Shalishah
Shalishah[a] or Baal-Shalisha is a place of uncertain identification mentioned in the Book of Kings (2 Kings 4:42) and the Talmud (Sanhedrin 12a).
Baal-Shalisha is translated as "lord or master of three things", or "the third idol, the third husband; or, that governs or presides over three" (Baal=lord/master; Shalisha="three things", "third", or "three").[1] This ancient place name is preserved in the Arabic name of the modern village of Kafr Thulth.[2]
According to Eusebius and Jerome, Baal-Shalisha was located 15 (Roman) miles north of Diopolis (Lydda).[1] Eusebius identified it with Bathsarisa. Another candidate for Shalishah is Serisiyyah, a now ruinous location west of Mount Ephraim, and yet another possibility is Kafr Thulth which is roughly northeast of there. The Talmud identifies it as the earliest place each year for fruits to ripen.
Notes
- ^ In 1 Samuel 9:4, the King James Version spells the name Shalisha.
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Baal-shalisha". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
Bibliography
- Fleming, William (1838), A gazetteer of the Old and New Testaments: to which is added the natural history of the Bible, Edinburgh Printing and Publishing Company
- Freedman, David Noel; Myers, Allen C.; Beck, Astrid B. (2000), Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (Illustrated ed.), Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 978-0-8028-2400-4
- Aid to Bible understanding: containing historical, geographical, religious, and social facts concerning Bible persons, peoples, places, plant and animal life, activities, and so forth. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York. 1969.