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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. Gilgal is mentioned 39 times, in particular in the
Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua ( he, סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎ ', Tiberian: ''Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ'') is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Isra ...
, as the place where the Israelites camped after crossing the
Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...
(Joshua 4:19 – 5:12). The Hebrew term ''Gilgal'' most likely means "circle of stones". Its name appears in Koine Greek 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 Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho Gove ...
" 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 language, 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 ...
to be circumcised 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 4:4 and 5:5 and Hosea 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 with Jaljulia. "Gilgal" is mentioned as a location on the border between the tribes of Judah and
Benjamin Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...
, near Ma'ale Adumim.


In Deuteronomy

In the
Book of Deuteronomy Deuteronomy ( grc, Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronómion, second law) is the fifth and last book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called (Hebrew: hbo, , Dəḇārīm, hewords Moses.html"_;"title="f_Moses">f_Moseslabel=none)_and_th ...
11:29–30, Gilgal is a place across from
Mount Gerizim Mount Gerizim (; Samaritan Hebrew: ''ʾĀ̊rgā̊rīzēm''; Hebrew: ''Har Gərīzīm''; ar, جَبَل جَرِزِيم ''Jabal Jarizīm'' or جَبَلُ ٱلطُّورِ ''Jabal at-Ṭūr'') is one of two mountains in the immediate vicinit ...
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 in ...
.


In the Book of Samuel

A place named Gilgal was included in
Samuel Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bibl ...
's annual circuit, and is the location where he offered sacrifices after Saul 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 Samuel ...
, Gilgal is where Samuel hewed King Agag in pieces after Saul refused to obey God and utterly destroy the Amalekites. On
King David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
's return to Jerusalem after the death of his son
Absalom Absalom ( he, ''ʾAḇšālōm'', "father of peace") was the third son of David, King of Israel with Maacah, daughter of Talmai, King of Geshur. 2 Samuel 14:25 describes him as the handsomest man in the kingdom. Absalom eventually rebelled ag ...
(
1 Samuel 19 1 Samuel 19 is the nineteenth Chapters and verses of the Bible, chapter of the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christianity, Christian Bible or the first part of the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish traditi ...
), David traveled to Gilgal. From there he was escorted to Jerusalem by the tribes of Judah and
Benjamin Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...
. 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 Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanct ...
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 The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the books ...
, "Gilgal" is mentioned as the home of a company of prophets. The text states that Elijah and
Elisha Elisha ( ; or "God is my salvation", Greek: , ''Elis îos'' or , ''Elisaié,'' Latin: ''Eliseus'') was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a prophet and a wonder-worker. His name is commonly transliterated into English as Elisha via Hebrew, Eli ...
came from Gilgal to Bethel, and then onward to
Jericho Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho Gove ...
and to the Jordan, 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 Jaljulia, 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.


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 Givat HaMoreh (Hebrew: גבעת המוֹרֶה), in Arabic: Jebel ed-Duhy, is a hill in northern Israel on the northeast side of the Jezreel Valley. The highest peak reaches an altitude of , while the bottom of the Jezreel Valley is situated at ...
" (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 The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...
, 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 2 Kings 17 is the seventeenth Chapters and verses of the Bible, chapter of the second part of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the Second Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Christianity, Christian Bible. The book is a compilation ...
:10).Dror Eydar
In the footsteps of ancient Israelite kings
September 18, 2013


Location

Edward Robinson first drew the connection to Gilgal to
Jiljilyya Jiljilyya ( ar, جلجليّا ) is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the northern West Bank. Location Jiljilyya is located (horizontally) northeast of Ramallah. It is bordered by Al Mazra'a ash Sharqiya to th ...
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 Van de Velde, Vande Velde, or Vandevelde is a Dutch toponymic surname meaning "from the field". Van de Velde is the 32nd most common name in Belgium, with 8,903 people in 2008, while in 2007 there were 3,319 people named "Van de Velde" in The Neth ...
and Victor Guérin 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 Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanct ...
(verse 2), which does not agree exactly with the position of Jiljilia (2,441 feet above the sea), and of Beitin (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 William Foxwell Albright (May 24, 1891– September 19, 1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. He is considered "one of the twentieth century's most influential American biblical scholars." ...
disagreed with this identification, while Abel agreed with it. Abel 1938:337; cited in Finkelstein et al, 1997, p. 557


See also

* Ancient underground quarry, Jordan Valley, possibly associated by the Byzantines with Gilgal and the "twelve stones" * Yom HaAliyah, Israeli national holiday created to honor the Jewish people carrying the Ark of the Covenant crossing the Jordan River into the Land of Israel at Gilgal as recorded in the Book of Joshua in the Bible. * Gilgal I, Neolithic site in the Jordan Valley, West Bank * Gilgal (kibbutz), Israeli kibbutz in the Jordan Valley, West Bank


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