2 Chronicles 14:10 - Exposition

The valley of Zephathah at Mareshah . "At" some translate "belonging to," some more suitably to the exact connection "near." The Hebrew here for" valley" is גֵיא . It can scarcely designate necessarily a "ravine." It is a valley in the sense of being a low, fiat region, in which springs of water "broke out." From Numbers 21:20 , the first occasion of its occurrence, to Zechariah 14:5 it is found fifty-six times, and is always rendered (Authorized Version) "valley;" it is the word used in the celebrated passages, "Though I walk through the valley" etc. ( Psalms 23:4 ); and "Every valley shall be exalted" ( Isaiah 40:4 ). The Septuagint, however, do not render it uniformly; but though they render it generally φάραξ , they also have ναπή κοίλας αὐλών , and in some cases the simple word γῆ , as e.g. ἐν γῇ ( γε ) ἑννόμ , ( 2 Chronicles 28:3 ; 2 Chronicles 33:6 ), which, nevertheless, elsewhere they describe as φάραξ ἑννόμ ( Joshua 15:8 ). The full explanation may probably be that the word is used for the valley that narrowed up to a ravine-like pass, or gorge, or that opened out into one of the wide wadies of the country; but see Stanley's 'Sinai and Palestine,' Appendix, pp. 482, 483, new edit; 1866. It is supposed that Zephathah is not mentioned elsewhere, but see the Zephath of 1:17 ; and comp. Numbers 21:3 : 1 Samuel 30:30 , which Keil and Bertheau think conclusively to be not the same.