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HESHBON is the modern Hesbân, finely situated close to the edge of the great plateau of Eastern Palestine. The extensive ruins, mainly of Roman times, lie on two hills connected by a saddle. The site commands views, E. and S., of rolling country; N., of hills, including e.g. that on which el-‘At (Elealeh) lies; and W., in the distance, of the hills of Judah, and nearer, through a gap in the near hills, of the Jordan valley, which lies some 4000 feet below, the river itself being barely 20 miles distant. Allotted to Reuben (Jos_13:17), Heshbon appears in the OT most frequently as being, or having been, the capital of Sihon (wh. see), king of the Amorites (Deu_2:26 and often), or, like many other towns in this neighbourhood, in the actual possession of the Moahites (Isa_15:4; Isa_16:8 f., Jer_48:2; Jer_48:34 f.), to whom, according to Num_21:26, it had belonged before Sihon captured it. Jer_49:3, which appears to make Heshbon an Amorite city, is probably corrupt (cf. Driver, Book of the Prophet Jeremiah). According to Josephus (Ant. XIII. xv. 4), it was in the hands of the Jews in the time of Alexander Jannæus (b.c. 104–78). The pools in Heshbon, mentioned in Son_7:4, were perhaps pools near the spring which rises 600 feet below the city, and in the neighbourhood of which are traces of ancient conduits.
G. B. Gray.