Preface: Because of the similarity of these names and because they have the same root, some scholars have assumed that Gibeah of Saul was equivalent to Gibeon and Geba. This is not completely unfounded because, due to their great similarity of spelling and general location, it is reasonable to confound them. However, it is clear that these cities are distinguished in the listing of the cities by Joshua in Joshua 18:24–25, 28. One of the first things that I did in preparation for this study was to check these passages in the Greek to make certain that we have some agreement here. Gibeah, Gibeon and Geba are generally distinguished in the Greek as well (they are known as Gabaa—or, Gabaoth when found in the construct state—Gabaon and Gabae, respectively). Unfortunately, this is not always the case (in Joshua 15:24–28, there is no Gabae, but Gabaa is found for Geba). Therefore, we may safely assume that we are examining three distinct cities that are all located in the territory of Benjamin and whose root is similar.

1.    First of all, the Hebrew:

       a.    The name Gibeon is Gib^e׳ôn (ןע ׃ב ̣) [pronounced gi^bv^e-ĢOHN]. Its root word is gib^e׳âh (ה ָע  ׃ב  ̣) [pronounced gi^bv^e-ĢAW], which means hill (Strong’s #1389 BDB #148). Strong’s #1391 BDB #149. A related word is the adjective gentis Gib^e׳înîy (י.נֹעב̣) [pronounced gi^bv-ģoh-NEE], which is transliterated Gibeonite. We find this term used much less often than the name of the city. It is only found in 1Sam. 21 and in two other separate passages where two men are called Gibeonites. Strong's #1393 BDB #149.

       b.    Geba׳ (ע-ב∵) [pronounced GEH^b-vahģ], which is transliterated Geba. Strong’s #1387 BDB #148.

       c.     Gib^e׳âh (ה ָע ׃ב ̣) [pronounced gi^bv^e-ĢAW], which is transliterated Gibeah. Strong’s #1390 BDB #149. This is identical to the feminine noun in the Hebrew which is translated hill. The construct of Gibeah is Gib^e׳ath (ת -ע ׃ב ̣) [pronounced gi^bv^e-ĢAHTH], which is often transliterated Gibeath. This is also the construct of the feminine noun for hill. Strong’s #1394 BDB #149.

       d.    Clearly, these are all very similar proper nouns, with the same base of the three consonants GB׳. Given that the vowel points were added thousands of years after the original recording of Scripture, it is reasonable that these proper nouns could be confounded.

       e.    J. Simons (and apparently others) suggest that Geba is the masculine form of the word hill and Gibeah is the feminine form. Therefore, these would be interchangeable nouns. The only reason that I don’t buy into that is that the common noun for hill, gibeah, is the only one that I could find in the Hebrew.

2.    Locations:

       a.    Gibeon is associated with the modern city el-Jîb and is located 5 miles northwest of Jerusalem. Ewing describes the modern city as being on a double knoll, with terraced slopes, but rocky and precipitous to the East. Millard places it 6 miles north of Jerusalem, and Alden places it 6 miles northwest of Jerusalem. Given any of these locations, there does not appear to be much distance between Geba and Gibeon (1–2 miles).

       b.    Geba is located approximately 6 miles north-northeast of Jerusalem. Geba is northeast of Gibeah and east of Gibeon. ZPEB places it 7 miles northeast of Jerusalem and 2 miles east of Ramah and identifies it with the modern city of Jeba. Douglas has Geba as 7 miles north of Jerusalem and 3 miles from Gibeah.

       c.     The Bible both places Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin nearest Jerusalem (Joshua 18:28), and tells us that it is opposite Jerusalem in Judges 19:10. Macmillan places Gibeah nearly midway between Jerusalem and Geba (making it about 3 miles north-northwest of Jerusalem). T. C. Mitchell places it 3 miles north of Jerusalem. ISBE identifies the site of Teleil el-Fūl, an artificial mound which is 4 miles north of Jerusalem, and slightly east of the high road to Shechem. If one takes this road a little north of Teleil el-Fūl, the high road bifurcates, with one branch turning eastward toward Jeba (Geba) and the other one continuing northward to Bethel. Along the portion of road to Jeba, not too far from the parting of the ways, is er-Rām, which is the modern location of Ramah. Bear in mind that this was written prior to 1956 and possibly as early as 1920 or so. What remains in that area by way of roads may have changed considerably since Ewing submitted this article to ISBE.

This gives you an idea as to how close these cities were to one another. All the cities shown were, at one time, within the borders of Benjamin.

3.    Old Testament references to Gibeon (Joshua 9:3, 17 10:1, 2, 4–6, 10, 12, 41 11:19 18:25 21:17 2Sam. 2:12–13, 16, 24 3:30 20:8 1Kings 3:4–5 9:2 1Chron. 8:29 9:35 14:16 16:39 21:29 2Chron. 1:3, 13 Neh. 3:7 7:25 Isa. 28:21 Jer. 28:1 41:12, 16). Old Testament references to Gibeonite (2Sam. 21:1–4, 9 1Chron. 12:4 Neh. 3:7).

       a.    Gibeon, perhaps, has one of the most interesting histories. As Joshua went through the Land of Promise in a destructive sweep, the Gibeonites, who were apparently a branch of the Hivites, realized that they were on this list of groups to be destroyed and that they would soon face Joshua’s army. Knowing that Joshua was not taking any prisoners, they pretended to come from a far away country and they made a treaty with Joshua (even though these were men who were next or almost next on Joshua’s path of devastation). Joshua agreed to make a treaty with them and their allies in Chephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath-jearim (Joshua was not aware that these were all cities in his military path). Three days later, Joshua found out that these men were among those he was to destroy in the land. Knowing that he could not go back on his word, Joshua retained this treaty, assigned these Gibeonites to the least-desirable vocations, and protected them when attacked by other heathen groups. Joshua 9. Don’t become confused by the treaty that was signed by these people—it was not a situation of the Gibeonites being a weak people—Gibeon was greater than Ai and its men were strong. Other heathen were frightened that such a city would make peace with Israel (Joshua 10:2). These were the only heathen to make a treaty with the Israelites (Joshua 11:19).

       b.    One of the most interesting aspects of Joshua’s penalty for their duplicity was that he made them hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of My God (Joshua 9:23). Joshua recognized their positive volition toward Jesus Christ and, although he punished them on the one hand for lying to him about their origins, he also had them closely involved with the Tent of God for their salvation.

       c.     Because the Gibeonites had made peace with the Israelites, the nearby Gentiles were none too happy with this treaty and they banded together and attacked the Gibeonites. Joshua defended them at what is now called the Battle of Beth-horon. Joshua 10:1–28

       d.    Early on, Gibeon is mentioned as one of the cities of Benjamin, clearly differentiated from Geba and Gibeah (Joshua 18:24–25, 28).

       e.    Both Gibeon and Geba were designated as Levitical cities in Joshua 21:17.

       f.     Saul’s great grandfather, Jeiel, is called the father of Gibeon in 1Chron. 8:29. It is not really 100% clear what is meant by calling Jeiel the father (or founder) of Gibeon, as Jeiel would have been around in the latter third of the period of the judges. This would have been long after Joshua conquered that general area. We could infer that Jeiel founded the Jewish section of Gibeon and marked the influx of Jews into the Gibeonite city. However, since Gibeon was designated a Levitical city, we would assume that the Israelites had already settled there. My best hypothesis here is that, after the decimation of the tribe of Benjamin, Jeiel reestablished, rebuilt and repopulated the city of Gibeon. This would be the correct time frame for this to occur (as we will see, nearby Gibeah was burned to the ground during this time period).

       g.    Saul had put a great many Gibeonites to death and later, during the time of David, there was a famine in the land which was a discipline upon Israel for this. David went to the remaining Gibeonites and asked what he could do to set things right. They demanded the hanging death of seven of Saul's sons, a request which David granted. The recorded history of Saul's actions are not found in Scripture, except in retrospect. 2Sam. 21:1–9

       h.    One of David’s supporters when he was in Ziklag included a Gibeonite (1Chron. 12:4).

       i.      David is said to have struck down Philistines from Gibeon to Gezer in 1Chron. 14:16; the parallel passage in 2Sam. 5:25 reads from Geba to Gezer. This obviously could be a scribal error, as it reads Gibeon in both passages in the Septuagint (actually, Gabaon).

       j.      At the time that David brought the Ark to a tent which he had set up for it, the original Tent of God was located in the high place of Gibeon (1Chron. 16:39 21:29). The altar of burnt offerings was also there.

       k.     Gibeon is the site of the civil war between David and Ish-bosheth (this was fought by their armies; Joab was General over David’s servants and Abner over Ish-bosheth’s). Joab killed Amasa in Gibeon and then caused Abner to flee to the other side of the Jordan. 2Sam. 2:8–32. Later, Joab and Abishai killed Abner because he had killed their brother Asahel in Gibeon (2Sam. 3:30). A lot is made of the large stone mentioned in 2Sam. 20:8, but there is no reason to assume that it is anything other than a very large stone (one which would be large enough to be notable).

       l.      During the time of Solomon, there was a great high place where Solomon went and offered up 1000 burnt offerings to God. Even though it is called a high place, this appears to be legitimate, as God appears to Solomon in a dream. 1Kings 3:4–5 2Chron. 1:3–7, 13

       m.   God appeared a second time to Solomon after he had completed building the Temple; Gibeon is reference as the place where God first appeared to Solomon. 1Kings 9:1–3

       n.    Shishak, king of Egypt, lists Gibeon among the cities which he captured.

       o.    Isa. 28:21 has an interesting mention of Gibeon. God will come up against Judah just as he did against the enemies of Judah in Mount Perazim and the valley of Gibeon. At Mount Perazim, God fought against the Philistines (2Sam. 5:20) and in the valley of Gibeon, God sent hail to destroy the army of the Ammonites (Joshua 10:10–12).

       p.    The false prophet Hananiah came from Gibeon (Jer. 28:1).

       q.    Gideon and the pool of Gideon are mentioned in the assassination of Gedaliah by Ishmael ben Nethaniah (Jer. 41). In the modern-day equivalent el-Jîb, there is a large reservoir with a spring on the east side. There is another reservoir lower down amidst the olive trees which collects the overflow from the first pool.

       r.     Among those who helped build the walls to Jerusalem during the time of Nehemiah were those from Gibeon. It appears as though one of the men mentioned was a Gibeonite (who would therefore most likely be a descendant of non-Jews). Neh. 3:7

       s.     Certainly, some men of Gibeon returned with the first exiles (95 of them in Neh. 7:25).

4.    The excavation of Gibeon:

       a.    According to the excavations of James B. Pritchard in the summers of 1956, 1957, 1959 and 1960, there exist remains of cities from the Early and Middle II Bronze Age, and from the beginning of the Iron Age to the Persian period. There was also a large town there during the Roman times. However, excavations show nothing from the Late Bronze Age, which would have been around the time of Joshua.

       b.    There is a large pit which was dug around the Early Iron Age, 35 feet down into the rock. There are steps which lead down to a 40 foot tunnel which leads to a water chamber. I am guessing that this is equivalent to the pool which Alden mentions in ZPEB. He talks of a 79 step circular staircase cut out of the rock which leads to a spectacular pool 37 ft. across and 82 ft. deep. It is uncertain as to the purpose of this pit, as it is often filled with water. There is another tunnel, 167 ft. long, descending 93 steps, cut into the solid rock (although its somewhat meandering and uneven path suggests that it was cut along the natural cracks of the rock). This tunnel leads from the city to a room where there is a reservoir filled with water from the main spring which is outside the city walls. There was also discovered a great many storage jars which were stamped with the royal seal or the owner’s names (e.g., Amariah, Azariah, Hananiah) were inscribed often along with the name Gibeon. Apparently, this area was the site of a large wine-making industry in the 7^th century b.c., and it is supposed that the jars were used for the purpose of storing this wine. There was also discovered 66 cavities or cellars which were cut into the solid rock of this hill wherein the wine could be stored at a constant temperature. Also located in this general vicinity were wine presses and troughs.

       c.     Interestingly enough, later the Romans had a huge and elaborate burial ground in Gibeon. Several tombs and a columbarium and a great deal of pottery were excavated by Pritchard.

5.    Old Testament references to Geba:

       a.    First of all, it is important to note that the Englishman’s Hebrew Concordance to the Old Testament lists Geba, Gibeah and Gaba together (although it has a separate listing of references for Gibea, Gibeah and Gibeon). This simply acknowledges the confounding of the names. Joshua 18:24 21:17 Judges 20:10, 33 1Sam. 13:3, 16 14:5 2Sam. 5:25 1Kings 15:22 2Kings 23:8 1Chron. 6:60 8:6 2Chron. 16:6 Ezra 2:26 Neh. 7:30 11:31 12:25 Isa. 10:29 Zech. 14:10.

       b.    Geba is first mentioned as one of the cities of Benjamin, clearly differentiated from Gibeon and Gibeah. Geba is located on the northeast boundary of Benjamin (Joshua 18:24–25, 28).

       c.     Both Gibeon and Geba were designated as Levitical cities in Joshua 21:17. Geba is mentioned again as a Levitical city in 1Chron. 6:60 (not all of the Levitical cities are listed in this passage, however, which allows for the non-listing of Gibeon).

       d.    When the degenerate Benjamites were being wiped out by their brothers, they were drawn out of the city of Gibeah even as far as the meadows of Geba (Judges 20:33). Whereas v. 10 of this chapter could be a copyist’s error (see the problem references below), the Septuagint here agrees with the Masoretic text, which suggests that Geba is the correct reading. Given the gist of the verse, that the men of Benjamin were drawn far outside the city of Gibeah, and given that Geba and Gibeah are probably within 5 miles of one another.

       e.    It has also been suggested that Judges 20:31 should read Geba, rather than Gibeah. That is, when the Benjamites had been lured out of Gibeah, they were on the highway which split, one road leading to Geba and the other to Bethel. This will be covered in problem passages below.

       f.     The Philistines apparently had an outpost or a garrison in Geba, which is very close to the major cities of Benjamin (1Sam. 13:3). My thinking is that much of Benjamin was wiped out in Judges 20 and that the tribe of Dan migrated north in Judges 18, leaving central Israel essentially unoccupied and vulnerable. Therefore, this would be a natural area for the Philistines to move through and to set up outposts in. Jonathan struck this outpost, thus beginning again great conflicts between Israel and Philistia. Jonathan’s attack moved the Philistines completely out of Geba; however, they got reinforcements from Philistia and camped in nearby Mishmash (1Sam. 13:16). Douglas believes that the mention of Geba in 1Sam. 13:16 is a copyist error and should be Gibeah (I guess because it is called Geba of Saul in this passage). Jonathan’s attack of the Philistines includes a mention of Mishmash and Geba in 1Sam. 14:5.

       g.    The Philistines apparently returned to this general area during the time of David and it was here that David began to strike them down, going from Geba to Gezer (2Sam. 5:25). This should probably read from Gibeon to Gezer, as this is what we find in the parallel passage (1Chron. 14:16) as well as in the Septuagint. Given this and the previous point, we could reasonably hypothesize that the general area of Geba (or Gibeon) mark the deepest penetration of the Philistines into Israel.

       h.    King Asa (who was about 60 years removed from the end of David’s reign) rebuilt Geba and Mizpah using the materials from Ramah that his enemy Baasha had used to fortify himself against Asa (1Kings 15:22 2Chron. 16:6). It is possible that all he actually built was a fortress to protect himself (see 2Chron. 16:1–6). This probably marked the northern boundary of Judah during this time.

       i.      Isaiah describes, in what appears to be a vision, the invading armies of the Assyrians and their march through Israel (which included Geba). Isa. 10:28–32

       j.      King Josiah (who appears on the scene 300 years after Asa) defiled the idolatrous high places from Geba (northern Judah) to Beersheba (southern Judah). This probably replaced the saying from Dan to Beersheba. 2Kings 23:8

       k.     Apparently we have some of the residents of Geba being taken into captivity in 1Chron. 8:6, but it is unclear as to when this actually occurred. That this occurs early in the list of descendants of Benjamin makes this passage even more obscure.

       l.      When the exiles returned from Babylon, some of them originated from Geba (Ezra 2:26 Neh. 7:30).

       m.   Geba was re-occupied by the Israelites after the dispersion and return (Neh. 11:31).

       n.    At the dedication of the new wall of Jerusalem, some singers from Geba (and elsewhere) were brought in for the celebration and to sing at the dedication of the Temple (Neh. 12:29).

       o.    in this reference, it appears that all the land around Jerusalem was to be leveled or turned into desert area; and that Jerusalem was to be raised up. How literal this fulfillment will be is difficult to ascertain; and what would cause such a thing is also difficult to determine. However, this is a Millennial reference and the causes may or may not occur in the Tribulation (Zech. 14:1–8 refers to the Great Tribulation and the verses which follow to the Millennium). Zech. 14:10 contains the reference to Geba.

6.    Old Testament references to Gibeah (Joshua 15:57 18:28 Judges 19:12–16 20:4, 5, 9, 13–15, 19–21, 25, 29–31, 34, 36, 37, 43 1Sam. 10:5, 10, 26 11:4 13:2, 15 14:2, 16 15:34 22:6 23:19 26:1 2Sam. 21:6 23:29 1Chron. 11:31 2Chron. 13:2 Isa. 10:29 Hos. 5:8 9:9 10:9). There are many times when this word does not refer to the city of Gibeah but is used to mean hill (e.g., Joshua 24:33 1Sam. 7:1 2Sam. 2:25 6:3–4).

       a.    Gibeah of Judah:

               i.      Gibeah of Judah is first mentioned by that name in Joshua 15:57. Given its location on the list of cities in Judah, it is in the southern hill country of Judah roughly 30 miles south of Jerusalem associated with the cities of Carmel, Ziph and Kain.

               ii.     The mother of King Abijah of Judah was from Gibeah (2Chron. 13:1–2). We do not know for a fact that this is Gibeah of Judah, but that is a reasonable assumption.

               iii.    Although T. C. Mitchell suggests Gibeah of Judah is equivalent to el-Jebaʽ near Bethlehem, its location in the list of Judah’s cities places it much further south.

       b.    Gibeah of Saul:

               i.      This particular city has several designations:

                       (1)   Gibeah of Saul (1Sam. 11:4 Isa. 10:29).

                       (2)   Gibeah of Benjamin (1Sam. 13:2, 15 14:16).

                       (3)   Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin (2Sam. 23:29).

                       (4)   Gibeah of God (1Sam. 10:5).

               ii.     Gibeah is first mentioned as one of the cities of Benjamin, clearly differentiated from Gibeon and Geba (Joshua 18:24–25, 28). Interestingly enough, the Hebrew of Joshua 18:28 reads Gibeath, even though there is no reason for there to be a construct there.

               iii.    Apart from the listings of cities, the first time we hear about Gibeah is in Judges 19 where we find that it is populated by a significant number of homosexual criminals. A Levite, his personal servant and his mistress are traveling from Bethlehem to Ephraim and they stop for the night in Gibeah (they chose not to stop in Jerusalem because it was filled with heathen). An old man takes them in, but, once it turns dark, men from the city begin pounding on this old man’s door asking that the Levite be sent out so that they could sodomize him. Instead, the mistress of the Levite is sent out. These men violently rape her and she dies on the doorstep of this old man. The Levite returns home with the body, cuts it into 12 pieces and sends these pieces to the Jewish tribes with a note of explanation. Israel is outraged and they show up en masse to demand justice. When the Benjamites will not give up the men who raped and killed the Levite’s mistress, the tribe of Benjamin is all but wiped out (they are reduced to 600 men). Judges 19–20 Interestingly enough, although it is not mentioned in Scripture, the other tribes probably burned Gibeah to the ground, as Albright in his excavation of this site found evidence that the first fortress built here was burned to the ground circa 1100 b.c. Although I would put it back another 100–200 years, the fact that Saul’s great grandfather is called the father of Gibeon would place us roughly in the same time period. We would have expected all of the cities of Benjamin to be partially destroyed or burned to the ground during this time period. According to Albright, this city remained unpopulated for the next century.

               iv.    From here on out, almost ever reference to Gibeah will be associated with Saul, who was raised there.

               v.     Because the word for hill and the word for Gibeah are identical in the Hebrew (and because they do not capitalize their words in their Hebrew ), there are times when we cannot distinguish between the word for hill and the proper noun Gibeah. One such place is 1Sam. 10. God has led Saul to Samuel in what is probably Ramah, Samuel’s hometown, so to speak. After a dinner in Saul’s honor, Samuel prophesies to Saul about what will happen to him in the next few hours (and perhaps months). Ramah is the city which is just north of Gibeah, and, according to Macmillan, between Gibeon and Geba. Saul would naturally go south from Ramah down to Gibeah to his hometown. Therefore, when Samuel begins to prophesy and mention the hill, it is more likely that he is referring to Gibeah, Saul’s hometown, instead.

               vi.    When Nahash the Ammonite begins to attack Israel, frightened messengers of Israel went to Saul in Gibeah for help (1Sam. 11:4).

               vii.   For whatever reason, Saul seems to have relocated himself to Mishmash, although he leaves his son in charge of a small army in Gibeah (1Sam. 13:2). Jonathan then takes out a Philistine garrison in nearby Geba (1Sam. 13:3–4). This takes us to the crisis which is the context for exploring this doctrine of these three cities.

               viii.  Saul then summons the Hebrews to Gilgal. The Philistines encamp in Mishmash. Many of the Hebrew soldiers go AWOL and Saul panics and offers up a burnt offering, thinking that Samuel would not show (1Sam. 13:5–9). Samuel does show, he chews out Saul, and then leaves (1Sam. 13:10–15). Saul takes the remnant of his army, about 600 men, to Gibeah. Although the Hebrew says that Saul and company then apparently went to Geba, the Greek Septuagint tells us that they are still in Gibeah (1Sam. 13:15–16). All the while, the Philistines are running raiding parties out of Mishmash (1Sam. 13:17–18). In any case, Saul moves his men to the outskirts of Gibeah (1Sam. 14:2) while Jonathan makes a daring strike against the Philistines. Saul’s watchmen, in fact, from Gibeah, observe the Philistines melting away (1Sam. 14).

               ix.    The next time that Gibeah is mentioned, Saul and Samuel are both in Gilgal and Saul is out of step in obeying the directives of God (he was supposed to have killed off all the Amalekites, but he allowed their leader, Agag, to live (along with their cattle). When Samuel tells Saul had badly he just screwed up, Saul calls for Agag, kills him, and then returns to Gibeah (his home) while Samuel returns to Ramah (his home). 1Sam. 15.

               x.     Saul is mentioned as living in Gibeah immediately prior to his having the priests of Nob slaughtered (2Sam. 22:6ff).

               xi.    Saul is again associated with Gibeah when the Ziphites told him where David was hiding (1Sam. 23:19 26:1).

               xii.   When the Gibeonites call for David to give them the sons of Saul to slaughter, Gibeah is called Gibeah of Saul (1Sam. 21:6).

               xiii.  One of David’s honor guard (or mighty men) was from Gibeah (2Sam. 23:29 1Chron. 11:31).

               xiv.  When Isaiah describes the descent of the Assyrians upon Israel, he tells us that Ramah trembles and Gibeah of Saul flees (Isa. 10:29b).

               xv.   Gibeah and Ramah are again associated in prophecy in Hosea 5:8.

               xvi.  Hosea speaks of Ephraim falling into great corruption, as in the days of Gibeah (Hosea 9:9). Gibeah, as you have no doubt noticed, is closely associated with Saul, who is definitely associated with disobedience to God.

               xvii. Hosea once again associates Gibeah with iniquity in Hosea 10:9.

7.    Additional information about Gibeah of Saul:

       a.    When Titus attacked Jerusalem from the north, he would have probably encamped the previous night at Gibeah.

8.    The excavation of Gibeah:

       a.    W. F. Albright excavated Tell el-Fūl in 1922–1923 and in 1933. P. Lapp also did some work there in 1964. According to Albright’s findings, this city would not have been occupied prior to the Israelite Iron Age, because this is when rain-water cisterns came into wide usage in the hill country. What has been found is numerous cisterns, silos and pits excavated out of the solid rock to use as containers for water. This time frame is reasonable since Gibeah is not located along any natural water and a city cannot survive apart from water. Therefore, the first level of Gibeah would have been at the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age when a fortress was built on that location. This fortress was later burned to the ground in the 12^th century b.c., which would correspond with Judges 19–20.

       b.    Gibeah was not inhabited until 100 years later, which would have been the time of Saul and his family (1Sam. 8–10). There was apparently a two story fortress which was built upon the original fortress during the time of Saul.

       c.     Albright found a storeroom of pottery vessels in the lower level of this second fortress, which indicated a certain measure of rustic luxury. There was also an iron plough-tip found, which would have indicated the introduction of iron into that area (as we will find out, the iron industry was monopolized by the Philistines during the time of Saul—1Sam. 13:19–22).

       d.    There is evidence that this fortress was pillaged and then abandoned for a few years, presumably at the death of Saul. Although it is possible that Gibeah was attacked and destroyed during the time of Saul, it is more likely that this took place when he and his sons died in battle. Given that the Philistines hung their bodies on the walls of Beth-shan suggests that there was no wall in Gibeah where their bodies could have been hung (obviously, there would have been no better place to tout a victory).

       e.    A third fortress, using the same plan as the second, was rebuilt almost immediately. This site was soon re-occupied as an outpost when David was at war with Ishbosheth. After this time, it was deserted for another century. ZPEB suggests that once David united the northern and southern kingdoms that this fortress probably fell into disuse.

       f.     Then a smaller fortress—actually, a watchtower—was built on this site and Gibeah was probably occupied from the 9^th to the 7^th centuries b.c. Albright originally thought that this was the tower referred to in 1Kings 15:22 (which would have required us to reevaluate the reading of that passage). However, since no Iron II pottery was found, he determined the date of this tower to be late 9^th century or early 8^th century b.c. Almond was used in the construction, indicating that the coniferous forests had died out. This fortress was destroyed in the late 8^th century, possibly during the Syro-Ephraimite War or by Tiglath-pileser III or by Sennacherib.

       g.    The fortress was rebuilt yet once again in the 7^th century b.c. (during the time of Jeremiah) only to be razed again, this time possibly by Nebuchadnezzar in 597 or 598 b.c.

       h.    Several centuries passed and then, during the Maccabean era, another tower was built and a village, which lasted about a 150 years, was established on the eastern slope of this hill. The destruction of this incarnation of Gibeah occurred around the time of the war between Ptolemy V and Antiochus III, which would have been early in the 2^nd century b.c.

       i.      Gibeah was again occupied, as Josephus makes mention of a village there during the time of the Romans. Its heaviest population living there around 100 b.c. It remained sporadically occupied up until the time that the Jews were finally removed from the land by the Romans in 70 a.d. One interesting archeological find from that final era was a stone manger which could have been similar to the manger our Savior first used. Gibeah has remained unoccupied since that time.

9.    Gibeath: this is actually not a different city but the construct of Gibeah. We actually find this construct affixed to a number of various nouns, indicating a different location from GIbeah of Saul. Since this means hill of..., most of the time we should render it that way.

       a.    Gibeath-ha-araloth, which is generally translated hill of foreskins, is found in Joshua 5:3. Given the context that Joshua and all of the men of Israel circumcised one another prior to attacking Jericho, it would be highly unlikely that there was first a city named Gibeath-ha-araloth where Joshua and the Israelite males just happened to stop for circumcisions. This would simply be a name given to this place. Israel was very much into giving names to various places. In Num. 33, they gave a name to every place that they stayed in their move from Egypt to the Land of Promise.

       b.    Gibeath Phinehas (Joshua 24:33) was a hill in Ephraim which Phinehas had purchased and should be rendered hill of Phinehas. He buried his farther, Eleazar the High Priest, there. Although we do not know where this is, Josephus did know (Josephus, Antiquities V. i. 29).

       c.     Gibeath hammoreh (Judges 7:1) means hill of trembling, although it is occasionally rendered hill of Moreh. Gideon allowed 22,000 men who were afraid (trembling) resign their commission prior to his attack on Midian. This all occurred next to a hill, which was therefore given this designation.

       d.    Gibeah ha-Elohim (1Sam. 10:5, 10) means hill of God, but is a reference to Gibeah of Saul. The reasons for this are covered in greater detail in 1Sam. 10.

       e.    Gibeath ha-Hachilah (1Sam. 23:19 26:1) is the same as the city Hachilah. Apparently, there is a hill in Hachilah to which this refers.

       f.     Gibeath Ammah (2Sam. 2:24) is apparently a hill in Ammah.

       g.    Gibeath Gareb (Jer. 31:39) refers to a hill in Gareb.

10.  Problem passages: given that these three cities all have the same root, and therefore, are spelled very similarly (even more so in the original Hebrew, which lacks the vowel points), it is inevitable that one city would accidentally be written in manuscript copies which have been made over the period of 2000-3000 years. Swaim, in ZPEB, writes Unfortunately, the MT exhibits considerable confusion in the use of these names, a confusion not clarified by the LXX, which neither follows the MT consistently, nor has any other regularly observed practice in its treatment of this name. I have tried to list every possible yet reasonable confounding of the names below.

       a.    Judges 19:13–16 20:9, 13, 14, 20, 21, 25, 29, 31, 36 speak of Gibeah and 20:10 refers to Geba, although context would suggest that we are speaking of the same city in both chapters. Actually, one Hebrew manuscript has Gibeah in v. 10. The two possible explanations:

               i.      Geba is an alternate form of Gibeah. The problem with this explanation is that we have two cities which are very close to one another whose names are interchangeable.

               ii.     Judges 20:10 is the result of a copyist’s error. In the Greek, this is consistently Gibeah (actually, Gabaa) throughout (a Greek word cannot end in an h).

       b.    In that same passage, we have the men of Benjamin being lured out of Gibeah and onto a road which splits into two directions and leads to Geba and to Bethel. In Judges 20:31, it reads that this highway goes up to Bethel and over to Gibeah. It would make more sense for this to read that the other fork takes you to Geba. We have no manuscript evidence to back up that this is an error. However, that reading would make the most sense, as why would there be a road from Gibeah to Gibeah? Given that we have other similar errors in this passage in particular, such a suggestion is reasonable and falls within normal textual criticism. Ewing makes the following argument in ISBE: The site now generally accepted as that of Gibeah is on Teleil el-Fūl, an artificial mound about 4 miles North of Jerusalem, a short distance east of the high road to Shechem. A little way north of Teleil el-Fūl, the high road bifurcates, one branch turning eastward to Jebaʽ, i.e., Geba (which should be read instead of “Gibeah” in Jgs 20 13); the other continuing northward to Bethel.

       c.     Judges 20:33 also mentions Geba (actually, it reads meadows of Geba), but that is explained in the references to Geba above.

       d.    It is possible that both references to Geba in 1Sam. 13 should read Gibeah instead (vv. 3 and 16). The Greek translation suggests this for v. 3 (it translates the city name hill) and transliterates the Hebrew in v. 16 as Gibeah (actually, Gabaa) in the Greek.

       e.    2Sam. 5:25 and 1Chron. 14:16 are identical passages, except for the fact that we have Geba in Samuel and Gibeon in Chronicles. The Septuagint reads Gibeon in both cases, and it would be reasonable for that to be the correct rendering of 2Sam. 5:25. However, given their same general vicinity, there is no real contradiction even if the passages read differently.

       f.     ZPEB suggests that 2Sam. 21:6 should refer to Gibeon rather than to Gibeah, as the people involved are Gibeonites. However, they are hanging the corpses of Saul’s sons and where better to hang them than in Saul’s former hometown?

       g.    Finally, Albright originally thought that the tower built by Asa in 1Kings 15:22 was the third fortification built on the site of Gibeah (which would mean that the passage should read Gibeah rather than Geba). However, he changed his mind 10 years later when no Iron II pottery was found to correlate the times.