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Easton's Bible Dictionary
fruitful, An ancient town on the northern frontier of
Palestine, 35 miles north-east of Baalbec, and 10 or 12 south of Lake Homs, on
the eastern bank of the Orontes, in a wide and fertile plain. Here Nebuchadnezzar
had his head-quarters in his campaign against Jerusalem, and here also Necho fixed
his camp after he had routed Josiah's army at Megiddo ( 2 Kings 23:29 - 35 ; 25:6
, 25:20 , 25:21 ; Jeremiah 39:5 ; 52:10 ). It was on the great caravan road from
Palestine to Carchemish, on the Euphrates. It is described ( Numbers 34:11 ) as
"on the eastern side of Ain." A place still called el Ain, i.e., "the fountain",
is found in such a position about 10 miles distant. (See JERUSALEM .)
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
quarrel; greatness to him
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(fertility), One of the landmarks on the eastern boundary
of the land of Israel, as specified by Moses. ( Numbers 34:11 ) It seems hardly
possible, without entirely disarranging the specification or the boundary, that
the Riblah in question can be the same with the following.
Riblah in the land of Hamath, a place on the great road between Palestine and
Babylonia, at which the kings of Babylonia were accustomed to remain while directing
the operations of their armies in Palestine and Phoenicia. Here Nebuchadnezzer
waited while the sieges of Jerusalem and of Tyre were being conducted by his lieutenants.
( Jeremiah 39:5 , 39:6 ; 62:9 , 62:10 , 62:26 , 62:27 ; 2 Kings 25:6 , 25:20 ,
25:21 ) In like manner Pharaoh-necho after his victory over the Babylonians at
Carchemish, returned to Riblah and summoned Jehoahaz from Jerusalem before him.
( 2 Kings 23:33 ) This Riblah still retains its ancient name, on the right (east)
bank of the el-Asy (Orontes) upon the great road which connects Baalbek and Hums
, about 36 miles northeast of the former end 20 miles southwest of the latter
place.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
rib'-la (ribhlah; Rheblatha, with variants):
(1) Riblah in the land of Hamath first appears in history in 608 BC.
Here Pharaoh-necoh, after defeating Josiah at Megiddo and destroying Kadytis or
Kadesh on the Orontes, fixed his headquarters, and while in camp he deposed Jehoahaz
and cast him into chains, fixed the tribute of Judah, and appointed Jehoiakim
king (2 Kings 23:31 - 35). In 588 BC Nebuchadnezzar, at war with Egypt and the
Syrian states, also established his headquarters at Riblah, and from it he directed
the subjugation of Jerusalem. When it fell, Zedekiah was carried prisoner to Riblah,
and there, after his sons and his nobles had been slain in his presence, his eyes
were put out, and he was taken as a prisoner to Babylon (2 Kings 25:6 , 20 ; Jeremiah
39:5 - 7 ; 52:8 - 11). Riblah then disappears from history, but the site exists
today in the village of Ribleh, 35 miles Northeast of Baalbek, and the situation
is the finest that could have been chosen by the Egyptian or Babylonian kings
for their headquarters in Syria. An army camped there had abundance of water in
the control of the copious springs that go to form the Orontes. The Egyptians
coming from the South had behind them the command of the rich corn and forage
lands of Coele-Syria, while the Babylonian army from the North was equally fortunate
in the rich plains extending to Hamath and the Euphrates. Lebanon, close by, with
its forests, its hunting grounds and its snows, ministered to the needs and luxuries
of the leaders. Riblah commanded the great trade and war route between Egypt and
Mesopotamia, and, besides, it was at the dividing-point of many minor routes.
It was in a position to attack with facility Phoenicia, Damascus or Palestine,
or to defend itself against attack from those places, while a few miles to the
South the mountains on each side close in forming a pass where a mighty host might
easily be resisted by a few. In every way Riblah was the strategical point between
North and South Syria. Riblah should probably be read for Diblah in Ezekiel 6:14,
while in Numbers 34:11 it does not really appear. See (2).
(2) A place named as on the ideal eastern boundary of Israel in Numbers 34:11, but omitted in Ezekiel 47:15 - 18.
The Massoretic Text reads "Hariblah"; but the Septuagint probably preserves the
true vocalization, according to which we should translate "to Harbel." It is said
to be to the east of `Ain, and that, as the designation of a district, can only
mean Merj 'Ayun, so that we should seek it in the neighborhood of Hermon, one
of whose spurs Furrer found to be named Jebel 'Arbel.
W. M. Christie
Tags:
bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, nebuchadnezzar head-quarters, necho camp, rheblatha, riblah, the fountain, town
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