Mitzpah () was a city of the

tribe of Benjamin According to the Torah, the Tribe of Benjamin () was one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The tribe was descended from Benjamin, the youngest son of the Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch Jacob (later given the name Israel) and his wife Rachel. In the ...

; it is referred to multiple times in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Tell en-Nasbeh is one of three sites often identified with the Mitzpah of Benjamin, and is located about north of

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 ...

. The other suggested locations are Nabi Samwil, which is some northwest of the

Old City of Jerusalem The Old City of Jerusalem (; ) is a walled area in Jerusalem. In a tradition that may have begun with an 1840s British map of the city, the Old City is divided into four uneven quarters: the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter, the Arm ...

(situated on the highest hill in the vicinity, above the plain of Gibeon),Nehemiah Chapter 3 Verse 7
Mechon Mamre and Shuafat, a village situated on a flat spur to the northwest of Jerusalem and from where Jerusalem is visible. NABI_SAMUEL_1

Biblical references

The first mention of a Mizpah (although this Mizpah is in

Gilead Gilead or Gilad (, ; ''Gilʿāḏ'', , ''Jalʻād'') is the ancient, historic, biblical name of the mountainous northern part of the region of Transjordan.''Easton's Bible Dictionary'Galeed''/ref> The region is bounded in the west by the J ...

, southeast of the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee (, Judeo-Aramaic languages, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ), also called Lake Tiberias, Genezareth Lake or Kinneret, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth ...

) was in the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek language, Greek ; ; ) is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its incipit, first word, (In the beginning (phrase), 'In the beginning'). Genesis purpor ...

where Laban and his son-in-law

Jacob Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother E ...

made an agreement that God will watch over them while they were apart from each other. The piling of rocks marked it. It was a reminder of peace where each would not go beyond these rocks to attack the other. In the incident of the

Levite's concubine The episode of the Levite's concubine, also known as the Benjamite War, in Judges 19–21 concerns a Levite from Ephraim and his concubine. They travel through the Benjamite city of Gibeah and are assailed by a mob, who wish to gang-rape the L ...

, the men of

Gibeah Gibeah (; ''Gīḇəʿā''; ''Gīḇəʿaṯ'') is the name of three places mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, in the tribes of Tribe of Benjamin, Benjamin, Tribe of Judah, Judah, and Tribe of Ephraim, Ephraim respectively. Gibeah of Benjamin, als ...

raped a woman. The other Israelite tribes met at the Mizpah of Benjamin, where they decided to attack the Benjaminites for this grievous

sin In religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered ...

according to Judges 20:1–11. At the same time, the decision was made to ban the marriage of Benjaminite men to Israelite women. After the return of 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 ...

, lost to the

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 ...

following the Israelites' defeat at the Battle of Aphek,

Samuel Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venera ...

gathered all Israel at Mizpah to offer a sacrifice to God and ask Him to forgive their sin. The Israelites fought off a raid by the Philistines, taking advantage of the assembly, and drove them back below Beth Car. To memorialize this event, Samuel set up a stone between Mizpah and Shen and named it

Eben-Ezer Eben-Ezer () is a location that is mentioned by the Books of Samuel as the scene of battles between the Israelites and Philistines. It is specified as having been less than a day's journey by foot from Shiloh (biblical city), Shiloh, near Aphek ...

("Stone of Help" because the Lord had helped them. Samuel also gathered the people of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

to Mizpah for the Lord to identify their first

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

. There,

Saul Saul (; , ; , ; ) was a monarch of ancient Israel and Judah and, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, the first king of the United Monarchy, a polity of uncertain historicity. His reign, traditionally placed in the late eleventh c ...

was chosen by lot from all the

tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

and families of Israel. During the reigns of King

Asa of Judah Asa (; ; ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the third king of the Kingdom of Judah and the fifth king of the Davidic line, House of David. Based on the Biblical chronology, Biblical scholars suggest that he reigned from the late 10th to earl ...

and King Baasha of Israel, Mizpah was one of two cities which Asa built up from the stones Baasha had used to fortify Ramah ( 1 Kings 15, ; 2 Chronicles 16, ). After the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem, they appointed

Gedaliah Gedaliah ( or ; ''Gəḏalyyā)'' was a person from the Bible who was a governor of Yehud province. He was also the son of Ahikam, who saved the prophet Jeremiah. Names Gedaliah ( or ; ''Gəḏalyyā'' or ''Gəḏalyyāhū''; also written G ...

governor in Mizpah over the remaining residents. Many returned to Mizpah from where they had fled. The prophet

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 ...

came to Mizpah from Ramah in Benjamin, where the Babylonians had released him. Later, Ishmael, a member of the royal family, assassinated Gedaliah. Despite Jeremiah's warning that the people would be accused and die if they went to

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, they persisted in going there. Mizpah is mentioned in the

Book of Nehemiah The Book of Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible largely takes the form of a first-person memoir by Nehemiah, a Hebrew prophet and high official at the Persian court, concerning the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile and the ...

as one of the towns resettled by the Jewish exiles returning from the Babylonian captivity and who helped to construct the walls of Jerusalem during the reign of

Artaxerxes I Artaxerxes I (, ; ) was the fifth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, from 465 to December 424 BC. He was the third son of Xerxes I. In Greek sources he is also surnamed "Long-handed" ( ''Makrókheir''; ), allegedly because his ri ...

(Xerxes). Nehemiah further records that those returnees were the very descendants of the people who had formerly resided in the town before their banishment from the country, who had all returned to live in their former places of residence.

Identification

The leading contenders for the site of Mizpah are Tell en-Nasbeh, nearby Nabi Samwil, and Shuafat. * The suggested site of Shuafat is based on its etymology, meaning "prospect," which is thought to be a corruption of the old name Mitzpah or Sapha. In addition, the place fits the description of being "over against Jerusalem" (I Macc. III 46) * Yohanan Aharon suggested identifying Tell en-Nasbeh with Mitzpah in Benjamin. * Mitzpah was located right next to Gibeon. If Mitzpah was Tell en-Nasbeh on the Nablus Road,

Ishmael In the Bible, biblical Book of Genesis, Ishmael (; ; ; ) is the first son of Abraham. His mother was Hagar, the handmaiden of Abraham's wife Sarah. He died at the age of 137. Traditionally, he is seen as the ancestor of the Arabs. Within Isla ...

would not have fled to

Ammon Ammon (; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; '; ) was an ancient Semitic languages, Semitic-speaking kingdom occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Wadi Mujib, Arnon and Jabbok, in present-d ...

via Gibeon, which is located to the west near Nabi Samwil, which overlooks Jerusalem.) * Mizpah is where

Judas Maccabeus Judas Maccabaeus or Maccabeus ( ), also known as Judah Maccabee (), was a Jewish priest (''kohen'') and a son of the priest Mattathias. He led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire (167–160 BCE). The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah ("Ded ...

and his rebel army camped before the

Battle of Emmaus The Battle of Emmaus took place around September 165 BC during the Maccabean Revolt between Judean rebels, led by Judas Maccabeus (Judah Maccabee), and an expedition of Seleucid Empire forces under generals Gorgias, Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes, ...

during the

Maccabean Revolt The Maccabean Revolt () was a Jewish rebellion led by the Maccabees against the Seleucid Empire and against Hellenistic influence on Jewish life. The main phase of the revolt lasted from 167 to 160 BCE and ended with the Seleucids in control of ...

according to the book of

1 Maccabees 1 Maccabees, also known as the First Book of Maccabees, First Maccabees, and abbreviated as 1 Macc., is a deuterocanonical book which details the history of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire as well as the founding and earliest hi ...

3:46. "Then they gathered together and went to Mizpah, opposite Jerusalem, because Israel formerly had a place of prayer in Mizpah." Mizpah was in the hills, while the nearby Greek Syrian camp in

Emmaus Emmaus ( ; ; ; ) is a town mentioned in the Gospel of Luke of the New Testament. Luke reports that Jesus appeared, after his death and resurrection, before two of his disciples while they were walking on the road to Emmaus. Although its geograp ...

was on the plain. Judas proceeded to hold a religious ceremony at Mitzpah, where he picked a smaller force to ambush the Seleucid camp the next day. * Nabi Samwil has produced no remains from Iron Age I, nor any remains of the 6th century BCE, both periods in which Mitzpah was occupied. By contrast, Tell en-Nasbeh has produced abundant remains from both periods, and has a massive fortification system which matches well with the building campaign of King

in the early 9th century BC. Its location on the main road leading out of Jerusalem fits well with the reference to Mizpah in 1 Kings 15:22.

References

{{Coord, 31, 53, 07, N, 35, 12, 59, E, region:PS_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Hebrew Bible cities Tribe of Benjamin Samuel Saul Jacob Book of Genesis Books of Kings Books of Chronicles Book of Nehemiah