Ezion-Geber or
Asiongaber (Classical Hebrew: עֶצְיֹן גֶּבֶר, pronounced "Etzyón-Gaver") was a city of Idumea, a biblical seaport on the northern extremity of the
Gulf of AqabaThe Gulf of Aqaba , in Israel known as the Gulf of Eilat is a large gulf of the Red Sea. It is located to the east of the Sinai peninsula and west of the Arabian mainland. Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia all have coastlines on the Gulf of Aqaba...
, in the area of modern
AqabaAqaba is a coastal town in the far south of Jordan. It is the capital of Aqaba Governorate. Aqaba is strategically important to Jordan as it is the country's only seaport. The town borders Eilat, Israel, and there is a border post where it is possible to cross between the two countries...
and
EilatEilat is Israel's southernmost city, a busy port as well as a popular resort, located at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on the Gulf of Eilat. Home to 65,000 people, the city is part of the Southern Negev Desert, at the southern end of the Arava...
.
Ezion-Geber is mentioned six times in the Tanach Ruins at Tell el-Kheleifeh were identified with Ezion-Geber by the German explorer F. Frank and later excavavated by Nelson Gluck who thought he had confirmed the identification, but a later re-evaluation dates them to a period between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE with occupation continuing possibly into the 4th century BCE.
Ezion-Geber or
Asiongaber (Classical Hebrew: עֶצְיֹן גֶּבֶר, pronounced "Etzyón-Gaver") was a city of Idumea, a biblical seaport on the northern extremity of the
Gulf of AqabaThe Gulf of Aqaba , in Israel known as the Gulf of Eilat is a large gulf of the Red Sea. It is located to the east of the Sinai peninsula and west of the Arabian mainland. Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia all have coastlines on the Gulf of Aqaba...
, in the area of modern
AqabaAqaba is a coastal town in the far south of Jordan. It is the capital of Aqaba Governorate. Aqaba is strategically important to Jordan as it is the country's only seaport. The town borders Eilat, Israel, and there is a border post where it is possible to cross between the two countries...
and
EilatEilat is Israel's southernmost city, a busy port as well as a popular resort, located at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on the Gulf of Eilat. Home to 65,000 people, the city is part of the Southern Negev Desert, at the southern end of the Arava...
.
Biblical references
Ezion-Geber is mentioned six times in the Tanach Ruins at Tell el-Kheleifeh were identified with Ezion-Geber by the German explorer F. Frank and later excavavated by Nelson Gluck who thought he had confirmed the identification, but a later re-evaluation dates them to a period between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE with occupation continuing possibly into the 4th century BCE. According to the
Book of NumbersThe Book of Numbers or Bəmidbar is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible/Christian Old Testament, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah or Pentateuch.This book may be divided into three parts:#The numbering of the people at Sinai, and preparations for resuming their march...
Ezion-Geber was one of the first places where the
IsraeliteIn the Bible, the Israelites were the descendants of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. They were divided into twelve tribes, each descended from one of twelve sons or grandsons of Jacob....
s camped after
the ExodusThe Exodus, from the Greek word έξοδος, is an event that marked the departure of the Israelites from enslavement in ancient Egypt. The event is described in the Hebrew Bible, but no other original sources...
from Egypt.
The ships of Solomon and Hiram started from this port on their voyage to Ophir. It was the main port for Israel's commerce with the countries bordering on the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. According to Book of II Chronicles,
JehoshaphatJehoshaphat was the fourth king of the Kingdom of Judah, and successor of his father Asa. His children included Jehoram, who succeeded him as king...
, the King of Judah, joined with Ochozias, the King of Israel, to make ships in Asiongaber; but God disapproved the alliance, and the ships were broken in the port.
In I Kings 9:26-29 (King James Version) says:
- And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom.
- And Hiram
Hiram I , according to the Bible, was the Phoenician king of Tyre. He reigned from 980 BC to 947 BC, succeeding his father, Abibaal. Hiram was succeeded as king of Tyre by his son Baal-Eser I...
sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.
- And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.
"
Ezion Geber" resembles "the giant's backbone", perhaps named after a rock formation, but according to the
Targum JonathanTargum Jonathan - otherwise referred to as Targum Yonasan/Yonatan is the official eastern targum to the Nevi'im. Its early origins, however, are western i.e. from the Land of Israel, and the Talmudic tradition attributes its authorship to Jonathan ben Uzziel...
, it means city of the rooster. (כְּרַך תַּרְנְגוֹלָא)