Zif, Hebron

Tell Ziph near Zif has been identified as the site of ancient Ziph.[https://dig.corps-cmhl.huji.ac.il/rep_church_full/14539 14539 - ZIPH - Church]. A Digital Corpus of Early Christian Churches and Monasteries in the Holy Land. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Retrieved 30 Jan 2025.

Zif is identified with the biblical town of Ziph.{{Cite web|title=Ziph {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/ziph|access-date=2021-12-13|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}{{Cite journal|last=Schwartz|first=Joshua|title=Dogs, Water and Wall |date=2000|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/090183200750022704|journal=Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament|volume=14|issue=1|pages=101–116|doi=10.1080/090183200750022704|s2cid=161368221 |issn=0901-8328}} It appears several times in the Hebrew Bible as a town in the vicinity of Hebron that belongs to Tribe of Judah ({{Bibleverse|Joshua|15:20-55}}). The nearby "Wilderness of Ziph" is mentioned as a place where David hides himself from Saul ({{Bibleverse|1 Samuel|26:1-2}}). Later, the town of Ziph is said to be fortified by Rehoboam ({{Bibleverse|1 Kings|11:5-8}}). Its name was found on a number of royal Judahite LMLK seals along with those of Hebron, Socoh and MMST.{{cite book|last1=Naʼaman|first1=Nadav|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1RgRPAkLqLUC&q=ziph+lmlk+seals+town&pg=PA170|title=Ancient Israel and Its Neighbors: Interaction and Counteraction|date=2005|publisher=Eisenbrauns|isbn=9781575061085|pages=164–165|language=en|access-date=5 May 2019}}

Iron Age remains were found at Tell Ziph, the nearby tell.{{Cite journal|last=Rainey|first=A. F.|date=January 1982|title=Wine from the Royal Vineyards|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1356528|journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research|volume=245|issue=245 |pages=57–62|doi=10.2307/1356528|jstor=1356528 |s2cid=164003915 |issn=0003-097X}}

Zif existed as a village in the Roman period.Tsafrir et al. (1994), p. 262. Between the Great Jewish Revolt and the Bar Kokhba revolt, it served as the administrative center for the district south of Hebron. Evidence of its Jewish population during this period is found in an inscription on an ossuary from Zif and two documents discovered in the Tze'elim Stream.

In the 4th century, Eusebius described it a place "of the tribe of Judah. It is now a kṓmē in the Daromas in the territory of Eleutheropolis, near Hebron, eight miles to the south. Where David hid".{{Cite book |last=Millar |first=Fergus |title=The Roman Near East, 31 BC–AD 337 |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-674-77886-3 |edition=4th |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=376}} It had a Jewish population until at least the 4th century, but it became Christian during the Byzantine period.Magness, 2003, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=GYrPd2H1cjcC&pg=PA94 94]

The remains of a Byzantine-era Christian communal church have been discovered at Zif.Bar, Doron [https://www.academia.edu/4820148/ "The Christianisation of Rural Palestine during Late Antiquity"]. Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 54, No. 3 July 2003. pp. 401-421, 413. Potsherds from the Byzantine period have also been found here.Dauphin (1998), p. 962.

In 1838, Edward Robinson was the first to identify the village Zif and its adjacent Tell Zif with the biblical town of Ziph.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearc00smitgoog#page/n213/mode/1up 191], [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearc00smitgoog#page/n217/mode/1up 195], [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearc00smitgoog#page/n222/mode/1up 200]

In 1863, Victor Guérin visited and described the ruins.Guérin, 1869, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr06gugoog#page/n173/mode/1up 160]-162

In 1874, surveyors from the PEF Survey of Palestine visited, and noted about Tell ez Zif: "A large mound, partly natural; on the north side a quarry; on the south are tombs. One of these has a single chamber, with a broad bench running round; on the back wall are three kokim with arched roofs, the arches pointed on the left side wall; at the back is another similar koka. A second tomb was a chamber, 8 feet to the back, 9 feet wide, with three recesses, one on each side, one at the back; they are merely shelves, 8 feet by 5 feet, raised some 2 feet. This tomb has a porch in front, supported by two square rock-cut piers."Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/379/mode/1up 379]

In September 2002, a bomb filled with screws and nails, planted by Jewish settlers, exploded in the village's school, wounding five children. A second bomb was found by the school's principal and was detonated by Israeli bomb experts.{{cite news |last= Schmemann |first= Serge |title= Bomb Explodes at Palestinian School, Hurting 5 Children |date= 2002-09-18 |newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/18/world/bomb-explodes-at-palestinian-school-hurting-5-children.html |access-date= 2016-06-09}}

Zif has been under Israeli occupation since 1967. The primary health care facilities in the village itself are designated by the Ministry of Health as level 1 and at nearby Yatta as level 3.{{clarify|reason=What do these levels mean?|date=February 2025}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/fullMaps_Sa.nsf/luFullMap/BB0D1D0CC89A371F8525706F00517495/$File/healthinforum_HLT_westbank_opt110205.pdf?OpenElement |title=West Bank Health care |access-date=2016-05-24 |archive-date=2006-03-13 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20060313002206/http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/fullMaps_Sa.nsf/luFullMap/BB0D1D0CC89A371F8525706F00517495/$File/healthinforum_HLT_westbank_opt110205.pdf?OpenElement |url-status=bot: unknown }}

{{Reflist|25em}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book|last1=Conder|first1=C.R.|author-link1=Claude Reignier Conder|last2=Kitchener|first2=H.H.|author-link2=Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|year=1883|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp03conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology|location=London|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund|volume=3}} (p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/315/mode/1up 315])
• {{cite book | last= Dauphin |first = C.|author-link= Claudine Dauphin| title = La Palestine byzantine, Peuplement et Populations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FC1mAAAAMAAJ |volume = III : Catalogue | series = BAR International Series 726 | year = 1998 | publisher = Archeopress | location = Oxford|language =fr|isbn= 0-860549-05-4}}
• {{cite book|last=Guérin|first=V.|author-link=Victor Guérin|title=Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptiongogr06gugoog|volume=1: Judee, pt. 3|year=1869|publisher= L'Imprimerie Nationale|location=Paris|language=fr}}
• {{cite book|first=J.|last=Magness|author-link= Jodi Magness|year=2003|title=The Archaeology of the Early Islamic Settlement in Palestine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GYrPd2H1cjcC&pg=PA94|access-date=6 June 2011|publisher=Eisenbrauns|isbn=978-1-4575-0070-1}}
• {{cite book|last=Palmer|first=E.H.|author-link=Edward Henry Palmer|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp00conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund}} (p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/408/mode/1up 408])
• {{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=E.|author-link2=Eli Smith|year=1841|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearc00smitgoog |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838| location=Boston|publisher=Crocker & Brewster|volume=2}}
• {{cite book |author1=Tsafrir, Y.|author-link1=Yoram Tsafrir|author2=Leah Di Segni |author3=Judith Green | title = (TIR): Tabula Imperii Romani: Judaea, Palaestina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8XJtAAAAMAAJ | publisher = Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities | location = Jerusalem | year = 1994 | isbn=965-208-107-8}}

{{Refend}}

• [https://www.facebook.com/Zif.Village Zif Village | قرية زيف on Facebook]
• [http://vprofile.arij.org/hebron/pdfs/Zif%20Village.pdf Zif Village (Fact Sheet)], Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem, ARIJ
• [http://vprofile.arij.org/hebron/pdfs/Zif_pro.pdf Zif Village Profile], ARIJ
• [http://vprofile.arij.org/hebron/images/Zif%20Areal%20Photo.jpg Zif aerial photo], ARIJ
• [http://vprofile.arij.org/hebron/pdfs/needsfordevelopment/Zif_vp_en.pdf The priorities and needs for development in Zif village based on the community and local authorities’ assessment], ARIJ
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 21: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8383 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.21.jpg Wikimedia commons]

{{Hebron Governorate}}

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Category:Villages in the West Bank

Category:Hebron Governorate

Category:Ancient Jewish settlements of Judaea

Category:Municipalities of Palestine

Category:Biblical archaeology