ESHTAOL

(Eshʹta·ol).

A city in the Shephelah, assigned to Judah (Josh. 15:20, 33), and later listed as a town on Dan’s border. (Josh. 19:40, 41) Judge Samson was first impelled by Jehovah’s spirit in this vicinity, and upon his death was buried there. (Judg. 13:25; 16:31) The five Danites spying out Laish and the 600 who subsequently captured it, departed from Eshtaol and Zorah.—Judg. 18:1, 2, 7, 11, 27.

Geographers generally identify Eshtaol with the partially occupied modern-day site of Eshwaʽ. It stands on a platform of rock a little more than thirteen miles (20.9 kilometers) due W of Jerusalem.