Zobe'bah (Heb. with the article, kafs-Tsobebah', nnnkn, the stow [Gesenius] or affable [Flirst]; Sept. 2w^iJ»;/3a v. r. ^ajSaSid; Vulg. Sobeba), last named of the two sons (or perhaps a daughter, as the word is feminine) of Coz (q. v.) of the tribe of Judah (1 Chron. iv,8). B.C. post 1G18. IJabbi Schwarz regards it as the name of a town, " the village Beth-zaphupha, two and a half English miles south of Jerusalem" {Palest, p. 116).
Zo'har (Heb. Tso'char, "inbi, lujht; Sept, "^aap), the name of two or three men.
1. The father of Ephron the Ilittite, from wdiich lat- ter Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah (Gen. xxiii, 8 ; XXV, 9), B.C. ante 2026.
2. Last named but one of the six sons of Sime<ui (Gen. xlvi, 10; Exod. vi, 15); elsewhere (1 Chron. iv, 24) called Zerah (q. v.).
3. A marginal reading in 1 Chron. iv, 7 for Jf.zoae (Heb. rather Yitschar', -na"", which [as usual] takes
the pointing of the Keri ''.rii:\ and Zohar; the A. V. of 1611 has "Ziiar"), secoiul named of the three sous of Uelah of the tribe of Judiih. B.C. fxist 1G18.
Zo'heleth (Heb. with the art. haz-Znche'leth ''pr?*'^' n I*'"!- participial form ; Sept. Zo>f\f5 v. r. Zoit- \wi ; Vulg. Zohiliili), the name of a stone ("3X) which was "by" (b^X, besi(k) Eu-rogel,and "by" (Z3, along with') which Adoiiijali offerrd his, coronal ion sacrilicfu (I Kings i, 0). If En-rogd be tli.' prcM^nt iJir-Eyub in the valley of the Kidron, the stone in question may be any of the boiddcrs in that vicinity.
As to the signification of the name, llip Targumists translate it " the rolling stone;" and Jarclii alHrins that it was a large stone on which the young men tried their strength in attempting to roll it. Others make it "the serpent stone" (Gesenius and Eilrst), a.s if from the rma briT, "to creep." Jerome simply says, "Zoelet iractum sive protractum." Others connect it with running wa- ter; but there is nothing strained in making it "the stone of the conduit" (nb^'HT'O, Mtizrhihih), from iu proximity to the great rock conduit or comhnis that poured into Siloam. Dochari's idea is that the Flebrew word zohel denotes "a sU)w motion" {llit-voz. I, i. 9): "The fullers here pressing out the water which drop- ped from the clothes that they had washed in ilie well called Kogcl." If this be the case, then we have .some relics of this ancient custom at the massive breastwork below the jjreseut Ilirkel el-IIamra. where the donkeys wait for their load of skins I'rotn llie well, and where the Arab washerwomen may be seen to this tlay beat- ing their clothes.
The practice of placing stones, and naming them from a person or an event, is very common. Jacob did so at Bethel (Gen. xxviii, 22 ; xxxv, 14 ; .see Dochart. Camian, p. 785, 786) ; and he did it again when parting from I^- ban ((Jen. xxxi, 45). Josliua set u|) stones iu Jordan and Gilgal, at the command of God (Josh, iv, 9-20), and again in Shechem (xxiv, 26). Near liethshemesh there was the Kbpii-rjcdn/ah ("great stone," 1 Sam. vL, 14), called also Abel-gedoluh (" the great weeping," ver. 18). There was the Ebeu-liohan, south of Jericho, in the plains of Jonlan (Josh, xv, 6; xviii, 17), "the stone of Bolian the son of lleiiben," the IChrenlireiistein of the Ciccar, or "plain," of .hirdan, a memorial of the son or grandson of . Jacob's eldest- born, for which travellers have looke<l in vain, but which Felix Fahri, in the 15th century {Kraf/at. ii, 82), professes to have seen. The rabbins preserve the memory of tliis stone in a book call- ed Eben-Ilohiiii,uT the touchstone (Chron. n/~ Jfafilii Jo- seph, transl. by Biallobloizky. i, 192). Tiierc was the stone set up by Samuel between Mizpeh and Slieu, Elxn- Ezer, "the stone of help" (I Sam. vii, II, 12). There was the Gi-eat Stone on which Samuel slew the .sjicri- fices, after the great battle of Saul with the riiilisiinos (xiv, 3.3). There was the Elxn-Eztl ("lapis discessus vel abitus, a discessu Jonathanis ei Davidis" [Simonis, Onoimist.i). 156]), where David hid himself. an<l which some Talmudists identify with Zoheleth. I>argc stones have alwavs ol)tained for themselves peculiar names, from their shape, tlieir position, their connection with n I person or an event. In the Sinaitic desert may be found the f/ajar el-Rekab (".stone of the ri.ler" ), lliijur el-h'nl ("stone of the bean"), llajar Mum ("stone of Moses"). The sidiject «{ stoms is by no means iniinter- esting.and has not in any respect been exhausieii. (.See the notes of De Sola and Lindeuthal in their edition of Genesix, p. 175, 22(; ; Hochart, Canaan, p. 7«5; Vossiuh. De Idololatr. vi, 38 ; Scaliger, On E'>s. hi,,*, p. 19« ; Hornl- dus. On A mohiiis, bk. vii : and Klineidiorsi ius. On A i-no- biul; also a long note of Ouzelius. in his edition of ,»/i. nnrim Fe/ij-. p. 15; Calmot, ErarfnunUn. Nos. 1»'.«. T^h, 736; Kitio, Pakstiiw. Sec, liesidrs, the works ofniiti- quaries on stones and stone circles; and an iiitrre*iin(f account of the curious I'hoeujcian JIaJar Cbem in Malta,
ZOIIETH
1108
ZOPHIM
in Tallack's recent volume on that island, p. 115-127.) — Smith. See Stosk.
M. Clermont Ganneau, of the French consulate at Je- rusalem, has found what he deems a strong confirmation of the name in question in ez-Zekwele, a rocky plateau along the edge of the village of Silwun {Quur. Statenieiit of the "Palest. Explor. Fund," Jan. 1871, p. 252 sq.). This is adopted by Tristram {Bible Places, p. 124) and Lieut. Conder (Teitt Work, ii,313). The boundary-line of Judah passed near»this. See Tribe.