Tekoa, Tekoah

 
City of Judah, probably founded by the preceding. Rehoboam built or fortified it “for defense” (2 Chron. 11:66He built even Bethlehem, and Etam, and Tekoa, (2 Chronicles 11:6)). The “wise woman” Joab employed to speak to the king respecting the return of Absalom was from this city (2 Sam. 14:2,4,92And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman, and said unto her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint not thyself with oil, but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead: (2 Samuel 14:2)
4And when the woman of Tekoah spake to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help, O king. (2 Samuel 14:4)
9And the woman of Tekoah said unto the king, My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father's house: and the king and his throne be guiltless. (2 Samuel 14:9)). Being built on a hill it was a suitable place for blowing the trumpet in time of danger, as in Jeremiah 6:11O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction. (Jeremiah 6:1). The prophet Amos was among its herdsmen. Identified with ruins at Tekua, 31° 38' N, 35° 12' E. The WILDERNESS OF TEKOA was probably on its east (2 Chron. 20:2020And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. (2 Chronicles 20:20)).