3933 \Zimmah\ - mischief. (1.) A Gershonite Levite (1 Chr. 6:20).
(2.) Another Gershonite Levite (1 Chr. 6:42).
(3.) The father of Joah (2 Chr. 29:12).
3934 \Zimran\ - vine-dressers; celebrated, one of the sons of Abraham by Keturah (Gen. 25:2).
3935 \Zimri\ - praise-worthy. (1.) A son of Salu, slain by Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, because of his wickedness in bringing a Midianitish woman into his tent (Num. 25:6-15).
(2.) Murdered Elah at Tirzah, and succeeded him on the throne of Israel (1 Kings 16:8-10). He reigned only seven days, for Omri, whom the army elected as king, laid siege to Tirzah, whereupon Zimri set fire to the palace and perished amid its ruins (11-20). Omri succeeded to the throne only after four years of fierce war with Tibni, another claimant to the throne.
3936 \Zin\ - a low palm-tree, the south-eastern corner of the desert et-Tih, the wilderness of Paran, between the Gulf of Akabah and the head of the Wady Guraiyeh (Num. 13:21). To be distinguished from the wilderness of Sin (q.v.).
3937 \Zina\ - ornament, one of the sons of Shimei (1 Chr. 23:10).
3938 \Zion\ - sunny; height, one of the eminences on which Jerusalem was built. It was surrounded on all sides, except the north, by deep valleys, that of the Tyropoeon (q.v.) separating it from Moriah (q.v.), which it surpasses in height by 105 feet. It was the south-eastern hill of Jerusalem.
When David took it from the Jebusites (Josh. 15:63; 2 Sam. 5:7) he built on it a citadel and a palace, and it became "the city of David" (1 Kings 8:1; 2 Kings 19:21, 31; 1 Chr. 11:5). In the later books of the Old Testament this name was sometimes used (Ps. 87:2; 149:2; Isa. 33:14; Joel 2:1) to denote Jerusalem in general, and sometimes God's chosen Israel (Ps. 51:18; 87:5).
In the New Testament (see SION »T0003448) it is used sometimes to denote the Church of God (Heb. 12:22), and sometimes the heavenly city (Rev. 14:1).
3939 \Zior\ - littleness, a city in the mountains of Judah (Josh. 15:54); the modern Si'air, 4 1/2 miles north-north-east of Hebron.
3940 \Ziph\ - flowing. (1.) A son of Jehaleleel (1 Chr. 4:16).
(2.) A city in the south of Judah (Josh. 15:24), probably at the pass of Sufah.
(3.) A city in the mountains of Judah (Josh. 15:55), identified with the uninhabited ruins of Tell ez-Zif, about 5 miles south-east of Hebron. Here David hid himself during his wanderings (1 Sam. 23:19; Ps. 54, title).
3941 \Ziphah\ - a descendant of Judah (1 Chr. 4:16).
3942 \Ziphron\ - sweet odor, a city on the northern border of Palestine (Num. 34:9), south-east of Hamath.
3943 \Zippor\ - a little bird, the father of Balak, king of Moab (Num. 22:2, 4).
3944 \Zipporah\ - a female bird. Reuel's daughter, who became the wife of Moses (Ex. 2:21). In consequence of the event recorded in Ex. 4:24-26, she and her two sons, Gershom and Eliezer, when so far on the way with Moses toward Egypt, were sent back by him to her own kinsfolk, the Midianites, with whom they sojourned till Moses afterwards joined them (18:2-6).
3945 \Zithri\ - the Lord protects, a Levite, son of Uzziel (Ex. 6:22).
3946 \Ziz\ - projecting; a flower, a cleft or pass, probably that near En-gedi, which leads up from the Dead Sea (2 Chr. 20:16) in the direction of Tekoa; now Tell Hasasah.
3947 \Ziza\ - splendor; abundance. (1.) A Simeonite prince (1 Chr. 4:37-43).
(2.) A son of Rehoboam (2 Chr. 11:20).
3948 \Zizah\ - a Gershonite Levite (1 Chr. 23:11).
3949 \Zoan\ - (Old Egypt. Sant= "stronghold," the modern San). A city on the Tanitic branch of the Nile, called by the Greeks Tanis. It was built seven years after Hebron in Palestine (Num. 13:22). This great and important city was the capital of the Hyksos, or Shepherd kings, who ruled Egypt for more than 500 years. It was the frontier town of Goshen. Here Pharaoh was holding his court at the time of his various interviews with Moses and Aaron. "No trace of Zoan exists; Tanis was built over it, and city after city has been built over the ruins of that" (Harper, Bible and Modern Discovery). Extensive mounds of ruins, the wreck of the ancient city, now mark its site (Isa. 19:11, 13; 30:4; Ezek. 30:14). "The whole constitutes one of the grandest and oldest ruins in the world."
This city was also called "the Field of Zoan" (Ps. 78:12, 43) and "the Town of Rameses" (q.v.), because the oppressor rebuilt and embellished it, probably by the forced labor of the Hebrews, and made it his northern capital.
3950 \Zoar\ - small, a town on the east or south-east of the Dead Sea, to which Lot and his daughters fled from Sodom (Gen. 19:22, 23). It was originally called Bela (14:2, 8). It is referred to by the prophets Isaiah (15:5) and Jeremiah (48:34). Its ruins are still seen at the opening of the ravine of Kerak, the Kir-Moab referred to in 2 Kings 3, the modern Tell esh-Shaghur.
3951 \Zobah\ - Aram-Zobah, (Ps. 60, title), a Syrian province or kingdom to the south of Coele-Syria, and extending from the eastern slopes of Lebanon north and east toward the Euphrates. Saul and David had war with the kings of Zobah (1 Sam. 14:47; 2 Sam. 8:3; 10:6).
3952 \Zohar\ - brightness. (1.) The father of Ephron the Hittite (Gen. 23:8).
(2.) One of the sons of Simeon (Gen. 46:10; Ex. 6:15).
3953 \Zoheleth\ - the serpent-stone, a rocky plateau near the center of the village of Siloam, and near the fountain of En-rogel, to which the women of the village resort for water (1 Kings 1:5-9). Here Adonijah (q.v.) feasted all the royal princess except Solomon and the men who took part with him in his effort to succeed to the throne. While they were assembled here Solomon was proclaimed king, through the intervention of Nathan. On hearing this, adonijah fled and took refuge in the sanctuary (1 Kings 1:49-53). He was afterwards pardoned.
Zoheleth projects into or slightly over-hangs the Kidron valley. It is now called ez-Zehwell or Zahweileh.
3954 \Zoheth\ - snatching (?), one of the sons of Ishi (1 Chr. 4:20).
3955 \Zophah\ - spreading out, a son of Helem (1 Chr. 7:35), a chief of Asher.
3956 \Zophar\ - chirping, one of Job's friends who came to condole with him in his distress (Job 2:11. The LXX. render here "king of the Mineans" = Ma'in, Maonites, Judg. 10:12, in Southern Arabia). He is called a Naamathite, or an inhabitant of some unknown place called Naamah.
3957 \Zophim, Field of\ - field of watchers, a place in Moab on the range of Pisgah (Num. 23:14). To this place Balak brought Balaam, that he might from thence curse the children of Israel. Balaam could only speak the word of the Lord, and that was blessing. It is the modern Tal'at-es-Safa. (See PISGAH »T0002962.)
3958 \Zorah\ - place of wasps, a town in the low country of Judah, afterwards given to Dan (Josh. 19:41; Judg. 18:2), probably the same as Zoreah (Josh. 15:33). This was Samson's birthplace (Judg. 13:2, 25), and near it he found a grave (16:31). It was situated on the crest of a hill overlooking the valley of Sorek, and was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chr. 11:10). It has been identified with Sur'ah, in the Wady Surar, 8 miles west of Jerusalem. It is noticed on monuments in the fifteenth century B.C. as attacked by the Abiri or Hebrews.
3959 \Zuph\ - honeycomb, a Kohathite Levite, ancestor of Elkanah and Samuel (1 Sam. 1:1); called also Zophai (1 Chr. 6:26).
3960 \Zuph, Land of\ - (1 Sam. 9:5, 6), a district in which lay Samuel's city, Ramah. It was probably so named after Elkanah's son, Zuph (1 Chr. 6:26, marg.).
3961 \Zur\ - rock. (1.) One of the five Midianite kings whom the Israelites defeated and put to death (Num. 31:8).
(2.) A Benjamite (1 Chr. 8:30).
3962 \Zuriel\ - rock of God, chief of the family of the Merarites (Num. 3:35) at the time of the Exodus.
3963 \Zurishaddai\ - rock of the Almighty, the father of Shelumiel, who was chief of the tribe of Simeon when Israel was encamped at Sinai (Num. 1:6; 2:12).
3964 \Zuzims\ - restless; sprouting, were smitten "in Ham" by Chedorlaomer and his allies (Gen. 14:5). Some have identified this tribe with the Zamzummims (q.v.).