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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMcClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Gezrite
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(Heb. with the art. hag-Gizri' äִâִּæְøִé , apparently from âֵּæְø , a section, or âֶּøֶæ , a shorn, i.e., sterile tract; the marginal reading at 1Sa_27:5, erroneously adopted instead of the textual hag-Girzi', äִâַּøְæִé ., the GIRZITE; Sept. Ãåîñáῖõò v.r. Ãåóéñß , Vul. Gerzi, A.V. " the Gezrites"), the designation of a tribe in the vicinity of the Amalekites, attacked and subdued by David while residing among the Philistines (1Sa_17:8), and hence probably Canaanitish nomades inhabiting the south-western wastes of Palestine. The twofold form of the name, Gezerite or Gerizzite, seems to furnish a link between the city of GEZER SEE GEZER and MOUNT GERIZIM SEE MOUNT GERIZIM . SEE GESHURITE. They were rich in Bedouin treasures - "sheep, oxen, asses, camels, and apparel" (1Sa_17:9; comp. 1Sa_15:3; 1Ch_6:21). They appear to have occupied Central Palestine at a very early period, and to have relinquished it in company with the Amalekites, who. also left their name attached to a mountain in the same locality (Jdg_12:15), when they abandoned that rich district for the less fertile but freer south. Other tribes, as the Avvim and the Zemarites, also left traces of their presence ill the names of towns of the central district. SEE CANAANITE.