("strength".)
1. Same as Aphekah (Joshua 15:58). A Canaanite royal city, the king of which was killed by Joshua (Joshua 12:18).
2. In the extreme N. of Asher (Joshua 19:30). The Aphik from which the Canaanites were not expelled (Judges 1:31). Probably too the Aphek on the N." border of the Amorites" (Joshua 13:4-5), the Aphaca of the classics, famed for Venus' temple, now Afka, on the N.W. slopes of Lebanon; mentioned in company with Baal-Gad, the other northern sanctuary.
3. The place of the Philistines' encampment before the Israelites' defeat in which Eli's sons were killed and the ark was taken (1 Samuel 4); also before the battle in which Saul was slain (1 Samuel 29); on the Philistines' high road to Jezreel.
4. On the road from Syria to Israel (1 Kings 20:25-26), in the level plain E. of Jordan; a common field of battles with Syria. (2 Kings 13:17). Now Fik; at the head of the wady Fik, six miles E. of the sea of Galilee, still on the great road between Damascus, Nabulus, and Jerusalem.