Hormah (meaning "broken rock", "banned", or "devoted to destruction"), also known by its

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

ite name Zephath (Tsfat צפת), is an unidentified city mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Israelite Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

people seeking to enter the,

Promised Land In the Abrahamic religions, the "Promised Land" ( ) refers to a swath of territory in the Levant that was bestowed upon Abraham and his descendants by God in Abrahamic religions, God. In the context of the Bible, these descendants are originally ...

and the

Amalek Amalek (; ) is described in the Hebrew Bible as the enemy of the nation of the Israelites. The name "Amalek" can refer to the descendants of Amalek, the grandson of Esau, or anyone who lived in their territories in Canaan, or North African descend ...

ites and the Canaanites who dwelt at that time in southern Canaan.

Biblical reference

The city is mentioned in

Book of Numbers The Book of Numbers (from Biblical Greek, Greek Ἀριθμοί, ''Arithmoi'', , ''Bəmīḏbar'', ; ) is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah. The book has a long and complex history; its final f ...

14:45 as the site of an Israelite defeat: :''Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain came down and attacked them, and drove them back as far as Hormah.'' The city is then mentioned in

21:2–3 as the site of an Israelite victory: :''Then Israel made this vow to the LORD: "If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy their cities." The LORD listened to Israel's plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named Hormah''. Hormah is also mentioned in

Book of Judges The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom in the ...

1:17: :''Then the men of Judah went with the

Simeon Simeon () is a given name, from the Hebrew (Biblical Hebrew, Biblical ''Šimʿon'', Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''Šimʿôn''), usually transliterated in English as Shimon. In Greek, it is written Συμεών, hence the Latinized spelling Sy ...

ites their brothers and attacked the

Canaanites {{Cat main, Canaan See also: * :Ancient Israel and Judah Ancient Levant Hebrew Bible nations Ancient Lebanon 0050 Ancient Syria Wikipedia categories named after regions 0050 0050 Phoenicia Amarna Age civilizations ...

living in Zephath, and they totally destroyed the city. Therefore, it was called Hormah''.

Identification

Its location is unknown; some place it between Beer Sheba and Gaza, some between Beer Sheba and Arad, and some east of the

Arabah The Arabah/Araba () or Aravah/Arava () is a loosely defined geographic area in the Negev Desert, south of the Dead Sea basin, which forms part of the border between Israel to the west and Jordan to the east. The old meaning, which was in use ...

Valley in the ruins of Sarta, on the western slopes below biblical Tophel (today's town of Tafileh). For the Beersheva–Arad Valley location, several options have been suggested, from west to east: Tel Sera (fr), Tel Masos, Tel Ira (fr), Tel Malhata (fr) (all with articles in French Wikipedia, some also in Hebrew).

Anson Rainey Anson Frank Rainey (January 11, 1930 – February 19, 2011) was professor emeritus of ancient Near Eastern cultures and Semitic linguistics at Tel Aviv University. He is known in particular for contributions to the study of the Amarna tabl ...

offers a thorough discussion of the options and references to supporting studies on p. 122 of his book, ''The Sacred Bridge.''

External links

Bible Study

References

Hebrew Bible cities Massacres in the Bible {{Hebrew-Bible-stub