Jearim

Jearim (meaning a leap; woods; forests) appears in the phrase "Mount Jearim" or "Chesalon" — a mountain on the northern border of Judah (Josh. 15:10). The same mountain is also called Chesalon. Kiriath-jearim ("city of forests") is a more prominent location with the same root name, a Gibeonite city where the ark of the covenant rested for twenty years after being returned from the Philistines until David brought it to Jerusalem (1 Sam. 7:1–2; 2 Sam. 6:2; Ps. 132:6). The ark's time at Kiriath-jearim was the formative period of Samuel's ministry and the transition to the monarchy.