Moabite living at the time of Egypt and Wilderness
Zippor was the father of Balak, the king of Moab who hired Balaam to curse Israel.
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Zippor was the father of Balak, the king of Moab who opposed the Israelites during their journey through the wilderness. He is mentioned several times in the account of Balak's attempts to curse Israel through the prophet Balaam (Numbers 22-24). Zippor's name, which means "bird" or "sparrow," is consistently used in conjunction with Balak's name, emphasizing his role as the king's father. Although little is known about Zippor's life, his son Balak's actions suggest that he may have shared the same hostility towards the Israelites. In Jos.24.9 and Jdg.11.25, Zippor is mentioned in the context of recounting Israel's past conflicts with Moab, further highlighting the significance of his son's opposition to Israel. Some scholars speculate that Zippor may have been the "former king of Moab" mentioned in Num.21.26, but this is not explicitly stated in the text.
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A little bird, the father of Balak, king of Moab (Num. 22:2, 4).
(sparrow), father of Balak king of Moab. (Numbers 22:2,4,10,16; 23:18; Joshua 24:9; Judges 11:25) Whether he was the “former king of Moab” alluded to in (Numbers 21:26) we are not told. (B.C. 1451.)
bird; sparrow; crown; desert
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
7 verses in 3 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H6834
Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites,
So the Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde will devour everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” Since Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time,
And Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message:
They came to Balaam and said, “This is what Balak son of Zippor says: ‘Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me,
Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Arise, O Balak, and listen; give ear to me, O son of Zippor.
Then Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you,
Are you now so much better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or fight against them?
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.