What is…
Ezion Geber

also known as: Ezion-geber

Hebrew: עֶציֹן גֶּבֶר —transliteration: `Etsyown Geber —meaning: the giant’s backbone (so called from the head of a mountain which runs out into the sea)

This is an ancient port city and harbor at the northeast end of the Elanitic branch of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aquaba (Akabah), near Elath or Eloth (Numbers 33:35; Deuteronomy 2:8)

Here Solomon built ships, “Tarshish ships,” like those trading from Tyre to Tarshish and the west, which traded with Ophir (1 Kings 9:26; 2 Chronicles 8:17); and here also Jehoshaphat’s fleet was shipwrecked (1 Kings 22:48; 2 Chronicles 20:36).

It became a populous town, many of the Jews settling in it (2 Kings 16:6, “Elath”).

It is supposed that anciently the north end of the gulf flowed further into the country than now, as far as 'Ain el-Ghudyan, which is 10 miles up the dry bed of Arabah, and that Ezion-Geber may have been there.

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Article Version: December 17, 2024