Tuquʿ or Tequʿ () is a Palestinian town in the Bethlehem Governorate, located southeast of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. The modern part of the town was built up in 1948 adjacent to Khirbet Tuqu' (khirbet meaning "ruins"), the Arabic name for the ancient biblical site of Tekoa (), or Crusader Thecoe. Both the ancient and modern sites are part of the Tuqu' municipal council, which includes two other localities: Khirbet ad-Deir ("ruins of the monastery")not be confused with Khirbet al-Deir in Hebron Governorate and Al-Halqum.Also transliterated al-Halkoom. Tuqu' Town Profile, Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem, 2008. Retrieved on 2012-03-13. As of 2019, the modern center of Tuqu' had a population of 8,767, Khirbet Tuqu' of 131, Al -Halqum of 266, and Khirbet ad-Deir of 2,009.
Tuqu' forms part of a wider village cluster - along with Za'atara, Beit Ta'mir, Hindaza, Nuaman, Ubeidiya, and al-Asakra - that the nomadic pastoralist Ta'amreh tribe of Palestinian Bedouins have lived in and around for more than a millennium, and their history is intimately tied to both ancient and modern Tuqu'/Tekoa. Archaeological finds from Khirbet Teqoa include pottery from Iron Age IIA–IIC, Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman periods, as well as remains of a Byzantine-era church built over a tomb tradition attributed to the biblical prophet Amos, or by another tradition, to Saint Nicholas. The site remained inhabited into the Middle Ages, with the remains of a Crusader fortress, and with villagers later paying taxes on agricultural produce under Ottoman rule that were directed to a waqf.
While Tuqu has a municipal jurisdiction of over 191,262 dunams, the built-up area is small, consisting of only 590 dunams, and 98.5% of the village's land was classified as Area C and 1.5% as Area B in the 1995 accords.'15 Palestinians detained in Tuqu near Bethlehem', Ma'an News Agency 19 March 2015. The Israeli settlement of Tekoa, initially established in 1975 as a Nahal military outpost, was built on 1071 dunams of land which, according to ARIJ, Israel confiscated from the Palestinian citizens of Tuqu'.Tuqu’ Town Profile, pp. 17-18, ARIJ Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are illegal under international law.
Etymology Strong's Concordance states that Tekoa means in Hebrew "a stockade".Lexicon :: Strong's H8620 - Tĕqowa`, accessed 7 August 2018 Gesenius' lexicon uses "the pitching" in reference to tents.Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon s.v. תְּקוֹעַ Horatio Balch Hackett gives the root , meaning "to strike", and like Gensenius connects this to driving of tent pegs into the ground, noting the area's ongoing traditional nomadic pastoralist way at the time of his visit in 1852.
Location
Tekoa is situated on the eastern edge of the Judean hills, between a broad fertile plain to the west and the desert that bears its name, the Wilderness of Tekoa, to the east. Situated about 16 km south of Jerusalem, it is historically connected by roads leading to Jerusalem, Hebron, and Ein Gedi. From the site, there are extensive views encompassing the fortress of Herodium, Bethlehem, Jericho, Mar Elias, the Judaean Desert, and the Mountains of Moab across the Jordan Valley in Transjordan.
Both modern and ancient Tekoa, the latter known in Arabic as Khirbet et-Tuqu', are also located 12 km (horizontal distance) or c. 5 miles (8 km) south of Bethlehem.Negev and Gibson, 2001, p. 496 Khirbet ad-Deir is just to the north of modern Tuqu', with al-Halqom lying to its east. Khirbet Tuqu' lies directly to the southeast of modern Tuqu', between the two small Palestinian villages of Al Maniya (which is directly south of modern Tuqu') and Wadi Muhammed, which lies to the west. Also to the west, north of Wadi Muhammed, are Al Manshiya and Marah Rabah. To the north of Tuqu' is Haramala, a small village that is part of the Jannatah municipal council. Israeli settlements are encroaching from the south, overtaking Kisan, Palestine next to Tuqu', and from the east in what is known as the Teqoa wilds, where a series of settlements, broadly called Tekoa (Israeli settlement) continue to be developed.Teqoa Town Profile, ARIJ, p. 4
Biblical references The location of biblical Teqoa is elaborately described in Scripture.Singer, I., The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia - Tekoa, accessed 25 July 2017 In the Jewish Encyclopedia (1901), Isidore Singer notes that "the Greek text of a passage (Joshua 15:59) lost in the Hebrew [i.e., in the Masoretic Text ()] places it, together with Bethlehem and other towns of the hill-country of Judah, south of Jerusalem". Singer offers as secure the identification of the site at "Khirbat Taḳu'ah". Jeremiah places Teqoa in the south (), and two other passages speak about the desert, or wilderness, of Tekoa ( and ).
Tekoa is also identified as the hometown of the prophet Amos, a local herdsman who prophesied in the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), and describes the prophet as "a herdsman of Tekoa". Gary Rendsburg notes the Teqoaʿ mentioned in this passage is referencing another village of the same name that is located somewhere in the Galilee.
According to the biblical narrative, the town belonged to the clan of Caleb. In the Septuagint version of the Book of Joshua, in a passage absent from the Masoretic Text, Tekoa is listed alongside Bethlehem and other nearby localities as part of the territory allotted to the Tribe of Judah. Samuel speaks of a "wise woman" of Tekoa in the time of David (). King Rehoboam fortified the city and made it strategically important ().
History
Modern Tuqu' is located immediately west of Khirbet Tuqu' (also spelled Khirbet al-Tuq'u),Ellenblum, 2003, pp. 136-137Pringle, 1998, pp. 347-348 a still inhabited ancient site with ruins of what is identified as biblical Teqoa, also mentioned by other sources in Classical antiquity.
Iron Age Tekoa was extensively inhabited during the Iron Age, and appears to have gained prominence during the rise of Judah in the 10th century BC. A royal stamped jar handle (LMLK seal) dating to the late 8th century BCE was discovered at Tekoa, bearing the inscription "LMLK" ("belonging to the king") and indicating the site's inclusion in the administrative network of Judah established during preparations for the Assyrian invasion. Following the Babylonian conquest and the fall of Judah in the 6th century BC, the Tekoa region became largely depopulated.
Persian period 6th - 4th BC Archaeological evidence from this era is scant, though small finds of Persian-period pottery have been reported at the site, suggesting a modest presence. During this period, the surrounding area saw renewed settlement activity, with communities shifting westward toward areas near the watershed where water and agricultural conditions were more favorable.
Hellenistic and Roman periods Josephus may have mentioned Teqoa being fortified by Bacchides along with other towns during the Maccabean revolt,Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XIII, I, 3 and again in connection with the First Jewish–Roman War (Life 420, War IV, 518). when describing the movements of rebel and Roman forces in Judaea. The site's proximity to Herodium (Herod the Great's fortress and tomb, only a few kilometers away) may have given Tekoa some significance. Josephus writes that Simon bar Giora, a leader of one of the Jewish factions during the revolt, camped in Tekoa while attempting to capture Herodium.
In his autobiographical work The Life of Flavius Josephus, Josephus also recounts that, on his way to Tekoa, to which he had been sent by Titus together with the Roman commander Sextus Vettulenus Cerialis to see whether it was a suitable place for encamping, he recognized three men among those being crucified. After appealing to Titus, he was permitted to have them taken down from their crosses; two of the men later died, while the third survived.Josephus, The Life of Flavius Josephus, 417–21
The surrounding region also saw military activity during the Bar Kokhba revolt, a major Jewish uprising against Roman rule that led to the widespread destruction and depopulation of Judea. Tekoa is mentioned in several documents from this period, including letters written by Simon bar Kokhba, the leader of the revolt. In these, Bar Kokhba rebukes his commanders at Ein Gedi for sheltering men from Tekoa who had evaded conscription, ordering: "Any Tekoan man who is found with you, let the house they reside in be burned,"P. Yadin 54:10–11 and further instructing, "Any person from Tekoa, or from other places, who is with you—you are to send them to me immediately".P. Yadin 55:3 It is also possible that some of Tekoa's inhabitants sought refuge in caves along the cliffs of Wadi Khureitun (Naḥal Tekoa), a nearby ravine associated with habitation during the revolt, that would also serve as a refuge in later periods.
Late Roman and Byzantine period (4th - 7th century CE
Eusebius, one of the Great Church fathers, (c. 260s-340) mentions a village by the name of Teqoa in his Onomasticon 98:17, etc.). Tekoa flourished as a Christian village in the Byzantine period (4th–7th century CE), mentioned in Byzantine sources. The Bible indicates (another) Teqoa as the birthplace of prophet Amos, and a tradition beginning in the 4th century CE holds that there is a tomb in the village belonged to him, though Franciscans say it was a tomb for Saint Nicholas. By the 6th century, a chapel was built over the tomb, as reported by Cyril of Scythopolis.Cyril of Scythopolis, Vita S. Sabae, XXXVI The English bishop Willibald visited the town in 724/725, and his biographer Huneberc recorded the existence of a church containing the tomb of the prophet Amos, and further associated Tekoa with Herod's Massacre of the Innocents.Hugeburc XXIII
Muslim conquest and Early Muslim period Following the Muslim conquest of Syria, several of the inhabitants were Islamized with time. There was also a significant nomadic Bedouin presence in the village's vicinity who were in an ongoing process of sedenterization, or practicing nomadic pastoralism with intermittent settlement. This was true of the period prior to the Muslim conquest as well, with Arab Bedouins being both responsible for a deadly raid against monks near Teqoa in the early fifth century, but also some of this population becoming sedenterized and Christianized and taking up residence in villages like Teqoa. Long before the Frankish period, the population of Teqoa therefore counted many local Muslims, as well as Christians, among its inhabitants.
Crusader and Ayyubid period Teqoa was known as "Casal Techue" by the Crusaders who conquered Palestine in 1099. Its Christian residents welcomed the Crusaders. Medieval chronicler William of Tyre relates that the Christians of the village aided the Crusaders during the Siege of Jerusalem in 1099, by guiding them to local springs and food sources. Many of the villagers also joined the Crusader army.Thekoa - (Tuqu'a) Studium Biblicum Franciscanum - Jerusalem.
In 1108, the Russian traveller Abbot Daniel noted that Casal Techue was "a very big village" with a mixed Christian and Muslim population. The village was granted by King Fulk and Queen Melisende to the canons of the Holy Sepulchre in 1138 in exchange for Bethany, the concession allowing the inhabitants to collect bitumen and 'salt' from the Dead Sea shores. The area's population included villeins comprising local Christians and Muslims, the latter being Islamised former Christians, and apparently also recent Frankish (West European) settlers, with Bedouin living outside the village.