🔼The name Zedad: Summary
- Meaning
- Siding, Averting
- Etymology
- From the noun צד (sad), side or flank.
🔼The name Zedad in the Bible
The name Zedad occurs only once in the Bible. The prophet Ezekiel mentions it as one of the markers of the northern border of the restored land of Israel (Ezekiel 47:15).
The next town Ezekiel mentions is Hammath and some scholars propose that Ezekiel's "entrance of Zedad, Hamath..". may have something to do with Lebo-hamath, as mentioned first in Numbers 13:21. Another town close to Hammath is Ziddim (Joshua 19:35), which may or may not be the same town as Zedad.
🔼Etymology of the name Zedad
The name Zedad appears to derive from the verb צדד (sdd), but it's not known what that verb may have meant in Hebrew:
צדד
The unused verb צדד (sadad) probably meant to turn away or shun. In the Bible only the noun צד (sad) is used, and it means side (of a person, town, mountain, and so on).
🔼Zedad meaning
For a meaning of the name Zedad, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Siding. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes a rather dubious A Mountain and slightly more befitting but still askew Side Of A Mountain. BDB Theological Dictionary does not offer an interpretation of this name but does confidently list it under the root צדד (sdd).