One of the gates of Jerusalem in Christian times seems to have borne the name of Tekoa. Arculf, at any rate, mentions the "gate called Tecuitis" in his enumeration of the gates of the city (A.D. 700). It ap- pears to have led down into the valley of the Kedron, probably near the southern end of the east wall. But his description is not verj' clear. Possibly to this Jerome alludes in the singular expression in the Epit. Pauke (§ 12), • . . . revertar Jerosolymam et per The- cuam atque Amos, rutllantera montis Oliveti crucem aspiciam." The Church of the Ascension on the sum- mit of Olivet would be just opposite a gate in the east wall, and the " glittering cross" would be particularly conspicuous if seen from beneath its shadow. There is no more prima facie improbability in a Tekoa gate than in a Bethlehem, Jaffa, or Damascus gate, all which still exist at Jerusalem. But it is strange that the allu- sions to it should be so rare, and that the circumstances which made Tekoa prominent enough at that period to cause a gate to be named after it should have escaped preservation. — Smith. See, in addition to the above authorities, Reland, Palcest. p. 1028; Schubert, Reisen, p. 2-1; Ra.u.m&c, Paldstina, ]}.'2i'd; Turner, To;/;-, ii, 240 ; Irb}' and Mangles, p. 344; Tristram, Land of Israel, p. 402 ; Schwarz, Palest, p. 114; Thomson, Land and Book, ii. 424; Porter in Murray's llandhuuk, p. 251; Biideker, Palestine, p. 252.
Teko'ite (Heb. with the art. hat-Tel-oi', ir^ipFltl [in 2 Sam. xxiii, 26 ; Neh. iii, 27, lyppilj, patrial from Tekoa, ; Sept. o QiKmiri^Q and 6 Qtwli, v. r. QtKiovirtQ and 9f/cn; Vulg. Thecuites, Tliectiemis, and de Theciia), an inhabitant of Tekoa (q. v.), an epithet of Ira the son of Ikkesh, one of David's warriors (2 Sam. xxiii, 26 ; 1 Chron. xi, 28 ; xxvii, 9). The name survived the Captivit}' (Neh. iii, 5, 27).
Tela Stragiila, a term used to designate the up- per covering for the holy table when not being used for the sacrifice. It is commonly called the altar pro- tector.
Tel-a'bib [many Tel'-abih^ (Chald. Tel-Ahih', a'iaX"bn, com-Mll; Sept. Mtr'nupoq; Yu\^. Ad acer- vum novarumfriiguni),yk'an probably a city of Chaktea or Babylonia (Ezra iii, 15), not of Upper ^Mesopotamia, as generally imagined (Calmet, ad loc. ; Winer, ad loc). The whole scene of Ezekiel's preaching and visions seems to have been Chaldiea proper; and the river Chebar, as already observed [see Chebak], was not the Khabbiir, but a branch of tlie Euphrates. Ptolemy lias
in this region a Thel-hencane and a Thal-atha (Geoff, V, 20) ; but neither name can be identilied with Tel- abib, unless we suppose a serious corruption. Thiluta and Thelsaphata of Ammian. Marc, (xxiv, 2; xxv, 8) have likewise been compared ; l)ut they are equally un- certain. The element "Tel," in Tel-abib, is uudoubt- edlv " hill." It is applied in modern times by the Arabs especially to the moinids or heaps which mark the site of ruined cities all over the Mesopotamian plain, an application not very remote from the Hebrew use, according to which "Tel" is "especially a heap of stones" ( Gesenius, ad loc. ). It thus forms the first syllable in many modern as in many ancient names throughout Babylonia, Assyria, and Syria (see Asse- mani, Bibl. Orient. HI, ii, 784). — Smith.
Te'lah (Heb. Te'lach, nbpl, breach [Gesenins] or vigor [Fiirst] ; Sept. BriXs v. r. OaXjf^; Vulg. Thale), son of Resheph and ftither of Tahar, in the lineage be- tween Ephraim and Joshua (1 Chron. vii, 25). B.C. ante 1658.
Teraim [some Telu'ini] (Heb. with the art. hat- Tiia'im'. Zi"i^h'S'r\,t.\\&\onnglambs [in Isa. xl, 11]; Sept. tv rnXy«Xo((;; Vulg. quasi ai/nos), a place where Saul collected and numbered his forces before his campaign against the Amalekites (1 Sam. xv, 4). It is strange that both the Sept. version and Josephus {Ant. vi, 7, 2) read Gilgal, which was in the valley of the Jordan, near Jericho, and certainly not a fitting place to marshal an army to war with the Amalekites, seeing it would have to march through the wild passes of the wilderness of Judah ( Ewald, Gesch. iii, 50 ). The Targum ren- ders it " lambs of the Passover," according to a curious fancy, mentioned elsewhere in the Jewish books {Yal- kut on 1 Sam. xv, 4, etc. ), that the army met at the Passover, and that the census was taken by counting the lambs. This is partly endorsed by Jerome in the Vulg. A similar fancy is found in the Midrash in refer- ence to the name Bezek (1 Sam. xi, 8), which is taken literally as meaning "broken pieces of pottery," where- by, as by counters, the numbering was effected. Bezek and Telalm are considered by the Talmudists as two of the ten numberings of Israel, past and future. It is probably identical with Tklism (q. v. ), the southern position of which (Josh, xv, 24) would be suitable for an expedition against Amalek; and a certain sn]iport is given to this by the mention of the name (Thailam or Thelam) in the Sept. of 2 Sam. iii, 12.— Kitto; Smith.
Telas'sar (Heb. Telassar', "i"iL'bri [in Isa.], fully TiiJNpri [in Kings], .4sc«y?i((7« /«7/; Sept. BrttdSf)', 9f£- fiu^ v. r. QaXaaaap, OaifxaS ; Vidg. Thelassnr, Thalas- sar) is mentioned in 2 Kings xix, 12 (A. V. "Thelas- sar") and in Isa. xxxvii, 12 as a city inhabited by "the children of Eden," which had been conquered and was held in the time of Sennacherib by the Assyrians. In both passages it is connected with Gozan ((iauzanitis), Haran (Carrhte, now Harran), and Rezeph (the Razap- pa of the Assyrian inscriptions), all of which belong to the hill country above the Upper Jlesopotamian plain, the district from which rise the Khabur and Belik rivers. See Gozan; Haran; MKSoroTAMiA. It is quite in accordance with the indications of locality which arise from this connection to find Eden joined in another passage (Ezek. xxvii, 23) with Haran and Asshur. Telassar, the chief city of a tribe known as the Beni-Eden, must have been in Western Mesopota- mia, in the neighborhood of Harran and Orfa. The name is one which might have been given by the Assyrians to any place where they had built a temple to Asshur, and hence perhaps its application by the Targums to the Resen of Gen. x, 12, which must have been on the Tigris, near Nineveh and Cnlah. See Rkskn.— Smith. Ewald {Gesch. iii, 301, Note 3) iden- tities it with a heap of ruins called Teleda, south-west from Racca, the Theleda of the Peut. Tab. (xi, c), not far from P;din\ra. It is in favor of this that in that