Ja'besh. (dry).
1. Father of Shallum, the fifteenth king of Israel. 2 Kings 15:10; 2 Kings 15:13-14.
2. Jabesh-gilead, or Jabesh in the territory of Gilead. In its widest sense, Gilead included the half tribe of Manasseh, 1 Chronicles 27:21, as well as the tribes of Gad and Reuben, Numbers 32:1-42, east of the Jordan; and of the cities of Gilead, Jabesh was the chief.
It is first mentioned in Judges 21:8-14. Being attacked, subsequently, by Nahash, the Ammonite, it gave Saul an opportunity of displaying his prowess in its defence. 1 Samuel 11:1-15. Eusebius places it beyond the Jordan, six miles from Pella on the mountain road to Gerasa; where its name is probably preserved in the Wady Yabes.