against it (Jeremiah 25:20; 47:5; Amos 1:6, 7; Zephaniah 2:4). It is referred
to in Acts 8:26. Philip is here told to take the road from Jerusalem to Gaza
(about 6 miles south-west of Jerusalem), “which is desert”, i.e., the “desert
road,” probably by Hebron, through the desert hills of Southern Judea.
(See SAMSON.)
It is noticed on monuments as early as B.C. 1600. Its small port is now
called el-Mineh.
- GEBA the hill, (2 Samuel 5:25 [1 Chronicles 14:16, “Gibeon”]; 2 Kings
23:8; Nehemiah 11:31), a Levitical city of Benjamin (1 Kings 15:22; 1
Samuel 13:16; 14:5, wrongly “Gibeah” in the A.V.), on the north border of
Judah near Gibeah (Isaiah 10:29; Joshua 18:24, 28). “From Geba to
Beersheba” expressed the whole extent of the kingdom of Judah, just as
“from Dan to Beersheba” described the whole length of Palestine (2 Kings
23:8). It has been identified with Gaba (Joshua 18:24; Ezra 2:26; Nehemiah
7:30), now Jeb’a, about 5 1/2 miles north of Jerusalem. - GEBAL a line (or natural boundary, as a mountain range). (1.) A tract in
the land of Edom south of the Dead Sea (Psalm 83:7); now called Djebal.
(2.) A Phoenician city, not far from the sea coast, to the north of Beyrout
(Ezekiel 27:9); called by the Greeks Byblos. Now Jibeil. Mentioned in the
Amarna tablets.
An important Phoenician text, referring to the temple of Baalath, on a
monument of Yehu-melek, its king (probably B.C. 600), has been
discovered.
- GEBALITES (1 Kings 5:18 R.V., in A.V. incorrectly rendered, after the
Targum, “stone-squarers,” but marg. “Giblites”), the inhabitants of Gebal
(2). - GEBER a valiant man, (1 Kings 4:19), one of Solomon’s purveyors,
having jurisdiction over a part of Gilead, comprising all the kingdom of
Sihon and part of the kingdom of Og (Deuteronomy 2; 31). - GEBIM cisterns, (rendered “pits,” Jeremiah 14:3; “locusts,” Isaiah 33:4),
a small place north of Jerusalem, whose inhabitants fled at the approach of
the Assyrian army (Isaiah 10:31). It is probably the modern el-Isawiyeh. - GEDALIAH made great by Jehovah. (1.) the son of Jeduthum (1
Chronicles 25:3, 9). (2.) The grandfather of the prophet Zephaniah, and