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Bible Dictionaries
Dibon
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or DIBON . 1. A city east of the Dead Sea and north of the Arnon, in the land which, before the coming of the Israelites, Sihon, king of the Amorites, had taken from a former king of Moab ( Numbers 21:26; Numbers 21:30 ). The Israelites dispossessed Sihon, and the territory was assigned to Reuben ( Joshua 13:9; Joshua 13:17 ), but the city Dibon is mentioned among those built (or rebuilt) by Gad ( Numbers 32:3; Numbers 32:34 ), hence the name Dibon-gab by which it is once called ( Numbers 33:45 ). The children of Israel were not able to retain possession of the land, and in the time of Isaiah Dibon is reckoned among the cities of Moab ( Isaiah 15:1-9 ). In Isaiah 15:9 Dimon is supposed to he a modified form of Dibon , adopted in order to resemble more closely the Heb. word for blood ( dam ), and support the play on words in that verse. The modern name of the town is Dhiban , about half an hour N. of ‘Ara‘ir, which is on the edge of the Arnon Valley. It is a dreary and featureless ruin on two adjacent knolls, but has acquired notoriety in consequence of the discovery there of the Moabite Stone.
2. A town in Judah inhabited in Nehemiah’s time by some of the children of Judah ( Nehemiah 11:25 ). Perhaps it is the same as Dimonah ( Joshua 15:22 ) among the southernmost cities of Judah.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Dibon'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/d/dibon.html. 1909.
