Ziphron
Ziphron is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Syria in modern-day Syria. Known today as Huwwarin. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Ziphron appears in Numbers 34:9 as a landmark on the northern boundary of the land of Canaan as delineated by God to Moses. In the divine prescription of Israel's territorial extent, the northern border was described as running from Hazar-enan to Ziphron and ending at Hazar-enan. This boundary passage in Numbers 34 is one of the most precise geographic descriptions in the Pentateuch, intended to define the full extent of the Promised Land that Israel was to inhabit. Ziphron thus served as a fixed reference point on the northernmost frontier, somewhere in the region of modern Syria. The borders described in Numbers 34 were never fully realized in Israel's history, the northern extent reaching into Syria remained largely beyond Israelite control except briefly under David and Solomon. Nevertheless, the inclusion of Ziphron in this divine land grant reflects the theological vision of the full inheritance promised to Abraham's descendants, a hope that continued to shape prophetic and eschatological expectation throughout the biblical period.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Ziphron is tentatively identified with Huwwarin, a site in the central Syrian steppe east of Homs and north of Damascus. This identification, proposed by several biblical geographers, rests on partial phonetic correspondence and geographic positioning along a plausible northern border route. The region around Huwwarin has not been subjected to excavations specifically aimed at confirming its biblical identification. The broader area of central Syria has yielded Bronze and Iron Age archaeological remains through various survey and excavation projects, attesting to ancient settlement in the region. However, without targeted fieldwork, the association of Ziphron with Huwwarin remains speculative, and alternative identifications have been proposed by different scholars.
Verse Appearances (1)
Num
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]