Gathhepher
Gath-he'pher (Heb. with the art. Gath ha-Che'pher, גִּת הִחֵפֶו, wine-press of the well; Sept. Γεθχόφερ, Vulg. Geth quae est in Opher), a town in Galilee, the birthplace of the prophet Jonah (2Ki 14:25). It is stated by Eusebius and Jerome to have been in the tribe of Zebulun (Onomast. s.v. Γεθθεφά, Gethefer). The latter (Praef ad Jon.) speaks of it as a small place two miles from Sepphoris, on the way to Tiberias, and says that the sepulcher of Jonah was shown in his day. Benjamin of Tudela, in the 12th century, says that the tomb of Jonah was still shown on a hill near Sepphoris (Early Travels in Pal. page 89). It was doubtless the same as GITTAH-HEPHER, situated in the east of Zebulun (Jos 19:13). The position corresponds well to that of ea-Meshadn , a village on the top of a rocky hill, in which is still shown a Muslim tomb, of the prophet Jonah (Robinson, Researches, 3:209, note; De Saulcy, Narrative, 2:318; Thomson, Land and Book, 2:122; Schwarz, Palest. page 89; Van de Velde, Memoim, page 312). SEE GUFTA.
