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TIMNAH

(Heb. timnâ)

1. A city on the northern border of Judah (Josh. 15:10), originally assigned to the tribe of Dan (19:43). Timnah, however, was occupied by Philistines and was the scene for Samson’s conflict after having taken a Philistine wife (Judg. 14–15). Timnah probably came under Israelite or Judean control with the conquests of Uzziah (2 Chr. 26:6), but the Philistines are said to have taken it from Judah during the reign of Ahaz (2 Chr. 28:18). The city apparently reverted to Judean control under Hezekiah, as it is named in the inscriptions of the Assyrian Sennacherib in connection with his campaign against Hezekiah in 701 b.c.e. (cf. 2 Kgs. 18:13).

Timnah is convincingly identified with Tell el-Baṭâshī/Tel Baṭash (141132) in the Sorek Valley (cf. Judg. 16:4). Excavations have produced finds paralleling biblical and historical data. A massive earthen rampart, constructed in the Middle Bronze Age, determined the mound’s distinctive square concave shape and marks the beginning of continuous occupation lasting through the Late Bronze Age. This occupation makes the site a likely candidate for the Timnah to which Judah took his sheep to be sheared (Gen. 38:12-14). An extensive Philistine occupation in Iron I was followed by a 10th-century city with distinctive Israelite pottery. A destruction, perhaps the work of Shishak (1 Kgs. 14:25-28), initiated a period of abandonment until the 8th century, when the city was rebuilt. This level contained extensive fortification, as well as storejars having handles impressed with seals of winged scarabs and Heb. lmlk (“belonging to the king”), known to date to the period of Hezekiah. The destruction of this city almost certainly took place during the campaign of Sennacherib in 701. Timnah reemerged as a flourishing town in the 7th century, only to suffer another destruction, probably by the Babylonians ca. 603.

Bibliography. G. L. Kelm and A. Mazar, Timnah: A Biblical City in the Sorek Valley (Winona Lake, 1995).

2. A town of the hill country of Judah (Josh. 15:57). Although not identified, it is presumably near Maon, with which it is listed, ca. 16-24 km. (10-15 mi.) S of Hebron.

Daniel C. Browning, Jr.

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

TIMNAH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)