Tappuah
תַּפּוּחַ · “Tapuach” on the map
Where was biblical Tappuah? At Tell Abu Zarad, south of Yasuf, near Tapuach Junction, about 40 km north of Jerusalem. I mark it probable.
Joshua defeated the king of Tapuach. Later Ephraim held the town while Manasseh farmed the fields all around it.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Tell Abu Zarad, south of Yasuf, near Tapuach Junction
- How sure
- Probable The best case we have, with real alternatives.
- Other names
- En-tappuah, Ein Tappuah, Tell Abu Zarad, Sheikh Abu Zarad
- Location
- 32.1181° N, 35.2499° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
That odd arrangement is the clue. The Book of Joshua puts Tapuach right on the border between Ephraim and Manasseh. The land of Tapuach belonged to Manasseh, but the town itself, on the border, belonged to Ephraim. From there the border ran west to the Wadi Kanah and the sea. Joseph's two sons were tangled together right here.
Tell Abu Zarad sits on that watershed line, south of Shechem, beside the ancient ridge road. The geography fits well.
The name may survive in water. Tapuach means apple. A spring near the tel was called 'Ayn al-Tuffuh by the Arabs, the spring of the apple. It may be the spring of Tapuach that the text names on the border of Manasseh.
The tel has never been properly excavated. Surveys point to a fortified Middle Bronze Age town with later Bronze and Iron Age occupation, a real town in the days of Joshua and the kings. No inscription names it. The identification rests on name and geography, so I mark it probable.
Visiting today
The tel has a Muslim shrine on top, beside the village of Yasuf. The remains are modest, and access depends on the security situation.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Tapuach on the interactive map →
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