ib'-le-am (yibhle`am); A town in the territory of Issachar which was assigned to Manasseh (Joshua 17:11). This tribe, however, failed to expel the inhabitants, so the Canaanites continued to dwell in that land (Judges 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" (2 Kings 9:27). The name appears as Bileam in 1 Chronicles 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 2 Ki 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 Joshua 21:25 is a clerical error for "Ibleam."

W. Ewing

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

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