MOLADA
MOLADA (
Μωλαδᾶ), a town of Palestine, reckoned among the uttermost cities of the tribe of Judah toward the coast of Edom southward (
Joshua, 15.21. 26), and indeed in that part which. fell to the tribe of Simeon, “whose inheritance was within the inheritance of the children of Judah.” (Ib. 19.1, 2; 1
Chron. 4.24. 28.) Reland remarks, “Videtur esse eadem ac Malatha” (
Palaest. s. v. p. 901.), which Malatha is mentioned by Josephus as a castle of Idumaea, to which Agrippa, the son of Aristobulus and son-in-law of Herod the Great, retired in his distress after his return from Rome, and where he meditated suicide. (
Ant. 18.7.2.)
It is mentioned also by Eusebius and S. Jerome as iv. M. P. distant from Arad (
Ἀραμά), which they describe as an ancient city of the Amorites, situated in the wilderness of Kadesh (
Κάδδης), xx. M.P. from Hebron, on the road to Aila. (
Onomast. s. vv. Ἀραμά, Ἀσασαν θαμάν; Reland,
Palaestina, s. v. Malatha, pp. 885, 886.)
The site of Arad is still marked by a ruin of the same name, at the required distance S. of Hebron; near to which are wells and ruins named
El Milh, which Dr. Robinson “was disposed to regard as marking the site of the ancient Moladah of the Old Testament, the Malatha of the Greeks and Romans.” (
Bib. Res. vol. ii. p. 621.)
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G.W]
