Zaanaim

Zaanaim or Bezaanaim is a place in northwest of Lake Merom, near Kedesh, in Naphtali; currently sited in Hulah Valley, Israel. 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" (or terebinth) (Judges 4:11).

Zaanaim means "wanderings", "the unloading of tents", the location was probably so called from the fact of nomads in tents encamping amid the cities and villages of that region.^[1]

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.

References

1. Ellicott, Charles John, ed. (1883). An Old Testament Commentary for English Readers: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel. Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co. p. 192.

• The plain of Zaanaim in Encyclopaedia Biblica
• The oak in Zaanaim in Encyclopaedia Biblica

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897). "^{article name needed}". Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.