The Old Testament period (till 167 BC)
The village of Emmaus is not mentioned in the Hebrew books of the Old Testament. It is not known when it was founded and information about it throughout the Old Testament period can only be drawn from legends.
According to the Midrash (a Jewish commentary to the Scriptures), spies sent by Moses to the Promised Land, passed through Emmaus:
“When Moses sent spies, what did they see as they arrived to Hammat? Moses had told them: ‘Do not enter like thieves, but be courageous and take some fruit of the land’ (Numbers 13, 20). But the Amorites started to say: “Look, these people have come for no other purpose than to cut our trees and to burn our cities.” Messengers went out behind them and the Amorites attacked them. Ahiman, Shishai and Talmai pursued them till they arrived to the Valley of Hammat in Judea ( חמת יהודה), and Kaleb fell down behind a wall ...”
(Midrash Zuta for the Song of Songs 6, 8; ספר הישוב ,עורך ש' קליין, ירושלים, תרצ”ט, v.1, p.48
During the conquest of the Holy Land, ca. 1200 BC, Joshua fought the kings of Canaan between Gabaon and Azeqa, near today’s Emmaus. According to the book of Joshua the sun and the moon stopped above the Ayalon valley, so that the Israelites would be victorious, and the darkness would not conceal their enemies:“And the Lord said unto Joshua: ‘Fear them not; for I have delivered them into thy hand; there shall not a man of them stand against thee.’ Joshua therefore came upon
them suddenly; for he went up from Gilgal all the night. And the Lord discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gabaon; and they chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-Horon, and smote them to Azeqa, and unto Makkedah. And it came to pass, as they fled from beforeIsrael, while they were at the descent of Beth-Horon, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azeqa, and they died; they were more who died with the hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword. Then spoke Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children ofIsrael; and he said in the sight of Israel: ‘Sun, stand thou still upon Gabaon; and thou, Moon, in the valleyofAyalon.’ And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies”. (The Book of Joshua 10, 12-13).
Joshua divided the Promised Land between the twelve tribes of Israel, and the territory where Emmaus is today was given to the tribe of Dan: “The seventh lot fell to the clans of the tribe of Danites. Their heritage was the territory of Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-Shemesh, Shaalabbin, Ayalon, Ithlah, Elon, Timnah, Ekron, Eltekoh, Gibbethon, Baalath, Jehud, Bene-Berak, Gath-Rimmon, Me-Yarkon and Rakkon, with the coast at Joppa.” (The Book of Joshua 19, 40-46)
Some believe Ir-Shemesh (“City o f the Sun”), which is mentioned in the text, to be Emmaus, because in one manuscript of the LXX, Codex Vaticanus, Ir-Shemesh is rendered as Polis Samaus. (see: Vincent & Abel, “Emmaüs”, Paris, 1932, p.p. 285-286, 412-413; Edward Robinson, “Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petrae”, v. III, London, 1841, p.19, footnote 6 (see here)
The writings of St. Jerome seem also to affirm that Emmaus existed during the Old Testament period and that the town belonged to the tribe of the Dan:
“The seventh [tribe] of Dan up to Joppa, there are the towns ("turres" in latin) of Ayalon, Selebi and Emmaus, which is called today Nicopolis” (Commentary for the Book of Ezekiel 48,22, written in 414 AD, PL XXV, 488)
“The inhabitants of the Shephela, that is, of the coastal plain [at the time of prophet Obadiah] lived at Lydda and Emmaus, that is, in Diospolis and Nicopolis, they lived in five Philistine cities, Gaza, Ascalon, Azotus, Accaron and Geth located on the coast, called Saron in the Acts of the Apostles” (Commentary for the Book of Obadiah, written in 396 AD, PL XXV, 1113)
However, most researchers believe that Ir-Shemesh and Emmaus are different places.
An interesting legend concerning Emmaus during the Old Testament period comes from the Moslem tradition:
“At the time of Solomon the rock of Bayt al-Maqdis (the JerusalemTemple) was 12 cubits high. It was the “good” cubit equivalent to a cubit, a span and a handbreadth.
The height of the dome was 18 miles above the rock. It is reported (by others) that it was only twelve. At the top of the dome there stood a golden gazelle, having between its eyes a pearl or a red hyacinth. Thanks to the bright light of this stone, women of al-Balqâ’ (Transjordan) could spin during the night. This region of al-Balqâ’ is more than two stages away from Jerusalem. The residents of ‘Amawâs (Emmaus) used to shelter at the shadow of the dome, when the sun was rising in the East... ‘Amawâs is close to Ramlah of Palestine. It is a barid and a half (ca. 18 miles, 29 km) away from Jerusalem. At sunset, it was the people of Bayt ar-Râmah and other residents of al-Gawr (Transjordan) who used to shelter in the shadow of the dome. Bayt ar-Ramah is further away from Jerusalem than ‘Amawâs … ” (Mudjir ad-Din “The History of Jerusalem and of Hebron” (late 15th- early 16th c.), translated from: Marmardji, "Textes geographiques arabes sur la Palestine", Paris, 1951, p. 245)