Ezion-Geber (Hebrew:עֶצְיֹן גֶּבֶר,Modern: ʻEṣyōn Gevér,Tiberian: ʿEṣyōn Geḇer,Biblical:Ġeṣyōn Geḇer; alsoAsiongaber) is a city only known from theHebrew Bible, inIdumea,[dubious –discuss] a seaport on the northern extremity of theGulf of Aqaba, in modern terms somewhere in the area of modernAqaba andEilat.[1]
According toTargum Jonathan, the name means "city of the rooster" (כְּרַך תַּרְנְגוֹלָא).
Ezion-Geber is mentioned six times in theTanakh.[2] According to theBook of Numbers, Ezion-Geber was a place first mentioned as an Israelite campsite toward the close of the nation's 40 years in the wilderness afterthe Exodus from Egypt.[3]
The "ships ofTharshish" ofSolomon andHiram started from this port on their voyage toOphir. It was the main port for Israel's commerce with the countries bordering on the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. According toBook of II Chronicles,Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah, joined withAhaziah, the King of Israel, to make ships in Ezion-geber; but God disapproved of the alliance, and the ships were broken in the port.[4]
In1 Kings 9:26 (King James Version) it says:
The location of Ezion-Geber is debated and has yet to be confirmed by archaeology.
Ruins atTell el-Kheleifeh were identified with Ezion-Geber by the German explorer F. Frank and later excavated byNelson Glueck, who thought he had confirmed the identification, but a later re-evaluation dates them to a period between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE with occupation continuing possibly into the 4th century BCE.[5] However, Marta Luciani argues that old and newly identified samples ofQurayya ware at the site indicate that it was occupied from theLate Bronze Age onwards.[6]
Alternatively, some scholars identifyPharaoh's Island with biblical Ezion-Geber.[7]
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