Gilgal

Israel's first camp after crossing the Jordan — memorial stones, circumcision, and the base for allotting the land.

Gilgal lay about 2 km NE of ancient Jericho; since 1931 most scholars identify it with Khirbet Mefjir, which better fits the distances given by Josephus and Eusebius. In 1473 BCE, after crossing the Jordan, the Israelites camped here; Joshua set up the twelve stones taken from the riverbed as a memorial (Josh 4:8, 19-24), and the men born in the wilderness were circumcised. Because Jehovah 'rolled away the reproach of Egypt,' the place was named Gilgal, meaning 'a rolling; to roll away' (Josh 5:8, 9). The Gibeonites came here in disguise to make a covenant (Josh 9:3-15), and when the five southern kings attacked Gibeon, Joshua marched all night from Gilgal and routed them (Josh 10:1-15). The allotting of the land also began here. In the days of the Judges, Moabite king Eglon controlled the area (Judg 3:12-26), and Jehovah's angel went 'up from Gilgal to Bochim' (Judg 2:1). Samuel visited Gilgal yearly, anointed Saul here, and renewed the kingship before the people (1 Sam 7:16; 10:1; 11:14, 15); yet Saul presumptuously offered the burnt offering here when the Philistines pressed in, and was later rejected for sparing the Amalekites (1 Sam 13:4-15; 15:12-28). After Absalom's revolt, the men of Judah met David at Gilgal to bring him over the Jordan (2 Sam 19:15, 40). In prophetic times Gilgal became a center of false worship and was condemned by Hosea and Amos (Hos 4:15; Amos 4:4; 5:5).