Zorah ( he, צרעה) or Tzorah (), was a biblical town in the
Judaean Foothills. It is identified with the depopulated village of
Sar'a
Sar'a ( ar, صرعة), was a Palestinian Arab village located 25 km west of Jerusalem, depopulated in the 1948 war. The site lies on a hill, at an elevation of about above sea-level.
History Bronze Age to Roman period
Sar'a might have bee ...
. It has been identified with the former village of
Sar'a
Sar'a ( ar, صرعة), was a Palestinian Arab village located 25 km west of Jerusalem, depopulated in the 1948 war. The site lies on a hill, at an elevation of about above sea-level.
History Bronze Age to Roman period
Sar'a might have bee ...
, now often referred to as Tel Tzora.
Location
Zorah was situated on the crest of a hill overlooking the
valley of Sorek. It lies at an elevation of about above sea-level.
It is located 23 kilometers west of
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
near
Nahal Sorek
Naḥal Sorek ( he, נחל שורק, translation=Brook of Sorek; ar, وادي الصرار, translit=Wadi al-Sirar), also Soreq, is one of the largest, most important drainage basins in the Judean Hills. It is mentioned in the Book of Judges 16:4 ...
.
History
Zorah was mentioned together with
Ajalon
The Ayalon Valley ( he, or , ''ʾAyyālōn'') is a valley in the lowland of the Shephelah in the States of Palestine and Israel, identified in the 19th century as Yalo at the foot of the Bethoron pass, a Palestinian Arab village located sout ...
in the
Amarna letters
The Amarna letters (; sometimes referred to as the Amarna correspondence or Amarna tablets, and cited with the abbreviation EA, for "El Amarna") are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between t ...
as a city attacked by the
Apiru. Zorah has been identified with the biblical Zoreah (), and is the birthplace of
Samson
Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...
. states:
:"there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was
Manoah
Manoah ( ''Mānoaḥ'') is a figure from the Book of Judges 13:1-23 and 14:2-4 of the Hebrew Bible. His name means "rest".
Family
According to the Bible, Manoah was of the tribe of Dan and lived in the city of Zorah. He married one woman, who ...
".
Samson's grave is recorded as being near there (), and which the historian
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
says was in a village called Sarasat.
In , Zorah is mentioned in the allotment of the
Tribe of Judah
According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe of Judah (, ''Shevet Yehudah'') was one of the twelve Tribes of Israel, named after Judah, the son of Jacob. Judah was the first tribe to take its place in the Land of Israel, occupying the southern ...
, on the border with the
Tribe of Dan
The Tribe of Dan (, "Judge") was one of the twelve tribes of Israel, according to the Torah. They were allocated a coastal portion of land when the people of Israel entered the Promised Land, later moving northwards.
Biblical narrative
In th ...
. It was most likely the Danites who occupied Zorah.
According to the Book of Chronicles, it was fortified by
Rehoboam
Rehoboam (; , ; , ; la, Roboam, ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the last monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel and the first monarch of the Kingdom of Judah after the former's split. He was a son of and the successor to Solomon and a gr ...
().
![Manoach altar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Manoach_altar.jpg)
The
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
village
Sar'a
Sar'a ( ar, صرعة), was a Palestinian Arab village located 25 km west of Jerusalem, depopulated in the 1948 war. The site lies on a hill, at an elevation of about above sea-level.
History Bronze Age to Roman period
Sar'a might have bee ...
was located in the presumed location of the ancient town. It was depopulated during the
1948 Arab–Israeli War
The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...
.
Conder and
Kitchener, describing the site in 1881, said that, with the exception of the olive groves to the north of the village, the low hill on which the village lies is "bare and white," a place now planted with a pine forest by the
Jewish National Fund
Jewish National Fund ( he, קֶרֶן קַיֶּימֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael'', previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Syria (later Mandatory Palestine, and subseq ...
.
Kibbutz
A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...
Tzora
Tzora ( he, צָרְעָה) is a kibbutz in central Israel. Located about 20 km from Jerusalem, near the city of Beit Shemesh, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In it had a population of .
Etymology
The ki ...
is now located nearby, at the foot of Zorah mountain, on its southern side.
Archeology
Caves, tombs, cisterns and a winepress were discovered at Tel Tzora. Two winepresses were carved into the rock, one of which was paved with mosaic.
A rock-hewn altar was found just below the tell.
It has been nicknamed "Manoah's Altar", after Samson's father.
References
External links
* Surah (Zorah) in Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17
IAA Wikimedia commons
Wikimedia Commons (or simply Commons) is a media repository of free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used across all of the Wikimedia projects in ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zorah
Hebrew Bible cities
Former populated places in Southwest Asia
Archaeological sites in Israel