identifications are based upon the supposition that “Khabiri” is a proper name rather than a descriptive title.  Any band of “Confederates” could be called Khabiri whether in Elam or in Palestine, and it does not follow that the two bands were the same.  In the “Confederates” of Southern Canaan we have to look for a body of confederated tribes who made themselves formidable to the governor of Jerusalem in the closing days of the Egyptian empire.

It would seem that Elimelech, who of course was a different person from Malchiel, was their leader, and as Elimelech is a Canaanitish name, we may conclude that the majority of his followers were also of Canaanitish descent.  The scene of their hostilities was to the south of Jerusalem.  Gath-Carmel, Zelah, and Lachish are the towns mentioned in connection with their attempts to capture and destroy “the fortresses of the king.”  “The country of the king” which had “gone over to the Confederates” was the territory over which Ebed-Tob claimed rule, while the district occupied by Labai and his Beduin followers was handed over “to the men of the district of the Confederates.”  The successes of the latter were gained through the intrigues of Malchiel and the sons of Labai.

All this leads us to the neighbourhood of Hebron, and suggests the question whether “the district of the Confederates” was not that of which Hebron, “the Confederacy,” was the central meeting-place and sanctuary.  Hebron has preserved its sacred character down to the present day; it long disputed with Jerusalem the claim of being the oldest and most hallowed shrine in Southern Palestine, and it was for many years the capital of Judah, Moreover, we know that “Hebron” was not the only name the city possessed.  When Abram was “confederate” with the three Amorite chieftains it was known as Mamre (Gen. xiii. 18), and at a later day under the rule of the three sons of Anak it was called Kirjath-Arba.

According to the Biblical narrative Hebron was at once Amorite, Hittite, and Canaanite.  Here, therefore, there was a confederation of tribes and races who would have met together at a common sanctuary.  When Ezekiel says that Jerusalem was both Hittite and Amorite in its parentage, he may have been referring to its conquest and settlement by such a confederacy as that of Hebron.  At all events we learn from Su-yardata’s letter that Ebed-Tob eventually fell into the hands of his enemies; he was captured by Labai, and it is possible that his city became at the same time the prey of the Khabiri.

But all this is speculation, which may or may not prove to be correct.  All we can be sure of is that the Khabiri or “Confederates” had their seat in the southern part of Palestine, and that we need not go outside Canaan to discover who they were.  Ebed-Tob, at all events, carefully distinguishes them from either the Babylonians or the people of Naharaim.