Mizpah #36

Mizpah is a Hebrew word meaning “watchtower” or “lookout,” and the Bible uses it for several places. The best known is Mizpah in the territory of Benjamin, a few miles north of Jerusalem (Joshua 18:26). It is one of the principal gathering places in the period of the judges and the early monarchy, and it becomes the seat of government after Jerusalem fell to Babylon. Other places with the name include Mizpah in Gilead, east of the Jordan, and a Mizpah in Moab (Judges 11:11; 1 Samuel 22:3).

Biblical Significance

The first Mizpah in Scripture is in Gilead. When Jacob and Laban make a covenant of peace, they pile up stones, and Laban calls the place Mizpah, saying that the Lord will watch between the two men when they are absent from one another (Genesis 31:44-49). This verse is the source of the well-known “Mizpah blessing,” though in context it was a mutual warning.

At Benjamin’s Mizpah, after the atrocity at Gibeah, the tribes assemble “as one man” before the Lord to decide what to do (Judges 20:1-3). Samuel gathers all Israel there to fast and to put away their foreign gods, and he judges Israel at Mizpah. When the Philistines attack, the Lord thunders against them, and Samuel sets up a stone called Ebenezer, “hitherto hath the LORD helped us” (1 Samuel 7:5-12). Later Samuel calls the people back to Mizpah, where Saul is chosen by lot to be king, found hiding among the baggage (1 Samuel 10:17-25). King Asa of Judah fortifies the town with the stones and timber left behind at Ramah by King Baasha of Israel (1 Kings 15:22).

After the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, the Babylonians appoint Gedaliah governor and base him at Mizpah, where the prophet Jeremiah also settles. Gedaliah is assassinated there by Ishmael son of Nethaniah, a member of the royal line (2 Kings 25:22-25; Jeremiah 40:5-6; 41:1-3).

Today

Mizpah of Benjamin is usually identified with Tell en-Nasbeh, about eight miles (13 km) north of Jerusalem, on the main road through the hill country. William F. Badè excavated it from 1926 to 1935 and uncovered a large fortified town with a massive wall and gate complex from the Iron Age, consistent with the fortification of Mizpah by King Asa. Some scholars prefer Nebi Samwil, a prominent hilltop to the southwest that medieval tradition connected with Samuel and that overlooks the region.

The identification of Mizpah in Gilead is less certain, and several sites east of the Jordan have been suggested. Readers of the Bible should note which Mizpah a passage means, since the context usually makes it clear.