Gebal
“Mountain or boundary”
Summary
The name of two biblical locations: a Phoenician city (Byblos) famous for its skilled craftsmen, and a mountainous region in Edom.
☩Phoenician Gebal (Byblos)
Gebal was an ancient Phoenician city on the Mediterranean coast, known to the Greeks as Byblos. Its inhabitants, the Giblites, were renowned craftsmen who helped build Solomon's temple as stone-carvers and worked as ship-caulkers for Tyre. The city was a center of worship for Adonis (Tammuz) and became an important early Christian bishopric.
☩Edomite Gebal
A different Gebal is mentioned in Psalm 83 as part of a coalition against Israel, grouped with Moab, Ammon, and Edom. This refers to a mountainous region south of the Dead Sea in Edom, still called Jebail today. It represents the northernmost portion of Idumaea nearest to Palestine.
Related Verses4 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Gebal," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. III (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Gebal," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. II (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.George Morrish, "Gebal," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Gebal," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).