Geba

Some places keep turning up at the edge of the story, and Geba is one. It is a town in Benjamin, given with its pasture lands to the Levites. There Jonathan strikes the Philistine garrison, and Saul blows the trumpet through all the land. King Asa later uses the stones of Ramah to build Geba and Mizpah. Josiah brings priests in “from Geba to Beersheba,” and Zechariah pictures the land turned to a plain “from Geba to Rimmon.” After the exile, people of Benjamin live in Geba again. First Samuel 13 is the place to begin.

12 verses

Joshua

Joshua 21:17

And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with her suburbs, Geba with her suburbs,

1 Samuel

1 Samuel 13:3

And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.

2 Samuel

2 Samuel 5:25

And David did so, as the LORD had commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer.

1 Kings

1 Kings 15:22

Then king Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; none was exempted: and they took away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; and king Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.

2 Kings

2 Kings 23:8

And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.

1 Chronicles

1 Chronicles 6:60

And out of the tribe of Benjamin; Geba with her suburbs, and Alemeth with her suburbs, and Anathoth with her suburbs. All their cities throughout their families were thirteen cities.

1 Chronicles 8:6

And these are the sons of Ehud: these are the heads of the fathers of the inhabitants of Geba, and they removed them to Manahath:

2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 16:6

Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha was building; and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.

Nehemiah

Nehemiah 11:31

The children also of Benjamin from Geba dwelt at Michmash, and Aija, and Bethel, and in their villages,

Nehemiah 12:29

Also from the house of Gilgal, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for the singers had builded them villages round about Jerusalem.

Isaiah

Isaiah 10:29

They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.

Zechariah

Zechariah 14:10

All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

The hill, (2 Sam. 5:25 [1 Chr. 14:16, “Gibeon”]; 2 Kings 23:8; Neh. 11:31), a Levitical city of Benjamin (1 Kings 15:22; 1 Sam. 13:16; 14:5, wrongly “Gibeah” in the A.V.), on the north border of Judah near Gibeah (Isa. 10:29; Josh. 18:24, 28). “From Geba to Beersheba” expressed the whole extent of the kingdom of Judah, just as “from Dan to Beersheba” described the whole length of Palestine (2 Kings 23:8). It has been identified with Gaba (Josh. 18:24; Ezra 2:26; Neh. 7:30), now Jeb’a, about 5 1/2 miles north of Jerusalem.

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(a hill), a city of Benjamin, with "suburbs," allotted to the priests. (Joshua 21:17; 1 Chronicles 6:60) It is named amongst the first group of the Benjamite towns --apparently those lying near to and along the north boundary. (Joshua 18:24) Here the name is given as GABA. During the wars of the earlier part of the reign of Saul, Geba was held as a garrison by the Philistines, (1 Samuel 13:3) but they were ejected by Jonathan. It is now the modern village of Jeba , which stands picturesquely on the top of its steep terraced hill, six miles north of Jerusalem, on the very edge of the great Wady Suweinit , looking northward to the opposite village of ancient Michmash, which also retains its old name of Mukhmas .