The Illustrated Bible Dictionary: Ziphah..Zoar

Ziphah..Zoar


Ziphah a descendant of Judah (1 Chr. 4:16).

Ziphron sweet odour, a city on the northern border of Palestine (Num. 34:9), south-east of Hamath.

Zippor a little bird, the father of Balak, king of Moab (Num. 22:2, 4).

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).

Zithri the Lord protects, a Levite, son of Uzziel (Ex. 6:22).

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.

Ziza splendour; abundance. (1.) A Simeonite prince (1 Chr. 4:37-43).

(2.) A son of Rehoboam (2 Chr. 11:20).

Zizah a Gershonite Levite (1 Chr. 23:11).

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 labour of the Hebrews, and made it his northern capital.

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.

Home