TAPPUAH

TAPPUAH (Heb. תַּפֻּחַ ,תַּפּוּחַ) (1) a city of the tribe of Judah, located in the district of the northern Shephelah with Zanoah and Enam (Josh. 15:34). The Tappuah listed with the sons of Hebron (I Chron. 2:43) is perhaps identical with the Beth-Tappuah of Joshua 15:53. Its assumed identification with post-biblical Bethletepha (present-day Beit (Bayt) Nattīf) is doubtful. (2) A city in Ephraim, the territory of which was in Manasseh. It was situated south of Shechem near the brook of Kanah (Josh. 16:8; 17:7, as En-Tappuah; 17:8). Although the king of Tappuah is listed among the kings defeated by Joshua (Josh. 12:17), and his territory fell to Manasseh, the stronger Ephraim was needed to capture the city itself. The suggested identification with the Tappuah fortified by Bacchides (I Macc. 9:50) is based on a misreading (see tekoa ). The accepted identification is with Sheikh Abu Zarad near a spring called ʿAyn al-Tuffūḥ in the vicinity of the village of Yāsūf (the Yashub of LXX and perhaps of the Samaria Ostraca). Late Bronze and Iron Age pottery has been found on the site. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: F.M. Abel, in: RB, 45 (1936), 103ff. (Michael Avi-Yonah)