'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎339] (448/496)

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cription of the progress of Sennacherib from the north to destroy Jeru
salem. ( He is come to Aiath (in Septuagint Ayyai'), he is passed to
Migron: at Mich mash he hath laid up his carriages. They are gone
over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba ; Hamah is
afraid ; Gibeah of Saul is fled. Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim :
cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth. Madmenah is
removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee. As yet
shall he remain at Nob that day : he shall shake his hand against the
mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem/'*
This passage of Isaiah shows clearly that Ai, or Aiath, was then
a city (ttoXls) within a day's journey northerly from Jerusalem, and not
far from the cities of Migron, Michmash, Geba, Hamah, and the Gibeah
of Saul. Anathoth is a few miles northerly from Jerusalem ; Migron,
Laish, Nob, Gailim, Madmeneh, and Gebim, have not, as yet, I believe,
been identified; the rest have been laid down in the recent maps of
Palestine.
Ezra enumerates Ai, B. C. 536, in his list of the Israelites who had
returned from the Babylonian captivity, in connexion with the cities of
Hama, Gaba, Bethel, Michmash, Kirjath Jearim, Chephirah, and
Beeroth. “ The men of Michmash, the men of Bethel and Ai (Septua
gint Ata), two hundred twenty and three."j Nehemiah also mentions it
in a similar catalogue J in connexion with the same cities; and subse
quently alludes to it in the list of those who cast lots to bring one out
of ten persons to Jerusalem to reside in the Holy City, after the rebuild
ing of the wall. “ The children also of Benjamin from Geba dwelt
at Michmash, and Aija and Bethel, and in their villages."§ Men
tion occurs of an Ai in Jeremiah (xlix. 3.) “ Howl, O Heshbon, for
Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Habbah, gird you with sackcloth."
But this place appears to have been situated on the eastern side of the
Jordan in Ammon, against which the denunciations of the Prophet in
this striking chapter are thundered.
* Isaiah X. 28 and 32. —yap €LS rrjv 'Ayyat /cat TrapcikevaeTai,
ft? MayyeSco, Kai Iv .May/xa? Sr) cet ret aKevrj avrov , &C.
f Ezra ii. 25 and 28 .— u AvSpes BatQrjA /cat Ata."
f Nehemiali, vii. 32.
§ Nehemiah, xi. 31 and 32.— u Kat ot Got BepLapiv 'ano VafSaa Maypas. 1
Ata" &c.