HESILBON (hesh'136n), (Heb. 1":57, khesh-bone', intelligence), a town in the southern district of the Hebrew territory. beyond the Jordan, parallel with, and twenty-one miles east of, the point where the Jordan enters the Dead Sea, and nearly midway between the rivers Jabbok and Arnon.
It originally belonged to the Moabites ; but when the Israelites arrived from Egypt, it was found to be in the possession of the Amorites, whose king, Sihon, is sty-led both king of the Amorites and king of Heshbon, and is expressly said to have 'reigned in Heshbon' (Josh. ix:ro; comp. Num. xx1:26; Deut. ii:24). It was taken by 11loses (Num. xxi :23-26), and eventually became a Levitical city (Josh. xxi:39; Chron. vi :81) in the tribe of Reuben (Num. xxxii :37; Josh. xiii: 17) ; but being on the confines of Gad, is some times assigned to the latter tribe (Josh. xxi :39 ; Chron. vi :Si). After the ten tribes were scnt into exile, Heshbon was taken possession of by the Moabitcs, and hence is mentioned by the prophets in their declarations against Moab ( Is. xv :4 ; Jer.
xlviii :2, 34, 45). Under King Alexander Jannzeus we find it again reckoned as a Jewish city (Jo seph. Antic/. xiii, 15, 4).
At the present day it is known by its ancient name of Heshbon, in the slightly modified form of Hesbin. The ruins of a considerable town still exist, covering the sides of an insulated hill, but not a single edifice is left entire. The view from the summit is very extensive, embracing the ruins of a vast number of cities, the names of some of which bear a strong resemblance to those mentioned in Scripture. (Burckhardt, George Robinson. Lord Lindsay, Harper, Bib. and Mod. Dis., p. 374.) FiguratiVe. In Cant. vii:4 the eyes of the Shulamite are coinpared to the "fishpools of Hesh bon," by the gate of Bath-rabbim. The bright pools in the stream which runs beneath Hesban on the west are perhaps intended (Harper).