Timnah

Biblical References

• Genesis 38:12–14: Judah, the son of Jacob, goes up to Timnah to shear his sheep. His daughter-in-law Tamar waits for him, sitting at the entrance to Enaim on the road to Timnah.
• Joshua 15:10: The northern boundary of the tribe of Judah is described as passing Beth-shemesh and continuing on to Timnah. Timnah also appears in the list of towns in the hill country of Judah in Joshua 15:57, though many regard this as a different town.
• Joshua 19:43: Timnah is listed as one of the towns allotted to the tribe of Dan.
• Judges 14–15: Samson goes down to Timnah, sees a Philistine woman, and asks his parents to get her for him as a wife (Judges 14:1–3). Near the vineyards of Timnah, Samson tears apart a lion. At the wedding feast, he poses a riddle to thirty young Philistine men. The marriage ultimately falls apart, and the Philistines burn the woman and her father because of Samson, "the son in law of the Timnite" (Judges 15:6).
• 2 Chronicles 28:18: During the reign of King Ahaz, the Philistines capture Timnah and its surrounding villages.

The name also occurs as a personal name. In Genesis 36, Timna is the name of a woman in Esau's family and of a chief.

Background

Timnah lay in the border zone where the hill country of Judah meets the Philistine coastal plain. For this reason, it appears to have changed hands several times between Israel and the Philistines. The Book of Judges explains that in Samson's day "the Philistines had dominion over Israel" (Judges 14:4).

Scholars commonly identify Tel Batash in the Sorek Valley as the Timnah of Judges, though this identification is not certain. Opinions are also divided on whether the Timnah of Genesis 38 is the same place as the Timnah of Judges or the Timnah in the hill country of Judah. The original meaning of the name is unclear.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

The Timnah narratives develop along two lines.

• The story of Judah and Tamar: From this encounter Perez is born, and his line leads to David. In the New Testament, Tamar and Perez are named in the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1:3.
• The story of Samson: It belongs to the overarching theme of the Book of Judges, in which God delivers Israel even through flawed judges. Hebrews 11:32 mentions Samson among the people of faith.

Interpretation and Debated Points

The phrase "it was of the LORD" in Judges 14:4 is interpreted in different ways.

• In the Reformed tradition, it is often read as evidence that even misguided human choices fall within God's providence.
• Other interpretations stress that God merely permitted the marriage rather than approving it, and that Samson remains fully responsible.
• The parents' objection (Judges 14:3) is often read in connection with the Law's prohibition of intermarriage with foreign peoples.

Some interpretations that go beyond what the text explicitly states have also been handed down. The view that Samson violated his Nazirite vow by eating honey from the lion's carcass (Judges 14:8–9) is widespread, but the text does not explicitly call this a breach of the vow. The expression "went down to Timnah" is also sometimes read as a symbol of spiritual decline. However, "went down" in the text can also describe geographical movement from the hill country to the plain. As Genesis 38 shows by saying that Judah "went up" to Timnah, whether one goes up or down depends on the point of departure.

In the Korean Church

Timnah is mentioned chiefly in sermons on Samson. It is sometimes used as an illustration warning against a faith that compromises with the world.