The ancient town of Riblah, today a
tell covered by a cemetery not far from the town of
Ribleh on the
Syrian side of the border with Lebanon, was in
biblical times located on the northern frontier of 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 ...
. The site lies on the eastern bank of the
Orontes river, in a wide and fertile plain, 35 miles north-east of
Baalbek and 10 or 12 miles south of the artificial
Lake Homs created by the
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
.
translated the place as ''Rablaam'' in his
translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...
of the
Septuagint
The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...
.
It was at Riblah that
Necho II
Necho II (sometimes Nekau, Neku, Nechoh, or Nikuu; Greek: Νεκώς Β'; ) of Egypt was a king of the 26th Dynasty (610–595 BC), which ruled from Sais. Necho undertook a number of construction projects across his kingdom. In his reign, accordi ...
,
pharaoh
Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the ...
of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
(c. 610 – c. 595 BCE), established his camp after he had routed
Josiah's
Judahite army at
Megiddo Megiddo may refer to:
Places and sites in Israel
* Tel Megiddo, site of an ancient city in Israel's Jezreel valley
* Megiddo Airport, a domestic airport in Israel
* Megiddo church (Israel)
* Megiddo, Israel, a kibbutz in Israel
* Megiddo Junctio ...
in 609 BCE. Soon after this, the son of Josiah, the newly anointed King
Jehoahaz, was made prisoner and held at Riblah to prevent him from ruling Judah; he was later taken to Egypt where he died (). A reference in :
:''The nations combined against him
ehoahaz he was caught in their pit;
:''They dragged him off with hooks to the land of Egypt''
is interpreted as stating that Necho had invited Jehoahaz to a conference in Riblah and trapped him there.
Some two decades later,
Nebuchadnezzar of
Babylon also set up his headquarters here during his campaign against
Judah, which culminated in the
destruction
Destruction may refer to:
Concepts
* Destruktion, a term from the philosophy of Martin Heidegger
* Destructive narcissism, a pathological form of narcissism
* Self-destructive behaviour, a widely used phrase that ''conceptualises'' certain kin ...
of
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
in 587 or 586 BCE. King
Zedekiah
Zedekiah (), was the 20th and last king of Judah before the destruction of the kingdom by King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. His birth name was Mattaniah/Mattanyahu ( he, מַתַּנְיָהוּ, ''Mattanyāhū'', "Gift of God"; el, Μαθ ...
was taken captive and brought to Riblah, where he had to witness how his sons were killed, after which he was blinded and taken to Babylon. His officials were also put to death in Riblah ().
[
The town was situated on the main international trade route from Egypt to ]Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...
, via Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and the town of Carchemish
Carchemish ( Turkish: ''Karkamış''; or ), also spelled Karkemish ( hit, ; Hieroglyphic Luwian: , /; Akkadian: ; Egyptian: ; Hebrew: ) was an important ancient capital in the northern part of the region of Syria. At times during it ...
where the road crossed over the Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...
River. An important strategic asset, Riblah had plenty of water, food and fuel, which made also suitable as a military camp.
In Roman times, the town also bore the name Daphne.[, p]
28
(reprinted A. Hart: Philadelphia 1850)
Riblah in Canaan
There was also a town with the same name on the eastern boundary of the land promised to Moses in Canaan, known from , but whose location is still uncertain.[ The town is described in as "on the eastern side of Ain". A place still called ''el-Ain'', i.e. "the fountain", can still be found about 10 miles away.
]
References
{{eastons, wstitle=Riblah
Hebrew Bible cities