Tirzah

Tirzah () as having had a king whom the Israelites smote; it is not mentioned again until after the period of the United Monarchy. Tirzah is also mentioned in Song of Songs (6.4). Nevertheless, Tell el-Farah was an important town in the early Iron Age; it was the center of what seems to be a network of villages, one of five such networks that make up the Israelite settlement, starting around 1200 B.C., in the highlands between Jerusalem and the Jezreel Valley.

Tirzah is described in the First Book of Kings (15:33, 16:8, 16:23) as a capital of the northern kingdom of Israel for a short time, during the reigns of Baasha, Elah, and Omri.

Hebrew name

Tirzah is first mentioned in the Torah (Numbers 27:1) as one of the five daughters of Zelophehad. After the death of their father, the five sisters went to Moses and asked him for hereditary rights. Moses brought their plea to God, and it was granted. To this day, women in Judaism have the right to inherit property.

Tirzah in literature

Tirzah is a figure in William Blake's mythology, notably in his poem "To Tirzah" from Songs of Experience. According to Northrop Frye, Blake identified both the city and daughter of Zelophehad with worldiness and materialism, as opposed to the spiritual realm of Jerusalem in Judah. [http://www.english.uga.edu/wblake/SONGS/52/52bib(1).html Interpretations of Blake] ] The name Tirzah has a similar symbolism in Lew Wallace's novel "", in which it is given to the leprosy afflicted sister of Judah Ben-Hur, who is eventually cleansed by Jesus. The character of Tirzah appears in William Wyler's 1959 Academy Award winning Best Picture "Ben-Hur". Tirzah is also the main character in Sara Douglass's novel "Threshold".

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