Gilgal ( he, גִּלְגָּל ''Gilgāl''), also known as Galgala or Galgalatokai of the 12 Stones ( grc-gre, Γαλαγα or , ''Dōdekalithōn''), is the name of one or more places in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Book of Joshua, as the place where the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

camped after crossing the Jordan River (Joshua 4:19 – 5:12). The Hebrew term ''Gilgal'' most likely means "circle of stones". Its name appears in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

on the Madaba Map.

Places named Gilgal in the Bible

In Joshua 4–5

According to Joshua 4:19, Gilgal is a location "on the eastern border of Jericho" where the Israelites encamped immediately after crossing the Jordan River. There, they erected 12 stones as a memorial to the miraculous stopping of the river when they crossed. Joshua then ordered the Israelites who had been born during

the Exodus The Exodus (Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yeẓi’at Miẓrayim'': ) is the founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four books of the Torah (or Pentateuch, corresponding to the first five books of the Bible), namely E ...

to be

circumcised Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. Topic ...

at this spot. The Bible refers to this place as ''Givat Ha'aralot'', then says that Joshua called the place Gilgal because, in his words, "today I have removed (''galoti'') the shame of Egypt from upon you." Some scholars speculate that the circle of 12 stones was the (unnamed) religious sanctuary that was condemned in

Amos Amos or AMOS may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Amos Records, an independent record label established in Los Angeles, California, in 1968 * Amos (band), an American Christian rock band * ''Amos'' (album), an album by Michael Ray * ''Amos' ...

4:4 and 5:5 and

Hosea In the Hebrew Bible, Hosea ( or ; he, הוֹשֵׁעַ – ''Hōšēaʿ'', 'Salvation'; gr, Ὡσηέ – ''Hōsēé''), son of Beeri, was an 8th-century BCE prophet in Israel and the nominal primary author of the Book of Hosea. He is t ...

4:15.

Elsewhere in Joshua

"The king of Goyim, of Gilgal" is listed as one of the 31 kings defeated by Joshua. His city is identified by

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Chris ...

with

Jaljulia Jaljulia ( ar, جلجولية, he, גַ׳לְג׳וּלְיָה), officially also spelled Jaljulye, is an Arab town in Israel near Kfar Saba. In it had a population of . History In Roman times the village was known as ''Galgulis'', while duri ...

. "Gilgal" is mentioned as a location on the border between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, near

Ma'ale Adumim Ma'ale Adumim ( he, מַעֲלֵה אֲדֻמִּים; ar, معالي أدوميم) is an urban Israeli settlement organized as a city council in the West Bank, seven kilometers () east of Jerusalem. Ma'ale Adumim achieved city status in 1991. ...

In Deuteronomy

In the Book of Deuteronomy 11:29–30, Gilgal is a place across from Mount Gerizim and

Mount Ebal Mount Ebal ( he, ''Har ʿĒyḇāl''; ar, جبل عيبال ''Jabal ‘Aybāl'') is one of the two mountains in the immediate vicinity of the city of Nablus in the West Bank ( biblical ''Shechem''), and forms the northern side of the valley i ...

In the Book of Samuel

A place named Gilgal was included in Samuel's annual circuit, and is the location where he offered sacrifices after

Saul Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered t ...

was anointed as king, and where he renewed Saul's kingship together with the people. In

1 Samuel 15 1 Samuel 15 is the fifteenth chapter of the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the first part of the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Sam ...

, Gilgal is where Samuel hewed King

Agag Agag (; he, אֲגַג ''ʾĂgāg'') is a Northwest Semitic name or title applied to a biblical king. It has been suggested that "Agag" was a dynastic name of the kings of Amalek, just as Pharaoh was used as a dynastic name for the ancient Egyp ...

in pieces after Saul refused to obey God and utterly destroy the

Amalekites Amalek (; he, עֲמָלֵק, , ar, عماليق ) was a nation described in the Hebrew Bible as a staunch enemy of the Israelites. The name "Amalek" can refer to the nation's founder, a grandson of Esau; his descendants, the Amalekites; or th ...

. On King David's return to Jerusalem after the death of his son Absalom ( 1 Samuel 19), David traveled to Gilgal. From there he was escorted to Jerusalem by the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Again it is possible for this to be yet another "circle of standing stones" (or the same one as mentioned in relation to Elijah and Elisha, as Bethel is on the circuit with Gilgal, and other assumed locations show Gilgal to be far further away than the other two locations), and it is significant that it is treated as a holy place by the biblical text, rather than as a heathen one.

In the Book of Kings

In the Books of Kings, "Gilgal" is mentioned as the home of a company of

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

s. The text states that

Elijah Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My El (deity), God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic language, Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) w ...

and Elisha came from Gilgal to Bethel, and then onward to Jericho and to the

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, suggesting that the place was in the vicinity of Bethel, and far from Joshua's Gilgal near Jericho. Since "Gilgal" means a "circle of standing stones", it is quite plausible for there to have been more than one place named Gilgal, and although there are dissenting opinions, it is commonly held to be a different place from the one involved with Joshua; it has been identified with the village

, about north of Bethel. It is significant that the Books of Kings treat it as a place of holiness, suggesting that stone circles still had a positive religious value at the time the source text of the passages in question was written, rather than having been condemned as heathen by religious reforms. Another opinion is that it is not different from the Book of Joshua, as it locates it near Bethel as does the

Books of Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( he, דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים ) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third sec ...

In Hosea

Gilgal is mentioned in God's rebuke of the Israelites saying: "The Lord says, 'All their wickedness began at Gilgal; there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my land because of their evil actions. I will love them no more because all their leaders are rebels.'"().

Gilgal as a geographic term

The term ''gilgal'' is thought by modern archaeologists to refer to a type of structure, which may then receive additional names, for example "the gilgal by the

terebinth ''Pistacia terebinthus'' also called the terebinth and the turpentine tree, is a deciduous tree species of the genus ''Pistacia'', native to the Mediterranean region from the western regions of Morocco and Portugal to Greece and western and s ...

s of Moreh" (Deuteronomy 11:30) or "the gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho" ( Joshua 4:19). Gilgal structures have been found only in the Jordan River valley, and in the Samaritan mountains on the edge of the desert. Pottery discoveries date them to the early Israelite period, with most remains from the 12th–11th centuries BCE. They are located on the lower slopes of a hill, have a footprint-shaped stone outline, and were used for occasional assembly rather than permanent dwelling. These sites are hypothesized to be ritual sites where the early Israelites celebrated holidays together, until worship was centralized. The footprint-shaped outline recalls ancient Egyptian symbolism in which a footprint symbolized ownership. The use of low slopes is in contrast to Canaanite practice, which placed sanctuaries "on every lofty hill" ( 2 Kings 17:10).Dror Eydar
In the footsteps of ancient Israelite kings
September 18, 2013

Location

Edward Robinson first drew the connection to Gilgal to Jiljilyya in 1838,Robinson, 1841, vol 3, p
82
/ref>Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.
125
/ref> as did van de Velde and

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (15 September 1821 – 21 Septembe 1890) was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Min ...

in 1870.Guérin, 1875, pp
167
168 In 1882, SWP noted: "The name suggests its identity with Gilgal, a town in the mountains near Bethel. This Gilgal (2 Kings ii. i) is mentioned as though ''above'' Bethel (verse 2), which does not agree exactly with the position of Jiljilia (2,441 feet above the sea), and of

Beitin Beitin ( ar, بيتين ') is a Palestinian people, Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank, located northeast of Ramallah along the Highway 60 (Israel), Ramallah-Nablus road. The Palestinian village o ...

(2,890), but the descent into the great valley, Wady el Jib, may account for the expression, 'went down to Bethel."Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p
290
/ref> In the 20th century, archaeologist W.F. Albright disagreed with this identification, while

Abel Abel ''Hábel''; ar, هابيل, Hābīl is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He was the younger brother of Cain, and the younger son of Adam and Eve, the first couple in Biblical history. He was a shepherd ...

agreed with it.

1938:337; cited in Finkelstein et al, 1997, p. 557

References

Bibliography

* * * * * *

External links

* Dror Eydar
In the footsteps of ancient Israelite kings
September 18, 2013 {{coord, 32.0330, N, 35.4757, E, source:wikidata, display=title Hebrew Bible places