DEBIR

A word, an oracle, Jud 1:11, a place called also KIRJATH-SEPHER, a city of books; and KIRJATH-SANNAH, a city of literature, Jos 5:15,15. Judging from the names, it appears to have been some sacred place among the Canaanites, and a repository of their records. It was a city in the south-west part of Judea, conquered from the Anakim by Joshua, but recaptured by the Canaanites, and resubdued by Othniel, and afterwards given to the priests, Jos 10:38,39 15:15-17 21:15. Its site is wholly lost. There was another Debir in Gad, and a third on the border of Benjamin, Jos 13:26 15:7.

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Debir. Debir
Oracle town; sanctuary. (1.) One of the eleven cities to the west of Hebron, in the highlands of Judah (Josh. 15:49; Judg. 1:11-15). It was originally one of the towns of the Anakim (Josh. 15:15), and was also called Kirjath-sepher (q.v.) and Kirjath-sannah (49). Caleb, who had conquered and taken possession of the town and district of Hebron (Josh. 14:6-15), offered the hand of his daughter to any one who would successfully lead a party against Debir. Othniel, his younger brother (Judg. 1:13; 3:9), achieved the conquest, and gained Achsah as his wife. She was not satisfied with the portion her father gave her, and as she was proceeding toward her new home, she “lighted from off her ass” and said to him, “Give me a blessing [i.e., a dowry]: for thou hast given me a south land” (Josh. 15:19, A.V.); or, as in the Revised Version, “Thou hast set me in the land of the south”, i.e., in the Negeb, outside the rich valley of Hebron, in the dry and barren land. “Give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs, and the nether springs.”

Debir has been identified with the modern Edh-Dhaheriyeh, i.e., “the well on the ridge”, to the south of Hebron.

(2.) A place near the “valley of Achor” (Josh. 15:7), on the north boundary of Judah, between Jerusalem and Jericho.

(3.) The king of Eglon, one of the five Canaanitish kings who were hanged by Joshua (Josh. 10:3, 23) after the victory at Gibeon. These kings fled and took refuge in a cave at Makkedah. Here they were kept confined till Joshua returned from the pursuit of their discomfited armies, when he caused them to be brought forth, and “Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hanged them on five trees” (26).

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Debir. an orator; a word

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DEBIR. 1. King of Eglon Jos 10:3-27 2. A town in the mountains of Judah
* Also called KIRJATH-SANNAH, and KIRJATH-SEPHER, which signifies a city of books Jos 15:15,16
* Anakim expelled from, by Joshua Jos 11:21
* Taken by Othniel Jos 15:15-17,49; Jud 1:12,13
* Allotted to the Aaronites Jos 21:15

3. A place near the valley of Achor Jos 15:7