town or village

Gibeon

• Today El Jib

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Battles and sieges

1. c. 1406 BCThe battle of Gibeon and the descent of Beth-horon Josh 10:6–14
   Israel under Joshua, come up by night from Gilgal, against the five Amorite kings besieging Gibeon. The kings' armies flee down the descent of Beth-horon under hailstones; the sun stands still over Gibeon.
2. c. 1010 BCAbner and Joab at the pool of Gibeon 2 Sam 2:12–17
   Abner with the servants of Ish-bosheth against Joab with the servants of David. Twelve against twelve fall together; Abner is beaten in a very sore battle and Asahel dies in the pursuit.

History

Gibeon is el-Jib, a village on a hill about 9 km north-west of Jerusalem in the land of Benjamin. The identification, suggested in the nineteenth century from the name, was confirmed when James B. Pritchard of the University of Pennsylvania, who dug here in five seasons from 1956 to 1962, found jar handles inscribed with the name Gibeon. Caves and tombs cut in the rock of the hill held pottery and burials of the Early and Middle Bronze Ages. Pharaoh Shishak's list of towns at Karnak names Gibeon among the places of his campaign in the late tenth century BC.

The Book of Joshua calls Gibeon "a great city, as one of the royal cities". Its people, hearing what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, came to him at Gilgal with old sacks and torn wineskins as if from a far country, and won a league; when the trick came out, they were made hewers of wood and drawers of water. Five Amorite kings then besieged Gibeon, Joshua came to its help and routed them, and said, "Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon". Later Gibeon was one of the towns of Benjamin given to the priests, the sons of Aaron.

By the pool of Gibeon the men of Abner and of Joab met, and twelve from each side fell together; later Joab killed Amasa at the great stone in Gibeon. Saul had sought to destroy the Gibeonites, and in David's day a famine was laid to it. The tabernacle stood on the great high place at Gibeon; there Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings, and the LORD appeared to him in a dream. Hananiah, the prophet who opposed Jeremiah, came from Gibeon; Johanan overtook Ishmael "by the great waters that are in Gibeon"; and men of Gibeon helped rebuild the wall of Jerusalem under Nehemiah.

Pritchard cleared a great round pool cut into the rock, from which a stepped tunnel led some 13 m further down to a water chamber at the water table; many link it with the pool of 2 Samuel, though its date is debated. In the late Iron Age Gibeon made wine: more than two dozen jar handles bear the town's name and the names of their owners, dated to the eighth–seventh centuries BC, by some to the sixth. In AD 66 the Roman governor Cestius Gallus camped at Gabao, fifty furlongs from Jerusalem, and fell back there in his retreat. Eusebius still knew a village of the same name.

Scripture: Josh 9:3–27; Josh 10:1–12; Josh 21:13–19; 2 Sam 2:12–16; 2 Sam 20:8–10; 2 Sam 21:1–2; 1 Kgs 3:4–5; 2 Chr 1:3; Jer 28:1; Jer 41:11–12; Neh 3:7

Checked against its sources; not yet read by a historian.

Verses (39)

Josh 9:3

And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,

Josh 9:17

And the children of Israel journeyed, and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim.

Josh 10:1

Now it came to pass, when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem had heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it; as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them;

Josh 10:2

That they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty.

Josh 10:4

Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.

Josh 10:5

Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it.

Josh 10:6

And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us: for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us.

Josh 10:7

So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour.

Josh 10:10

And the LORD discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah.

Josh 10:12

Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.

Josh 10:41

And Joshua smote them from Kadesh-barnea even unto Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon.

Josh 11:19

There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other they took in battle.

Josh 18:25

Gibeon, and Ramah, and Beeroth,

Josh 21:17

And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with her suburbs, Geba with her suburbs,

2 Sam 2:12

And Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.

2 Sam 2:13

And Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out, and met together by the pool of Gibeon: and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool.

2 Sam 2:16

And they caught every one his fellow by the head, and thrust his sword in his fellow’s side; so they fell down together: wherefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim, which is in Gibeon.

2 Sam 2:24

Joab also and Abishai pursued after Abner: and the sun went down when they were come to the hill of Ammah, that lieth before Giah by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon.

2 Sam 3:30

So Joab and Abishai his brother slew Abner, because he had slain their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle.

2 Sam 20:8

When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab’s garment that he had put on was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof; and as he went forth it fell out.

2 Sam 21:9

And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.

1 Kgs 3:4

And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.

1 Kgs 3:5

In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.

1 Kgs 9:2

That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon.

1 Chr 6:60

And out of the tribe of Benjamin; Geba with her suburbs, and Alemeth with her suburbs, and Anathoth with her suburbs. All their cities throughout their families were thirteen cities.

1 Chr 8:29

And at Gibeon dwelt the father of Gibeon; whose wife’s name was Maachah:

1 Chr 9:35

And in Gibeon dwelt the father of Gibeon, Jehiel, whose wife’s name was Maachah:

1 Chr 12:4

And Ismaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty man among the thirty, and over the thirty; and Jeremiah, and Jahaziel, and Johanan, and Josabad the Gederathite,

1 Chr 14:16

David therefore did as God commanded him: and they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gazer.

1 Chr 16:39

And Zadok the priest, and his brethren the priests, before the tabernacle of the LORD in the high place that was at Gibeon,

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Tours through this place

• The conquest of Canaan →
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