MEROM, in Ancient Geography. The waters of Merom, at which place Jabin and the other confederate kings met to fight Joshua (xi. 5.), are generally supposed by the learned to be the lake Semechon, which lies between the head of the river Jordan and the lake Gennesareth; since it is agreed on all hands, that the city Hazor, where Jabin reigned, was situated upon this lake. But others think, that the waters of Merom or Merome were somewhere about the brook Kishon, since there is a place of that name mentioned in the account of the battle against Sifera (Judg. v. 21.) And it is more rational to think, that the confederate kings advanced
Merope- advanced as far as the brook Kithon, and to a pass
Merfa. which led into the country, to hinder Joshua from pe-
netrating it, or even to attack him in the country
where he himself lay encamped, than to imagine that
they waited for him in the midst of their own coun-
try; leaving all Galilee at his mercy, and the whole
tract from the brook Kithon to the lake Semechon.