A border town of the promised land
Num_34:10-11
King Jehoahaz overthrown in, by Pharaoh
2Ki_23:33
Headquarters of Nebuchadnezzar in siege of Jerusalem
2Ki_25:6; 2Ki_25:20-21; Jer_39:5-6;
Jer_52:9; Jer_52:26
Source:
Nave’s Topical Bible
Riblah
rib´la (רבלה, ribhlāh; Ῥεβλαθά,
Rheblathá, 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 (2Ki_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 (2Ki_25:6,
2Ki_25:20; Jer_39:5-7;
Jer_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 Eze_6:14, while in Num_34:11 it does not really appear. See (2).
(2) A place named as on the ideal eastern
boundary of Israel in Num_34:11, but
omitted in Eze_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.
Source:
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Riblah
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 (2Ki_23:29-35;
2Ki_25:6, 2Ki_25:20,
2Ki_25:21; Jer_39:5;
Jer_52:10). It was on the great caravan
road from Palestine to Carchemish, on the Euphrates. It is described (Num_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.)
Source:
Easton’s Bible Dictionary