In studying God’s word, I felt myself drawn to a place name—one of a dizzying array of hundreds of villages, towns, and cities named in the early days of the nation of Israel. I’m talking about Jabesh Gilead. Jabesh Gilead’s story is peppered into the history of Israel in ways that take my breath away. Their story is one of unjust persecution, courage, deliverance, and, ultimately, honor. The struggles of Jabesh Gilead are, in many ways, the struggles that Jesus showed us, as His disciples, we would face. And, while we don’t have many details, what we do see should encourage Christians to persevere as we take up our crosses in following Jesus.
Jabesh-Gilead is part of the inheritance of Manasseh. We don’t know the precise location, but we know that it was part of the inheritance of the two-and-a-half tribes that settled east of the Jordan River. That makes the city part of the East Manasseh settlement. The city seems to be located pretty close to the inheritance of the tribe of Gad.
Approximate location of Jabesh Gilead c.1200 BC
The first mention of Jabesh Gilead is in the Book of Judges. The first mention of anything in the Bible tends to be the lens through which we should see it in any further instances. First mention provides a foundation for how the person, place, or thing will be more developed in the Bible.
Well, Jabesh Gilead’s first mention is anything but auspicious. It comes after a bloody civil war among the tribes. The tribe of Benjamin is attacked by a coalition of the other tribes, led by Judah. The other 11 tribes are outraged because of the disturbing manner in which the men of Gibeah, a town north of Jerusalem, treat a Levite and his concubine. You can find that extremely brutal story in Judges 19—the story of Lot in Genesis 19 echoes in Israel. In short, when the story of the Levite’s treatment in Gibeah is spread throughout Israel, the people arm themselves to destroy Gibeah.
After a bloody three-day battle between the entire tribe of Benjamin and the rest of Israel, Benjamin is defeated, with only 600 fighting-age Benjamite men left alive. Judges 20:48 tells us that after the defeat of Benjamin:
The men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to the sword, including the animals and everything else they found. All the towns they came across they set on fire.
Judges 20:48 NIV
This is a euphemism that lets us know the women and children from the tribe of Benjamin have been killed. We learn at the beginning of Judges 21 that Israel has taken a collective vow not to allow any of their daughters to marry into the tribe of Benjamin. So, this leaves the men who are still alive without the prospect of continuing the bloodline of Benjamin. The Israelites determine that the tribe of Benjamin must be allowed to continue, so they come up with a plan. This is where Jabesh Gilead becomes part of the solution.
After an evening of weeping and prayer before the Lord’s altar at Bethel, the assembled tribes ask if there are any among the 11 tribes who did not show up to fight Benjamin, and, in Judges 21:8-9, it is determined that the men of Jabesh Gilead are not present.
And so, beginning in verse 10, we learn how Jabesh Gilead is punished for not attacking Benjamin, and at the same time, provides the means for Benjamin to continue to exist as a tribe.
So the assembly sent twelve thousand fighting men with instructions to go to Jabesh Gilead and put to the sword those living there, including the women and children. “This is what you are to do,” they said. “Kill every male and every woman who is not a virgin.” They found among the people living in Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they took them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan.
Judges 21:10-12 NIV
The first time we are introduced to Jabesh Gilead is with an unjust slaughter of an entire community, with the exception of 400 virgins, who are kidnapped and forced into marriage with the Benjamite survivors. We are never shown why Jabesh Gilead chooses not to get involved. They may have been sympathetic to Benjamin. They may have just seen where this entire, sordid event would only result in blood and division, and chose to remain neutral. Since Manasseh, as a tribe, was included among the peoples, it seems like the leaders of the assembly were looking for a suitable scapegoat to sacrifice for the “good” of Israel.
Even though the people had decided not to allow the surviving men of Benjamin to marry women among the other 11 tribes, they rationalize their decision through shedding even more blood and by forcibly taking women. What would not be allowed, in other words, could, instead, be stolen.
By principles of first mention, then, we should see Jabesh Gilead as persecuted and oppressed by their own people.
The next time we hear of Jabesh Gilead, the time of the judges has passed, and Israel is now led by its first anointed king, Saul. And, once again, the people of Jabesh Gilead are under attack. 1 Samuel 11:1 begins with the Ammonite king, Nahash, attacking the people of Jabesh Gilead. Thanks to the additional material found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, we learn why Nahash is attacking:
Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.
4QSama/1 Samuel 11:1 NRSV
This time, the people in Jabesh Gilead are refugees from the other two Transjordan tribes, Reuben and Gad. Nahash offers terms for peace between Ammon and Jabesh Gilead, and it’s basically just to satisfy his own sadistic yearning to make every one of his enemies partially blind. The town elders agree to submit everyone to the eye gouging terms of peace, but request a delay of one week, hoping for deliverance.
Eye gouging in the Ancient Near East served to bring public shame and to lower the status of the ones being mutilated.[i] In this case, Nahash would not only be shaming the people in Jabesh Gilead, but also the rest of Israel, since Israel would have been seen as weak for not preventing the mutilation. Keep in mind, too, that physical deformities were disqualifiers from serving God as priests (see Leviticus 21:16-23). While this did not specifically apply here, Israelites strongly associated physical wholeness with being made in the image and likeness of God, and as such, deformity was seen as disrupting the divine dignity of a person.
When Saul hears about the plight of the people of Jabesh, “the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he burned with anger” (1 Sam 11:6). We are meant to see another dimension in the story of Jabesh Gilead—that the Lord is angered by the treatment of His people here, and He intends to deliver them.
Saul rallies Israel to come to their defense. It’s interesting that Samuel, who is generally believed to be the author of 1 Samuel, includes a detail about Saul here—in verse 4, Saul is introduced by his hometown—Gibeah. This is the same Benjamite town that had notoriously acted like Sodomites and caused a civil war in Israel. And this means that Saul is descended from the ones who sinned against God’s people. He may also be descended from one of the virgin women stolen from Jabesh Gilead and forced to marry the surviving Benjamites.
1 Samuel 11:11 tells us that Saul and his forces attack the Ammonite forces camped outside of Jabesh Gilead, leaving only a scattered remnant of Ammonite survivors. Jabesh is saved from a horrible fate. This rescue also marks the beginning of Saul’s recognized reign as king since he is inaugurated and crowned shortly after the victory over the Ammonites. Interestingly, the end of Saul’s reign also ties in with the people of Jabesh Gilead.
The next time we see mention of Jabesh, it comes after the death of King Saul. The Philistines have gone up in battle against Israel and succeed in killing three of Saul’s sons, including David’s dear friend Jonathan. Saul takes his own life, and the Philistines celebrate by beheading Saul and displaying the bodies of Saul and his sons on the wall of occupied Beth Shan, a West Manasseh city in the middle interior of Israel, located along the western side of the Jordan River.
The men of Jabesh Gilead bravely cross the Jordan and recover the bodies of Saul and his sons from display on the city walls, as we learn in 1 Samuel 31:11-13 and Ezra’s parallel account in the post-exilic, historical record of 1 Chronicles 10:11-12. While the Israelite army fled the battle and abandoned their towns, the men of Jabesh show courage and loyalty to the king who had earlier delivered them from an awful fate.
Ultimately, Saul and his sons are buried in Jabesh, symbolically under a tree that was like the one Saul sat under in leadership at Gibeah. It is a tamarisk tree, and besides the two times the tamarisk is associated with Saul, it shows up one other time, in Genesis 21:33. Abraham plants this kind of tree in treaty with, of all people, the ruler of the Philistines. He also calls on the name of the Lord, calling Him the Eternal God. Its first mention symbolizes the promise of future generations who would one day be blessed in the place where the tree is planted.
And so, in honoring the fallen king of Israel through his burial, Jabesh buries its deliverer and the shame of his body hanging on the wall. Their choice to bury Saul and his sons under the tamarisk tree symbolizes the hope that the promise made by God to Abraham will be seen in this time of loss.
Jabesh shows up two more times in Scripture. Soon after Saul dies, David is made king of Judah. 2 Samuel 2:4-7 tells us that his first act as king of Judah is to go to Jabesh Gilead to encourage and bless the people there, promising that they will be favored among the people. Look at King David’s language, starting in verse 5:
he sent messengers to them to say to them, “The Lord bless you for showing this kindness to Saul your master by burying him. May the Lord now show you kindness and faithfulness, and I too will show you the same favor because you have done this. Now then, be strong and brave, for Saul your master is dead, and the people of Judah have anointed me king over them.
2 Samuel 2:5-7 NIV
This is certainly a very different treatment than what we have seen so far!
The people of Jabesh have been persecuted and oppressed. They have been delivered from oppression. They courageously showed kindness and loyalty to the king in honoring him and his sons in death. And now, finally, the people of Jabesh Gilead are to receive honor and favor for their faithfulness. They persevered over a period of hundreds of years to gain much more than what they had lost.
The town shows up one final time in 2 Samuel 21:12. David, who is now king over all of Judah and Israel, gathers the bones of Saul and Jonathan from under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh Gilead and buries them in the tomb of Saul’s father. The death of the king has been removed from their responsibility by King David.
If you haven’t picked up on it yet, the story of Jabesh Gilead is, in many ways, the story of our Christian walk.
Persecution
The people of Jabesh Gilead were persecuted by their own people when they chose to remove themselves from the evil plans of civil war. Paul reminds us that we, too, will face opposition when we try to remove ourselves from the world:
2 Timothy 3:12 NIV
In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
But Jesus promises us that He will be with us and we will be blessed in facing persecution. We are to take up the cross of persecution in this life, knowing that, in perseverance, we will ultimately be saved. This is why Paul also tells us:
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NIV
In persecution, we are called to hope that our faith will never lead us to shame.
Shame
The people of Jabesh Gilead were also pursued by outsiders who intended to shame and subjugate them. And this is a reminder that, as believers, we face adversity all around us. But in this, we should be encouraged. Like the servants of the vineyard owner in Jesus’ parable, we can expect to be treated shamefully for the sake of Jesus. This is what it means to take up one’s cross, as all those who follow Jesus are called to do. Yet, Jesus also promises that those who face the shame of the world and remain loyal to Jesus will never have to worry about being shamed before God.
It’s in Paul’s encouragement that we understand that, even though we face persecution and shame, we are delivered in Jesus.
Deliverance
Although the people of Jabesh Gilead faced persecution and shame, they were delivered by the king. When Saul hears of the threat, he is filled with the wrath of God. So, too, our God sent King Jesus in His wrath over sin, and Jesus delivered us from sin’s persecution and shame. Jabesh was powerless to stop what was coming to overwhelm them. They needed a savior. So, too, we are powerless against the enemy and his kingdom. We require our King and Savior, Jesus, to defeat the strong man and free us from subjugation to the kingdom of darkness.
Humility
I am struck by the loyalty and bravery of the people of Jabesh Gilead. While the army of Israel fled before the Philistines, the men of Jabesh traveled all night, crossed into occupied territory, and recovered the publicly displayed bodies of the king and his sons. They then honored Saul in burial. This is a great example of putting others first, at great expense to themselves. This is what denying oneself looks like, as all disciples of Jesus are required to do. And we have no greater model of denying oneself, humility, than in Jesus:
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Philippians 2:3-8 NIV
I am also reminded of the actions of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who remained loyal to Jesus and bravely took the body of Jesus and prepared it for a kingly burial (John 19:38-42). They did what was right, even at the risk of their standing before the other Pharisees and Sanhedrin. Christian tradition suggests that Nicodemus lost his status and honor among the Sanhedrin. Joseph of Arimathea, on the other hand, is credited with spreading the Gospel into England.
Favor
The history of Jabesh Gilead, beginning with unjust persecution, concludes with favor—the favor of the king. King David recognized their humility and his first act as king of Judah is to honor the people of Jabesh for their humility. We see throughout the Bible that “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble” (i.e., Psalm 101:5; Proverbs 3:34, 15:25, 16:5; Isaiah 2:12, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5).
Jabesh began with death and theft from Israel and they were restored to more than they had lost. Is that not a perfect representation of our walk with Jesus? When we make Jesus our Lord and Savior, we are raised to new life and restored back into the family of God. As part of our salvation, we gain the favor of the Lord.
And that is how the story of a small, obscure town on the eastern side of the Jordan River becomes an inspirational foreshadowing of perseverance in following Jesus. Scripture is filled with blessings like this. Holy Spirit wants to show you these hidden treasures. You need only to open your heart and ask God for a new revelation in what you are reading.
[i] Lemos, T. M. (2006). Shame and Mutilation of Enemies in the Hebrew Bible. Journal of Biblical Literature, 125(2), 225–241. https://doi.org/10.2307/27638359
Excellent article!!!! Thank you for the revelation!
Thanks, Lori! I am always in awe of how God’s word keeps revealing itself. I’ve lost count of the number of times that I wonder why I hadn’t seen something before :). Blessings to you, my friend!