Socoh (in the Shephelah)

1. One of 14 cities located in the Shephelah, in the territory allotted to Judah’s tribe; it is listed between Adullam and Azekah (Jos 15:35). Jerome, in his Latin translation of Eusebius’s Onomasticon (157:18–20), states that there were two settlements, one on the mountain and another on the plain. The description fits exactly the situation at Khirbet esh-Shuweikeh, a Roman-Byzantine site on the southern edge of the vale of Elah; just beside it to the east is a lofty mound with heavy fortifications from the Israelite period, called Khirbet ‘Abbad. Socoh guarded the junction between two wadis that join to form the vale of Elah, a passageway to the central hill country, to Bethlehem or Hebron, respectively. This situation provides the background for 1 Samuel 17:1, when David killed Goliath during Saul’s reign over Israel; the Philistines lined up their troops beside Socoh and extended toward Azekah. The Israelites were on the opposite ridge with the creekbed of the vale of Elah in between.