Michmash

E10 on the Map

Mukhmas. Michmash "something hidden" was a town of Benjamin about 7 miles NE of Jerusalem. Here Saul and the Philistines contended, Saul taking his position with 2,000 men and placing the other 1,000 at Gibeah with his son Jonathan. Jonathan struck the Philistine garrison that was at Geba, and the Philistines hastened to avenge the defeat. They gathered an innumerable army of foot soldiers, besides 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen, and encamped before Michmash. Saul retreated down the valley to Gilgal, near Jericho, to rally the Israelites (1 Sam 13:1-7). Jonathan and his armorbearer attacked the outpost of the Philistines at the pass of Michmash, and God gave him a great victory (14:1-14).

Michmas is mentioned as the place whose inhabitants returned from captivity (Ezra 2:27; Neh 7:31; 11:31).

It is the present Mukhmas, a village in ruins on the N ridge of the Wadi Suweinit (Is 10:28). It was the residence of Jonathan Maccabaeus, 1 Macc. 9:73.