Gibeah

(NOTE: This is the third in a series of posts about the Benjamin Plateau. There have been other posts about the plateau and the town of Gibeon.) Located just a few miles north of Jerusalem, the town of Gibeah guarded the southern end of the Benjamin Plateau. It is located about 2800 feet in elevation on the watershed ridge along the central mountain range. As a traveler going north along the "Way of the Patriarchs" out of Jerusalem, Gibeah would have been the first city that they would have come to. No doubt, many of the central figures of the Bible went through Gibeah.

During the reign of King Saul (~1050BC-1010BC), he set up his capital in Gibeah. And, as we read the account of his reign in 1 Samuel, we can even read that it is referred to as "Gibeah of Saul".

Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul. - 1 Samuel 15:34

The location of Gibeah is known as Tell el-Ful. William F. Albright led a couple of excavations of this site in the 1920s. During his work, he found evidence of a rather large fortress, which dates back to the time of Saul. In modern times, Tell el-Ful is easy to recognize due to the large, partially built building on top. In the 1960s, King Hussein of Jordan began construction a palace in Tel el-Ful, but construction was halted when the Six-Day War broke out. Since Israel won the war, the palace was never finished and now all that remains is the skeleton of the building.

The picture at the top of this post is of Tell el-Ful from the east. It was taken by Ferrell Jenkins in 2011. NOTE: If you are reading this post from an email, you might have to click on the title to view the post from a webpage to see the image.