Libnah

LIBNAH lib'-na (libhnah "whiteness," "transparency," "pavement" (compare Exodus 24:10 where libhnath, is translated "paved work" or a "compact foundation"); Lebna):

(1) A desert camp of the Israelites between Rimmon-perez and Rissah (Numbers 33:20,21). Probably the same as Laban (Deuteronomy 1:1).

See WANDERINGS OF ISRAEL.

(2) A town in the Shephelah of Judah (Joshua 15:42). "Joshua passed from Makkedah, and all Israel with him, unto Libnah, and fought against Libnah:

and Yahweh delivered it also, and the king thereof, into the hand of Israel. .... And Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel with him, unto Lachish, and encamped against it, and fought against it" (Joshua 10:29-31; 12:15). It was one of the cities given to the "children of Aaron" (Joshua 21:13; 1 Chronicles 6:57). In the reign of Joram, Libnah joined the Edomites in a revolt against the king of Judah (2 Kings 8:22; 2 Chronicles 21:10). In the reign of Hezekiah, Libnah was besieged by Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:8; Isaiah 37:8). The wife of King Josiah was "Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah," she was the mother of Jehoahaz and Zedekiah (2 Kings 23:31; 24:18; Jeremiah 52:1).

The site of this important stronghold remains unknown. In the Eusebius, Onomasticon it is described, under the name Lobana or Lobna, as near Eleutheropolis (Beit Jebrin). All the indications point to a site in the Southwest of the Shephelah, not very far from Lachish. The Palestine Exploration Fund surveyors suggested (PEF, III, 259) the commanding site `Arak el Menshiyeh, or rather the white chalky mound 250 ft. high to the North of this village, and Stanley proposed Tell es Cafi. (Both these identifications are due to the interpretation of Libnah as meaning "whiteness.") In the PEFS (1897, Sh XX) Conder suggests a ruin called el Benawy, 10 miles Southeast of Lachish.

E. W. G. Masterman

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Bibliography Information

Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'LIBNAH'".  "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia".  1915.