Taanath-Shiloh

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Ta'anath-shi'loh. (Approach To Shiloh). A place named once only -  Joshua 16:6 - as one of the landmarks of the boundary of Ephraim. Perhaps, Taanath was the ancient Canaanite name of the place, and Shiloh was the Hebrew name.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Taanath-Shiloh . A town on the N.E. boundary of Ephraim (  Joshua 16:6 ). It is possibly the mod. Ta‘na , about 7 miles from Nâblus (Neapolis), and 2 miles N. of Yânûn (Janoah).

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Joshua 16:6

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Joshua 16:6

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Taanath' Shiloh', שַׁלֹה תִּאֲנִת , Taanah' [Gesenius, Approach; Furst, circle] of Shiloh, so called prob. from its vicinity to that place; Sept. Τηνὰθ Σηλώ v.r. Θήνασα Καὶ Σέλλης ), a place mentioned ( Joshua 16:6) as situated near the northern border of Ephraim at its eastern end between the Jordan and Janohah. (See Tribe).

With this agrees the statement of Eusebius ( Nomast. s.v.), who places Janoh'ah twelve and Thenaet ten Roman miles east of Neapoli. It is probably W. Thena. ( Θῆνα ) mentioned by Ptolemy (Geog. 5, 16, 5 ) of the chief cities of Samaria, in connection with Neopolis. In the Talmud (Jerusalem Megillah, 1), Taahath-Shiloh is said to be identical with Shiloh, a statement which Kurtz' (Gesch. des Alt. Bundes, 2, 70) understands as meaning that Taanath was the ancient Canaanitish name of the place, and Shiloh the Hebrew name, conferred on it in token of the "rest" which allowed the tabernacle to be established there after the conquest of the country had been completed. But this is evidently conjecture arising from the probable proximity of the two places. Taanah-of-Shiloh is probably the Ain Tana seen by Robinson north-east of Mejdel (Later Res. 3, 295), and by Van de Veldee (Memoir, p. 121, although erroneously marked Meraj ed-Din on his Map), about a mile from the road between Aerabi and Mejdel, consisting of "a small tell with a ruin, on the first lower plateau into which the Ghor descends."

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

tā´a - nath - shı̄´lō ( תּאנת שׁלה , ta'ănath shilōh  ; Codex Vaticanus Θηνασὰ καὶ Σελλησά , Thēnasá kaı́ Sellēsá , Τηναθσηλώ , Tēnathsēlṓ ): A town on the border of the territory of Ephraim named between Michmethath and Janoah (  Joshua 16:6 ). According to Eusebius, Onomasticon (s.v. "Thena") it lay about 10 Roman miles East of Neapolis, on the road to the Jordan. Ptolemy speaks of Thena, probably the same place, as a town in Samaria (  Joshua 16:1-10 :16, 5). It may be identified with Ta‛nā , a village about 7 miles Southeast of Nāblus . Yānūn , the ancient Janoah, lies 2 miles to the South. A R oman road from Neapolis to the Jordan valley passed this way. At Ta‛nā there are "foundations, caves, cisterns and rockcut tombs" ( PEFM , II, 245). This identification being quite satisfactory, the Talmudic notion that Taanath-shiloh was the same place as Shiloh may be dismissed (Jerusalem Talmud, Meghillāh , i).