Gibeon (ancient city): Difference between revisions

|occupants=

|event=

|archaeologists= [[James B. Pritchard]]

|condition = In ruins

|notes=

}}

 

==Biblical account==

[[File:1880 map of El Jib showing the well (marked Ain), cisterns (marked Cis) and Caves.png|thumb|left|A 1880 map of [[al Jib]] showing the well (marked Ain), cisterns (marked Cis), and Caves]]

===Canaanite city===

 

 

===Israelite city===

====Significance====

{{bibleverse|1|Chronicles|16:39|HE}} suggests that worship before the tabernacle at Gibeon continued alongside worship in Jerusalem after David brought the Ark of the Covenant back there, although "nothing ... is said of this in the Books of Samuel".<ref>Barnes, W. E. (1899), [https://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/1_chronicles/13.htm Cambridge Bible for Schools on 1 Chronicles 13], accessed 22 February 2020</ref> Theologian Hans-Peter Mathys notes, "no other OT book mentions a regular (sacrificial) cult in Gibeon. Its historical authenticity is sometimes supported by the argument that {{bibleverse|1|Kings|3:3|HE}} ("[[Solomon]] ... went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place; a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar") confirms its existence and speaks out against it. These four verses, though, were more likely conceived by the Chronicler, [who] ... is at pains to portray an uninterrupted and legitimate (sacrificial) cult spanning the entire period from the desert era (with its tabernacle), including the LORD's residence at Gibeon, right up to Solomon's establishment of the [[Temple of Solomon|temple]] in Jerusalem."<ref>Mathys, H. P., ''1 and 2 Chronicles'' in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), [https://b-ok.org/dl/946961/8f5f43 The Oxford Bible Commentary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171122193211/http://b-ok.org/dl/946961/8f5f43 |date=2017-11-22}}, p. 277</ref>

 

==In Jewish law==

 

===Middle Bronze Age===

 

===Late Bronze Age===

No trace of a Late Bronze age city has been found.<ref name=pritchard62p157>Pritchard (1962), pp. 157-158</ref> Only seven tombs are known from the period, but they nevertheless point to a degree of sophistication, as they contained imported [[Cypriot Bichrome ware|Cypriote ware]] and local potters attempted to copy [[Mycenaean pottery|Mycenaean]] and Cypriote pottery. It would appear that some, at least, of these tombs had been cut during earlier periods and were being reused.<ref name=newencyc/><ref name=pritchard65/> Pritchard suggested that somewhere in an area not touched by his four-year dig, remains of the Bronze Age "great city" from the Book of Joshua might still be found.<ref name=pritchard62/>

 

 

====Wall, pool, and spring tunnel====

During the early [[Iron Age]], a massive wall was constructed around the crown of the hill and a huge pool was [[cut in the living rock]] just inside the wall. In a first phase it was cut with a diameter of 11.8 m to a depth of 10.8 m, with a spiral staircase of 79 steps cut into the walls of the pool, and in a second phase a tunnel was added that continues downwards to a water chamber 24 m below the level of the city. It is possible, but cannot be proven, that this structure is the "[[pool of Gibeon]]" of {{bibleverse|2 Samuel|2:13|KJV}}. Later in the Iron Age, another tunnel of 93 steps was constructed to a better water source{{dubious|Source = spring, right? A pool (the old water source) is not a spring; this one is, or so it seems.|date=March 2021}} below the city starting from a point near the pool. A second access point to this source from the base of the hill is still in use today.<ref name=pritchard62/><ref name=newencyc/>

 

====Wine industry====

The flat and fertile land with many springs which surrounds it gave rise to a flourishing economy, attested to in the large number of ancient jars and wine cellars discovered there. The jars could hold 45 litres of wine each and 66 wine cellars two meters deep and dug out of rock have been unearthed in Jib.<ref name=Brooksp93>Brooks, 2005, p. 93-94.</ref>

 

==External links==

*{{Commonscatinline|Gibeon}}

*[https://www.mad-in-israel.com/2018/04/05/visiting-tel-gibeon-water-system/ Visiting Tel Gibeon Water system], blog with photos and video (5 April 2018). Accessed March 2021.