Exploring ancient Zorah and Timnah from the story of Samson

To me there is something indescribably fulfilling about reading the Tanach and then going to the places where it happened. I feel like there is some aspect of the story that you can only absorb by visiting the locations mentioned. Could that be part of why the Tanach gives so much detailed geographic information?

On Friday I spent a day near Beit Shemesh exploring sites connected to Samson from the Book of Judges. 

Here’s a link to some video clips I posted on my Instagram. (Make sure to turn on the sound).

Ancient Zorah

I visited ancient Tzorah  (Zorah) – Samson’s birthplace and the childhood hometown. The entire area is full of vineyards and you can see many ancient winepresses in Tzorah. Knowing that Samson was surrounded by wine culture, yet was a Nazirite who was prohibited from drinking wine, gives me better insight into his personality as an outsider. 

Standing on the mountain of ancient Tzorah, you can see Tel Batash which is identified as Timnah. This is where Samson met his first Philistine wife. (It’s also where Judah and Tamar met). You can hear the cars driving in the distance and imagine how Samson would have been able to hear the Philistine revelry in ancient Timnah and be drawn to see for himself. 

Tel Batash

I traveled along miles of dirt roads to get to the Tel to see what is left of Timnah for myself. The site is mostly overgrown and abandoned, but you can still see some remnants of the excavations of ancient oil presses and homes. 

To get there, I crossed the Sorek stream which is the Biblical border of Judah and Dan. Sorek in Hebrew is actually a word for a high quality grapevine. This shows even more how deeply connected this area was to winemaking. 

There is a famous question asked by Bible commentators. When Judah visits Timnah in Genesis, it says he ascended to Timnah, but when Samson visited in Judges it says he descended to Timnah. When you visit you see that Timnah is indeed elevated on a low hill, so Judah who was coming from the road ascended to the hill of Timnah. Tzorah is on a high mountain, much higher than Timnah, so Samson descended to Timnah. 

Tomb of Dan

Lastly I visited the traditional Tomb of Dan the son of Jacob, one of the fathers of the 12 tribes. Samson was from the tribe of Dan, which was a tiny tribe made up of only one family. 

After Samson’s dramatic death in the Philistine Temple, his family buried him in “the tomb of his father Manoah, between Tzorah and Eshtaol“. The Tomb of Dan is located exactly between Tzorah and Eshtaol, and Dan was the father of the entire tribe/family of Dan. In those days families maintained burial caves for the entire family. This makes the tomb of Dan a great candidate for the Tomb of Samson. 

Unfortunately, I only took a few photos, but I did post a lot of short clips with explanations on my Instagram. You can see them here.

I look forward to exploring sites from the Bible with you on a tour in the near future!