GIBEAH (gib.e-ah), (Hebrew sante as above). There were several places of this name, which, as before remarked (see GEBA), iS the feminine form of the word Gibeali, and signifies a hill. Without doubt all the places so named were situated upon hills.
(1) Gibeah of Judah. Gibeah in the moun tains of Judah (Josh. xv :57), which, under the name of Gabaatha, Eusebius and Jerome place ttvelve Roman miles from Eleutheropolis, and state that the grave of the prophet Habakkuk was there to be seen. Dr. Robinson (Researches, ii: 327) identifies it with the village of Jebah, which stands upon an isolated hill, in the midst of Wady-el-Musurr, about ten miles southwest of Jerusalem.
(2) Gibeah at The place where the ark rested after it was returned by the Philistines, until its removal by David (2 SaIll. Vi :3, 4 ; comp. Sam. vii :1, 2).
(3) Gibeah of Benjamin is historically the most important of the places bearing this name. It is often mentioned in Scripture. It was the scene of that abominable transaction which in volved in its consequences almost the entire ex tirpation of the tribe of Benjamin (Judg. xix :14, sq.). lt is without doubt identical with the next.
(4) Gibeah of Saul, which was the birthplace of Saul, and continued to be his residence after he became king (i Sam. x :26; xi:4; xv:33; xxiii: 19 ; xxvi:1) ; and here was the scene of Jonathan's romantic exploit against the Philistines (t Sam. %iv). It was doubtless on account of this in timate connection with Saul that the Gibeonites hanged up here his seven descendants (2 Sam. xxi :6). Jerome speaks of Gibeah as, in his time, level with the ground (Ep. 86, ad Ensloch.). and since then it does not appear to have been visited by travelers till recently. Dr. Robinson, who made many valuable observations in this neigh borhood, detected Gihealt in the small and half ruined village of Jeba, which lies upon a low, conical, or rather round eminence, on the broad ridge which shelves down towards the Jordan valley, and spreads out below the village in a fine sloping plain. The views of the Dead Sea and
the Jordan and of the Eastern mountains, are here very extensive. Among the %mins some large hewn stones. indicating antiquity, are oc casionally seen. This place is about five miles north east from Jerusalem.
(5) Gibeah in Mount Ephraim I called Gibeah of Phineas, where the high-priest Eleazar, son of Aaron, was buried by his son Phincas (Josh. xxiv :33). The Onomaslicon makes it five Roman miles from Goplina, on the road to Neapolis (Shechem) ; which was itself fifteen Roman miles north of Jerusalem. Dr. Robinson finds it in a narrow valley called Wady-el-Jib, the Geeb of Maundrell, lying just midway on the road be tween Jerusalem and Shechcm.
(6) Gibeah in the Field, a place to which ran one of the highways out of Gibeali of Benjamin (Judg. xx :31). The place has not been identi fied.
(7) Other Gibeahs. The name of several places given in the A. V. in their translated form (t) "Hill of the foreskins" ( Josh. v:3), be tween the Jordan and Jericho. It took its name from the circumcision which took place there. It seems to have been called Gilgal, afterwards. (2) The "hill of Moreh" (Judg. vii :I). (3) The "hill of God" on the route of Saul ( I Sam. x :5). (4) The "hill of Hachilah" ( t Sam. xxiii xxvi :1). (5) The "hill of Ammah" (2 Sam. ii : 24)• (6) The "hill of Gareh" (Jer. xxxi :39).