Bozkath (Hebrew בצקת; ''boṣqaṯ'') was a town in the

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah was an Israelites, Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Centered in the highlands to the west of the Dead Sea, the kingdom's capital was Jerusalem. It was ruled by the Davidic line for four centuries ...

mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

. The town was located in the lowland hills of Judah, otherwise known as the

Shephelah The Shephelah () or Shfela (), or the Judaean Foothills (), is a transitional region of soft-sloping rolling hills in south-central Israel stretching over between the Judaean Mountains and the Coastal Plain. The different use of the term "Jud ...

, but its precise location is unknown.

Ancient name

The

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

Bozkath is derived from the root בצק, meaning "elevation". In the Greek versions of the Hebrew Bible, Bozkath is transcribed as Βασηδωθ in LXX-A but is written Βαζκαθ in LXX-B.

References in Biblical literature

Bozkath is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, Joshua 15:39, as part of the Tribe of Judah's inheritance. The roster of towns in Joshua 15 is commonly thought to reflect an administrative document that originated during the

. This list divides the Iron Age kingdom into four regions, the

, the Negeb, the wilderness, and the highlands; Bozkath is listed in the Shephelah after the better known town of

Lachish Lachish (; ; ) was an ancient Canaanite and later Israelite city in the Shephelah ("lowlands of Judea") region of Canaan on the south bank of the Lakhish River mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. The current '' tell'' by that name, kn ...

and before Eglon). A queen of Judah, Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah, was from Bozkath ( 2 Kings 22:1). With the assassination of her husband

Amon of Judah Amon of Judah was the fifteenth King of Judah who, according to the biblical account, succeeded his father Manasseh of Judah. Amon is most remembered for his idolatrous practices during his short two-year reign, which led to a revolt against h ...

, her son

Josiah Josiah () or Yoshiyahu was the 16th king of Judah (–609 BCE). According to the Hebrew Bible, he instituted major religious reforms by removing official worship of gods other than Yahweh. Until the 1990s, the biblical description of Josiah’s ...

was placed on the throne by the people of the land. Biblical scholars have suggested Josiah's enthronement by this enigmatic group, the people of the land, implies that Josiah had a strong connection to the rural hinterland of Judah through his mother's family and Bozkath.

Location and identification

The town of Bozkath is listed along with sixteen other towns and related settlements in the third district of the Shephelah of Judah (Josh 15:61–62), in the southern part of the lowland hills. F.-M. Abel had located Bozkath at the site of ed-Dawa'ime, which is located southeast of Lachish by roughly 15 km., however this identification is not followed today.Schniedewind, W. M. ''How the Bible Became a Book'', 228, n. 35 Based on the identification of Lachish with Tell ed-Duweir and the plausible identification of Eglon with Tell Aitun to the east, Bozkath's position between both towns may suggest that it is located in the southeastern Shephelah. Beyond this general observation, it is not possible to suggest a more precise location for Bozkath with any certainty.

References

{{reflist Hebrew Bible cities Former populated places in West Asia Kingdom of Judah