Gilboa (Gil-boh´uh)

Modern Jebel Fuqu’ah,a hill opposite the Hill of Moreh. Together Gilboa and Moreh guard the eastern pass from the Plain of Esdraelon into the Valley of Jezreel, the main access from the coastal plain to the Jordan Valley. Gilboa rises to a height of 1,696 feet above sea level, but plunges abruptly 2,000 feet below on the east to the Jordan. Its more gradual western slopes are probably where Saul fought his last battle with the Philistines; his three sons were killed and Saul took his own life after he was seriously wounded (1Sam 31). In his lament over Jonathan David levels a curse upon the scene of his death (2Sam 1:22).