International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Shaphir

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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Shaphir


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shā´fẽr (שׁפיר, shāphı̄r, “glittering”; καλῶς, kalṓs; the King James Version Saphir): One of a group of towns mentioned in -15. From the association with Gath, Achzib (of Judah) and Mareshah, it would seem that the places mentioned were in Southwestern Palestine. According to Eusebius, in Onomasticon, there was a Σαφείρ, Sapheı́r, “in the hill country” (from a confusion with Shamir (), where Septuagint A has Sapheir) between Eleutheropolis and Ascalon. The name probably survives in that of three villages called es-Sūāfir, in the plain, some 3 1/2 miles Southeast of Ashdod (PEF, II, 413, Sh XV). Cheyne (EB, col. 4282) suggests the white “glittering” hill Tell eṣ-Ṣāfı, at the entrance to the Wâdy eṣ-Sunt, which was known to the Crusaders as Blanchegarde, but this site seems a more probable one for GATH (which see).