Josephus, who mentions Tekoa as one of the 'strong and large cities' built by Rehoboam (Ant. Vlll. X. 1), speaks of it as a village in the Macca- baean period (BJ IV. ix. 5) and in his own day (Vita, 75). Jerome (Comm. in Jerem. vL 1) calls it a village, 12 (Roman) miles from Jerusalem, visible to him from Bethlehem every day. In the Pref . to Amos he adds : ' There is no village be- yond Tekoa, not even [a probable conjectural emendation is 'except'] rustic huts, of the appear- ance of ovens, which the Africans call mapalia : such is the desolateness of the desert which extends as far as the Red Sea and the boundaries of the Persians, Ethiopians, and Jews. And because no kind of crop whatever grows on the dry and sandy soil, the whole neighliourhood is occupied by shepherds, to comjiensate for the barrenness of the soil by the multitude of sheep.' The same Father asserts that the tomb of Amos was shown at this place. The Talmud speaks of the oil of Tekoa as the best in the country ; and one of the Arab geo- graphers says that its honey was so excellent as to have become proverbial. In the early part of the 6th cent. Saba founded a new monastery here, which, in contradistinction to Laura (Miir SAha), was called Laura Nova, ' New Monastery.' Soon after his death it became the scene of tierce con- llicts between the Monophy sites and the orthodox. In Crusading times it was inhabited by a lar^e population of Christians, who afforded considerable help to the Franks during the first siege of Jeru- salem. The village was sacked by a party of Turks from beyrnd the Jordan in A.D. 1138, bul
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the majority of the inliabitants had taken refuge in the great cave of KliurcitCln. Tliere is a eonie- vhat puzzling reference in Baliaoddinus, Vita Salad., ed. bchultens, p. 237. He writes of
'the river of Tekoa (c «aJ .a)), one parasang
[=about 3 Eng. miles] fruni Jerusalem, which fur- nished a suftiuient supply of water to Uichard of Kngland and his army ' of Crusaders. It is obvious that the distance here given does not agree with the facts. Thesug;^estion has been made that the water in question was that of the lake mentioned 1 Mac 9** Td OSuip XiKKOv 'Aa(pdp (X, Ven.), or "Air^dX (A), which Josephus {Ant. XHI. i. 2) calls tA CSujp ri KoXov/ievo;/ XcLkkov 'Aatpdp, and which Miihlau identifies with ez-Z(i UrAne S. of Tekoa, Robinson (BliP' ii. 202) with Bir Selhub S.W. of En-gedi.
The Palestine pilgrims of the Middle Ages do not enlighten us greatly as to the condition or history of Tekoa. In the account of St. Willibald's pil- grimage (8th cent.) it is said that he came hither, and ' tliere is now a church, and there rests one of the prophets.' The anonymous itinerary of this journey asserts that Nathanael was one of the infants at Bethlehem wlien Herod slew the chil- dren, that his mother hid him under a tig tree (Jn l"), and that he escaped to Tekoa. In the 12th cent. John of WUrzburg and I'etellus state that the tomb of Amos was shown there, the latter adding, ' From its confines Habakkuk was borne by the angel to Babylon. In Thecua many of the prophets used to meet together to discuss divine things.' Isaac Chelo (A.D. 1134) speaks of the tomb of Amos as being in a cave at this place. From William of Tyre we learn that in A.D. 11-44 queen Melesinda gave the spot to the canons of the Iloly Sepulchre in exchange lor property at Bethany.
The ancient name Tekiia still clings to the site (Robinson, Pal. ii. 4U0!i'. ; (iu6rin, Judie, iii. 141 ff.). In the neighbourliood large flocks of sheep and goats, together with a few oxen, are pastured by Arabs, genuine representatives of the nomads who dwelt there in ancient days. On the level ground immediately near the hill corn is grown. The shepherds use for sheep-cotes the numerous caves with which the mountains are honeycombed. On the broad summit of the hill of Tekoa tliere are ruins which cover a space of four or Hve acres. They ' consist chiefl}' of the foundations of houses constructed of large hewn stones, some of them bevelled. At the K.E are the remains of a square tower, occupying a very commanding position ; and near the middle of the site are the ruins of a Greek church, with several broken columns and an octagonal baptismal font of rose-coloured lime- stone, 5 ft. diani. on the outside, 4 on the inside, and 3 ft. 9 in. deep. There are also many cisterns excavated in the rock.' The view of the font in Wilson's Picturesque Palestine, iii. 184, is well worth seeing.
Cyril of Alexandria asserts that the Tekoa of Amos was an Ephraimite, not a Juda;an city. The author of the Lives of the Pruphets says that it was in the tribe of Zebulun — probably a mi.stake for Simeon, since Simeon bordered clo.sely on Judah. Abarbanel and Kiinchi jilace it in the tribe of Asher. But tliere is not a particle of real evidence in favour of a second Tekoa.
Tekoite. — A native or inhabitant of Tekoa. The adjective is used three times in the singular number (2 S 23^, 1 Ch 112»27") of one of David's mighty men, Ira, the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite. In 2 S 14*- • the Heb. has the fem. form, but our versions render the expression, 'ishshAh hat-tiko tth, by ' woman of Tekoa. In Neh 3'- " the plural is eni|)loyed for one of the bands of volunteers who rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem under Nehemiah. It is a little doubtful whether these men actually