Bahurim

Bahu'rim (Heb. Bachurim', בִּחֻרים, or [in 2Sa 3:16; 2Sa 19:17] בִּחוּרַים, low grounds, otherwise young men's village; Sept. Βαουρίμ, but Βαχουρίμ [v. r. Βαρακίμ] in 2Sa 3:16; Josephus Βαχουρής, Ant. 7:9, 7, ed. Havercamp; for other var. readings, see Reland, Palaest. p. 614), a place not far from Jerusalem, of which the slight notices remaining connect it almost exclusively with the flight of David (q.v.) from his son Absalom (q.v.). It was apparently on or close to the road leading up from the Jordan valley to Jerusalem. Shimei, the son of Gera, resided here (2Sa 17:18; 1Ki 2:8), and from the village, when David, having left the "top of the mount" behind him, was making his way down the eastern slopes of Olivet into the Jordan valley below. Shimei issued forth, and running along (Josephus διατρεχων) on the side or "rib" of the hill over against the king's party, flung his stones and dust, and foul abuse (16:5), with a virulence which is to this day exhibited in the East toward fallen greatness, however eminent it may previously have been. Here in the court of a house was the well in which Jonathan and Ahimaaz eluded their pursuers (17:18). In his account of the occurrence, Josephus (Ant. 7:9, 7) distinctly states that Bahurim lay off the main road (παῖδες ἐκτραπέντες τῆς ὁδοῦ), which agrees well with the account of Shimei's behavior. Here Phaltiel, the husband of Michal, bade farewell to his wife on her return to king David at Hebron (2Sa 3:16). Bahurim must have been near the southern boundary of Benjamin; but it is not mentioned in the lists in Joshua, nor is any explanation given of its being Benjamite, as, from Shimei's residing there, we may conclude it was. In the Targum Jonathan on 2Sa 16:5, we find it given as Almon (עִלמֹן); but the situation of Almon (see Jos 21:18) will not at all suit the requirements of Bahurim. Dr. Barclay conjectures that the place lay where some ruins (apparently those called Kubbeh on Van de Velde's Map, near the remains of Deir es-Sid, as in Robinson's Researches, 2:109) still exist close to a Wady Ruwaby, which runs in a straight course for three miles from Olivet toward Jordan, offering the nearest, though not the best route (City of the Great King, p. 563). AZMAVETH "the Barhumite" (2Sa 23:31), or "the Baharumite" (1Ch 11:33), one of the heroes of David's guard, is the only native of Bahurim that we hear of except Shimei. — Smith, s.v.