kabzeel Summary and Overview

gathering of God, a city in the extreme south of Judah, near to Idumaea (Josh. 15:21), the birthplace of Benaiah, one of David's chief warriors (2 Sam. 23:20; 1 Chr. 11:22). It was called also Jekabzeel (Neh. 11:25), after the Captivity.

KAB'ZEEL (gathered by God), called Jekabzeel when rebuilt after the Captivity, Neh 11:25, a city of the tribe of Judah, situated farthest to the south, Josh 15:21; was the birthplace of Banaiah, the son of Jehoiada. 2 Sam 23:20; 1 Chr 11:22.

("collected by God".) Standing at the confluence of wady el Jeib and Fikreh and Kuseib; the farthest S. of Judah's cities (Joshua 15:21). (See BENAIAH was of Kabzeel (2 Samuel 23:20; 1 Chronicles 11:22). On its reoccupation after the return from Babylon it was called Jekabzeel (Nehemiah 11:25, where "its hamlets," Hebrew, are spoken of, namely, outlying pastoral settlements). A wady, El Kuseib, seemingly answers to it; S. of the Dead Sea, the bed of a torrent descending from the Arabah to the Ghor. At its mouth is its fountain, the only good water of the region, where the road from Jerusalem diverges E. by the Dead Sea to Moab and S. to Petra; a spot likely to be occupied, though remote, as a stronghold, the key of Israel toward Moat and Edom, guarding the pass Ez Zuweirah, by which the Moabites under Sanballat, the Ammonites under Tobiah, and the Arabians under Geshem, might attack the Jews (Nehemiah 4:12). Hot as the summer is, snow falls deep at times in winter. Benaiah's "slaying two lion-like men of Moab" accords with the position of Kadesh toward Moab; also "the lion in a pit on a snowy day" accords with there being dense jungle, the haunt of wild beasts, in the neighbourhood.