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Baal Zephon
BAAL ZEPHON (bā'ăl zē'fŏn, Heb. ba‘al tsephôn, lord of the north). A place near which the Israelites encamped just before they crossed the Red Sea (
BAAL-ZEPHON bāl ze’ fŏn (בַּ֣עַל צְפֹ֔ן, Baal of the North). A place by the Red Sea near which the people of Israel encamped before crossing the sea (
The name means “Baal of the North.” There is a well-known god of the same name known from Ugaritic lit. This god is clearly associated with the Egyp. port of Tahpanhes. Jeremiah was later taken by force to this port by the retreating Jews of Jerusalem who refused to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar.
The exact location of Baal-zephon is not known. It was prob. either on the Mediterranean Sea at Tahpanhes, twenty-two m. SE of Rameses or to the SE of that spot. Tahpanhes is the Tell Defneh located at the N end of the Isthmus.
Bibliography
H. Rowley, The Old Testament and Modern Study (1951), 46; W. Albright, From the Stone Age to Christianity (1957), 14, 242; D. Thomas, Documents from Old Testament Times (1958), 132, 213; J. Simons, The Geographical and Topographical Texts of the Old Testament (1959), 239, 242, 249; W. Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament (1961), 200-203, 224ff; C. Pfeiffer, Patriarchal Age (1961), 64; J. Thompson, The Bible and Archaeology (1962), 64; C. Pfeiffer, Egypt and the Exodus (1964), 52, 53.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
ba`al tsephon; Beelsepphon; (