A town in the foothills of the territory of Dan.
About Zorah
A city of the Shephelah and its people, attributed to both the tribe of Dan and of Judah (Jos 15:33; 19:41). It was part of Judah’s original allocation but was settled by Danites until they established their own territory near Laish (Jgs 18:1–11). Originally Zorah and nearby Eshtaol seem to have been settled by residents of Kiriath-jearim (1 Chr 2:53; 4:2). The city was the home of Manoah, the father of Samson (Jgs 13:2). Samson’s ministry was focused in the region surrounding Zorah and Eshtaol, and he was ultimately buried there. Zorah is traditionally identified with Tell Sur’ah, which is strategically located at the entrance to a large valley leading toward the Mediterranean plain.
Key References
And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children.
All Scripture References (11)
Joshua (2)
These were in the foothills: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah,
The territory of their inheritance included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh,
Judges (6)
Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children.
And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Then Samson’s brothers and his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. And he had judged Israel twenty years.
So the Danites sent out five men from their clans, men of valor from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. “Go and explore the land,” they told them. The men entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night.
When the men returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers asked them, “What did you find?”
So six hundred Danites departed from Zorah and Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war.
1 Chronicles (1)
and the clans of Kiriath-jearim—the Ithrites, Puthites, Shumathites, and Mishraites. From these descended the Zorathites and Eshtaolites.
2 Chronicles (1)
Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, the fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin.
Nehemiah (1)
in En-rimmon, Zorah, Jarmuth,