Bible Location
Meaning: benevolent; complaisant; pleasing · 13 cross references · Modern-day map available
Tirzah was an early royal city of the northern kingdom before Samaria became the capital. It is important because several kings of Israel ruled from there, and because it represents an earlier phase of northern monarchy before Omri's move to Samaria. First appears in Josh 12:24.1
AI summary: Tirzah matters because it briefly held the center of northern royal power. After the kingdom divided, it served as a royal residence for successive kings until Samaria replaced it as the capital. That gives Tirzah a clear place in the development of the northern kingdom's political identity. Biblical poetry also remembers it as a place of beauty, adding a second dimension to its significance. The cross references present Tirzah as a short-lived but important royal center in Israel's monarchy.1
An old royal city of the Canaanites, which was destroyed by Joshua (Josh. 12:24). Jeroboam chose it for his residence, and he removed to it from Shechem, which at first he made the capital of his kingdom. It remained the chief residence of the kings of Israel till Omri took Samaria (1 Kings 14:17; 15:21; 16:6, 8, etc.). Here Zimri perished amid the flames of the palace to which in his despair he had set fire (1 Kings 16:18), and here Menahem smote Shallum (2 Kings 15:14, 16). Solomon refers to its beauty (Cant. 6:4). It has been identified with the modern mud hamlet Teiasir, 11 miles north of Shechem. Others, however, would identify it with Telluza, a village about 6 miles east of Samaria. 3
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Figure1: A table of cross references between the selected passage and other passages (Data from Robert Rouse, “Theographic Bible Information,” Theographic-Bible-Metadata, 2020, https://github.com/robertrouse/theographic-bible-metadata.)
AI-assisted summary prepared for ai-BIBLE and stored as page content, based on dictionary material, place metadata, and linked Bible cross references.
Alistair de Blacquiere-Clarkson, “ai-BIBLE Bible Names JSON Factsheet Aggregating Material from Smith’s Bible Dictionary & Hitcocks’s New and Complete Analysis of the Bible.” ai-BIBLE electronic edition, version 1.0.
M.G.Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, ai-BIBLE electronic edition, version 1.0.
Robert Rouse, “Theographic Bible Information,” Theographic-Bible-Metadata, 2020, https://github.com/robertrouse/theographic-bible-metadata.