Zered'athah (Heb, Tsereda'thnh. nn'l';!^, which is the same word with Zereda above, with H local added ; Sept. 'S.ip^a'^a v. r. '2aor]^a^n and ^aSa^a ; Vulg, Sare- datluts), mentioned as the place of Solomon's brass-foun- dry (2 Chron. iv, 17). in place of the Zartiian (q. v.) of the parallel passage (I Kings vii,4G),
Zer'erath [some Zere'ratfi], or rather Zeu'ekaii (Heb, Tsererah', iT^ilS, with H local added, Tserera'- thah, nP^"l^, to Zeierah, perh, an interchange for Zeredah, as some MSS, and versions read; Sept. Taja- payaba v. r. Kal (Tvt'r]ynevt}\ Vulg, omits), a place mentioned (Judg. vii, 22) in describing the rout of the Midianites before Gideon: "And the host [camp] tied to [as far as] Beth-shittah in [towards] Zererath [Zererah], and [i. e. even] to [as far as] the border of Abel-meliolah, unto [upon] Tabbath." It appears to have been the same place in the Jordan valley else- where called Zeredutltuh (q. v.) or Zaretan (q. v.), but not Zereda (q, v,),
Ze'resh (Heb, id. U.'"!'?, Persian for gold; Sept, Tiioanpd v, r, 'S.maapa; Josephus, Zapapa, Ant. xi, 6, 10 ; Vulg. Zares ), the wife of Haman the Agagite (P2sth. V, 10), who advised him to prepare the gallows for Mordecai (ver. 14), but predicted his fall on learn- ing that Mordecai was a Jew (vi, 13). B.C. 474. See Esther.
Zereth. See Span,
Ze'reth (Heb, Tse.'reth, fT^S, \\rob. splendor ; Sept, 'Ztp'ib v, r. lapib and 'ApiB; Vulg. Seirtli), first named of the three sons of Ashur (the Judahite and founder of Tekoa ) by one of his wives, Helah ( 1 Chron, iv, 7 ). B.C. cir. 1612.
Ze'ri (Heb. Tse7-i', "^-i^J ; Sept. lovpi ; Vulg. Sorz), second named of the six sons and assistants of Jedu- thiui in the Levitical music (1 Chron. xxv, 3); prob- ably the same elsewhere (ver. 11) called by the equiva- lent name of Izri (q. v.),
Ze'ror (Heb, Tseror', "ii"i2, a hunch, as often ; Sept, '2apap v, r, ' Ap'i^ and 'lapi^; V^ulg, Seror^, a Benja- mite, son of Bechorath and father of Abiel in the ances- try of king Saul (1 Sam, ix, 1). B.C. cir. 1230,
Zeru'ah (Heb, Tsernah', ny^'^2, smitten with lep- rosy [Gesen,] or fiill-breasied [Flirst]; Sept, Sopoi'd; Vulg, Siinia), the widowed mother of Jeroboam the son of Nebat (1 Kings xi, 26). B.C. 973. In the additional narrative of the Sept. inserted after 1 Kings xii, 24, she is called Sarira (a corruption of Zereda, Jeroboam's na- tive place), and is said to have been a harlot.
Zernb'babel (Heb. Zervhbahel', baa'^T, sotvn in Bahjlon; Sept. Zopojiaftik; Josephus, Zopo/io/^eXof), the phylarch or head of the tribe of Judah at the time of the return from the Babylonian captivity in the first year of Cyrus. B,C, 536, His exact parentage is a little obscure from his being always called the son of ShcaUiel (Ezra iii, 2, 8; v, 2, etc,; Hag, i, 1, 12, 14, etc.), and appearing as such in the genealogies (" Zoro- babel," Matt, i, 12; Luke iii. 27 ), whereas iu 1 Chron. iii, 19 he is represented as the son of Pcdaiah, Shealtiel's or Salathiel's brother, and consequently as Salathiel's nephew. Probably the genealogy in 1 Chron. exhibits his legal parentage, and he succeeded his luicle as head of the house of Judah — a supposition which tallies with the facts that Salathiel appears as the first-born, and that no children are assigned to him. It is worth not- ing that Josephus speaks of Zorobabel as "the son of Salathiel of the posterity of David and of the tribe of Judah" (/l?^^ xi, 3, 10). Had he believed him to be the son of .Jcconiah, of whom he had spoken (x, 11, 2), he could hardly have failed to say so (comp. x, 7, 1), (See below,)
1, Canonical History. — In the first year of Cyrus, Ze- rubbabel was living at Babylon, and was the recognised prince (X'^w3) of Judah in the Captivity, what iu later times was called nrnbiiil IIJ"^"!. or " the Prince of the Captivity," On the issuing of Cyrus's decree, he imme- diately availed himself of it, and placed himself at the head of those of his countrymen "whose spirit God had raised to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem." It is probable that he was in the king
ZERUBBABEL
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ZERUBBABEL
of Babylon's service, both from his having, like Daniel and the three children, received a Chaldee name {Shesh- b(izzar), and from his receiving from Cyrus the office of governor (nn?) of Jnd;ea. The restoration of the sacred vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had brought from the Temple having been effected, and copious presents of silver and gold and goods and beasts having been bestowed upon the captives, Zerubbabel went forth at the head of the returning colony, accompanied by Jesh- ua the high-priest, and perhaps by tlie prophets Hag- gai and Zechariah. and a considerable number of priests, Levites, and heads of houses of Judah and Benjamin, with their followers. On arriving at Jerusalem, Zerub- babel's first care was to build the altar on its old site, and to restore the daily sacrifice. Perhaps, also, they kept the Feast of Tabernacles, as it is said they did in Ezra iii, 4. But his great work, which he set about immediately, was the rebuilding of the Temple. Being armed with a grant from Cyrus of timber and stone for the building, and of money for the expenses of the builders (Ezra vi, 4), he had collected the materials, in- cluding cedar- trees brought from Lebanon to Joppa, according to the precedent in the time of Solomon (2 Chron. ii, IG), and got together masons and carpenters to do the work by tiie opening of the second year of their return to Jerusalem. Accordingly, in the second month of the second year of their return, the foimdation of the Temple was laid with all the pomp which they could command: the priests in their vest- ments with trumpets, and the sons of Asaph with cj'm- bals, singing the very same psalm of praise for God's un- failing mercy to Israel which was sung when Solomon dedicated his Temple (v, 11-14); while the people re- sponded with a great shout of joy •• because the foundation of the liouse of the Lord was laid." How strange must have been the emotions of Zerubbabel at this moment! As he stood upon Mount Zion and beheld from its sum- mit the desolations of Jerusalem, the site of the Temple blank, David's palace a heap of ashes, his father's sep- ulchres defiled and overlaid with rubbish, and the silence of desertion and emptiness hanging oppressively over the streets and waste places of what was once the joy- ous city ; and then remembered how his great ancestor David had brougiit up tlie ark in triumph to the very spot where he was then standing, how Solomon had reigned there in all his magnificence and power, and how the petty kings and potentates of the neigldjoring nations had been his vassals and tributaries — how must his heart alternately have swelled with pride, and throb- bed with anguish, and sunk in humiliation! In the midst of these mighty memories he was but the officer of a foreign heathen despot, the head of a feeble remnant of half-emancipated slaves, the captain of a band liardly able to hold up their heads in the presence of their hos- tile anil jealous neighbors; and yet there he was, the son of David, the heir of great and mysterious prom- ises, returned by a wonderful providence to the home of his ancestors. At his bidding the daily sacrifice had been restored after a cessation of half a century, and now the foundations of the Temple were actually laid, amid the songs of the Levites singing according to David's ordinance, and the shouts of the tribe of Judah. It was a heart-stirring situation ; and, despite all the discouragements attending it, we caimot doubt that Zerubbabel's faith and hope were kindled by it into fresh life.