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(2.) Murdered Elah at Tirzah, and succeeded him on the throne of Israel (1 Kings 16:8-10). He reigned only seven days, for Omri, whom the army elected as king, laid siege to Tirzah, whereupon Zimri set fire to the palace and perished amid its ruins (11-20). Omri succeeded to the throne only after four years of fierce war with Tibni, another claimant to the throne.
•ZIN a low palm-tree, the south-eastern corner of the desert et-Tih, the wilderness of Paran, between the Gulf of Akabah and the head of the Wady Guraiyeh (Numbers 13:21). To be distinguished from the wilderness of Sin (q.v.).
•ZINA ornament, one of the sons of Shimei (1 Chronicles 23:10).
•ZION sunny; height, one of the eminences on which Jerusalem was built. It was surrounded on all sides, except the north, by deep valleys, that of the Tyropoeon (q.v.) separating it from Moriah (q.v.), which it surpasses in height by 105 feet. It was the south-eastern hill of Jerusalem.
When David took it from the Jebusites (Joshua 15:63; 2 Samuel 5:7) he built on it a citadel and a palace, and it became “the city of David” (1 Kings 8:1; 2 Kings 19:21, 31; 1 Chronicles 11:5). In the later books of the Old Testament this name was sometimes used (Psalm 87:2; 149:2; Isaiah 33:14; Joel 2:1) to denote Jerusalem in general, and sometimes God’s chosen Israel (Psalm 51:18; 87:5).
In the New Testament (see SION) it is used sometimes to denote the Church of God (Hebrews 12:22), and sometimes the heavenly city (Revelation 14:1).
•ZIOR littleness, a city in the mountains of Judah (Joshua 15:54); the modern Si’air, 4 1/2 miles north-north-east of Hebron.
•ZIPH flowing. (1.) A son of Jehaleleel (1 Chronicles 4:16).
(2.) A city in the south of Judah (Joshua 15:24), probably at the pass of Sufah.