Pirathonite in Biblical History

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Schaff's Bible Dictionary

Definitions in Biblical History
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What is a Pirathonite?
PIRATHONITE
, THE. 1. One of the judges of Israel, Abdon ben-Hillel. Jud 12:13, 2 Sam 20:15. 2. A captain in David's army, and one of the king's guard. 1 Chr 27:14; 2 Sam 23:30; 1 Chr 11:31. PIS'GAH"(hill, or the height), the summit from which Moses, before his death, gained his view of the Promised Land. It was in Moab, one of the mountains of Abarim, and the top of Nebo. It was in the territory afterward assigned to Reuben, and thus was north of the Arnon. Num 21:20; Deut 3:27; Deut 4:49; Deut 34:1; Josh 13:20. Pisgah had cultivated land. Balaak brought Balaam "into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah," and there "built seven altars." Num 23:14. Situation. - While the general position of Pisgah is clearly given in the Scriptures, the precise location has been sharply disputed, and is yet unsettled. So able a writer as Dean Stanley says: "In the long line of those Eastern mountains which so constantly meet the view of the traveller in all the western parts of Palestine, the eye vainly strives to discern any point emerging from this horizontal platform which may be fixed as the top of Nebo. Nothing but a fuller description than has ever yet been given of these regions can determine the spot where the great lawgiver and leader of his people looked down upon their embattled ranks, and over the 'land which he was to see with his eyes, but was not to go in thither.'" - Sinai and Palestine, p. 294. Some scholars have questioned whether "pisgah" is a proper name. It occurs eight times in Scripture: four times with Ashdoth. In Deut 4:4, Gal 1:9 the English version reads "springs of Pisgah." The Septuagint renders "Pisgah" and "Ashdoth-pisgah" as a proper name only four times; the Jewish Targums render it "hill." The English version regards it as a proper name, and it has a prominent place in Christian literature. The great interest which Nebo and Pisgah possess, as the scene of the last days of Israel's lawgiver, has led recent travellers carefully to explore the region in order to discover the location of these historic peaks. Robinson long ago suggested that the name Nehd might represent the ancient Nebo. In 1868, De Saulcy, when about an hour's ride from Hesban on his way to Ma'in, found a peak which the Arabs called Jehel Nebu. This he regarded as the long-lost Nebo, and says he was proud to recover the famous mount so long searched for without success. Among other explorers who have visited the region are Tristram in 1864, and again in 1872; Due de Luynes, 1864; Captain Warren, 1867; and the expeditions of the American Exploration Society in 1873 and 1877. In 1875 the American Society issued an extended statement on the identification of Pisgah by the Rev. J. A. Paine. He thinks De Saulcy mistook the height of Nebi 'Ahdullah for Jebel Neba; he likewise rejects the description of Tristram as inaccurate, and infers that Due de Luynes may have "suppressed the real name, Jebel Neba, and endeavored to substitute a term of his own, Jebel Mura, as the Arabic name of the mountain, "though he holds" that the members of Due de Luynes' party were the first to ascend Mount Nebo with a consciousness that they were standing on the summit supposed to be made sacred by the death of the great lawgiver." Mr. Paine claims to have discovered that the name Jebel Siaghak is applied by the Arabs to the extreme western headland or peak near Jebel Neba; and after noticing the extent of the view and the grandeur of the scenery declares: "Two conclusions are irresistible - namely: the highest portion of the range is Nebo: the extreme headland of the range is Pisgah." He urges in favor of this identification of Pisgah with Jebel Siaghah: (1) the similarity in the names; (2) the position of Siaghah, "the only headland overlooking the circuit of the Jordan - the place above all others to be selected for the sake of a remarkable view;" Mr. Paine says: "Two-thirds of the Dead Sea stretches out an azure sheet to the southward, and beyond it the Negeb Moses saw." Deut 34:1-4. His theory of the site of Pisgah is sharply questioned by Wolcott, Tristram, Warren, and others, chiefly on the ground that it fails to meet the requirements of the biblical narrative, and that Siaghah is not the modern equivalent of Pisgah. Merrill, as the results of a later exploration, says: "Mr. Paine makes the lowest and most western of his five flat summits to be the Pisgah of Moses. The most prominent summit directly south of 'Ayun Musa is called by Due de Luynes Jebel Musa, and is covered with ruins." Mr. Paine's theory places Pisgah a quarter of a mile south-west of this ruin summit, while Due de Luynes regards a higher peak in the opposite direction as Pisgah. Merrill favors this "highest point and most commanding outlook" as the probable point to which Moses ascended. (See East of the Jordan, pp. 242-250.) The biblical statement seems to designate the summit of Nebo, Deut 34:1; and if Nebo is Jebel Neba, as many explorers now hold, then Pisgah should be its most prominent peak. The Due de Luynes gives the following graphic description of the view from this mount: "Observing that a second height of this mountain seemed more elevated and to give a perspective of greater extent over the Dead Sea and the Holy Land, we proceed thither. In spite of the hazy state of the horizon, we ascertained that from this elevation one discerned the north and the north-west shore of the Dead Sea from the mouth of the Jordan as far as nearly to Jebel Esdoum and to Jebel Safan, the whole mountain-chain from Hebron to the Quarantania Mount, all the land from the mountain of Hesban, of Jebel Osha, and of es-Salt, even into the Ghor, to the mountains of Nablus, of Jenin, and of Nazareth, Mount Tabor, a part of its plain, and even Banias, as our guides assured us; only they said that one could not see the snow of Hermon, even in the purest atmosphere. The perspective of that elevated spot was without limits, and its effect of the utmost majesty. It is understood that tradition [Scripture] causes Moses to be conducted to this place by Jehovah, in order to show him all the Promised Land. The view from this second height does not reach as far as the place where Segor is admitted to be, the refuge of Lot, whether situated at Wady es-Safieh, or supposed to lie in Wady Eddraa. . . . We were, then, on the summit of Pisgah, among the heights of Mount Nebo, and in the chain called Abarim; we were beholding the same spectacle that Jehovah spread before Moses, after having prohibited him from crossing the Jordan." - Voyage d'Exploration a la Mer Morte (1866-67), pp. 150-152.

Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'pirathonite' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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