Aphek
Encyclopedia
The name Aphek refers to either:
- Locations mentioned by the BibleBibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
as the scenes of a number of battles, which have been thought since the turn of the 20th century to refer to the same location.- Most famously, a town near which one or more rulers of DamascusDamascusDamascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
named BenhadadBenhadadBenhadad, Ben Hadad, Ben-hadad , or Benadad , and may refer to:*Any king of Aram Damascus. Hadad was the name of the senior Aramean deity.*Particular kings of Aram-Damascus:**Ben-Hadad I...
, were defeated by the Israelites (1 Kings 20:26, 30; 2 Kings 13:17). The site is disputed; the common opinion in the early 20th century was that the town lay east of the Jordan and that the name is preserved in the modern Fek, three miles east of the Sea of GalileeSea of GalileeThe Sea of Galilee, also Kinneret, Lake of Gennesaret, or Lake Tiberias , is the largest freshwater lake in Israel, and it is approximately in circumference, about long, and wide. The lake has a total area of , and a maximum depth of approximately 43 m...
, on the edge of the plain of Jordan by the Golan Heights; later opinion, however, has focused on regarding this Aphek as the same as the scene of two battles against the Philistines mentioned by the Bible - the supposition being that the Syrians were invading Israel from the western side as being the most vulnerable. - A place at which the Bible states that the PhilistinesPhilistinesPhilistines , Pleshet or Peleset, were a people who occupied the southern coast of Canaan at the beginning of the Iron Age . According to the Bible, they ruled the five city-states of Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath, from the Wadi Gaza in the south to the Yarqon River in the north, but with...
had encamped, while the Israelites pitched in Eben-EzerEben-EzerEben-Ezer , is the name of a location that is mentioned by the Books of Samuel as the scene of battles between the Israelites and Philistines. It is specified as having been less than a day's journey by foot from Shiloh, near Aphek, in the neighbourhood of Mizpah, near the western entrance of the...
, before the Battle of AphekBattle of AphekThe Battle of Aphek is a biblical episode described in 1 Samuel 4:1-10 of the Hebrew Bible. During this battle the Philistines defeat the Israelite army and capture the Ark of the Covenant.-The Biblical account:...
in which the sons of Eli were killed. - A city of the tribe of IssacharIssacharIssachar/Yissachar was, according to the Book of Genesis, a son of Jacob and Leah , and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Issachar; however some Biblical scholars view this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite...
, near to Jezreel, in the north of the plain of Sharon. The scene, according to the Bible (1 Samuel. 4:1; 29:1; comp. 28:4), of another encampment of the Philistines, which led to the defeat and death of SaulSaul the KingAccording to the Bible, Saul was the first king of the united Kingdom of Israel. He was anointed by the prophet Samuel and reigned from Gibeah. He commited suicide to avoid arrest in the battle against the Philistines at Mount Gilboa, during which three of his sons were also killed...
.
- Most famously, a town near which one or more rulers of Damascus
- Aphik, a city of the tribe of AsherTribe of AsherAccording to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Asher! was one of the Tribes of Israel.Following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes after about 1200 BCE, Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes...
. Identified as Tel AfekTel AfekTel Afek, , also spelled Aphek, is an archaeological site located in the coastal hinterland of the Ein Afek Nature Reserve, east of Kiryat Bialik, Israel....
near Haifa or Aphaca in Lebanon.