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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMcClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Debir
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(Heb. Debir', øְּáַéø or øְּáַø , a sanctuary, often applied to the Tabernacle and Temple), the name of two or three places, and also of a man.
1. ( øְּáַø , but in Judges and Chron. øְּáַéø ; Sept. Äáâßñ [ Äåâßñ in Jos_15:15; Jos_15:49; Jos_21:15; Jdg_1:1; Jdg_1:11] v. r. Äáâåßñ ; Vulg. Dabir), a town in the mountains of Judah (Jos_15:49), one of a group of eleven cities to the west of Hebron (Keil, Comment. in loc.), in a parched region (Jdg_1:11-15). In the narrative it is mentioned as being the next place which Joshua took after Hebron (10, 38). It was the seat of a Canaanitish king (10, 39; 12:13), and was one of the towns of the Anakim, and from which they were utterly destroyed by Joshua (11, 21). The earlier name of Debir was KIRJATH-SEPHER (Jos_15:15; Jdg_1:11) and KIRJATH-SANNAH (Jos_15:49). (See these names.) The records of its conquest vary, though not very materially. In Jos_15:17, and Jdg_1:13, a detailed account is given of its capture by Othniel, son of Kenaz, for love of Achsah, the daughter of Caleb, while in the general history of the conquest it is ascribed to the great commander himself (Jos_10:38-39, where the name occurs with ä , local affixed, Debi'rah, øְּáַøָä , and this even with prefixed). It was one of the cities given with their “suburbs” ( îַâְøָùׁ ) to the priests (Jos_21:15; 1Ch_6:58). Debir does not appear to have been known to Jerome, nor has it been discovered with certainty in modern times. About three miles to the W. of Hebron is a deep and secluded valley called the Wady Nunkur, enclosed on the north by hills of which one bears a name certainly suggestive of Debir-Dewir-ban. (See the narrative of Rosen in the Zeitsch. d. Morgenl. 1857, p. 50-64). The subject, and indeed the whole topography of this district, requires further examination: in the mean time it is perhaps some confirmation of Dr. Rosen's suggestion that a village or site on one of these hills is pointed out as called Isaiah the Arabic name for Joshua. Schwarz (Palest. p. 86) speaks of a Wady Dibir in this direction. Van deVelde (Memoir, p. 307) finds Debir at Dilbeh, six miles S.W. of Hebron, where Stewart (Tent and Khan, p. 223, 224) mentions a spring brought down from a high to a low level by an aqueduct (comp. “the upper and the nether springs” of Jdg_1:14-15).
2. (
øְּáַø
; Sept.
ἐðὶ ôὸ ôÝôñáñôïí ôῆò öÜñáããïò Á᾿÷ώñ
; Vulg. Debera), a place on the north boundary of Judah, “near the “Valley of Achor” (Jos_15:7), and therefore somewhere in the complications of hill and ravine behind Jericho. De Saulcy (Narrat. 2:25) attaches the name Thour ed- Dabour to the ruined khan on the right of the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, at which travelers usually stop to refresh; but this is not corroborated by any other traveler, unless it be Schwarz (Palest. p. 95), and he is disposed to identify this site with this and the foregoing place, nor does the locality agree with the scriptural intimations. The name usually given to it by the Arabs is Khan Hatherurah. A Wady Dabor is marked in Van de Velde's map as lying close to the S. of Neby Musa, at the N.W. corner of the Dead Sea (see De Saulcy, Narrat. 2:53, 54), which probably gives a trace of the ancient town as located on the N.E. of this valley. SEE TRIBE.
3. The “border (
âְּáåּì
) of Debir” (
ìַøְáַּø
, to Debir; Sept.
Äåâßñ
v. r.
Äáâåßñ
and
Äáéâώí
; Vulg. Dabir) is named as forming part of the boundary of Gad (Jos_13:26), and as apparently not far from Mahanaim. Reland (Palaest. p. 734) conjectures that the name may be the same as LODEBAR (q.v.), which is written similarly (
ìàøְáָø
or
ìåֹøְáָø
), and lay in the same vicinity (2Sa_9:4-5). Lying in the grazing country on the high downs east of Jordan, the name is doubtless connected withøָּáִø , dabar, the same word which is the root of Midbar, the wilderness or pasture (see Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 318).
4. ( øְּáַéø ; Sept. Äáñßñ v. r. Äáñåßñ and Äáâßí ; Vulg. Dabir); the king of Eglon, in the low country of Judah; one of the five Canaanitish princes who joined the confederacy summoned by Adonizedek of Jerusalem, and who were defeated, confined in a cave, and at length hanged by Joshua (Jos_10:3; Jos_10:23). B.C. 1613.