Gibeah of God
Gibeah of God is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Judea in modern-day Israel. Known today as Tel el Ful. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Gibeah of God appears in 1 Samuel 10:5, in the account of Samuel's anointing of Saul and his prophetic instructions for what Saul would encounter on his journey home. Samuel told Saul he would come to 'the hill of God' (Gibeah-elohim in Hebrew) where there was a Philistine garrison, and there he would meet a band of prophets descending from the high place with instruments, prophesying. When Saul encountered them, the Spirit of the LORD came upon him powerfully and he prophesied among them, prompting the popular saying 'Is Saul also among the prophets?' (1 Samuel 10:11). The designation 'of God' or 'of Elohim' likely reflects the presence of a sacred high place or sanctuary at this location, a site associated with Yahwistic worship even during the period of Philistine control. The episode marks a critical moment in Saul's transformation from a reluctant farmer's son into the Spirit-empowered king of Israel. Scholars generally identify Gibeah of God with the same Tel el-Ful site as Gibeah of Benjamin, or with nearby Geba, though the precise relationship between these names remains debated.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Gibeah of God is typically equated with either Tel el-Ful (Gibeah of Benjamin) or with Geba (modern Jaba), located a few kilometers to the northeast. Both sites have yielded Iron Age remains consistent with the eleventh-century context of the Saul narrative. The mention of a Philistine garrison at Gibeah of God aligns with what is archaeologically known of Philistine territorial expansion into the Benjaminite highlands during Iron Age I. Tel el-Ful's excavations have revealed the fortress associated with Saul's reign, while Geba's identification is supported by its later prominence in the divided monarchy period and its geographical position on the northern approach to Jerusalem.
Verse Appearances (1)
1Sam
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]