King James Bible Dictionary

Numbering, (Genesis 10:30), supposed by some to be the ancient Himyaritic capital, "Shaphar," Zaphar, on the Indian Ocean, between the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.

book; scribe; number

A mountain in Arabia.
Genesis 10:30

(a numbering). It is written after the enumeration of the sons of Joktan, "And their dwelling was from Mesha as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east." (Genesis 10:30) The Joktanites occupied the southwestern portion of the peninsula of Arabia. The undoubted identifications of Arabian places and tribes with their Joktanite originals are included within these limits, and point to Sephar, on the shore of the Indian Ocean, as the eastern boundary. The ancient seaport town called Zafar represents the biblical site or district.

(Obadiah 1:20), some locality unknown. The modern Jews think that Spain is meant, and hence they designate the Spanish Jews "Sephardim," as they do the German Jews by the name "Ashkenazim," because the rabbis call Germany Ashkenaz. Others identify it with Sardis, the capital of Lydia. The Latin father Jerome regarded it as an Assyrian word, meaning "boundary," and interpreted the sentence, "which is in Sepharad," by "who are scattered abroad in all the boundaries and regions of the earth." Perowne says: "Whatever uncertainty attaches to the word Sepharad, the drift of the prophecy is clear, viz., that not only the exiles from Babylon, but Jewish captives from other and distant regions, shall be brought back to live prosperously within the enlarged borders of their own land."

a book descending

An unknown place, to which the inhabitants of Jerusalem were exiled.
Obadiah 1:20

(separated), a name which occurs in (Obadiah 1:20) only. Its situation has always been a matter of uncertainty.

Taken by Sargon, king of Assyria (2 Kings 17:24; 18:34; 19:13; Isaiah 37:13). It was a double city, and received the common name Sepharvaim, i.e., "the two Sipparas," or "the two booktowns." The Sippara on the east bank of the Euphrates is now called Abu-Habba; that on the other bank was Accad, the old capital of Sargon I., where he established a great library. (See SARGON.) The recent discovery of cuneiform inscriptions at Tel el-Amarna in Egypt, consisting of official despatches to Pharaoh Amenophis IV. and his predecessor from their agents in Palestine, proves that in the century before the Exodus an active literary intercourse was carried on between these nations, and that the medium of the correspondence was the Babylonian language and script. (See KIRJATH-SEPHER.)

the two books; the two scribes

An Assyrian city, from which the king of Assyria colonized Samaria.
2 Kings 17:24; 2 Kings 17:31; 2 Kings 18:34; 2 Kings 19:13; Isaiah 36:19; Isaiah 37:13

(the two Sipparas) is mentioned by Sennacherib in his letter to Hezekiah as a city whose king had been unable to resist the Assyrians. (2 Kings 19:13; Isaiah 37:13) comp. 2 Kings 18:34 It is identified with the famous town of Sippara., on the Euphrates above Babylon, which was near the site of the modern Mosaib. The dual form indicates that there were two Sipparas, one on either side of the river. Berosus celled Sippara "a city of the sun;" and in the inscriptions it bears the same title, being called Tsipar sha Shamas , or "Sippara of the Sun"

the sun being the chief object of worship there. Comp. (2 Kings 17:31)

The people of Sepharvaim.
2 Kings 17:31