Geb
Geb [1]
(See Locust). Ge'ba, the name of at least two places in Central Palestine.
1. (Heb. Ge'Ba, גֶּבִע , often with the art. i.e., The Hillj in pause "Ga'Ba," גָּבִע , Joshua 18:24; Ezra 2:26; Nehemiah 7:30; yet this form is also Anglicized "Geba" in 2 Samuel 5:25; 2 Kings 23:8; Nehemiah 11:31), a city of Benjamin with "villages" ( Joshua 18:24; on its settlement, see 1 Chronicles 8:6), hence more fully "Geba of Benjamin" ( 1 Kings 15:22; 1 Samuel 13:16 [Josephus Gibeon, Γαβαών , Ant. 6:6, n.; for which, perhaps, compare 1 Chronicles 8:29; 1 Chronicles 9:35), situated on the northern border of the kingdom of Judah ( 2 Kings 23:8; Zechariah 14:10), near to Gibeah, apparently towards the east or north-east ( Isaiah 10:29; Joshua 18:24; Joshua 18:28). It is often asserted that Geba and Gibeah were names of the same place; the A.V. in at least 1 Samuel 13:15-16, confounds them; the Sept. and Vulg. render both indifferently by Γαβαα and Gabaa; and in two passages ( Judges 20:10; Judges 20:33) the same error has crept into the original. Schwarz's identification of these places (Phys. Descrip. of Palest. page 132) is full of errors in locality. The two names are indeed only masculine and feminine forms of the same word, signifying "hill;" but that they were two different places is evident from Joshua 18:24, compare 28; 1 Samuel 13:2, compare 3; Isaiah 10:29. In 2 Samuel 20:8, the name "Geba" stands erroneously for Gibeon (compare 1 Chronicles 14:16). Geba, with its "suburbs," was assigned to the priests ( Joshua 21:17; 1 Chronicles 6:60). The Philistines were smitten from Geba unto Gazer by David ( 2 Samuel 5:25). As it lay on the frontiers of Judah and Israel, Asa rebuilt Geba and Mizpah with the stones of Ramah ( 1 Kings 15:22; 2 Chronicles 16:6). "From Geba (in the north) to Beersheba" (in the south) ( 2 Kings 23:8) expressed the whole extent of the separate kingdom of Judah, just as "from Dan to Beersheba" expressed the whole length of Palestine. It would seem, from the manner in which Geba (Gaba) and Ramah are coupled in Nehemiah 7:30, that they were very near each other. Reland (Palcest. page 802) thinks it the Gebath ( גֵיבַת ) or Gibbethon ( גיבְתוֹן ) mentioned by Talmudical writers in connection with Antipatris (comp. 2 Samuel 5:25).
During the wars of the earlier part of the reign of Saul, Geba was held as a garrison by the Philistines ( 1 Samuel 13:3), but they were ejected by Jonathan, a feat which, while it added greatly to his renown, exasperated them to a more overwhelming invasion. Later in the same campaign we find it referred to in defining the position of the two rocks which stood in the ravine below the garrison of Michmash, in terms which fix Geba on the south and Michmash on the north of the ravine ( 1 Samuel 14:5 : the A.V. has here Gibeah). Exactly in accordance with this is the position of the modern village of Jeba, which stands picturesquely on the top of its steep terraced hill, on the very edge of the great wady Suweinit, looking northwards to the opposite village, which also retains its old name of Mukhmas. (See Stanley, Palest. page 210, 489; Porter, Hand- book for Syria, page 215.) The names, and the agreement of the situation with the requirements of the story of Jonathan, make the identification all but certain; but it is still further confirmed by the list of Benjamite towns visited by the Assyrian army on their road through the country southward to Jerusalem, which we have in Isaiah 10:28-32, where the minute details — the stoppage of the heavy baggage (A.V. "carriages"), which could not be got across the broken ground of the wady at Michmash; then the passage of the ravine by the lighter portion of the army, and the subsequent bivouac ("lodging," מָלוֹן = rest for the night) at Geba on the opposite side are in exact accordance with the nature of the spot. Standing as it does on the south bank of this important wady-one of the most striking natural features of this part of the country-the mention of Geba as the northern boundary of the lower kingdom is very significant. Thus commanding the pass, its fortification by Asa ( 1 Kings 15:22; 2 Chronicles 16:6) is also quite intelligible. It continues to be named with Michmash to the very last ( Nehemiah 11:31). Geba is probably intended by the "Gibeah-in-the-field" of Judges 20:31, to which its position is very applicable. The " fields" are mentioned again as late as Nehemiah 12:29. The town was occupied by the Benjamites after the captivity ( Ezra 2:26). It appears to have: been unknown to Eusebius and Jerome (Onomasticon, s.v. Fatfai, Gabe; comp. Reiand, Palest. page 708). The village of Jeba is small, and is half in ruins. Among these are occasionally seen large hewn stones indicating antiquity. There is here the ruins of a square tower, almost solid, and a small building having the appearance of an ancient church (Robinson, Researches, 2:113; Bib. Sac. 1844, 1:598- 602; Lat. Researches, page 288). (See Gibeah).
2. The Geba ( Γαιβαί v. r. Ταιβάν ) between which and Scythopolis (therefore S. of Mount Gilboa) Holofernes is said to have made his encampment ( Judith 3:10), must be the Jeba on the road between Samaria and Jenin, about 45' S. of Sanur (Van de Velde, Narrat. 1:367), with evident traces of antiquity (Wilson, Lands of Bible, 2:84; Robinson, 1:440). The Vulg. strangely renders venit ad Idumaeos in terram Gabba.
