Secacah
Encyclopedia
Secacah is a town mentioned in the Hebrew Bible
/Old Testament as well as in the Dead Sea Scrolls
. The town was located in the wilderness of Judah
, otherwise known as the Judean Desert, and is identified by some scholars with the archaeological site of Khirbet Qumran.
but is written Aιχιoζa in LXX-B
. In the latter source (LXX-B), however, the place names of seem to have been corrupted.
and commonly known as the Judean Desert. Frank Moore Cross
Jr. and Józef Milik
located Secacah at the archaeological site of Khirbet es-Samrah in the Buqê’ah, a valley in the Judean Desert. The basis for this identification was the fact that es-Samrah was an Iron Age settlement that was in the same area as Secacah (the wilderness of Judah). John Marco Allegro
, however, identified Khirbet Qumran (nearby the Buqê’ah) with Secacah. Although it is most famous as the archaeological site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, excavations have revealed that Qumran was initially inhabited during the Iron Age. The Iron Age remains there include a lmlk seal. In addition, the water system at Qumran, which dates to the early Roman Period, is consistent with the description of Secacah in the Copper Scroll.
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
/Old Testament as well as in the Dead Sea Scrolls
Dead Sea scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...
. The town was located in the wilderness of Judah
Tribe of Judah
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Judah was one of the Tribes of Israel.Following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes after about 1200 BCE, Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes....
, otherwise known as the Judean Desert, and is identified by some scholars with the archaeological site of Khirbet Qumran.
Ancient name
The toponym Secacah is derived from the root סכך, which means either “enclosed” or “cover” (possibly in reference to a shaded area). The variation in the spelling of the place name, סככה in the Hebrew Bible versus סככא in the Copper Scroll, reflects an orthographic phenomenon seen elsewhere in later phases of Hebrew (א < ה). In the Greek versions of the Hebrew Bible, Secacah is transcribed as Σοχοχα in LXX-ACodex Alexandrinus
The Codex Alexandrinus is a 5th century manuscript of the Greek Bible,The Greek Bible in this context refers to the Bible used by Greek-speaking Christians who lived in Egypt and elsewhere during the early history of Christianity...
but is written Aιχιoζa in LXX-B
Codex Vaticanus
The Codex Vaticanus , is one of the oldest extant manuscripts of the Greek Bible , one of the four great uncial codices. The Codex is named for the residence in the Vatican Library, where it has been stored since at least the 15th century...
. In the latter source (LXX-B), however, the place names of seem to have been corrupted.
Location and identification
The town of Secacah is listed along with six other towns and related settlements in the wilderness of Judah, situated along the western bank of the Dead SeaDead Sea
The Dead Sea , also called the Salt Sea, is a salt lake bordering Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. Its surface and shores are below sea level, the lowest elevation on the Earth's surface. The Dead Sea is deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world...
and commonly known as the Judean Desert. Frank Moore Cross
Frank Moore Cross
Frank Moore Cross, Jr. is Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages Emeritus at Harvard University, notable for his work in the interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, his 1973 magnum opus Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, and his work in Northwest Semitic epigraphy...
Jr. and Józef Milik
Józef Milik
Józef Tadeusz Milik was a Polish biblical scholar and a former Catholic priest. Fluent in Polish, Russian, Italian, French, German, and English plus many ancient languages Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Syriac, Old Church Slavonic, Arabic, Georgian, Ugaritic, Akkadian, Sumerian, Egyptian, and...
located Secacah at the archaeological site of Khirbet es-Samrah in the Buqê’ah, a valley in the Judean Desert. The basis for this identification was the fact that es-Samrah was an Iron Age settlement that was in the same area as Secacah (the wilderness of Judah). John Marco Allegro
John Marco Allegro
John Marco Allegro was a scholar who challenged orthodox views of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Bible and the history of religion, with books that attracted popular attention and scholarly derision....
, however, identified Khirbet Qumran (nearby the Buqê’ah) with Secacah. Although it is most famous as the archaeological site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, excavations have revealed that Qumran was initially inhabited during the Iron Age. The Iron Age remains there include a lmlk seal. In addition, the water system at Qumran, which dates to the early Roman Period, is consistent with the description of Secacah in the Copper Scroll.