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Zaanaim, Plain of

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

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Rather "oak" or "terebinth of Zaanaim"; 'elown (Judges 4:11). Zaanannim (Joshua 19:33). Heber the Kenite pitched his tent unto it when Sisera took refuge with his wife Jael. Near Kedesh Naphtali; "the plain of the swamp" (Targum). The Talmud (Megillah Jerus. i.) identifies it with Agniya (agne means "swamp") hak Κodesh , the marsh on the northern border of lake Huleh; still the Bedouins' favorite camping ground. Stanley, however, conjectures the "green plain with massive terebinths," adjoining on the S. the plain containing the remains of Kedesh. Possibly from a Hebrew root "to load beasts" as nomads do. But as the Kedesh meant in Judges 4 is that on the shores of the sea of Galilee, only 16 miles from Tabor the scene of the battle, and within the bounds of Naphtali, the place called Bessum in the plain between this Kedesh and Tabor (identical with Bitzaanaim, and near Adami (Joshua 19:33), now ed Dameh, and Nekeb now Nakib) doubtless corresponds to Zaanaim. Thus, Sisera's flight will be but for five or six miles from the scene of his defeat, not too far for one already fatigued, and in a line just opposite to that of the pursuit of his army toward Harosheth. (See KADESH; KEDESH). (Palestine Exploration Quarterly Statement, October 1877, p. 191, 192.)