Jabesh-Gilead

Book of Judges

In the Book of Judges, Chapters 19–21, eleven tribes of Israel had all but wiped out the tribe of Benjamin. Only 600 men from Benjamin remained on the Rimmon Rock. However the eleven tribes relented from destroying the whole tribe, and they decided that they needed to find wives for the 600 men since all other people in Benjamin had been killed. But they had taken an oath not to give their daughters to a Benjaminite, so they found the one city in Israel that had not joined the fight: Jabesh. All the inhabitants were executed under the Herem except for 400 virgins. They brought back 400 virgins from Jabesh and gave them to the men on Rimmon Rock.

Books of Samuel and Chronicles

Later Saul from the tribe of Benjamin and the city of Gibeah is made king of Israel. A month later in 1 Samuel 11 Nahash of Ammon attacks Jabesh, and Saul leads Israel to the defense of Jabesh. When Saul dies in 1 Samuel 31 it is not the tribe of Benjamin who retrieve his body from the Philistines, nor David, but men of Jabesh (giving honour to the rescuer of their city).

In the Books of Kings (2 Kings, Chapter 15, verses 10, 13-14) Shallum of Israel's father is identified as Jabesh. However, the passage may instead mention a toponym, identifying that Shallum was "the son" of a city called Jabesh. In this view, Shallum may have originated from Jabesh-Gilead. [9]

The identification of Jabesh-Gilead has been studied for a long time. The most likely locations are said to be Tell el-Maqlub and Tell Abu al-Kharaz.[10]

General References dealing with the excavations at Tell Abu al-Kharaz:

• Fischer, P.M, Tell Abu al-Kharaz in the Jordan Valley. Volume II: The Middle and Late Bronze Ages, Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Vienna 2006;
• Fischer, P.M. The Chronology of the Jordan Valley during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages: Pella, Tell Abu al-Kharaz and Tell Deir 'Alla, edited by P.M. Fischer, contributions by S. Bourke, P.M. Fischer and G. van der Kooij. Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Vienna 2006;
• Fischer, P.M. Tell Abu al-Kharaz in the Jordan Valley. Volume I: The Early Bronze Age. Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Vienna 2008.

• Freedman, David Noel; Myers, Allen C. (2000), "Jabesh", Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, Amsterdam University Press, ISBN 978-9053565032
• Freedman, David Noel; Myers, Allen C. (2000), "Jabesh-Gilead", Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, Amsterdam University Press, ISBN 978-9053565032

• Jabesh
• Gilead