Taybeh
|
Taybeh, Ephraim الطيبه، إفرايم |
|
|---|---|
| Village | |
 |
|
 Taybeh, Ephraim
|
|
| Coordinates: 31°57′16″N 35°18′01″E / 31.95444°N 35.30028°ECoordinates: 31°57′16″N 35°18′01″E / 31.95444°N 35.30028°E | |
| Grid position | 178/151 PAL |
| Governorate | Ramallah and al-Bireh |
| Elevation | 900 m (3,000 ft) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 1,452 |
| Website | [1] |
Taybeh (Arabic: الطيبة) is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, 15 kilometers northeast of Jerusalem and 12 kilometers northeast of Ramallah in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, 850 meters above sea level. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Taybeh had a population of 1,452 in 2007. It is the last all-Christian community in the West Bank.
Taybeh has been identified as the site of Ophrah, mentioned in the Bible (Book of Joshua 18:23) as a town of Benjamin, which was later renamed Ephraim. However the word "Ophrah" was close in sound to "afrit" (Arabic: عفريت) meaning "demon" in Arabic. Under Saladin, the name was changed to "Taybeh", "The goodly".
According to local tradition, Saladin met a delegation of Aphram inhabitants during his wars against Crusaders. Impressed by the hospitality of the locals, he named the village Taybeh, or "goodly" in Arabic. Another version of the story is that he was charmed by their goodness and the beauty of their faces, ordering the village to be renamed Tayyibat al-Isem ("beautiful of name") instead of what sounded like Afra ("full of dust").
According to the Bible, Jesus, after Lazarus' resurrection, retired with his disciples to this town. John says, "Since that day on, they (the Pharisees) made the decision to kill him. Jesus did not walk in public among the Jews anymore. He went away to a region near the desert, to a city called Aphram, and it was there that he and his disciples dwelt" (John 11: 53-54). This happened during the first days of Nissan probably around the year 30.
It was at this point that Jesus retired on a rocky hill which was situated 8 km from Taybeh towards the Jordan, in order to fortify his spirit, pray, fast, and expose himself to temptation. That is why this rocky hill is known as (Qarantal), from the Latin root "Quarenta" (forty), which alludes to the forty days Jesus fasted. According to the Evangelist, Taybeh-Aphram is the isolated place where Jesus found the diaphanous quietness to prepare himself and his disciples for the great sacrifice.
...
Wikipedia