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LIBNAH

(Heb. liḇnâ)

1. A place of unknown location in the Sinai Peninsula that was a stopping point for the Israelites on their journey from Egypt to Canaan (Num. 33:20-21).

2. A city conquered by Joshua in his campaign through the Shephelah (Josh. 10:29-39) and the seat of one of the defeated Canaanite kings (12:15). Located in the tribal allotment of Judah (Josh. 15:42), Libnah was set aside as a levitical city (21:13; 1 Chr. 6:57[MT 42]). It rebelled during the time of Jehoram (2 Kgs. 8:22; 2 Chr. 21:10) and was the hometown of Hamutal, wife of Josiah and mother of kings Zedekiah and Jehoahaz (2 Kgs. 23:31; 24:18; Jer. 52:1). During Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah, the city was besieged during or after the siege of Lachish (2 Kgs. 19:8; Isa. 37:8).

The location of Libnah remains an unresolved problem. In the 19th century, F. J. Bliss and R. A. S. Macalister placed the city at Tell eṣ-Òâfī/Tel ßafit (1359.1237; Arab. “white mound”; cf. Heb. liḇnâ, “white”; Eusebius Onom. 120-25), but the site is now generally held to be that of Philistine Gath. Another possibility, Tell el-Judeideh (141115), a naturally protected site 10 km. (6 mi.) NE of Lachish on a major east-west trade route, is more likely Moresheth-Gath. Many scholars followed William F. Albright in placing Libnah at Tell Bornât (138115), 8 km. (5 mi.) N of Lachish near the western border of Judah, but the mound is unimpressive and its vulnerable location in the low-lying area W of the Azekah ridge does not comport with a city that was the final holdout against Assyrian assault. The most likely identification for Libnah is Khirbet Tell el-Beida (145116), E of the Azekah ridge and several miles NE of Beit Jibrîn/Beth Guvrin (Eleutheropolis). Its Arabic name means “ruin of the white hill,” which may well preserve the name of Libnah.

Bibliography. Z. Kallai, Historical Geography of the Bible (Leiden, 1986).

Brian P. Irwin

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

LIBNAH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)