Concept

Gibeon

Résumé
Gibeon (, Gīḇəʻōn; Γαβαων, Gabaōn) was a Canaanite and later an Israelite city, which was located north of Jerusalem. According to , the pre-Israelite-conquest inhabitants, the Gibeonites, were Hivites; according to , they were Amorites. The remains of Gibeon are located in the southern portion of the Palestinian village of al-Jib. After the destruction of Jericho and Ai, the Hivite people of Gibeon sent ambassadors to trick Joshua and the Israelites into making a treaty with them. According to the writer of the book of Deuteronomy (; ), the Israelites were commanded to destroy all non-Israelite Canaanites in the land. The Gibeonites presented themselves as ambassadors from a distant, powerful land. Without consulting God (), the Israelites entered into a covenant or peace treaty with the Gibeonites. The Israelites soon found out that the Gibeonites were actually their neighbors—living within three days' walk of them (Joshua 9:17)—and Joshua realised that he had been deceived. He kept the letter of his covenant with the Gibeonites, however, to let them live in exchange for their servitude: they were assigned as woodcutters and water carriers and condemned (or cursed) to work forever in these trades (). Theologian John Gill suggests that this curse was a particular example of Noah's curse on Canaan. In retaliation for allying with the Israelites, the city was later besieged by a coalition of five other Amorite kings led by Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem, along with Hoham of Hebron, Piram of Jarmuth, Japhia of Lachish, and Debir of Eglon. The Gibeonites appealed to Joshua, who led the subsequent victory over the Amorites amid miraculous circumstances, including deadly hailstones and the suspension of the movement of the sun and moon, until the Amorites were completely defeated (). In the Book of Joshua, ancient Gibeon is described as "a large city, like one of the royal cities" located in the tribal territory of Benjamin (). It was given as a Levitical city (). In the first Book of Chronicles, Jeiel is mentioned as the "father of Gibeon" and is an ancestor of King Saul.
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