The name of several towns (see on ch. 4:1), but not of any known site near Mt. Gilboa, as would be implied, if chs. 28 and 29 are in chronological order: the Philistines camping first at Shunem opposite the Israelites on Gilboa (ch. 28:4), then moving to Aphek (ch. 29:1). But opinion is divided, in various reference books, between a northern Aphek and a southern one. If the narrative, after the story of Saul’s Endor visit (ch. 28:3-25), turns back to resume the David story at the point where ch. 28:2 leaves off (David drafted by Achish to help the Philistines fight Israel), then ch. 29 continues thence with his dismissal by the Philistine lords at Aphek, where they “gathered together all their armies” (ch. 29:1). If this was the same gathering mentioned immediately preceding their coming to Shunem (ch. 28:4), Aphek was on the route from Philistia to Shunem but not necessarily near it. Hence many take it to be the Aphek generally identified with Antipatris, from which the Philistines had earlier attacked Israel (ch. 4:1) and taken the ark.

There were two large springs in the Valley of Jezreel; one, ‘Ain Jālūd, known as the “well of Harod,” spurting forth from the north palisade of one of the shoulders of Mt. Gilboa, hundreds of feet above the valley, and the other, ‘Ain Ṭuba‘ūn, in the heart of the valley. It seems more likely that Saul would remain on the shoulder of the mountain above ‘Ain Jālūd, a position largely inaccessible from the valley, and not go down to ‘Ain Ṭuba‘ūn, which, while nearer to the Philistines, would not give him any tactical advantage.