned in the Book of Joshua as where Joshua defeated five Amorite kings. Following his midnight march to rescue the city of Gibeon from the coalition led by the King of Jebus (Jerusalem), Joshua pursued the coalition eastward, down through the descent of Beth-horon, and then southward across the Valley of Ajalon. To allow the Israelites to complete the rout before nightfall, Joshua asked

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