Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
area, only mentioned once in the Hebrew Bible, in the
Book of Jeremiah
The Book of Jeremiah () is the second of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, and the second of the Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. The superscription at chapter Jeremiah 1#Superscription, Jeremiah 1:1–3 identifies the book as "th ...
. The biblical passage is not easy to interpret, with varying opinions about the hill's exact location, but it seems that it was outside Jerusalem's city walls in the times of
Jeremiah
Jeremiah ( – ), also called Jeremias, was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, book that bears his name, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with t ...
Nehemiah
Nehemiah (; ''Nəḥemyā'', "Yahweh, Yah comforts") is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in rebuilding Jerusalem during the Second Temple period as the governor of Yehud Medinata, Persian Judea under Artaxer ...
. Israeli archaeologist
Gabriel Barkay
Gabriel Barkay (born 1944) (; sometimes transcribed from the Hebrew Gavriel Barkai) is an Israeli archaeologist.
Biography
Gabriel Barkay was born in the Budapest Ghetto, Hungary. He immigrated to Israel in 1950.
He studied archaeology, compar ...
, echoing earlier interpretations, sees Gareb and Goah, the two names occurring together in Jeremiah's prophecy, as the northern, as of 586 still unwalled suburbs of the city, while some 19th-century authors like
Keil and Delitzsch
Johann Friedrich Karl Keil or Carl Friedrich Keil (26 February 1807 – 5 May 1888) was a conservative German Lutheran Old Testament commentator. Keil was appointed to the theological faculty of Dorpat in Estonia where he taught Bible, New ...
are placing it northwest of the city's northwest corner, strongly arguing against other contemporaries who identified it with the hill of
Bezetha
Bezetha (), also called by Josephus the New City, was a suburb of Jerusalem during the late Second Temple period. It was located north and north-west of the Temple, built opposite the Antonia Fortress (now in proximity to the Convent of the Sist ...
, the hill north of the
Temple Mount
The Temple Mount (), also known as the Noble Sanctuary (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, 'Haram al-Sharif'), and sometimes as Jerusalem's holy esplanade, is a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem that has been venerated as a ...
.
According to the prophecy of Jeremiah, the city of Jerusalem would one day stretch as far as "the hill of Garev".Rossoff, Dovid (2001). ''Where Heaven Touches Earth: Jewish Life in Jerusalem from Medieval Times to the Present''.
Feldheim Publishers
Feldheim Publishers (or Feldheim) is an American Orthodox Jewish publisher of Torah books and literature. Its extensive catalog of titles includes books on Jewish law, Torah, Talmud, Jewish lifestyle, Shabbat and Jewish holidays, Jewish history, ...
tribe of Judah
According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe of Judah (, ''Shevet Yehudah'') was one of the twelve Tribes of Israel, named after Judah (son of Jacob), Judah, the son of Jacob. Judah was one of the tribes to take its place in Canaan, occupying it ...
is mentioned in
2 Samuel 23
2 Samuel 23 is the 23rd chapter in the second parts of the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible (or the 23rd chapter of the "Second Book of Samuel" in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible). It contains a prophetic statement described as the "l ...
King David
David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament.
The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damas ...
's guard of thirty, Ira and Gareb, are both qualified there as "the Ithrite". They may have come from
Jattir
Jattir (Hebrew יַתִּר, pronounced Yattir) is a town in Judea mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. It was known as ''Iethira'' during the 4th century CE, when it was a Christian town. It is identified with Horvat Yattir/Khirbet Attir, ...