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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comFausset Bible Dictionary: Gilboa
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("bubbling fountain"), namely, of Jezreel; see below. The mountain range N.E. of the plain, and over the city, of Jezreel, extending ten miles from W. to E. (; .) The scene of the death of Saul and Jonathan (; ,21: "ye mountains (for there is not merely one mountain) of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither rain upon you, nor fields of firstfruit offerings," i.e. producing fruit from which firstfruits are offered; ; ; ).
The Philistines encamped on the N. side of the plain at Shunem; Saul on the S. side, round the fount of Jezreel (Harod, ) at the foot of Gilboa. The fountain is still to be seen half a mile from Jezreel's ruins. The village Jelbou is on the mountain top. The height of the hill is about 500 ft. above the plain; the sides are as bore and barren as David's poetical elegy desired them to be (excepting one green table land where perhaps the last struggle took place), and contrast strongly with the fertile plain beneath.