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DAGONS HOUSE (1 Samuel 5:2), or Beth-dagon, as elsewhere rendered (Joshua 15: 41; 19:27), was the sanctuary or temple of Dagon.

The Beth-dagon of Joshua 15:41 was one of the cities of the tribe of Judah, in the lowland or plain which stretches westward. It has not been identified. The Beth-dagon of Joshua 19:27 was one of the border cities of Asher.

That of 1 Chronicles 10:10 was in the western half-tribe of Manasseh, where the Philistines, after their victory at Gilboa, placed Saul’s head in the temple of their God. (Comp. 1 Samuel 31:8-13).

DAILY SACRIFICE (Daniel 8:12; 11:31; 12:11), a burnt offering of two lambs of a year old, which were daily sacrificed in the name of the whole Israelitish people upon the great altar, the first at dawn of day, and the second at evening (Daniel 9:21), or more correctly, “between the two evenings.” (See SACRIFICE.)

DALE, THE KINGS the name of a valley, the alternative for “the valley of Shaveh” (q.v.), near the Dead Sea, where the king of Sodom met Abraham (Genesis 14:17). Some have identified it with the southern part of the valley of Jehoshaphat, where Absalom reared his family monument (2 Samuel 18:18).

DALMANUTHA a place on the west of the Sea of Galilee, mentioned only in Mark 8:10. In the parallel passage it is said that Christ came “into the borders of Magdala” (Matthew 15:39). It is plain, then, that Dalmanutha was near Magdala, which was probably the Greek name of one of the many Migdols (i.e., watch-towers) on the western side of the lake of Gennesaret. It has been identified in the ruins of a village about a mile from Magdala, in the little open valley of ‘Ain-el-Barideh, “the cold fountain,” called el-Mejdel, possibly the “Migdal-el” of Joshua 19:38.

DALMATIA a mountainous country on the eastern shore of the Adriatic, a part of the Roman province of Illyricum. It still bears its ancient name. During Paul’s second imprisonment at Rome, Titus left him to visit Dalmatia (2 Timothy 4:10) for some unknown purpose. Paul had himself formerly preached in that region (Romans 15:19).

The present Emperor of Austria bears, among his other titles, that of “King of Dalmatia.”