Senaah
“Thorny”
Summary
A town or family whose descendants returned from Babylonian exile in unusually large numbers and helped rebuild Jerusalem's Fish Gate.
☩Return from Exile
The 'children of Senaah' are listed among those who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel around 536 BC. Their numbers were notably large—3,630 according to Ezra and 3,930 according to Nehemiah—suggesting either a sizable town or a prominent family. This may represent a clan rather than simply inhabitants of a single location.
☩Rebuilding Jerusalem
The 'sons of Hassenaah' (the same name with the Hebrew definite article) rebuilt the Fish Gate during Nehemiah's restoration of Jerusalem's walls. Eusebius and Jerome mention Magdal Senna ('great Senaah'), a village about seven miles north of Jericho, which may preserve the location of this community.
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Senaah," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IX (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Senaah," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. IV (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Senaah," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).