IBLEAM
ib'-le-am (yibhle`am); A town in the territory of Issachar which was assigned to Manasseh (Jos 17:11). This tribe, however, failed to expel the inhabitants, so the Canaanites continued to dwell in that land (Jud 1:27). It was on the route by which Ahaziah fled from Jehu. He was overtaken and mortally wounded "at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam" (2Ki 9:27). The name appears as Bileam in 1Ch 6:70; and it probably corresponds to Belmen of Jth. It is now represented by the ruin of Bel`ameh on the West of the valley through which the road to the south runs, about half a mile from Jenin. In 2Ki 15:10, where it is said that Zechariah the son of Jeroboam was slain by Shallum "before the people," this last phrase, which is awkward in the Hebrew, should be amended to read "in Bileam." Possibly "Gath-rimmon" in Jos 21:25 is a clerical error for "Ibleam."

W. Ewing

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