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Ajalon / Aij'alon

Meaning: place of deer.

This was the name of 2 biblical places:

  1. a town and valley originally assigned to the tribe of Dan, from which, however, they could not drive the Amorites (Judg. 1:35)

    It was one of the Levitical cities given to the Kohathites (1 Chr. 6:69). It was not far from Beth-shemesh (2 Chr. 28:18). It was the boundary between the kingdoms of and Israel, and is frequently mentioned in Jewish history (2 Chr. 11:10; 1 Sam. 14:31; 1 Chr. 8:13).

    With reference to the valley named after the town, Joshua uttered the celebrated command, “Sun, stand thou still on Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon” (Josh. 10:12). (see: Miracles)

    It has been identified as the modern Yalo, at the foot of the Beth-horon pass. In the Tell Amarna letters Adoni-zedek 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.

  2. A city in the tribe of Zebulun (Judg. 12:12), the modern Jalun, three miles north of Cabul.