gebal Summary and Overview

a line (or natural boundary, as a mountain range). (1.) A tract in the land of Edom south of the Dead Sea (Ps. 83:7); now called Djebal. (2.) A Phoenician city, not far from the sea coast, to the north of Beyrout (Ezek. 27:9); called by the Greeks Byblos. Now Jibeil. Mentioned in the Amarna tablets. An important Phoenician text, referring to the temple of Baalath, on a monument of Yehu-melek, its king (probably B.C. 600), has been discovered.

(mountain), a maritime town of Phoenicia, near Tyre, #Eze 27:9| known by the Greeks as Byblus. It is called Jebail by the Arabs, thus reviving the old biblical name.

GE'BAL (mountain). 1. A place near Tyre; now Jebail, 10 miles north of Beyrout, and known as Byblus by the Greeks. Eze 27:9. Among the ruins of an ancient citadel are stones 20 feet long, and in finish and size closely resembling those seen in the foundation of the temple at Jerusalem, and suggesting the same class of workmen. 2. Some identify the Gebal of Ps 83:7 with northern Edom, called el-Jebal, but others regard it as Geba, No. 1.

(See SEIR, MOUNT) "a line", namely, of mountain boundary (Psalm 83:7). An Idumean clan, on the right of Ammon, as Amalek was on the left; for in the psalm it is coupled with Moab, Ammon, Amalek, and Edom. Probably the modern Djebal, mountainous region S. of the Dead Sea; the Gebalene of the Romans, the Gobolitis of Josephus. A portion of the range of Edom. The psalm, probably by Jahaziel of the sons of Asaph, is a thanksgiving for the victory anticipated by faith over the hordes of invaders who sought to root Israel out of his inheritance, and who, marching S. round the Dead Sea, let no tidings reach Jehoshaphat until he heard that a great multitude was within his territory at Engedi (2 Chronicles 20:2; 2 Chronicles 20:7-11; 2 Chronicles 20:14; 2 Chronicles 20:18-19). Smith's Bible Dictionary identifies the Gebal of Psalm 83 with Gebal in Ezekiel 27:9, "the ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy caulkers" (stoppers of chinks in ships), evidently the Phoenician city and region between Beyrut and Tripoli, famed for skilled workmen, "the Giblites" (stone carvers) (1 Kings 5:18 margin). So "the inhabitants of Phoenician, Tyre" are numbered with the invaders (Psalm 83:7). But the collocation of Gebal between the "Hagarenes" and "Ammon" favors the men of Gebal being Idumeans. "The Giblites" in Joshua 13:5 were from the region of Lebanon; the Septuagint term them Biblians, namely, of Byblus, on the Phoenician borders, N. of the river Adonis, afterwards a Christian see.