Individual Gilieonites named are (1) Ismai.mi, one of the Benjamites who joined David in his difficulties (1 Chron. xii, 4) ; (2) ]\Iei.atiaii, one of those who as- sisted Nehemiah in repairing the wall of Jerusalem (Xeh.iii,7); (3) Haxaniah, the son of Azur, a false ]irojihet from Gibeon, who opposed Jeremiah, and short- ly afterwards died (Jer. xxviii, 1, 10, 13, 17).— Smith, s. V.
GIBSON
853
GIBSOX
Gib'lite (Heb. -with the art. in the sing. hag-GibW , i^3r.n, Josh, xiii, 5 ; Sept. TajiXi [v. r. r«,\(«^] *d- XiffVici'//, Vulg. merely conjinki; pliiral, hag-Giblim' , D"^b3jn, 1 Kings v, 18; Sept. Alex, oi rij3\ioi, other MSS. omit; Viilg. GiMii, A. V. " stone-squarers"), a people whose land is coupled with "all Lebanon," as to;^ether belonging to tiie territory of the Israelites on the northern side, in the enumeration of the portions of the Promised Land remaining to be conquered bj^ Joshua (.Josh, xiii, 5). The ancient versions give no help, but there is no reason to doubt that the allusion is to the inhabitants (if the city Gebal (q. v.), which was on the sea-coast at the foot of the northern slopes of Lebanon, and from which the name is a regular de- rivative (^see Gesenius, Tliesaur. p. 258 b). The whole passage is instructive, as showing how very far the linuts of the country designed for the Israelites ex- ceeded those which they actually occupied. The peo- ple in question, who plainlj' belonged to the Phoenician territory, are understood to have been the people of Bijhlus, a city of the Phoenicians between Tripoli and Berytus. The inhabitants of Gebal are mentioned in the cuneiform inscriptions ((i- v.). The Giblites are again named (in the Heb.) in 1 Kings v, 18 as assist- ing Solomon's builders and Hiram's buildei's to pre- pare the trees and the stones for building the Temple. That they were clever artificers is evident from this passage ; and in connection with the shipping and mer- chandise of Tyre, the prophet Ezekicl mentions "the ancients of Gebal" as funnshing calkers, or perhaps generally ship-carpentars (Ezek. xxvii, 9). The Gib- lites are not mentioned in immediate connection with the affairs of Israel ; if they did come into direct con- tact with these, it must have been for evil, and not for good ; for Byblus was the seat of the worship of the Syrian Tammuz or Adonis, a worship which certainly found its way, among other corruptions, into the later idolatries of the Jewish people (Ezek. viii, 14), but whether directly from Byblus, or from other parts of Phoenicia, we have no means of ascertaining. — Smith, s. V. ; Fairbairn, s. v. See Phcexicia.
Gibson, Edmund, D.D., bishop of London, was born at Banipton in 1GG9, and was educated at Queen's College, Oxford. Ho earlj^ devoted himself to tiie study of the languages of North Britain and of British antiquities. At twentj'-two he prepared an edition of The Saxon Chronicle, with Latin translation and In- dexes (Oxford, 1692, 4to). In 1G91 he became M.A., and soon after was ordained, and made fellow of his coUeaie. In 1695 he published an English translation of Camden's Britannia (2 vols. fol.). In 1G96 he was appointed librarian at Lambeth by Tenison, archbish- op of Canterburj'; and in 1G97 he was appointed morn- ing preacher at Lambeth church. In the same vear he published Vita Thimue Bodleii, together with Ilisto- ria BUjliolheae Budleianv, both prefixed to the Cata- logl Llbrorum Manuscrqjtorum, in A nglia et Ilibernia, in unum collecti (2 vols. fol.). In 1G98 he published ReliqimeSpelinanniance, together with the life of the author (fob). He was now made domestic chaplain to the archbishop, through whose means he obtained, about the same time, the lectureship of St.BIartin's-in- the-Fields, and in 17U0 he was presented to the rectory of Stistcd, in Essex, a rectory still the seat of learn- ing. In 170r. he was made rector of Lambeth, and residentiary of the cathedral of Chichester. He was soon after appointed master of the hospital of St. ]\Iary, and in 1710 he w^as promoted to the archdeaconry of Surrej'. "While he was chaplain to archbishop Ten- ison he engaged in the controversy between the two houses of Convocation. See ATTERr.uiiv. Gibson enlisted on the side of the upper house, and published ten pamphlets on the subject in three years, to which he added another in 1707. And to the interest he took in this controversy we may trace the origin of liis great work. Codex Juris Ecclesiastici Anglicani, or Ike Stat-
utes, Constitution, Canons, Rubrics, and Articles of the Church of Ewjkmd, etc. (1713, fol. ; reprinted at Ox- ford in 17G1). In 1715 he succeeded Wake as bishop of Lincoln, and in 1723 he was translated to the see of London. He subsequently became chief adviser of Sir Robert Walpole in ecclesiastical affairs, and wo- fully disappointed his former Whig friends by his in- tolerant support of the Test Act, and of the severe measures adopted against the Quakers. His better qualities appeared in his opposition to the demoraliz- ing masquerades of the time, bj- which he lost the fa- vor of George II. Towards the close of his life be made a collection of the best treatises that were writ- ten against Popery during the reign of James II, and published them with a preface in 1738 (3 vols, fol.) ; recently repuldished under the title of A Preservative against Popery, etc., edited by Dr. Gumming (London, 1848-9, 18 vols. 8vo) ; there is also a Supplement (Loud. 1849, 8 vols. 8vo). He died at Bath in 1748.— Hook, Eccl. Biog. v, 314 ; Darling, Cyclop. Bihliogrcqjhica, i, 1250.