AIJALON

(Aiʹja·lon) [place of deer or harts].

1. A city of the Shephelah or hilly lowlands of Palestine, on a hill at the S end of the beautiful low plain or valley of Aijalon. The village at this site is now called Yalo and is situated just N of the road from Jerusalem to Jaffa, about fourteen miles (22.5 kilometers) NW of Jerusalem.

The valley of Aijalon is the northernmost of several valleys cutting across the hills of the Shephelah and was an important pass leading from the coastal plains up into the central mountainous region. Joshua was evidently near this plain when he called for the sun and the moon to stand “motionless” over Gibeon and over the “low plain of Aijalon,” when he was completing his victorious battle against the five Amorite kings who had warred against Gibeon. (Josh. 10:12-14) After the end of Joshua’s conquest of Canaan, Aijalon was assigned to the tribe of Dan. (Josh 19:40-42) It was later assigned to the sons of Kohath as a Levite city. (Josh. 21:24) The Danites at first proved unable to oust the Amorites from Aijalon, but it appears that Ephraim from the N came to their aid and “the hand of the house of Joseph got to be so heavy that they [the Amorites] were forced into task work.” (Judg. 1:34, 35) This may be the reason why 1 Chronicles 6:69 lists Aijalon as belonging to Ephraim and as given by them to the Kohathites. (See, however, the corresponding case of GATH-RIMMON.) Later on, perhaps after the division of the kingdom, it is spoken of as the city of certain prominent Benjamites.—1 Chron. 8:13.

At Aijalon Saul won his first victory over the Philistines, when Israel “kept striking down the [fleeing] Philistines from Michmash to Aijalon.” (1 Sam. 14:31) Many years after that, when the kingdom had been divided after King Solomon’s death (997 B.C.E.), his son and successor Rehoboam fortified Aijalon and made it one of his strongholds against the N and W. (2 Chron. 11:5-12) Almost two and a half centuries later, Aijalon was lost to the Philistines during the reign of unfaithful King Ahaz (761-745 B.C.E.).—2 Chron. 28:18.

Aijalon is apparently mentioned in one of the Tell el-Amarna Letters as Aialuna.

2. A place in the territory of Zebulun, where Judge Elon of that tribe was buried. (Judg. 12:12) Its site is not known today, but it is thought by some to be Tell el-Butmeh, situated in the plain of Asochis in Galilee, not far from Rimmon.