Giblite

Gib'lit'e (Heb. with the art. in the sing. hag-Gibli', הִגַּבלַי, Jos 13:5; Sept. Γαβλὶ [v.r. Γαλιὰθ] Φυλιστιείμ Vulg. merely confinia; plural, hag- Giblim', הִגַּבלַים 1Ki 5:18; Sept. Alex. οϊv Γιβλίοι, other MISS. omit; Vulg. Giblii, A.V. "stone-squarers"), a people whose land is coupled with "all Lebanon, as together belonging to the territory of the Israelites on the northern side, in the enumeration of the portions of the Promised Land remaining to be conquered by Joshua" (Jos 13:5). The ancient versions give no help, but there is no reason to doubt that the allusion is to the inhabitants of the city GEBAL SEE GEBAL (q.v.), which was on the sea-coast at the foot of the northern slopes of Lebanon, and from which the name is a regular derivative (see Gensenius, Thesaur. page 258 b). The whole passage is instructive, as showing how very far the limits of the country designed for the Israelites exceeded those which they actually occupied. The people in question, who plainly belonged to the Phoenician territory, are understood to have been the people of Byblus, a city of the Phoenicians between Tripoli and Berytus. The inhabitants of Gebal are mentioned in the cuneiform inscriptions (q.v.). The Giblites are again named (in the Hela.) in 1Ki 5:18 as assisting Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders to prepare the trees and the stones for building the Templo. That they were clever artificers is evident from this passage; and in connection with the shipping and merchandise of Tyre, the prophet Ezekiel mentions "the ancients of Gebal" as furnishing calkers, or perhaps generally ship-carpenters (Eze 27:9). The Giblites are not mentioned in immediate connection with the affairs of Israel; if they did come into direct contact with these, it must have been for evil, and not for good; for Byblus was the seat of the worship of the Syrian Tammcuz or Adonis, a worship which certainly found its way, among other corruptions, into the later idolatries of the Jewish people (Eze 8:14), bent whether directly from Bybius, or from other pats of Phoenicia, we have no means of ascertaining. SEE PHOENICIA.