'''Shalishah'''{{efn|In 1 Samuel 9:4, the King James Version spells the name '''Shalisha'''.}} or '''Baal-Shalisha''' ({{langx|he|בַּעַל שָׁלִשָׁה}}) is a place mentioned in the Book of Kings (2 Kings 4:42) and the Talmud (Sanhedrin 12a).
Baal-Shalisha is translated as "lord or master of three things", or "the third idol, the third husband; or, that governs or presides over three" (''Baal''=lord/master; ''Shalisha''="three things", "third", or "three").<ref name=Flemingp251>Fleming, 1838, [https://archive.org/details/agazetteeroldan01flemgoog/page/n300 <!-- quote=baal shalisha canaanite. --> [p. 251].</ref> This ancient place name is thought to be preserved in the Arabic name of the modern village of Kafr Thulth.<ref name=Freedmanp136>Freedman et al., 2000, [https://books.google.com/books?id=P9sYIRXZZ2MC&dq=baal+shalishah&pg=PA136 p. 136].</ref> The Greek Septuagint (LXX) calls the same place in 2 Kings 4:32 by the name ''Beit Sarisa'' ({{langx|el|Βαιθσαρισα}}).
According to Eusebius and Jerome, Baal-Shalisha was located 15 (Roman) miles north of Diospolis (Lydda).<ref name=Flemingp251/> Eusebius identified it with Baithsarisa,<ref>{{cite book |author=Eusebius|author-link=Eusebius|translator=G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville |editor-last1=Chapmann III |editor-first1=R.L. |editor-last2=Taylor |editor-first2=J.E. |editor-link2=Joan E. Taylor |title=Palestine in the Fourth Century A.D.: The Onomasticon by Eusebius of Caesarea |publisher=Carta |date=2003 |location=Jerusalem|page=118|isbn=965-220-500-1 |oclc=937002750}}</ref> the ancient Biblical village believed to have been located {{convert|3.5|mi|km}} to the south of Kafr Thulth at a site known in modern times as ''Khirbat Sirisya'' (now ''Serisiyyah'', a ruin located west of Mount Ephraim).<ref>Freedman et al., 2000, [https://books.google.com/books?id=P9sYIRXZZ2MC&dq=baal+shalishah&pg=PA136 p. 136].</ref> Another possibility is Khurbet Kefr Thulth (with Arabic ''Thulth'' comparable to the Hebrew ''Shalisha'')<ref>Conder and Kitchener 1881, SWP II, p. 285</ref> which is roughly northeast of there. The Jerusalem Talmud (''Sanhedrin'' 1:2) identifies it as the earliest place each year for fruits to ripen.
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}} *{{JewishEncyclopedia|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=B&artid=14|article=Baal-shalisha}}
==Bibliography== {{ref begin}} *{{Citation|title=A gazetteer of the Old and New Testaments: to which is added the natural history of the Bible|first1=William|last1=Fleming|publisher=Edinburgh Printing and Publishing Company|year=1838}} *{{citation|title=Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible|first1=David Noel|last1=Freedman|first2=Allen C.|last2=Myers|first3=Astrid B.|last3=Beck|edition=Illustrated|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|year=2000|isbn=978-0-8028-2400-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/eerdmansdictiona0000unse}} *{{cite book|title=Aid to Bible understanding: containing historical, geographical, religious, and social facts concerning Bible persons, peoples, places, plant and animal life, activities, and so forth|publisher=Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York|year=1969}} {{refend}}
Category:Hebrew Bible places