Eben-Ezer


Eben-Ezer is a location that is mentioned by the Books of Samuel as the scene of battles between the Israelites and Philistines. It is specified as having been less than a day's journey by foot from Shiloh, near Aphek, in the neighbourhood of Mizpah, near the western entrance of the pass of Bethoron. However, its location has not been identified in modern times with much certainty, with some identifying it with Beit Iksa, and others with Dayr Aban.

Historical mentions

It appears in the Books of Samuel in two narratives:
It is currently accepted among many Israeli archaeologists and historians to place the Eben-Ezer of the first narrative in the immediate neighborhood of modern-day Kafr Qasim, near Antipatris, while the second battle's location is deemed to be insufficiently well-defined in the Biblical text. The other proposed site is called "Isbet Sartah". Some scholars hold that there were more than one Aphek. C.R. Conder identified the Aphek of Eben-Ezer with a ruin some distant from Dayr Aban, and known by the name Marj al-Fikiya; the name al-Fikiya being an Arabic corruption of Aphek. Eusebius, when writing about Eben-ezer in his Onomasticon, says that it is "the place from which the Gentiles seized the Ark, between Jerusalem and Ascalon, near the village of Bethsamys ", a locale that corresponds with Conder's identification. The same site, near Beth Shemesh, has also been identified by Epiphanius as being Eben-ezer.