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TAANACH
One of the Canaanite fortress cities bordering the plain of Esdraelon and the valley of Jezreel, including Jokneam, Megiddo, Ibleam, and Beth-shan. The modern site, about five miles (8 kilometers) southeast of Megiddo, retains the ancient name, Tell Taanak. Excavations reveal a 14th-century BC wall made of huge, irregularly shaped rocks, with smaller stones set in the chinks, along with ruins of a local king’s palace. Some 40 cuneiform tablets of the 15th and 14th centuries BC were unearthed, and from a later period, brick houses possibly of Israelite construction. A terra-cotta incense altar was found in a house of Israelite date.
Taanach is first mentioned in the Bible in a list of kings conquered by the Israelites on the west side of the Jordan (Jos 12:21). In the tribal division of Palestine, Manasseh received Taanach (21:25), which was also named as a Levitical city. Manasseh, however, was not able to capture Taanach or any of the other strong cities in its inheritance (Jgs 1:27).
After the defeat of Sisera, Deborah and Barak sang a song in which it was said that the fighting took place at Taanach near the waters of Megiddo (Jgs 5:19). In the time of Solomon, Taanach was one of the towns mentioned in the enumeration of the administrative districts responsible for supplying monthly provisions for the king’s household (1 Kgs 4:12). The last mention of Taanach in the Bible is in a genealogical list (1 Chr 7:29), where the city is said to have belonged to Ephraim, along the borders of the Manassites.