Tel-Harsa

Tel-harsa (also spelled Tel-harsha) is one of the Babylonian places of origin listed in the post-exilic registers of those who returned to Judah but could not establish their Israelite ancestry. The name appears only in two parallel lists, in Ezra and in Nehemiah.

A Place of Return Without Pedigree

In the register attached to the first return, Tel-harsha is grouped with Tel-melah, Cherub, Addan, and Immer as places from which a body of returnees came up: "And these were those who went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, [and] Immer; but they could not show their fathers' houses, and their seed, whether they were of Israel" (Ezr 2:59).

Nehemiah's parallel list preserves the same group with one spelling variation: "And these were those who went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer; but they could not show their fathers' houses, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel" (Ne 7:61). The two notices set Tel-harsa among Babylonian settlements whose returnees lacked the genealogical documentation required to be enrolled with Israel.