A mountain range where Saul and his sons died.
Gilboa
Named in 3 verses across 2 books, first in 1 Samuel 28:4.
גִּלְבֹּעַGilboa
The name means “revolution of inquiry.” Hitchcock's Bible Names, 1869
About Gilboa Written by AI
Mount Gilboa is a mountain range located in northern Israel, southwest of the Sea of Galilee. It is most notably associated with the final battle and death of King Saul and his sons. The Philistines had gathered their forces at Shunem, while Saul and the Israelite army camped on Mount Gilboa (1Sa.28.4). In the ensuing battle, the Philistines fought fiercely against Israel, and Saul and his sons, including Jonathan, were killed on Mount Gilboa (1Sa.31.1-6). After the battle, the Philistines found the bodies of Saul and his sons and fastened them to the wall of Beth-shan (1Sa.31.10). Later, valiant men from Jabesh-gilead retrieved the bodies and buried them (1Sa.31.11-13; 2Sa.21.12). In his lament for Saul and Jonathan, David cursed the mountains of Gilboa, expressing his grief over their deaths (2Sa.1.21). The events at Mount Gilboa marked the end of Saul's reign and paved the way for David to become king over Israel. The mountain range stands as a reminder of the tragic fate of Saul and his sons and the transfer of power to the Davidic dynasty.
Drafted by an AI model for STEPBible's TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Check it against the verses below.
Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897
Boiling spring, a mountain range, now Jebel Fukua’, memorable as the scene of Saul’s disastrous defeat by the Philistines. Here also his three sons were slain, and he himself died by his own hand (1 Sam. 28:4; 31:1-8; 2 Sam. 1:6-21; 21:12; 1 Chr. 10:1, 8). It was a low barren range of mountains bounding the valley of Esdraelon (Jezreel) on the east, between it and the Jordan valley. When the tidings of this defeat were conveyed to David, he gave utterance to those pathetic words in the “Song of the Bow” (2 Sam. 1:19-27).
M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, third edition (1897), public domain, from CrossWire. Shown as written; its Scripture quotes are from older translations.
32.517, 35.400 See it on a map
Where the Bible names it
- 1 Samuel 28:4
The Philistines gathered together and camped at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel and camped at Gilboa.
- 2 Samuel 1:21
O mountains of Gilboa, may you have no dew or rain, no fields yielding offerings of grain. For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, no longer anointed with oil.
- 2 Samuel 21:12
he went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan where the Philistines had hung the bodies after they had struck down Saul at Gilboa.
From STEPBible's TIPNR, Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0): names, family, references and the AI written article. Verse text is the BSB.