Maon, Carmel,.... Maon was the dwelling place of Nabal the Carmelite, whose possessions were in Carmel, and were not far from one another, 1 Samuel 25:2. It gave name to a wilderness near where David hid himself from Saul, 1 Samuel 23:25; Jerom p places it to the east of Daroma, who also informs q us, that there was in his time a village that went by the name of Carmelia, ten miles from Hebron towards the east, and where was a Roman garrison.
and Ziph, according to the same writer r, was eight miles from Hebron to the east; and there was a village shown in his time where David was hid; this gave name to a wilderness also, 1 Samuel 23:14;
and Juttah, which Jerom calls s Jeshan, was in his time a large village of the Jews, eighteen miles from Eleutheropolis, to the southern part in Daroma. Reland t conjectures that this was the native place of John the Baptist; and that, instead of "a city of Judah", it should be read "the city Juta", Luke 1:39.
p De loc. Heb. fol. 93. E. q lbid. fol. 92. C. r Ibid. fol. 95. G. s Ibid. fol. 92. I. t Palestin. Illustrat. tom. 2. p. 870.