Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah.
The Amalekites ... and the Canaanites - (see the note at Deuteronomy 1:44.)
Even unto Hormah. The name was afterward given to that place in memory of the immense slaughter of the Israelites on this occasion. Its name formerly was (Judges 1:17) Zephath х Tsªpat (H6857), watchtower] considered by Dr. Robinson ('Biblical Researches,' vol. 2:, p. 583) to be the pass es-Safeh, or Sufah, on the northwest of Ain-el-Weibeh, up the mountain chain which extends along the southern extremity of Palestine. But this defile, by all accounts, is so difficult of ascent as well as descent (Drew's 'Scripture Lands,' p. 78; Martineau's 'Eastern Life,' p. 61) as to be impracticable for the advance of a numerous host. Besides, it is so very improbable that such a position, whether at the top or the bottom of the mountain, should be chosen for the erection of a fort, that it has been rejected by most travelers who have carefully explored it.
Another and more likely site has been found in Wady Ruheileh-the chief entrance from the southwest to the southernmost region of Palestine-at a place called Sebata. The pass by which they endeavoured to penetrate the mountain barrier is called el-Haudeh, two hours and a half from Khalusa (Chesil), near the southeastern extremity of Mount Halal, (Tuch, in 'Jour. Sac. Lit.,' July, 1848, pp. 93, 94; Kurtz, vol. 3:, pp. 227-336; Wilson's 'Lands of the Bible,' vol. 1:, p. 342; ' Negeb,' pp. 12, 198-206, 243, etc.) There is no discrepancy between this passage, where the enemies of Israel are described as rushing down from the hill, and Numbers 14:25, where they are said to "dwell in the valley" or plains.
'We have but to glance at a good map of Palestine in order to perceive that the northern portion of the territory under consideration (now inhabited by the Arab tribes Saidiyeh, Dhullam, and Jehalin) is raised many hundred feet above the level of the sea, and consists, in fact, of a succession of vast terraces, which, like the steps of a gigantic staircase, gradually ascend from the Arabah to an extensive plateau or high table-land. We can therefore easily understand how the sacred writer might well speak of it as plain, in contradistinction to the "hill country of Judah," which it adjoins on the northwest; while to its Israelite assailants, who had to toil up its southern acclivity, it would appear, as it was indeed, a mountain of no inconsiderable elevation' ('Negeb,' p. 10: cf. Robinson's 'Biblical Researches,' vol. 2:, p. 467; Williams' 'Holy City,' p. 488; Stewart's 'Tent and Khan,' p. 215).