Judges 1:17

Zephath Only here; the site is unknown. So far as situation goes, es-Sebaita, 25 m. N.N.E. of -Ain el-Ḳadîs (Kadesh), would be suitable; but it has no philological connexion with Zephath (Ṣephath). The Canaanite name of the city which was known to the Hebrews as Hormah is not likely to have survived.

utterly destroyed So the AV. and RV. render the verb, but RVm. devoted, lit. -placed under the ban," ḥéremRV. -devoted thing," AV. -accursed thing." Underlying the practice was the ancient principle of taboo; the ḥérem, as the Arabic meaning of the root shews, was something separatedfrom common use, secluded, wholly made over to the deity and therefore inviolable. Hence in Arab. ḥarâm= sanctuary, the Moslem name of the temple area at Jerusalem; ḥarîm= the women's chambers; in Aram. dialects the word is used in various forms of a sanctuary, a tomb(Nabataean), consecrated offerings(Palmyrene). Among the Moabites we have an account of the practice which reads almost like a passage in the O.T.; King Mesha -devoted" 7000 Israelite prisoners to -Ashtar-Chemosh (Moab. Stone, lines 16 18). Among the Hebrews anything which might endanger the religious life of the community was put out of harm's way by being -devoted" to God, and whatever was thus placed under the ban had to be destroyed; e.g. the idolatrous Canaanites, or the idolatrous Israelite city, Joshua 10:1; Joshua 10:28 etc., Judges 11:11 etc.; Deuteronomy 13:15-17; Leviticus 27:28 f. Instances of the practice are recorded in Joshua 7:1; Joshua 7:22-26; Judges 21:10 ff.; 1 Samuel 15:3; 1 Samuel 15:8 f., 1 Samuel 15:15 etc.

Hormah i.e. devoted; but the explanation given here and in Numbers 21:3 JE is, perhaps, only literary. The name, like Hermon, Hŏrçm (Joshua 19:38), can also mean holy place, and the character of the city as sacredor inviolablemay have been due to some other cause. Hormah is mentioned again in Numbers 14:45 JE, Deuteronomy 1:44; in Joshua 12:14 it comes immediately before Arad; in ib.Joshua 15:30 it belongs to Judah, in Judges 19:4 to Simeon; it follows the cities of the Kenites on the list in 1 Samuel 30:30. Other traditions connected with Hormah, which differ from the present one, are preserved in Numbers 14:45; Numbers 21:1-3. In the latter fragment Hormah is -devoted" after a repulse at Arad, by Israel, not by Judah and Simeon; it is implied that the former name of the place was Arad; and the episode is placed at an earlier stage of the history. It is best to recognize the differences; they can hardly be reconciled.