תִּמְנַת חֶרֶס
𐤕𐤌𐤍𐤕 𐤇𐤓𐤎
Timenat Cheres
H8556 noun
SILEX Entry
Definition
A proper place name designating a town assigned to Joshua in the territory of Ephraim, also referenced as Timnath-Serah. The full compound name 'Timnath Cheres' means 'Timnath of the Sun(disk)' or 'Allotment of the Sun,' with the first element indicating 'apportioned land' and the latter referencing the 'sun.' The term refers exclusively to this site and does not have a generalized use in other contexts.
Semantic Range
Proper name for a town: Timnath Cheres ('Allotment of the Sun'); alternative form Timnath Serah ('Allotment of Surplus'); does not occur with other meanings; indicates a specific historical-geographical site
Root / Etymology
The name is derived from the noun תִּמְנָה (Timnah, 'apportioned land, assigned portion') and the noun חֶרֶס (cheres, 'sun, sun-disk'). Alternative textual traditions read סֶרַח (serah, 'surplus, remainder'), producing the place name 'Timnath Serah.' The compound likely combines meanings through syntactic linkage: 'the apportioned portion of the Sun' or 'Allotment of the Sun.'
Historical & Contextual Notes
Timnath Cheres is noted as the burial place of Joshua (Judges 2:9), with its main references in Judges and Joshua (Joshua 19:50, 24:30) as a town in the hill country of Ephraim. The alternate form, 'Timnath Serah,' appears in most textual traditions in the Joshua passages, while 'Timnath Cheres' occurs in Judges, likely reflecting a scribal or dialectal variant. The addition of 'Sun' in the name may indicate an ancient association with solar cults, geographical orientation, or an etiological explanation for local topography, though this is not explicit in the text itself. Standard English translations often simply transliterate the place name without providing its semantic content, and the association of 'Cheres' with the sun is sometimes obscured or footnoted. In late tradition, the connection between 'Cheres' and the sun has been interpreted symbolically in connection to Joshua ('sun standing still'), though such readings depend on later interpretive traditions. There is scholarly debate about whether the different forms preserve different original names or are the result of textual harmonization in different periods, but both refer to the same location.
Original Strong's Gloss (1890)
or תִּמְנַת סֶרַח; from תִּמְנָה and חֶרֶס; portion of (the) sun; Timnath-Cheres, a place in Palestine; Timnath-heres, Timnath-serah.
Bantu Hebrew
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תמן, חרס (t-m-n; ḥ-r-s) — to allot, assign, apportion; sun, sun-disk
Word Forms
4 distinct forms
| SIDANCE | Surface | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H8556-03 |
סֶ֖רַח | serach | HNp |
-serah | Allotment of Surplus | 2 |
H8556-01 |
בְּ/תִמְנַת | betimenat | HR/Np |
in Timnath | in Allotment-of-the-Sun | 2 |
H8556-02 |
חֶ֖רֶס | cheres | HNp |
-heres | pottery shard | 1 |
H8556-04 |
תִּמְנַת | timenat | HNp |
Timnath | Allotment of the Sun | 1 |
Occurrences in Scripture
6 total occurrences
| SIDANCE | Reference | Word | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H8556-04 |
Joshua 19:50 | תִּמְנַת | timenat | HNp |
Timnath | Allotment of the Sun |
H8556-03 |
Joshua 19:50 | סֶ֖רַח | serach | HNp |
Serah | Allotment of Surplus |
H8556-01 |
Joshua 24:30 | בְּ/תִמְנַת | betimenat | HR/Np |
in Timnath | in Allotment-of-the-Sun |
H8556-03 |
Joshua 24:30 | סֶ֖רַח | serach | HNp |
-serah | Allotment of Surplus |
H8556-01 |
Judges 2:9 | בְּ/תִמְנַת | betimenat | HR/Np |
in Timnath | in Allotment-of-the-Sun |
H8556-02 |
Judges 2:9 | חֶ֖רֶס | cheres | HNp |
-heres | pottery shard |