Tibhath
Tibhath is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Phoenicia in modern-day Lebanon. Known today as between Baalbek and Kadesh. It appears across 2 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
Tibhath appears in two parallel accounts of David's victorious military campaigns in the northern Transjordan and Syria. In 1 Chronicles 18:8, when David defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah, he took a great quantity of bronze from Tibhath and Cun, cities that belonged to Hadadezer. The parallel account in 2 Samuel 8:8 uses the variant spelling Betah (alongside Berothai) instead of Tibhath. This bronze became materially significant for Israel's religious heritage: according to 1 Chronicles 18:8, Solomon later used this bronze to make the great bronze sea, the pillars, and the bronze vessels for the temple. Tibhath thus occupies a small but concrete role in the chain of events leading to Solomon's temple construction — the raw material of the Solomonic sanctuary was won in David's northern campaigns. The city belonged to the Aramaean kingdom of Zobah, which controlled significant territory between Damascus and the Euphrates during the early monarchic period. David's defeat of Zobah and plunder of its cities marked the high-water mark of Israelite territorial expansion under the Davidic monarchy.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Tibhath has not been definitively identified with a specific archaeological site, though it is generally located somewhere in the Beqa'a Valley of modern Lebanon or in the Anti-Lebanon range, in the territory of the ancient Aramaean state of Zobah. The proposed location between Baalbek and Kadesh places it in a region of significant ancient habitation. Baalbek itself (ancient Heliopolis) has been extensively excavated, revealing Phoenician, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine remains, including the celebrated Roman temple complex. The broader Beqa'a Valley has been surveyed for Bronze and Iron Age sites, but the specific identification of Tibhath awaits further epigraphic or archaeological confirmation. The region's bronze-working potential, implied by the biblical narrative, is consistent with known metallurgical activity in ancient Syria-Lebanon.
Verse Appearances (2)
Sources: ISBE Encyclopedia · OpenBible Geocoding (CC BY) · Pleiades Gazetteer View all →