GILBOA MONS
GILBOA MONS (
Γελβουὲ ὄρος), a low mountain district to the south-east of the plain of Esdraelon, situated in the tribe of Issachar, infamous for the defeat of the Israelites under Saul and Jonathan, by the Philistine hosts. (1
Sam. 28.4, xxxi.) From this fact they are called
ὄρη ἀλλοφύλων (alienigenarum montes) by Eusebius, who places them six miles from Scythopolis, where a large village named. Gelbus (
Γελβοῦς) existed in his day.
This village still exists, under the name of
Jelbôn, and serves to identify the mountain tract which it occupies as the Mount Gilboa of Scripture.
The road from
Beisan (Scythopolis) to
Jenîn passes near this village, and over the mountains. (Robinson,
Bib. Res. vol. iii. pp. 157, 170.)
The village of
Jelbûn, however, “lies south of Takooah, on the western declivity of Mount Gilboa, and not on the east side, as it is marked in Robinson's map.” (Dr. Schultz, in Williams,
Holy City, vol. i. p. 469.)
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G.W]
