Bible Dictionary
Zuph
A Kohathite Levite who was an ancestor of Elkanah and Samuel. Zuph also names a district associated with Samuel’s city.
Definition
Zuph was a Kohathite Levite and ancestor of Elkanah and Samuel. He is also called Zophai in 1 Chronicles. The name additionally designates a district through which Saul and his servant passed while seeking Samuel.
Biblical Usage
Zuph appears in the ancestry of Elkanah and Samuel. The land of Zuph is associated with the place where Saul and his servant encountered Samuel.
Historical Background
The district of Zuph was near Samuel’s city and not far from Rachel’s tomb. It has been tentatively identified with Soba, west of Jerusalem.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Honeycomb, a Kohathite Levite, ancestor of Elkanah and Samuel (1 Sam. 1:1); called also Zophai (1 Chr. 6:26).
Smith's Bible Dictionary
a Kohathite Levite, ancestor of Elkanah and Samuel. (1 Samuel 1:1; 1 Chronicles 6:35) In (1 Chronicles 6:26) he is called Zophai. (honeycomb), The land of, a district at which Saul and his servant arrived after passing through the possessions of Shalisha, of Shalim and of the Benjamites. (1 Samuel 9:5) only. It evidently contained the city in which they encountered Samuel, ver. 6, and that again was certainly not far from the “tomb of Rachel.” It may perhaps be identified with Soba, a well-known place about seven miles due west of Jerusalem.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>zuf (tsuph, "honeycomb"):</p><p>(1) According to 1Sa 1:1 b; 1Ch 6:35 (Hebrew verse 20) = "Zophai" of 1Ch 6:26 (11), an ancestor of Elkanah and Samuel. But Budde and Wellhausen take it to be an adjective, and so read tsuphi, in 1Sa 1:1 b: "Tohu a Zuphite, an Ephraimite." It should probably be read also in 1:1a: "Now there was a certain man of the Ramathites, a Zuphite of the hill-country of Ephraim," as the Hebrew construction in the first part of the verse is otherwise unnatural. The Septuagint's Codex Alexandrinus has Soup; Lucian has Souph in 1Sa 1:1 b; 1Ch 6:26 (11); Codex Vaticanus has Souphei; Codex Alexandrinus and Lucian have Souphi; 6:35 (20), Codex Vaticanus and Codex Alexandrinus have Souph; Lucian has Souphi; and the Kethibh has tsiph.</p><p>(2) The Septuagint's Codex Vaticanus and Codex Alexandrinus have Seiph; Lucian has Sipha, "the land of Zuph," a district in Benjamin, near its northern border (1Sa 9:5).</p><p>David Francis Roberts</p>