Timnah

TIMNA (tĭm'na, Heb. timna‘, holding in check)

A concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz (Gen.36.12).A Horite woman, sister of Lotan, who was a son of Seir (Gen.36.20-Gen.36.22; 1Chr.1.39).A chief or clan descended from Esau (Gen.36.40; Timnah kjv).A son of Eliphaz (1Chr.1.36).

2. A chief of Edom (Gen 36:40; 1 Chron 1:51; KJV TIMNAH).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

A conbubine of Eliphaz, Esau’s son, and the mother of Amalek (Ge 36:12). But in Ge 36:22 and 1Ch 1:39 Timna is the sister of Lotan, and in Ge 36:40 and 1Ch 1:51 a chief or elan of Edom (see Timnah (3)). These variations are to be expected when the origin of genealogies is recalled. (In Genesis, English Versions of the Bible read, contrary to rule, "Timnah.") Gunkel’s theory is that Ge 36:12 is a later insertion in P.

(1) A town in the southern part of the hill country of Judah (Jos 15:57). Tibna proposed by Conder, a ruin 8 miles West of Bethlehem, seems too far N. (PEF, III, 53, Sh XVII). It is possible this may be the "Timnah" of Ge 38:12,13,14.

(2) A town on the northern border of Judah (Jos 15:10), lying between Beth-shemesh and Ekron. It is probably the same Timnah as Judah visited (Ge 38:12-14), and certainly the scene of Samson’s adventures (Jud 14:1 f); his "father-in-law" is called a "Timnite" (Jud 15:6). At this time the place is clearly Philistine (Jud 14:1), though in Jos 19:43 it is reckoned to Dan. Being on the frontier, it probably changed hands several times. In 2Ch 28:18 it was captured from the Philistines by Ahaz, and we learn from Assyrian evidence (Prison Inscription) that Sennacherib captured a Tamna after the battle of Alteka before he besieged Ekron (Schrader, Die Keilinschriften und das Altes Testament, 170). The site is undoubted. It is now a deserted ruin called Tibneh on the southern slopes of the Wady es Surar (Valley of Sorek), about 2 miles West of Beth-shemesh. There is a spring, and there are evident signs of antiquity (PEF, II, 417, 441, Sh XVI).

(3) There was probably a Timna in Edom (Ge 36:12,22,40; 1Ch 1:39,51). Eusebius and Jerome (in Onomasticon) recognized a Thamna in Edom at their time.

(4) The "Thamnatha" of 1 Macc 9:50 (the King James Version) is probably another Timnah, and identical with the Thamna of Josephus (BJ, III, iii, 5; IV, viii, 1). This is probably the Tibneh, 10 miles Northwest of Bethel, an extensive ruin.