יׇקְדְעָם
Jokdeam, a place in Palestine
Definition
Jokdeam is a proper noun referring to a town in the hill country of Judah, listed among the cities allotted to the tribe of Judah after the conquest of Canaan. The name appears in Joshua 15:56, within a detailed inventory of Judah's territorial inheritance. As a geographical location, it signifies one of the settlements in the southern tribal region, contributing to the biblical record of Israel's settlement in the Promised Land. No other specific events or narratives in the Bible are directly associated with this location.
Biblical Usage
The word is used only once in the Old Testament, in Joshua 15:56, as part of a list of cities within the tribal territory of Judah. It appears in a purely geographical and administrative context, documenting the division of the land. There are no narrative uses or patterns of usage beyond this single catalog entry.
Etymology
The name Jokdeam (יָקְדְעָם) is a compound word derived from the Hebrew root יָקַד (yāqad, H3344), meaning 'to burn' or 'to be kindled,' and עַם (ʻam, H5971), meaning 'people.' Thus, the name translates literally as 'burning of the people' or 'people's burning.' This likely reflects a place name originating from a local event, characteristic, or possibly a Canaanite background, though the specific historical reason for the name is not provided in scripture.
Semantic Range
As a place name in ancient Judah, Jokdeam represents the tangible fulfillment of God's promise to give the land of Canaan to the descendants of Abraham. Its inclusion in a detailed city list (Joshua 15) underscores the historical reality of the conquest and allotment, which was central to Israel's identity. The name's etymology ('burning of the people') may hint at a forgotten local history, possibly a battle, a disaster, or even a site of pagan worship, common in the ancient Near East where place names often memorialized events.
Other city names in the same list, such as Jezreel (Yizrᵉʻeʾl, H3157) and Juttah (Yuṭṭah, H3194), share its function as a geographical identifier within Judah's inheritance.
Word Details
How this works
Hebrew definitions are from Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906) and Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890), both public domain. BDB was groundbreaking for its era but reflects 19th-century assumptions about Semitic etymology. Modern scholarship (HALOT, DCH) has revised many entries. Use these definitions as a starting point for exploration, not as the final word on a term's meaning in context.
Full methodology & sources →