BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Where Is Biblical Gilgal?

A biblical geography mystery

A memorial to the Israelite crossing of the Jordan River, a place of sacrifice, the location of King Agag’s death, Gilgal may be one of the most important biblical sites you probably do not remember from the Bible. That is if Gilgal is even a single site in the first place. While Gilgal is mentioned more than 40 times in the Hebrew Bible, scholars remain remarkably uncertain about the site’s location or its history. Some even believe Gilgal was not a specific place, but rather simply a descriptive term for a specific type of settlement. Publishing in the journal Tel Aviv, archaeologist Nadav Naaman argues that Gilgal was in fact a single cultic site located just a few miles from Jericho.

What Is a Gilgal Anyway?

According to the biblical text, Gilgal was the campsite of the Israelites when they first crossed the Jordan River (Joshua 4–5). Having crossed the river, they erected 12 standing stones at the site, and many later biblical texts mention sacrifices that were performed at the same location (1 Samuel 10:8; Hosea 12:12; Amos 4:4). Indeed, alongside Bethel, Gilgal was one of ancient Israel’s main cultic centers, lasting until the late monarchic period (c. seventh century BCE). There is just one issue: Not all scholars are sure Gilgal was a specific place.

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Meaning something like “circle of stones,” the term Gilgal appears numerous times across the books of the Hebrew Bible. Although the majority of these occurrences seem to refer to a single cultic site near Jericho, some scholars contend that, in more than a few cases, the biblical description indicates the existence of multiple Gilgals. This reading text has led to two main theories: 1) that many different sites were named Gilgal; or 2) that Gilgal was not a place at all, but rather a descriptive term for a particular type of walled, circular settlement. The latter possibility has even led some within Israeli archaeology to use the word “Gilgal” to refer to such circular or enclosed sites.

However, Naaman disagrees. Turning back to the biblical text, Naaman argues that both of these theories are based either on textual misreadings or minor scribal errors.

One such text is 2 Kings 2:1–2, in which the prophets Elijah and Elisha say they will go down from Gilgal to Bethel. As Bethel is located in the highlands north of Jericho, it seems impossible for Gilgal to be the site near Jericho, which sits considerably lower than Bethel. As Nadaav points out, however, this would be far from the only time in the Hebrew Bible where the term “go down” is used to mean its opposite. Judges 11:37, for example, mentions “going down” to the mountains, despite this clearly meaning to go up to the mountains.

Even if Gilgal was a single site, however, its precise location remains a mystery. Following the description in Joshua 4:19, Gilgal was located on the “eastern border of Jericho,” while later Byzantine descriptions suggest it was a few miles east of the ancient city. This puts the important cultic site right along the road leading from ancient Israel to the land of Moab in Transjordan, which would explain why Ehud stopped there on his way to assassinate Eglon, the Moabite king (Judges 3). Nevertheless, as Naaman explains, “Scholars have suggested various identifications for biblical Gilgal, but the archaeological soundings of all the proposed sites have proven these identifications wrong.” Thus, even if Gilgal was one single location, we are still left with the question, “Where is Biblical Gilgal?”

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This article was first published in Bible History Daily on June 7, 2024.

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