Shalishah

Shalishah[lower-alpha 1] 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 Khurbet Kefr Thulth (with Arabic Thulth comparable to the Hebrew Shalisha)[3] which is roughly northeast of there. The Talmud identifies it as the earliest place each year for fruits to ripen.

Notes
  1. In 1 Samuel 9:4, the King James Version spells the name Shalisha.

References
  1. Fleming, 1838, [p. 251.
  2. Freedman et al., 2000, p. 136.
  3. Conder and Kitchener 1881, SWP II, p. 285
  •  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.
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