Eshtemoa

Eshtemoa, meaning obedience or "'place where prayer is heard",^[1] was an ancient city in the Judaean Mountains, mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible.^[2] It is also the name of two people mentioned in the First Book of Chronicles.

Eshtemoa, Judah

Eshtemoa was an ancient city in the Judaean Mountains, mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible.^[2] According to the Book of Joshua, It was a Levitical city belonging to the Tribe of Judah, which was allotted, with the common land round it, to the priests (Joshua 15:50, 21:14). It is later mentioned in the 1 Samuel as one of the cities that received spoils following king David's victory over the Amalekites at Ziklag.^[3] It was one of the places frequented by King David as a fugitive (1 Samuel 30: 26-28).

In the 4th-century CE, Eshtemoa was described by Eusebius in his Onomasticon as a large Jewish village.^[4][5] The Jerusalem Talmud mentions Eshtemoa as the place of residence of an amora (scholar) who dwelt in the town during the 4th century by the name of Hasa of Eshtemoa.^[6]

Eshtemoa is identified with as-Samu, a village about 3½ miles east of Socoh, and about 9 miles south of Hebron, around which there are ancient remains of the ruined city.

Findings

In 1934, the remains of an ancient Jewish synagogue, now known as the Eshtemoa synagogue, were unearthed at as-Samu'. The synagogue is dated to around the 4th–5th century CE.^[7][4] Four seven-branched menorahs were discovered carved onto door lintels and one of them is displayed in Jerusalem's Rockefeller Museum.^[8]

Eshtemoa synagogue, an ancient Jewish synagogue found a as-Samu' and dated to the 4th–5th century CE

In 1971, five pottery jars dated to the 9th-8th centuries BCE were found in as-Samu', bearing inscriptions written in the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. These jars contained one of the largest silver hoards ever found in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.^[9]

People

Eshtemoa is mentioned twice in the Hebrew Bible as a name of a person:

• A son of Ishbah or maybe a town inhabited by Ishbah's descendants. (1 Chronicles 4:17)
• A descendant of Bithiah princess of Egypt and Mered (1 Chronicles 4:19)

References

1. Burney, C. F. (1911). "On Certain South-Palestinian Place-Names". The Journal of Theological Studies. os–XIII (49): 83–84. doi:10.1093/jts/os-XIII.49.83. ISSN 0022-5185. Eshtemoa', from שמע, 'hear', may denote 'place where prayer is heard'.
2. Joshua 15:50 Joshua 21:14 1 Samuel 30:28
3. Yeivin, Ze'ev (2004). "The Synagogue at Eshtemoa' in Light of the 1969 Excavations". 'Atiqot / עתיקות. 48: 155–158. ISSN 0792-8424. JSTOR 23462909.
4. Avraham Negev; Shimon Gibson (July 2005). Archaeological encyclopedia of the Holy Land. Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 167–168. ISBN 978-0-8264-8571-7. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
5. Eusebius, Onomasticon - The Place Names of Divine Scripture, (ed.) R. Steven Notley & Ze'ev Safrai, Brill: Leiden 2005, p. 84 (§429), note 429 ISBN 0-391-04217-3
6. Ben-Zion Rosenfeld (2009). Torah Centers and Rabbinic Activity in Palestine 70-400 C.e: History and Geographic Distribution. BRILL. p. 81. ISBN 978-90-04-17838-0. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
7. Mayer, L.A.; Reifenberg, A. (1939). "The Synagogue of Eshtemoa - Preliminary Report". Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society (JPOS). 19: 314–326. OCLC 873183425.
8. Léon Yarden (1971). The tree of light: a study of the Menorah, the seven-branched lampstand. East and West Library. p. 151. ISBN 9780852222805. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
9. Kletter, Raz; Brand, Etty (1998). "A New Look at the Iron Age Silver Hoard from Eshtemoa". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 114 (2): 139–154. ISSN 0012-1169. JSTOR 27931588.

See also

• Eshtemoa synagogue, the remains of an ancient Jewish synagogue dating from around the 4th–5th century CE
• Mitzpe Eshtemoa (Eshtemoa look-out), an Israeli settlement outpost in the West Bank
• Cities in the Book of Joshua