Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

KIRIATH-JEARIM

(Heb. qiryaṯ yĕʿārîm)
(also KIRIATHARIM)

A city of Judah along its northern border with Benjamin, ca. 14.5 km. (9 mi.) W of Jerusalem in the central hill country near modern Abu Ghosh. Kiriath-jearim (“city of forests”) was also known as Baalah (Josh. 15:9), Baale-Judah (2 Sam. 6:2), or Kiriath-baal (Josh. 15:60; 18:14), examples of the demythologizing practice of the prophetic school, whereby names derived from natural elements were substituted for the original Canaanite deific names (Baal, Baalah). The ancient site is identified with Tell el-Achar (Deir al-ʿÂzar)/Tel Qiryat Yeʿarim (159135).

Kiriath-jearim was among the cities of the Gibeonites, whose treaty with Joshua (Josh. 9:17) granted them protection from Israelite attack. The Israelites hence came to the aid of the Gibeonites when they were attacked by the coalition of Amorite kings led by Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem.

In the account of the journey of the ark of the covenant after its capture by the Philistines, the people of Kiriath-jearim brought the ark to the house of Abinadab. There his son Eleazar was consecrated as its custodian (1 Sam. 6:21–7:2), and it remained in the city for 20 years until David sought to bring it to Jerusalem. A new cart was prepared, but when Uzzah died from handling the ark, it was left in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, and then was transported to the City of David and housed in a special tent erected for worship of the Lord (cf. 1 Chr. 13:1-14; 15:1–16:3).

The faithful prophet Uriah ben Shemaiah, a contemporary of Jeremiah, was from Kiriath-jearim (Jer. 26:20). Two men from Kiriath-jearim, Kephirah and Beeroth, were among the exiles of Judah who returned to Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel (Neh. 7:29[MT 28]). A variant form of the name of the city, Kiriatharim, is cited in the parallel text (Ezra 2:25).

Later the Romans built an outpost on the site along the road from Jerusalem to Antipatris, where the Tenth Legion was garrisoned. An inscribed column cylinder bearing this reference was found at the site.

R. Dennis Cole

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

KIRIATH-JEARIM

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)