Who and what is…
Ziph

also known as: Zif

Hebrew: זיף —transliteration: ziph —possible meaning: flowing

This is the name of two biblical cities and a man.

  1. Ziph, a son of Jehaleleel (1 Chronicles 4:16)

  2. Ziph, a city in the south of Judah (Joshua 15:24), probably at the pass of Sufah.

  3. Ziph, a city in the mountains of the Tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:55), several miles southeast of Hebron

    Here David hid himself during his wanderings (1 Samuel 23:19; Psalm 54, title).

    Zif (Zipf) still existed as a village in the Roman era. It had a Jewish population until at least the 4th century AD, but it became Christian during the Byzantine period, leaving the remains of a Christian communal church.

    Eventually this city become uninhabited.

    In the 19th century, it was identified by American Bible scholar and archaeologist Edward Robinson (1838). Its ruins were then called Tell ez-Zif (aka Tell Zif or Tell ez Zif). Among the ruins discovered here are an ancient quarry, various tombs, a wall, and arched roofs.

    Zif, Israel, now a Palestinian Arab village located about 4 miles (7 kilometers) south of Hebron in the southern West Bank of Israel. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Zif had a population of 1,061 in 2017 — satellite view

  4. Wilderness of Ziph

    This is a desert near the above city of Ziph, mentioned as the place where desert hid himself from Saul.

    Here is the dark hill/mountain of Hachilah.

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