Baal-tamar
Baal-tamar is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Judea in modern-day Israel. Known today as Ras et Tawil. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Baal-tamar appears in Judges 20:33 as the staging ground for Israel's decisive third assault against the tribe of Benjamin during the tragic civil war provoked by the atrocity at Gibeah. The account in Judges 19–21 narrates the gang rape and murder of a Levite's concubine by men of Gibeah (a Benjaminite city), which sparked a national outrage. The assembled tribes of Israel demanded justice from Benjamin; when Benjamin refused to surrender the perpetrators, a devastating civil war erupted. After two catastrophic defeats, Israel arrayed itself a third time and "drew up at Baal-tamar" while a concealed force lay in ambush to the west of Gibeah (Judg. 20:33). The battle that followed was a total Israelite victory, reducing Benjamin to near-extinction. Baal-tamar, near Gibeah and Bethel, served as the forward position from which the final assault was launched. The name: "lord of the palm tree", likely reflects a pre-Israelite cultic site associated with a palm tree sanctuary, possibly used as a traditional meeting or assembly point. The site's proximity to Gibeah places it in the tribal heartland of Benjamin, near Jerusalem.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Baal-tamar is proposed to be located near Gibeah and Bethel in the central hill country of Benjamin, with some scholars identifying it with Ras et-Tawil or a site in its vicinity, north of Jerusalem. No excavation has been conducted specifically targeting Baal-tamar, and the identification remains uncertain. The general region between Gibeah (Tell el-Ful) and Bethel (Beitin) has been extensively surveyed and partially excavated, with abundant Iron Age I remains reflecting the period of the Judges. Tell el-Ful (Gibeah) was excavated by W.F. Albright and later by Paul Lapp, providing important context for the Iron Age I Benjaminite landscape described in Judges 20.
Verse Appearances (1)
Judg
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]