Editing Timnath-heres

{{Short description|Biblical location}}
{{About|a biblical town|other places called Timna, Timnah, Timnath|Timnath (disambiguation){{!}}Timnath}}
{{Infobox ancient site
|name        = Kifl Haris, West Bank
|native_name=
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|map_type    = West Bank
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|location    = [[West Bank]]
|region      = [[Salfit Governorate]]
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{{Infobox ancient site
|name         = Khirbet Tibnah, West Bank
|native_name=
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|map_type     = West Bank
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|coordinates  = {{coord|32|00|30|N|35|06|40|E|region:PS|display=inline,title}}
|grid_position= 16035/15725 [[Palestine grid|PAL]]
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'''Timnath-heres''' or '''Timnath-serah''' ({{langx|he|תמנת חרס}}), later '''Thamna''', was the town given by the [[Israelites]] to [[Joshua]] according to the [[Hebrew Bible]]. He requested it and the people gave it to him "at the order of the Lord". He built up the town and lived in it ({{Bibleverse||Joshua|19:49-50|HE}}).

According to the [[Septuagint]] version of the [[Book of Joshua]], Joshua placed there "the stone knives, with which he had [[Circumcision|circumcised]] the children of Israel".<ref>Septuagint, after Joshua 21:42, quoted in [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/pulpit/joshua/21.htm Pulpit Commentary] on Joshua 21, accessed 23 August 2016</ref>

According to the Bible, Joshua was buried there ({{Bibleverse||Joshua|24:30|HE}}). Jewish tradition also places the tomb of [[Caleb]] there.

In 2022, excavations by Israeli archaeologists were launched at [[Khirbet Tibnah]] in the [[West Bank]], a hilltop site commonly identified as biblical Timnath.<ref name=dig22>[https://m.jpost.com/archaeology/article-713370 First archaeological dig begins at site believed to be Joshua's tomb], Jerusalem Post, 29 July 2022. Accessed 8 August 2022.</ref>

==Etymology==
[[Image:Caleb2.jpg|right|thumb|Mark of grave attributed to Caleb, in [[Kifl Hares]]]]

In {{Bibleverse||Joshua|19:49-50|HE}} and {{Bibleverse||Joshua|24:30|HE}}, the town is called ''Timnath-serah'', whereas in {{Bibleverse||Judges|2:9|HE}} it is named as ''Timnath-heres''.

In the [[Talmud]] the town is mentioned in [[Bava Batra]] 122b, where "heres" is translated as "earthenware," in reference to fruits in the area being as dry as earthenware prior to the arrival of Joshua.<ref>''The Schottenstein Daf Yomi Edition: Talmud Bavli. Tractate Bava Basra'' Mesorah Publications 2012. Page 112b1.</ref> The word's inversion, "serah" is defined as "rotting," that after Joshua's arrival, the fruits became so juicy that they could quickly rot.

==Location==
The town was located in the mountainous region of [[Tribe of Ephraim|Ephraim]], north of [[Mount Gaash]]. It has been variously identified with two possible locations, Kifl Hares and Khirbet Tibnah.

Both [[E. Schürer]] and archaeologist [[W. F. Albright]] identified Timnath-heres with ''Thamna'', mentioned in [[Greco-Roman]] sources including the writings of [[Josephus]].<ref name= Schurer1891/><ref>[[W. F. Albright|Albright, W.F.]] (1923), p. 4</ref> [[Eusebius of Caesaria|Eusebius]], in his ''[[Onomasticon (Eusebius)|Onomasticon]]'', mentions the site under the entry of Gaas (Mount Gaash), a mountain in Ephraim <small>({{bibleverse|Josh.|24:33}})</small>, "near the village of Thamna."<ref>Chapmann III, ''et al.'' (2003), p. 43 (s.v. Gaas)</ref>

[[C. R. Conder|Conder]] & [[H. H. Kitchener|Kitchener]] of the [[Palestine Exploration Fund]], steering clear of committing themselves to pinpointing the position of the biblical Timnath-heres in either Kifl Haris or Khirbet Tibnah, mention only the classical references to the place ''Thamnatha'' / ''Thamna'' (as in [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Hist. Nat.]]'' v. 14 and in ''[[The Jewish War]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148%3Abook%3D3%3Awhiston+chapter%3D3%3Awhiston+section%3D5 3.3.5]), saying that this place is to be identified with the present ruin ''Tibneh'' (marked on sheet xiv), and that "some have identified it with Timnath-heres."<ref>[[C. R. Conder|Conder]] & [[HH Kitchener|Kitchener]] (1882), pp. [https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp02conduoft/page/299/mode/1up 299–300]; ibid., p. [https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp02conduoft/page/347/mode/1up 347]; ibid., p. [https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp02conduoft/page/377/mode/1up 377].</ref>

During the first-century CE until its destruction, Thamna served as an administrative district (toparchy).<ref>[[Josephus]], ''[[The Jewish War]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148%3Abook%3D3%3Awhiston+chapter%3D3%3Awhiston+section%3D5 3.3.5]</ref>

===Kifl Hares===
One possible location Timnath-heres has been identified with is the [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] village of [[Kifl Hares]], located 6 kilometres west of [[Salfit]] in the [[West Bank]].<ref name=Finkelstein460>Finkelstein et al, 1997, p. 460</ref>

===Khirbet Tibnah===
Another candidate is [[Khirbet Tibnah]], located between [[Deir Nidham]] and [[Nabi Salih]],<ref name=Finkelstein367>Finkelstein ''et al.'', 1997, p. 367</ref><ref name= Schurer1891>[[Emil Schürer|Schürer, E.]] (1891), p. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.ah63dw;view=1up;seq=172 158], note 438.</ref> east of the [[Israel]]i town of [[Shoham]] and near the settlement of [[Halamish]].<ref name=dig22/> Various surveys have produced proof of habitation from the Bronze Age until the early Ottoman period, with various findings from the Iron Age and the Hasmonean, Roman, and Mamluk periods.<ref name=dig22/> The dig is led by Dvir Raviv, an archeologist who mapped the site in 2015. He made  sketches of the location of tombs, assembled pottery shards and documented burial caves. The current excavation has unearthed a spear tip dated to the second century C.E. as well as pottery and coins.<ref>[https://archive.today/20220811230409/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-08-10/ty-article/.highlight/israeli-university-holds-archaeological-dig-in-west-bank-area-claimed-to-be-palestinian/00000182-7744-d2f5-a3e6-ff5d52080000#selection-911.0-911.423 Israeli University Holds Archaeological Dig in West Bank Area Claimed to Be Palestinian]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite journal |last=Albright |first=W.F. |author-link=William F. Albright |title=Some Archaeological and Topographical Results of a Trip through Palestine |journal=[[Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research]]|publisher=The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The American Schools of Oriental Research |volume=11 |pages=3–14|date=1923|issue=11 |doi=10.2307/1354763 |jstor=1354763|s2cid=163409706 |language=en}}
*{{cite book |translator=G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville |editor-last1=Chapmann III |editor-first1=R.L. |editor-last2=Taylor |editor-first2=J.E. |editor-link2=Joan E. Taylor |title=Palestine in the Fourth Century A.D.: The Onomasticon by Eusebius of Caesarea |publisher=Carta |date=2003 |location=Jerusalem|language=en|isbn=965-220-500-1 |oclc=937002750}}
*{{cite book|last1=Conder|first1=C.R.|author-link1=Claude Reignier Conder|last2=Kitchener|first2=H. H.|author-link2=Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|year=1882|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp02conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology (Samaria)|location=London|publisher=[[Palestine Exploration Fund|Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund]]|volume=2}}
*{{cite book|editor1=Finkelstein, I. | editor1-link= Israel Finkelstein|editor2=Lederman, Zvi|year=1997|title=Highlands of many cultures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wb4xmgEACAAJ |location=[[Tel Aviv]]|publisher= Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University Publications Section| isbn = 965-440-007-3}}
*{{cite book |last=Schürer |first=E. |author-link=Emil Schürer |title=Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi [A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ] |series=Geschichte de jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi.English |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |translator=Miss Taylor |volume=1 |date=1891 |location=New York |language= en |url= https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.ah63dw;view=1up;seq=7 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* Survey of Western Palestine, 1880 Map, Map 14: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8376 IAA], [[:File:Survey of Western Palestine 1880.14.jpg|Wikimedia commons]] (Tibneh, shown to the left of ''Neby Saleh'' and ''Deir en Nidham'')

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[[Category:Hebrew Bible cities]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Samaria]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in the West Bank]]
[[Category:Disputed biblical places]]
[[Category:Joshua]]