Editing Zaanaim

{{Short description|Location in the Hebrew Bible}}
'''Zaanaim''', '''Zaanannim''' or '''Bezaanaim''' is a place name applied to one or two locations in the [[Hebrew Bible]].<ref name="FreedmanMyers2000">{{cite book|author1=David Noel Freedman|author2=Allen C. Myers|title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&pg=PA1405|date=31 December 2000|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=978-90-5356-503-2|page=1405}}</ref> According to Serge Frolov (2013), its location "cannot be determined with any degree of certainty."<ref name="Frolov2013">{{cite book|author=Serge Frolov|title=Judges|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tTz4v6HdwAYC&pg=PA138|date=22 May 2013|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-2967-2|page=138}}</ref>

The area was likely given the name Zaanaim because nomads camped there in tents among the towns and cities, with the name meaning "wanderings" or "the unloading of tents."<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Ellicott |editor-first=Charles John |editor-link=Charles John Ellicott |title=An Old Testament Commentary for English Readers: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel |publisher=Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co |year=1883 |page=192 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1tsVAAAAYAAJ}}
</ref>

According to Joshua 19:33, the border of the tribe of [[Naftali]] passed by the "oak in Zaanannim" (''Revised Version'').

According to Judges 4:11, [[Heber the Kenite]]'s tent, in which [[Jael]] killed [[Sisera]], was "as far as the oak in Zaanannim" (''Revised Version''). Where the [[Revised Version]] reads "oak," the [[King James Version]] reads "plain." According to Cheyne and Black, an acceptable alternative reading for "oak" in these passages is "terebinth".<ref name="CheyneBlack1903">{{cite book|author1=Thomas Kelly Cheyne|author2=John Sutherland Black|title=Encyclopædia biblica: a critical dictionary of the literary, political and religious history, the archæology, geography, and natural history of the Bible. Volume 4, Q-Z|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EPVYAAAAYAAJ|year=1903|publisher=A. and C. Black|page=5369}}</ref>

Where the ''Revised Version'' has "in Zaanannim" above, the Hebrew text reads ''bṣʿnnym.''<ref name="CheyneBlack1903"/> It has been, however, suggested by some that, following the [[Septuagint]]<ref>For the Septuagint's reading (''Besemiin'' or ''Besenanim''), see the ''New English Translation of the Septuagint'' at Joshua (Iesous) 19:33 [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/06-iesous-nets.pdf].</ref> and the [[Talmud]], the letter "b", which in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] means "in," should be taken as a part of the word following, and the phrase would then be "unto the oak of Bitzanaim," a place which has been identified with the ruins of [[Bessum]], about half-way between [[Tiberias]] and [[Mount Tabor, Israel|Mount Tabor]].

==References==
{{reflist}}
* [[s:Encyclopaedia Biblica/Wisdom of Jesus-Zarephath#ZAANAIM, THE PLAIN OF|''The plain of Zaanaim'' in Encyclopaedia Biblica]]
* [[s:Encyclopaedia Biblica/Wisdom of Jesus-Zarephath#ZAANAIM, THE OAK IN|''The oak in Zaanaim'' in Encyclopaedia Biblica]]

{{eastons|Zaanaim}}
[[Category:Hebrew Bible places]]