Bible Dictionary
ZARETHAN
Zarethan was a place near the Jordan, associated with Adam, Bethshean, and the clay ground where Solomon’s craftsmen cast bronze objects for the temple. Its exact location has not been established.
Definition
Zarethan was a place associated with the Jordan region, Adam, Bethshean, and the area between Succoth and Zarethan. It is connected with the clay ground where Solomon’s craftsmen cast bronze objects for the temple. Its location has not been positively identified.
Biblical Usage
Joshua associates Zarethan with Adam, while Kings mentions it with Bethshean and in connection with Solomon’s bronze castings. Chronicles gives the related form Zeredah, and Judges contains a probably related form Zererah.
Historical Background
The place has been tentatively connected with sites near the mouth of the Jabbok, the ford of Adamah, or the Jordan valley, but no identification is certain. Suggestions involving Kurn Surtabheh are described as insufficiently supported.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>zar'-e-than (tsarethan) : A city, according to Jos 3:16 (omitted, however, by the Septuagint) near Adam, which is probably to be identified with Tell Damieh at the mouth of the Jabbok. In 1Ki 4:12 it is mentioned in connefection with Bethshean and said to be "beneath Jezreel." In 1Ki 7:46, this is said to be at "the ford of Adamah," according to the reading of some, but according to the Massoretic text, "in the clay around between Succoth and Zarethan," where the bronze castings for the temple were made by Solomon's artificers. In 2Ch 4:17, the name appears as Zeredah, which in 1Ki 11:26 is said to have been the birthplace of Jeroboam, son of Nebat. In Jud 7:22, Gibeon is said to have pursued the Midianites "as far as Bethshittah toward Zererah," which is probably a misreading for Zeredah, arising from the similarity of the Hebrew letters daleth and resh. The place has not been positively identical. From the suggestion that the name means "the great (or lofty) rock," it has without sufficient reason been supposed that it designates the conspicuous peak of Kurn Surtabheh] which projects from the mountains of Ephraim into the valley of the Jordan opposite the mouth of the Jabbok.</p><p>George Frederick Wright</p>