Gibbethon

Biblical Text

Gibbethon is mentioned in four passages in Joshua and 1 Kings.

• Joshua 19:44: It is listed with Eltekeh and Baalath among the towns that fell by lot to the tribe of Dan.
• Joshua 21:23: It was one of the towns the tribe of Dan gave to the Kohathites among the Levites; together with Eltekeh, it was given "with her suburbs."
• 1 Kings 15:27: While Nadab, king of Israel, and "all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon," which "belonged to the Philistines," Baasha conspired against Nadab, killed him there, and became king.
• 1 Kings 16:15-17: In the reign of Baasha's son Elah, the army of Israel was again encamped against Gibbethon. When word reached the camp that Zimri had killed Elah in Tirzah and made himself king, the people made Omri, the commander of the army, king that same day. Omri led the army up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah, and Zimri died after reigning seven days.

Background

Gibbethon was originally allotted to the tribe of Dan, but in the period of the Kings it was in the hands of the Philistines. A town that the book of Joshua presents as Israelite and Levitical had thus later come under Philistine control. The area is understood to have been a border zone where the central hill country of Israel met the Philistine coastal plain, long contested between the two powers.

Its exact location has not been determined. Tel Malot, between Gezer and Ekron, is among the proposed sites. Some hold that a place name apparently identical to it appears in Egyptian and Assyrian records, but scholarly opinion is divided. The name is often interpreted as related to words meaning "hill" or "height," though this is uncertain.

Significance in the Bible as a Whole

In 1 Kings, Gibbethon serves as the setting in which the early dynasties of the northern kingdom of Israel repeatedly collapsed.

• The end of Jeroboam's dynasty: With Nadab's assassination there, the house of Jeroboam came to an end. 1 Kings 15:29-30 presents this as the fulfillment of the word the LORD had spoken through the prophet Ahijah.
• The end of Baasha's dynasty and the rise of Omri: In Elah's reign, Omri was proclaimed king in the camp besieging Gibbethon. This marked the beginning of the Omride dynasty, which later passed to Ahab.

Within the narrative of Kings, which describes recurring rebellion and usurpation in the northern kingdom after the division of the kingdom, Gibbethon is one of the places where such coups took place. Gibbethon does not appear in the New Testament.

Interpretations and Issues

• One siege or two? Between the episodes under Nadab and Elah lies the reign of Baasha (twenty-four years according to 1 Kings 15:33). The common interpretation is therefore that Israel attacked the same town on two separate occasions. The text does not describe the course of the conflict in the intervening period.
• Dan's failure to hold its territory: Some explain how Gibbethon came to belong to the Philistines by connecting it with the record that the tribe of Dan, pressed by the Amorites, failed to take full possession of its allotted land (Judges 1:34; Judges 18). The Bible, however, does not state directly when or how Gibbethon passed into Philistine hands.