Gibbethon or Gibbeton was a city in the land of

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

which, according to the record in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

, was occupied by the

Tribe of Dan The Tribe of Dan (, "Judge") was one of the twelve tribes of Israel, according to the Torah. They were allocated a coastal portion of land when the people of Israel entered the Promised Land, later moving northwards. Biblical narrative In th ...

after the entry of the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

into the

Promised Land The Promised Land ( he, הארץ המובטחת, translit.: ''ha'aretz hamuvtakhat''; ar, أرض الميعاد, translit.: ''ard al-mi'ad; also known as "The Land of Milk and Honey"'') is the land which, according to the Tanakh (the Hebrew ...

. According to the

Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua ( he, סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎ ', Tiberian: ''Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ'') is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Isra ...

, it was given as a

Levitical city In the Hebrew Bible, the Levitical cities were 48 cities in ancient Israel set aside for the tribe of Levi, who were not allocated their own territorial land when the Israelites entered the Promised Land. Numbers 35:1-8 relates God's command to ...

to the

Kohathites The Kohathites were one of the four main divisions among the Levites in biblical times, the other three being the Gershonites, the Merarites, and the Aaronites (more commonly known as Kohanim). The Bible claims that the Kohathites were all descende ...

. However, in it was recorded as being a city of the

Philistines The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, when ...

. Nadab, the second king of the

northern Kingdom of Israel The Kingdom of Israel (), or the Kingdom of Samaria, was an Israelites, Israelite kingdom in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. The kingdom controlled the areas of Samaria, Galilee and parts of Transjordan (region), Transjordan. Its capi ...

, besieged Gibbethon. During the siege, Baasha the son of Ahijah, a member of the

tribe of Issachar According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Issachar () was one of the twelve tribes of Israel and one of the ten lost tribes. In Jewish tradition, the descendants of Issachar were seen as being dominated by religious scholars and influential in ...

, killed King

Nadab of Israel Nadab ( he, נָדָב ''Nāḏāḇ'') was the second king of the northern Israelite Kingdom of Israel. He was the son and successor of Jeroboam. Reign Nadab became king of Israel in the second year of Asa, King of Judah, and reigned for two ...

and made himself King, reigning over the northern kingdom for 24 years. Gibbethon has been identified with al-Majdal, near

Ashkelon Ashkelon or Ashqelon (; Hebrew: , , ; Philistine: ), also known as Ascalon (; Ancient Greek: , ; Arabic: , ), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with ...

, and so possibly on the border of Danite Israel and Philistia.

John James Blunt John James Blunt (1794 – 18 June 1855) was an English Anglican priest. His writings included studies of the early Church. Life Blunt was born at Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, where ...

, in his ''Undesigned Coincidences in the Writings both of the Old and New Testaments'' (1882) suggested that "the place had been deserted by the

Levites Levites (or Levi) (, he, ''Lǝvīyyīm'') are Jewish males who claim patrilineal descent from the Tribe of Levi. The Tribe of Levi descended from Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah. The surname ''Halevi'', which consists of the Hebrew defi ...

, in the general exodus to Judah, othat the Philistines availed themselves of the opportunity to seize and fortify it". Israeli archaeologist Benjamin Mazar locates it in a region to the north of the

Sorek Valley Naḥal Sorek ( he, נחל שורק, translation=Brook of Sorek; ar, وادي الصرار, translit=Wadi al-Sirar), also Soreq, is one of the largest, most important drainage basins in the Judean Hills. It is mentioned in the Book of Judges 16:4 ...

, possibly at Tel MalotSpivak, Polina
“Tel Malot: Final Report.”
Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel, vol. 129, 2017, p.1-11

References

{{Reflist Hebrew Bible cities Philistine cities Tribe of Dan