Tekoa

The Old Testament prophet Amos was from the village of Tekoa, south-east of Bethlehem. The name Tekoa probably means the place for pitching tents, which re­flects its location on the eastern edge of the Judean hills where the wilderness begins.

According to biblical records, this city was founded by Ephrathites from Bethlehem in the north and by Calebites from Hebron in the south (1 Chronicles 2:24). It seems to have served as an administrative center in the kingdom of Judah and was also a fortified City (2 Chronicles 11:5). David apparently had connections with the residents of Tekoa and found support here.

When David had a falling out with his son Absalom, Joab made an attempt at reconciliation through the help of a wise woman from Tekoa (2 Samuel 14). Some have suggested, therefore, that Tekoa may have had a long tradition of wise and rhetorically skilled women leaders.

Today there are ruins from a memorial, presumably to Amos, dating back at least to the first century. This memorial consists of a double cave over which stood a square structure ten meters on a side. Nearby stand the ruins of a Byzantine St. Nicholas Church with mosaic floors, and a Monophysite monastery was also located here. The village continued to be important until at least the Crusader period. In more recent times the village has been relocated about two kilometers west of the ancient site. The Christian inhabitants of Tekoa migrated to Bethlehem in the eighteenth century. Today it is a Muslim village.