This verse comes from the time of King Ahaz back in the mid-eighth century b.c., but I want to use it to describe Timnah in the days of Ahaz's son, Hezekiah, who reigned at the end of the eighth and into the seventh centuries (715-687 B.C.). Timnah, remember, was the hometown of Samson's wife in the twelfth century B.C. After King Solomon (tenth century), it was contested by Judah and Philistia. In King Ahaz's time, Timnah was in Philistine hands, and then, with his son King Hezekiah, it may have returned to Judah's control. There is no fiery evidence of a violent takeover during this time, according to the excavators, but, as at neighboring Ekron, there is evidence of the later destructive campaign of Sennacherib.

The previous section on Ekron during this same time period mentioned Judean stamped jar handles now generally associated with King Hezekiah's preparations against Sennacherib's planned assault on Judea. Eight of these smashed jars with the royal Judean stamp (l'melekh) on the handle have also been found at Timnah. Some of the smashed jars surrounded a human skeleton, testifying to the violent end of the city, as described in Sennacherib's account: "I besieged Eltekeh (and) Timnah, conquered (them) and carried their spoils away. I assaulted Ekron. . . " (ANET, 288).

Timnah, like Ekron, had an impressive wall and gate. Timnah's defenses were composed of a massive, two-part gate complex (Kelm and A. Mazar 1989, 45). An ramp led to the gateway, and if an enemy survived past the first gate, he had to make a ninety-degree turn in order to proceed through a second gate. In addition, six guardroom chambers were located just prior to the passage through the second gate, three on either side of the passageway. The impressive ruins at Timnah apparently indicate that the defenses did some good, but the city fell to the Assyrians nonetheless, as Ekron did. According to Sennacherib's cuneiform campaign prism, Timnah was taken before Ekron. The stamped Judean storage jars found at both sites probably held supplies for the Judean garrisons. Remember, Hezekiah had forced the Philistine king of Ekron, Padi, to join the revolt against Assyria and had imprisoned Padi in Jerusalem. If the Judean storage jars may be used as evidence, they may indicate that Hezekiah was able to force Timnah to join the revolt also.

The destruction of Timnah by Sennacherib led to an Assyrian reconstruction of the city in the seventh century B.C. similar to that of Ekron, but on a smaller scale. Here, the remains of an olive oil industry have also been uncovered. Here, too, the seventh-century B.C. city flourished, and, like Ekron, it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar a century later. The process of making olive oil at Timnah was the same as at Ekron, except for two distinct differences. First, Timnah's oil presses are of smaller capacity than Ekron's; and second, no incense altars are present with the oil presses at Timnah. One hypothesis concerning the presence of numerous altars in association with the olive oil industry at Ekron is that the burning of incense would have masked the bad odor of producing olive oil. However, if that were true, incense altars should also then have been present at Timnah. This difference may provide additional proof that foreigners, in this case Israelites, were present at Ekron (see Nielsen 1991 for information on incense and altars). There was evidently a good deal of home industry in Timnah, since both olive oil presses and loom weights were found in homes. However, the excavators feel that at Timnah, too, the oil production was greater than would have been needed for local use.

Assyria (and not Judah) was in control of Timnah during the seventh century B.C., according to its excavators. An Assyrian administrative center may have been at Gezer (Tadmor 1966, 101), just six miles north of Timnah, and Timnah may have been tied to Ekron as a daughter city. An important obstacle to this conclusion about Assyrian control, however, is the fact that the Judean system of weights was used for Timnah's commercial relations. An assortment of stone shekel weights has been found there, including a weight inscribed with the word pim (PYM) or payim. Only a few of these weights have been found anywhere in Palestine (see pp. 142-43), and they come from Philistine sites or sites with Philistine occupation layers, such as Gezer, Ashdod, Ekron, and Timnah.

According to the archaeological record, both Timnah and neighboring Ekron were prosperous throughout the seventh century B.C. This prosperity was to last until the collapse of Assyria's might, and then both cities faced destruction by Nebuchadnezzar around 600 B.C. Both suffered the destruction that came to Jerusalem as well and was prophesied by Jeremiah -- a contemporary of Nebuchadnezzar.

Jeremiah did not mention Timnah. Perhaps he did not do so because it was small and was not as important as Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gaza, and Ekron. On the other hand, Timnah probably was associated closely with Ekron. Therefore, it may not have been necessary for Jeremiah to mention it in his prophecy. One mentioned Timnah when one mentioned Ekron.