MEROZ

(Meʹroz).

A place cursed by an angel for not coming “to the assistance of Jehovah.” (Judg. 5:23) It may be that the inhabitants of Meroz did not aid Jehovah’s designated commander Barak in the actual fight against the Canaanites under Sisera. (Judg. 5:5-16) Or, if Meroz lay on defeated Sisera’s escape route, perhaps its inhabitants failed to detain him. (Judg. 4:17) The fact that the Bible account next relates Jael’s courageous act in killing Sisera lends some support to the latter view. (Judg. 5:24-27) The angel pronouncing the curse possibly was one who fought for Israel.

Meroz’s exact location is unknown. Some tentatively place it at Khirbet Marus, less than six miles (10 kilometers) S of Kedesh in Naphtali.