Taanach

A province in Canaan. In the division made by Joshua, it was given to Manasseh in the portion of Issachar and Asher. (See Joshua 17. 11.) But in Deborah’s song of victory, she describes the battle of Sisera as near these borders. (Judges v. 19.) Perhaps the name itself is derived from Hanah, to humble.

Ta´anach, a royal city of the Canaanites (Jos 12:21), in the territory of Issachar, but assigned to Manasseh (Jdg 1:27; Jdg 5:19; Jos 17:11; Jos 21:25; 1Ki 4:12). Schubert, followed by Robinson, finds it in the modern Taannuk, now a mean hamlet on the south side of a small hill, with a summit of table-land. It lies on the south-western border of the plain of Esdraelon, four miles south of Megiddo, in connection with which it is mentioned in the triumphal song of Deborah and Barak (Jdg 5:19).

A Caanite royal city, Jos 12:21, in the territory of Issachar, but assigned to Manesseh, Jos 17:11 ; 21:25. There is still a small place called Taannuk on the south border of the plain of Esdraelon, four miles southeast of the site of Megiddo, which is usually named with Taanach, Jdg 1:27 ; 5:19; 1Ki 4:12 .\par

Ta’anach. (sandy). An ancient Canaanitish city, whose king is enumerated, among the thirty-one kings conquered by Joshua. Jos 12:21. It came into the half tribe of Manasseh, Jos 17:11; Jos 21:25; 1Ch 7:29, and was bestowed on the Kohathite Levites. Jos 21:25. Taanach is almost always named in company with Megiddo, and they were, evidently, the chief towns of that fine rich district, which forms the western portion of the great plain of Esdraelon. 1Ki 4:12. It is still called Ta’annuk, and stands about four miles southeast of Lejjun, and 13 miles southwest of Nazareth.

("sandy soil".) An old city of Canaan. Joshua conquered its king (Jos 12:21). It was afterward assigned to Manasseh (1Ch 7:29), and became a Levitical city (1Ch 17:11-12; 1Ch 21:25). Israel failed to drive out its aboriginal occupants (Jdg 1:27), The scene of Barak’s victory was not Taanach or Megiddo, but Mount Tabor, near the sources of the Kishon, three miles W. of Mount Tabor (el Mujahiyeh, "the spring head"): Jdg 4:7-14. Barak had all the advantage of a rush down the hill upon the foe in the plain, as Napoleon had in his battle of Mount Tabor; had the battle been in Taanach he would have had to come the whole width of the plain to attack from low ground the foe on the spurs of the hills far away from the main bed of the Kishon.

"In Taanach" (Jdg 5:19) must be a general name for the district of which Taanach is the capital; or else must be translated "sandy soil," which abounds all over the plain. "The waters of Megiddo" in Jdg 5:19 are those of the stream Jalud, supplied from springs round Mejedda, a ruin near Beisan (Bethsheart). (Palestine Exploration Quarterly Statement, January 1877, p. 13-20.) Taanach and Megiddo (1Ki 4:12) were the chief towns of the fertile tract which forms the western part of the great Esdraelon valley. Now Ta’annuk, a small village with ruins on a flat tell, an hour and a quarter S.E. of Megiddo.

Taanach (tâ’a-năk), sandy soil. A royal Canaanitish city in Issachar, but assigned to Manasseh, Jos 12:21; Jos 17:11; Jdg 1:27; Jdg 5:19; 1Ki 4:12, also written "Tanach." Jos 21:25, A. V. This city is perhaps the same as "Aner." 1Ch 6:70. It is now called Taanuk, with ruins about four miles southeast or Megiddo, on the western side of the plain of Esdraelon.

TAANACH (Jos 12:21, 1Ki 4:12, 1Ch 7:29).—One of the royal Canaanite cities, mentioned in OT always along with Megiddo. Though in the territory of Issachar, it belonged to Manasseh; the native Canaanites were, however, not driven out (Jos 17:11-13, Jdg 1:27). It was allotted to the Levites of the children of Kohath (Jos 21:25). It was one of the four fortress cities on the ‘border of Manasseh’ (1Ch 7:29). The fight of Deborah and Barak with the Canaanites is described (Jdg 5:19) as ‘in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo.” The site is to-day Tell Ta‘annak, four miles S.E. from Tell el-Mutesellim (Megiddo). The hill has been excavated by Prof. Sellin of Vienna. Many remains of Canaanite and Jewish civilization have been found, and also a considerable number of clay tablets with cuneiform inscriptions similar to those discovered at Tell el-Amarna in Egypt. See Sellin in Mem. Vienna Acad., 1. (1904), lii. (1905).

E. W. G. Masterman.

tā´nak (תּענך, ta‛ănākh, or תּענך, ta‛nākh; the Septuagint Τανάχ, Tanách, with many variants): A royal city of the Canaanites, the king of which was slain by Joshua (Jos 12:21). It was within the boundaries of the portion of Issachar, but was one of the cities reckoned to Manasseh (Jos 17:11; 1Ch 7:29), and assigned to the Kohathite Levites (Jos 21:25). The Canaanites were not driven out; only at a later time they were set to taskwork (Jos 17:12 f; Jdg 1:27 f). Here the great battle was fought when the defeat of Sisera broke the power of the oppressor Jabin (Jdg 5:19). It was in the administrative district of Baana ben Ahilud (1Ki 4:12). The name appears in the list of Thothmes III at Karnak; and Shishak records his plundering of Taanach when he invaded Palestine under Jeroboam I (compare 1Ki 14:25 f). Eusebius says in Onomasticon that it is a very large village, 3 miles from Legio. it is represented by the modern Ta‛annek, which stands on a hill at the southwestern edge of the plain of Esdraelon. Megiddo (Tell el-Mutesellim) lies 5 miles to the Northwest. These two places are almost invariably named together. The great highway for traffic, commercial and military, from Babylon and Egypt, ran between them. They were therefore of high strategic importance. Excavations were recently conducted on the site by Professor Sellin, and a series of valuable and deeply interesting discoveries were made, shedding light upon the social and religious life and practices of the inhabitants down to the 1st century BC, through a period of nearly 2,000 years. The Canaanites were the earliest occupants. In accordance with Biblical history, “there is no evidence of a break or abrupt change in the civilization between the Canaanite and the Israelite occupation of Taanach; the excavations Show rather gradual development. The Canaanites will have gradually assimilated the Israelites drawn to them from the villages in the plain” (Driver, Schweich Lectures, 1908, 84). In the work just cited Driver gives an admirable summary of the results obtained by Professor Sellin. In his book on the Religion of Ancient Palestine, Professor Stanley A. Cook has shown, in short compass, what excellent use may be made of the results thus furnished.