A Canaanite city whose king was one of the 31 subdued by Joshua (Joshua 13:24). The royal residence of the kings of Israel from Jeroboam to Omri, who removed the capital to Samaria (1 Kings 14:17; 1 Kings 15:21; 1 Kings 16:6; 1 Kings 16:17-18); Baasha was buried here. Zimri was besieged here by Omri, and perished in the flames of the palace. Menahem who smote Shallum "went up from Tirzah" (2 Kings 15:14; 2 Kings 15:16), but when reigning made Samaria his capital.
Celebrated for beauty (Song of Solomon 6:4); some derive Tirzah from ratsah , "pleasant." Its mention is no ground for assigning the Song to a date later than Solomon, as it was in his time the chief city of northern Israel as Jerusalem of southern Israel. The church is "a city set on an hill" (Matthew 5:14), "well pleasing" to God (Hebrews 13:21). In the middle ages Brocardus mentions a Thersa on a height three leagues E. of Samaria; this is the exact position of Telluzah, in the mountains N. of Nablus, a large flourishing town, precipitous toward the E. and accessible from the W.; without remains of antiquity; a corruption probably of Tirzah.