Gath Rimmon
גַּת־רִמּוֹן · “Gat Rimmon” on the map
Where was biblical Gath Rimmon? At Tel Gerisa, on the Yarkon in Tel Aviv / Ramat Gan. I mark it probable.
Joshua gave this town to the tribe of Dan, and Dan set it aside for the Levites. It stood in the rich coastal plain that Dan struggled to hold and largely lost.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Tel Gerisa, on the Yarkon in Tel Aviv / Ramat Gan
- How sure
- Probable The best case we have, with real alternatives.
- Other names
- Gath-rimmon, Tel Gerisa, Tell Jerishe, Tel Napoleon
- Location
- 32.0917° N, 34.8075° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
The name means "pomegranate press." A gat is a press, the vat where fruit was trodden for its juice, and a rimmon is a pomegranate. Pomegranate juice was prized. The Song of Songs speaks of "spiced wine, my pomegranate juice." So the name may mean a press for pomegranates, or simply a winepress among pomegranate trees. It sounds like farm country, and it was.
The clue is in Dan's town list. Gat Rimmon comes right after Jehud and Benei Berak. Next the list reaches Mei HaYarkon, the waters of the Yarkon, near Jaffa. So the town belongs on the coastal plain, close to the river.
Tel Gerisa sits right on the Yarkon's south bank. Excavators found a fortified Canaanite town there, followed by a smaller village in early Israelite times. Then, around the 10th century BCE, the place was abandoned. That fits a town of the age of Joshua and the Judges.
No inscription names the site, and no Arabic name preserves it. The case rests on the list and the river, and nothing more. That's why I mark it probable.
There are two rivals. Tell Abu Zeitun, about 400 m away on the same river, is an equally possible candidate. Another proposal makes Gat Rimmon the same town as Gittaim, near Ramla, well to the southeast and away from the Yarkon. The map stays with the river, because that's where the list puts it.
Visiting today
Tel Gerisa is a low hill inside Tel Aviv, beside Yarkon Park and the Ramat Gan sports area. There is little to see beyond the mound itself.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Gat Rimmon on the interactive map →
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Get the print + free ebookNearby places
- Bene Berak 6 km south
- Joppa (Jaffa) 7 km southwest
- Beth Dagon 10 km south
- Aphek 12 km east
- Gezer 28 km south
- Shaalbim 30 km southeast