son of the Philistines went out unto the pass of Michmash.

{363}{364}

[Illustration]
THE VALLEY OF AIJALON

"Throughout history we see hosts swarming up this avenue or swept
down it in flight. Joshua drove the Canaanites down this valley.
Down Aijalon the early men of Ephraim and Benjamin raided the
Philistines. Up Aijalon the Philistines swarmed to the very heart of
Israel's territory at Michmash, disarmed the Israelites, and forced
them to come down the vale to get their tools sharpened, so that the
mouth of the vale was called the 'Valley of the Smiths,' even till
after the Exile. Down Aijalon Saul and Jonathan beat the Philistines
from Michmash." --_George Adam Smith_

David also fought in Aijalon, and in 66 A. D., a Roman army suffered
a terrible defeat in the valley.
[End illustration]

{365}

Now it fell upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the
young man who bore his armor, "Come and let us go over to the
Philistines' garrison, that is on yonder side."

But he told not his father. And Saul abode in the uttermost part of
Gibeah under the pomegranate tree which is in Migron: and the people
that were with him were about six hundred men. And the people knew not
that Jonathan was gone. And between the passes, by which Jonathan
sought to go over unto the Philistines' garrison, there was a rocky
crag on the one side, and a rocky crag on the other side. The one crag
rose up on the north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south
in front of Geba. And Jonathan said to the young man that bore his
armor, "Come and let us go over unto the garrison of the Philistines:
it may be that the Lord will work for us: for there is no reason why
the Lord cannot save by many or by few."

And his armorbearer said to him, "Do all that is in thine heart: turn
thee, behold I am with thee according to thy wish." Then said
Jonathan, "Behold, we will pass over to the men, and we will show
ourselves to them. If they say thus unto us, 'Tarry until we come to
you'; then we will stand still in our place, and will not go up to
them. But if they say thus, 'Come up to us'; then we will go up: for
the Lord hath delivered them into our hand: and this shall be the sign
to us."

And both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines:
and the Philistines said, "Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the
holes where they had hid {366} themselves." And the men of the
garrison