Ebed

(a servant). (Many MSS. have Eber.)
→ Father of Gaal, who with his brethren assisted the men of Shechem in their revolt against Abimelech. (Judges 9:26,28,30,31,35) (B.C. 1206). → Son of Jonathan; one of the Bene-Adin who returned form Babylon with Ezra. (Ezra 8:6)
  

slave, the father of Gaal, in whom the men of Shechem "put confidence" in their conspiracy against Abimelech (Judg. 9:26, 26, 30, 31). Ebed-melech a servant of the king; probably an official title, an Ethiopian, "one of the eunuchs which was in the king's house;" i.e., in the palace of Zedekiah, king of Judah. He interceded with the king in Jeremiah's behalf, and was the means of saving him from death by famine (Jer. 38:7-13: comp. 39:15-18). Eben-ezer stone of help, the memorial stone set up by Samuel to commemorate the divine assistance to Israel in their great battle against the Philistines, whom they totally routed (1 Sam. 7:7-12) at Aphek, in the neighbourhood of Mizpeh, in Benjamin, near the western entrance of the pass of Beth-horon. On this very battle-field, twenty years before, the Philistines routed the Israelites, "and slew of the army in the field about four thousand men" (4:1,2; here, and at 5:1, called "Eben-ezer" by anticipation). In this extremity the Israelites fetched the ark out of Shiloh and carried it into their camp. The Philistines a second time immediately attacked them, and smote them with a very great slaughter, "for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. And the ark of God was taken" (1 Sam. 4:10). And now in the same place the Philistines are vanquished, and the memorial stone is erected by Samuel (q.v.). The spot where the stone was erected was somewhere "between Mizpeh and Shen." Some have identified it with the modern Beit Iksa, a conspicuous and prominent position, apparently answering all the necessary conditions; others with Dier Aban, 3 miles east of 'Ain Shems.

a servant; laborer