Bible Dictionary
Kirjathjearim
Kirjathjearim was a Gibeonite city on the boundaries of Judah and Benjamin. The ark was kept there for twenty years before David removed it to Jerusalem.
Definition
Kirjathjearim, “city of forests,” was one of the four Gibeonite cities. It marked boundaries of Judah and Benjamin and was also known as Baalah and Kirjath-baal.
Biblical Usage
The ark remained at Kirjath-jearim for twenty years before David removed it to Jerusalem and the house of Obed-edom. The city therefore became associated with the ark’s prolonged sojourn.
Historical Background
It has commonly been identified with Kuriet-el-Enab, now known as Abu Gosh, on the road between Jaffa and Jerusalem. Eusebius and Jerome described it as a village near the route between Jerusalem and Lydda.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(the city of forests), first mentioned as one of the four cities of the Gibeonites, (Joshua 9:17) it next occurs as one of the landmarks of the northern boundary of Judah, ch (Joshua 15:9) and as the point at which the western and southern boundaries of Benjamin coincided, ch. (Joshua 18:14,15) and in the last two passages we find that it bore another, perhaps earlier, name—that of the great Canaanite deity Baal, namely Baalah and KIRJATH-BAAL. At this place the ark remained for twenty years. (1 Samuel 7:2) At the close of that time Kirjath-jearim lost its sacred treasure, on its removal by David to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. (1 Chronicles 13:5,6; 2 Chronicles 1:4; 2 Samuel 6:2) etc. To Eusebius and Jerome it appears to have been well known. They describe it as a village at the ninth mile between Jerusalem and Diospolis (Lydda). These requirements are exactly fulfilled in the small modern village of Kuriet-el-Enab—now usually known as Abu Gosh, from the robber chief whose headquarters it was—on the road from Jaffa and Jerusalem.