ZANOAH

(Za·noʹah) [possibly, stench].

1. A Judean city in the Shephelah. (Josh 15:20, 33, 34, 36) It was among the cities reinhabited after the Babylonian exile. (Neh. 11:25, 30) The residents of this Zanoah may have been the ones that did repair work on Jerusalem’s southern wall and its Valley Gate. (Neh. 3:13) This Zanoah is usually identified with Khirbet Zanuʽ, about three miles (c. 5 kilometers) S-SE of Beth-shemesh.

2. A city in the mountainous region of Judah. (Josh. 15:20, 48, 56, 57) This is apparently the Zanoah referred to at 1 Chronicles 4:18 as being ‘fathered’ by Jekuthiel. (See JEKUTHIEL.) Most geographers currently favor locating this Zanoah at Khirbet Beit Amra, a little over six miles (c. 10 kilometers) S-SW of Hebron.

ZAPHENATH-PANEAH

(Zaphʹe·nath-pa·neʹah).

The name that Pharaoh gave to Joseph when elevating him in authority to a position next to himself. (Gen. 41:45) To those who spoke Hebrew, the pronunciation of the name would mean “revealer of hidden things,” but to the Egyptians it perhaps meant “this living one is the sustenance of the land.”

ZAPHON

(Zaʹphon) [north].

A city assigned to Gad. (Josh. 13:24, 27) It is usually identified with Tell el-Qos, about four miles (c. 6 kilometers) N of the suggested site of Succoth. The name also appears in some translations at Judges 12:1 instead of “northward” (NW).—JB, NE (1970 ed.), RS.

ZAREPHATH

(Zarʹe·phath) [perhaps, smelting-place].

A Phoenician town ‘belonging to’ or apparently dependent upon Sidon in Elijah’s day. At Zarephath the prophet was shown hospitality by a poor widow, whose flour and oil were miraculously sustained during a great famine and whose son he, in God’s power, subsequently raised from death. (1 Ki. 17:8-24; Luke 4:25, 26) It later marked an extremity of former Canaanite territory foretold to become the possession of Israelite exiles. (Obad. 20) The name is preserved in that of Sarafand, though the ancient site may have been a short distance away on the Mediterranean shore some eight miles (13 kilometers) SW of Sidon.

ZARETHAN

(Zarʹe·than) [perhaps, great rock].

In the Authorized Version this name is variously presented as Zaretan, Zartanah and Zarthan. The first reference to it is at Joshua 3:16, where the account is given of the miraculous damming up of the waters of the Jordan “at Adam, the city at the side of Zarethan.” Later, at the time of the casting of copper items for the temple the record states that such casting was done in the District of the Jordan, “in the clay mold, between Succoth and Zarethan.” (1 Ki. 7:46) The clay available in the Jordan valley contributed toward the feasibility of the copper-casting operations in this area.

Since the site of Adam is generally placed at Tell ed-Damieh (on the E side of the Jordan opposite the entrance to the Wadi Farʽah), and Succoth is considered to be located about eight miles (c. 13 kilometers) N-NE of Adam, these texts would indicate that Zarethan lay on the W side of the Jordan not far distant from Adam and Succoth. The 270-foot-high (82.3-meter-high) summit known as Qarn es-Sartabeh, and which is called “the great landmark of the Jordan valley,” is suggested by some as the probable location of Zarethan. It lies across the Jordan from Adam, at the entrance to the Wadi Farʽah.

This identification, however, is somewhat difficult to harmonize with the description of Solomon’s fifth administrative district as given at 1 Kings 4:12, which refers to “Taanach and Megiddo and all Beth-shean, which is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah to the region of Jokmeam.” Qarn es-Sartabeh lies much farther S than the other places there listed and not “beside” Beth-shean in the sense of neighboring it. The Jerusalem Bible endeavors to adjust the geographical order of the places listed at 1 Kings 4:12, referring to “all Beth-shean below Jezreel, from Beth-shean as far as Abel Meholah, which is beside Zarethan,” thus relating Zarethan to Abel-meholah rather than to Beth-shean. However, since the reference to “all Beth-shean” doubtless indicates a region rather than the city itself, it may be that the region of Bethshean embraced the valley plain around it and extending southward to a point from which Zarethan, if indeed connected with the prominent summit of Qarn es-Sartabeh, became visible, thus serving to indicate a separate, but neighboring region.

Other sites suggested for Zarethan lie E of the Jordan and therefore do not seem to fit the context. Excavations at one of them, Tell es-Saʽidiyeh, produced unusual quantities of articles made of bronze (an alloy formed chiefly of copper and tin), which may confirm the location of Solomon’s copper-casting activity in this general area.

In the account at 2 Chronicles 4:17, which parallels that of 1 Kings 7:46, “Zeredah” appears in place of Zarethan, perhaps representing a variant spelling of the name.

ZATTU

(Zatʹtu).

Forefather of a large family that returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel in 537 B.C.E. (Ezra 2:1, 2, 8; Neh. 7:13) When Ezra came to Jerusalem some of their descendants dismissed the foreign wives they had taken. (Ezra 10:10, 11, 27, 44) Shortly thereafter, a representative of this family, or someone else named Zattu, sealed the “trustworthy arrangement.”—Neh. 9:38; 10:1, 14.

ZAYIN

[ז].

The seventh letter in the Hebrew alphabet, later also used, outside the Hebrew Scriptures, to stand for the number seven.

It corresponds generally to our English letter “z” and, in the Hebrew, is found at the beginning of each verse of Psalm 119:49-56.

ZAZA

(Zaʹza).

A son of Jonathan among the descendants of Jerahmeel in the tribe of Judah.—1 Chron. 2:3-5, 25, 33.

ZEALOUS ONE, THE

A designation distinguishing the apostle Simon from the apostle Simon Peter and evidently corresponding to the term “Cananaean” used by Matthew and Mark. (Matt. 10:4; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13) Simon’s being called “the zealous one” does not necessarily mean that he was at one time associated with the political group called Zealots. The designation may simply have been an appellative appropriate to his personality.

ZEBADIAH

(Zeb·a·diʹah) [Jehovah has given].

1. A Benjamite, son or descendant of Beriah.—1 Chron. 8:1, 15, 16.

2. A Benjamite, son or descendant of Elpaal.—1 Chron. 8:1, 17, 18.

3. A Benjamite warrior who joined David’s forces at Ziklag; son of Jeroham from Gedor.—1 Chron. 12:1, 2, 7.

4. Joab’s nephew and chief of the fourth monthly rotational army division. His being ‘after his father Asahel,’ may indicate that he succeeded to the post after Asahel was put to death. (2 Sam. 2:23) Or if these monthly courses were organized after Asahel’s death, then it could mean that Zebadiah was put over a division named after Asahel.—1 Chron. 27:1, 7; see ASAHEL No. 1.

5. A gatekeeper involved in David’s organization of the Levitical services; son of Meshelemiah, a Korahite.—1 Chron. 26:1, 2.

6. One of the Levites whom Jehoshaphat in his