Geshur

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("bridge".) A region N.E. of Bashan, adjoining Argob and Aram, conquered by Jair of Manasseh, but left in the hands of the original inhabitants ( Joshua 13:13;  Deuteronomy 3:14;  2 Samuel 15:8). "Geshur at Aram" (Hebrew), i.e. bordering on Syria of Damascus ( 1 Chronicles 2:23). The Geshuri bordering on the Philistines ( Joshua 13:2), and invaded by David ( 1 Samuel 27:8), were distinct from those N.E. of Gilead. Yet there may have been some connection, a portion of the Geshurites possibly passing southwards. At least David in his wandering life formed an alliance with Talmai king of Geshur by marrying Maachah his daughter, by whom he had his handsome but worthless son Absalom and his daughter Tamar.

David's attack on the southern Geshurites, or else his stay near Moab (1 Samuel 22), may have first brought him into connection with Talmai king of the northeastern Geshur ( 2 Samuel 3:3;  2 Samuel 13:37.) The wild nature of Absalom accords with the wild home and stock from whence he sprang; there he fled after murdering Amnon. Geshur was probably part of the rugged Argob, now Lejah, where amidst those basaltic fastness the Geshurites would be secure from the Israelites in the plains. (See Argob .)

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Geshur ( Gç'Shur ), Bridge. A small district of Syria, east of the Jordan and northeast of Bashan; allotted to Manasseh,  Deuteronomy 3:14;  2 Samuel 15:8;  1 Chronicles 2:23;  Joshua 13:13; David married a daughter of its king,  2 Samuel 3:3; Absalom fled thither after the murder of Amnon,  2 Samuel 13:37. Now known as "the Lejah," and still the refuge of criminals and outlaws.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

A principality on the north-east of Bashan.  2 Samuel 3:3;  2 Samuel 13:37,38;  2 Samuel 14:23;  2 Samuel 15:8;  1 Chronicles 2:23;  1 Chronicles 3:2 . David married the daughter of the king of Geshur, and she was the mother of Absalom.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 1 Samuel 3:3 2 Samuel 13:37-38 2 Samuel 8:1 2 Samuel 10:1 Joshua 13:2  1 Samuel 27:8

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 2 Samuel 15:8 1 Chronicles 2:23 2 Samuel 13:37

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Geshur',. גִּשׁוּר ; Sept. Γεσούρ and Γεσουρί ), the name of a district of Syria near Gilead ( 2 Samuel 15:8;  1 Chronicles 2:23), which adjoined, on the east side of the Jordan, the northern border of the Hebrew territory, and lay between Mount Hermon, Maachabh, and Bashan ( Deuteronomy 3:13-14;  Joshua 12:5). It is plain from these notices that Geshur lay in that portion of Syria which was connected with or adjoining to the land of Gilead, and the Geshurites probably dwelt in the rocky fastnesses of Argob. This region is supposed to be the same with what is now called the Lejah, and is remarkable for its singularly wild and rugged scenery. Burckhardt says, "In the interior parts of the Lejah the rocks are in many places cleft asunder, so that the whole hill appears, shivered, and in the act of falling down," etc. Porter adds, "No description can approach the reality. One cannot repress a shudder when he finds himself in such a den, surrounded armed hordes on whose faces the country seems do have stamped its oaen savage aspect. Ibrahim Pasha, flushed with victory, and maddened by the obstinacy of a handful of Druses, attempted to follow them into this stronghold; but scarcely a soldier who entered returned. Every nook concealed an enemy... . The Lejah has for ages been a sanctuary for outlaws, and not unfrequently a refuge for the oppressed" (Handbook for Syria, page 504). (See Argob).

Geshur is first associated with Aram or Syria as among the conquests of Jair, the son of Manasseh. After stating that he had three and twenty cities in the land of Gilead, it is said, Jair took "Geshur and Aram, with the towns of Jair, from them, with Kenath, and the towns thereof, three-score cities" (11 Chronicles 2:23). While these places were taken, they were held: only as subject territories, still to a great extent occupied by their original inhabitants. (See Havoth-Jair). According to the boundaries of the Holy Land, as defined by Moses, Geshur would have formed part of it; but in  Joshua 13:2;  Joshua 13:13, it is stated that the Israelites had expelled neither the Geshurites nor the Maachathites, but dwelt together with them. That the Hebrews did not afterwards permanently subdue Geshur appears from the circumstance that, in David's time, this district had a king of its own, called Talmai, whose daughter, Maachah, was one of the wives of David ( 2 Samuel 3:3;  1 Chronicles 3:2). She was probably a person of superior beauty, as she became the mother of the two handsomest of David's children, Absaloml and Tamar. How David should have thought of getting a wife from such a quarter, or what prior link of connection between him and the king of Geshur might have led to such a result, is left unnoticed in the history. But possibly the Geshurites, who are mentioned among the tribes against whom David made incursions while he dwelt in Ziklag (l Samuel 27:8), and who, from the name being once found in connection with the Philistines ( Joshua 13:3), are generally supposed to have been a different tribe from the other, may, after all, have been the same. (See Gehurite). The Geshurites, very probably, from their fastnesses in Argob, were wont to sally forth, like the Amalekites, in occasional raids upon the districts to the south and east of Palestine, without having any settled habitations there; and David might justly regard them (though located at some distance), equally with the Amalekites who are mentioned along with them, as fair subjects for making reprisals upon. In that case he would be brought into close contact with Talmai, first, indeed, as occupying a hostile relation to him, but not unnaturally afterwards as wishing to form with him' a bond of alliance. Ahnid the troubles and difficulties which encompassed David's access to the throne, a marriage into the family of the king of Geshur might seem to afford a prospect not to be slighted of strengthening his position. As it ultimately proved, this alliance became the source of one of his greatest dangers, in giving birth to the fascinating, but restless and aspiring Absalom. The wild acts of Absalom's life may have been to some extent the results of maternal training; they were at least characteristic of the stock from which he sprung. In fleeing, as Absalom did, after the assassination of his brother Amnon, to the court of his maternal grandfather at Geshur ( 2 Samuel 13:37-38;  2 Samuel 14:23;  2 Samuel 14:32), one can easily understand how secure a refuge he might find there, while he required to be in concealment, but at the same time how unlikely it was his ambition could remain long satisfied with its dreary aspect and dreadful seclusion. (See Absalom). The word Geshur signifies a Bridge, and corresponds with the Arabic Jisr, Syriac Giythara; and in the same region where, according to the above data, we must fix Geshur, between Mount Hermon and the Lake of Tiberias, there still exists an ancient stone bridge over the Upper Jordan, called Jisr-Benat-Jakub, or "the bridge of the daughters of Jacob," i.e., the Israelites. The ancient commercial route to and from Damascus and the East seems to have lain in this direction in the most ancient times ( Genesis 37:25), and hence the probability that there was even then a bridge over the river, which (in times when bridges were rare) gave its name to the adjacent district. The Jordan, however, is at a considerable distance from the region in question. Dr. Robinson, moreover, regards the bridge in question as a structure of the time of the Crusades, although he admits that it occupies the site of a traditionary Ford of Jacob (Researches, 3:361) (See Bridge).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

gē´shur ( גּשׁוּר , geshūr , "bridge"): An Aramean kingdom (  2 Samuel 15:8 ) of no great size which lay probably to the South of Maacah, and formed with it the western boundary of the land of Bashan ( Deuteronomy 3:14;  Joshua 12:5;  Joshua 13:11 ). The territory of these two probably corresponded roughly with modern Jaulān . It may not have reached quite to the Jordan on the West; in which case the Geshurites literally dwelt "in the midst" of Israel ( Joshua 13:13 ), since they were not expatriated by the half-tribe of Manasseh, and they retained their independence. David married Maacah, daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur, who became the mother of Absalom and Tamar ( 2 Samuel 3:3 ). To Talmai Absalom fled for safety after the murder of Amnon ( 2 Samuel 13:37 f), and thence Joab brought him back to Jerusalem (  2 Samuel 14:23 ). The Geshurites and Aram are said to have taken the cities of Jair - i.e. Havvoth-jair - which lay in the land of Gilead ( 1 Chronicles 2:23 ). It is possible that "Geshurites" should be read, with Vulgate, Syriac, etc., instead of "Ashurites" in  2 Samuel 2:9 . The only difficulty is that Geshur was an independent kingdom, and there is nothing to show how it was brought under the sway of the son of Saul. In the catalogue of land still to be possessed in  Joshua 13:2 , the King James Version reads "Geshuri," the Revised Version (British and American) "the Geshurites," referring evidently to a district bordering on the Philistines. Both the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) render the same word by "Geshurites" in  1 Samuel 27:8 , where apparently the same territory is indicated as invaded by David. In neither passage is the text above suspicion; in  1 Samuel 27:8 Septuagint's Codex Vaticanus omits the name. No satisfactory explanation has been suggested.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Ge´shur. A district of Syria , which adjoined, on the east side of the Jordan, the northern border of the Hebrew territory, and lay between Mount Hermon, Maachah, and Bashan . According to the boundaries of the Holy Land, as defined by Moses, Geshur would have formed part of it; but in; , it is stated that the Israelites had expelled neither the Geshurites nor the Maachathites, but dwelt together with them. That the Hebrews did not afterwards permanently subdue Geshur appears from the circumstance that, in David's time, this district had a king of its own, called Talmai, whose daughter, Maacah, was one of the wives of David . She was the mother of Absalom, who took refuge with his grandfather after the murder of Amnon, and remained three years in Geshur . The word Geshur signifies a bridge, and corresponds with the Arabic Jisr; and in the same region where, according to the above data, we must fix Geshur, between Mount Hermon and the lake of Tiberias, there still exists an ancient stone bridge over the upper Jordan, called Jisr-Beni-Jakub, or 'the bridge of the children of Jacob.' i.e. the Israelites.