Tishbe, sometimes transliterated as Thisbe, is a town mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' First Book 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 ancient Israel also including ...

, , as the residence and possibly even birthplace of the

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

Elijah Elijah ( ) or Elias was a prophet and miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BC), according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah defended the worsh ...

, known as the Tishbite (see that page for discussion of the term). It is placed by the biblical text in the historical region of

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 ...

,International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
Tishbite
via BiblicalTraining.org, accessed 2020-01-13 now in the western part of modern-day

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

. However, the

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

may denominate another location, as discussed below.

Demonym or descriptor?

Many of the

Hebrew prophets According to the Talmud, there were 48 prophets and 7 prophetesses of Judaism ( ''Nəvīʾīm'', Tiberian: ''Năḇīʾīm,'' "Prophets", literally "spokespersons"). The last Jewish prophet is believed to have been Malachi. In Jewish tradition it ...

are introduced with the name of their father, their original place of residence, or both. For instance,

Jonah Jonah the son of Amittai or Jonas ( , ) is a Jewish prophet from Gath-hepher in the Northern Kingdom of Israel around the 8th century BCE according to the Hebrew Bible. He is the central figure of the Book of Jonah, one of the minor proph ...

is introduced as "Jonah, the son of Amittai... of

Gath-hepher Gath-hepher or Gat Hefer () was a border town in the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), Northern Kingdom of Israel around the 8th century BCE. According to the Deuteronomistic history, it was the home of the prophet#Judaism, prophet Jonah. History ...

Elisha Elisha was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a Jewish prophet and a wonder-worker. His name is commonly transliterated into English as Elisha via Hebrew, Eliseus via Greek and Latin, Ełishe (Yeghishe/Elisha) via Armenian or Alyasa via Arabic, a ...

is introduced as "Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of Abel-meholah", Micah is introduced as "Micah the Morashtite", etc. Elijah, in turn, is introduced as "Elijah the Tishbite, of the settlers of Gilead." When considering the general pattern of how prophets are first introduced in the text of the Hebrew Bible, it would seem the passage is a simple statement of Elijah's origins. Because the original Hebrew words for "Tishbite" (, ''tīšbī'') and "settlers" (, ''tōšāḇē'') are strikingly similar, some scholars have questioned whether ''tīšbī'' is actually a demonym for a place called "Tishbe", or if it is a form of the word "settler" conjugated to match Elijah – thereby reading "Elijah the settler" rather than "Elijah the Tishbite". The word ''tīšbī'' appears just six times in the Hebrew Bible, each time in conjunction with Elijah's own name, but no place called "Tishbe" appears throughout the entire

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. ''

indicates that

was from Tishbe in

, which is a historical region located ''east'' of the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead ...

in present

. The Jewish ancient historian

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

supposed that Tishbe was in Gilead. The eastern half of the

Israelite 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 ...

Tribe of Manasseh According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Manasseh (; Hebrew: ''Ševet Mənašše,'' Tiberian: ''Šēḇeṭ Mănašše'') was one of the twelve tribes of Israel. After the catastrophic Assyrian invasion of 720 BCE, it is counted as one ...

and, possibly also, the

Tribe of Gad According to the Bible, the Tribe of Gad () was one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel who, after the Exodus from Egypt, settled on the eastern side of the Jordan River. It is one of the ten lost tribes. Biblical narrative After the conquest of ...

, have been in possession of Gilead; therefore Tishbe was probably in the territory of the eastern half of Manasseh, or possibly in that of Gad. According to Pfeiffer and Vos, it is located in the territory of Manasseh, in proximity to the

wadi Wadi ( ; ) is a river valley or a wet (ephemerality, ephemeral) Stream bed, riverbed that contains water only when heavy rain occurs. Wadis are located on gently sloping, nearly flat parts of deserts; commonly they begin on the distal portion ...

known from the Bible as Cherith, in present-day Jordan. Tishbe has for a long time been identified as the historical town of Listib in Gilead, due to its location and the similarity between the ancient Hebrew name and the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

name, "el-Istib", but the 1915

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia The ''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'' refers to two different versions of a Bible encyclopedia: a 1915 fundamentalist edition, and a 1979–1995 revised evangelical edition. The first version was published under the general editorship ...

refutes the identification because el-Istib has only been established during the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

period. The ruins of Listib are located 13 kilometres north of the Jabbok River in Gilead, known in Arabic as the

Zarqa River The Zarqa River (, ''Nahr az-Zarqāʾ'', lit. "the River of the Blue ity) is the second largest tributary of the lower Jordan River, after the Yarmouk River. It is the third largest river in the region by annual discharge and its watershed enc ...

, just west of biblical Mahanaim, a short distance beyond the northwest limits of

Ajloun Ajloun (, ''‘Ajlūn''), also spelled Ajlun, is the capital town of the Ajloun Governorate, a hilly town in the north of Jordan, located 76 kilometers (around 47 miles) north west of Amman. It is noted for its impressive ruins of the 12th-centur ...

in the

Ajloun Governorate Ajloun Governorate (alternative spelling Ajlun Governorate) () is one of the governorates of Jordan, located north of Amman the capital of Jordan. Ajloun Governorate has the fourth highest population density in Jordan (after Irbid, Jerash, and ...

in northern Jordan. However, Listib is known to have been uninhabited during the time of the

Northern Kingdom of Israel The Kingdom of Israel ( ), also called the Northern Kingdom or the Kingdom of Samaria, was an Israelite kingdom that existed in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Its beginnings date back to the first half of the 10th century BCE. It c ...

Tishbe in Naphtali

Alternatively, Tishbe may be identical to the as-yet undiscovered "Thisbe" referenced in the

Book of Tobit The Book of Tobit (), also known as the Book of Tobias, is a deuterocanonical pre-Christian work from the 3rd or early 2nd century BC which describes how God tests the faithful, responds to prayers, and protects the pre-covenant community (i.e., ...

(), which was located ''west'' of the Jordan River in the territory of the

tribe of Naphtali The Tribe of Naphtali () was one of the northernmost of the twelve tribes of Israel. It is one of the ten lost tribes. Biblical narratives In the biblical account, following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites, Joshua a ...

, "to the south of Kedesh Naphtali in

Upper Galilee The Upper Galilee (, ''HaGalil Ha'Elyon''; , ''Al Jaleel Al A'alaa'') is a geographical region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Part of the larger Galilee region, it is characterized by its higher elevations and mountainous terra ...

, above Asher toward the west, and north of Phogor".:

New Revised Standard Version The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is a translation of the Bible in American English. It was first published in 1989 by the National Council of Churches, the NRSV was created by an ecumenical committee of scholars "comprising about thirt ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Photos of Listib
at the

American Center of Research The American Center of Research (ACOR) is a private, not-for-profit scholarly and educational organization. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, with a facility in Amman, Jordan, ACOR promotes knowledge of Jordan and the interconnected region, past an ...

Hebrew Bible cities Gilead