GILBOA
“bubbling fountain.”
Mountainous terrain in which, defeated by the Philistines, Saul and Jonathan met their deaths (1 Sam. 28:4; 31:1, 8; 2 Sam. 1:6, 21; 21:12; 1 Chron. 10:1 , 8).
When the news came to David, he said, in his lamentation: “Mountains of Gilboa, let neither dew nor rain fall on you, nor let you be lands of offerings.”
It has been identified with Mount Jebel Faku’a.
It stands on the eastern edge of the plain of Esdraelon.
It has an imposing appearance seen from the plain, but its highest peak does not exceed 517 m.
Its orientation is from northwest to southeast and south. It is possible that Jelbun, a small town on its western slope, is a form of the ancient name Gilboa.