GILGAL (Weal), (Heb..,-.:•1?;',ghil-gawf, circle, wheel).
1. The place where the Israelites formed their first encampment in Palestine, and which contin ued for some time to be their headquarters while engaged in the conquest of the land (Josh. iv: 19, 2o; ix :6; x :6, 7, etc.). It was here that they set up the twelve stones which they took out of the bed of the Jordan (iv :19). (See STONES.) IC is uncertain whether this town or another place of the name was on Samuel's circuit (I Sam. vii: 16), and where, it may be judged, Saul, the oppo sition to him having ceased, was made king and the kingdom renewed (xi :15). At any rate, it was at Gilgal in the Jordan valley where a muster of the people took place to form an army which should encounter the Philistines then oppressing the land, when Saul, finding it difficult to hold the people together until Samuel should come and offer sacrifice, himself offered burnt offerings (xiii : 4, 7, 8; comp. t2-15). For his disobedience the forfeiture of his kingdom was announced to him (13, 14). There, too, Saul incurred a second re buke for his disobedience in sparing Agag (XV: 12, 21, 33; comp. 34). It was to Gilgal also that the representatives of the tribe of Judah went to welcome David back after the death of Absa lom (2 Sam. xix :t5, 4o). Like other holy places, it became a focus of idolatry under the kings who succeeded Jeroboam, and it was in conse quence denounced by the prophets (Hos. iv :i5 ;
ix :15 ; xii •, Amos iv :4 ; v :5). It is probably the house of Gilgal or Bethgilgal mentioned after the captivity (Neh. xii :29). Its site is a ruin two miles east of Jericho. (Davis, Diet. of the Bible.) 2. A place in the region of Dor, whose king was subdued by Joshua (Josh. xii :23). The Gil gal of Neh. xii :29, and 1 Mace. ix:2, is probably the same as this; as well as the ancient Galgala, which Eusebius and Jerome place six Roman miles north of Antipatris. In this neighborhood there is still a village called Jiljfileh, which prob ably reprcsents the ancient site.
3. A place on the northern boundary of Judah (Josh. xv :7). In the parallel list of Josh. xviii: it is given as Geliloth, probably a lit tle north of the brook lanah, and five miles north east by north of Antipatris.
4. The place where Elisha worked the miracle of healing on the poisonous pottage (2 Kings iv : 38). It was also the last scene of the life of Elijah. There is a ruin fifteen miles from Dios polis, called which probably marks the location of the ancient Gilgal. (See Van de Velde's Map, and Rob. iii:t39.)