Timnath

And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. 

And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.

Judges 14:1-2 

Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him. 

And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done. 

Judges 14:5-6

Out of all the guide and reference books about the Middle East that I have purchased through the years, Arise, Walk Through the Land by Roy Turkington remains the most useful for finding authentic biblical sites not on the general tour guide route. 




This is how the directions to Tel Timnath began: "Access is quite difficult but can be gained by following the 'road' alongside the Brook Sorek for about 6 km from Beth Shemesh. This road passes modern kibbutz Zorah, but unfortunately the Brook Sorek is always between you and the Tel."

The author then gives an alternate route just as doubtful. Obviously this is off-the-beaten-path even for diehard adventurers!

The long and short of it is that we never did make it to Tel Timnath. We were within a short distance of it but when the dirt road took an abrupt dip, we decided that we did not want to take a chance of getting stuck in our economy rental car. 

Nevertheless, we were close enough to get a feel for the landscape surrounding the village where Samson found his Philistinian wife and killed a lion. Here Samson presented the "riddle" about the lion to the 30 young men who celebrated with him at his wedding. Samson tied together small foxes, set them afire, then turned them loose in fields of grain as retaliation toward his wife's father-in-law because he gave her to another man. All this and more happened in Timnath. Talk about drama!

Today, all is quiet around Timnath, but it has not always been so peaceful and tranquil. During Samson's time, he put Timnath on the map in a big way. Unfortunately, it does not seem to still be on the map. 

Mmmmm. Maybe next time we could rent an economy four-wheeler...