zaanaim Summary and Overview

wanderings; the unloading of tents, so called probably from the fact of nomads in tents encamping amid the cities and villages of that region, a place in the north-west of Lake Merom, near Kedesh, in Naphtali. Here Sisera was slain by Jael, "the wife of Heber the Kenite," who had pitched his tent in the "plain [R.V., 'as far as the oak'] of Zaanaim" (Judg. 4:11). It has been, however, suggested by some that, following the LXX. and the Talmud, the letter b, which in 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.

ZAANA'IM (removals), THE PLAIN OF, more accurately "the oak of," where Heber the Kenite pitched his tent. Jud 4:11. This has been identified with a plain some 2 or 8 miles north-west of the Waters of Merom (Lake Huleh), in the line of the hills which form the western boundary of the Jordan valley. The plain is about 2 miles long and 1 mile wide, and completely surrounded by hills. The hills are well wooded and have many "oaks." In the middle of the western side of this plain is the site of Kedesh-naphtali, or Kedesh. Conder says that Kedesh-naphtali is 30 miles from Tabor, over a difficult country. He suggests another Kedesh, and the identification of Zaanaim with Bessum, east of Tabor. See Zaananxim.