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Bible Encyclopedias
Zanoah
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Heb. Zano'ach, זָנוֹחִ [Nehemiah 11:30, זָנֹחִ ], prob. marsh), the name of two towns in the tribe of Judah.
1. (Sept. Ζανώ ) v.r. Τανώ , Vulg. Zano.) A place in the lowland (Shephelah), named in connection with Zoreah and Jarmuth (Joshua 15:34), in the group occupying the north-western corner of the district. (See JUDAH). The name recurs in its old connection in the lists of Nehemiah, both of the towns which were reinhabited by the people of Judah after the Captivity (Nehemiah 11:30), and of those which assisted in repairing the wall of Jerusalem (Joshua 3:13). Jerome says (Onomnast. s.v. "Zanohua") that it was still called Zanua in his day, and lay in the region of Eleutheropolis on the way to Jerusalem. The name and position tolerably correspond to those of Zanu'a, a site which was pointed out to Dr. Robinson from Beit Nettif (Bib. Res. 2, 16), and which in the maps of Van de Velde and of Tobler (Dritte Wamderung) is located on the north side of the Wady Ismail, two miles east of Zareah, and four miles north of Yarmuk. Rabbi Schwarz inaccurately calls it Zamea (Palest. p. 102).
2. (Sept. [in Joshua, taking in the following name] Ζανωακείμ v.. Ζακαναείμ, Vulg. Zanoel; in Chronicles Ζαμών, Vulg. Zanoa.) A town in the highland district, the mountain proper (Joshua 15:56), named in the same group with Maon, Carmel, Ziph, and other places known to lie south of Hebron. It is (as Van de Velde suggests, Memoir, p. 354) not improbably identical with Sanute which is mentioned by Seetzen (Reisen, 3, 29) as below Senula, and appears to be about ten miles south of Hebron. At the time of his visit it was the last inhabited place to the south. Robinson (Bibl. Res. 2, 204, note) gives the name differently, Za'nfutah; and it will be observed that, like Zanu'ah above mentioned, it contains the Ain, which the Hebrew name does not. The English engineers found (Quar. Report. of the "Pal. Explor. Fund," Jan. 1875, p. 15) an ancient site called Khirbet Sanut (written with an Elif= א ), situated immediately west of Khirbet Yekin (the Cain of the context), which Tristram prefers as the representative of this Zanoah (Bible Places, p. 62).
In the genealogical lists of the tribe of Judah in 1 Chronicles, Jekuthiel is said to have been the father (i.e. founder or rebuilder) of Zanoah (4, 18); and, as far as the passage can be made out, some connection appears to be intended with "Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh." This mention of Bithiah probably points to some colonization of the place by Egyptians or by Israelites directly from Egypt. In Seetzen's account of Sanuite (Za'nfitah) there is a curious token of the influence which events in Egypt still exercised on the place (Reisen, 3, 29). Here it is also mentioned with Socho and Eshtemoa, both of which places are recognizable in the neighborhood of Za'nutah. The Jewish interpreters considered the, whole of this passage of 1 Chronicles 4 to refer to Moses, and interpret each of the names which- it contains as titles of him. "He was chief of Zanoach," says the Targum, "because for his sake God put away (זָנִח ) the sins of Israel."
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Zanoah'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/z/zanoah.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
