Kiriath- Jearim

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KIRIATH-JEARIM ('town of woods') - One of the towns of the Gibeonites (Jos.9.17), occupied by the Danites (Jg.18.12), on the border between Judah and Benjamin (Jos.15.9, 18.14), but reckoned in the territory of Judah (Jos.15.60). From there David brought up the Ark (2 S.6.2, 1 Ch.13.5, 2 Ch.1.4). Its older names were Kiriath-baal (Jos.15.60) and Baalah (Jos.15.9f, 1 Ch.13.6). It is also mentioned as Baale-judah (2 S.6.2), and through a textual error as Kiriath-arim (Ezr.2.25; cf Neh.7.29). It was probably, like Kedesh, Gezer, etc., an old Canaanite 'high place.' In Jer.26.20 it is mentioned as the home of Uriah the prophet, the son of Shemaiah. Other residents of the town are also referred to in 1 Ch.2.50, 53 and 1 Es.5.19, the latter naming the place Kiriath-arim (AV Kiriathiarius, RV Kariathiarius).

An early attempt to locate the town suggested Khirbet 'Erma, on the S. of the valley of Sorek, where the narrow valley opens into the plain. The supposed similarity of 'arim (Ezr.2.25) and 'erma, and the nearness of the site to Zorah and Eshtaol seemed to recommend it. However, its distance from the other Gibeonite towns (Jos.9.17) raised some doubt. Later scholarship has identified Kiriath-jearim with Deir el-Adiar, a hill located W. of Qaryet el-'Enab (also called Abu Ghosh), about nine miles from Jerusalem on the Jaffa-Jerusalem road. Although the excavators found chiefly medieval Arabic and Crusader remains at Abu Ghosh, the pottery on the slopes of Deir el-Azhar indicated that it was occupied in OT times (cf F.T. Cooke, 'The Site of Kirjath-jearim,' AASOR, v (1925), 105-120; R. de Vaux and A. M. Steve, Fouilles à Qaryet El-'Enab, Abu Gosh [1950], 10-14). [Article: Dictionary of the Bible, J.Hastings, 2nd Ed., T&T.Clark, 1963 - E.W.G.M. - W.L.R.]

When the Crusaders captured the town in 1099, they found an Arab caravanserai and they isentified it as the town of Emmaus, where Jesus ate supper with some of his disciples after the Resurrection (St.Luke 24.28ff).

See Wikipedia article ABU GHOSH.