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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

JABESH, JABESH-GILEAD (Place)

Town appearing in the closing chapters of the book of Judges (chs 19–21). This is a sad record of the division and degradation of the land, which tells of a base atrocity committed by the men of Gibeah against a Levite’s concubine, a sanguinary war against Benjamin in consequence, and savage reprisals against Jabesh-gilead, whose community had sent no contingent to the battle. Such is the first mention of the town. The town was repopulated by neighboring Gileadites and next appears in 1 Samuel 11. East of the Jordan River, Jabesh was exposed to Ammonite attack, and Nahash of Ammon forced Jabesh-gilead to seek terms of surrender. The condition imposed by the barbarous Nahash was the loss of the right eye for all the inhabitants, a mutilation intended to humiliate Israel and destroy the military potential of a border fortress. The sequel was Saul’s forced march, a fine piece of military prowess, and a tremendous boost for the new king’s prestige. Saul gained in one swift blow the support of the Transjordanian tribes and the reduction of the frontier threat that a militarily powerful Ammon would undoubtedly offer. The men of Jabesh-gilead repaid their deep debt to Saul when the king, now unbalanced and rejected, died on Mt Gilboa with his son Jonathan in a last attempt to blunt the Philistine drive to the north. The bodies of Saul and Jonathan, hung headless over the walls of Beth-shan, were cut down and rescued by a commando force from Jabesh-gilead, who made a forced march of nine miles (14.5 kilometers) each way to honor their onetime benefactor (1 Sm 31:8-13; 1 Chr 10:8-12). When David became king, he repaid the men of Jabesh-gilead with gratitude.

The name Jabesh is preserved in that of the Wadi el-Yabis that runs into the Jordan directly south of the southern end of the Sea of Galilee. The town itself, according to Eusebius’s generally reliable topography, was about six miles (9.7 kilometers) south of Pella on the road to Gerasa. The twin tells of Tell el-Maqereh and Tell Abu Kharaz on the Wadi el-Yabis correspond with Eusebius’s location much better than the other site suggested: Tell el-Maqlub. Tell el-Meqereh and Tell Abu Kharaz are on the eastern rim of the Jordan Valley and fit the details of the historical record—Saul’s forced march from Bezek, and the route of the Jabesh-gilead raiding party to Beth-shan.