Sukkot (place)

For the Jewish festival, see Sukkot.

The name Sukkot (Succoth) appears in a number of places in the Hebrew Bible as a location:

• An Egyptian Sukkot is the second of the stations of the Exodus. Pharaoh ordered the Israelites to leave Egypt, and they journeyed from their starting point at Rameses to Succoth (Exodus 12:37). Both appear to be towns within the Land of Goshen, which is generally believed to be in the eastern Delta.

• A separate Sukkot is a city east of the Jordan River, identified with Tell Deir Άlla, a high mound, a mass of debris, in the plain north of Jabbok and about one mile from it (Joshua 13:27). This is where Jacob, on his return from Padan-aram after his interview with Esau, built a house for himself and made sukkot (booths) for his cattle, (Genesis 33:17). In the book of Judges the princes of Sukkot refused to provide help to Gideon and his men when they followed one of the bands of the fugitive Midianites after the great victory at Gilboa. After routing this band, Gideon on his return visited the rulers of the city with severe punishment. "He took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Sukkot" (Book of Judges 8:13-16). Sukkot is also mentioned in relation to the battles of Saul and David (1 Samuel 17:1). The foundries for casting the metal-work for the temple were erected here (1 Kings 7:46).