Bible Location
Meaning: motion · 7 cross references · Modern-day map available
Zoan was a major Egyptian city in the Nile Delta, known later as Tanis. It is important because biblical writers associate it with the courtly and political world of Egypt and with the signs God performed there during the Exodus memory. First appears in Num 13:22.1
Place meaning
motion
Coordinates
30.97, 31.88
First appears
Num 13:22
AI summary: Zoan gives biblical references to Egypt a more concrete urban center. The Psalms remember God's wonders in the "field of Zoan," which ties the city to the Exodus tradition and to acts of judgment against Pharaoh's power. Isaiah and Ezekiel then use Zoan in prophetic critique, presenting it as a place of failed counsel, misplaced confidence, and coming ruin within Egypt's leadership structure. The cross references present Zoan as a Delta capital where imperial wisdom is exposed before God's purposes.1
Place meaning
motion
Latitude
30.97
Longitude
31.88
Bible references
7
(Old Egypt. Sant= “stronghold,” the modern San). A city on the Tanitic branch of the Nile, called by the Greeks Tanis. It was built seven years after Hebron in Palestine (Num. 13:22). This great and important city was the capital of the Hyksos, or Shepherd kings, who ruled Egypt for more than 500 years. It was the frontier town of Goshen. Here Pharaoh was holding his court at the time of his various interviews with Moses and Aaron. “No trace of Zoan exists; Tanis was built over it, and city after city has been built over the ruins of that” (Harper, Bible and Modern Discovery). Extensive mounds of ruins, the wreck of the ancient city, now mark its site (Isa. 19:11, 13; 30:4; Ezek. 30:14). “The whole constitutes one of the grandest and oldest ruins in the world.”
This city was also called “the Field of Zoan” (Ps. 78:12, 43) and “the Town of Rameses” (q.v.), because the oppressor rebuilt and embellished it, probably by the forced labour of the Hebrews, and made it his northern capital. 3
Source note: this 1893 dictionary language reflects its period and may be culturally insensitive or outdated. It is presented as historical source material, not as ai-BIBLE’s language, interpretation, or endorsement.
| Book | Cross-References |
|---|---|
| Num | |
| Ps | |
| Isa | |
| Ezek |
Figure1: A table of cross references between the selected passage and other passages (Data from Robert Rouse, “Theographic Bible Information,” Theographic-Bible-Metadata, 2020, https://github.com/robertrouse/theographic-bible-metadata.)
AI-assisted summary prepared for ai-BIBLE and stored as page content, based on dictionary material, place metadata, and linked Bible cross references.
Alistair de Blacquiere-Clarkson, “ai-BIBLE Bible Names JSON Factsheet Aggregating Material from Smith’s Bible Dictionary & Hitcocks’s New and Complete Analysis of the Bible.” ai-BIBLE electronic edition, version 1.0.
M.G.Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, ai-BIBLE electronic edition, version 1.0.
Robert Rouse, “Theographic Bible Information,” Theographic-Bible-Metadata, 2020, https://github.com/robertrouse/theographic-bible-metadata.