Gibeah (; he, גִּבְעָה ''Gīḇəʿā''; he, גִּבְעַת, link=no ''Gīḇəʿaṯ'') is the name of three places mentioned in the

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

, in the tribes of Benjamin, Judah, and Ephraim respectively.Dictionary - AlHaTorah.org
/ref> Gibeah of Benjamin is the most commonly mentioned of the places. In the

Book of Judges The Book of Judges (, ') is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom ...

, it is the main setting to the story of the Benjaminite War. Later, in the Book of Samuel, it is mentioned as the first capital of the united

Kingdom of Israel The Kingdom of Israel may refer to any of the historical kingdoms of ancient Israel, including: Fully independent (c. 564 years) * Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy) (1047–931 BCE), the legendary kingdom established by the Israelites and uniti ...

under king

Saul Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered t ...

. Gibeah of Benjamin is generally identified with ''Tell el-Fūl'' in northern

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Etymology

Gibeah is a Hebrew word meaning "hill" ( he, גִּבְעָה, translit=Giv'ah).

Gibeah of Benjamin

Biblical narrative

Gibeah in the tribe of Benjamin was the location of the infamous rape and murder of the Levite's concubine, and the resulting Battle of Gibeah (). Israel’s first king, King

, reigned here for 22 years (). According to PEF explorer C.R. Conder, the name may have applied to a district as well as to a town, since the neighboring town of Ramah is said to have been "in Gibeah." It is mentioned several times in later prophetic writings. Also known as Gibeat (). The name "Gibeah of God" (, ''Give'at-elohim'') may also refer to this Gibeah. Perhaps to avoid confusion with other places named Gibeah, this location is also called "Gibeah of Benjamin" (, ''Give'at Binyamin'') and "Gibeah of Saul" (, ''Give'at Sha'ul''). The latter name is also used by the modern neighborhood Givat Shaul, which however is located in a different location.

In extra-biblical sources

According to

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...

, the 10th Roman Legion camped near ''Gabaothsaul'' in its assault on Jerusalem in 70 CE.

Identification with Tell el-Ful

This Gibeah is generally identified with Tell el-Fūl (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

for "mound of fava beans"), a hill in the northern reaches of modern

, on the outskirts of the Pisgat Ze'ev and

Shuafat Shuafat ( ar, شعفاط '), also ''Shu'fat'' and ''Sha'fat'', is a mostly Palestinian Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem, forming part of north-eastern Jerusalem. Located on the old Jerusalem–Ramallah road about three miles north of the Ol ...

neighborhoods. This location is north of ancient Jerusalem, along the watershed ridge at

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. The ...

. According to

, Gabaothsaul was located about 30 '' stadia'' north of Jerusalem, which would have roughly corresponded with the location of ''Tell el-Fūl''.

, ''

The Jewish War ''The Jewish War'' or ''Judean War'' (in full ''Flavius Josephus' Books of the History of the Jewish War against the Romans'', el, Φλαυίου Ἰωσήπου ἱστορία Ἰουδαϊκοῦ πολέμου πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ...

'' 5.2.1.
5.47
King Hussein of Jordan began construction on his royal palace at Tell el-Ful, but construction was halted when the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

broke out. Since Israel won the war, King Hussein's palace was never finished and now all that remains is the skeleton of the building.Alternatively, Gibeah may have been where Jaba' now stands ( north of Jerusalem), a view held by biblical scholar Edward Robinson and C. Umhau Wolf. However, Jaba is now widely identified with the biblical city of Geba Israel Finkelstein also challenged the identification with ''Tell el-Fūl''.

Archaeology

Tell el-Ful was first excavated in 1868 by Charles Warren, while C.R. Conder described the remains in 1874. William F. Albright led his first excavation from 1922 to 1923, and returned for a second season in 1923. His work was published in 1960. P.W. Lapp conducted a six-week

salvage excavation Rescue archaeology, sometimes called commercial archaeology, preventive archaeology, salvage archaeology, contract archaeology, developer-funded archaeology or compliance archaeology, is state-sanctioned, archaeological survey and excavation carr ...

in 1964. According to Kenneth Kitchen, "Upon this strategic point was found an Iron I occupation replaced (at an interval) by a fortress ("I"), subsequently refurbished ("II"), and then later in disuse. The oldest level may reflect the Gibeah of . The excavations by Albright, checked by Lapp, would favor the view that it was Saul who built the first fortress, later repaired by him or David. The first fort (quadrangular) had at least one rectangular corner-tower at its southwest angle; it may have had others at the other corners, but no traces were detected."

Gibeah of Judah and Ephraim

Gibeah of Judah was a city in the tribal inheritance of Judah (); cities mentioned in nearby verses included Zanoah and Halhul.

C. R. Conder Claude Reignier Conder (29 December 1848, Cheltenham – 16 February 1910, Cheltenham) was an English soldier, explorer and antiquarian. He was a great-great-grandson of Louis-François Roubiliac and grandson of editor and author Josiah Conder. ...

identifies this Gibeah with

Jab'a Jab'a ( ar, الجبعة) is a Palestinian village in the central West Bank, located 17 kilometers north of Hebron and 15 kilometers southwest of Bethlehem. Located three kilometers east of the Green Line, it is located in the Seam Zone, surr ...

H.B. Tristram Henry Baker Tristram FRS (11 May 1822 – 8 March 1906) was an English clergyman, Bible scholar, traveller and ornithologist. As a parson-naturalist he was an early supporter of Darwinism, attempting to reconcile evolution and creation. Biograp ...

, ''Bible Places: or, The Topography of the Holy Land: a Succinct Account of All the Places, Rivers, and Mountains…'', London 1897, p
83
Conder & Kitchener, SWP (vol. 3), London 1883, p. 53. Gibeah of Ephraim was a city in the tribal inheritance of Ephraim, "the Gibeah of Phinehas" (); Eleazar, the son of

Aaron According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek ( Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother ...

, was buried here. Possibly Awarta.