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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

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SOCO (Place), SOCOH

1. One of 14 cities located in the Shephelah, in the territory allotted to Judah’s tribe; it is listed between Adullam and Azekah (Jos 15:35 (RV · LV · Read together)). Jerome, in his Latin translation of Eusebius’s Onomasticon (157:18–20), states that there were two settlements, one on the mountain and another on the plain. The description fits exactly the situation at Khirbet esh-Shuweikeh, a Roman-Byzantine site on the southern edge of the vale of Elah; just beside it to the east is a lofty mound with heavy fortifications from the Israelite period, called Khirbet ‘Abbad. Socoh guarded the junction between two wadis that join to form the vale of Elah, a passageway to the central hill country, to Bethlehem or Hebron, respectively. This situation provides the background for 1 Samuel 17:1 (RV · LV · Read together), when David killed Goliath during Saul’s reign over Israel; the Philistines lined up their troops beside Socoh and extended toward Azekah. The Israelites were on the opposite ridge with the creekbed of the vale of Elah in between.

Rehoboam included Socoh in his network of fortifications designed to place forces on the main lines of communication throughout his kingdom (2 Chr 11:7 (RV · LV · Read together)). The town apparently remained in Judah’s hands from the tenth to the eighth century BC, at which time the Philistines, moving against King Ahaz, took it and several other key towns on the approach routes (2 Chr 28:18 (RV · LV · Read together)).

2. Town in the southernmost district of the Judean hill region (Jos 15:48 (RV · LV · Read together)). The reference to Soco in 1 Chronicles 4:18 (RV · LV · Read together) in the genealogy of the sons of Caleb may refer to this same place. It is identifiable with another Khirbet Shuweikeh located about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southwest of Hebron.

3. Town in the Sharon Plain listed only once in the Bible (1 Kgs 4:10 (RV · LV · Read together)) but well known from nonbiblical sources. It appears three times in Egyptian records. First, in the topographical list of Thutmose III (no. 67), it comes after Aphek and before Yaham. The former is at Ras el ‘Ain (Rosh Ha’Ayin) by the springs of the Yarkon River; the latter must be located at Khirbet Yamma on the eastern edge of the Sharon Plain. Next, Socoh is mentioned in similar geographical context in the Annals of Amenhotep II. Thus, it was a key town on the highway passing along the western edge of the mountains of Samaria in the 15th century BC. Third, it comes in an identical position in the topographical list of Pharaoh Shishak (no. 38) from the late 10th century BC.

The town conquered by Shishak was that mentioned in 1 Kings 4:10 (RV · LV · Read together) as being in Solomon’s third administrative district, which was governed by Ben-hesed and comprised “the land of Hepher” and other subdistricts in the Sharon Plain.

All of these texts point to this Socoh as the ancient name of present-day Khirbet Shuweikeh er-Ras, just to the north of Tul-Karem. Between Aphek and Socoh there were no good water sources along the road, so these two towns mark the principal way stations in the southern Sharon Plain.