Abstract

Ebenezer Early Iron Age city in northern Palestine, attested in OT tradition as the site where the Israelites pitched camp before their battle with the Philistines, reported in 1 Samuel 4:1–11. The Philistines, whose encampment was at Aphek, twice defeated the Israelites, and followed up their success by seizing the Ark of the Covenant; the Israelites had brought this from Shiloh in an attempt to secure victory after their first defeat. The site of Ebenezer, not yet identified, must have lain close to Tel Aphek, where the Philistines camped before the battle. An equation with ‘Izbet Sartah (q.v.) has been suggested.