Ether
Ether is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Coastal Plain in modern-day Israel. Known today as Khirbet el Ater. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Ether appears in the Old Testament as one of the cities allotted to the tribe of Judah during the division of Canaan under Joshua. Listed in Joshua 15:42 among a group of cities in the Shephelah, the lowland foothills west of the Judean highlands, Ether was part of the inheritance that secured Judah's territorial boundaries in the coastal plain region. The same city also appears in Joshua 19:7 in the list of towns assigned to the tribe of Simeon, indicating that certain Shephelah settlements were shared or reassigned between the two tribes in the early settlement period. This dual listing underscores the complex nature of tribal boundaries in the land distribution following the conquest. Though Ether is not the site of any recorded major biblical event, its inclusion in both Judah's and Simeon's tribal allotments reflects the administrative reality of Israel's settlement of Canaan, a careful, divinely ordered distribution of the Promised Land among the twelve tribes. Ether's place in these records speaks to God's faithfulness in giving Israel defined inheritance in the land he had sworn to their ancestors.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Ether is most commonly identified with Khirbet el-Ater, a ruin mound located in the Shephelah region of modern Israel near the Coastal Plain. The site lies in a strategically important zone between Philistine territory and the Judean highlands. Surface surveys of Khirbet el-Ater have identified Iron Age pottery sherds consistent with Israelite occupation during the period of the judges and united monarchy. The site has not been subject to extensive formal excavation, limiting the depth of archaeological knowledge. Alternative identifications have been proposed, including Khirbet Atir further south, but Khirbet el-Ater remains the preferred location among most biblical geographers.
Verse Appearances (1)
Josh
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]