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Ephraim, Wood of

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(יִעִר אֶפְרִיַם; Sept. δρυμὰς Ε᾿φραϊ v μ ), a forest (the word yaar imploring dense growth), in which the fatal battle was fought between the armies of David and of Absalom (2 Samuel 18:6), and the entanglement in which added greatly to the slaughter of the latter (2 Samuel 18:8). It would be very tempting to believe that the forest derived its name from the place near which Absalom's sheep-farm was situated (2 Samuel 13:23), and which would have been a natural spot for his headquarters before the battle, especially associated as it was with the murder of Amnon. Moreover, there appears to have been another woodland of Ephraim in the mountains belonging to that tribe in this neighborhood (Joshua 17:15-18).

But the statements of Joshua 17:24, 26, and also the expression of Joshua 18:3, "That thou succor us out of the city," i.e., Mahanaim, allow no escape from the conclusion that the locality was on the east side of Jordan, though it is impossible to account satisfactorily for the presence of the name of Ephraim on that side of the river. The suggestion is due to Grotius that the name was derived from the slaughter of Ephraim at the fords of Jordan by the Gileadites under Jephthah (Judges 12:1; Judges 12:4-5); but that occurrence took place at the very brink of the river itself, while the city of Mahanaim and the wooded country must have lain several miles away from the stream, and on the higher ground above the Jordan valley. Is it not at least equally probable that the forest derived its name from this very battle? The great tribe of Ephraim, though not specially mentioned in the transactions of Absalom's revolt, cannot fail to have taken the most conspicuous part in the affair, and the reverse was a more serious one than had overtaken the tribe for a very long time, and possibly combined with other circumstances to retard materially their rising into an independent kingdom. But others suppose that it was because the Ephraimites were in the habit of bringing their flocks into this quarter for pasture; for the Jews allege that the Ephraimites received from Joshua, who was of their tribe, permission to feed their flocks in the woodlands within the territories of any of the tribes of Israel; and that, as this forest lay near their territories on the other side the Jordan, they were wont to drive their flocks over to feed there (see Jarchi, Kimchi, Abarbanel, etc., on 2 Samuel 18:6). It is probably referred to under the name EPHRATAH (See EPHRATAH) (q.v.) in Psalms 132:6, where the other member of the verse has "fields of the wood." Others, however, not unreasonably suppose this to be a different locality. (See FOREST).

2. In "Baal-hazor, which is 'by' Ephraim," was Absalom's sheep-farm, at which took place the murder of Amnon, one of the earliest precursors of the great revolt (2 Samuel 13:23). The Hebrew particle עִם , rendered above "by" (A.V. "beside"), always seems to imply actual proximity, and therefore we should conclude that Ephraim was not the tribe of that name, but a town. The cities of Dan and Asher are other instances of localities beyond the tribes, yet bearing their names; and the former suggests that the appellation may in all these cases have arisen by colonization. Ewald conjectures that the place here in question is identical with EPHRAIN, EPHRO, and OPHRAH of the O.T., and also with the EPHRAIM which was for a time the residence of our Lord (Gesch. 3:219, note). But with regard to the first three names there is the difficulty that they are spelt with the guttural letter ayin, and this is very rarely exchanged for the aleph, which commences the name before us. The Sept. makes the following addition to 2 Samuel 13:34 : "And the watchman went and told the king, and said, I have seen men on the road of the Oronen (τῆς ὠρωνῆν, Alex. τῶν ὀρεωνῆν ) by the side of the mountain." Ewald considers this to be a genuine addition, and to refer to Beth-horon, N.W. of Jerusalem, off the Nablus road, but the indication is surely too slight for such an inference. Any force it may have is against the identity of this Ephraim with that in John 11:54, which was probably in the direction N.E. of Jerusalem. Nevertheless, the best solution of the question appears to be to identify this place with the one following. (See BAAL-HAZOR).

3. A city (Ε᾿φραϊ v μ λεγομένην πόλιν ) "in the district near the wilderness," to which our Lord retired with his disciples when threatened with violence by the priests in consequence of having raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:54). By the "wilderness" (ἔρημος ) is probably meant the wild uncultivated hill-country N.E. of Jerusalem, lying between the central towns and the Jordan valley (see Lightfoot, Hor. Hebrews pages 97, 953). In this case the conjecture of Dr. Robinson is very admissible, that OPHRAH (See OPHRAH) (q.v.) of Benjamin (Joshua 18:23) and Ephraim are identical, and that their modern representation is et-Taiyibeh, a village on a conspicuous conical hill, commanding a view "over the whole eastern slope, the valley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea" (Researches, 2:121). It is placed by Eusebius (Onomast. s.v. Ε᾿φρών ) eight Roman miles north of Jerusalem, while Jerome, with more probability, makes the distance 20 Roman miles. This indication would seem to make it the same with the EPHRAIN or EPHRON which is mentioned in 2 Chronicles 13:19, along with Bethel and Jeshanah, as towns taken from Jeroboam by Abijah. This, again, is doubtless the same which Josephus also names (Ε᾿φραϊ v μ ) along with Bethel as "two small cities" (πολίχνια ), which were taken and garrisoned by Vespasian while reducing the country around Jerusalem (War, 4:9, 9). It is likewise probably identical with the EPHRAIM (see above) near Baal-Hazor (2 Samuel 13:23). (See APHAEREMA).