Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ZANOAH

(Heb. zānôaḥ)

(PLACE)

1. A town in the northeastern Shephelah of Judah and part of that tribe’s inheritance (Josh. 15:34). It may have served as a subdistrict in the district of Keilah after the exiles returned from Babylon (Neh. 11:30); its inhabitants helped repair the Valley Gate (3:13). The site is commonly identified with Khirbet Zānûʿ/µorvat Zānôaḥ (150125), situated on the ridge S of the Sorek Valley, overlooking the north-south valley that separates the Shephelah from the hill country, ca. 3.5 km. (2 mi.) S of Beth-shemesh. Remains of a Late Roman/Byzantine public building have been identified.

2. A town in the eastern hill country of Judah, within the same district as Maon and Ziph (Josh. 15:56). It is listed among the descendants of Judah (1 Chr. 4:18), apparently founded by Jekuthiel and thus linked by a possible Calebite kinship connection (1 Chr. 2, 4). The other sites mentioned in close proximity (Socoh, Jekuthiel, Keilah, and Eshtemoa) are not necessarily hill country sites. The location of Zanoah is uncertain, but it may be in the vicinity of Wadi Abu Zennakh.

Bibliography. Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia, 1979); Z. Ilan, “Ancient Synagogues Survey: Judean Shephelah,” Excavations and Surveys in Israel 7-8 (1988/89): 5-6; A. F. Rainey, “The Biblical Shephelah of Judah,” BASOR 251 (1983): 1-22.

Jennifer L. Groves

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ZANOAH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)