Geshur was a territory in the northern part of
BashanBashan or Basan is a biblical place first mentioned in , where it is said that Chedorlaomer and his confederates "smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth", where Og the king of Bashan had his residence. At the time of Israel's entrance into the Promised Land, Og came out against them, but was utterly routed...
, in ancient
LevantThe Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
, adjoining the province of
ArgobArgob , a region located east of the Jordan River, on an island of rock which was approximately by , and rose 20 or above the table-land of Bashan. An extremely rugged region, sixty walled cities were on the island, which was ruled over by Og. In the New Testament, it is called Trachonitis...
and the kingdom of Aram or Syria. It was allotted to the half-
tribe of ManassehAccording to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Manasseh was one of the Tribes of Israel. Together with the Tribe of Ephraim, Manasseh also formed the House of Joseph....
, which settled east of the
Jordan river; but its inhabitants, the Geshurites, could not be expelled.
In the time of
DavidDavid was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
, Geshur was an independent
kingdomA monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
, and
DavidDavid was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
married Maachah, a daughter of
TalmaiTalmai is a name in the Bible referring to a number of minor people. Its Aramaic version was connected to the Greek Ptolemy , and, later, to the Italian Bartolomeo, English Bartholomew etc....
, king of Geshur. Her son
AbsalomAccording to the Bible, Absalom or Avshalom was the third son of David, King of Israel with Maachah, daughter of Talmai, King of Geshur. describes him as the most handsome man in the kingdom...
fled to his mother's native country, after the murder of his half-brother and David's eldest son,
AmnonAccording to the Bible, Amnon was the oldest son of David, King of Israel, with his wife, Ahinoam, who is described as "the Jezreelitess". -Rape of Tamar:...
. Absalom stayed there for three years before being rehabilitated by David. (ib. )
Geshur is identified with the plateau called today "Lejah," in the center of the
HauranHauran, , also spelled Hawran or Houran, is a volcanic plateau, a geographic area and a people located in southwestern Syria and extending into the northwestern corner of Jordan. It gets its name from the Aramaic Hawran, meaning "cave land." In geographic and geomorphic terms, its boundaries...
.