Eben-Ezer () is a location that is mentioned by the

Books of Samuel The Book of Samuel () is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Book of Joshua, Joshua, Book of Judges, Judges, Samuel, and Books of ...

as the scene of battles between the

Israelites Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

and

Philistines Philistines (; LXX: ; ) were ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age in a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the Philistines origi ...

. It is specified as having been less than a

day's journey A day's journey in pre-modern literature, including the Bible and ancient geographers and ethnographers such as Herodotus, is a measurement of distance. In the Bible, it is not as precisely defined as other Biblical measurements of distance; the ...

by foot from Shiloh, near Aphek, in the neighbourhood of Mizpah, near the western entrance of the pass of

Bethoron Bethoron (; ), also Beth-Horon, were two neighboring towns in ancient Israel, situated on the Gibeon–Aijalon road. They served as strategic points along the road, guarding the "ascent of Bethoron". While the Hebrew Bible sometimes distinguishes ...

. Its location has not been identified in modern times with much certainty, with some identifying it with

Beit Iksa Beit Iksa (;) is a Palestinian village in the Jerusalem Governorate, located northwest of Jerusalem in the West Bank. The village is surrounded on all sides by the Israeli West Bank barrier, and outside Palestinians are denied access through th ...

, and others with

Dayr Aban Dayr Aban (also spelled Deir Aban; ) was a Palestinian people, Palestinian Arab village in the Jerusalem Subdistrict, Mandatory Palestine, Jerusalem Subdistrict, located on the lower slope of a high ridge that formed the western slope of a mount ...

Biblical mentions

The placename appears in the Books of Samuel in two narratives: * In the first narrative (), the Philistines defeat the Israelites, even though the Israelites bring the

Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant, also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, was a religious storage chest and relic held to be the most sacred object by the Israelites. Religious tradition describes it as a wooden storage chest decorat ...

onto the battlefield in hope of bringing about a divinely assured victory. The victorious Philistines capture the Ark, and do not return it until many months late
(1 Samuel 6:1–2)
* In the second narrative (), the Israelites defeat the Philistines after Samuel has offered a sacrifice. Samuel puts up a stone in memorial and names it ''Eben-Ezer'' (the placename in the previous narrative resulting from this). The hymn "

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" is a Christian hymn written by the pastor and hymnodist Robert Robinson, who penned the words in 1757 at age 22.Later in life, he wandered from his faith. A young woman used this hymn to encourage him to ret ...

" refers to this monument.

Modern-day placement

Many Israeli archaeologists and historians argue that the Eben-Ezer of the first biblical narrative was in the immediate neighborhood of modern-day

Kafr Qasim Kafr Qasim (, ), also spelled as Kafr Qassem, Kufur Kassem, Kfar Kassem and Kafar Kassem, is an Arab city in Israel. It is located about east of Tel Aviv, on the Israeli side of the Green Line separating Israel and the West Bank, in the sout ...

, near

Antipatris Antipatris (, ) was a city built during the first century BC by Herod the Great, who named it in honour of his father, Antipater. The site, now a national park in central Israel, was inhabited from the Chalcolithic period to the Late Ro ...

(ancient city Aphek). In contrast, the second battle's location is deemed insufficiently well-defined in the Biblical text for certainty. The other proposed site is called "Isbet Sartah". Some scholars hold that there was more than one Aphek. C. R. Conder identified the Aphek of Eben-Ezer with a khirbet "ruin" some distant from

(believed to be Eben-Ezer), and known by the name ''Marj al-Fikiya''; the name ''al-Fikiya'' being an Arabic etymological variant of Aphek.

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...

, when writing about Eben-Ezer in his ''Onomasticon'', says that it is "the place from which the Gentiles seized the Ark, between Jerusalem and Ascalon, near the village of Bethsamys (Beit Shemesh)", a locale that corresponds with Conder's identification. The same site, near Beth Shemesh, has also been identified by

Epiphanius of Salamis Epiphanius of Salamis (; – 403) was the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, at the end of the Christianity in the 4th century, 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic Churche ...

as Eben-Ezer.''Epiphanius' Treatise on Weights and Measures - The Syriac Version'' (ed. James Elmer Dean), University of Chicago Press 1935, p. 73 (§ 68)

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Hebrew Bible places Books of Samuel

Biblical mentions

Modern-day placement

See also

References

External links