Category Archives: Places of the Bible

Lo Debar – Why Hide a Grandson There?

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Why would you hide an heir apparent in a “Lo Debar?” (see Lo Debar) That connection with King Saul goes back a couple of generations to the Book of Judges.  In chapter 21 Israel had killed off almost all of the Tribe of Benjamin and had cursed them on top of all of that.  But to find wives for the 400 Benjamites who remained they killed off everyone in a town in Gilead except for the young women. So, when the newly crowned King Saul takes off to rescue Jabesh Gilead in 1 Samuel 11 it was probably because he had family there.  Not only did he rescue his family but also, he upped his standing in Israel at the same time.  So, his connection with that part of the land of Israel is family ties so the young Mephibosheth would have been safe.      ( see Lo Debar – Another Look )

A place called Lo Debar

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After many years of reading the Bible, you start to ask questions because you see things that you know were “not there before.” Some of these blogs will be from “old treasures” and some will be “new treasure” because God wants us to keep moving forward going from “glory to glory” in our knowledge of Him.
A great reason to study the Bible on your own is what happened to me because of a place called Lo Debar (2 Samuel 9). A preacher had taught about Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, son of King Saul, who was living in Lo Debar. (see Lo Debar-Why Hide a Grandson There?)  ( see Lo Debar – Another Look this is a look at all of the people in the story.)
lo-debarLo Debar means “no pasture or no communication”. The negative of the place was so emphasized that I have for 20 years thought that it was a “dump”. Well, another preacher taught about it and did not highlight the “dump” idea, so I knew it was time to study. Part of the study was to go look on Google maps to find where it was, that was fun and it gave me an idea why it may have been called that. One of David’s benefactors (Makir of Ammiel, 2 Sam. 17:27) was from Lo Debar and he brought to David as he ran from Absalom pots, vessels, and bedding, which is what was made in Lo Debar. On further study it seems that Lo Debar possible locationLo Debar may have been a gateway to Gilead and important in its protection, so it seems that it may not have been a “dump.” Resources: Atlas of the Bible by Collins, Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance, and Easton’s Bible Dictionary

The map is from http://bibleatlas.org/lo-debar.htm ,the pic is a screen shot from Goggle Earth.