Ibleam
1:
IBLEAM (PLACE) [Heb yiblĕ˓ām (יִבְלְעָם)]. Var. BILEAM. A town in the territory of Issachar, given to Manasseh, but from which Manasseh could not drive out the Canaanite inhabitants (Josh 17:11–12; Judg 1:27). Ibleam was an important city in the Bronze Age, mentioned as a royal city in Egyptian archives (LBHG, 152) and occurs in the conquest list of Thutmose III (GP 2: 357; ANET, 242). During the Iron Age (2 Kgs 9:27), Jehu mortally wounded Ahaziah, king of Judah, at the ascent of Gur, outside Ibleam. It is possible that in 2 Kgs 15:10 the Heb qbl˓m, “before the people,” should be read bybl˓m as the Lucian version of the LXX renders it (Gk en Ieblaam) and that Zechariah, the king of Israel, was therefore killed “in Ibleam” (Cogan and Tadmor 2 Kings AB, 170–71). other scholars (Albright 1945: 69) restore Ibleam to the list of levitical cities, replacing Bileam in 1 Chr 6:55 (—Eng 6:70) and Gath-rimmon in Josh 21:25.
Ibleam is almost universally identified with Kh. Bel˓ameh (M.R. 177205), which guards the easternmost pass through the mountains of Ephraim into the Jezreel valley (LBHG, 436). The site has strong natural defenses (Phythian-Adams 1922: 143), which may have been supplemented by an ancient underground water system from Bir Senjar at the foot of the tell (Schumacher 1907: 107). Ibleam, along with Megiddo and Jokneam, was one of the fortress cities which guarded access to and from the S limits of the Jezreel valley.
Bibliography
Albright, W. F. 1945. The List of Levitical Cities. Pp. 75–104 in Louis Ginzberg Jubilee Volume. New York.
Phythian-Adams, W. J. 1922. The Site of Ibleam. PEQ 1922: 142–47.
Schumacher, G. 1907. The Great Water Passage of Khirbet Bel˓ameh. PEQ 1907: 107–12.
Melvin Hunt
Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Bible Dictionary (3:353). New York: Doubleday.
2:
Ibleam — people-waster, a city assigned to Manasseh (Josh. 17:11), from which the Israelites, however, could not expel the Canaanites (Judg. 1:27). It is also called Bileam (1 Chr. 6:70). It was probably the modern Jelamah, a village 2 1/2 miles north of Jenin.
Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
3:
IBLEAM City in Manasseh’s territory (Jos 17:11; Jgs 1:27; 2 Kgs 9:27), perhaps identifiable with Bileam, a Levitical city west of the Jordan River between Samaria and Jezreel (1 Chr 6:70). See Levitical Cities.
Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (623). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
4:
IB´LEAM (ibʹlē-am). A city—with suburban towns—within the natural boundaries of Asher but assigned to Manasseh (Josh. 17:11); one of the towns from which Manasseh failed to expel the Canaanites (v. 12). It is called Bileam (1 Chron. 6:70), a Levitical city (cf. Josh. 21:25, where it is called Gath-rimmon). Probably preserved in the ruins of Khirbet-belameh, about ten miles SE of Megiddo.
Unger, M. F., Harrison, R. K., Vos, H. F., Barber, C. J., & Unger, M. F. (1988). The new Unger's Bible dictionary. Revision of: Unger's Bible dictionary. 3rd ed. c1966. (Rev. and updated ed.). Chicago: Moody Press.
5:
IBLEAM. A Canaanite town in the N borderland of Manasseh, whose territory extended to (not ‘in’) Issachar (Jos. 17:11; Y. Kaufmann, The Biblical Account of the Conquest of Palestine, 1953, p. 38). During the Israelite settlement, its Canaanite inhabitants were subdued, not expelled (Jdg. 1:27). The site of Ibleam is now Khirbet Bil‘ameh, c. 16 km SE of Megiddo on the road from Beth-shean (2 Ki. 9:27). It is probably the Bileam of 1 Ch. 6:70, a levitical city. Ibleam occurs in Egyp. lists as Ybr‘m. k.a.k.
Wood, D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W., & Marshall, I. H. (1996, c1982, c1962). New Bible Dictionary. Includes index. (electronic ed. of 3rd ed.) (494). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.
6:
Ibleam (ibʹleem), a strongly fortified town near one of the southern passes into the Esdraelon Plain. It is to be identified with modern Khirbet Bel‘ameh located a quarter mile south of Jenin. Ibleam is mentioned in the fifteenth-century list of Canaanite towns Pharaoh Thutmose III brought under his control. The tribe of Manasseh was unable to drive the Canaanites out of Ibleam (Josh. 17:11, 12; Judg. 1:27), and it probably remained in Canaanite hands until the time of David. Bileam of 1 Chron. 6:70 is probably identical with Ibleam; it is listed there as a levitical town of Manasseh, while the Septuagint of the parallel passage, Josh. 21:25, lists Ibleam. Ahaziah, king of Judah, was wounded by Jehu near Ibleam (2 Kings 9:27), and according to a Greek text it was at Ibleam that Shallum murdered Zechariah, king of Israel (2 Kings 15:10). See also Esdraelon. N.L.L.
Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.) (416). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
7:
Ibleam (Heb. yiḇlĕ˓ām)
A city located within the tribal boundaries of Issachar and Asher but given to the tribe of Manasseh (Josh. 17:11–12; Judg. 1:27). The city was not conquered until the time of the United Monarchy. It may have been allotted to the Levites (Josh. 21:25 LXX; cf. Bileam in 1 Chr. 6:70). Pharaoh Thutmose III (15th century b.c.) lists Ibleam among his conquered cities.
Ahaziah, king of Judah, was fatally wounded near Ibleam (2 Kgs. 9:27). Jehu’s soldiers had chased the king to a point near the ascent of Gur before they struck him; he died at Megiddo. Zechariah, king of Israel, may also have been assassinated at a place called Ieblaam/Ibleam (2 Kgs. 15:10 LXXL; MT “in front of the people”).
The site is identified with Khirbet Bel˓ameh (177205), ca. 1.6 km. (1 mi.) S of Jenin and 16 km. (10 mi.) SE of Megiddo. The Romans called the site Belemot. Ibleam, undoubtedly a fortress city, guarded one of the routes that provided access through the Jezreel Valley.
Stephen Von Wyrick
Freedman, D. N., Myers, A. C., & Beck, A. B. (2000). Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (624). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.
