Timnah and the Sorek Valley

The Sorek Valley connects the coastal plain of Israel with the mountains of Judea. Bet Shemesh  lies in this valley, overlooking a key intersection near the birthplace of Samson. As Samson grew  older, he spent time in villages like Timnah, where he found a Philistine woman he wanted to  marry. The Philistines had several key cities on the coastal plain, including Gath, Ekron,  Ashkelon, Ashdod and Gaza. Samson’s marriage to the woman from Timnah was disastrous,  symbolic of the stormy relationship he had with the Philistines. The tel on which Timnah once sat is very low to the ground, and in the middle of the Sorek Valley. A stream runs by the site,  which is a key reason the town chose that location.