Saul was the first king of Israel. He built his capitol north of Jerusalem in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. The city is referred to in the Bible as Gibeah of Saul (1 Samuel 15:34). It is also called Gibeah of Benjamin (1 Samuel 14:16). Remnants of the small fortress from that time have been uncovered at the site. The flat-top building you see was being constructed by king Hussein of Jordan when Israel captured the area during the Six day war in 1967. Today the entire area around the tel is covered by residences and business buildings.
The past few days I have been looking through my photos of Mount Nebo in Jordan. My first visit to the site was in 1967 when the Old City of Jerusalem was in Jordan. Our group got up early on Tuesday May 2 and packed into some of the larger American cars for the ride to Mount Nebo and other sites in the area. For my first two tours the tour operator used cars to transport the group from place to place. We had 19 tour members on that first tour. The tour operator used Mercedes autos on the second tour. When we arrived at the site the tour members would gather to listen to the guide make his presentation.
I recall the guides for the early tours making comments about the view from Mount Nebo when they were younger. Several said they used to be able to see Mount Hermon from the site, before there was so much haze from pollution. I can recall a time or two that we might have had a fairly decent glimpse of Jericho.
Most times we could see only the wilderness of Judea on the west side of the Dead Sea. We might see a little bit of the northern end of the Dead Sea.
Because of the sin of Moses in failing to give credit to God for the water he provide in the wilderness Moses was not permitted to enter the promised land (Numbers 20:1-13).
Mount Nebo is the place from which Moses viewed the land that the LORD had promised to Abraham’s seed (Deuteronomy 34:1-8).
He could see the land but he was not permitting to lead the people across the Jordan into the land. This responsibility would fall to his successor Joshua.
The approach to Mount Nebo in the Biblical land of Moab
The building on Mount Nebo is a reconstructed Byzantine church built at the site to commemorate the event of Moses viewing the promised land before his death and burial in the vicinity.
The next photo show the typical view we have today when we look to the west from Mount Nebo.
Typical View from Mount Nebo to the West.
Here is a map showing Mount Nebo in the time of Moses.
The map is a portion of one of the outstanding maps available at BibleMapper.com. Highly recommended.
Sea People, commonly called Philistines, portrayed on the temple walls at Medinet-Habu in Egypt.
One of the significant battles between Israel and the Philistines took place during the time of Samuel when the ark of the covenant was located in the tent of meeting at Shiloh.
And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek. (1 Samuel 4:1 ESV)
Israel encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek in the plain of Sharon. This indicates that the two places were fairly close to each other. Aphek is located about 21 miles west of Shiloh. Ebenezer is about 2 miles east of Aphek.
Map courtesy of BibleMapper Blog. The map shows much more than we are discussing here, but notice at the top the location of Aphek, Ebenezer?, and Shiloh. Look to the bottom left
Israel encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek in the plain of Sharon. This indicates that the two places were fairly close to each other. Aphek is located about 21 miles west of Shiloh. Ebenezer is about 2 miles east of Aphek.
We pointed out in the previous post that the city was named Antipatris in the Roman period.
The site is mentioned in Egyptian records of the 19th and 15th century B.C. (Murphy-O’Connor). The building pictured below is identified as the Egyptian Governor’s Palace.
Reconstructed ruins of the Egyptian Commander’s Palace (foreground).
On a visit in March of this year Leon Mauldin and I found flowers blooming in abundance.
Cyclamen were seen in abundance after the winter rains.
Because Aphek-Antipatris is an Israeli National Park we see signs providing information about the site.
This is also the site of Antipatris where Paul stayed on his way to Rome.
Ferrell's Travel Blog 
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