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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJames Hastings Dictionary of the Bible: Gibeon
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GIBEON.—A town in Palestine north of Jerusalem. Its inhabitants seem to have been Hivites (Jos_9:7), though spoken of in 2Sa_21:2 by the more general term ‘Amorites.’ It was a city of considerable size. Its inhabitants, by means of a trick, succeeded in making a truce with Joshua, but were reduced to servitude (Jos_9:1-27); a coalition of other Canaanite kings against it was destroyed by him (ch. 10). It became a Levitical city (Jos_21:17) in the tribe of Benjamin (Jos_18:25). The circumstances of the destruction of part of the Gibeonites by Saul (2Sa_21:1) are unknown. Here the champions of David fought those of the rival king Ish-bosheth (2Sa_2:18-32), and defeated them; and here Joab murdered Amasa (2Sa_20:9). The ‘great stone’ In Gibeon was probably some part of the important high place which we know from 1Ki_3:4 was situated here. The statement of the parallel passage, 2Ch_1:3, that the ark was placed here at the time, is probably due merely to the desire of the Chronicler to explain Solomon’s sacrificing there in the light of the Deuteronomic legislation. Here Solomon was vouchsafed a theophany at the beginning of his reign. In Jer_41:12 we again hear of Gibeon, in connexion with Johanan’s expedition against Ishmael to avenge the murder of Gedaliah.
The city has constantly been identified with el-Jib, and there can be little or no doubt that the identification is correct. This is a small village standing on an isolated hill about 5 miles from Jerusalem. The hill is rocky and regularly terraced. It is remarkable chiefly for its copious springs—a reputation it evidently had in antiquity (2Sa_2:13, Jer_41:12). Ninety-five Gibeonites returned from Babylon under Zerubbabel (Neh_7:25), and Gibeonites were employed in repairing part of the wall of Jerusalem (Neh_3:7). At Gibeon, Cestius Gallus encamped in his march from Antipatris to Jerusalem.
R. A. S. Macalister.