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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia GENNESARET, LAND OF ge-nes'-a-ret he ge Gennesaret): LAND ((1) 'erets; MORIAH, LAND OF mo-ri'-a ('erec ha-moriyah; eis ten genitive ten hupselen): Abraham was directed by God to take his son Isaac, to go into the land of Moriah, and there to offer him for a burnt offering (Genesis 22:2) upon a mountain which God would show him. This land is mentioned only here, and there is little to guide us in trying to identify it. A late writer (2 Chronicles 3:1) applies the name of Moriah to the mount on which Solomon's Temple was built, possibly associating it with the sacrifice of Isaac. A similar association with this mountain may have been in the mind of the writer of Genesis 22 (see 22:14), who, of course, wrote long after the events described (Driver). But in 22:2 no special mountain is indicated. SHAALIM, LAND OF sha'-a-lim ('erets sha`alim; Codex Vaticanus tes ges Easakem; Codex Alexandrinus tes ges Saaleim; the King James Version Shalim): Saul in search of his father's asses passed through Mt. Ephraim and the land of Shalishah, then through the land of Shaalim and the land of yemini. This last name English Versions of the Bible renders "Benjamin" (1 Samuel 9:4). The whole passage is so obscure that no certain conclusions can be reached. The search party may have proceeded northward from Gibeah, through the uplands of Ephraim, turning then westward, then southward, and finally eastward. We should thus look for the land of Shalishah and the land of Shaalim on the west side of the mountain range: and the latter may have been on the slopes to the East of Lydda. Possibly we ought here to read "Shaalbim," instead of "Shaalim." SHALISHAH, LAND OF sha-li'-sha, shal'-i-sha ('erets shalishah; Codex Vaticanus he ge Selcha; Codex Alexandrinus he ge Salissa): If the general indication of the route followed by Saul, given under SHAALIM, is correct, the land of Shalishah (1 Samuel 9:4) will lie to the Northeast of Lydda on the western slope of the range. Baal-shalishah would most likely be in the district, and may indeed have given its name to it. If Conder is right in identifying this city with Khirbet Kefr Thilth, about 19 miles Northeast of Jaffa, it meets well enough the general indication given above. Eusebius, Onomasticon knows the name, but gives no guidance as to where the district is. Baal-shalishah it places in the Thamnite region, 15 miles North of Diospolis (Lydda). No boundaries can be laid down, but probability points to this neighborhood. SHUAL, LAND OF ('erets shu`al; he Sogal): From their encampment at Michmash the Philistines sent out marauding bands, one going westward toward Beth-horon, another eastward, "the way of the border that looketh down upon the valley of Zeboim." The pass to the South was held against them by Israel. The third party therefore went northward, turning "unto the way that leadeth to Ophrah, unto the land of Shual" (1 Samuel 13:17 f). Ophrah is probably identical with et-taiyibeh, a village which lies some 5 miles East of Beitin (Bethel). It is in this district therefore that the land of Shual must be sought, but no definite identification is possible. SINIM, LAND OF si'-nim, sin'-im ('erets cinim; ge Person): The name occurs in Isaiah's prophecy of the return of the people from distant lands: "Lo, these shall come from far; and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim" (Isaiah 49:12). The land is clearly far off, and it must be sought either in the South or in the East. Septuagint points to an eastern country. Many scholars have favored identification with China, the classical Sinae. It seems improbable that Jews had already found their way to China; but from very early times trade relations were established with the Far East by way of Arabia and the Persian Gulf; and the name may have been used by the prophet simply as suggesting extreme remoteness. Against, this view are Dillmann (Commentary on Isaiah), Duhm, Cheyne and others. Some have suggested places in the South: e.g. Sin (Pelusium, Ezekiel 30:15) and Syene (Cheyne, Introduction to Isaiah, 275). But these seem to be too near. In harmony with his reconstruction of Biblical history, Cheyne finally concludes that the reference here is to the return from a captivity in North Arabia (EB, under the word). While no certain decision is possible, probability points to the East, and China cannot be quite ruled out. See article "China," Encyclopedia Brittanica (11th edition), 188b. TOB, THE LAND OF tob, tob ('erets Tobh, "a good land"; ge Tob): Hither Jephthah escaped from his brethren after his father's death (Judges 11:3), and perfected himself in the art of war, making forays with "the vain fellows" who joined him. Here the elders of Gilead found him, when, reduced to dire straits by the children of Ammon, they desired him to take command of their army (Jsg 11:5;). This country contributed 12,000 men to the forces of the allies, who with the Ammonites were defeated by Israel (2 Samuel 10:8). In 1 Maccabees 5:13 we read of the land of Tubins where the Jews, about 1,000 men, were slain by the Gentiles, their wives and children being carried into captivity. The Tubieni, "men of Tobit" of 2 Maccabees 12:17, were probably from this place. Ptolemy (v.19) speaks of Thauba, a place to the Southwest of Zobah, which may possibly be Tobit. The Talmud (Neubauer, Geog. du Talmud, 239) identifies the land of Tobit with the district of Hippene. Tobit would then be represented by Hippos, modern Susiyeh, to the Southwest of Fiq on the plateau East of the Sea of Galilee. Perhaps the most likely identification is that supported by G. A. Smith (HGHL, 587), with eT-Taiyibeh, 10 miles South of Umm Qeis (Gadara). The name is the same in meaning as Tobit. CROCODILE, LAND See CHAMELEON. LAND LAWS See AGRARIAN LAWS.
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