BAAL-SHALISHAH

(Baʹal-shalʹi·shah) [Owner of Shalishah].

A place from which a man brought 20 barley loaves of the firstfruits of his harvest and some fresh grain to present to the prophet Elisha. (2Ki 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.​—2Ki 4:38, 43; compare Mt 14:20; Mr 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. (1Sa 9:4) There is a reference to Baal-shalishah in the Babylonian Talmud describing it as a place where the fruits ripened especially early. (Sanhedrin 12a) A suggested location is that of Kafr Thulth in the foothills of Ephraim, the name Thulth being the precise equivalent in Arabic of the Hebrew Shalishah. Kafr Thulth is located about 46 km (29 mi) NNW of Jerusalem.