Zo'phim (Heb. Tsophim',^''Zr^ [briefly CES in Numb.], watchei-s, as often; but Fiirst thinks, Jh-tile), the name either in whole or part of two places in Pales- tine.
1. (Sopt.(TKOTruh';Yu'[g.sublimis.') The designation of a field (iTia) or spot on or near the top of Pisgah, from which Balaam had his second view of the encamp- ment of Israel (Numb, xxiii, 14). If the word sadek ("field") may be taken in its usual sense, then the "field of Zophim" was a cultivated spot high up on the top of the range of Pisgah. But that word is the almost in- variable term for a portion of the upper district of Moab, and therefore may have had some local sense which has hitherto escaped notice, and in which it is employed in reference to the spot in question. The position of the field of Zophim is not defined ; it is only said that it com- manded merely a portion of the encampment of Israel. Neither do the ancient versions afford any clew. The Targum of Onkelos, the Sept., aiui the Peshito-Syriac take Zophim in the sense of "watchers" or "lookers- out," and translate it accordingly. But it is probably a Hebrew version of an aboriginal name, related to that which, in other places of the present records, appears as Mizpch or INIizpah. — Smith. Mount Nebo, or Pisgah, is now undoubtedly identified as Jebel Neba, near Hes- ban. See Nebo. De Saulcy appears to have even heard the ancient name given to it by the Bedawin (Voyage en Terre Sainte, i, 289). Along its eastern side, and reaching from the ruins of Maan to Hesban, is a plateau of arable land, still cultivated in part by tlie Arabs, which appears to be the place in question (Porter, Handbook for Pakst. p. 300), — Kitto. In this
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view Tristram at length concurs (Rihle Places, p. 346\ Prof. Paine, of tlie American Exploring Party, regards it as Wadi/ llaisa, oa the south-east of Jebel Neba. See PisGAH.
2. (Sept. Sw^i'/tt V. r. Sii^a; Vulg. Sophim.) Ka- niatbaim-zophim was Samuel's birthplace (1 Sam. i, 1). The dual form of the first term, accoriling to some, sig- nities one of the two Kamahs: to wit, that of the Zo- phites (Lightfoot, ii, 162, cd. 1832); and the second term, according to others, means speculator es, i. c. proji/i- efo, and denoting that at this place was a school of the prophets— a hypothesis supported by the Cbaldee jiara- phrast, who renders it " Klkanah, a man of Itaniatba, a disciple of the prophets." Others lind in the dual form of Rawathaim a reference to the shape of the city, which was built on the sides of two hills; and in the word Zo- phim see an allusion to some watch-towers, or places of obsers'ation, which the high situation of the city might favor (Clerici Opera, ii, 175). Others, again, afiirm tliat the word Zophim is added because Kamali or Hamatha was inhabited by a clan of Levitcs of the family of Ziiph (Calmet, s. v.). Winer asserts {Realwurt. art. "Samuel") that the first verse of the book declares Samuel to be an Ephraimite. This term, however, if the genealogy in Chronicles remain undisturbed, must signify not an Ephraimite by birth, but by abode. We find that the Kohathites, to whom Samuel be- longed, had their lot in Jlount Ephraim (Josh, xxi, 5-20), where not the hill of Ephraim is meant, but the hill countrj' of Ephraim (Gesenius, Thesaiir. s. v.). The family of Zoph, living in the hill country of Ephra- im, might be termed Ephrathite, while their ancestor's name disungnished their special locality as Kamathaim- zophim. The geography of this place has been disput- ed. See Eamaii. Eusebius and Jerome confound it with Arimathiea of the New Test. (^Onomast. art. " Ar- matha Sophim"), The Sept. renders it 'Apfia5aii.i Sw- (pifi. Cod. A, or Cod, B, 'Apjurr^(/.t Si^a. For an account of the place now, and for long called Neby Samwil, and the impossibility of its being the ancient Ramah, see Robinson, Palestine, ii, 141; and for an interesting dis- cussion as to the site of Eamath- zophim, the latter name being yet retained in the Arabic term Sobah, the curious reader may consult the same work (p. 830), or Bihlioth. Sacra (p. 46). The hilly range of Ephraim extended southward into other cantons, while it bore its original name of Mount Eiihraim ; and so the inliab- itants of Ramathaira-zophim might be termed Ephrath- ites, just as Mahlon and Chilion are called '• Ephrathites of Beth-lehem-judah" (Ruth i, 2). — Kitto. See Ra-
MATHAIJt; ZUPH.
Zo'rah (Heb. Tsorah', fl"^:i, hornet; Sept. ^apaa V. r. £o|0«^, '2apa\, 'S.apd, etc. ; Josephus, 'S.apaaa, Ant. V, 8, 12; Vulg. Saraa; A. Y. "Zareah," Neh. xi, 29; " Zoreah," Josh, xv, 33), one of the towns near the bor- der of the tribe of Dan (xix, 41), but really within the limits of Judah, being in the north-western corner of the " valley district" ( xv, 33 ). It is almost always mentioned in connection with Eshtaol (see also Judgi xiii, 25; xvi, 31 ; xviii, 2, 8, 11 ; and comp. 1 Chron. ii, 53). Zorah was the residence of Manoah and the na- tive place of Samson. The place both of his birth and his burial is specified with a curious minuteness as " be- tween Zorah and Eshtaol," "in Mahaneh-Dan" (Judg. xiii, 25; xvi, 31). In the genealogical records of 1 Chron. (ii, 53; iv, 2) the " Zareathites and Eshtaulites" are given as descended from (decolonized by) Kirjath- jearim. Zorah is mentioned among the places fortitied by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi, 10), and it was re-inhabited by the men of Judah after the return from the Captivi- ty (Xeh. xi, 29). In the Oiwmasticon (s. v. 'S.apcd and "Saara") it is mentioned as lying some ten miles north of Eleutheropolis on the road to Nicopolis. By the Jewish traveller Hap-Parchi (Zunz, Benjamin nf Tiid. ii, 441) it is specified as three hours south-east- of Lydd. These notices agree in direction— though in neither is