Zoheleth
Zoheleth is a mountain mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Judea in modern-day Israel. Known today as Bir Ayub. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Zoheleth appears in 1 Kings 1:9 as the stone or rock beside En-rogel where Adonijah, David's fourth son, held a sacrificial feast in an attempt to claim the throne of Israel for himself as his father's death approached. Adonijah invited Joab the commander, Abiathar the priest, and all his brothers except Solomon and the royal officials loyal to David, making his political intentions unmistakable. The choice of Zoheleth, meaning "the serpent stone" or "the creeping stone", near En-rogel at the confluence of the Kidron and Hinnom Valleys, just outside Jerusalem, was deliberate: it was a well-known natural landmark accessible yet slightly removed from the city, suited for a gathering that was simultaneously public and distanced from the palace. When the prophet Nathan alerted Bathsheba to Adonijah's coup attempt, the aged David quickly acted to have Solomon anointed at Gihon spring, and the sound of celebration reached Adonijah's feast before his guests dispersed in alarm. Zoheleth thus marks the precise geographic backdrop of the pivotal succession crisis that determined the future of the Davidic dynasty.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Zoheleth is identified with Bir Ayub (Job's Well), located at the southern end of the Kidron Valley near its junction with the Valley of Hinnom, immediately south of the City of David in Jerusalem. This site corresponds to the ancient En-rogel (the Fuller's Spring or Rogel's Spring), a perennial water source that has been associated with this spot since Byzantine times. The area has been examined by archaeologists investigating the City of David and its surroundings, with Iron Age remains documented throughout the Kidron Valley. The natural rock features in the vicinity match the description of a notable stone landmark, and the proximity to En-rogel supports the biblical identification of Zoheleth as a prominent geological feature near this ancient water source.
Verse Appearances (1)
1Kgs
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]