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Bible Dictionaries
Gibeon
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
or Being a Canaanite town of central Palestine, Gibeon should have been destroyed by Joshua’s invading army. Instead the people of the town tricked the Israelites into promising to preserve them. The Israelites, though angry that the Gibeonites had deceived them, kept their promise and allowed the Gibeonites to live. The Gibeonites were forced to work for the Israelites as labourers, but the Israelites defended them against enemy attacks (Joshua 9:3-27; Joshua 10:1-14). When Saul broke the treaty and murdered some of the Gibeonites, his sons were executed in ‘blood for blood’ justice (2 Samuel 21:1-9).
Gibeon later became an important religious centre, where the tabernacle was set up and the priesthood operated for many years. It was the last location of the tabernacle before Solomon replaced it with a permanent temple in Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 16:39; 1 Chronicles 21:29; 2 Chronicles 1:3; 2 Chronicles 1:13).
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Fleming, Don. Entry for 'Gibeon'. Bridgeway Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/bbd/g/gibeon.html. 2004.
