City of Gilead, located, it is believed, in the place called Ed-Deir, east of the Jordan. Ed-Deir is on the Wadi Jabis, where the name of Jabez seems to have been preserved. 32° 23' N, 35° 40' E.
When in the time of the Judges the tribes launched a campaign against the tribe of Benjamin for protecting some heinous criminals, Jabez of Gilead refrained from sending his warriors. Because of this indifference to national sin, Jabez was destroyed at the end of the campaign, leaving only 400 young virgins, who were given to 400 survivors of the tribe of Benjamin (Judg. 21:8-15). Jabez was soon reoccupied.
The city was later saved from the Ammonites by Saul (1 Sam. 11:1-11). When Saul and his sons were killed in the battle of Gilboa against the Philistines, the mighty men of Jabez Gilead recovered their bodies and buried them (1 Sam. 31:11-13), an act for which they were praised by David (2 Sam. 2:4, 5).
Meaning of JABESH GILEAD
City of Gilead, located, it is believed, in the place called Ed-Deir, east of the Jordan. Ed-Deir is on the Wadi Jabis, where the name of Jabez seems to have been preserved. 32° 23' N, 35° 40' E.
