Aphek

Aphek (meaning strength or fortress) is the name of several distinct cities in ancient Palestine. The most historically significant stood on the coastal plain of Sharon controlling the key pass on the route between Egypt and Mesopotamia. A royal Canaanite city whose king was defeated by Joshua (Joshua 12:18), it was likely here or nearby that the Philistines camped before two of Israel's most catastrophic battles — the engagement at Ebenezer where the ark of God was captured (1 Samuel 4:1) and the battle of Jezreel where Saul fell (1 Samuel 29:1). This Aphek is generally identified with Tel Aphek (Antipatris) at the source of the Yarkon River.

A second Aphek lay in the extreme north of Asher (Joshua 19:30), from which the Canaanites were never expelled (Judges 1:31). A third Aphek in Transjordan was the site where Ben-hadad of Syria encamped against Israel, and where Elisha prophesied Syria's defeat: "You shall strike down the Syrians in Aphek until you have made an end of them" (1 Kings 20:26–30). The multiplicity of sites bearing this name reflects the widespread use of the word as a topographical designation for fortified strongholds throughout Canaan.