Zealot

See Canan.ban. ZEBADIAH (n.-5i and iT-tjj 'J" hath bestowed' ; cf. the names i;;!"; and 'jn"!?!) — 1. 2. Two Ben- jamites, 1 Ch 8"' (IB 'Afa/SajSid, A 'Afa^aSid, Luc. Za;3aS(d) " (BA Za,8a5id). 3. One of those who joined David at Ziklag, 1 Ch 12' (B Za^SiSid, A ZaBadid). i. One of David's officers, son of Asahel, I Ch 27' (B 'A^Sdas, A Za/SSJas, Luc. Za^Salas). S. An exile who returned with Ezra's second caravan, Ezr 8' {ZajiSud, A Za/35(as, Luc. Za;3oias) ; called in 1 Es 8" Zaraias. 6.

A priest, of the sons of Immer, who had married a foreign wife, Ezr 10'-"'(B ZajSoeid, A Za^Sid, Luc. Za,3oids) ; called in 1 Es 9-' Zabdeus. 7. A Korahite, 1 Ch 26^ (B Zaxaplas, A and Luc. ZojSaSias). 8. One of the Levites sent by Jehosha- phat to teach in the cities of Judah, 2 Ch 17' (B ZapSela!, A Za^Sias). 9. An officer of king Jehosha- phat, entrusted with judicial functions, 2 Ch 19" (B Za^Sdas, A Za^Slas, Luc. Zo/SaSaias). ZEBAH and ZALMUNNA (nji 'victim,' pjD^s 'shade, i.e.

protection, withheld'; Z^,3ee, -eKfxava. ; Jg S', \ Ps83").— The narrative of Gideon's pursuit of these two ^lidianite kings (Jg S'"*') cannot be a continuation of the foregoing verses (7^-S^) ; it must be derived from another source, attached abruptly, and with the loss of its opening verses, to the story of the defeat of Midian.

So far from a victory having been just won, it seems such a remote possibUity that the men of Succoth and Penuel treat Gideon with derision as he passes them on the track of the two kings (8'*). The kings were returning to their country, laden with spoil (8^-); they were not in flight, and had no tliought of being pursued (8"), otherwise they would have used the advantage which their camels (8™) gave them to effect their escape.

We gather, in fact, from this narrative (8^"-') that Gideon's ex- pedition against Zebah and Zalmunna was not part of the general campaign against Midian, but a private enterprise of personal revenge. On one of their raids, probably on this very one from which they were returning, the two Arab chieftains had murdered Gideon's brethren at Tabor, doubt- less a place near Ophrah (8'*). To Gideon, as next of kin, fell the duty of avenging their blood.

Collecting 300 of his clan, he followed the enemy across the Jordan, attacked them unexpectedly at Karkor, captured the two kings, and, after exhibit- ing them as his prisoners to the men of Succoth, carried them back in triumph, probably to his home at Ophrah (Moore). There he slew them with his own hand, when his young son refused to be their executioner, the two kings meeting their fate with barbaric courage.

The execution was a religious act as well as an act of blood- revenge, and niay well have taken place before the alt&T (Smend, AT Meliijionsgcschichte, 128). Human victims were similarly sacriticed after the return from a victorious campaign (Jg II*"-''), or as the chief portion of the spoil (1 S 15"). W. R. Smith, {RS 397 n.)

compares the choice of Gideon's J'oung son as executioner of the kings with the choice of ' young men ' or ' lads' as sacrificers (Ex 24'), and illustrates from the custom of the Saracens, who charged lads with the execution of their captives. The pronunciation of tlie names Zebah and Zal- munna represents merely a popular etymology, which gave a contemptuous meaning, ' victim,' 'protection withheld,' to the names of the kings.

The first sj'Ilable of Zalmunna maybe the name of a deity Zalm, found in Aramaic inscriptions from Teima {CIS pars. U. cxiii, cxiv), perhaps also in the Phoenician Zailrim (Zalam), ba'al (CIS i. cxxxii), called in Greek Za\a.ij.flJi, or -at; see Hoftinann, ZA xi. 244 f. On the other hand, the names may be merely symbolic, and not the actual names of the two kings (so Nbldeke, Die Amalekiter, 9n., and Stade, GVIi. 190). G. A. Cooke. ZEBEDEE (Ze§eSalo^; Heb.

"^31 'gift of J",' or, more properly, Aram, "j?! ; raising the question why the name is not spelt Za^SoIos, as in the OT [1 Es 9^1 etc.], but Zf;3eS-. On Jewish bearers of this name see Jastrow, Diet. 377, where also a local name p?) n'3, ' probably in Galilee,' is men- tioned).— The father of the apostles James and John (Mt 4=') and the husband of Salome (Mt 27'«, Mk 15'"').

Zebedee followed the occupation of fisherman on the Sea of Galilee, and was appar- ently in easy circumstances, to judge from the mention of his 'boat with the hired servants' (Mk 1™). This is also borne out by the facts that his wife was one of the pious women who after- wards ministered to the Lord of their substance (Mt 27"-^, Lk 8=-'); and that his son John was personally known to the high priest (Jn 18'^), and had the means of providing for the mother of Jesus (Jn 19").

Zebedee himself comes before us directly only in connexion witli the call of his sons ; and, from his raising no objection, it has been con- jectured that he himself was a disciple of John the Baptist, as his sons certainly were, and by him had been taught to regard Jesus as the Messiah. Whether he ever became an active follower of Jesus it is impossible to say.

The subsequent sUence of Scripture regarding him would incline one to think not, unless this silence is to be ex- plained by Zebedee's death soon after his sons' call. ^ According to Barhebraeus (on Mt 10') and the Book of the Bee, the sons of Zebedee belonged to the tribe of Zebulun ; according to the Gospel of the Twelve Apostles (ed. Harris, p. 26), to the tribe of Issachar. G. Milligan.