Gibeah
גִּבְעָה · giv.ah · H1390Hגֶּ֫בַע · ge.va · H1387H3 other spellings“a hill” Hitchcock's 186945 mentions in 7 books, most in Judges (23)
Where it is
31.82° N, 35.23° E
Coordinates and map: OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding · CC BY 4.0 · drawn without map tiles
Mentioned most in
Counted from 45 references · STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0
About this place
Gibeah was a city located in the territory of Benjamin, often associated with King Saul and the infamous atrocities that occurred there during the period of the judges. It was the hometown and burial place of Eleazar, the son of Aaron (Joshua 24:33). Gibeah is infamously known for the horrific incident involving the concubine of a Levite, which led to a civil war between the Benjamites and the other tribes of Israel (Judges 19-20). The city was also the birthplace and residence of Saul, the first king of Israel (1Sa.10.26; 15:34). Saul and his son Jonathan used Gibeah as a base of operations during their battles against the Philistines (1Sa.13.2, 15; 14:2, 16). The city is mentioned in the context of David's flight from Saul (1Sa.22.6; 23:19; 26:1) and in the account of the hanging of Saul's descendants (2Sa.21.6). Gibeah is also listed among the cities of Benjamin (Joshua 18:28; 1Ch.12.3) and is mentioned in prophetic passages (Isaiah 10:29; Hosea 5:8; 9:9; 10:9). The atrocities committed at Gibeah became a byword for the moral decay and lawlessness of the time, serving as a warning and a call to repentance for future generations.
Article: STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0
Every mention
45 references, counted from STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0 · verse text: World English Bible (public domain)
Joshua2 mentions
Joshua 18:28Zelah, Eleph, the Jebusite (also called Jerusalem), Gibeath, and Kiriath; fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin according to their…Joshua 24:33Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.
Judges23 mentions
Judges 19:12His master said to him, “We won’t enter into the city of a foreigner that is not of the children of Israel; but we will pass over to Gibeah.”Judges 19:13He said to his servant, “Come and let’s draw near to one of these places; and we will lodge in Gibeah, or in Ramah.”Judges 19:14So they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin.Judges 19:15They went over there, to go in to stay in Gibeah. He went in, and sat down in the street of the city; for there was no one who took them into his house to stay.Judges 19:16Behold, an old man came from his work out of the field at evening. Now the man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he lived in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites.Judges 20:4The Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered, “I came into Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night.Judges 20:5The men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house by night. They intended to kill me and they raped my concubine, and she is dead.Judges 20:9But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot;Judges 20:10and we will take ten men of one hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred of one thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand to get food for the people, that they may…Judges 20:13Now therefore deliver up the men, the wicked fellows who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and put away evil from Israel.” But Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their…Judges 20:14The children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.Judges 20:15The children of Benjamin were counted on that day out of the cities twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, in addition to the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were counted seven hundred…Judges 20:19The children of Israel rose up in the morning and encamped against Gibeah.Judges 20:20The men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel set the battle in array against them at Gibeah.Judges 20:21The children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and on that day destroyed twenty-two thousand of the Israelite men down to the ground.Judges 20:25Benjamin went out against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men. All these drew the sword.Judges 20:29Israel set ambushes all around Gibeah.Judges 20:30The children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and set themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times.Judges 20:31The children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to strike and kill of the people as at other times, in the highways, of which one…Judges 20:34Ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel came over against Gibeah, and the battle was severe; but they didn’t know that disaster was close to them.Judges 20:36So the children of Benjamin saw that they were struck, for the men of Israel yielded to Benjamin because they trusted the ambushers whom they had set against Gibeah.Judges 20:37The ambushers hurried, and rushed on Gibeah; then the ambushers spread out, and struck all the city with the edge of the sword.Judges 20:43They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and trod them down at their resting place, as far as near Gibeah toward the sunrise.
1 Samuel12 mentions
1 Samuel 10:5“After that you will come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is; and it will happen, when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a band of prophets…1 Samuel 10:10When they came there to the hill, behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily on him, and he prophesied among them.1 Samuel 10:26Saul also went to his house in Gibeah; and the army went with him, whose hearts God had touched.1 Samuel 11:4Then the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, and spoke these words in the ears of the people, then all the people lifted up their voice and wept.1 Samuel 13:2Saul chose for himself three thousand men of Israel, of which two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in the Mount of Bethel, and one thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin.…1 Samuel 13:15Samuel arose, and went from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. Saul counted the people who were present with him, about six hundred men.1 Samuel 14:2Saul stayed in the uttermost part of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree which is in Migron; and the people who were with him were about six hundred men,1 Samuel 14:16The watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and behold, the multitude melted away and scattered.1 Samuel 15:34Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.1 Samuel 22:6Saul heard that David was discovered, with the men who were with him. Now Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree in Ramah, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants…1 Samuel 23:19Then the Ziphites came up to Saul to Gibeah, saying, “Doesn’t David hide himself with us in the strongholds in the woods, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert?1 Samuel 26:1The Ziphites came to Saul to Gibeah, saying, “Doesn’t David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert?”
2 Samuel2 mentions
1 Chronicles2 mentions
Isaiah1 mention
Hosea3 mentions
Hosea 5:8“Blow the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah! Sound a battle cry at Beth Aven, behind you, Benjamin!Hosea 9:9They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity. He will punish them for their sins.Hosea 10:9“Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah. There they remained. The battle against the children of iniquity doesn’t overtake them in Gibeah.
What the dictionary says
A hill or hill-town, “of Benjamin” (1 Sam. 13:15), better known as “Gibeah of Saul” (11:4; Isa. 10:29).
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Read the article →Sources
- STEPBible TIPNR · Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References · CC BY 4.0 · github.com/STEPBible/STEPBible-Data
- OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding · CC BY 4.0 · www.openbible.info/geo/
- Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (1869) · Public domain