SHEPHELAH shĭ fe’ lə (Heb. שְׁפֵלָה, H9169, a lowland). Although a well-known feature of the landforms of Pal. the name is mentioned only geographically in the KJV of 1 Maccabees 12:38, and there spelled “Sephela.” The term refers to the low hill tract between the coastal plain and the high central hills of Judea and Samaria. It consists of hard Eocene limestones that form low, rocky plateaus and hilly swells that rise from the coastal plain to elevations of some 1500 ft. above sea level. The root meaning of the word is “to make low,” “to humble,” and topographically it is accurate, suggesting the foothills below the main limestone dorsal of Judea-Samaria. As a buffer zone between the coastal plain of Philistia and the Israelite highlands to the interior, the geopolitical character of the Shephelah was given clear identity in the OT (e.g., 2 Chron 26:10; 28:18). In at least one passage, it suggests a particular type of landscape of rocky Eocene outcrops: “the Shephelah...and the hill country of Israel and its Shephelah” (Josh 11:16). This suggests that the landscape of the central Carmel region behind Jokneam and Megiddo was recognized to have similar physical features to the Shephelah proper, as its similar geological outcrops testify. The Shephelah is poor country, neither suited traditionally to the tree-crops of Judah (the olive and vine) nor to the open barley fields of Philistia. Possibly the allusion to its sycamore trees (1 Kings 10:27), suggests a scrubby vegetation cover that helps explain its role as a poor buffer zone.

As such, the Shephelah figured prominently in the conquest and settlement of the land by the Israelites. First, Judah took possession of the eastern hills around Bethlehem. Then its clans spread out to the northern Shephelah by establishing amicable relationships with the Canaanites in this area (e.g. Gen 38). Meanwhile other Heb. tribes seized the southern hill lands of Judea, and the fall of Lachish marked the conclusion to this phase of conquest. Only Gezer and its neighboring Amorite cities stood up to the pressures of the Israelites (Judg 1:29, 35). These decisive events occurred during the decline of the nineteenth Egyp. dynasty when the central authority over Canaan ceased. In the northern Shephelah, however, a group of Canaanite fortresses remained untaken, Gezer, Sha-albim and Aijalon. Several generations after the Israelites, waves of “Sea Peoples,” known as the “Philistines,” invaded the coastal plain by land and sea. They became complete masters of the southern Canaanite coast, from the Yarkon valley southward. Thrusting inland from their strongholds of Ekron and Gath, on the edge of the Shephelah and commanding strategic valley passes, the Philistines penetrated eventually into the eastern Shephelah. The narratives of Samson reflect the beginning of this conflict in the Shephelah when pressure was first exerted against the tribe of Dan (Judg 15:9ff.). The boundary between the Philistines and the Israelites then lay between Ekron and Beth-shemesh. The struggle for the control of the Shephelah reached its climax when the house of Eli was defeated in battle (1 Sam 4) and Shiloh, then the center of northern Israel, was destroyed (Ps 78:60; Jer 7:12, 16; 26:6, 9). By the beginning of Saul’s reign there were Philistine garrisons at Geba of Benjamin (1 Sam 10:5; 13:3). For some 150 years the Philistines dominated the Shephelah, with their superior monopoly of iron smelting—perhaps inherited from the Hittites (13:19-22). It was in this military crisis for Israel that the united Israelite monarchy was forged as a new political institution that transformed Pal.

The struggle against the Philistines in the Shephelah continued throughout Saul’s reign (14:52). The duel between David and Goliath took place in the valley of Elah, between Sochoh and Azekah, where the frontier between Saul’s territory and that of Gath was located. Border skirmishes are also alluded to, as the raids of the Philistines to rob the threshing floors of Keilah (1 Sam 23:1-6). Later, David gained a strategic advantage when he established Jerusalem as a fortress capital. One does not have a clear picture of David’s Shephelah campaigns, but the passage (2 Sam 8:1) indicates he took these areas from the Philistines which were essential to forming a bridge between Jerusalem and the Sharon plain, thus outflanking the Philistines and assuring supremacy of the region. Eventually Philistia was dominated by David by vassal treaty.

The transverse valleys of the Shephelah have been of critical significance in the history of the area, and help to explain the military importance of its major towns and fortresses. These valleys provided links between the coast and the Judaean hill country. The most important of these, the valley of Aijalon, was guarded by the fortress of Aijalon, referred to in the Amarna tablets as Aialuna. It was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron 11:10) then subsequently retaken by the Philistines (28:18). The twin towns of Upper and Lower Bethhoron were also in the Aijalon valley (Josh 10:10-14) in the battle for which Joshua called upon the sun to stand still until the day’s work was accomplished. To the E the Aijalon valley divides with approaches to both Bethel and Jerusalem. South of it is the Sorek valley where many of the exploits of Samson are recorded (Judg 16:4). Beth-shemesh, a border town, was in this valley. First set apart as a Levite town (Josh 21:16) but later fortified, it was destroyed by Pharaoh Shishak (1 Kings 14:25-28), and then rebuilt. There Joash defeated Amaziah (2 Kings 14:11-23), and then later it was repossessed by the Philistines (2 Chron 28:18). Further up the Sorek valley was Kirjath-jearim (“city of forests”) where the Ark was kept for twenty years (1 Sam 7:1, 2), a site not yet clearly identified. A third valley is the Vale of Elah (the “terebinth valley”) or Wadi es-Sant. Tell es-Safi is prob. the site of the town of Libnah, a city of refuge (Josh 21:13; 1 Chron 6:57), later attacked by Sennacherib on his way to Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:8). Azekah, modern Tell ez-Zakariyeh, is where Joshua pursued the Amorites after their attack on Gibeon (Josh 10:10, 11), and where Rehoboam later established a fortress (2 Chron 11:9). The shortest ro ute inland to Hebron is the Zephathah valley or Wadi Zeita, with its town of Moresheth, home of the prophet Micah (Micah 1:1). Here the armies of Asa gained a victory over “Zerah the Ethiopian” (2 Chron 14:9). One and a half m. to N of it, the Romans built the town of Eleutheropolis. Finally, in the Wadi Qubeiba to the S, Tell ed-Duweir is the site of the military stronghold of Lachish, of Hyksos origin. It was destroyed by Joshua (Josh 10:31, 32), fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron 11:9) and besieged by Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:13-17) and Nebuchadrezzar (Jer 34:1). In the light of events and the strategic significance of the Shephelah, it may be aptly termed “the buffer-zone of Palestine.”

Bibliography P. Pfeiffer and H. F. Vos, The Wycliffe Historical Geography of Bible Lands (1968), 110-116.