Byways

By-ways (אַרָחוֹת עֲקִלקִלּוֹת, orachoth' akalkalloth', tortuous paths; Sept. ὁδοὶ διεστραμμέναι). There are roads in Palestine, but it is very easy to turn out of them and go to a place by winding about over the lands, when such a course is thought to be safer. Dr. Shaw mentions this in Barbary, where he says they found no hedges, or mounds, or enclosures to retard or molest them. To this Deborah doubtless refers in Jg 5:6, "In the days of Jael, the high-ways were unoccupied, and the travelers walked through byways," or "crooked ways," as in the margin. Bishop Pococke says that the Arab who conducted him to Jerusalem took him by night, and not by the high road, but through the fields; "and I observed," he remarks, "that he avoided, as much as he could, going near any village or encampment, And sometimes stood still, as I thought, to hearken." The same insecurity to travelers exists in modern times in Palestine when any disturbance of the government occurs. SEE ROAD.

⇒See also the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.