Tekoa
תְּקוֹעַ
Where was biblical Tekoa? At Khirbet et-Tuqu', south of Bethlehem, about 16 km south of Jerusalem. I mark it certain.
Amos was breeding sheep on this hill when G-d sent him north to thunder at the rich of Samaria. Generations earlier, Joab brought a wise woman from Tekoa to tell David a made-up story about two quarreling sons, and moved the king to bring Absalom home.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Khirbet et-Tuqu', south of Bethlehem
- How sure
- Certain The name, the sources and the finds all agree.
- Other names
- Tekoah, Teqoa, Thekoa, Khirbet et-Tuqu', Tuqu'
- Location
- 31.6367° N, 35.2100° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
The name barely changed. The Arab village beside the ruin is called Tuqu', and the ruin is Khirbet et-Tuqu'.
The location fits every clue. Tekoa stands on the eastern rim of the Judean hills, and from its edge the land falls away into the wilderness of Tekoa. That is where King Jehoshaphat marched his army out, singing, to meet the invaders coming up from Ein Gedi. Rehoboam later fortified Tekoa together with Bethlehem and Etam.
The height made it a signal post. Jeremiah plays on the name: bi-Tekoa tik'u shofar, "in Tekoa blow the shofar." From a hilltop on the desert's edge, a blast of the horn carried a warning far.
Surface finds include pottery from the kingdom of Judah. A Byzantine church on the site stood over a tomb that tradition linked to Amos. In Nehemiah's day the men of Tekoa repaired a stretch of Jerusalem's wall, though their nobles refused to lift a hand.
A minority view holds that Amos came from a different Tekoa, in the north. But every other biblical Tekoa is this one, and Amos the shepherd fits this edge of the desert.
Visiting today
The ruin, with remains of the Byzantine church and cisterns, lies beside the village of Tuqu'. The modern community of Tekoa sits a little to the east.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Tekoa on the interactive map →
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