
		Mount Gilboa Photos Scriptures ref.

Mount Gilboa - location profile

Location and Setting

Mount Gilboa is a crescent-shaped string of hills that circles from the Jordan River Valley south of Beth-shan around to the Harod Valley to Jezreel.
The range is approximately eight miles in width and three to five miles in breadth, with its highest point measuring almost 1700 feet above sea level. It should be noted, however, that the Harod Valley does not reach sea level until it is about half way along Mount Gilboa, coming from the east.
From the crest of Mount Gilboa, one can see Mount Carmel to the northwest, Mount Tabor and the Hill of Moreh to the north, and the mountains of Gilead across the Jordan River to the east. The range forms a natural boundary between Samaria and Galilee.
Mount Gilboa affords a commanding view of the routes of the International Coastal Highway that pass through the Plain of Jezreel. One route leads to the northern end of the Sea of Galilee and the other through the Harod Valley to Beth-shan.

During the period of the Judges, the Midianites invaded the Valley of Harod from the east and camped between the Hill of Moreh and Mount Gilboa.
In preparation for their night attack on the Midianites, Gideon divided his remaining three hundred men into three groups. It is likely that he deployed one contingent on the Hill of Moreh, another on Mount Gilboa, and one between them at the western end of the valley. When the signal was given, this strategy would have produced a semicircle of lights and sounds that would drive the Midianites to panic and flee down the valley to the Jordan (Judg 7:1-23).

Grogan, G.W. "Gilboa" The New Bible Dictionary. 2^nd ed. Ed. J.D. Douglas. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1982.
Swaim, G.G. "Gilboa, Mount of" The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Ed. Merrill C. Tenney. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.