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Shemer
SHEMER (shē'mẽr, Heb. shemer, guard). Owner of a hill in central Palestine that Omri king of Israel bought, fortified, and named Samaria after its former owner (
SHEMER she’ mər (שֶׁ֖מֶר; LXX Σαμηρ, meaning uncertain; perhaps watch). 1. Owner of a hill purchased by Omri as the site for a city he called Samaria (after שֹׁמְרֹ֛ון, “belonging to Shemer”) (
2. Merarite forebear of a singer placed in the Temple at Jerusalem by David (
3. A descendant of Asher, named in the genealogical lists (
Place-name studies of Samaria (“Shomeron”) indicate that it may be connected with the city’s fortifications, constructed by Shemer. Identification has also been proposed with Shamir (
Bibliography
G. A. Smith, The Historical Geography of the Holy Land (1906), 346; F.-M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine, II (1938), 444; Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible (1967), 98, 223.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
(shemer; Semer, Lucian, Semmer):
(1) The owner of the hill which Omri bought and which became the site of Samaria (
(2) A Merarite (
(3) An Asherite (
(4) A Benjamite (
The Hebrew manuscripts differ; some read "Shemer," others "Shemedh."
Horace J. Wolf