Eben-Ezer

Eben-Ezer (Hebrew: אבן העזר, Even Ha'Ezer, lit. stone of help) is the name of a location that is mentioned by the Books of Samuel as the scene of battles between the Israelites and Philistines. It is specified as having been less than a day's journey by foot from Shiloh, near Aphek, in the neighbourhood of Mizpah, near the western entrance of the pass of Beth-horon. However, its location has not been identified in modern times with much certainty, with some identifying it with Beit Iksa, and others with Dayr Aban.[1]

Historical mentions

It appears in the Books of Samuel in two narratives:

Modern-day placement

It is currently accepted among many Israeli archaeologists and historians to place the Eben-Ezer of the first narrative in the immediate neighborhood of modern-day Kafr Qasim, near Antipatris (ancient city Aphek), while the second battle's location is deemed to be insufficiently well-defined in the Biblical text. The other proposed site is called "Isbet Sartah".[3] Some scholars hold that there were more than one Aphek. C.R. Conder identified the Aphek of Eben-Ezer[4] with a ruin (Khirbet) some 3.7 miles (6 km) distant from Dayr Aban (believed to be Eben-Ezer), and known by the name Marj al-Fikiya; the name al-Fikiya being an Arabic corruption of Aphek.[5] Eusebius, when writing about Eben-ezer in his Onomasticon, says that it is "the place from which the Gentiles seized the Ark, between Jerusalem and Ascalon, near the village of Bethsamys (Beit Shemesh),"[6] a locale that corresponds with Conder's identification.

See also

References

  1. C.R. Conder, Notes from the Memoir, Palestine Exploration Quarterly, vol. 18, London 1876, p. 149; Conder & Kitchener, The Survey of Western Palestine, vol. iii (Judaea), London 1883, p. 24
  2. "Here I Raise My Ebenezer!". Apologeticspress.org. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  3. Location and map of Izbet Zartta or Eben-Ezer
  4. The account in 1 Samuel 4:1 of the battle at Aphek and Eben-ezer
  5. North, Robert (1960). "Ap(h)eq(a) and ‘Azeqa". Biblica 41 (1): 61–63. Retrieved 1 January 2016 via JSTOR. (registration required (help)).
  6. Eusebius Werke, Erich Klostermann (ed.), Leipzig 1904, p. 33,24.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eben Ezer churches in England.
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