Ezion-Geber

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

Ezion-geber (along with its twin town Elath, or Eloth) was situated on the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqabah, the north-eastern arm of the Red Sea. It was the port from which shipping routes went east and overland routes went north (Deuteronomy 2:8; 1 Kings 9:26). This meant that the nation that controlled Ezion-geber controlled much of the trade in the region (1 Kings 9:27-28; 1 Kings 10:22). (For fuller details of Ezion-geber’s significance see EDOM.)

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Numbers 33:35Deuteronomy 2:81 Kings 9:262 Chronicles 8:171 Kings 22:482 Chronicles 20:362 Kings 16:6Isaiah 10

Holman Bible Dictionary

Numbers 33:35-361 Kings 9:281 Kings 10:221 Kings 22:48-49

Three sites have been identified with Ezion-Geber. Some identify the city with Elath. References mentioning both names point to two places (Deuteronomy 2:8; 1 Kings 9:26; 2 Chronicles 8:17 ). Others locate Ezion-Geber at Tell el-Kheleifeh, a site about 500 yards from the coast. This site may represent a satellite city used to store grain, to protect the trade route, or to serve as a stopping place for caravans. Frequent flooding of the Wadi Ytem may have washed away archeological evidence necessary for identification of Ezion-Geber. Still others connect Ezion-Geber with a site on the island of Jezira Fara'un about 300 yards from the shore at Eilat. This site seems an unlikely stopping place during the wilderness wandering.

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

A city of Arabia, meaning, the Wood of the strong. So called from Hets, wood; and Gaber, strong. (1 Kings 9:26)

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

EZION-GEBER , later called Berenice (Jos. [Note: Josephus.] Ant . VIII. vi. 4). A port on the Red Sea (on the Gulf of Akabah) used by Solomon for his commerce ( 1 Kings 9:26 ). Here also the Israelites encamped ( Numbers 33:35 , Deuteronomy 2:8 ).

A. J. Maclean.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

E'zion-ge'ber. See Eziongaber.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

See ELATH .

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ē -zi -on -gē´bẽr ( עציון גּבר , ‛ecyōn gebher  ; Γασιών Γάβερ , Gasiō̇n Gáber ): Always mentioned along with Elath ("Eziongaber," Numbers 33:35 f the King James Version). When the children of Israel left "the way of the Arabah," having come from the Northwest, they seem to have turned to the Northeast from the neighborhood of ‛Aḳaba , passing up by Wādy el - Ithm toward the eastern desert (Deuteronomy 2:8 ). Elath and Ezion-geber were evidently not far apart. They are named together again in connection with the maritime enterprises of Solomon and Jehoshaphat (1 Kings 9:26 , etc.). They therefore both lay on the shore of the sea. No trace of Ezion-geber is to be found on the present coast line. It is probable, however, that in ancient times the sea covered a considerable stretch of the mud flats at the South end of Wādy el - ‛Arabah , and the site of Ezion-geber may be sought near the spring ‛Ain el - Ghuḍyān , about 15 miles North of the present head of the Gulf of ‛Aḳaba .

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

E´zion-Ge´ber, a very ancient city lying not far from Elath, on the eastern arm of the Red Sea. It is first mentioned in , as one of the stations where the Hebrews halted in their journeyings through the desert . From its harbor it was that Solomon sent the fleet which he had there built to the land of Ophir, whence they fetched four hundred and twenty talents of gold. Here, also, Jehoshaphat built a fleet 'to go to Ophir,' but because he had joined himself with Ahaziah, 'king of Israel, who did wickedly,' 'the ships were broken that they were not able to go to Tarshish.' Eziongeber is probably the same with the once populous city Assyan. Robinson says, no trace of Eziongeber seems now to remain, unless it be in the name of a small wady with brackish water, el-Ghudyan, opening into el-Arabah from the western mountain, some distance north of Aqabah.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Hebrews Etsyon'-Ge'ber, עֶצְיוֹןאּגֶּבֶר [in this form only at 1 Kings 9:26; 2 Chronicles 8:17], i.e. giant's back-bone; Sept. Γασιὼν [in Deuteronomy Γεσιὼν ] Γάβερ [in Chronicles Γαβέρ ], but in 1 Kings Ἀσίων Γάβερ; Vulg. Asiongaber) or EZION-GA'BER (being "in pause," Hebrews Etsyon'-Ga'ber, עֶצִין גּ בֶר [in 1 Kings 20:49; 2 Chronicles 20:36, fully עֶצְיוֹן ], so found also at Numbers 33:35-36; Deuteronomy 2:8; but Angli. cized "Ezion-geber" in 1 Kings 22:48 [49]), a very ancient city near Elath (q.v.), on the eastern arm of the Red Sea. Jonathan's Targum; following a false etymology, defines the name as i.e., "castle of the cock" (see Buxtorf, Lex. Chald. col. 384; Beck, Chron. Chald. paraphr. 2:101). It is first mentioned in Numbers 33:35 as one of the stations where the Hebrews halted in their journeyings through the desert, being the last there named before they came to "the wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh," and the point where they afterwards turned from the 'Arabah to Elath, towards "the wilderness of Moab" (Deuteronomy 2:8). (See Exode). From its harbor it was that Solomon (1 Kings 9:26) sent the fleet which he had there built to the land of Ophir. (See Commerce).

Here also Jehoshaphat (1 Kings 22:47; 2 Chronicles 20:35) built a fleet "to go to Ophir;" but because he had joined himself with Ahaziah, "king of Israel, who did wickedly," "the ships were broken that they were not able to go to Tarshish," being probably destroyed on the rocks which lie in "jagged ranges on each side" (Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, page 84). Busching (Erdbeschr. V, 1:620) erroneously locates it at Shurmn, a port at the southern end of the gulf (Geogr. Nub. 3:5). Wellsted (Travels, 2:153) would find it in the modern Dahob, but this is the ancient Dizahab (q.v.); Laborde (Commentaire Geogr. page 124) seeks it in the rocky island el-Kurdiyah, which is hardly adequate in extent or position; and Rtippel (Arab. page 252) locates it at the mouth of'wadv Emrag, i.e., el-Mlursk, which is liable to the same objection. Josephus (Ant. 8:6, 4) says that Ezion-geber (Ἀσσιογγάβαρος ) was also called Berenice, and that it lay not far from JElath. It is probably the same with the once-populous city 'Asyun (Burckhardt, Syria, page 511). Robinson (Bibliccl Researches, 1:250) says, "No trace of Ezion-geber seems now to remain, unless it be in the name of a small wady with brackish water, el- Ghudyan, opening into el-'Arabah from the western mountain, some distance north of Akabah." It is doubtful, however, whether the sea ever extended so far up the 'Arabah as this. It was probably situated at the point where the Haj route strikes the 'Arabah at the north-west point of the gulf (Robinson, ib. 1:239). Yet the town may have given name to this the nearest spring, for Ghudyan in Arabic corresponds in all the essential letters to Ezion in Heb., which is identical with the later 'Asyun. By comparing 1 Kings 9:26-27, with 2 Chronicles 8:17-18, it is probable that timber was floated from Tyre to the nearest point on the Mediterranean coast, and then conveyed over land to the head of the Gulf of Akabah, where the ships seem to have been built; for there can hardly have been adequate forests in the neighborhood. Dr. Wilson noticed fragments of an old caravan route part way up the hill-side in this vicinity (Lands of the Bible, 1:284). (See Wilderness Of The Wandering).