Debir

De´bir, a city in the tribe of Judah, about thirty miles south-west from Jerusalem, and ten miles west of Hebron. It was also called Kirjath-sepher (Jos 15:15), and Kirjath-sannah (Jos 15:49). The name Debir means ’a word’ or ’oracle,’ and is applied to that most secret and separated part of the Temple, or of the most holy place, in which the Ark of the Covenant was placed, and in which responses were given from above the cherubim. From this, coupled with the fact that Kirjath-sepher means ’book-city,’ it has been conjectured that Debir was some particularly sacred place or seat of learning among the Canaanites, and a repository of their records. ’It is not indeed probable,’ as Professor Bush remarks, ’that writing and books, in our sense of the words, were very common among the Canaanites; but some method of recording events, and a sort of learning, was doubtless cultivated in those regions.’ Debir was taken by Joshua (Jos 10:38); but it being afterwards retaken by the Canaanites. Caleb, to whom it was assigned, gave his daughter Achsah in marriage to his nephew Othniel for his bravery in carrying it by storm (Jos 15:16). The town was afterwards given to the priests (Jos 21:15). No trace of it is to be found at the present time.

There were two other places called Debir: one belonging to Gad, beyond Jordan (Jos 13:26); the other to Benjamin, though originally in Judah.

A word, an oracle, Jdg 1:11, a place called also KIRJATH-SEPHER, a city of books; and KIRJATH-SANNAH, a city of literature, Jos 5:15,15 . Judging from the names, it appears to have been some sacred place among the Canaanites, and a repository of their records. It was a city in the south-west part of Judea, conquered from the Anakim by Joshua, but recaptured by the Canaanites, and resubdued by Othniel, and afterwards given to the priests, Jos 10:38,39 15:15-17 21:15. Its site is wholly lost. There was another Debir in Gad, and a third on the border of Benjamin, Jos 13:26 15:7.\par

De’bir. (a sanctuary). The name of three places of Palestine.

1. A town in the mountains of Judah, Jos 15:49, one of a group of eleven cities to the west of Hebron. The earlier name of Debir was Kirjath-sepher, "city of book", Jos 15:15; Jdg 1:11 and Kirjath-sannah, "city of palm". Jos 15:49. It was one of the cities given with their "suburbs" to the priests. Jos 21:15; 1Ch 6:58.

Debir has not been discovered with certainty in modern times; but about three miles to the west of Hebron is a deep and secluded valley called the Wady Nunkur, enclosed on the north by hills, of which one bears a name certainly suggestive of Debir -- Dewir-ban.

2. A place on the north boundary of Judah, near the "valley of Achor." Jos 15:7. A Wady Dabor is marked in Van Deuteronomy Velde’s map as close to the south of Neby Musa, at the northwest corner of the Dead Sea.

3. The "border of Debir" is named as forming part of the boundary of Gad, Jos 13:26, and as apparently not far from Mahanaim.

4. King of Eglon; one of the five kings, hanged by Joshua. Jos 10:3; Jos 10:23. (B.C. 1440).

1. In the highlands of Judah, near Hebron. First taken by Joshua (Jos 10:38-39; Jos 11:21; Jos 12:13; Jos 15:49). Formerly Kirjath Sepher (city of the book), or K. Sannah (palm). There is still a Dewirban three miles W. of Hebron. But Debir was S. of Hebron (Jos 15:49); so Van de Velde identifies it with Dilbeh, S.W. of Hebron. Conder (Palestine Exploration) identifies it better with El hoheriyeh, a corruption of the old name Deberah, meaning in Arabic "the village on the ridge." Exactly at 3,000 (16-inch) cubits on the main S. road a large stone still there marked the bounds assigned outside to Debir as a Levitical city (which also may be the limit of a sabbath day’s journey); and another stone on the W.

At 6 1/2 miles northward are the "upper and lower springs," which Caleb’s daughter begged for, in the valley Seil el Dilbeh, in all 14 springs divided into three groups; no other such are found in the Judah "south country," or Negeb; a brook flows through the small gardens for four or five miles (Jdg 1:15; Jos 15:19). Conder states the important discovery that "the list in Joshua 12, which precedes all the other topographical lists, forms the key of the whole system." They are the 31 royal cities; these divide the country into districts which have natural boundaries, and contain severally one or more of the royal cities. Debir stood, according to Jos 15:19, in "a dry and" ("south land"), therefore Dilbeh near fine springs cannot be the site. Dhoheriyeh is remarkable for its broad rolling downs and fruitful soil; it is truly "a dry land" without a spring.

"Joshua returned to (made a detour to attack) Debir" (Jos 10:38-40.) His direct march after Eglon and Lachish would have been northwards from Hebron to Gilgal, therefore it was probably S.W. of Hebron. The Negeb or "south land" consists of soft, porous, chalky limestone extending from the desert on the E. (the Jeshimon) to ’Anab and the plain on the W., and from Dilbeh and Yutta on the N. to Beersheba on the S. The dwellings of Dhoheriyeh are mostly caves in the rock, with rude arches carved over doorways; rock excavation is a mark of great antiquity, and is a relic of the troglodyte or primitive Canaanite way of living. It was originally the seat of a king of the Anakim. This people reoccupied it when the Israelite army withdrew and was engaged with the northern Canaanites. Othniel, son of Kenaz, for love of Achsah, Caleb’s daughter, took it again. It was allotted to the priests (Jos 21:15; 1Ch 6:58).

2. A place on the northern bound of Judah, near the valley of Achor (Jos 15:7), between Jericho and Jerusalem (Jos 15:7).

3. Part of the boundary of Gad (Jos 13:26); in the high pastures E. of Jordan, and possibly akin to dabar, Hebrew for a wilderness pasture, Reland identifies it with Lodebar.

(Heb. Debir’, רְּבַירor רְּבַר, a sanctuary, often applied to the Tabernacle and Temple), the name of two or three places, and also of a man.

1. (רְּבַר, but in Judges and Chron. רְּבַיר; Sept. Δαβίρ [Δεβίρ in Jos 15:15; Jos 15:49; Jos 21:15; Jdg 1:1; Jdg 1:11] v. r. Δαβείρ; Vulg. Dabir), a town in the mountains of Judah (Jos 15:49), one of a group of eleven cities to the west of Hebron (Keil, Comment. in loc.), in a parched region (Jdg 1:11-15). In the narrative it is mentioned as being the next place which Joshua took after Hebron (10, 38). It was the seat of a Canaanitish king (10, 39; 12:13), and was one of the towns of the Anakim, and from which they were utterly destroyed by Joshua (11, 21). The earlier name of Debir was KIRJATH-SEPHER (Jos 15:15; Jdg 1:11) and KIRJATH-SANNAH (Jos 15:49). (See these names.) The records of its conquest vary, though not very materially. In Jos 15:17, and Jdg 1:13, a detailed account is given of its capture by Othniel, son of Kenaz, for love of Achsah, the daughter of Caleb, while in the general history of the conquest it is ascribed to the great commander himself (Jos 10:38-39, where the name occurs with ה, local affixed, Debi’rah, רְּבַרָה, and this even with prefixed). It was one of the cities given with their “suburbs” (מַגְרָשׁ) to the priests (Jos 21:15; 1Ch 6:58). Debir does not appear to have been known to Jerome, nor has it been discovered with certainty in modern times. About three miles to the W. of Hebron is a deep and secluded valley called the Wady Nunkur, enclosed on the north by hills of which one bears a name certainly suggestive of Debir-Dewir-ban. (See the narrative of Rosen in the Zeitsch. d. Morgenl. 1857, p. 50-64). The subject, and indeed the whole topography of this district, requires further examination: in the mean time it is perhaps some confirmation of Dr. Rosen’s suggestion that a village or site on one of these hills is pointed out as called Isaiah the Arabic name for Joshua. Schwarz (Palest. p. 86) speaks of a Wady Dibir in this direction. Van deVelde (Memoir, p. 307) finds Debir at Dilbeh, six miles S.W. of Hebron, where Stewart (Tent and Khan, p. 223, 224) mentions a spring brought down from a high to a low level by an aqueduct (comp. “the upper and the nether springs” of Jdg 1:14-15).

2. (רְּבַר; Sept. ἐπὶ τὸ τέτραρτον τῆς φάραγγος Α᾿χώρ; Vulg. Debera), a place on the north boundary of Judah, “near the “Valley of Achor” (Jos 15:7), and therefore somewhere in the complications of hill and ravine behind Jericho. De Saulcy (Narrat. 2:25) attaches the name Thour ed- Dabour to the ruined khan on the right of the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, at which travelers usually stop to refresh; but this is not corroborated by any other traveler, unless it be Schwarz (Palest. p. 95), and he is disposed to identify this site with this and the foregoing place, nor does the locality agree with the scriptural intimations. The name usually given to it by the Arabs is Khan Hatherurah. A Wady Dabor is marked in Van de Velde’s map as lying close to the S. of Neby Musa, at the N.W. corner of the Dead Sea (see De Saulcy, Narrat. 2:53, 54), which probably gives a trace of the ancient town as located on the N.E. of this valley. SEE TRIBE.

3. The “border (גְּבוּל) of Debir” (לַרְבַּר, to Debir; Sept. Δεβίρ v. r. Δαβείρ and Δαιβών; Vulg. Dabir) is named as forming part of the boundary of Gad (Jos 13:26), and as apparently not far from Mahanaim. Reland (Palaest. p. 734) conjectures that the name may be the same as LODEBAR (q.v.), which is written similarly (לארְבָר or לוֹרְבָר), and lay in the same vicinity (2Sa 9:4-5). Lying in the grazing country on the high downs east of Jordan, the name is doubtless connected with

רָּבִר, dabar, the same word which is the root of Midbar, the wilderness or pasture (see Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 318).

4. (רְּבַיר; Sept. Δαρίρ v. r. Δαρείρ and Δαβίν; Vulg. Dabir); the king of Eglon, in the low country of Judah; one of the five Canaanitish princes who joined the confederacy summoned by Adonizedek of Jerusalem, and who were defeated, confined in a cave, and at length hanged by Joshua (Jos 10:3; Jos 10:23). B.C. 1613.

[Debir’]

1. Amorite king of Eglon, slain by Joshua. Jos 10:3; Jos 10:23; Jos 10:26.

2. City in the highlands of Judah near Hebron. It was one of the cities of the Amorites that was destroyed and its king slain. Joshua as the leader of Israel is represented as taking it, but in Judges we find that it was actually taken by Othniel, to whom Caleb gave his daughter Achsah in marriage for its capture. It was eventually given to the priests. Its former name was KIRJATH-SEPHER or KIRJATH-SANNAH. Jos 10:38-39; Jos 11:21; Jos 12:13; Jos 15:7; Jos 15:15; Jos 15:49; Jos 21:15; Jdg 1:11-12; 1Ch 6:58. Identified with edh Dhaheriyeh, 31° 25’ N, 34° 58’ E.

3. Place on the north boundary of Judah, near the valley of Achor. Jos 15:7. Identified by some with Thoghret ed Debr, 31° 49’ N, 35° 21’ E.

4. Place on the boundary of Gad, mentioned after Mahanaim. Jos 13:26.

By: Morris Jastrow, Jr., Isaac Husik, Emil G. Hirsch, Frants Buhl

1. A king of Eglon referred to in Josh. x. 3 et seq. The Septuagint reads Δαβὶν. Debir was one of the five kings who joined Adonizedek, King of Jerusalem, against the city of Gibeon. In the battle which ensued, according to the Book of Jashar, Joshua, who had come to the support of Gibeon, caused the sun and the moon to stop in their courses while he took revenge on his enemies. The outcome was a crushing defeat for Debir and the allied kings, who fled, but were caught and ignominiously put to death.J. Jr. I. Hu.

2. City in the south of Judah. According to Josh. xv. 15 and Judges i. 12, it was originally called "Kirjath-sepher" (); according to Josh. xv. 49, "Kirjath-sannah" (). In Josh. x. 39, xi. 21, xii. 13, it is said to have been conquered by Joshua, while in ib. xv. 15 et seq.; Judges i. 12 et seq., Othniel is named as its captor. It was the seat of a tribal chief, and therefore a place of some importance. It is mentioned among the Levitical cities in Josh. xxi. 15. Its situation is not certainly known. Probably it is identical with Al-Ḍahariyyah, a large village on the top of a hill southwest of Hebron. Some consider the "Debir" mentioned in Josh. xv. 7 to be another place; but no city of this name is elsewhere mentioned as being in the vicinity indicated in the passage, and the text seems to be corrupt.

DEBIR.—The king of Eglon, who acc. to Jos 10:3 joined other four kings against Joshua, but was defeated and put to death along with his allies at Makkedah.

DEBIR.—1. A town first known as Kiriath-sepher (Jos 15:15, Jdg 1:11) in the neighbourhood of Hebron, and inhabited by Anakim (Jos 11:21), conquered by Joshua (Jos 10:38; Jos 11:21; Jos 12:13), or more specifically by Othniel (Jos 15:15), assigned as a Levitical city (Jos 21:15, 1Ch 6:58) in the tribe of Judah (Jos 15:49). An alternative name Kiriath-sannah, once recorded (Jos 15:49), is probably a corruption of Kiriath-sepher, due primarily to the similarity of p and n in the old Hebrew alphabet. It has been doubtfully identified with edh-Dhaheriyeh near Hebron; till the site can be identified and examined, the attractive speculations based on the apparent meaning of the older name (‘City of Books’ or ‘Scribes’) must be left in the region of theory.

2. A place named in the northern boundary of Judah, near the valley of Achor (Jos 15:7). The name still survives as the appellation of a place in this neighbourhood.

3. A place, not identified, in the border of the trans-Jordanic territory of Gad (Jos 13:26). An alternative reading is Lidebir (cf. Lo-debar).

R. A. S. Macalister.

dē´bẽr (דּביר, d^ebhı̄r, or דּבר, d^ebhir, “oracle”): King of Eglon, one of the five Amorite kings whose confederation against Israel was overcome and who were killed by Joshua (Jos 10:3).