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Aijalon - location profile

Location and Setting

• The city of Aijalon was located on a hill overlooking the Valley of Aijalon, an east-west valley connecting the Coastal Plain to the Hill Country of Judah.
• Located twelve miles west of Jerusalem, this city guarded the important military and caravan route from Joppa and the International Highway that passed through the Valley of Aijalon.
• Good pastureland of the Shephelah surrounded Aijalon (1 Chr 6:69).

Historical and Biblical Significance

• Aijalon is best known as the place where the sun stood still during Joshua’s central campaign. Following his midnight march to rescue the city of Gibeon from the coalition led by the King of Jebus (Jerusalem), Joshua pursued the Canaanite coalition eastward, down through the descent of Beth-horon, and then southward across the Valley of Aijalon. To allow the Israelites to complete the rout before nightfall, Joshua asked the Lord to stop the progress of the sun and the moon, essentially lengthening the day (Josh 10:12-14).
• Following the Conquest, the city of Aijalon was apportioned to the tribe of Dan (Josh 19:42) and was designated as a Levitical city (Josh 21:24). In spite of Joshua’s initial victory in the nearby Valley of Aijalon, the Amorites (Philistines) continued to live in the city of Aijalon (Judg 1:34-35). Constant Philistine pressure to control the valleys of the Shephelah forced the tribe of Dan to retreat westward, reducing the extent of their territory. Eventually, the Danites abandoned their initial inheritance in the Aijalon area and moved to the extreme northern part of Israel, settling in the city of Laish, which they renamed Dan (Judges 18).
• After Jonathan’s daring attack on the Philistine garrison at Michmash in the Hill Country, Saul and Jonathan pursued the Philistines to Aijalon, a distance of fifteen miles (1 Sam 14:31).
• In later years, Aijalon was inhabited by Ephraimites and Benjamites (1 Chr 6:69; 8:13).
• Rehoboam, the first king of Judah after the kingdom divided, fortified the city of Aijalon, supplying officers, weapons and food provisions (2 Chr 11:5-12).

Bibliography

1. Aharoni, Y. and M. Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1993.
2. Andersen, H. G. "Aijalon" The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Ed. Merrill C. Tenney. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.
3. Pfeiffer, Charles F. and Howard F. Vos. The Wycliffe Historical Geography of Bible Lands. Chicago: Moody Press, 1967.
4. Turner, George A. Historical Geography of the Holy Land. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1973.