Tob

TOB (tŏb, Heb. tôv). A fertile district in Syria, extending NE from Gilead. Jephthah, a mighty man of Gilead, took refuge in Tob (Judg.11.1-Judg.11.3). When Israel was beset by Ammonites, the elders in Gilead begged him to return and take charge of their army (Judg.11.4-Judg.11.11). When Ammon was preparing to fight David, they hired twelve thousand men of Tob to fight for them (2Sam.10.6, 2Sam.10.8).

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TOB tŏb (טֹ֑וב). A town and district of S Hauran mentioned as Jephthah’s place of refuge (Judg 11:3-5), and in connection with the Ammonite-Syrian war (2 Sam 10:6 RSV). It is possibly the Dubu of the Amarna documents, an Aramaean state E of the Jordan River, but N of the Gilead hill-country. This makes a suggested identification with Hippos of the Decapolis reasonable. The present al-Tabiya, ten m. S of Gadara, has also been suggested, and the name does appear to conserve the Heb. word (tǒb, “good”). There was a postexilic settlement of Jews there, and this occasioned an intrusion into the area of Judas Maccabaeus (1 Macc 5:13; 2 Macc 12:17), if indeed Toubias and the Toubiani are to be identified with Tob and the inhabitants of the place.