TAPPUAH

(Tapʹpu·ah) [apple].

1. One of Hebron’s four sons and a descendant of Caleb. (1 Chron. 2:42, 43) Some suggest that his name is to be connected with Beth-tappuah, a town near Hebron.—See BETH-TAPPUAH.

2. A town in the Shephelah region assigned to the tribe of Judah. (Josh. 15:20, 33, 34) It is thus distinct from Beth-tappuah in the Hebron area. Beit Nettif, about twelve miles (19 kilometers) W of Bethlehem, is tentatively identified as the site.

3. A town on the boundary between Ephraim and Manasseh. (Josh. 16:8) The surrounding area, the “land of Tappuah,” was allotted to Manasseh, but the city to Ephraim. (Josh. 17:8) En-Tappuah (Josh. 17:7) evidently refers to a nearby spring (Heb., ʽAʹyin, or En, meaning “spring,” when used as a prefix) and may have been a more complete name used for the city of Tappuah.

The “king of Tappuah” is mentioned among the rulers vanquished by Joshua in the conquest of Canaan (Josh. 12:17), and there is some difference of opinion as to whether “Tappuah” here refers to the city in the Shephelah or to the Ephraimite city. The more prominent mention made of the latter place, as well as the reference to the “land of Tappuah” (perhaps having some connection with the domain of the king of Tappuah), may indicate the Ephraimite Tappuah as the more likely of the two.

Most authorities identify the Ephraimite Tappuah with Tell Sheikh Abu Zarad, some eight miles (13 kilometers) S of Shechem and just below the town of Yasuf.