Heshbon
From BibleEncyclopedia.Net
Intelligence, a city ruled over by Sihon, king of the Amorites (Jos_3:10; Jos_13:17). It was taken by Moses (Num_21:23-26), and became afterwards a Levitical city (Jos_21:39) in the tribe of Reuben (Num_32:37). After the Exile it was taken possession of by the Moabites (Isa_15:4; Jer_48:2, Jer_48:34, Jer_48:45). The ruins of this town are still seen about 20 miles east of Jordan from the north end of the Dead Sea. There are reservoirs in this district, which are probably the “fishpools” referred to in Son_7:4.
hesh´bon (חשׁבּון, ḥeshbōn; Ἑσεβών, Hesebō̇n):
The royal city of Sihon king of the Amorites, taken and occupied by the Israelites under Moses (Num_21:25 f, etc.). It lay on the southern border of Gad (Jos_13:26), and was one of the cities fortified by Reuben (Num_32:37). It is reckoned among the cities of Gad given to the Merarite Levites (Jos_21:39). In later literature (Isa_15:4; Isa_16:8 f; Jer_48:2, Jer_48:34, Jer_48:45; Jer_49:3) it is referred to as a city of Moab. It passed again into Jewish hands, and is mentioned by Josephus (Ant., XIII, xv, 4) as among their possessions in the country of Moab under Alexander Janneus. The city with its district called Hesebonitis, was also under the jurisdiction of Herod the Great (Ant., XV, vii, 5, where it is described as lying in the Peraea). Eusebius, Onomasticon places it 20 Roman miles from the Jordan. It is represented by the modern Ḥesbān, a ruined site in the mountains over against Jericho, about 16 miles east of the Jordan. It stands on the edge of Wādy Ḥesbān in a position of great strength, about 600 ft. above ‛Ain Ḥesbān. The ruins, dating mainly from Roman times, spread over two hills, respectively 2,930 ft. and 2,954 ft. in height. There are remains of a temple overlooked from the West by those of a castle. There is also a large ruined reservoir; while the spring in the valley forms a succession of pools (Son_7:4). The city is approached from the valley by a steep path passing through a cutting in the rock, which may have been closed by a gate (Conder, Heth and Moab, 142). On a hill to the West, el-Kurmīyeh, is a collection of dolmens and stone circles (Musil, Arabia Petrea, I, 383ff).
