=Situation of Jabesh-Gilead.= The site of the Israelite city of Jabesh-Gilead, across the Jordan, whose messengers aroused Saul to action, has not as yet been absolutely identified. The name is preserved in the Wady Yabis, which runs from the heights of Gilead into the Jordan a little southwest of Bethshean. Eusebius states (_Onomas._ 268.281) that it was on the eastern table-land, six Roman miles from Pella, on the road to Gerasa, the modern Jerash. It is probably represented by the ruins of Miryamim, north of the Wady Yabis, where the ancient road leads up through the Wady Saleh to the heights seven miles southeast of Pella. About these massive, ancient ruins are open plains where the Ammonite hosts could assemble. Here in the early morning was probably fought the first memorable battle in Israel's war for independence. =The Sanctuary at Gilgal.= After the destruction of Shiloh it was natural that the Hebrew tribes should assemble at Gilgal, the sacred shrine a few miles to the southwest, and there make king the man who had proved his fitness to lead and his ability to deliver them from their foes. The town itself was two thousand four hundred and forty-one feet above the sea and was approached by a long climb from almost every side. It stood on the top of a round hill jutting boldly out into the midst of deep valleys. The hill is a gilgal, or circle, connected with the rest of the land by a rocky shoulder running to the south. On this shoulder of land are two fine rock-cut thrashing floors. The southern front of the rocky plateau is occupied by the present village of Jiljilia. The space on the north and west is still unoccupied and bears all the marks of an ancient high place. Near the shrine of a Mohammedan saint are two terebinths, probably survivors of the ancient sacred grove. On the northwest, the cuttings in the rock suggest channels to carry off the sacrificial blood, while one rock-cutting resembles an altar, with a reservoir or underground room. About is a large rocky terrace, where one can in imagination see the assembled Israelites as they gathered to proclaim as king the gigantic Benjamite warrior and thus to lay the foundations of Israel's independence and national glory.