Gedor
Gedor is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Judea in modern-day Israel. Known today as Khirbet Jedur. It appears across 2 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
Gedor is a city of Judah listed in Joshua 15:58 among the towns of the hill country district of Judah, situated in the central highlands west of Hebron. The name means "wall" in Hebrew and likely reflects the walled character of ancient settlements in the Judean highlands. In 1 Chronicles 4, Gedor appears in genealogical notices connected to the tribe of Judah: verse 4 records Penuel as the "father" (founder or leader) of Gedor, and verse 18 mentions Jered as the father of Gedor, reflecting the city's founding traditions preserved in tribal genealogies. These references suggest Gedor was a recognized town within the territory of Judah with its own civic identity and ancestral lineage. First Chronicles 4:39 further mentions men of the tribe of Simeon searching for pastureland who traveled to the entrance of Gedor, finding rich and fertile grazing land there. This passage illuminates the pastoral economy of the Judean highlands and the competition for good grazing territory in the early monarchy period. Gedor thus represents a settled Judean highland community embedded in the tribal structure of Israel, known both as a fortified town and as a landmark near valuable pastureland.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Gedor of the Judean highlands is generally identified with Khirbet Jedur, located approximately fourteen kilometers north of Hebron in the West Bank. The site preserves ancient topographic continuity between the biblical name Gedor and the Arabic Jedur. Surface surveys at Khirbet Jedur have yielded Iron Age pottery assemblages consistent with occupation during the period of Judah's monarchy, confirming the site as a candidate for identification with biblical Gedor. The elevated position of Khirbet Jedur in the Judean hills aligns with the biblical description of Gedor as a highland community. No large-scale formal excavation has been conducted at the site, though its ancient remains are well attested through regional survey work conducted in the West Bank highlands.
Verse Appearances (2)
Josh
1Chr
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]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]