Gezer must have been between the lower Beth-horon and the sea (Josh, xvi, 3; 1 Kings ix, 17), therefore on the edge of the great maritime ]ilain which lies be- neath the hills of which Beit-ur et-tahta is the last outpost, and forms tlie regular coast road of communi- cation with Egypt (1 Kings ix, IG). It is therefore appropriately named as the last point to which David's pursuit of the Pliilistines extended (2 Sam. v, 25; 1 Chron. xiv, 16), and as the scene of at least one sharp encounter (1 Chron. xx, 4), this plain being their own peculiar territory (comp. Josephus, Ant., viii, 6, 1, Tc't- ^apa T^jv T^c, YlaXaianvidv X'^P'^S v~dpxovaav); and
GEZERITE
843
GHISLAIN
as commanding the communication between Egypt and the new capital, Jerusalem, it was an .important point for Solomon to fortify. By Eusebius {Onomast. s. V. VaUp) it is mentioned as four miles nortli of Ki- copolis (Amwas), a position exactW occupied by the important town Jimzii, the ancient Gimzo, and cor- responding well with the requirements of Joshua. But this hardly agrees with the indications of the first book of Maccabees, which speak of it as between Em- niaus (Amwas) and Azotus and Jamnia ; and again as on the confines of Azotus. In the neighborhood of the latter there is more than one site bearing the name Yasur; but whether this Arabic name can be derived from the Hebrew Gezer, and also whether so impor- tant a town as Gazara was in the time of the Macca- bees can be represented by such insignificant villages as these, are doubtful questions. — Smith, s. v. Schwartz {Palest, p. 85) identifies it with Yazur, a little village two miles east of Jaffa; but this has long since been identi- fied with the Ilazor of Eusebius (see Eobinson's Res. ii, 370, note). Van Sendan proposes to identify it with El-Kubah, a place on a tell nortii-west of Amwas ; but Van de Velde suggests that this would require the sup- position of two Gezers {Memoir, p. 315). The site seems rather to be that of the modern Um-Rush, a vil- lage with ruins and a well on the Jaffa road (Robin- son, Researches, iii, 57), a place which must, from its position (commanding the thoroughfore), have always been of great importance, like Gezer.
Gezerite. See Gezrite.
Gez'rite (Heb. with the art. hag-Gizri'^ '^"'"?^'!!'> ^P- pnrently from "itS, a section, or T°15, a shorn, i. e. sterile tract ; the marginal reading at 1 Sam. xxvii, 5, errone- ously adopted instead of the textual hag-Girzi' , '^)"'i»il, the GiRZiTE ; Sept. o 'It'^oaloQ v. r. rtcrini, Vulg. Gerzi, A. V. " the Gezrites"), the designation of a tribe in the vicinity of the Amalekites, attacked and subdued by David while residing among the Philistines (1 Sam. xvii, 8), and hence probably Canaanitish nomades in- habiting the soutli-western wastes of Palestine. The twofold form of the name, Gezerite or Gerizzite, seems to furnish a link between the city of Gkzer and Mount Gerizim. See also Geshurite. The}' were rich in Bedouin treasures — " sheep, oxen, asses, camels, and apparel" (ver. 9; comp. xv, 3; 1 Chron. vi, 21). They appear to liave occupied Central Palestine at a very early period, and to have relinquished it in com- pany' with the Amalekites, who also left their name attached to a mountain in the same locality (Judg. xii, 15), when they^ abandoned that rich district for the less fertile but freer south. Other tribes, as the Av- vim and the Zemarites, also left traces of their presence in the names of towns of the central district. — Smith, 6. V. See Canaanite.
Gfrorer, August Friedrich, a German historian, ■was born ^larch 5, 1803, at Calw. In 1826 he was for a time tutor in a private family at Geneva, made then a journej' in Italy, and in 1828 was appointed lecturer (repetent) in the Evangelical " Stiff in Tiibingen. In 1830 he became librarian in Stuttgardt, and devoted henceforth his whole time to historical studies. Hav- ing at first been a Liberal Protestant of the Tiibingen school, he gradually changed his views, and became partial to Eoman Catholicism. In 181G he accepted a C-ill as professor of historj' to the University of Freiburg. In 1848 ho was elected a member of the German Par- liament, in which he belonged to the " Grossdeutsche" (Great German) party. In November, 1853, he joined tlie Koman Catholic Church. He died July 10, 1861. The most important of his works are: Geschichte un- serer Tage (under the assumed name of Ernst Freg- mund, 1830-1835) : — Pliilo ii. die jiid. alexanrlria Theo- sophie (Stuttg. 1831, 2 vols.): — Gustav Adolf u. seine Zeit (Stuttg. 1835-37, 2 vols. ; 3d edit. 1852) :— (^escA. des Urchristcnthums (Stuttg. 1838, 3 vols.): — Allgem.
Kirchengesch. (Stuttg. 1841-46, 4 vols.) : — Geschichte der est. u. wesifrdnk. Karolinger vom Tode Ludwig des Frommen bis 3um Ende Koiirad I (Freiburg, 1848, 2 vols.) : — Untersuchung itber Alter, Urs-piimg, Zwecic der Decretalen des falschen Isidorus (Freiburg, 1848) : — Ursprung des menscUichcn Geschlechts (Schatl'hausen, 1855, 2 vols.): — Papst Gregorius u.seinZeitalfer(Sch8iff- hausen, 1859-61, 7 vols.) : — Geschichte des 18'™ Jahr- hunderts (after his death edited by Weiss, Schaflfhau- sen, 1862). — Allgem. Encycl. s. v. (A. J. S.)
Ghazzali, Abu Hamid Mohammed Ibn Ahmad, "surnamed Zaineddin {glory of the law'), one of tlie most eminent Mohammedan philosophers and divines, and one of the warmest adherents of Sufism (q. v.), born in 450 H. (1058, A.D.), at Tus, in Khorassan, the birthplace also of Firdusi, and burial-place of Harun- al-Rashid. The surname of Ghazzali was given to him, according to some, because his father dealt in ghazal or spun cotton. Left an orphan at an early age, by the advice of his guardian, a Suti, he went to Djorshan, with the intention of devoting himself to study and science as a means of support, and became the favorite pupil of Abu Nasr Ismail, an eminent teacher of the time. He afterwards betook himself to Nishapur, where he attended the lectures of the learned Imam of the two sanctuaries (Mecca and Medina) on law, po- lemics, philosophy, and theologv, and remained till the death of his instructor. Tlie grand vizier of Bagdad then appointed him (A.D. 1091) to a professorship at I his Xizamje (university), which he left four years later in order to perform the holy pilgrimage to Mecca. On his return he visited Jerusalem and Damascus, and remained for ten j^ears at the mosque of the latter place, leading a studious and ascetic life. He after- wards visited Cairo, Alexandria, and other places in Africa, ever3-where teaching and lectui'ing on religion an 1 science, and also returned for a short time to Nish- iipur; but he finally' went back to Tus, his native place, where he died, 505 H. (A.D. 1111), having founded a monastery for Sufis and a college for the studious. Of the ninety-nine works written by him (mostly in Arabic, a few in Persian), the most famous is his Ihja Glum ad-Din (Restoration of Reli-iious Sci- ences), a work so remarkable and exhaustive, that it has been said, ' If all the books of the Islam were lost, and we had only this one left, we should not miss the others' {H'-ji Khaliftth). The academies of the West, however, Cordova, Morocco, Fez, etc., condemned it as contrary to the teachings of the Sunna (q. v.), and had it publicly burned. Next in importance stands his great philosophical work Tahiifat Al-FiUhafali (The Overturning of the Philosophers), which has survived onh' in Hebrew translations, and which gave rise to a Avarmly contested controversj' between him and Aver- roes (ibn Roshd). We maj' mention also his com- mentary on the ninety-nine names of God, and an eth- ical treatise, 0 Child! published and translated into German by Hammer-Purgstall. About one third only of his works is known to have survived, and of this but a very small part has been published." — Chambers, Encyclop. s. v.