Gebal

Gebal — known to the Greeks as Byblos, the source of the English word "Bible" via the papyrus trade — was a Phoenician port city about 40 km north of modern Beirut. The Gebalites (men of Gebal) were celebrated in the ancient Near East as master stonecutters, shipwrights, and caulkers. When Hiram of Tyre sent cedar and skilled craftsmen for Solomon's temple, "the stonemasons of Solomon and the stonemasons of Hiram and the men of Gebal cut them, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the temple" (1 Kings 5:18). Ezekiel's lament over Tyre names "the elders of Gebal and her wise men were in you, caulking your seams; all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you, to exchange your wares" (Ezekiel 27:9). Psalm 83:7 lists Gebal alongside Ammon, Amalek, and Philistia in a confederation opposed to Israel.