Geshur, Geshurites

Geshur was a district east of the Jordan River. The people who lived there were called Geshurites. This land was part of the area given to the half-tribe of Manasseh (Joshua 13:11). Most Bible geographers place it near Bashan. This was on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee.

When they conquered the land, the Israelites defeated Og, the king of Bashan. Jair of Manasseh captured the region of Bashan. This extended as far as the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites (Deuteronomy 3:14). God gave the land of the Geshurites to Israel. These were the tribes who lived across the Jordan River (Joshua 13:11). But Israel did not drive out the Geshurites (verse 13). Later, Geshur and Aram captured at least 60 Israelite towns. They took the towns from the Israeites in that region (1 Chronicles 2:23).

David married Maacah, daughter of Talmai, the king of Geshur. She gave birth to Absalom (2 Samuel 3:3; 1 Chronicles 3:2). After Abslaom murdered Amnon in revenge, he ran away to Geshur. He stayed there for three years with his grandfather, King Talmai (2 Samuel 13:37).

Another place called Geshur was located south of the land of the Philistines. The people who lived there were also called Geshurites.

This was among the lands not yet captured when Joshua was very old. Joshua 13:2–3 mentions, “All the territory of the Philistines and the Geshurites, from the Shihor east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north.”

Many years later, when David was living in Ziklag under the rule of Achish, the king of Gath, he made attacks against the Geshurites and other nearby groups. These attacks reached “as far as Shur, to the land of Egypt” (1 Samuel 27:8).