GE-HARASHIM

(Ge-harʹa·shim) [Valley of Craftsmen].

A valley named for the community of craftsmen living there. (1Ch 4:14) The community was ‘fathered,’ or founded, by Joab, though evidently not the Joab of David’s time. It was settled by Benjamites after the Babylonian exile. (Ne 11:31, 35) Some geographers tentatively locate it at Wadi esh-Shellal, a broad valley located a few miles SE of Tel Aviv-Yafo; others prefer the identification with Sarafand el-Kharab to the SW of the former.