Sharuhen

Sharuhen appears once in Scripture as one of the thirteen cities of Simeon's tribal allotment within Judah's southernmost territory: "Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities and their villages: Ain, Rimmon, and Ether, and Ashan; four cities and their villages" (Joshua 19:6-7). The town occupied the western Negev between Beersheba and the Egyptian frontier — a strategic position on the trade routes south toward Egypt. Sharuhen is widely identified with Tell el-Far'ah (south) in the western Negev, an Egyptian-era fortress that controlled the Wadi Ghazza route between Gaza and the southern desert.