GABADANI (Heb. Gibh'ah). — A fortified city in the land of Canaan (Josh. 10:2), the principal city of the confederation of Eleazar, it was spared, by a stratagem of its leaders, from destruction during the Israelite invasion (Josh. 9). Joshua granted it sovereignty and defense against the attack of the Amorite kings on the epic day of Gibeon (Josh. 10).
It is identified with the village of el-Gib, which preserves the beginning of the ancient name, situated on the summit of a conical hill (710 m.) and formed by a series of concentric natural terraces in the center of a fertile countryside. It is watered by eight springs.
A Levitical city (Josh. 21:17) of the tribe of Benjamin (Josh. 18:25), it was the scene of fierce fighting between the partisans of Saul and those of David (1 Sam. 12:16) near the great pool “the great waters of Gibeon” (Jer. 41:46) — still recognizable today, though covered, to the south of the town amid olive groves. It may have been fed by an artificial underground channel, similar to those of Jerusalem and Gezer (s'imhor), from a spring that gushes forth at the bottom of a cave.
Near the great rock of Gibeon occurred the treacherous killing of Amasa (1 Sam. 20:8). After the exile, the Gibeonites took part in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.
The hill of the Lord in Gibeon, where the descendants of Saul were killed (1 Sam. 21:6), visited by Solomon to offer sacrifices before the tabernacle (1 Kgs. 3:4; 1 Chron. 10:39; 21:29), probably corresponds to Nebi Samwil, which, two km to the south, dominates with its 150 m summit the plain of el-Gib.