Gibeon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The city of Gibeon (Hebrew: גבען) is located about 6 miles (10 km) north of the center of Jerusalem. Gibeon's location has long been connected with the modern Arab village of el-Jib and the adjacent Jewish community of Giv'on Hadasha ("New Gibeon").
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[edit] Biblical record
[edit] Joshua's treaty with the Hivites
After the destruction of Jericho and Ai, the people of Gibeon (Hivites) realized that their destruction was next, so they sent ambassadors to trick Joshua and the people of Israel into making a treaty with them. According to the Bible, Israel had been commanded by God to destroy all of the people in the land of Canaan, so the Gibeonites told Israel that they were from a distant land. Without consulting God, Israel made a mutual defense agreement with the Gibeonites. When Joshua discovered that he had been deceived, he still kept his covenant with the Gibeonites, but he forced them to be woodcutters and water-carriers for Israel (Joshua 9:3-27).
Much later, after the death of Absalom and king David's restoration to his throne, Israel was visited by a grievous famine, which was found to be a punishment for king Saul's, violation (2 Sam. 21:2-5) of the covenant with the Gibeonites.
[edit] Other references
Gibeon was located in the tribal territory of Benjamin (Joshua 18:25), and it was made a Levitical City (Joshua 21:17). The fight between the soldiers of Joab and those of Abner took place beside the Pool of Gibeon (2 Samuel 2:12). It was in this area that David conquered the Philistines (2 Samuel 5:25 and 1 Chronicles 14:16). Amasa was also killed here (2 Samuel 20:8). There was a "great high place" in Gibeon where Solomon offered one thousand burnt offerings (1 Kings 3:4). On this occasion the God appeared to him in a dream (1 Kings 3:15). Hananiah came from this city (Jeremiah 28:1). After the exile of the Israelites to Babylon, Gibeon belonged to Judea (Nehemiah 3:7).
[edit] Archeology
Excavated by James B. Pritchard in 1956-7, 1959-60, and 1962, Gibeon has significant remains especially from the days of the Israelites. Impressive among these finds are 63 wine cellars from the 8th to 7th century BC. Hebrew inscriptions of גבען (GBN) on the handles of wine storage jars, most of which were excavated from a large pool matching the biblical description, made the identification of Gibeon secure and a landmark product of biblical archaeology. Pritchard published articles on their production of wine, the Hebrew inscriptions, the rock-cut wine cellars, and the well engineered water conduits that supplied the city water. Archaeologists believe that the site has been occupied during parts of the Early Bronze Age (c.3500-2000 BC), most of the Middle Bronze Age (c.2000-1600 BC), and in the latter part of the Late Bronze Age (c.1600-1200 BC) which is just before Joshua's conquest of Canaan. Gibeon was possibly a dependency of the city-state Jerusalem, and it was probably not fortified at the time.
[edit] External links
- Gibeon (BiblePlaces.com) includes pictures
