Maarath
Ma'arath (Heb. Maarath', מִעֲרָת, desolation; Sept. Μααρώθ, Vulg. Mareth), a place in the mountains of Judah, mentioned between Gedor and Beth-anoth (Jos 15:59). De Saulcy suggests a place which he calls Kharbet el- Merassas, south-east of Jerusalem (Narrative, 2:17); and Schwarz declares it is a village called Magr, west of Ekron (Palest. page 107): both far from the indications of the text, which require a locality north of Hebron (Keil's Comment. ad loc.). It may be represented by the ruins marked as Mersia on Van de Velde's Map (1858), on the road room Hebron to Bethlehem, about half way between Bereikut and Solomon's Pools, at Urtas; but on the second edition of his Map (1865) this place disappears, and we have in the required region unappropriated only the ruins Merina, on a little stream just north of Kufin, evidently the "ruined tower called Merrina, seen by him on the high ground south of wady Arub" (Memoir, page 247).
