On the summit of Zion there is a level tract extend- ing in length from the citadel to the Tomb of David, about 600 yards; and in breadth from the city wall to
'^».-
Mouut Zion as seen from the Ilill of Evil Couusel. (From a photograph.)
ZIOX
1101
ZION
Scale of Entrlish Feet
100 0 500 1000
Map of the Original Surface of Jerusalem.
(Reduced from Schicic's plan.)
the eastern side of the Armenian convent, about 2.')0 captured hy king David (Xunib. xiii, 29; Josh, xv, R3; yards. A much lari^er space, however, was available .Jnd. i, 21 ; 2 Sam. v, 5-8). Upon it tliat monarch built for building purposes, and was at one time occupied, i his palace, and there for more than a thoii.<and years Xow not more than one half of this space is enclosed the kings and princes of Israel lived and ridcd (vcr. 0 by the modern wall, while fully one third of that en- I etc.). In Zion, too, was David buried, and fourteen of closed is taken up with the barrack-yards, the convent his successors on the tlimue were laid near liim in the gardens, and the waste groun<l at the city gate. All royal tomb (1 Kings ii, 1(1; xi,l.'5; xiv, :!1. etc.). Zion without the wall, with the exce[>tion of the cemeteries was the last spot that held out when the Komans inuler and the cluster of houses round the Tomb of David, is Titus captured the city. When the rest of Jerusalem now cultivated in terraces and thinly sprinkled with was in ruins, when the enemy occupie<I the courts of olive-trees. the Temple, the remnant of the Jews from the walls of
Zion was the first spot in Jerusalem occupied by ' Zion haughtily refused the terms of the con()ucror, and buildings. Upon it stood the stronghold of the .lebii- prTi>ho<l in thousands around and within the palace of sites, which so long defied the Israelites, and was at last I their princes.
ZIOR
13 02
ZIPPORAH
The city which stood on Zion was called successively by several names. It was probably the Salem of Mel- chizcdck (comp. Gen. xiv, 18 with Fsa. Ixxvi, 2) ; then it became Jebus under the Jebusites, so called from a son of Canaan (Gen. x, Ifi; 1 Chron. xi, 4, 5) ; then the "city of David" and Jei-usalem (2 Sam. v, 7). Jose- phus, as above stated, calls it the " Upper City," adding that it was known also in his day as the " Upper Mar- ket." See Jerusalem.
Zi'or (Heb. Tdor', '^S^'^,sm(illii/'ss; Sept, Siwp v. r. Swpni'^; Yulg. <S«>r), a town in the highland district of Judah (Josh, xv, 54), where it is mentioned in the group around Hebron to the south. See Ji'UAii, Tribe OF. Eusebius and Jerome {Onumast. s. v. 'S.uop) call it a village between Jerusalem and Eleutheropoli^ It probably corresponds to the small village still called Sair on the road about six miles north-east of Hebron towards Tekoa (Robinson, Bihl. Res. i, 488), traditional- ly pointed out as the site of the grave of Esau(Schwarz, Palest, p. lOG).
Ziph (Heb. id. t]^"], battlement [Gesen.] or melting- place [Fiirst] ; Sept. Zi/3 or Zi(p, with many v. rr. ; Vulg. Ziph or Siph), the name of a man and of one or two places in Judah.
1. First named of the four sons of Jehaleleel of the tribe of Judah (1 Chron. iv, 16). B.C. post 1618.
2. A town apparently in the south or Simeonitish part of Judah (Josh, xv, 24), where it is mentioned Ijetween Ithnan and Telem; but the enumeration and the absence of the copula require us to join it with the former, i. e. Itbnan-ziph, and in that case it may be an appendage retaining a trace of the Zephath (q. v.) of
. that region. See Itiinax.
3. A town in the mountain district of Judah (Josh. XV, 55). where it is mentioned between Carmel and Jut- tah, in the south-east group. See Judah, Tribe of. The place is immortalized by its connection with Da- vid, some of whose greatest perils and happiest escapes took place in its neighborhood (1 Sam. xxiii, 14, 15,24; xxvi, 2). It had been built by Mesha the son of Caleb (1 Chron. ii, 42), and was eventually fortified by Reho- boara (2 Chron. xi, 8). "Zib" is mentioned in the Onomiisticon as eight miles east of Hebron ; " the vil- lage," adds Jerome, "in which David hid is still shown." This can hardly be the spot above referred to, unless the distance and direction have been stated at random, or the passage is corrupt both in Eusebius and Jerome. Elsewhere (under " Zeib" and " Ziph") they place it near Carmel, and connect it with Ziph the descendant of Caleb. The place in question is doubtless the Tell Zif. about three miles south of Hebron, a rounded hill of some hundred feet in height, with a spring adjacent.
About half a mile east of- the tell are some consider- able ruins, standing at the head of two small wadies, which, commencing here, run off towards the Dead Sea. These ruins are pronounced by Robinson {Jllbl. Res. i, 492) to be those of the ancient Ziph. There was orig- inally a desert ("a"!"?) «nd a wood (UJ'nn, choresh, 1 Sam. xxiii, 15) attached to the place, traces of the lat- ter of which have been supposed to exist in the present Khirbet Khoreisa, about one mile south of Tell Zif (Quar. Statement of the " Palest. Explor. Fund," Jan. 1875, p. 45). See Hachilah.