Dothan

Dothan (meaning two wells or the law; custom) was a prosperous pastoreland and town in the hill country of Samaria, approximately thirteen miles north of Shechem. It appears in two pivotal narratives: first, as the place where Joseph found his brothers tending their flocks—it was at Dothan that they conspired to kill him, cast him into a waterless pit, and then sold him to the Ishmaelite caravan bound for Egypt (Gen. 37:17–28); and second, as the city where the prophet Elisha was residing when the king of Syria sent a large military force to capture him (2 Kgs. 6:13–17).

In the Elisha account, Dothan is surrounded by the Aramean army, but Elisha prays that his servant may see the greater army of the LORD—the horses and chariots of fire filling the hills around the city. The Syrian force is subsequently struck with blindness and led to Samaria. The site is identified with Tell Dothan in the Jezreel Valley approach, which has been extensively excavated, revealing continuous occupation from around 3100 BC through the Hellenistic period.