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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comFausset Bible Dictionary: Zorah
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ZORAH or ZOREAH. . Colonized by Kirjath Jearim (; ). Now Sur'ah: ten Roman miles from Eleutheropolis toward Nicopolis. Originally of Judah; in the shephelah or low hills (). Subsequently assigned to Dan () as a suitable border fortress, just below the brow of a sharp conical tell at the shoulder of the ranges which form the northern side of the wady Ghurab. Manoah's residence (; ) and Samson's birthplace was between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Possibly Manoah commanded the military post at "the camp of Dan" (the place of encampment of the Danite emigrants: ; Jdg_11-12) between Zorah and Eshtaol; this post was a check on the Philistines, in force at Timnath three miles off (-4; ). Here was the family burial place (). The charge that Samson was not to drink wine nor strong drink, nor eat what came of the vine, was the severer test of faith because Zorah was famous for its vines; the valley of Sorek and the Philistine plain generally abounded in choice vines (; ; Hebrew ; ; ). Fortified by Rehoboam as being at the entrance of the valley, which is one inlet from the great lowland (); reinhabited by the men of Judah after the return from Babylon. ( ZAREAH.)