Bible Dictionary
Succothbenoth
Succoth-benoth is the name of an idol or deity worshiped by Babylonian colonists settled in Samaria. The name has been variously understood as “booths of daughters” or identified with a Babylonian god.
Definition
Succoth-benoth was an idol or deity worshiped by Babylonian colonists in Samaria. Its name has been interpreted as “tents of daughters” or as referring to small shrines containing images of female deities, while another proposal identifies it with the Babylonian goddess Zerbanit, wife of Merodach.
Biblical Usage
The name occurs only in the account of the gods worshiped by the foreign peoples settled in Samaria. It therefore represents one element of the idolatrous religious practices introduced by those colonists.
Historical Background
The exact identity of Succoth-benoth is disputed in the supplied material. The competing explanations derive either from the apparent Hebrew meaning of the name or from proposed identification with a Chaldean goddess.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Smith's Bible Dictionary
Occurs only in (2 Kings 17:30) It has generally been supposed that this term is pure Hebrew, and signifies the tents of daughters; which some explain as “the booths in which the daughters of the Babylonians prostituted themselves in honor of their idol,” others as “small tabernacles in which were contained images of female deities.” Sir H. Rawlinson thinks that Succoth-benoth represents the Chaldaean goddess Zerbanit, the wife of Merodach, who was especially worshipped at Babylon.