GIBEONITES  , the inhabitants of

Gibeon, an Amorite or Hivite stronghold, the modern El-Jib, 5 M . N.W. from Jerusalem . According to Joshua xviii . 25 it was one of the cities of Benjamin . When the Israelites, under Joshua, invaded Canaan, the Gibeonites by a crafty ruse escaped the fate of Jericho and Ai and secured protection from the invaders (Joshua ix.) . Cheyne thinks this story the attempt of a later age to explain the long independence of Gibeon and the use of the Gibeonites as slaves in Solomon's temple . An attempt on the part of Saul to exterminate the clan is mentioned in 2 Sam. xxi., and this slaughter may possibly be identified with the massacre at Nob recorded in r Sam. xxii . 17-19 (see Ency . Bib. col . 1717), The place is also associated with the murders of Asahel (2 Sam. ii . 12), Amasa (2 Sam. xx . 8) and Gedaliah (Jer. xli .

12), and with the wrathful intervention of Yahweh referred to by

Isaiah (xxviii . 21), which we may identify with the memorable victory of David over the Philistines recorded in 2 Sam. v . 25 (reading Gibeon for Geba) . Gibcon was the seat of an old Canaanitish sanctuary afterwards used by the Israelites; it was here that Solomon, immediately after his coronation, went to consult the oracles and had the dream in which he chose the gift of wisdom (1 Kings iii.) .