Timnah
A place in the Bible
A town in the hills of Judah, on the border with the Philistines. In the Douay-Rheims it is called “Thamnas” or “Thamnatha.”
What happened here
- Judah and Tamar: Judah was going to Timnah to shear his sheep. Tamar, his daughter-in-law, sat down by the road to Timnah.
- Samson: in Timnah he saw a young Philistine woman and asked his parents to get her for him as his wife.
- The lion: on the way to Timnah a lion came at him. The spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, and he tore the lion apart with nothing in his hands.
Today
No one knows for sure where it was. It was on the border between Judah and the Philistines.
Where it appears in the Bible
Genesis 38:12-14; Judges 14:1-2; Judges 14:5-6
What the Bible says
Genesis 38:12-14
12And after many days were past, the daughter of Sue the wife of Juda died: and when he had taken comfort after his mourning, he went up to Thamnas, to the shearers of his sheep, he and Hiras the Odollamite the shepherd of his flock. 13And it was told Thamar that her father in law was come up to Thamnas to shear his sheep. 14And she put off the garments of her widowhood, and took a veil: and changing her dress, sat in the cross way, that leadeth to Thamnas: because Sela was grown up, and she had not been married to him.
Judges 14:1-2
1Then Samson went down to Thamnatlia, and seeing there a woman of the daughters of the Philistines, 2He came up, and told his father and his mother, saying: I saw a woman in Thamnatha of the daughters of the Philistines: I beseech you, take her for me to wife.
Judges 14:5-6
5Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Thamnatha. And when they were come to the vineyards of the town, behold a young lion met him raging and roaring. 6And the spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, and he tore the lion as he would have torn a kid in pieces, having nothing at all in his hand: and he would not tell this to his father and mother.
Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), public domain.
Source: Genesis 38:12-14; Judges 14:1-6