124 The Fundamentals same names, and their sites are well known. In the narrow space between Anata and Hanina stands the hill Tell el-Full, which we take to be ancient Nob. “ (c) Another indication is contained in Isaiah’s account of Sen nacherib’s march on Jerusalem, the picturesque climax of which is, ‘This very day shall he halt at Nob; he shaketh his hand at the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem’ (Isa. 10:28-32). There are only two hills on the north from which the city can be seen, so as to give reality to the poet’s words. One of these is Neby Samwil, and the other is Tell el-Full.” IV. GIBEON IDENTITY OF ANCIENT CITY WITH EL-JIB, ALSO THE “GREAT HIGH PLACE,” OF 1 KINGS 3 :4, INDICATED In Hastings’ Dictionary o f the Bible, Art. Gibeon, J. F. Stenning says as follows: “The identity of Gibeon with the village of El-Jib, which lies some six or seven miles northwest of Jerusalem, is practically beyond dispute- The modern village still preserves the first part of the older name, while its situation agrees in every respect with the requirements of the history of the Old Testament Just beyond Tell el-Full (Gibeah), the main road north from Jerusalem to Beitin (Bethel) is joined by a branch road leading up from the coast. The latter forms the con tinuation of the most southerly of three routes which connect the Jordan valley with the Maritime Plains. * * * Now just before this road (coming up from the Jordan valley) leaves the higher ground and descends to the Shepheleh, it divides into two, the one branch leading down to the Wady Suleiman, the other running in a more southerly direction by way of the Bethhorons. Here, on this fertile, open plateau, slightly to the south of the main road, rises the hill on which the modern village of El-Jib is built, right on the frontier line which traverses the central range to the south of Bethel. I t was the natural pass across Palestine, which in early times served as the political border between North and South Israel, and it was owing to its position that Gibeon acquired so much prominence in the reigns of David and Solomon. A short distance to the east of the village, at the foot of the hill, there is, further, a stone tank o* reservoir of considerable size, supplied by a spring which rises in a cave higher up.” This spring, the explorers tell us, was probably the ancient “pool of Gibeon” mentioned in 2 Sam. 2:13.
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