Bible Encyclopedias
Zeboim

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

zḗ - bō´ı̄m ((1) צבעים , cebhō‛ı̄m ; Σεβωείμ , Sebōeı́m ( Nehemiah 11:34 ); (2) הצּבעים גּי , gē hacebhō‛ı̄m ; Γαὶ τὴν Σαμείν , Gaı́ tḗn Sameı́n (1 Samuel 13:18 )):

(1) A B enjamite town mentioned as between HADID (which see) and NEBALLAT (which see), and therefore in the maritime plain near Lydda; the site is lost (Nehemiah 11:34 ). (2) The Valley of Zeboim, "the valley of hyenas," one of three companies of the Philistines left their camp at Michmash and "turned the way of the border that looketh down upon the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness" (1 Samuel 13:18 ). There are several valleys with names derived from the hyena, so common in these parts. There is a small branch valley called Shakkeḍ ḍab‛ā , "ravine of the hyenas," North of the Wâdy kelt (Grove), a, Wâdy abu ḍab‛ā , "valley of the father of hyenas, which joins the Wâdy kelt from the South (Marti), and a large and well-known Wâdy ḍab‛ā , "valley of hyenas," which runs parallel with the Wâdy kelt , some 3 miles farther South, and ends at the Dead Sea. The first of these, which apparently leads to Mukhmās itself, seems the most probable. See Conder's Handbook, 241.