בַּ֫עַל חָצוֹר

# Baal-hazor: A Place Name in Biblical Geography Baal-hazor appears twice in the biblical text as a proper noun denoting a specific geographic location. The name is composed of two elements: "Baal" (a common place-name prefix in Hebrew topography) and "hazor" (meaning "enclosure" or "settlement"). This compound structure reflects a typical Hebrew naming convention for identifying inhabited locations or fortified sites. The limited attestation of Baal-hazor—appearing in only two biblical passages—suggests it was a minor or regionally significant location rather than a major city center. Its scarcity in the biblical record indicates either that it was a small settlement or that it held importance only during particular historical periods when the texts were composed. Without additional contextual data about these two occurrences, the precise role or significance of this site within biblical narratives cannot be determined from the lexicon entry alone. The term exemplifies how biblical place names often combined deity or territorial descriptors with geographic features to create identifiers meaningful to ancient populations. Such names served practical purposes in distinguishing one settlement from another in a region where multiple communities shared similar characteristics.