Tob

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Tob. (Good). The Land Of Tob . A place in which Jephthah took refuge, when expelled from home, by his half-brother,  Judges 11:3, and where he remained, at the head of a band of freebooters, till he was brought back, by the sheikhs of Gilead.  Judges 11:5.

The narrative implies that the land of Tob, was not far distant from Gilead; at the same time, from the nature of the case, it must have lain out toward the eastern deserts. It is undoubtedly mentioned again in  2 Samuel 10:6;  2 Samuel 10:8, as Ishtob , that is, Man Of Tob , meaning, according to a common Hebrew idiom, the men of Tob. After a long interval, it appears again, in the Maccabaean history,  1 Maccabees 5:13, in the names of Tobie and Tubieni.  2 Maccabees 12:17. No identification of the ancient, district with any modern one has yet been attempted.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

TOB . One of the small Aramæan principalities founded to the south of Mt. Hermon and Damascus in the 12th cent. b.c., the others being Hamath (the less), Zobah, Beth-rehob, Maacah or Geshur. It was in Tob that Jephthah lived as an outlaw (  Judges 11:3;   Judges 11:5 ). Tob joined the rest of the Aramæans, except those of Hamath (  2 Samuel 8:9 f.), in helping the Ammonites in their war against king David (  2 Samuel 10:6 ff.). The exact position of these little States is uncertain. Tob was perhaps the most easterly of them. Possibly Tob is meant in the region alluded to in 1Ma 5:13 [ Tubias ], 2Ma 12:17 [ Tubieni ].

J. F. McCurdy.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

a country of Palestine, lying beyond Jordan, in the northern part of the portion of Manasseh. To this district Jephthah retired, when he was driven away by his brethren,  Judges 11:3;  Judges 11:5 . It is also called Tobie, or Tubin, 1Ma_5:13; and the inhabitants of this canton were called Tubieni. It is supposed to be the same as Ishtob, one of the small principalities of Syria, which appears, like the other little kingdoms in its neighbourhood, to have been swallowed up in the kingdom of Damascus. This principality furnished twelve thousand men to the confederacy formed by the Syrians and Ammonites against David, 2 Samuel 10.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("good".) Where Jephthah was expelled by his stepbrothers; here he gathered to him a band of freebooters; from Tob the elders of Gilead brought him to oppose Ammon. Toward the desert E. of Gilead. Ish-tob, i.e. the men of Tob, supported the Ammonites against David ( 2 Samuel 10:6;  2 Samuel 10:8). Ptolemy (Geogr. v. 19) mentions a Thauba S.W. of Zobah, probably N.E. of Ammon. There is a Tell Dobbe or Dibbe, a ruined site S. of the Lejah.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Tob ( Tŏb ), Good. The place or district beyond the Jordan to which Jephthah fled,  Judges 11:3;  Judges 11:5; also called Ish-tob.  2 Samuel 10:6;  2 Samuel 10:8, A. V. It lay beyond Gilead, toward the eastern deserts.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Judges 11:3-5 2 Samuel 10:6-13 Isaiah 7:6

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A district beyond Jordan, where Jephthah took refuge when expelled from Gilead,  Judges 11:3,5 . Its location is not known.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

See ISHTOB.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Tob, טוֹב , Good, as everywhere; Sept. Τώβ ; Vulg. Tob ) , the name of a region or district ( אֶרֶוֹ ; Sept. Γῆ ; Vulg. Terra ; A. V. land" ) into which Jephthah withdrew when expelled from home by his half-brethren ( Judges 11:3), and where he remained, at the head of a band of freebooters, till he was brought back by the sheiks ( זְקֵנַים ) of Gilead ( Judges 11:5). The narrative implies that the land of Tob was not far distant from Gilead; at the same time, from the nature of the case, it must have lain out towards the eastern deserts. It is undoubtedly mentioned again in  2 Samuel 10:6;  2 Samuel 10:8 as one of the petty Aramitish kingdoms or states which supported the Ammonites in their great conflict with David; but in that passage the A.V. presents the name literatim as Ishtob (q.v.), i.e. man of Tob, meaning, according to a common Hebrew idiom, the "men of Tob." After an immense interval it appears again ( Τώβιον or Τούβιον ) in the Maccabaean history ( 1 Maccabees 5:13), and was then the abode of a considerable colony of Jews, numbering at least a thousand males. (See Tobie). In  2 Maccabees 12:17 its position under the name TUBIENI (See Tubieni) (q.v.) is defined very exactly as at or near Charax, 750 stadia from the strong town Caspis, though, as the position of neither of these places is known, we are not thereby assisted in the recovery of Tob. The Targum and Abarbanel render it simply "good land," while Kimchi and Ben-Gerson look upon Tob as the name of the lord or owner of the land. Eusebius and Jerome make it a country, but say nothing of its situation (Onomast. s.v.). Ptolemy (Geogr. 5, 19) mentions a place called Θαῦβα as lying to the southwest of Zobah, and therefore possibly to the east or north-east of the country of Ammon proper. In Stephanus of Byzantium and in Eckhel (Doctr, Nunmm. 3, 352) the names Tubai and Tabeni occur. The name Tell Dobbe (Burckhardt, Syria, April 25), or, as it is given by the latest explorer of those regions, Tell Dibbe (Wetzstein, Map), attached to a ruined site at the south end of the Leja, a few miles north-west of Kenlawat, and also that of Ed-Dub, some twelve hours east of the mountain El-Kileib, are both suggestive of Tob. According to Schwarz (Palest. p. 200) the Talmud identifies it with a Gentile town called Susitha or Chephon, somewhere on the south-east shore of the lake of Tiberias; perhaps the Bippos (q.v.) so often mentioned by Josephus.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Tob, a region or district beyond the Jordan, into which Jephthah withdrew when expelled from Gilead . As the name occurs nowhere else, it is impossible to determine with certainty its position.