Now as we know there are traces in southern Africa that places all the events in the Bible firmly on the map. Now the place and name of Gibeon, in such a place indeed. Abraham found Himself on the right side of the Jordan (meaning the East side) on his way down to Mamre (at the Cape).
We remember Genesis 13,18:
18 So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to SoNiNi.
Now Gibeon was a Kanaanite, but later on it became a City on the outer borders of The Promised Land, located NORTH of Jerusalem. Which means Jerusalem would have been south of the location below, if this current place named Gibeon is indeed the same place talked about in our Bibles. And below we do find Gibeon, in a region called Hardrap in the country of Namibia. Now, as with all modern history, there are not many records before Europeans came, so embarrassingly one of the first records are from the 1850s, and the establishing of a Rhenish mission station (basically German Protestants). We will off course go much deeper than that. Lets dive !
If we read Joshua 10,12 and 11,19, we find these inhabitants Gibeonites (Hivites) and was according to II Samuel 21,1, these people where Amorites. The very same people that lived with Abraham further down towards the Cape. Now after the destruction of Jericho and Hai, these Amorites (Hivites) sent sent people over to trick Joshua into making a treaty with them. Remember SoNiNi ordered them to destroy all the Non-Bantu people that were in these areas. However, the Gibeonites were clever and represented themselves as a people from far away lands, that had great wealth and power. Now without consulting SoNiNi (Joshua 9,14) The People entered into a peace treaty with the people of Gibeon. In not to long, they were found out and the truth is they were actually a mere 3 days walk from them (Joshua 9:17). Now when Joshua realised they had been deceived, they did not kill them but made a covenant with them and letting them live in exchange for their service. They were to be woodcutters and water carriers, a trade they were said to have forever (Joshua 9,3-27). Gibeon was besieged by a cooperation of five Amorite kings (led by Adonizedek and an entourage of others). This led the Gibeonites to appeal to Joshua, who fought against the Amorites and defeated them under rather special circumstances. There was deadly hailstones and the sun and moon was frozen in the sky, until the Amorites were defeated (Joshua 10,1-15):
Now Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai and totally destroyed it, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and that the people of Gibeon had made a treaty of peace with Israel and had become their allies. 2 He and his people were very much alarmed at this, because Gibeon was an important city, like one of the royal cities; it was larger than Ai, and all its men were good fighters. 3 So Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem appealed to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish and Debir king of Eglon. 4 “Come up and help me attack Gibeon,” he said, “because it has made peace with Joshua and the Israelites.”
5 Then the five kings of the Amorites—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon—joined forces. They moved up with all their troops and took up positions against Gibeon and attacked it.
6 The Gibeonites then sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: “Do not abandon your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us! Help us, because all the Amorite kings from the hill country have joined forces against us.”
7 So Joshua marched up from Gilgal with his entire army, including all the best fighting men.
8 SoNiNi said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you.”
9 After an all-night march from Gilgal, Joshua took them by surprise. 10 SoNiNi threw them into confusion before Israel, so Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon. Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. 11 As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, SoNiNi hurled large hailstones down on them, and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites.
12 On the day SoNiNi gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to SoNiNi in the presence of Israel:
“Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.” 13 So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar.
The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. 14 There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when SoNiNi listened to a human being. Surely SoNiNi was fighting for Israel! 15 Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal.
Now then. What is this... Large hailstones hurdled? Could these be what is termed as meteorites in todays terminology? Now this area is known for a meteorite, called Gibeon Meteorite that came down over a 390km long and 100km wide area, this is dated in prehistoric times by modern geologists. Now prehistoric times should perhaps be read as Biblical times, as it was before history started getting written down by any other people than 10year professors at largely white institutions and universities. This meteorite (hailstone) has been studied and classified as iron-nickels alloy, although it also contained COBALT and phosphorus.
Now to get technical the meteorite was classified as octahedrite, meaning it is sought after by jewellers and collectors, because of its crystalline structure (I mean just look at it, straight from heaven). Now collecting meteorites are illegal in Namibia, as they are regarded as National Monuments. Some 150 fragments has been collected over the years and can be found at Windhoeks Central Business District, but the largest piece was actually stolen from the museum itself. The indigenous Nama people (likely descendants of Amorites) have used the strong iron for tools and weapons.
Now as we mentioned this peculiar metal combination, seems to have been hurdled down from the pavement of Heaven or higher, as it contained Cobalt (bromide) which in some forms are very similar to the distinct blue colour of Lapis lazuli or sapphire, as we read in Exodus 24,10 (depending the translation):
9 Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the 70 elders of Israel went up the mountain. 10 On the mountain, these men saw the SoNiNi of Israel. He was standing on something that looked like blue sapphires, as clear as the sky! (ERV)
Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up the moutain and saw SoNiNi of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. (NIV)
Now these hailstones was first `discovered` by the west in 1836 and Captain J. E. Alexander (1803-1885), he found them in the vicinity of the Fish River. As the samples made their way to London over time, and the Scottish academic Sir John Herschel (1792-1871) did analyse them and confirmed for the first time that they where of `extraterrestrial nature`. No surprise there as well, they came from Heaven and from another plain than the one we know down on earth.
The fragments from the happening in the Bible are dispersed over an elliptical area of 240miles long and 75miles wide. although the core of the downfall is close to the village of Gibeon. Now we have some contemporary sources that this indeed might be the Gibeon of Scriptures, what does our Bibles have to say?
It starts really in the Book of Joshua, and Gibeon described as a large city, like one of the royal cities, located in the Territory of Benjamin (Joshua 18,25). Furthermore we see it was given as a city for the Priests and so then called a Levitical city (Joshua 21,17). We find more mentions in Chronicles, where Jeiel is mentioned as the father of Gibeon, being an ancestor of King Saul.
Now another ancient people, The Philistines had taken the Ark of the Covenant, moved it from Shiloh to a Great High Place in Gibeon (1. Samuel 4,1-22 & 1. Chronicles 21,29). This is of interest.
As 2. Samuel 21,2 indicates that King Saul pursued the Gibeonites and wanted to kill them (2. Samuel 21,5). King Saul was said to later have died close to the Pool of Gibeon (2. Samuel 2,12), so we know that this place used to have more water than today. IN the same area King David conquered the Philistines (2. Samuel 5,25 & 1. Chronicles 14,16).
Later on, after Absalom had passed, The Promised Land underwent a drought and it was later revealed to be a judgement against King Saul and his decision to completely remove the Gibeonites (2. Samuel 21,1). Now also at Gibeon was the place where King Davids son Solomon met with all the leaders of The Promised Land, and offered a thousand burnt offerings (1. Kings 3,4 & 2. Chronicles 1,6). Also as pertains to Gibeon, Hananiah, son of Azzur, came from Gibeon (Jeremia 28,1). Now for those that have been paying attention to these ancient borders among the Tribes, we see that AFTER the exile to Babylonia (Horn of Africa) Gibeon used to belong to Juda.
Furthermore Gibeon is mentioned in Nehemiah as one of the towns that the Bantus resettled (by the same families that left) after the return from Babylonia, and these people also helped to build the walls of Jerusalem during Artaxerxes reign. If we read 1. Chronicles 16,39 we see that before the tabernacle at Gibeon, there was worship also in Jerusalem, so at both places after David brought the Ark back (but Samuel makes no mention of these movements of the Ark).
So we can read in 1. Kings 3,3-4:
3 Solomon showed that he loved SoNiNi by obeying everything his father David told him to do, except that Solomon continued to go to the high places to offer sacrifices and to burn incense. 4 King Solomon went to Gibeon to offer a sacrifice because that was the most important high place. He offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 While Solomon was at Gibeon, SoNini came to him at night in a dream. He said, “Solomon, ask me what you want me to give you.”
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