Gath-hepher

Gath-hepher (Israel)

Gath-hepher or Gat Hefer (Hebrew: גַּת הַחֵפֶר, romanized: Gaṯ haḤēp̄er) was a border town in the Northern Kingdom of Israel around the 8th century BCE. According to the Deuteronomistic history, it was the home of the prophet Jonah.^[1]

Gath means winepress in Hebrew.^[2]^[3] The town is mentioned twice in the Hebrew Bible, in Joshua 19:13 and 2 Kings 14:25. In Joshua, a copying error has resulted in the form Gittah-hepher.^[4]

Jerome in Roman Empire describes the town as "an inconsiderable village" and tells that the tomb of Jonah was nearby.^[5] Similarly, the medieval geographer Benjamin of Tudela also relates the tomb of Jonah in his travels to the area.

Today the site, at latitude 32° 44' 30" N and longitude 35° 19' 30" E in the Galilee, is a small set of ruins on a hilltop near the Arab village of Mashhad five kilometres north of Nazareth and one kilometre from Kafr Kanna. The supposed tomb of Jonah is still pointed out by locals.

[1]
2 Kings 14:25
[2]
"Lexicon Results for Gath-ha-Chepher". Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
[3]
Jerusalem Talmud (Kila'im 9:3; Genesis Rabba § 98:15; not a ruin, per se, but a recognised land feature (e.g. "wine press") known to the ancients as "Gob'batha of Sepphoris," situate some 3 biblical miles from Sepphoris. Marcus Jastrow explains "Gob'batha" as meanings "hills". In J. Payne Smith's A Compendious Syriac Dictionary the word is explained as meaning "a pit, hole, den, cavern." In the Jerusalem Talmud, the name is written in its elided-form, פפתה, instead of גובבתא/גופפתא. The place is said to have been the birthplace of Jonah the prophet.
[4]
Thomas Kelly Cheyne (1901) [1899]. "Gath-hepher". In T. K. Cheyne; J. Sutherland Black (eds.). Encyclopaedia Biblica: A Critical Dictionary of the Literary, Political, and Religious History, the Archaeology, Geography, and Natural History of the Bible. Vol. 2, E–K. New York: The Macmillan Company.
[5]
Ewing, William (1910). The Temple Dictionary of the Bible. London: J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd. pp. 216.

[1] [1]
2 Kings 14:25

[2] [2]
"Lexicon Results for Gath-ha-Chepher". Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved 7 August 2012.

[3] [3]
Jerusalem Talmud (Kila'im 9:3; Genesis Rabba § 98:15; not a ruin, per se, but a recognised land feature (e.g. "wine press") known to the ancients as "Gob'batha of Sepphoris," situate some 3 biblical miles from Sepphoris. Marcus Jastrow explains "Gob'batha" as meanings "hills". In J. Payne Smith's A Compendious Syriac Dictionary the word is explained as meaning "a pit, hole, den, cavern." In the Jerusalem Talmud, the name is written in its elided-form, פפתה, instead of גובבתא/גופפתא. The place is said to have been the birthplace of Jonah the prophet.

[cb_TITLE-4] [4]
Thomas Kelly Cheyne (1901) [1899]. "Gath-hepher". In T. K. Cheyne; J. Sutherland Black (eds.). Encyclopaedia Biblica: A Critical Dictionary of the Literary, Political, and Religious History, the Archaeology, Geography, and Natural History of the Bible. Vol. 2, E–K. New York: The Macmillan Company.

[5] [5]
Ewing, William (1910). The Temple Dictionary of the Bible. London: J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd. pp. 216.

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Gath-hepher

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History

References