Meroz, (Heb. מֵרוֹז) Of unknown origin. refuge

Thought to be a city within the plains of Galilee

Galilee

Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...

 north of Mt. Tabor in Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 which was cursed by the angel of God

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

 in the song of Deborah

Deborah

Deborah was a prophetess of Yahweh the God of the Israelites, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel, counselor, warrior, and the wife of Lapidoth according to the Book of Judges chapters 4 and 5....

 and Barak

Barak

Barak , Al-Burāq the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, was a military general in the Book of Judges in the Bible. He was the commander of the army of Deborah, the prophetess and heroine of the Hebrew Bible...

; whose inhabitants did not come to help the Israelites in battle against Sisera

Sisera

Sisera was commander of the Canaanite army of King Jabin of Hazor mentioned in the of the Hebrew Bible. After being defeated by Barak, Sisera was killed by Jael, who hammered a tent peg into his temple....

's army. Meroz may possibly be identified with el-Murussus, a village about 5 miles Northwest of Beisan, on the slopes to the North of the Vale of Jezreel. The village of Kafr Misr

Kafr Misr

Kafr Misr "; ) is an Arab village in north-eastern Israel. Located near Afula to the south of the Sea of Galilee, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bustan al-Marj Regional Council....

 has also been identified as a possible site, due its proximity to other nearby ancient sites such as Nein

Nein

Nein is an Arab village in Israel that forms part of the Bustan al-Marj Regional Council in the Lower Galilee. Located south of Nazareth, Nein covers a land area of approximately 1,000 dunums. Its total land area consisted of 3,737 dunums prior to 1962. According to the Israeli Central Bureau of...

 (Nain) and Indur

Indur

Indur was a Palestinian village, located southeast of Nazareth. Its name preserves that of ancient Endor, a Canaanite city state thought to have been located to the northeast. The village was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and its inhabitants became refugees, some of whom were...

 (Endor).

Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of God, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of YHWH, to the help of God against the mighty.

-Judges 5:23

Meroz in Kabbalistic Thought

Meroz is only mentioned once in scripture and has a strange fate, shared with that of Chorazin

Chorazin

Chorazin was a village in northern Galilee, two and a half miles from Capernaum on a hill above the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.-Biblical references:...

 (Matt. 11:21), to be preserved from oblivion only by the record of a curse

Curse

A curse is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to some other entity—one or more persons, a place, or an object...

 that was sentenced upon it. One must notice that the curse upon Meroz was not because of what they did, but rather because of what they didn't do. According to the Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

 (Moed Katan 16a), Meroz is a certain planet in the stellar sphere, and because the mention of it in Judges

Book of Judges

The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Hebrew bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its title describes its contents: it contains the history of Biblical judges, divinely inspired prophets whose direct knowledge of Yahweh allows them to act as decision-makers for the Israelites, as...

 5:23 is preceded by the phrase, "the stars in their course fought against Sisera" (v.20), it thus follows that Meroz must be defined as a celestial body. This mysterious 'Meroz' may not only be the name of a star, but also may allude to an unidentified group of outworld inhabitants somewhere in the second heaven (outer space) to which failed in their willingness to assist the righteous in a war against the wicked, and hence cursed by the angel of God.

See also Sisera

Sisera

Sisera was commander of the Canaanite army of King Jabin of Hazor mentioned in the of the Hebrew Bible. After being defeated by Barak, Sisera was killed by Jael, who hammered a tent peg into his temple....

See Ewing, W.. "Meroz," International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia 1913.

Meroz in Modern Hebrew literature

From Haim Nachman Bialik

Bialik

Bialik was originally a Polish/Czech surname before it was adopted by the Jewish population. The name probably originated from the Polish word Biały...

's poem Birkat 'am (People's blessing, Adar II 5654/March 1894):

וְלָמָּה, הַמְפַגְּרִים, פַּעֲמֵיכֶם כֹּה בוֹשְׁשׁוּ?
הַעֶבֶד יִשְׂרָאֵל, הַאִם בְּנֵי מֵרוֹז?

Why did your steps hesitate so much, you stragglers?
Are Jews slaves, are they Meroz' sons?