THEBEZ

THEBEZ (Heb. תֵּבֵץ), city attacked by Abimelech, the son of Gideon, after suppression of the revolt of the Shechemites. It may therefore be assumed that the place was not far from Shechem and was perhaps under its jurisdiction. Abimelech captured the city and attacked the tower (citadel or migdal) by burning the doors of the gate; there he was killed by a millstone thrown on him by a woman (Judg. 9:50–57). This event was remembered even in the time of David (ii Sam. 11:21; cf. Jos., Ant., 5:251–53; 7:142). Eusebius locates the village of Thebez 13 mi. (c. 21 km.) from Neapolis in the territory of that city, on the way to Scythopolis (Onom. 100:11ff.). This place was called Thopas under the Crusaders (1108 c.e.). It is the present-day Arab village of Ṭūbās (see below). However, the identification of this village with the biblical Thebez is doubtful, as no remains of that time were discovered there and as the similarity of the names is only superficial. Some scholars view Tirzah as a corruption of Thebez.

[Michael Avi-Yonah]

Ṭubas

Tubas (Teveẓ; Heb. תֵּבֵץ) is a Muslim-Arab village with municipal council status in Samaria, near Nablus (Shechem). The village, which had served in the 1936–39 Arab riots as a center for armed bands, was taken in the *Six-Day War by Israeli forces (June 7, 1967). According to the 1967 census, it had 5,262 inhabitants. By 1997 its population had grown to 11,760, including 6% refugees. Its economy was based on field crops, vegetables, fruit orchards, and sheep and goat flocks. The inhabitants of Ṭūbās owned large tracts of land on the eastern slopes of Samaria and in the lower Jordan Valley, which were worked by tenants.

[Efraim Orni]

bibliography:

Conder-Kitchener, 2 (1882), 229, 247, 249; Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 477; Aharoni, Land, 241.