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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

IntroIndex©

GESHUR, GESHURITES

1. District and its inhabitants east of the Jordan River, in the tribal allotment of the half-tribe of Manasseh (Jos 13:11). Most Bible geographers place it near Bashan, on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee. In their conquest of the land, the Israelites defeated Og, king of Bashan, and Jair of Manasseh took Bashan as far as the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites (Dt 3:14). Though the land of the Geshurites was given to the Transjordanian tribes (Jos 13:11), Israel did not drive them out (v 13). Later, Geshur and Aram took at least 60 towns from the Israelites in Transjordan (1 Chr 2:23).

David married Maacah, daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur, and she bore Absalom (2 Sm 3:3; 1 Chr 3:2). After the vengeful murder of Amnon, Absalom fled to Geshur for refuge with his grandfather, Talmai (2 Sm 13:37) and stayed there three years.

See also Syria, Syrians.

2. Name of an area and its people south of Philistia. Among the lands not yet taken at the time of Joshua’s advanced old age are listed “all the regions of the Philistines and Geshurites: from the Shihor River on the east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north” (Jos 13:2-3, niv). When David lived at Ziklag, in the territory of Achish, king of Gath, David made raids upon the Geshurites and others “as far as Shur, to the land of Egypt” (1 Sm 27:8).