Debir
oracle town; sanctuary. (1.) One of the eleven cities to the
west of Hebron, in the highlands of Judah (Josh. 15:49; Judg.
1:11-15). It was originally one of the towns of the Anakim
(Josh. 15:15), and was also called Kirjath-sepher (q.v.) and
Kirjath-sannah (49). Caleb, who had conquered and taken
possession of the town and district of Hebron (Josh. 14:6-15),
offered the hand of his daughter to any one who would
successfully lead a party against Debir. Othniel, his younger
brother (Judg. 1:13; 3:9), achieved the conquest, and gained
Achsah as his wife. She was not satisfied with the portion her
father gave her, and as she was proceeding toward her new home,
she "lighted from off her ass" and said to him, "Give me a
blessing [i.e., a dowry]: for thou hast given me a south land"
(Josh. 15:19, A.V.); or, as in the Revised Version, "Thou hast
set me in the land of the south", i.e., in the Negeb, outside
the rich valley of Hebron, in the dry and barren land. "Give me
also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs, and
the nether springs."
Debir has been identified with the modern Edh-Dhaheriyeh,
i.e., "the well on the ridge", to the south of Hebron.
(2.) A place near the "valley of Achor" (Josh. 15:7), on the
north boundary of Judah, between Jerusalem and Jericho.
(3.) The king of Eglon, one of the five Canaanitish kings who
were hanged by Joshua (Josh. 10:3, 23) after the victory at
Gibeon. These kings fled and took refuge in a cave at Makkedah.
Here they were kept confined till Joshua returned from the
pursuit of their discomfited armies, when he caused them to be
brought forth, and "Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hanged
them on five trees" (26).
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