Zizah is a name found in the King James Bible, appearing 1 time in the text.
Who This Was
Zizah was a Levite, a descendant of Kohath, and he appears in the genealogical record of 1 Chronicles 23. In this chapter, David, now old and nearing the end of his reign, organizes the Levites for their service in the house of the LORD. The Kohathites were one of the three main divisions of the tribe of Levi, and within that line Zizah is listed among the sons of Shimei, alongside Jahath, Jeush, and Beriah.
The single verse that names Zizah gives him a specific place in the family order: “And Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second.” He is identified as the second in rank among his brothers. The verse goes on to explain that Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they were counted together as one father’s house for the purposes of the census and the assignment of duties. Zizah, by contrast, is distinguished by his position as second, set apart in the record even though the text tells us nothing else about his life, his character, or his specific work.
What Scripture says of Zizah, then, is brief and largely administrative: he was a Kohathite Levite, he was second among the sons of Shimei, and he was numbered in the reckoning of the Levites when David set the order of service for the temple. He did nothing recorded that we might praise or censure; he simply belonged to the house set apart for the LORD’s work, and he held a defined place within it.
The Name
The name Zizah (Hebrew *Zizah*) is rare, appearing only here in the King James Bible. Its meaning is not clearly recoverable from the Hebrew text, and scholars have not reached a settled consensus on its derivation. Some have tentatively connected it to a root suggesting “abundance” or “fulness,” and a related form appears in the parallel genealogy of 1 Chronicles 23:10 as “Zina,” which may reflect a textual variation of the same name. Because the meaning is uncertain, it is best to say so plainly rather than assign it a confident definition. What can be said is that the name belonged to a real man in a real family line, preserved in Scripture even where its sense has been lost to us.
A Closing Thought
Zizah is the kind of person most of us will be: named once, described in a single line, remembered chiefly as “the second.” He was not the chief, not the founder of a dynasty, not the subject of a story. Yet he was counted. He had a place in the house of the LORD and a role in the order of service, and that was enough. Most faithful lives are lived in the second, third, or unnoticed rank, and God’s record keeps them all. There is quiet comfort in knowing that being numbered among His servants matters more than being first among them.
At a Glance
- Gender: Male
- Testament: Old
- Mentions in the KJV: 1
Where It Appears in Scripture
- 1 Chronicles 23:11 — And Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second: but Jeush and Beriah had not many sons; therefore they were in one reckoning, according to their father’s house.