Jabesh-gilead, a town in Gilead known for its loyalty to King Saul.
Also known as Jabesh-gilead · Jabesh Gilead
Jabesh, also known as Jabesh-gilead, was a town located in the region of Gilead, east of the Jordan River. The city is first mentioned in the book of Judges, where the inhabitants refused to join the Israelites in fighting against the tribe of Benjamin (Judges 21:8-14). As a result, the town was attacked, and the virgins of Jabesh were given as wives to the surviving Benjamites. Later, during the reign of King Saul, the Ammonites besieged Jabesh, and Saul came to their rescue, defeating the Ammonites and solidifying his position as king (1Sa.11.1-11). After Saul's death, the men of Jabesh bravely retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons from the Philistines and buried them (1Sa.31.11-13; 1Ch.10.11-12). David later praised the men of Jabesh for their loyalty and kindness to Saul (2Sa.2.4-7). The town's location is uncertain, but it was likely situated in northern Gilead, possibly near modern-day Wadi Yabis in Jordan.
Approximate location: 32.380, 35.612 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas
JA'BESH, and JA'BESH-GIL'EAD (dry Gilead), a city east of the Jordan; destroyed by the Israelites, Jud 21:8-14; delivered from Nahash by Saul, 1 Sam 11:1-11, and in gratitude therefor its people brought the bodies of Saul and his sons, which the Philistines hung upon the walls of Bethshan, to Jabesh, and caused them to be buried in a wood near by. 1 Sam 31:11-13. David blessed them, 2 Sam 2:4-6, but afterward removed the bones to Saul's ancestral burying-place. 2 Sam 2:4-6; 2 Sam 21:12-14. Robinson identifies it with ed-Deir, 23 miles south-east of the Sea of Galilee on the south side of Wady Yabis. Dr. S. Merrill, however, questions this as not conforming to the location assigned to it by Eusebius. He would identify Jabesh with the ruins of a town found about 7 miles from Pella, on the north side of Wady Yabis, on the mountain Jebel Aijlun, about 2300 feet above the Jordan valley. This seems to conform to the biblical statements concerning the place.
JA'BESH, and JA'BESH-GIL'EAD (dry Gilead), a city east of the Jordan; destroyed by the Israelites, Jud 21:8-14; delivered from Nahash by Saul, 1 Sam 11:1-11, and in gratitude therefor its people brought the bodies of Saul and his sons, which the Philistines hung upon the walls of Bethshan, to Jabesh, and caused them to be buried in a wood near by. 1 Sam 31:11-13. David blessed them, 2 Sam 2:4-6, but afterward removed the bones to Saul's ancestral burying-place. 2 Sam 2:4-6; 2 Sam 21:12-14. Robinson identifies it with ed-Deir, 23 miles south-east of the Sea of Galilee on the south side of Wady Yabis. Dr. S. Merrill, however, questions this as not conforming to the location assigned to it by Eusebius. He would identify Jabesh with the ruins of a town found about 7 miles from Pella, on the north side of Wady Yabis, on the mountain Jebel Aijlun, about 2300 feet above the Jordan valley. This seems to conform to the biblical statements concerning the place.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
18 verses in 4 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H3003
So they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to come up before the LORD at Mizpah?” And, in fact, no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp for the assembly.
For when the people were counted, none of the residents of Jabesh-gilead were there.
So the congregation sent 12,000 of their most valiant men and commanded them: “Go and put to the sword those living in Jabesh-gilead, including women and children.
So they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young women who had not had relations with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.
And at that time the Benjamites returned and were given the women who were spared from Jabesh-gilead. But there were not enough women for all of them.
Then Nahash the Ammonite came up and laid siege to Jabesh-gilead. All the men of Jabesh said to him, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”
“Hold off for seven days,” replied the elders of Jabesh, “and let us send messengers throughout Israel. If there is no one to save us, we will surrender to you.”
Just then Saul was returning from the field, behind his oxen. “What troubles the people?” asked Saul. “Why are they weeping?” And they relayed to him the words of the men from Jabesh.
So they said to the messengers who had come, “Tell the men of Jabesh-gilead: ‘Deliverance will be yours tomorrow by the time the sun is hot.’” And when the messengers relayed this to the men of Jabesh, they rejoiced.
Then the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Tomorrow we will come out, and you can do with us whatever seems good to you.”
When the people of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,
all their men of valor set out, journeyed all night, and retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth-shan. When they arrived at Jabesh, they burned the bodies there.
Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.
Then the men of Judah came to Hebron, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul.”
So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead to tell them, “The LORD bless you, because you showed this kindness to Saul your lord when you buried him.
he went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan where the Philistines had hung the bodies after they had struck down Saul at Gilboa.
When all the people of Jabesh-gilead heard about everything the Philistines had done to Saul,
all their men of valor set out and retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh. And they buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh and fasted seven days.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.