hal´hul ( חלחוּל , ḥalḥūl ): A city in the hill country of Judah ( Joshua 15:58 ), "Halhul, Beth-zur and Gedor." It is without doubt the modern Ḥalḥūl , a village on a hill, surrounded by fine fields and vineyards, some 4 miles North of Hebron and less than a mile to the East of the modern carriage road. It is conspicuous from a considerable distance on account of its ancient mosque, Wely Nebi Yûnas , the "shrine of the Prophet Jonah" - a tradition going back at least to the 14th century. The mosque, which has a minaret or tower, is built upon a rock platform artificially leveled. In the 14th century it was stated by Isaac Chilo (a Jewish pilgrim) that the tomb of Gad the Seer (1 Samuel 22:5; 2 Samuel 24:11 f) was situated in this town. Beth-zur ( Beit Sûr ) and Gedor (Jedûr ) are both near. In Josephus (BJ , IV, ix, 6) we read of an Alurus (where the Idumeans assembled), and in Jerome (OS 119 7) of a village Alula near Hebron, which both probably refer to the same place (PEF , III, 305; Sh XXI ).
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) was edited by James Orr, John Nuelsen, Edgar Mullins, Morris Evans, and Melvin Grove Kyle and was published complete in 1939. This web site includes the complete text.
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