Timnah

Timnah/Tel Batash

תל בטש
Shown within Israel
Alternate name	תמנתה
Location
Coordinates	31°47′06″N 34°54′40″E / 31.785019°N 34.911203°E
Area	10 acre
History
Periods	Middle Bronze Age
Site notes
Excavation dates	1979-1990s
Archaeologists	Amihai Mazar & George L. Kelm

Timnath or Timnah was a Philistine city in Canaan that is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in Judges 14. It has been identified with Tel Batash (Hebrew: תל בטש‎‎), a tel located in the Sorek Valley, near moshav Tal Shahar, Israel.

It was uncovered through 1977-1979 by Amihai Mazar and George L. Kelm while Kelm was serving as professor of Biblical Backgrounds and Archaeology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, on a dig sponsored by the Seminary.^[1][2]

The town of Timnath, Colorado in the United States is named for the city.

Geography

The site is strategically located in the Sorek Valley, an access point from the Coastal Plain through the Shephelah and into the Central Judean Mountains. The site is not to be confused with the copper smelting site of Timna in the Arabah near Eilat.

History

The site was first settled in the Middle Bronze Age by creating an earthen rampart that enclosed the 10 acre (4 hectare) site. Excavations under the leadership of Mazar and Kelm during the 1980s-1990s uncovered twelve strata of continuous settlement at the site through the Hellenistic period, with sparse settlement nearby during the Byzantine period. It included fortifications and buildings from the Kingdom of Judah period, dating to the 7th and 8th centuries BCE. In one of the buildings, a ceramic potsherd bearing a written LMLK seal was found. Not far from the tel, on the edge of Nahal Sorek are the remains of a Roman road as well as settlement dating to the Chalcolithic and Canaanite-periods.

Timnah is mentioned in Genesis 38 in the context of the story of Tamar ^[3] and in Judges 14 in the Samson saga. Samson goes to Timnah in order to find a wife. On his way there, he rends a lion. Samson marries a "girl of the Philistines" from Timnah. Samson poses a riddle for the men of Timnah, which they are only able to resolve following the intervention of his wife. ^[4]

In Joshua 15:10, the city is mentioned as a point on the border of the Tribe of Judah. Judges 14:5refers to Timnah's vineyards.

References

1. http://www.tandyinstitute.org/history.cfm Tandy Institute
2. Center for Online Judaic Studies, Excavating in Samson Country, George L. Kelm and Amihai Mazar, BAR 15:01, Jan-Feb 1989, accessed 11 November 2016
3. Genesis 38:13
4. Judges 14:1-20

Other References

• George L. Kelm; Amihay Mazar (December 1995). Timnah: a biblical city in the Sorek Valley. Eisenbrauns. ISBN 978-0-931464-97-3. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
• Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Amsterdam University Press. 31 December 2000. p. 1312. ISBN 978-90-5356-503-2. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
• Avraham Negev; Shimon Gibson (July 2005). Archaeological encyclopedia of the Holy Land. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 509. ISBN 978-0-8264-8571-7. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
• John Charles Hugh Laughlin (2006). Fifty major cities of the Bible: from Dan to Beersheba. Routledge. pp. 226–. ISBN 978-0-415-22315-7. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
• Lester L. Grabbe (2003). "Like a bird in a cage": the invasion of Sennacherib in 701 BCE. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-8264-6215-2. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
• Jonathan Michael Golden (November 2004). Ancient Canaan and Israel: new perspectives. ABC-CLIO. pp. 70–71. ISBN 978-1-57607-897-6. Retrieved 27 October 2010.