Ezion-geber
The giant’s backbone (so called from the head of a mountain which runs out into the sea), an ancient city and harbour at the north-east end of the Elanitic branch of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Akabah, near Elath or Eloth (Num 33:35; Deut 2:8). Here Solomon built ships, “Tarshish ships,” like those trading from Tyre to Tarshish and the west, which traded with Ophir (1 Kgs 9:26; 2 Chr 8:17); and here also Jehoshaphat’s fleet was shipwrecked (1 Kgs 22:48; 2 Chr 20:36). It became a populous town, many of the Jews settling in it (2 Kgs 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 the Arabah, and that Ezion-geber may have been there.
Named in the Bible
4 verses
- 1 Kings 9:26 And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom.
- 1 Kings 22:48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Eziongeber.
- 2 Chronicles 8:17 Then went Solomon to Eziongeber, and to Eloth, at the sea side in the land of Edom.
- 2 Chronicles 20:36 And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish: and they made the ships in Eziongeber.
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
