Psa. Ixxxiii, 12 purports to have preserved tlie very words of the cry with whicli Zebah and Zalmunua rushed up at the head of their hordes from tlie Jordan into the luxuriant growth of the great plain — " Seize these goodly pastures !"
While Oreb and Zeeb, two of the inferior leaders of the incursion, had been slain, with a vast number of their people, by the Ephraimites at tiie central fords of the Jordan (not improbably those near Jisr Damieh), the two kings had succeeded in making their escape by a passage farther to the north (proljably the ford near Bethshean), and thence by the Watly Yabis, through Gilead, to Ivarkor, a place which is not fixed, but which lay doubtless high up on the Hauran. Here they were reposing with 15,000 men, a mere remnant of their huge horde, when Gideon overtook them. Had they resisted, there is little doubt that tiiey might have easily over- come the little band of " fainting" heroes who had toiled after them up the tremendous passes of the mountains ; but the name of Gideon was still fidl of terror, and the Badawin were entirely unprepared for his attack : they fled in dismay, and the two kings were taken. See
GlUKON.
Then came the return down the long defiles leading to the Jordan. We see the cavalcade of camels, jingling the golden chains and the crescent-shaped collars or trappings hung round their necks. High aloft rode the captive chiefs clad iu their brilliant kfjij/eki and em- broidered (j66M//eAi', and with their '• collars" or '-jewels" in nose and ear, on neck and arm. Gideon probably Strode on foot by the side of his captives. They passed
Penuel, where Jacob had seen the vision of the face of God; they passed Succoth ; they crossed the rapid stream of the Jordan ; tliey ascended the higldands west of the river, and at length reached Ophrah, the native village of their captor (Joseph us, . In/, v, (J, 5). Then, at last, the (juestiou which must have been on (iideon's tongue during the whole of the return found a vent. There is no appearance of its having been alluded to before, but it gives, as nothing else 'could, the' key to the whole pursuit. It was the death of his brothers, '•the children of his mother,'-' that had supplied the per- sonal motive for that steady perseverance, and had led (iitleon on to his goal against hunger, faintness, and ob- stacles of all kinds. "What manner of men were they which ye slew at Tabor?" Up to this time the sheiks may have believed that they were reserved for ransom ; but these words once spoken, there can have been no doubt what their fate was to be. They met it like no- ble children of the desert, without fear or weakness. One request alone they make— that they may die by the sure blow of the hero himself—" and Gideon arose and slew them ;" and not till he had revenged his broth- ers did any thought of plunder enter his heart — then, and not till then, did he lay liands on the treasures which ornamented their camels. — Smith. See Midian-
ITE.
Zeba'ini (Heb. with the art. hats - Tsehaim'} C'I'iilil, the (juzdles, as often ; Sept. viol 'Affsfiaieiix v. r. 'A(Tf/i:{iti«u.'; Vulg. Asebaim; in Neh. hats-Tsebayim', D^"'3Sn; Sept. vlot 2a/3«f(/i; Vu'g. Sabaini), appar- ently the name of the native place of the "sons of Po- chereth," who are mentioned iu the catalogue of the families of " Solomon's slaves" as having returned from the Captivity with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii, 57; Neh. vii, 59). On the other hand, the compound name Poche- reth hat-Tsebaim is considered by some to have no ref- erence to place, but to signify the "snarer or hunter of roes" (Geseuius, Thesuur. p. 1102 b; Bertheau, Exeq. Iluiidb. Ezra ii, 57), designating doubtless an individual. See PocHEUiiTH.
Zeb'edee, or rather Zebed^e'ds (ZifitSalog, the Greek form api)arently of Zubdi or Zebediah), a fish- erman of Galilee, the father of the apostles James the (ireat and John (Matt, iv, 21), and the husband of Sa- lome (xxvii, 5t;; IMark xv, 40). He probably lived either at Bethsaida or in its immediate neighborhood. It has been inferred from the mention of his "hired servants" (i, '20), and from the acquaintance between the apostle John and Annas the high-priest (John xviii, 15), that the family of Zebedee were in easy circum- stances (comp. xix, 27), although not above manual labor (Matt, iv, 21). While the name of Zebedee fre- quently occurs as a patronymic, for the sake of distin- guishing his two sons from others who bore the same names, he appears only once iu the Gospel narrative — namely, in Matt, iv, 21, 22; Mark i, 19, '20— where he is seen iu his boat with his two sons mending their nets, A.D. 26. On this occasion he allows his sons to leave him, at the bidding of the Saviour, without raising any objection, although it does not appear that he was him- self ever of the number of Christ's disciples. His wife, indeed, appears in the catalogue of the pious women who were in constant attendance on the Saviour towards the close of his ministry, who watched him on the cross, and miuistered to him even in the grave (Matt, xxvii, 55, 56; Mark xv, 40; xvi, 1; comp. Matt, xx, 20; Luke viii, 3). It is reasonable to infer that Zebe- dee was dead before this time. — Smith. See John (the Apostle).