Migron

Migron is a biblical place name that appears in the Hebrew Bible. It is described as a location in the territory of the Tribe of Benjamin, associated with the nearby town of Gibeah (Gibeah of Saul). In the account in 1 Samuel, Saul is said to be staying in the “uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron” with about six hundred men, before the events surrounding the Philistine threat and Jonathan’s bold action.

The precise ancient site of Migron has not been definitively identified. Scholars have proposed various locations in the hill country of Benjamin, near or north of Gibeah and Michmash, but there is no consensus. The identification relies on literary geography within 1 Samuel and on attempts to correlate biblical place names with archaeological and topographical evidence. As with many biblical sites, Migron’s exact location remains a matter of scholarly debate rather than settled fact.

In the modern era, Migron is the name of a West Bank outpost established in the early 2000s that drew attention in Israeli and Palestinian contexts. It was evacuated by order of the Israeli government in 2011 following legal and regulatory processes related to land ownership and settlement activity. The name has been used to refer to this outpost rather than to an identified ancient site, illustrating how biblical toponyms continue to influence contemporary place-naming and geography in the region.

See also: 1 Samuel 13–14; Gibeah; Michmash; Benjamin (Tribe).