Gibbethon orGibbeton was a biblical city in the land ofCanaan.
According to the record in theHebrew Bible, Gibbeton was occupied by theTribe of Dan after the entry of theIsraelites into thePromised Land and was then given to theTribe of Levi.
According to theBook of Joshua, it was given as aLevitical city to theKohathites.[1]
However, in1 Kings 15:27 it was recorded as being a city of thePhilistines.Nadab, the second king of thenorthern Kingdom of Israel, besieged Gibbethon. During the siege,Baasha the son ofAhijah, a member of thetribe of Issachar, killed King Nadab of Israel and made himself king, reigning over the northern kingdom for 24 years.[2]
John James Blunt, in hisUndesigned Coincidences in the Writings both of the Old and New Testaments (1882), suggested that "the place had been deserted by theLevites, in the general exodus toJudah, [so] that the Philistines availed themselves of the opportunity to seize and fortify it".[3]
In the late 19th century, Gibbethon has been identified with al-Majdal, nearAshkelon, and so possibly on the border of Danite Israel andPhilistia.[3]
Israeli archaeologistBenjamin Mazar located it in 1960 in a region to the north of theSorek Valley,[4] possibly at Tel Malot,[5] located northwest of the city ofBeit Shemesh and due west of the city ofGezer.
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