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SHUNEM

(Heb. šûnēm),

SHUNAMMITE

(šûnammîṯ)

A town in the territory of Issachar (Josh. 19:18), located near Mt. Gilboa at the foot of the hill of Moreh, on the eastern edge of the Jezreel Plain. The site is ca. 8 km. (5 mi.) S of Mt. Tabor on the lower southwest slope of the Nebī Daḥī. The valley between Shunem and the city of Jezreel to its south forms a natural pass to the Jordan River. Scholars identify the site as the modern village of Sôlem (181223), 14.5 km. (9 mi.) N of Jenîn.

Surveys of the site indicate that the earliest occupation began in the Middle Bronze Age and continued through the Islamic period. During the Canaanite period, the city held power as a small city-state. Thutmose III (15th century) conquered the city (Shunama), and the Amarna Letters (14th century) mention its defeat by Labʿayu of Shechem and its inhabitants being pressed into forced labor. Biridiya, prince of Megiddo, soon rebuilt the city.

Shunem falls within the tribal territory of Issacher (Josh. 19:18). In the late 11th century, the Philistine army assembled at Shunem prior to the final battle in which Saul was killed (1 Sam. 28:4). Abishag, the young woman brought to David in his old age, was from Shunem (1 Kgs. 1:3); it was Adonijah’s request for Abishag as wife that led to Solomon’s orders to execute his brother. Following the division of the kingdom, Pharaoh Sheshonk (Shishak) listed the city among his conquered cities in the Karnak list, although the biblical record is silent concerning the Egyptian conquest of northern cities. A Shunammite woman fed and housed the prophet Elisha, and he later revived her son (2 Kgs. 4:8-37). Some interpreters connect Shunem with the Shulammite of the Song of Solomon (Cant. 6:13[MT 7:1]).

Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford/Stephen Von Wyrick

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SHUNEM

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)