Sokho

Sokho (transliterated thus from the Hebrew; also Sokhoh or Sochoh but not with initial Sh; transliterated Soco from Greek transliterations; spelled שוכה ,שוכו and שכה in Biblical Hebrew and סוכו in Mishnaic Hebrew; meaning perhaps related to "fence" or "hedge"), is the name of two towns in Judah from Biblical times. One was in the Hebron hill district, in the double tel called Khirbet Shuwaikah Fauka and Tahta (Upper and Lower Shuwaikah), 6 km southwest of Eshtamoa (Joshua 15:48). The other one in the lower hill country(the Shephelah), in the Ela Valley, between Adullam and Azekah (Joshua 15:35).

The Bible also mentions other Sokhos, e.g. in the Hefer region in the Sharon (1 Kings 4:10).

The Philistines camped between the Ela Valley Sokho and Azekah prior to the encounter of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17:1). Rehoboam fortified the place (2 Chronicles 11:7). It was one of the cities occupied temporarily by the Philistines in the time of Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:18). In that period it served as an administrative or storage center, being one of the four cities named on the la-melekh stamps of the Judean monarchy.

A Mishnaic Rabbi Antigonus of Sokho, mentioned in Ethics of the Fathers (Pirkei Avot 1:3), likely came from the Hebron-region town. Rabbi Levi Sukia, of the first generation of Amoraim, also came from Sokho (Jerusalem Talmud, Eruvim)

In Byzantine times, Eusebius described Socchot (Σοκχωθ) as a double village at the ninth milestone between Eleutheropolis (Bet Guvrin) and Jerusalem (Eusebius, Onom. 156:18ff.), a center for pottery manufacture. The Madaba Map also depicts Sokho (Σωκω).

Today, the tel of the Ela-Valley Sokho is known as "Lupin Hill," (Givat Ha-Turmusim) because of the beautiful annual growth of lupins in March.