BAAL-SHALISHAH

(Baʹal-shalʹi·shah) [lord or master of three things or of the third part].

A place from which a man brought twenty barley loaves of the firstfruits of his harvest and some fresh grain to present to the prophet Elisha. (2 Ki. 4:42-44) It was a time of famine and Elisha was at Gilgal. The humble supply proved sufficient for the hundred “sons of the prophets” there, with leftovers.—2 Ki. 4:38, 43; compare Matthew 14:20; Mark 8:8.

Baal-shalishah is considered to have been near Gilgal and probably in the “land of Shalishah,” through which Saul passed when searching for his father’s she-asses. (1 Sam. 9:4) There is a reference to Baal-shalishah in the Talmud, describing it as a place where the fruits ripened especially early. The suggested location is that of Kefr Thilth in the foothills of Ephraim, the name Thilth being the precise equivalent in Arabic of the Hebrew Shalishah. Kefr Thilth is located about thirteen and a half miles (22 kilometers) NW of Gilgal.