Bible Dictionaries

Holman Bible Dictionary

Gebal

(gee' buhl) Place name meaning, “mountain.” 1. Seaport known to Greeks as Byblos whose help for Tyre Ezekiel described (Ezekiel 27:9 ). Mentioned in Egyptian texts before 2,000 B.C. and in many Egyptian and Assyrian texts through the centuries, Gebal was located at modern Dschebel about 25 miles north of Beirut. It was the most famous of the Syrian ports. It belonged to land that remained for Joshua to conquer (Joshua 13:5 ). Stone masons from Gebal cut stones for Solomon's Temple (1 Kings 5:18 ). Archaeologists have discovered settlements here as early as 8,000 B.C. The fine sarcophagus of King Ahiram found there contained the earliest evidence we have of the Phoenician alphabet. About 900 B.C. Tyre replaced Gebal as the strongest city of Phoenicia. Still its fame for building ships and trading throughout the world continued.

2. A member of a coalition against Israel which the psalmist lamented (Psalm 83:7 ). It is the northern part of Arabia near Petra in the mountainous country south of the Dead Sea. The Genesis Apocryphon from the Dead Sea Scrolls also mentions it.