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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

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JABNEH

Biblical city on the coastal plain between Joppa (modern Jaffa) and Ashdod, first mentioned as Jabneel, on the northern border of the tribe of Judah (Jos 15:11). It is mentioned together with the Philistine cities Gath and Ashdod, whose walls were breached by Uzziah, king of Judah (2 Chr 26:6). In the middle Bronze Age a harbor was established at Jabneh-yam, which is probably mentioned by Thutmose III in his list of conquered cities and in the Tell el-Amarna letters (Jabni-ilu). The remains of the harbor show evidence of all periods—from early Bronze Age down to the Byzantine period. In Hellenistic times Jabneh was called Jamnia and was used as a base by foreign armies for subsequent attacks against the Judean territory of the Maccabeans. After the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, a small community of learned refugees was located in Jabneh. Their leader was Johanan ben Zakkai, a former member of the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of the Jews in Jerusalem. He founded a school there. His successor was Gamaliel II. Here the canon of the OT was defined. During the second Jewish war (Bar-Kochba Revolt, AD 132–135), Jabneh was deserted. The spiritual center of the Jewish life was removed to Galilee. The refugees settled down first in Zippori and later in Tiberias, where the Jerusalem Talmud was codified and the Masoretic Text of the OT was produced.