Shaaraim

Two Judean towns carried this name, which means "two gates." One lay in the Shephelah along the route the Philistines fled after David killed Goliath (1 Sam. 17:52; called Sharaim in Josh. 15:36); the other was a Simeonite town listed among that tribe's settlements (1 Chr. 4:31). Some archaeologists identify the first with Khirbet Qeiyafa, a fortified Iron Age site in the Elah Valley with two gates, an unusual feature for the period that would match the town's name and location near the Goliath battle site, though the identification remains debated.