Gebim
Gebim is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Judea in modern-day Israel. Known today as Ras el Kharruba. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Gebim is a small settlement mentioned only once in the Old Testament, appearing in Isaiah 10:31 as part of the prophet's vivid poetic description of the Assyrian army's advance southward toward Jerusalem. The passage traces the enemy's march station by station through the Benjaminite highlands: "The inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety." This literary device — naming towns in sequence along the invasion route — creates a sense of mounting dread as the conquering army draws ever closer to the holy city. Gebim's precise location is uncertain, but the sequence of towns in Isaiah 10 places it in the vicinity of other Benjaminite communities north of Jerusalem, likely within a few kilometers of the city. The name may mean "cisterns" or "pits" in Hebrew, possibly reflecting a landscape feature of the area. Although Gebim appears in only this single verse, its inclusion in Isaiah's oracle provides a realistic geographic texture to the prophet's warning and underscores that the Assyrian threat was not abstract but geographically specific, menacing real communities whose inhabitants would flee in terror before the advancing host.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Gebim is tentatively identified with Ras el-Kharruba, a site located northeast of Jerusalem in the Benjaminite hill country. Surface surveys of the area have identified Iron Age pottery consistent with occupation during the period of Isaiah's ministry in the eighth century BC. The site has not been the subject of formal systematic excavation, and its identification with biblical Gebim remains provisional, based primarily on the topographic sequence in Isaiah 10 and limited survey evidence. The region around Ras el-Kharruba preserves ancient terrace systems and cisterns that may account for the place name's possible meaning of "pits" or "hollows," though this etymology is uncertain.
Verse Appearances (1)
Isa
Sources: ISBE Encyclopedia · OpenBible Geocoding (CC BY) · Pleiades Gazetteer View all →