
		Taanach Photos Scriptures ref.

Taanach - location profile

Location and Setting

Located on the southern side of the Jezreel Valley, Taanach was situated seven miles west of Jezreel and five miles southeast of Megiddo.
Taanach guarded the easternmost of the three passes that penetrate the Carmel range (with Megiddo and Jokneam).

Taanach was assigned to the Kohathite Levites (Josh 21:25). Although it was located in the territory of the largest tribe, Manasseh, that tribe could not drive the Canaanites out of the city (Judg 1:27).
Taanach, as well as Megiddo, were in a poorly drained area of the plain. It was near these cities, that Deborah and Barak defeated Jabin and the Canaanites. The scene is described as "Taanach by the waters of Megiddo" (Judg 5:19). These cities guarded the exits of the passes from the Sharon Plain on the coast through the Carmel range into the Valley of Jezreel. Since they were about half way between the Kishon stream in the northwest and the Harod stream in the southeast, the land on the plain nearby, although very fertile, tended to be swampy, a hazard for Jabin’s chariots!
Taanach was an important administrative center during Solomon’s reign (1 Kgs 4:12).
Egyptian tablets that were excavated at Taanach chronicled the importance of the city during the reign of Thutmose III (mid-15th century B.C.). Later, following Solomon’s death, Pharaoh Shishak took the city, recording the conquest in his journals.

Bimson, John J., ed. Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Places. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1995.
Houston, J.M. "Taanach" The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Ed. Merrill C. Tenney. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.