Ophrah
Ophrah is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Galilee in modern-day Israel. Known today as Afula. It appears across 5 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
Ophrah of the Abiezrites, located in the tribal territory of Manasseh, is one of the most significant sites in the book of Judges. It was the hometown of Gideon (also called Jerubbaal), where the angel of the Lord appeared to him as he threshed wheat in a winepress, hiding from the Midianites (Judges 6:11). At Ophrah, Gideon tore down his father Joash's altar to Baal and the Asherah pole beside it, building an altar to the Lord in their place (Judges 6:24). After his dramatic victory over the Midianites with just three hundred men, Gideon made a golden ephod from the spoils of battle and set it up in Ophrah, which tragically became a snare to Israel as the people worshiped it (Judges 8:27). Gideon lived in Ophrah until his death and was buried there (Judges 8:32). After his death, his son Abimelech murdered seventy of his brothers at Ophrah to seize power (Judges 9:5). The city thus witnessed both divine deliverance and subsequent spiritual compromise.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
The precise identification of Ophrah of the Abiezrites remains debated among scholars. The traditional identification with Afula in the Jezreel Valley has largely given way to other proposals, including Khirbet et-Taiyiba in the hill country of Manasseh, approximately ten kilometers northwest of Shechem, and Fer'ata near Tulkarm. The identification depends partly on how one locates the Abiezrite clan within Manasseh's territory. Excavations at Afula have revealed occupation from the Early Bronze Age through the Islamic period but have not produced evidence specifically linking the site to the Gideon narrative. Some scholars favor a location closer to the Jordan Valley, consistent with the proximity to Midianite incursions described in Judges 6-8.
Verse Appearances (5)
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]