Heshbon

(invention) (Num. 21:26–34; Deut. 2:24–25) — capital of Sihon, king of the Amorites. It was originally held by the Moabites, but the Amorites took it from them and made it their capital, and it remained under their power until, in the days of Moses, the Israelites conquered it from them. It was afterward given to the tribe of Reuben, which rebuilt the city (Num. 32:37). Heshbon lay on the borders of the tribe of Gad (Josh. 13:26) and became a city of the Levites, of the family of Merari (21:39).

After the Babylonian captivity it passed again to the Moabites, and is frequently mentioned in the prophets’ denunciations against Moab. The site on which Heshbon stood is now called Hesban, twenty miles east of the Jordan, near its mouth. The ruins of a great ancient city still exist there, with remnants of a temple whose half-ruined columns survive to this day. Deep cisterns are hewn in the rocks; near the foot of the hill was once a great ancient reservoir, which calls to mind a passage from the Song of Songs: “Thine eyes are like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim” (7:4 [7:5]).

Heshbon continued to exist for several centuries after Christ, and one of its bishops was present at the Council of Nicaea in 325, another at the third Council of Ephesus in 431. It is mentioned by Josephus, Pliny, Jerome, and others. The remains of Moorish architecture indicate that it fell into decay under Muslim rule.