City
Gibeah
GIB-ee-ah · Modern Commonly identified with Tell el-Ful, on the northern edge of Jerusalem · Also called Gibeah of Saul, Gibeath
Gibeah is a city of the biblical world, known today as Commonly identified with Tell el-Ful, on the northern edge of Jerusalem.
What is known
- William F. Albright's excavations at Tell el-Ful identified a fortress structure he dated to the Iron Age I and associated with Saul, though later reanalysis of the site's dating and layout has been debated among archaeologists
- The horrific account in Judges 19 — the abuse and death of the Levite's concubine at Gibeah — triggers a civil war that nearly annihilates the tribe of Benjamin (Judges 20-21)
- Gibeah was Saul's hometown and became his base of operations as Israel's first king, giving it the epithet 'Gibeah of Saul'
- Hosea turns Gibeah into a byword for national depravity, twice reaching back to the Judges 19-20 outrage: 'They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah' (Hosea 9:9) and 'From the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel' (Hosea 10:9) — for Hosea, Gibeah marks the beginning of a corruption never repented of
- Isaiah 10:29 mentions Gibeah for a different reason: the prophet traces the Assyrian army's advance on Jerusalem through the Benjaminite plateau — Aiath, Migron, Michmash, Geba, Ramah, Gibeah of Saul, Nob — noting that 'Gibeah of Saul has fled'; the reference is geographic and military, marking a stop on the invasion route rather than alluding to the town's moral history
History
- Founded
- Occupied from the Iron Age I; rose to prominence as Saul's hometown and effectively Israel's first royal capital in the late 11th century BC
- Population
- A modest fortress-town rather than a major city, fitting its role as a tribal chieftain's/early king's seat rather than an established royal capital
- Industry
- Military/administrative center under Saul; otherwise an agrarian Benjaminite hill town
- Coordinates
- 31.8094° N, 35.2325° E
Scripture references
- Judges 19:12-30 — The atrocity at Gibeah against the Levite's concubine
- Judges 20:1-48 — Civil war against Benjamin over Gibeah's crime
- 1 Samuel 10:26 — Saul returns home to Gibeah as king-elect
- 1 Samuel 11:4 — Messengers bring news to Gibeah of Saul
- 1 Samuel 15:34 — Saul returns to Gibeah
- Isaiah 10:29 — Gibeah named in the Assyrian march on Jerusalem
- Hosea 9:9 — 'They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah'
- Hosea 10:9 — Gibeah recalled as the site of Israel's sin
On a modern map
Further reading
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