Succoth

The name of two places mentioned in the OT.

1) A town founded by Jacob and first mentioned in Gen 33:17 ("Jacob . . . went to Succoth, where he built a place for himself and made shelters (succoth) for his livestock. That is why the place is called Succoth"). The name simply means 'shelters.' In the time of Joshua, the town was assigned to the lot of Gad (Jos 13:24). 1 Ki 7:46 (// 2 Chron 4:17) posits it in "the plain of the Jordan" and near to Zarethan. It must have grown into an important city to boast 77 officials and elders in the town; even self-important, perhaps, to sneer at Gideon when he requested their aid in fighting the kings of Midian, and then—after Gideon's victory—of being humiliated by him (Judg 8:5-16). It is uncertain if the absence of direct references to it in the rest of the OT historical narratives means that the city, from then on, went into decline.

2) Mentioned in Exo 12:37; 13:20; and repeated in Num 33:5 & 6) as the next town Israel came to after leaving Rameses during their flight out of Egypt. This city, mentioned also in ancient Egyptian writings (e.g., the Story of Sinuhe), was "the normal way in or out of Egypt for displaced persons." Its location, somewhere in the eastern part of the delta, has not been identified with certainty.