Tekoa

A city of Judah. (2 Chron. xi. 6.) So called from Thakah.

Teko´a, a city south of Bethlehem, on the borders of the desert to which it gave name, and noted as the residence of ’the wise woman’ who interceded for Absalom; as one of the towns fortified by Rehoboam; and as the birthplace of the prophet Amos (2Sa 14:2; 1Ch 2:24; 2Ch 20:20; Jer 6:1; Amo 1:1). The site has long been known; it lies six miles south of Bethlehem, on an elevated hill, not steep, but broad at the top, and covered with ruins to the extent of four or five acres. The site commands extensive prospects, and towards the east is bounded only by the level mountains of Moab. Before and during the Crusades Tekoa was well inhabited by Christians; but in A.D. 1138 it was sacked by a party of Turks from beyond the Jordan, and nothing further is known of it till the seventeenth century, when it lay desolate, as it has ever since done.

Jer 6:1, a city of Judah, now in ruins, situated on an extended height, twelve miles south of Jerusalem. Here originated the wise woman who was Joab’s agent, 2Sa 14:2, and Amos the prophet, 1Sa 1:1 . It was inhabited by Christians in the time of the crusades.\par The wilderness of Tekoa, mentioned in 2Ch 20:20, inclines toward the Dead Sea.\par

Teko’a. (a stockade).

1. A town in the tribe of Judah, 2Ch 11:6, on the range of hills which rise near Hebron, and stretch eastward toward the Dead Sea. Jerome says that Tekoa was six Roman miles from Bethlehem, and that, as he wrote, he had that village daily before his eyes. The "wise woman" whom Joab employed, to effect a reconciliation, between David and Absalom, was obtained from this place. 2Sa 14:2.

Here, also, Ira, the son of Ikkesh, one of David’s thirty, "the mighty men," was born, and was called on that account "the Tekoite," 2Sa 23:26. It was one of the places, which Rehoboam fortified, at the beginning of his reign, as a defence against invasion from the south. 2Ch 11:6. Some of the people from Tekoa took part in building the walls of Jerusalem, after the return from the captivity. Neh 3:6; Neh 3:27.

In Jer 6:1, the prophet exclaims, "Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem." But Tekoa is chiefly memorable as the birthplace, Amo 7:14, of the prophet Amos. Tekoa is still as Teku’a. It lies on an elevated hill, which spreads itself out into an irregular plain of moderate extent. Various ruins exist, such as the walls of houses, cisterns, broken columns and heaps of building-stones.

2. A name occurring in the genealogies of Judah, 1Ch 2:24; 1Ch 4:5, as the son of Ashur. There is little doubt that the town of Tekoa is meant.

2Sa 14:2. A town of Judah (2Ch 11:6). Six Roman miles from Bethlehem, (to the S.E.,) which was six miles S. of Jerusalem. Tekoa was thus 12 from Jerusalem (Eusebius), but only nine by a shorter route (Jerome). The wise woman whom Joab suborned to persuade David to restore Absalom belonged to Tekoa (2 Samuel 14). Rehoboam fortified it (2Ch 11:6). It was Amos’ birthplace. Jeremiah, warning Judah to flee southward from the enemy advancing from the N. (Jer 6:1), plays upon the sound tikehu Tekoa, "blow the trumpet in Tekoa." The derivation taaqa’ "to strike" alludes to the stakes struck into the ground to secure the tents of the shepherds who roamed in "the wilderness of Tekoa," which was E. of the town or cluster of pastoral tents. Ira, one of David’s thirty mighties, was a Tekoite (2Sa 23:26).

The Tekoites repaired the wall under Nehemiah (Neh 3:5; Neh 3:27); but "their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord." Contrast Neh 4:6, "the people had a mind to work" (Jdg 5:28; Col 3:28). Amos’ familiarity with the Tekoa desert and the danger of a shepherd’s life affected his style. (See AMOS.) In the lists of Judah (1Ch 2:24; 1Ch 4:5) Ashur, Hezron’s posthumous son and Caleb’s brother, is mentioned as father, i.e. founder or prince, of Tekoa. Now Teku’a; within sight of "the Frank mountain," the site of Herod’s castle, formerly Bethhaccerem; broken columns, heaps of bevelled stones, cisterns,and square foundations of houses, mark the site which is on a broad topped hill, with the remains of a square tower at the N.E.; it commands the view of the level range of the Moabite mountains, affording frequent glimpses of the Dead Sea. (See BETHHACCEREM.)

Tekoa (te-kô’ah), a fixing or pitching of tents. A fortified city, twelve miles south by east from Jerusalem, 1Ch 2:24; Jer 6:1; Amo 1:1; also written "Tekoah." 2Sa 14:2; 2Sa 14:4; 2Sa 14:9, A. V. The inhabitants were called "Tekoites." Neh 3:5. It had a desert lying east of it, toward the Dead Sea. 2Ch 20:20. Tekoa, now called Tekuʾa, is situated on a hill.

[Teko’a]

Son of Ashur, or a city founded by Ashur, a descendant of Judah. 1Ch 2:24; 1Ch 4:5.

By: Executive Committee of the Editorial Board., Immanuel Benzinger

City of southern Judea, frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. The "wise woman" who brought about the recall of Absalom was a resident of the city (II Sam. xiv. 2 et seq.), and it was also the home of the prophet Amos (i. 1), the herdsman and the gatherer of sycamore fruit. The fortification of Tekoa by Rehoboam (II Chron. xi. 6) gave it strategic importance. In the post-exilic period its inhabitants were Calebites (I Chron. ii. 24); and they aided [Nehemiah in rebuilding the wall (iii. 5, 27).

The site of Tekoa is fixed by Biblical data. It was in the south (Jer. vi. 1), and in the vicinity of the valley of Berachah ("blessing"), near the desert to which it gave its name (II Chron. xx. 20, 26; I Mace. ix. 33). The place is still more accurately localized in Josh. xv. 60, where the Greek text of a passage lost in the Hebrew places it, together with Beth-lehem and other towns of the hill-country of Judah, south of Jerusalem. According to the "Onomasticon" of Eusebius and Jerome, it lay twelve Roman miles (eighteen kilometers) south of that city and to the east of Beth-lehem on the edge of the desert. The site of the city is represented by the modern Khirbat Taḳu'ah, a mass of scantily inhabited ruins, with ancient cisterns and tombs and the remains of a church, lying on a hill which commands a wide landscape. Since the days of Jerome the grave of Amos has been shown there. The Mishnah speaks in high praise of the oil of Tekoa; and medieval Arabic authors mention its honey.

TEKOA (2Ch 11:6 etc.); Tekoah, 2Sa 14:2; 2Sa 14:4; 2Sa 14:9 [AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ], 1Ma 9:33 [RV [Note: Revised Version.] ; AV [Note: Authorized Version.] Thecoe]).—A fortress city on the edge of the wilderness to which it gave its name (2Ch 20:20). From here came the ‘wise woman’ sent by Joab to plead for Absalom (2Sa 14:2; 2Sa 14:4; 2Sa 14:8); Rehoboam fortified it (2Ch 11:6), and apparently it continued to be a fortress (Jer 6:1); Amos ‘was among the herdmen of Tekoa’ (Amo 1:1). Tekoa is mentioned also in LXX [Note: Septuagint.] in Jos 15:59, and in the genealogies in 1Ch 4:5-8. The site is now Khurbet Teqû‘a, an extended but shapeless mass of ruins crowning the summit of a hill (2790 ft. above sea level), 5 miles S. of Bethlehem. It is on the extreme edge of the cultivated lands. Bethlehem, the Mt. of Olives, and Nebi Samwîl (Mizpah) are all visible from it.

E. W. G. Masterman.

tḗ-kō´a (תּקוע, t^eḳoā‛, or תּקועה, t^eḳō‛āh; Θεκῶε, Thekṓe; the King James Version Tekoah; one of David’s mighty men, “Ira the son of Ikkesh,” is called a Tekoite, tḗ-kō´-ı̄t (תּקועי, t^eḳō‛ı̄; 2Sa 23:26; 1Ch 11:28; 1Ch 27:9; the “woman of Tekoa” [2Sa 14:2 is in Hebrew תּקועית, t^eḳō‛ı̄th; in Neh 3:5 mention is made of certain Tekoites, tḗ-kō´ı̄ts תּקועים, t^eḳō‛ı̄m, who repaired part of the walls of Jerusalem):

1. Scripture References:

From here came the “wise woman” brought by Joab to try and make a reconciliation between David and Absalom (2Sa 14:2 f); it was one of the cities fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch 11:6; Josephus, Ant., VIII, ix, 1). The wilderness of Tekoa is mentioned (2Ch 20:20) as the extreme edge of the inhabited area; here Jehoshaphat took counsel before advancing into the wilderness of Judea to confront the Ammonites and Moabites. In Jer 6:1, we read, “Blow the trumpet in Tekoa and raise a signal in Beth-haccherim” - because of the enemy advancing from the North. Amo 1:1, one of the “herdsmen of Tekoa,” was born here.

In Jos 15:59 (addition to verse in Septuagint only) Tekoa occurs at the beginning of the list of 11 additional cities of Judah - a list which includes Bethlehem, Ain Kairem and Bettir - which are omitted in the Hebrew. A Tekoa is mentioned as a son of Ashhur (1Ch 2:24; 1Ch 4:5).

Jonathan Maccabeus and his brother Simon fled from the vengeance of Bacchides “into the wilderness of Thecoe (the Revised Version (British and American) “Tekoah”) and pitched their tents (the Revised Version (British and American) “encamped”) by the water of the pool Asphar” (1 Macc 9:33).

2. Later History:

Josephus calls Tekoa a village in his day (Vita, 75), as does Jerome who describes it as 12 miles from Jerusalem and visible from Bethlehem; he says the tomb of the prophet Amos was there (Commentary on Jeremiah, VI, 1). “There was,” he says, “no village beyond Tekoa in the direction of the wilderness.” The good quality of its oil and honey is praised by other writers. In the 6th century a monastery, Laura Nova, was founded there by Saba. In the crusading times Tekoa was visited by pious pilgrims wishing to see the tomb of Amos, and some of the Christian inhabitants assisted the Crusaders in the first siege of Jerusalem. In 1138 the place was pillaged by a party of Turks from the East of the Jordan, and since that time the site appears to have lain desolate and ruined, although even in the 14th century the tomb of Amos was still shown.

3. The Site of Tekua:

The site is without doubt the Khirbet Teḳū‛a, a very extensive ruin, covering 4 or 5 acres, about 6 miles South of Bethlehem and 10 miles from Jerusalem, near the Frank Mountain and on the road to ‛Ain Jidy. The remains on the surface are chiefly of large cut stone and are all, apparently, medieval. Fragments of pillars and bases of good hard limestone occur on the top of the hill, and there is an octagonal font of rose-red limestone; it is clear that the church once stood there. There are many tombs and cisterns in the neighborhood of a much earlier period. A spring is said to exist somewhere on the site, but if so it is buried out of sight. There is a reference in the “Life of Saladin” (Bahaoddenus), to the “river of Tekoa,” from which Richard Coeur de Lion and his army drank, 3 miles from Jerusalem: this may refer to the ‛Arūb extension of the “low-level aqueduct” which passes through a long tunnel under the Sahl Teḳū‛a and may have been thought by some to rise there.

The open fields around Teḳū‛a are attractive and well suited for olive trees (which have now disappeared), and there are extensive grazing-lands. The neighborhood, even the “wilderness” to the East, is full of the flocks of wandering Bedouin. From the site, Bethlehem, the Mount of Olives and Nebi Samuel (Mizpah) are all visible; to the Northeast is a peep of the Jordan valley near Jericho and of the mountains of Gilead, but most of the eastern outlook is cut off by rising ground (PEF, III, 314, 368, Sh XXI).