Mahanaim

Mahanaim, meaning "two camps," was named by Jacob after he encountered angels of God there while returning to Canaan, just before his fearful reunion with Esau. Centuries later it became a place of refuge twice over in the history of Israel's monarchy: Ish-bosheth, Saul's surviving son, made it his capital as Abner tried to hold the northern tribes together against David, and much later David himself fled there during Absalom's rebellion, directing the battle against his own son's forces from within its walls. The city's recurring role as a refuge for kings in crisis - Jacob fleeing Laban, Ish-bosheth resisting David, David fleeing Absalom - gives it a quiet thread running through several of the Old Testament's most dramatic family and political conflicts.