Libnah
From Bible Exegesis
Transparency; whiteness.
(1.) One of the stations of the Israelites in the wilderness (Num_33:20, Num_33:21).
(2.) One of the royal cities of the Canaanites taken by Joshua (Jos_10:29-32; Jos_12:15). It became one of the Levitical towns in the tribe of Judah (Jos_21:13), and was strongly fortified. Sennacherib laid siege to it (2Ki_19:8; Isa_37:8). It was the native place of Hamutal, the queen of Josiah (2Ki_23:31). It stood near Lachish, and has been identified with the modern Arak el-Menshiyeh.
lib´na (לבנה, libhnāh “whiteness,” “transparency,” “pavement” (compare Exo_24:10 where לבנת, libhnath, is translated “paved work” or a “compact foundation”); Λεβνά, Lebná):
(1) A desert camp of the Israelites between Rimmon-perez and Rissah (Num_33:20, Num_33:21). Probably the same as Laban (Deu_1:1). See WANDERINGS OF ISRAEL.
(2) A town in the Shephelah of Judah (Jos_15:42). “Joshua passed from Makkedah, and all Israel with him, unto Libnah, and fought against Libnah: and Yahweh delivered it also, and the king thereof, into the hand of Israel... And Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel with him, unto Lachish, and encamped against it, and fought against it” (Jos_10:29-31; Jos_12:15). It was one of the cities given to the “children of Aaron” (Jos_21:13; 1Ch_6:57). In the reign of Joram, Libnah joined the Edomites in a revolt against the king of Judah (2Ki_8:22; 2Ch_21:10). In the reign of Hezekiah, Libnah was besieged by Sennacherib (2Ki_19:8; Isa_37:8). The wife of King Josiah was “Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah,” she was the mother of Jehoahaz and Zedekiah (2Ki_23:31; 2Ki_24:18; Jer_52:1).
The site of this important stronghold remains unknown. In the Eusebius, Onomasticon it is described, under the name Lobana or Lobna, as near Eleutheropolis (Beit Jebrîn). All the indications point to a site in the Southwest of the Shephelah, not very far from Lachish. The Palestine Exploration Fund surveyors suggested (PEF, III, 259) the commanding site ‛Arāk el Menshîyeh, or rather the white chalky mound 250 ft. high to the North of this village, and Stanley proposed Tell eṣ Safi. (Both these identifications are due to the interpretation of Libnah as meaning “whiteness.”) In the PEFS (1897, Sh XX) Conder suggests a ruin called el Benâwy, 10 miles Southeast of Lachish.
