1:
TABBATH (PLACE) [Heb ṭabbāt (טַבָּת)]. A site related to the Midianite flight after Gideon’s surprise attack (Judg 7:22). It has been identified with Ras Abu Tabat on the Wadi Kufrinje, halfway between Jabesh-gilead and Succoth. The name may be derived from the root ṭbr (BDB, 371–72), of uncertain meaning, but the noun ṭabbûr means “highest part, center.”
Gideon’s surprise attack routed the Midianites from the Jezreel Valley toward Zererah to the border of Abel-meholah by Tabbath and beyond. Gideon’s pursuit took him to Succoth, Penuel, and Jogbehah (Jubeihat, 15 miles SE of Penuel). The Midianites rallied near Karkor (Judg 8:10; Qarqar in the Wadi Sirhan, 150 miles from Jezreel).
Wright (WHAB, 65, map IX) shows Tabbath S of Jabesh-gilead and Abel-meholah and N of Zarethan and Succoth in the mountains E of the Jordan River. Cohen (IDB 4:497) identifies Tabbath with Ras Abu Tabat, which he postulates was the vicinity of Karkor and Heres. However, the Midianites did not retire and rally their forces near Tabbath, but at Karkor, which was fairly deep in the desert.
The attempt to locate Tabbath largely depends upon the locations of several others sites mentioned in the narrative: Beth-shittah, Zererah, Abel-meholah (Judg 7:22), and Succoth (Judg 8:4–8). Complicating the analysis is the fact that the identifications of these sites are also unclear.
The location of Beth-shittah is unknown, though Smick (1973: 81) and Aharoni (LBHG, 294 n. 222) say that both it and Abel-meholah were near fords of the Jordan. In Judg 7:24, Gideon calls on Ephraimites to capture the fords of the Jordan. Boling (Judges AB, 48, map 2) suggests Beth-shittah is on the E bank on the Wadi Kufrinje E of Zarethan, several miles from the Jordan River.
Zererah is usually identified with Zeredah and both are equated with Zarethan (though there is a Zeredah in Ephraim; 1 Kgs 11:26). Zarethan is often identified with Tell es-Sa˓idiyeh (M.R. 204186) on the Wadi Kufrinje, but an alternate location for Zarethan is to the S at Tell Umm Hamad (M.R. 205172) on the N bank of the Jabbok. Pritchard (1987: 96–97) identifies Zarethan with Sa˓idiyeh (however, the first end-paper map shows Zarethan on the S side of the Jabbok). Pritchard (1985: 3) and Tubb (1986) both say that the biblical identity of Tell es-Sa˓idiyeh is uncertain.
Abel-meholah has been located either 12 miles S of Beth-shan at Tell el-Hilu (M.R. 197192; Smick 1973: 168; Pritchard 1987: 99, 113; Boling Judges AB, 48) or at Tell Maqlub (M.R. 214201) on the Wadi Yabis E of Jabesh-gilead, 20 miles from Gideon’s camp at the spring of Harod. Aharoni (LBHG, 284 nn. 222, 313) notes the el-Hilu location for Abel-meholah, but says that it should be identified with Tell Abu Sus (M.R. 203197) where are two fords. Smick (1973: 168) also notes the possible location of the site at Tell el-Meqberah, half way between the Yabis and Kufringe wadis. Soggins (Judges ET, OTL, 144) suggests additionally, Tell Abu Sifri, on the W bank of the Jordan, 3.5 miles W of Wadi Yabis.
Succoth is mentioned as one of the towns through which Gideon passed in pursuit of the Midianites, which would imply that Tabbath should be located somewhere along the route from Jezreel to Succoth. Succoth is often identified with Tell Deir ˓Alla (M.R. 208178; Pritchard 1987: 247), N of the Jabbok, though Franken (EAEHL 1: 321–24) prefers to identify Succoth with Tell el-Ekhsas, 1.5 miles to the W of Deir ˓Alla (cf. Aharoni LBHG, 284 n. 224). Gideon’s route of pursuit then passed into the hill country to Penuel and into the desert.
The location of Tabbath is unclear since its identification relies heavily upon the location of these other sites, the location of which are matters of dispute, and the logic of which makes for some confusion in this narrative. If the Midianites fled up the Wadi Yabis (Abel-meholah = Tell Maqlub) or up the Wadi Kufrinje (Zererar = Tell es-Sa˓idiyeh and Tabbath = Ras Abu Tabat), one would expect Gideon to pursue them along one of these routes, but he took the Jabbok, which leads E and then turns S toward Amman. It thus gives access to the desert and the Wadi Sirhan. Perhaps in their panic from the surprise in Jezreel, the Midianites fled whichever way they thought was open to get back to the E desert, but Gideon may have known where they were going and took the more direct route by-passing the forests of Gilead. The Midianites, too, however, may have fled through the Jabbok wadi system, in which case Gideon’s route would have followed them.
Bibliography
Pritchard, J. B. 1985. Tell es-Sa˓idiyeh. Philadelphia.
Pritchard, J. B., ed. 1987. The Times Atlas of the Bible. London.
Smick, E. 1973. Archaeology of the Jordan Valley. Grand Rapids.
Tubb, J. N. 1986. Tell es-Sa˓idiyeh 1986: Interim Report of the Second Season of Excavations. ADAJ 30: 115–29.
Henry O. Thompson
Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Bible Dictionary (6:291). New York: Doubleday.
2:
Tabbath — famous, a town in the tribe of Ephraim (Judg. 7:22), to the south of Bethshean, near the Jordan.
Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
3:
TABBATH Town on the outskirts of Abel-meholah on the east side of the Jordan River in the hill country of Gilead, to which Gideon and his small army chased the fleeing Midianites (Jgs 7:22).
Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (1233). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
4:
TAB´BATH (tabʹath). A place mentioned in connection with the flight of the Midianite host (Judg. 7:22). It is identified with Rās Abū Ṭabat.
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:
Tabbath (Heb. ṭabbāṯ)
A place where the Midianites fled after Gideon’s surprise attack (Judg. 7:22). Its precise location depends on the placement of other sites which have not been identified. Suggestions include Râs Abū Ṭābât on Wadi Kufrinjeh E of Beth-shean and the Jordan. It has also been placed S of Jabesh-gilead and Abel-meholah and N of Zarethan and Succoth as well as near Karkor and Heres.
Philip R. Drey
Freedman, D. N., Myers, A. C., & Beck, A. B. (2000). Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (1269). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.
