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Gibeon (; )Madaba Map, 6th cent. was a Canaan and later an Israelite city, which was located north of Jerusalem. According to , the pre-Israelite-conquest inhabitants, the Gibeonites, were Hivites; according to , they were Amorites. The remains of Gibeon are located in the southern portion of the Palestinian village of al-Jib in Area C of the West Bank.
In retaliation for allying with the Israelites, the city was later besieged by a coalition of five other Amorite kings led by Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem, along with Hoham of Hebron, Piram of Jarmuth, Japhia of Lachish, and Debir of Eglon. The Gibeonites appealed to Joshua, who led the subsequent victory over the Amorites amid miraculous circumstances, including deadly hailstones and the suspension of the movement of the Sun and Moon, until the Amorites were completely defeated ().
In the first Book of Chronicles, Jeiel is mentioned as the "father of Gibeon" and is an ancestor of King Saul.
Following the capture of the Ark of the Covenant by the Philistines, the remaining part of the Tabernacle was moved from Shiloh to the "great high place" in Gibeon (, ).
indicates that King [[Saul]] pursued the Gibeonites and sought to kill them off "in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah" (). His anger at the Gibeonites2 Samuel 21:2 was not personal hatred, but was induced by zeal for the welfare of the Israelites.Num. Rashi 8:4 Following Saul's death, fighting between the soldiers of [[Joab]] and those of [[Abner]] took place beside the Pool of Gibeon (2 Samuel 2:12). In this area, King [[David]] conquered the [[Philistines]] ( and ).
David then became the king of the United Monarchy. Much later, after the death of his rebellious son Absalom and his restoration to the throne, the kingdom of Israel was visited by a three-year drought, which led David to ask God what was wrong. The drought was then revealed to be divine judgement against King Saul's decision to completely exterminate the Gibeonites (), in his "zeal for Israel and Judah". The blame for this genocide is also attributed to Saul's family. This event is not itself recorded in the biblical narrative,Jerusalem Bible, note at 2 Samuel 21:2: "The account of these events has not been preserved" although Gill refers to a Jewish tradition linking this slaughter to the slaughter of the priests at Nob (1 Samuel 22:6–19). Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible on 2 Samuel, accessed 18 August 2017, quoting Babylonian Talmud: Bava Kamma, fol. 119. 1: "For indeed where do we find that Saul slew the Gibeonites? It must therefore be because he slew Nob, the city of the priests". The culpability of Saul's family in the genocide could also imply that it wasn't a singular event. David asked the surviving Gibeonites what he could offer to make amends. In retribution, they asked for seven of Saul's male descendants to be given to them to kill, seven signalling the sign of completion. David handed over Armoni and Mephibosheth, two of the sons of Saul and the five sons of Merab (Saul's daughter) to the Gibeonites, who hanged them. He saved Jonathan's son, also called Mephibosheth, from this peril because of his covenant with Jonathan (). Amasa was also killed here ().
On his accession to kingship, King David's son Solomon met with all of the kingdom of Israel's leaders at Gibeon and offered 1,000 sacrifice (, ). On this occasion, God appeared to him in a dream () and granted him wisdom (, ).
Hananiah, son of Azzur, came from this city ().
After the exile of the Israelites to Babylon, Gibeon belonged to Judea. Gibeon is mentioned in the Book of Nehemiah as one of the towns resettled by the Jewish exiles returning from the Babylonian captivity and who helped to construct the walls of Jerusalem during the reign of Artaxerxes I (Xerxes).Josephus (1981). 082542951X, Kregel Publications. 082542951X Nehemiah further records that those returnees were the very descendants of the people who had formerly resided in the town before their banishment from the country, who had all returned to live in their former places of residence.
suggests that worship before the tabernacle at Gibeon continued alongside worship in Jerusalem after David brought the Ark of the Covenant back there, although "nothing ... is said of this in the Books of Samuel".Barnes, W. E. (1899), [https://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/1_chronicles/13.htm Cambridge Bible for Schools on 1 Chronicles 13], accessed 22 February 2020 Theologian Hans-Peter Mathys notes, "no other OT book mentions a regular (sacrificial) cult in Gibeon. Its historical authenticity is sometimes supported by the argument that ("[[Solomon]] ... went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place; a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar") confirms its existence and speaks out against it. These four verses, though, were more likely conceived by the Chronicler, [who] ... is at pains to portray an uninterrupted and legitimate (sacrificial) cult spanning the entire period from the desert era (with its tabernacle), including the LORD's residence at Gibeon, right up to Solomon's establishment of the temple in Jerusalem."Mathys, H. P., ''1 and 2 Chronicles'' in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), [https://b-ok.org/dl/946961/8f5f43 The Oxford Bible Commentary] , p. 277
R. Hana b. Kattina raised an objection: But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul! Ibid. 7. Had the selection been made by the Ark, what need was there for David to spare him? — He did not allow him to pass.To avoid the risk of being retained Was there favouritism then! — In fact he did let him pass and it retained him, but he invoked on his behalf divine mercy and it released him. But here, too, favouritism is involved!,If he who was retained was released another would have to die in his place! — The fact, however, is that he invoked divine mercy that the Ark should not retain him. But, surely, it is written, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children etc.! Neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers (Deut. XXIV, 16). Why then were Saul's descendants made to suffer for the sin of Saul? — R. Hiyya b. Abba replied in the name of R. Johanan: It is better that a letter be rooted out of the Torah than that the Divine name shall be publicly profaned.Which would have been the case had the crime against the Gibeonites been allowed to go unpunished And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water was poured upon them from heaven; and she suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on then by day, nor the beast of the field by night.II Sam. XXI, 10. But, surely, it is written, His body shall not remain all night upon the tree!Deut. XXI, 23. — R. Johanan replied in the name of R. Simeon b. Jehozadak: It is proper that a letter be rooted out of the Torah so that thereby the heavenly name shall be publicly hallowed. For passers-by were enquiring, 'What kind of men are these?' — 'These are royal princes' — 'And what have they done?' — 'They laid their hands upon unattachedH lit., 'dragged in'; proselytes who have not been admitted into the congregation, or,. strangers' — Then they exclaimed: 'There is no nation in existence which one ought to join as much as this one. If the royal princes was so great. how much more that of common people; and if such was unattached proselytes, how much more so for Israelites
A hundred and fifty thousand men immediately joined Israel; as it is said, And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bore burdens, and fourscore thousand that were hewers in the mountain.I Kings V, 29 Might not these have been Israelites? — This cannot be assumed, for it is written, But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondservants. Ibid. IX. 22 But thatThe labour spoken of in I Kings V, 29. might have represented mere public service! Not the labour of slaves. H perhaps a corruption of the Persian H 'day labourer'. Cf. Golds. a.l. and Jast. s.v. H. — The however, is from the following: And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the Land of Israel, etc. And they were found a hundred and fifty thousand etc. And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to bear burdens, and fourscore thousand to be hewers in the mountains.II Chron. II, 16f.
Was it David, however, who issued the decree of prohibition against the nethinim? Moses, surely, issued that decree, for it is written, from the hewer of thy wood to the drawer of thy water!Deut. XXIX, 10. Since these were specially singled out they obviously did not form a part of the congregation of Israel, while their services were exactly those which were peculiar to the nethinim or the Gibeonites — Moses issued a decree against that generation onlyOf his own time while David issued a decree against all generations.
But Joshua, in fact, issued the decree against them, for it is written, And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the Lord!Josh. IX, 27 — Joshua made his decree for the period during which the Sanctuary was in existenceAs it was specifically stated, For the altar (ibid.). while David made his decree for the time during which the Sanctuary was not in existence.
In Rabbinic Judaism, the alleged descendants of the Gibeonites, known as , are treated differently from ordinary Jews. They may not, for example, marry a Jew by birth. However, a Natin may marry and Gerim.Yebamot 8:3 The men of Gibeon, with Melatiah the Gibeonite at their head, repaired a piece of the wall of Jerusalem near the old gate on the west side of the city (), while the Nethinim dwelt at Ophel on the east side (). At the time of Nehemiah and Ezra, they were fully integrated into the Judean community, and were signatories to the former's covenant. Several centuries later, their status had declined rapidly. In the 10 genealogical classes ( yuhasin) set forth in the Mishnah, they are ranked above shetukim (people of whose paternity is unknown) and assufim (foundlings) but beneath mamzerim, the offspring of illicit unions, and were prohibited from marrying Israellites of good standing, though intermarriage between the last four classes, which included freed slaves, was permitted. A child of such illicit unions was defined as a natin. Whereas the Biblical prohibitions against intermarriage with the Moabites, , Ancient Egypt and Edomites only applied for a certain number of generations or did not apply at all to their daughters, the ban on marriage with Mamzerim and Nethinim was deemed "perpetual and applies both to males and females".
In the 8th and 7th century BCE there was a considerable wine industry there; cellars with room for 95,000 liters of wine have been found. Impressive among these finds are sixty-three wine cellars. Hebrew inscriptions of גבען (GBʻN) 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.
Gibeon was possibly a dependency of Jerusalem, and was probably not fortified at the time.
Eusebius, in his Onomasticon, mentions Gibeon (Gabaon) as formerly being inhabited by the Gibeonites, who were a Hivite nation, and that their village was located about 4 milestones to the west of Bethel, near Ramah.
At a nearby ruin, built on the southern slope of a ridge at the western side of the al-Jib highland, archaeologists discovered a Hellenistic-Second Temple period dwelling, in which were found a plastered Mikveh with three descending staircases and an industrial zone with Limepit.Binyamin Har-Even, "Khirbet el-Jafir (West) – A Rural Settlement of the Second Temple Period in the El-Jib Highland", in: ''
During the early phases of the First Jewish–Roman War, the Roman governor of Syria (63-65), Cestius Gallus, camped in Gibeon while en route to Jerusalem and again during his retreat.
(2025). 9789652205001, Carta. ISBN 9789652205001 The 10th-century lexicographer, David ben Abraham al-Fasi identified al-Ǧīb" (now al-Jib) with the ancient city Gibeon, which view was accepted by Frants Buhl and by other historical geographers (original Hebrew edition: 'Land of Israel in Biblical Times - Historical Geography', Bialik Institute, Jerusalem (1962)) and described as such in the Hebrew Lexicon compiled by Wilhelm Gesenius,Solomon Skoss, The Hebrew-Arabic Dictionary of the Bible known as Kitab Jami al-Alfaz (Agron) of David ben Abraham Al-Fasi, the Karaite (New Haven: Yale 1936), introd. p. xxxviii. and proved by Hebrew inscriptions unearthed in 1956.
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Summaries (Part One): Bible, History and Archaeology'', pp. 27 - 28
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