Reference: Gilgal
American
A rolling,
1. A celebrated place between the Jordan and Jericho, where the Israelites first encamped, after the passage of that river; where also they were circumcised, and kept their first Passover in Canaan, Jos 4:19; 5:9-10. It continued to be the headquarters of the Israelites for several years, while Joshua was occupied in subduing the land, Jos 9:6; 10:6,15,43. A considerable city was afterwards built there, Jos 15:7, which became famous for many events. Here the tabernacle rested, until its removal to Shiloh; here also, according to the prevalent opinion, Samuel offered sacrifices, and held his court as a judge of Israel; and here Saul was crowned, 1Sa 7:16; 10:8; 11:15; 1Sa 13:7-9; 15:33. A school of the prophets was established, 2Ki 4:38; and yet it afterwards appears to have become a seat of idolatry, Ho 4:15; 9:15; 12:11; Am 4:4; 5:5. At this day, no traces of it are found. According to Josephus, it lay within two miles of Jericho.
2. Another Gilgol lay near Antipatris, Jos 12:23; Ne 12:29. And perhaps a third in the mountains of Ephraim, north of Bethel, De 11:30; 2Ki 2:1-6. There are not wanting those who would make the Gilgal near Antipatris the seat of Samuel's judgeship, and of one of the schools of the prophets.
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Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, where the sun goes down, in the land of the Canaanites living in the Arabah opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks or terebinths of Moreh?
And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.
And the Lord said to Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. So the name of the place is called Gilgal [rolling] to this day. And the Israelites encamped in Gilgal; and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.
And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, We have come from a far country; so now, make a covenant with us.
And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, Do not relax your hand from your servants; come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country are gathered against us.
And the boundary went up to Debir from the Valley of Achor, and so northward, turning toward Gilgal, which is opposite the ascent to Adummim on the south side of the valley; and it passed on to the waters of En-shemesh and ended at En-rogel.
And he went from year to year on a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and was judge for Israel in all those places.
You shall go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. You shall wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you shall do.
All the people went to Gilgal and there they made Saul king before the Lord. And there they sacrificed peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
Elisha came back to Gilgal during a famine in the land. The sons of the prophets were sitting before him, and he said to his servant, Set on the big pot and cook pottage for the sons of the prophets.
And also from Beth-gilgal and the fields of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built for themselves villages around Jerusalem.
Though you, Israel, play the harlot and worship idols, let not Judah offend and become guilty; come not to Gilgal, neither go up to Beth-aven [contemptuous reference to Bethel, then noted for idolatry], nor swear [in idolatrous service, saying], As the Lord lives.
All their wickedness [says the Lord] is focused in Gilgal, for there I hated them; for the wickedness of their [idolatrous] doings I will drive them out of My house [the Holy Land]; I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels.
If Gilead is given over to idolatry, they shall come to nought and be mere waste; if they [insult God by] sacrificing bullocks in Gilgal [on heathen altars], their altars shall be like heaps in the furrows of the fields.
Come to Bethel [where the golden calf is] and transgress; at Gilgal [another idol worship center] multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithes every three days.
But seek not [the golden calf at] Bethel nor enter into [idolatrous] Gilgal, and pass not over to [the idols of] Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity and exile, and Bethel [house of God] shall become Beth-aven [house of vanity, emptiness, falsity, and futility] and come to nothing.
Easton
rolling. (1.) From the solemn transaction of the reading of the law in the valley of Shechem between Ebal and Gerizim the Israelites moved forward to Gilgal, and there made a permanent camp (Jos 9:6; 10:6). It was "beside the oaks of Moreh," near which Abraham erected his first altar (Ge 12:6-7). This was one of the three towns to which Samuel resorted for the administration of justice (1Sa 7:16), and here also he offered sacrifices when the ark was no longer in the tabernacle at Shiloh (1Sa 10:8; 13:7-9). To this place, as to a central sanctuary, all Israel gathered to renew their allegiance to Saul (1Sa 11:14). At a later period it became the scene of idolatrous worship (Ho 4:15; 9:15). It has been identified with the ruins of Jiljilieh, about 5 miles south-west of Shiloh and about the same distance from Bethel.
(2.) The place in "the plains of Jericho," "in the east border of Jericho," where the Israelites first encamped after crossing the Jordan (Jos 4:19-20). Here they kept their first Passover in the land of Canaan (Jos 5:10) and renewed the rite of circumcision, and so "rolled away the reproach" of their Egyptian slavery. Here the twelve memorial stones, taken from the bed of the Jordan, were set up; and here also the tabernacle remained till it was removed to Shiloh (Jos 18:1). It has been identified with Tell Jiljulieh, about 5 miles from Jordan.
(3.) A place, probably in the hill country of Ephraim, where there was a school of the prophets (2Ki 4:38), and whence Elijah and Elisha, who resided here, "went down" to Bethel (2Ki 2:1-2). It is mentioned also in DE 11:30. It is now known as Jiljilia, a place 8 miles north of Bethel.
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Abram passed through the land to the locality of Shechem, to the oak or terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, I will give this land to your posterity. So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, Who had appeared to him.
And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan Joshua set up in Gilgal.
And the Israelites encamped in Gilgal; and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.
And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, We have come from a far country; so now, make a covenant with us.
And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, Do not relax your hand from your servants; come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country are gathered against us.
And the whole congregation of the Israelites assembled at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there; and the land was subdued before them.
And he went from year to year on a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and was judge for Israel in all those places.
You shall go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. You shall wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you shall do.
Samuel said to the people, Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingdom.
Some Hebrews had gone over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. Saul waited seven days, according to the set time Samuel had appointed. But Samuel had not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from Saul. read more. So Saul said, Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering [which he was forbidden to do].
When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were going from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, Tarry here, I pray you, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel. But Elisha replied, As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel.
Elisha came back to Gilgal during a famine in the land. The sons of the prophets were sitting before him, and he said to his servant, Set on the big pot and cook pottage for the sons of the prophets.
Though you, Israel, play the harlot and worship idols, let not Judah offend and become guilty; come not to Gilgal, neither go up to Beth-aven [contemptuous reference to Bethel, then noted for idolatry], nor swear [in idolatrous service, saying], As the Lord lives.
All their wickedness [says the Lord] is focused in Gilgal, for there I hated them; for the wickedness of their [idolatrous] doings I will drive them out of My house [the Holy Land]; I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels.
Fausets
1. Hebrew: "the Gilgal," i.e. rolling. Israel's first encampment W. of Jordan (five miles) where they passed their first night after crossing, and set up the twelve stones taken from the river bed (Jos 4:3,19-20). Here they kept the first Passoverin Canaan (Jos 5:10). On arising ground ("hill," Jos 5:3,9) in the hot sunken Ghor between Jericho and the Jordan, one mile and a half E. of Jericho; five miles and a half W. of Jordan (Josephus, Ant. 5:1, 4, 11). On the N. side of wady Kelt, one mile and a third from the tower of modern Jericho (Eriha); toward the E. is a tamarisk, "Shejaret el Ithleh," which tradition makes the site of "the city of brass," whose walls fell on their besiegers marching round them. A pool is 150 yards S.E. of the tree, such as Israel would need in their long encampment at Gilgal; it is built with well packed pebbles without cement.
S.E. of this are twelve or more small mounds, Tell ayla't Jiljulieh, eight or ten ft. diameter, and three or four high, possibly remains of Israel's camp (Conder, Palestine Exploration). The distances stated by Josephus accord with this site. The Israelites born in the wilderness were here circumcised with stone knives (Jos 5:2 margin; Ex 4:25), which "rolling" away of the reproach of uncircumcision gave the name. The sons under 20 years, when at Kadesh in the second year of the wilderness journey the murmuring nation was rejected (Numbers 14), had been already circumcised; those born subsequently needed circumcision. As God abrogated at Kadesh the covenant, the sons of the rejected generation were not to receive the covenant rite. The manna and pillar of cloud were not withdrawn, because God would sustain the rising generation with the prospect of the ban being removed, and of the covenant temporarily suspended being renewed.
The sentence was exhausted when they crossed the Zered and entered the Amorites' land (De 2:14; Nu 21:12-13), when all the sentenced generation was dead (Nu 26:63-65). Moses, himself under sentence to die, did not venture on the steppes of Moab to direct the circumcision of the younger generation without Jehovah's command. And the rule of divine grace is first to give, then to require; so first He showed His grace to Abraham by leading him to Canaan and giving the promises, then enjoined circumcision; also He did not give the law to Israel at Sinai until first He had redeemed them from Egypt, and thereby made them willing to promise obedience. So now He did not require the renewal of circumcision, the covenant sign of subjection to the law (Ga 5:3), until He had first showed His grace in giving them victory over Og and Sihon, and in making a way through Jordan, a pledge that He would fulfill all His promises and finally give them the whole land.
The circumcision was performed the day after crossing Jordan, i.e. the 11th day of the first month (Ga 4:19). The Passover was kept on the 14th (verse 10). The objection that all could not have been circumcised in one day is futile. For the males in Israel at the census in Moab shortly before were 601,730 upward of 20 years old, besides 23,000 Levites of a month old and upward; at the outside all the males would be less than one million. Of these about 300,000 were 38 years old, therefore born before the census at Kadesh and circumcised already; so that only 600,000 would remain to be circumcised. The uncircumcised could easily be circumcised in one day with the help of the circumcised; the latter would prepare and kill the Passover lamb for their brethren whose soreness (Ge 34:25) would be no bar to their joining in the feast.
The "reproach of Egypt rolled off" is (like "the reproach of Moab" Zep 2:8, and "Syria" Eze 16:57) that heaped on Israel by Egypt, namely, that Jehovah had brought them into the wilderness to slay them (Ex 32:12; Nu 14:13-16; De 9:28). This "reproach of Egypt" rested on them so long as they were under the sentence of wandering and dying in the desert. The circumcision at Gilgal was a practical restoration of the covenant, and a pledge of their now receiving Canaan. No village was, or is, at Gilgal. In Mic 6:5, "O My people, remember ... what Balak ... consulted, and what Balaam ... answered ... from Shittim unto Gilgal," the sense is, Remember My kindness from Shittim. the scene of Balaam's wicked counsel taking effect in Israel's sin, from the fatal effects of which I saved thee, all along to Gilgal where I renewed the covenant with Israel by circumcision (2Sa 19:15).
2. Gilgal from which Elijah and Elisha went down to Bethel (2Ki 2:1-2). Clearly distinct from:
3. Gilgal, which is below in the Ghor along Jordan, not above Bethel, which is 1,000 ft. above Jordan. Now perhaps the ruins Jiljilieh, a few miles N. of Bethel. Another Gilgal has been found four miles from Shiloh, and five from Bethel, which is 500 ft. lower; this may be the Gilgal of 2Ki 2:3. Gilgal not far from Shechem, beside the plains of Moreh (De 11:30). Jos 12:23, "king of the nations (goim) of Gilgal," i.e. of the nomadic tribes, the aboriginal inhabitants of the country whose center was Gilgal.
4. To the N. of Judah (Jos 15:7). (See GELILOTH.)
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But on the third day [after the circumcision] when [all the men] were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's [full] brothers, took their swords, boldly entered the city [without danger], and slew all the males.
[Now apparently he had failed to circumcise one of his sons, his wife being opposed to it; but seeing his life in such danger] Zipporah took a flint knife and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it to touch [Moses'] feet, and said, Surely a husband of blood you are to me!
Why should the Egyptians say, For evil He brought them forth, to slay them in the mountains and consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and change Your mind concerning this evil against Your people.
But Moses said to the Lord, Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for You brought up this people in Your might from among them. And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, Lord, are in the midst of this people [of Israel], that You, Lord, are seen face to face, and that Your cloud stands over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. read more. Now if You kill all this people as one man, then the nations that have heard Your fame will say, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which He swore to give to them, therefore He has slain them in the wilderness.
From there they journeyed and encamped in the Valley of Zared. From there they journeyed and encamped on the other side of [the river] Arnon, which is in the desert or wilderness that extends from the frontier of the Amorites; for [the river] Arnon is the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.
These were those numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the Israelites in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. But among these there was not a man of those numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they numbered the Israelites in the Wilderness of Sinai. read more. For the Lord had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. There was not left a man of them except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.
And the time from our leaving Kadesh-barnea until we had come over the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until the whole generation of the men of war had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them.
Lest the land from which You brought us out say, Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which He promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.
Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, where the sun goes down, in the land of the Canaanites living in the Arabah opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks or terebinths of Moreh?
And command them, Take twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan from the place where the priests' feet stood firm; carry them over with you and leave them at the place where you lodge tonight.
And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan Joshua set up in Gilgal.
At that time the Lord said to Joshua, Make knives of flint and circumcise the [new generation of] Israelites as before. So Joshua made knives of flint and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.
And the Lord said to Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. So the name of the place is called Gilgal [rolling] to this day. And the Israelites encamped in Gilgal; and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.
And the boundary went up to Debir from the Valley of Achor, and so northward, turning toward Gilgal, which is opposite the ascent to Adummim on the south side of the valley; and it passed on to the waters of En-shemesh and ended at En-rogel.
So [David] returned and came to the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king, to conduct him over the Jordan.
When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were going from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, Tarry here, I pray you, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel. But Elisha replied, As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel. read more. The prophets' sons who were at Bethel came to Elisha and said, Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today? He said, Yes, I know it; hold your peace.
Before your own wickedness was uncovered? Now you have become like her, an object of reproach and a byword for the daughters of Syria and of Edom and for all who are round about them and for the daughters of the Philistines -- "those round about who despise you.
O My people, [earnestly] remember now what Balak king of Moab devised and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him; [remember what the Lord did for you] from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous and saving acts of the Lord.
I have heard the taunts of Moab and the revilings of the Ammonites by which they have reproached My people, and magnified themselves and made boasts against their territory.
My little children, for whom I am again suffering birth pangs until Christ is completely and permanently formed (molded) within you,
I once more protest and testify to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation and bound to practice the whole of the Law and its ordinances.
Hastings
A name meaning 'stone circle' applied to several places mentioned in the OT. 1. A place on the east border of Jericho (Jos 4:19), where the Israelites first encamped after crossing Jordan, and which remained the headquarters of the congregation till after the rout of the northern kings at Merom (Jos 14:6). The stone circle from which it certainly took its name (in spite of the impossible etymology given in Jos 5:9), was no doubt that to which the tradition embodied in Jos 4:20 refers, and the same as the 'images' by Gilgal in the story of Ehud (Jg 3:19 Revised Version margin). The name is still preserved in the modern Jilj
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Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, where the sun goes down, in the land of the Canaanites living in the Arabah opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks or terebinths of Moreh?
And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan Joshua set up in Gilgal.
And the Lord said to Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. So the name of the place is called Gilgal [rolling] to this day.
Then the people of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning me and you in Kadesh-barnea.
And the boundary went up to Debir from the Valley of Achor, and so northward, turning toward Gilgal, which is opposite the ascent to Adummim on the south side of the valley; and it passed on to the waters of En-shemesh and ended at En-rogel.
He himself went [with them] as far as the sculptured [boundary] stones near Gilgal, and then turned back and came to Eglon and said, I have a secret errand to you, O king. Eglon commanded silence, and all who stood by him went out from him.
And he went from year to year on a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and was judge for Israel in all those places.
Elisha came back to Gilgal during a famine in the land. The sons of the prophets were sitting before him, and he said to his servant, Set on the big pot and cook pottage for the sons of the prophets.
For Israel has behaved stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. How then should he expect to be fed and treated by the Lord like a lamb in a large pasture?
Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit. Yes, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even their beloved children.
If Gilead is given over to idolatry, they shall come to nought and be mere waste; if they [insult God by] sacrificing bullocks in Gilgal [on heathen altars], their altars shall be like heaps in the furrows of the fields.
Come to Bethel [where the golden calf is] and transgress; at Gilgal [another idol worship center] multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithes every three days.
Seek the Lord [inquire for and of Him and require Him] and you shall live, lest He rush down like fire upon the house of Joseph [representing the ten tribes] and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel [the center of their idol hopes].
Morish
1. Place west of the Jordan, 'in the east border of Jericho,' where the Israelites encamped after passing the river. Here the twelve memorial stones were placed that were taken out of Jordan. Here the Israelites were circumcised: type of the putting off the body of the flesh; that is, of separation from the system in which man in the flesh lives: cf. Col 3:3-5. Here the reproach of Egypt was 'rolled away' (from which the name of the place was called 'Gilgal'), and they had communion figuratively with the death of Christ in the Passover. On the next day they ate of the old corn of the promised land: type of Christ being the centre of heavenly things on which the Christian feeds. Jos 4:19-20; 5:2-11. Gilgal was not only the starting point in taking possession of the land, but the place to which Joshua returned again and again: it was the place of strength. Jos 9:6; 10:6-15; 14:6. It was here that Saul was made king, 1Sa 11:14-15; and here he offered sacrifices, and Samuel hewed Agag in pieces. 1Sa 13:4-15; 15:12,21,33.
When David returned after the overthrow and death of Absalom, Judah gathered at Gilgal. to meet the king and conduct him over Jordan. 2Sa 19:15. In the days of Jeroboam Gilgal was defiled with idolatry. Ho 4:15; 9:15; Am 4:4. Gilgal which signifies 'rolled away' should be itself 'rolled away.' Am 5:5. In Jos 15:7 the border of Judah's portion 'looked toward' Gilgal, which well agrees with its being near Jericho. But in Jos 18:17 the same place is called GELILOTH, which cannot be traced. Gilgal is identified with Jiljulieh, 31 51' N, 35 29' E. In Ne 12:29 occurs 'the house of Gilgal,' or 'Beth-gilgal,' which may refer to the same place, or may be one of the villages built 'round about' Jerusalem.
2. A place connected with the closing scene of Elijah's life and where Elisha wrought one of his miracles. 2Ki 2:1; 4:38. The two prophets went 'down' from Gilgal to Bethel, whereas when No. 1 is referred to it is always 'going up' to the neighbourhood of Bethel, which seems to indicate that different places are alluded to. It has been identified with Jiljilia, 32 2' N, 35 13' E. (It should however be added that if the identification of Nos. 1 and 2, and that of Bethel is correct, No. 2 is not actually higher than Bethel, though being on a high hill it appears to be so, and a valley has to be crossed to reach it. The altitude of No. 2 is 2,441 feet, and that of Bethel 2,890 feet. No. 1 is below the sea level, which makes the 'going up' from thence to Bethel very apparent.)
3. A place whose king is called 'the king of the nations of Gilgal,' or, as in the R.V., 'the king of Goiim in Gilgal.' He was slain under Joshua. Being mentioned between Dor and Tirzah it is apparently a third Gilgal. Jos 12:23. It has been identified with Jiljulieh, 32 10' N, 34 57' E.
4. In De 11:30 Moses, speaking of the mounts of Gerizim and Ebal, asks "Are they not . . . . in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh?" This does not at all agree with any of the above, but has not been identified with any place in the neighbourhood of the two mountains.
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Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, where the sun goes down, in the land of the Canaanites living in the Arabah opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks or terebinths of Moreh?
And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan Joshua set up in Gilgal.
At that time the Lord said to Joshua, Make knives of flint and circumcise the [new generation of] Israelites as before. So Joshua made knives of flint and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth. read more. And this is the reason Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they came out of Egypt. Though all the people who came out were circumcised, yet all the people who were born in the wilderness on the way after Israel came out of Egypt had not been circumcised. For the Israelites walked forty years in the wilderness till all who were men of war who came out of Egypt perished, because they did not hearken to the voice of the Lord; to them the Lord swore that He would not let them see the land which the Lord swore to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. So it was their uncircumcised children whom He raised up in their stead whom Joshua circumcised, because the rite had not been performed on the way. When they finished circumcising all the males of the nation, they remained in their places in the camp till they were healed. And the Lord said to Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. So the name of the place is called Gilgal [rolling] to this day. And the Israelites encamped in Gilgal; and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho. And on that same day they ate the produce of the land: unleavened cakes and parched grain.
And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, We have come from a far country; so now, make a covenant with us.
And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, Do not relax your hand from your servants; come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country are gathered against us. So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the warriors with him and all the mighty men of valor. read more. And the Lord said to Joshua, Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hand; there shall not a man of them stand before you. So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having gone up from Gilgal all night. And the Lord caused [the enemies] to panic before Israel, who slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon and chased them along the way that goes up to Beth-horon and smote them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. As they fled before Israel, while they were descending [the pass] to Beth-horon, the Lord cast great stones from the heavens on them as far as Azekah, killing them. More died because of the hailstones than the Israelites slew with the sword. Then Joshua spoke to the Lord on the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, be silent and stand still at Gibeon, and you, moon, in the Valley of Ajalon! And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation took vengeance upon their enemies. Is not this written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of the heavens and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. There was no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man. For the Lord fought for Israel. Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.
Then the people of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning me and you in Kadesh-barnea.
And the boundary went up to Debir from the Valley of Achor, and so northward, turning toward Gilgal, which is opposite the ascent to Adummim on the south side of the valley; and it passed on to the waters of En-shemesh and ended at En-rogel.
Then it bent toward the north and went on to En-shemesh and on to Geliloth, which was opposite the ascent of Adummim, and went down to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.
Samuel said to the people, Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingdom. All the people went to Gilgal and there they made Saul king before the Lord. And there they sacrificed peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
All Israel heard that Saul had defeated the Philistine garrison and also that Israel had become an abomination to the Philistines. And the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal. And the Philistines gathered to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen and troops like sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven. read more. When the men of Israel saw that they were in a tight situation -- "for their troops were hard pressed -- "they hid in caves, holes, rocks, tombs, and pits or cisterns. Some Hebrews had gone over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. Saul waited seven days, according to the set time Samuel had appointed. But Samuel had not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from Saul. So Saul said, Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering [which he was forbidden to do]. And just as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came! Saul went out to meet and greet him. Samuel said, What have you done? Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines were assembled at Michmash, I thought, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord. So I forced myself to offer a burnt offering. And Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly! You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God which He commanded you; for the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever; But now your kingdom shall not continue; the Lord has sought out [David] a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince and ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. And Samuel went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people that were left with him, [only] about 600.
When Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, he was told, Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up for himself a monument or trophy [of his victory] and passed on and went down to Gilgal.
But the people took from the spoil sheep and oxen, the chief of the things to be utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.
Samuel said, As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.
So [David] returned and came to the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king, to conduct him over the Jordan.
When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were going from Gilgal.
Elisha came back to Gilgal during a famine in the land. The sons of the prophets were sitting before him, and he said to his servant, Set on the big pot and cook pottage for the sons of the prophets.
And also from Beth-gilgal and the fields of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built for themselves villages around Jerusalem.
Though you, Israel, play the harlot and worship idols, let not Judah offend and become guilty; come not to Gilgal, neither go up to Beth-aven [contemptuous reference to Bethel, then noted for idolatry], nor swear [in idolatrous service, saying], As the Lord lives.
All their wickedness [says the Lord] is focused in Gilgal, for there I hated them; for the wickedness of their [idolatrous] doings I will drive them out of My house [the Holy Land]; I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels.
Come to Bethel [where the golden calf is] and transgress; at Gilgal [another idol worship center] multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithes every three days.
But seek not [the golden calf at] Bethel nor enter into [idolatrous] Gilgal, and pass not over to [the idols of] Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity and exile, and Bethel [house of God] shall become Beth-aven [house of vanity, emptiness, falsity, and futility] and come to nothing.
For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, Who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in [the splendor of His] glory. read more. So kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members [those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin]: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God).
Smith
Gil'gal
(a wheel; rolling).
1. The site of the first camp of the Israelites on the west of the Jordan, the place at which they passed the first night after crossing the river, and where the twelve stones were set up which had been taken from the bed of the stream,
comp. Josh 4:3 where also they kept the first passover in the land of Canaan ch.
It was "in the east border of Jericho," apparently on a hillock or rising ground,
comp. Josh 5:9 in the Arboth-Jericho (Authorized Version "the plains"), that is, the hot depressed district of the Ghor which lay between the town and the Jordan. ch.
Here Samuel was judge, and Saul was made king. We again have a glimpse of it, some sixty years later, in the history of David's return to Jerusalem.
A Gilgal is spoken of in
in describing the north border of Judah. In
it is given as Geliloth. Gilgal near Jericho is doubtless intended.
2. In
is named a Gilgal visited by Elijah and Elisha. This could not be the Gilgal of the low plain of the Jordan, for the prophets are said to have gone down to Bethel, which is 3000 feet above the plain. It haa been identified with Jiljilia, about four miles from Bethel and Shiloh respectively.
3. The "king of the nations of Gilgal" or rather perhaps the "king of Goim at Gilgal," is mentioned in the catalogue of the chiefs overthrown bv Joshua.
Possibly the site of this place is marked by the modern village Jiljulieh, about four miles south of Antipatris, which lies 16 miles northeast of Joppa. But another Gilgal, under the slightly-different form of Kilkilieh, lies about two miles east of Antipatris.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan Joshua set up in Gilgal.
So Joshua made knives of flint and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.
And the Israelites encamped in Gilgal; and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.
And the Israelites encamped in Gilgal; and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.
And the boundary went up to Debir from the Valley of Achor, and so northward, turning toward Gilgal, which is opposite the ascent to Adummim on the south side of the valley; and it passed on to the waters of En-shemesh and ended at En-rogel.
Then it bent toward the north and went on to En-shemesh and on to Geliloth, which was opposite the ascent of Adummim, and went down to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.
Then the king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went with him; and all the people of Judah and also half the people of Israel escorted the king.
When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were going from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, Tarry here, I pray you, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel. But Elisha replied, As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel.
Elisha came back to Gilgal during a famine in the land. The sons of the prophets were sitting before him, and he said to his servant, Set on the big pot and cook pottage for the sons of the prophets.
Watsons
The word Gilgal signifies rolling. Here the ark was long stationed, and consequently the place was much resorted to by the Israelites. It seems to have been the place in which Jeroboam or some of the kings of Israel instituted idolatrous worship; and hence the allusions to it by the prophets, Ho 4:15; Am 4:4. It is probable that there were idols at Gilgal as early as the days of Ehud, who was one of the judges; for it is said that, having delivered his presents to the king, "Ehud went away, but returned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal," Jg 3:19. The margin of our Bibles reads, "the graven images," or idols set up by the Moabites, the viewing of which, it is thought, stirred up Ehud to revenge the affront thereby offered to the God of Israel. At this same place, the people met to confirm the kingdom to Saul, 1Sa 11:14-15. It was at Gilgal, too, that Saul incurred the divine displeasure, in offering sacrifice before Samuel arrived, 1 Samuel xiii; and there also it was that he received the sentence of his rejection for disobeying the divine command, and sparing the king of Amalek with the spoils which he had reserved, 1 Samuel 15.
It has been supposed that the setting up of stones, as at Gilgal and other places, gave rise to the rude stone circular temples of the Druids, and other Heathens. The idea, however, appears fanciful, and there is an essential difference between stones erected for memorials, and those used to mark sacred, or supposed sacred, places for worship.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
He himself went [with them] as far as the sculptured [boundary] stones near Gilgal, and then turned back and came to Eglon and said, I have a secret errand to you, O king. Eglon commanded silence, and all who stood by him went out from him.
Samuel said to the people, Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingdom. All the people went to Gilgal and there they made Saul king before the Lord. And there they sacrificed peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
Though you, Israel, play the harlot and worship idols, let not Judah offend and become guilty; come not to Gilgal, neither go up to Beth-aven [contemptuous reference to Bethel, then noted for idolatry], nor swear [in idolatrous service, saying], As the Lord lives.
Come to Bethel [where the golden calf is] and transgress; at Gilgal [another idol worship center] multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithes every three days.