And when all those kings were met together,.... At some certain place, which Jabin had appointed:they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom: Josephus says it was at Berotha; perhaps it should be Merotha, a city of upper Galilee, not far from Cedesa, the same he elsewhere calls Meroth, These waters are the same with the lake Samachonitis, on which Hazor was situated; so that it was near Jabin where the rendezvous was.
This lake is thought to have its name from the Arabic word "Samacha", which signifies high, as Merom does in Hebrew. It was, as Josephus says thirty furlongs broad, and sixty long, and its waters clayish.
Jerom says , in his time there was here a village called Merrus, twelve miles from the city Sebaste by Dothaim: here the kings and their armies metto fight against Israel; so that they were the aggressors, which made the war still more lawful.
Ibid. (Antiq. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 8.) De Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 20. sect. 6. Reland. Palestin. Illustrat. tom. 1. p. 262. De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 1. sect. 1. & l. 3. c. 9. sect. 7. De loc. Heb. fol. 93.