Ijon

Ijon was a fortified town at the northernmost edge of the territory of Naphtali in upper Galilee, just south of the Lebanon mountains. It was the first city sacked when Ben-Hadad I of Damascus invaded northern Israel at King Asa's request, during the war between Judah and Israel: "Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali" (1 Kings 15:20, 2 Chronicles 16:4). About a century later, Ijon was again among the first to fall when Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria swept through the Galilee in 732 BCE, deporting the inhabitants — "Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried the people captive to Assyria" (2 Kings 15:29). Generally identified with Tell ed-Dibbin in the Marj 'Ayun plain of modern southern Lebanon.