1:
TAANATH-SHILOH (PLACE) [Heb ta˒ănat šı̄lōh (תַּאֲנַת שִׁלֹה)]. A town on the NE border of Ephraim (Josh 16:6), SE of Shechem as one may determine from a comparison of the border description in Josh 16:6–7 with that in Josh 17:7. The ancient place name probably survives in the name Khirbet Ta˓na. Consequently, either of the two neighboring sites Khirbet Ta˓na et-Taḥta (M.R. 187173) or Khirbet Ta˓na el-Foqa (M.R. 185175) affords a possible identification for the ancient town (HGB, 158). Both sites have yielded material evidence of Israelite occupation during the premonarchic and the monarchic periods. Eusebius identifies thēnath of the tribe of Joseph (i.e., Taanath-Shiloh, cf. Josh 16:5–6 LXX A) with thēna, a town still existing in his time, located ten miles in an eastward direction from Neapolis apparently on a Roman road leading to the Jordan (Onomast. 98:13). This information accords well with the actual location of Khirbet Ta˓na et-Taḥta, but nonetheless it does not offer decisive evidence for identifying this location with ancient Taanath-Shiloh. It may be that Eusebius was not aware of Khirbet Ta˓na el-Foqa because it was unoccupied in the Roman period and because the Roman road ran well to the S of it with the result that the place name did not appear in the official Roman lists of places along the highways from which Eusebius may have drawn his information.
Bibliography
Wallis, G. 1961. Thaanath-Silo. ZDPV 77: 38–45.
Wesley I. Toews
Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Bible Dictionary (6:290). New York: Doubleday.
2:
Taanath-shiloh — approach to Shiloh, a place on the border of Ephraim (Josh. 16:6), probably the modern T’ana, a ruin 7 miles south-east of Shechem, on the ridge east of the Mukhnah plain.
Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
3:
TAANATH-SHILOH City on the northeast border of the territory allotted to Ephraim’s tribe for an inheritance, positioned between Micmethath and Janoah (Jos 16:6).
Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (1233). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
4:
TA´ANATH-SHI´LOH (taʹa-nath-shīʹlō; “approach to Shiloh”). A place mentioned as on the northern boundary of Ephraim (Josh. 16:6), at its eastern end between the Jordan and Janoah. It is Khirbet Ta‘na, a heap of ruins SE of Nablus, where there are large cisterns.
Unger, M. F., Harrison, R. K., Vos, H. F., Barber, C. J., & Unger, M. F. (1988). The new Unger's Bible dictionary. Revision of: Unger's Bible dictionary. 3rd ed. c1966. (Rev. and updated ed.). Chicago: Moody Press.
5:
Taanath-Shiloh (Heb. ta˒ănaṯ šilōh)
A border city in the tribal territory of Ephraim (Josh. 16:6). It is perhaps to be identified with Khirbet Ta˓na el-Fô; qā (185175), ca. 11 km. (7 mi.) SE of Nablus.
Freedman, D. N., Myers, A. C., & Beck, A. B. (2000). Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (1269). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.
