Cabbon
Cabbon is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Judea in modern-day Israel. Known today as Khirbet Beit Lei. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Cabbon is listed among the towns of the tribe of Judah in the Shephelah district (Joshua 15:40), appearing in the second group of lowland cities allocated to Judah following the conquest of Canaan under Joshua. Like many of the settlements in this administrative register, Cabbon receives no further narrative attention in the biblical text, yet its inclusion in Joshua's careful tribal boundaries reflects the theological importance of the land allotment as a concrete expression of God's covenant faithfulness to Israel. The Shephelah, the low hill country between the coastal plain and the Judean highlands, was a zone of agricultural fertility and strategic military importance, frequently contested between Judah and the Philistine city-states. Towns like Cabbon formed the backbone of Judah's presence in this contested zone, providing agricultural support and territorial depth for the larger fortified centers. The city's location in the Shephelah would have made it part of the network of settlements that faced repeated Philistine incursions during the period of the judges and the early monarchy, though Cabbon itself is never named in connection with any specific battle or event.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Cabbon is proposed by some scholars to be identified with Khirbet Beit Lei, a site in the Shephelah of western Judea. Khirbet Beit Lei is notable for the discovery of ancient Hebrew inscriptions on cave walls, including graffiti-style texts mentioning the LORD and Jerusalem, dating to approximately the 7th to 6th centuries BC. These inscriptions are among the earliest extrabiblical Hebrew texts invoking divine blessing and attest to popular religious practice in the Judean countryside during the late monarchic period. If the identification of Cabbon with Khirbet Beit Lei is correct, the site preserves remarkable evidence of Judahite religious life during the final years before the Babylonian exile.
Verse Appearances (1)
Josh
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]