- SEORIM barley, the chief of the forth priestly course (1 Chronicles
24:8). - SEPHAR 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. - SEPHARAD (Obad. 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.” - SEPHARVAIM 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.) - SEPTUAGINT See VERSIONS.
- SEPULCHRE first mentioned as purchased by Abraham for Sarah from
Ephron the Hittite (Genesis 23:20). This was the “cave of the field of
Machpelah,” where also Abraham and Rebekah and Jacob and Leah were
burried (79:29-32). In Acts 7:16 it is said that Jacob was “laid in the
sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor
the father of Sychem.” It has been proposed, as a mode of reconciling the
kiana
(Kiana)
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