Shalishah

Shalishah^[a] 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 thought to be 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 Baithsarisa,^[3] the ancient Biblical village believed to have been located 3.5 miles (5.6 km) to the south of Kafr Thulth at a site known in modern times as Khirbat Sirisya (now Serisiyyah, a ruin located west of Mount Ephraim).^[4] Another possibility is Khurbet Kefr Thulth (with Arabic Thulth comparable to the Hebrew Shalisha)^[5] which is roughly northeast of there. The Jerusalem Talmud (Sanhedrin 1:2) 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. Eusebius (2003). Chapmann III, R.L.; Taylor, J.E. (eds.). Palestine in the Fourth Century A.D.: The Onomasticon by Eusebius of Caesarea. Translated by G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville. Jerusalem: Carta. p. 118. ISBN 965-220-500-1. OCLC 937002750.
4. Freedman et al., 2000, p. 136.
5. 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.