Translation | Verse | Text |
King James | Jos 18:25 | Gibeon, and Ramah, and Beeroth, |
Word | Easton Dictionary - Definition |
BEEROTH | wells, one of the four cities of the Hivites which entered by fraud into a league with Joshua. It belonged to Benjamin (Josh. 18:25). It has by some been identified with el-Bireh on the way to Nablus, 10 miles north of Jerusalem. |
Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
GIBEON | A considerable city of the Hivites, afterwards a Levitical city in the tribe of Benjamin, Jos 18:25 21:17. It lay near Geba and Gibeah, and is sometimes wrongly taken for Geba. Its Canaanite inhabitants secured a treaty with Joshua and the elders of Israel by strategem, and were made hewers of wood for the sanctuary. Five neighboring kings unitedly fell upon them; but were defeated by the Jews in a great battle, during which "the sun stood still upon Gibeon," Jos 9:10. Here the tabernacle was set up for many years, 1Ch 16:39 21:29 2Ch 1:3,4; and here god communed by night with young king Solomon, 1Ki 3:4-15. It is also memorable for two scenes in the life of Joab, 2Sa 2:12-32 20:8-12 Jer 41:12. It stood on an eminence, six miles north of Jerusalem. |
Word | Easton Dictionary - Definition |
GIBEON | hill-city, "one of the royal cities, greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty" (Josh. 10:2). Its inhabitants were Hivites (11:19). It lay within the territory of Benjamin, and became a priest-city (18:25; 21:17). Here the tabernacle was set up after the destruction of Nob, and here it remained many years till the temple was built by Solomon. It is represented by the modern el-Jib, to the south-west of Ai, and about 5 1/2 miles north-north-west of Jerusalem. A deputation of the Gibeonites, with their allies from three other cities (Josh. 9;17), visited the camp at Gilgal, and by false representations induced Joshua to enter into a league with them, although the Israelites had been specially warned against any league with the inhabitants of Canaan (Ex. 23:32; 34:12; Num. 33:55; Deut. 7:2). The deception practised on Joshua was detected three days later; but the oath rashly sworn "by Jehovah God of Israel" was kept, and the lives of the Gibeonites were spared. They were, however, made "bondmen" to the sanctuary (Josh. 9:23). The most remarkable incident connected with this city was the victory Joshua gained over the kings of Palestine (Josh. 10:16-27). The battle here fought has been regarded as "one of the most important in the history of the world." The kings of southern Canaan entered into a confederacy against Gibeon (because it had entered into a league with Joshua) under the leadership of Adoni-zedec, king of Jerusalem, and marched upon Gibeon with the view of taking possession of it. The Gibeonites entreated Joshua to come to their aid with the utmost speed. His army came suddenly upon that of the Amorite kings as it lay encamped before the city. It was completely routed, and only broken remnants of their great host found refuge in the fenced cities. The five confederate kings who led the army were taken prisoners, and put to death at Makkedah (q.v.). This eventful battle of Beth-horon sealed the fate of all the cities of Southern Palestine. Among the Amarna tablets is a letter from Adoni-zedec (q.v.) to the king of Egypt, written probably at Makkedah after the defeat, showing that the kings contemplated flight into Egypt. This place is again brought into notice as the scene of a battle between the army of Ish-bosheth under Abner and that of David led by Joab. At the suggestion of Abner, to spare the effusion of blood twelve men on either side were chosen to decide the battle. The issue was unexpected; for each of the men slew his fellow, and thus they all perished. The two armies then engaged in battle, in which Abner and his host were routed and put to flight (2 Sam. 2:12-17). This battle led to a virtual truce between Judah and Israel, Judah, under David, increasing in power; and Israel, under Ish-bosheth, continually losing ground. Soon after the death of Absalom and David's restoration to his throne his kingdom was visited by a grievous famine, which was found to be a punishment for Saul's violation (2 Sam. 21:2, 5) of the covenant with the Gibeonites (Josh. 9:3-27). The Gibeonites demanded blood for the wrong that had been done to them, and accordingly David gave up to them the two sons of Rizpah (q.v.) and the five sons of Michal, and these the Gibeonites took and hanged or crucified "in the hill before the Lord" (2 Sam. 21:9); and there the bodies hung for six months (21:10), and all the while Rizpah watched over the blackening corpses and "suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night." David afterwards removed the bones of Saul and Jonathan at Jabeshgilead (21:12, 13). Here, "at the great stone," Amasa was put to death by Joab (2 Sam. 20:5-10). To the altar of burnt-offering which was at Gibeon, Joab (1 Kings 2:28-34), who had taken the side of Adonijah, fled for sanctuary in the beginning of Solomon's reign, and was there also slain by the hand of Benaiah. Soon after he came to the throne, Solomon paid a visit of state to Gibeon, there to offer sacrifices (1 Kings 3:4; 2 Chr. 1:3). On this occasion the Lord appeared to him in a memorable dream, recorded in 1 Kings 3:5-15; 2 Chr. 1:7-12. When the temple was built "all the men of Israel assembled themselves" to king Solomon, and brought up from Gibeon the tabernacle and "all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle" to Jerusalem, where they remained till they were carried away by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 24:13). |
Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
RAMAH | Plural RAMOTH, an eminence; and hence many places in Palestine are named Ramah, Ramath, Ramath, Ramathaim, etc. Sometimes the same place is called by one or other of these names indiscriminately, all signifying the same, 2Ki 8:28,29. Sometimes Rama, Or Ramoth, is joined to another name, to determine the place of such city or eminence; and it is sometimes put simply for a high place, and signifies neither city nor village. 1. The principal Ramah was a city of Benjamin, near Gibeah, towards the mountains of Ephraim, six miles from Jerusalem north, and on the road from Samaria to Jerusalem, Jos 18:25 Jud 19:13 Ne 11:33. It was near the border line between Judah and Israel, and Baasha king of Israel caused it to be fortified, to obstruct the passage from the land of Judah into his own territory, 1Ki 15:17,21,22. It is also referred to in Isa 10:29 Jer 31:15 40:1 Ho 5:8. Dr. Robinson finds it in the modern village Er-Ram, on a conical hill a little east of the road above-mentioned. The ruins are broken columns, a few bevelled stones, and large hewn stones, and an ancient reservoir on the southwest side. The village is almost deserted. 2. A city in mount Ephraim, called also Ramathaim-Zophim, or Ramah of the Zuphites, the place of Samuel's birth, residence, and burial, 1Sa 1:1,19 7:17 8:4 25:1 28:3. Dr. Robinson suggests Soba, five miles west of Jerusalem, as its possible site. The resemblance of its name Ramathaim to Arimathea of the New Testament, together with intimations of early historians, have led to the general belief that these two places were identical. Arimathea, there is little doubt, lay on one of the hills east of Lydda, some twenty miles northwest of Jerusalem; and this site would meet most of the scriptural intimations as to the Ramah of Samuel. The chief difficulty is found in the account of Saul's first visit to Samuel, 1Sa 9:4-12 10:2. The young prince "passed through the land of the Benjamites," going south or south-west, "and came to the land of Zuph" and the city where Samuel then was. After his interview with the prophet, and on his return home to Giveah of Benjamin, he passed "by Rachel's sepulchre in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah." But the only "Rachel's sepulchre" we know of was near Bethlehem, many miles south of the direct road from Arimathea to Gibeah. Accordingly, if we suppose this interview took place at Arimathea, we seem obliged to suppose another Rachel's sepulchre between it and Gibeah; or if "Rachel's sepulchre" was at Bethlehem, to infer that the city where Saul actually found Samuel, and at which the prophet had only that day arrived, 1Sa 9:10, was not his usual residence, but some place south or south-west of Bethlehem, only visited by him at intervals in his annual circuits as judge. 3. A city of Asher, Jos 19:29 4. A city of Naphtali, Jos 19:36. The site of both these places, visited by Dr. Robinson, is still called Rameh. 5. A city of Gilead, 2Ki 8:28,29. See RAMOTH. 6. A town belonging to Simeon, called Ramah of the south, Jos 19:8 1Sa 30:27. |
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