Bible Dictionary
Zemarite
The Zemarites were an ancient Canaanite or Phoenician people descended from Canaan. They were associated with a town identified with Sumra on the Phoenician coast.
Definition
The Zemarites were an ancient Canaanite people associated with a town named Zemar or Zumur. They are listed among the peoples descended from Canaan.
Biblical Usage
The Zemarites appear in the genealogical listing of Canaan’s descendants.
Historical Background
The people are associated with Sumra, a coastal village between Tripolis and Ruwad. Zemar was an important Phoenician city in the period of the Amarna letters but later nearly disappeared from historical notice.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
The designation of one of the Phoenician tribes (Gen. 10:18) who inhabited the town of Sumra, at the western base of the Lebanon range. In the Amarna tablets (B.C. 1400) Zemar, or Zumur, was one of the most important of the Phoenician cities, but it afterwards almost disappears from history.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>zem'-a-rit (ha-tsemari; ho Samaraios): A Canaanite people named in Ge 10:18; 1Ch 1:16. The occurrence of the name between Arvadite and Hamathite gives a hint as to locality. A place called Cumur is mentioned in the Tell el-Amarna Letters along with Arvad. The name probably survives in that of Sumra, a village on the seacoast between Tripolis and Ruwad, about 1 1/2 miles North of Nahr el-Kebir. We may with some certainty identify this modern village with the site of the town from which the inhabitants were named "Zemarites."</p>