Eshtemoa, meaning obedience or "'place where prayer is heard", was an ancient city in the

Judaean Mountains The Judaean Mountains, or Judaean Hills ( he, הרי יהודה, translit=Harei Yehuda) or the Hebron Mountains ( ar, تلال الخليل, translit=Tilal al-Khalīl, links=, lit=Hebron Mountains), is a mountain range in Palestine and Israel w ...

, mentioned several times in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

. It is also the name of two people mentioned in the

First Book of Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( he, דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים ) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third sect ...

Eshtemoa, Judah

Eshtemoa was an ancient city in the

, mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. According to the

Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua ( he, סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎ ', Tiberian: ''Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ'') is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Isr ...

, It was a

Levitical city In the Hebrew Bible, the Levitical cities were 48 cities in ancient Israel set aside for the tribe of Levi, who were not allocated their own territorial land when the Israelites entered the Promised Land. Numbers 35:1-8 relates God's command ...

belonging to the

Tribe of Judah According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe of Judah (, ''Shevet Yehudah'') was one of the twelve Tribes of Israel, named after Judah, the son of Jacob. Judah was the first tribe to take its place in the Land of Israel, occupying the southern ...

, which was allotted, with the common land round it, to the

priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

(

Joshua Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. ' Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

15:50, 21:14). It is later mentioned in the

1 Samuel The Book of Samuel (, ''Sefer Shmuel'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the narrative history of Ancient Israel called the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Josh ...

as one of the cities that received spoils following king

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

's victory over the

Amalekites Amalek (; he, עֲמָלֵק, , ar, عماليق ) was a nation described in the Hebrew Bible as a staunch enemy of the Israelites. The name "Amalek" can refer to the nation's founder, a grandson of Esau; his descendants, the Amalekites; or the ...

Ziklag Ziklag ( he, צִקְלַג) is the biblical name of a town that was located in the Negev region in the south-west of what was the Kingdom of Judah. It was a provincial town within the Philistine kingdom of Gath when Achish was king. Its exact loca ...

. It was one of the places frequented by King

as a fugitive (

30: 26-28). In the 4th-century CE, Eshtemoa was described by

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christ ...

in his '' Onomasticon'' as a large

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

village.

, ''Onomasticon - The Place Names of Divine Scripture'', (ed.) R. Steven Notley &

Ze'ev Safrai Ze'ev Safrai ( he, זאב ספראי; born 1948, Jerusalem) is an Israeli Professor in the Department for Israel Studies in Bar Ilan University, as well as an author, lecturer and researcher of Israel in the Second Temple era . His main project ...

, Brill: Leiden 2005, p. 84 (§429), note 429 The

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud ( he, תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשַׁלְמִי, translit=Talmud Yerushalmi, often for short), also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century ...

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 Hasa of Eshtemoa ( he, ) was an '' amora'' active in Eshtemoa in the Land of Israel during the end of the 3rd-century or beginning of the 4th-century CE. He is mentioned once in the Jerusalem Talmud as being visited by Rav Yasa of Tiberias Ti ...

. Eshtemoa is identified with

as-Samu As Samu' or es-Samu' ( ar, السموع) () is a town in the Hebron Governorate of the West Bank, Palestine, 12 kilometers south of the city of Hebron and 60 kilometers southwest of Jerusalem. Geography The area is a hilly, rocky area cut by so ...

, a village about 3½ miles east of

Socoh Sokho (alternate spellings: Sokhoh, Sochoh, Soco, Sokoh; he, שׂוֹכֹה ,שׂוֹכ֖וֹ ,שֹׂכֹ֖ה) is the name given to two ancient towns in the territorial domain of Judah as mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, west of the Judean hi ...

, and about 9 miles south of

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies Above mean sea level, above sea level. The second-lar ...

, 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 The Eshtemoa Synagogue, located 15 km south of Hebron in as-Samu, West Bank, refers to the remains of an ancient Jewish synagogue dating from around the 4th–5th century CE. History Eshtemoa, identified as modern as-Samu, was an ancient c ...

, were unearthed at as-Samu'. The synagogue is dated to around the 4th–5th century CE. Four seven-branched ''

menorahs The menorah (; he, מְנוֹרָה ''mənōrā'', ) is a seven-branched candelabrum that is described in the Hebrew Bible as having been used in the Tabernacle and in the Temple in Jerusalem. Since antiquity, it has served as a symbol of ...

'' were discovered carved onto door lintels and one of them is displayed in Jerusalem's

Rockefeller Museum The Rockefeller Archeological Museum, formerly the Palestine Archaeological Museum ("PAM"; 1938–1967), and which before then housed The Imperial Museum of Antiquities (''Müze-i Hümayun''; 1901–1917), is an archaeology museum located in Eas ...

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 The Paleo-Hebrew script ( he, הכתב העברי הקדום), also Palaeo-Hebrew, Proto-Hebrew or Old Hebrew, is the writing system found in Canaanite inscriptions from the region of biblical Israel and Judah. It is considered to be the script ...

. These jars contained one of the largest silver hoards ever found in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

People

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

Ishbah This list contains tribes or other groups of people named in the Bible of minor notability, about whom either nothing or very little is known, aside from any family connections. A Accaba, descendants of For the descendants of "Accaba" (1 Esd ...

or maybe a town inhabited by Ishbah's descendants. () * A descendant of

Bithiah The Pharaoh's daughter ( he, בַּת־פַּרְעֹה, lit=daughter of Pharaoh) in the story of the finding of Moses in the biblical Book of Exodus is an important, albeit minor, figure in Abrahamic religions. Though some variations of her sto ...

princess of Egypt and

Mered Mered is a biblical character, who was from the Tribe of Judah and noted as the husband of Bithiah, daughter of Pharaoh. See Books of Chronicles (). According to the Midrash, Bithiah was one of the mothers of Moses. Mered in Legend Jewish tradit ...

()

References

{{reflist, 25em

Eshtemoa, Judah

Findings

People

References

See also