Then follows the poetic version of the story, taken from the ancient legendary "Book of Jasher." On the summit of the pass, where is now the hamlet of the Upper Beth-iioron, looking far down the deep descent of tlie western valleys, with the green vale of Ajalon stretched out in the distance, and the wide expanse of the Mediterranean Sea beyond, stood, as is intimated, tlie Israelitish chief. Bslow him was rushing down, in wild confusion, the Amoritish host. Around him were " all his people of war, and all his mighty men of valor." Behind him were the hills wliich hid the now rescued Gibeon from his sight. But the sun stood high above those hills, " in the midst of heaven" (it was the middle of the forenoon, or at most midday), for the daj' had now far advanced since he had emerged from his night-march through the passes of Ai ; and in his front, over the western vale of Ajalon, may have been the faint crescent of the waning moon, visilde above the hail-storm driving up from the sea in the black distance. Was the enemy to escape in safety, or was the speed with which Joshua had "come quick- ly, and saved and helped" his defenceless allies, to be rewarded, before the close of that day, by a signal vic- tory? It is doubtless so standing on that lofty emi- nence, with outstretched hand and spear, that the hero appears in the ancient record: "Then might Joshua [be heard to] speak to Jehovah in the day of Jehovah's giving [up] the Amorite before the sons of Israel, when he said in the e3'es of Israel :
' Sun, in Gibeon stand still ; And, moon, in Ajalon's vale;'
So the sun stood still, and moon stayed until a people should take vengeance [upon] its enemies. [Is] not this written on [the] Book of the Upright ?
' So the sun stayed in the midst of the heavens, And hasted not to go [down] as a whole day ;
And [there] was not like that day [another] before it or
after it. For Jehovah's hearkening to a man's voice, For Jehovah [it was that] fought for Israel.'
So Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal" (Josh, x, 12-15). See Joshua.
(2.) We next hear of Gibeon at the encounter be- tween the men of David and of Ishbosheth, under their respective leaders Joab and Abner (2 Sam. ii, 12-17). The meeting has all the air of having been premedita- ted by both parties, unless we suppose that Joab had heard of the intention of the Benjamites to revisit from the distant Mahanaim their native villages, and had seized the opportunity to try his strength with Abner. See Abner. The place where the struggle began re- ceived a name from the circumstance, and seems to have been long afterwards known as the "held of the strong men." See HELiCATH-iiAZznniM.
(3.) We again meet with Gibeon in connection with Joab; this time as the scene of the cruel and revolting death of Amasa by his hand (2 Sam. xx, 5-10). Joab was in pursuit of the rebellious Sheba, the son of Bich- ri, and his being so far out of the direct north road as Gibeon may be accounted for by supposing tliat he was making a search for this Benjamite among the towns of his tribe. The two rivals met at " the great stone which is in Gibeon" — some old landmark now no lon- ger recognisable, at least not recognised- — and then Joab repeated the trencher}' by which he had murder- ed Abner, but with circumstances of a still more re- volting character. See Amasa.
It is remarkable that the retribution for this crown- ing act of perfidy should have overtaken Joab close to the ver_v spot on which it had been committed. For it was to "the tabernacle at Gil)eon (1 Kings ii, 28,29; comp. 1 Chron. xvi, 39) that Joab fled for sanctuary when his death was pronounced hy Solomon, and it was while clinging to the horns of the brazen altar there that he received his death-blow from Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada (1 Kings ii, 28, 30, 31). See Joab.
(4.) Familiar as these events in connection with the history of Gibeon are to us, its reputation in Israel was due to a very different circumstance — the fact that the tabernacle of the congregation and the brazen altar of burnt-oft'ering were for some time located on the " high place" attached to or near the town. We are not informed whether this "high place" had any ftime for sanctity before the tabernacle came there ; but if not, it would probably have been erected elsewhere. We only hear of it in connection with the tabernacle ; nor is there any indication of its situation in regard to
GIBEON
852
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the town. ^Stanley has sujxgested (Sinai and Pal. p. 21'_') that it was the remarkabk^ hill of iieby Sannvy, the most prominent and individual eminence in that part of the country, and to which the special appeUa- tion of " the great high-place" (1 Kings iii, 4; •T^S'!' nbl";.'") would perfectly apply. Certainly, if "great" is to be understood as referring to height or size, there is no other hill which can so justly claim the distinc- tion. But the word has not always that meaning, and may equally imply eminence in other respects, c. g. superior sanctity to the numerous other high places- — Bethel, Kamah, ]\Iizpeli, Gibeah — which surrounded it on ever}'' side. The main objection to this identilica- tion is the distance of neby Samwil from Gibeon — more than a mile — and the absence of any closer con- nection therewith than with any other of the neighi)or- ing places. The most natural position for the high place of Gibeon is the twin mount immediately south of El-Jib — so close as to be all but a part of the town, and yet quite separate and distinct. The testimony of Epiphanius, by which Stanley supports his conjec- ture, viz. that the " Mount of Gabaon" was the high- est round Jerusalem (Adv. Hvei-eses^ i, 394), should be received with caution, standing as it does cjuite alone, and belonging to an age which, though early, was marked by ignorance, and by the most improbable conclusions.