Aphek. — The name Aphek was a common one, and was given to several “places of arms” in Canaan. It signifies a fort or a strong place. This Aphek was most likely situated in the Plain of Jezreel. Eusebius places it in the neighbourhood of En-dor.
By a fountain which is in Jezreel. — “By a fountain.” The LXX. wrongly adds “dor,” supposing the spring or fountain to be the well-known En-dor — spring of Dor — but En-dor, we know, lay many miles away from the camp of Saul. This “fountain” has been identified by modern travellers as Ain-Jalûd, the Fountain of Goliath, because it was traditionally regarded as the scene of the old combat with the giant. It is a large spring which flows from under the cavern in the rock which forms the base of Gilboa. “There is every reason to regard this as the ancient fountain of Jezreel, where Saul and Jonathan pitched before their last fatal battle, and where, too, in the days of the Crusades, Saladin and the Christians successively encamped.” — Robinson, Palestine, 3:167, 8.