-
ShankAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
(evidently to exonerate himself from responsibility for the loss of one of his herd). Here the prophet graphically portrays the destruction coming upon Samaria, particularly the leaders thereof. There would be very few who would escape the lionlike devouring by Samaria’s enemies.
-
-
ShaphamAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SHAPHAM
(Shaʹpham).
The second in charge of the tribe of Gad in Bashan sometime prior to the reign of Jeroboam II in the ninth century B.C.E.—1 Chron. 5:11, 12, 17.
-
-
ShaphanAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SHAPHAN
(Shaʹphan) [rock badger].
Son of Azaliah and a royal secretary. King Josiah, in 642 B.C.E., sent Shaphan and two other officials to High Priest Hilkiah with instructions for temple repairs. On this occasion Hilkiah turned over to Shaphan “the very book of the law,” possibly even the original, recently found in the temple. No sooner had Shaphan read a portion of the Law to Josiah, than he and his son Ahikam, along with others, were dispatched by Josiah as a delegation to inquire concerning Jehovah’s purpose for Judah. They went to the prophetess Huldah, and reported back to the king Jehovah’s prophecy that destruction would come, but not during Josiah’s reign.—2 Ki. 22:3-20; 2 Chron. 34:8-28.
Shaphan’s sons Ahikam (Jer. 26:24), Elasah (Jer. 29:1-3) and Gemariah (Jer. 36:10-12, 25) apparently were also adherents to true worship. His son Jaazaniah was not, however. (Ezek. 8:10, 11) Shaphan’s grandson Gedaliah was the God-fearing governor appointed after Jerusalem’s fall.—2 Ki. 25:22; Jer. 39:14.
-
-
ShaphatAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SHAPHAT
(Shaʹphat) [he has judged].
1. A chieftain representing the tribe of Simeon as one of the spies who spent forty days in the Promised Land; son of Hori.—Num. 13:2, 5, 25; see SPIES.
2. One of King David’s herdsmen; son of Adlai. The flocks Shaphat cared for were in the low plains.—1 Chron. 27:29.
3. Father of the prophet Elisha.—1 Ki. 19:16, 19; 2 Ki. 3:11; 6:31.
4. A descendant of Gad who lived in Bashan.—1 Chron. 5:11, 12.
5. One of the descendants of David through Zerubbabel.—1 Chron. 3:22.
-
-
ShaphirAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SHAPHIR
(Shaʹphir) [beautiful].
A place, evidently in Judah, the inhabitants of which were included in Micah’s prophecy of judgment due to come upon Judah and Jerusalem. (Mic. 1:11) In this section of the prophecy, Micah makes a frequent play on words in his usage of the place-names. (See BETH-EZEL.) The present tentative identification of Shaphir is with Khirbet el-Kom, a site on a hill dominating the Wadi es-Saffar (Arabic form of Shaphir), about nine miles (15 kilometers) W of Hebron.
-
-
SharaiAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SHARAI
(Shaʹrai).
One of those sons of Binnui who, after the exile, dismissed their foreign wives.—Ezra 10:38, 40, 44.
-
-
ShararAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SHARAR
(Sha’rar).
Hararite father of David’s warrior Ahiam. (2 Sam. 23:33) He is called Sacar at 1 Chronicles 11:35.
-
-
SharezerAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SHAREZER
(Shar·eʹzer) [‘protect the king’].
1. A son of Assyrian King Sennacherib. Sometime after his father’s defeat by Jehovah, Sharezer and his brother Adrammelech killed their father with the sword while he was bowing down to his idol god, after which they fled to the land of Ararat. (2 Ki. 19:7, 35-37; Isa. 37:38) Their brother Esar-haddon, Sennacherib’s successor, claims, in an inscription, to have pursued his father’s murderers.—See ESAR-HADDON.
2. The first named of two representatives of postexilic Bethel sent, about two years before the temple rebuilding was completed, to ‘soften Jehovah’s face’ and inquire about the propriety of fasting.—Zech. 7:1-3; Ezra 6:15.
-
-
SharonAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SHARON
(Sharʹon) [plain, level country].
1. The maritime plain between the plain of Dor (S of Carmel) and the plain of Philistia. From its northern border formed by the Crocodile River (Nahr Zerqa), Sharon extends southward for about forty miles (64 kilometers) to the area of Joppa and varies in width from about ten to twelve miles (16 to 19 kilometers). Extensive sand dunes are found along the coast. Crossed by highways, the area anciently was of considerable military and commercial importance.
Sharon was noted for its fertility (compare Isaiah 35:2), being a well-watered region through which several streams flow. Flocks and herds grazed there. (1 Chron. 27:29; compare Isaiah 65:10.) Great oak forests once occupied the northern part of Sharon, whereas the southern part, as today, was likely cultivated more extensively. It appears that much of the region was desolated during the Assyrian invasion in the eighth century B.C.E.—Isa. 33:9.
In The Song of Solomon the Shulammite is depicted as describing herself as “a mere saffron of the coastal plain,” evidently meaning just a common flower among the many growing in Sharon.—Song of Sol. 2:1.
2. According to 1 Chronicles 5:16, the tribe of Gad dwelt in “Gilead, in Bashan and in its dependent towns and in all the pasture grounds of Sharon.” Some scholars think that this means that Gadites grazed their flocks in the coastal plains of Sharon (No. 1). However, Gad received territory E of the Jordan, and both Gilead and Bashan are on that side. Thus many authorities conclude that there was also a region in Gad’s territory called Sharon. Since sha·rohnʹ (plain, level country) and the Hebrew term mi·shohrʹ (tableland, level land [Deut. 3:10; 1 Ki. 20:25]) are from the same root, perhaps this Sharon was part of the tableland E of the Dead Sea.
-
-
SharoniteAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SHARONITE
(Sharʹon·ite).
A person from the plain of Sharon. Shitrai, the man in charge of David’s herds in Sharon, was called a Sharonite.—1 Chron. 27:29, 31.
-
-
SharuhenAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SHARUHEN
(Sha·ruʹhen).
A city of Simeon. (Josh. 19:1, 6) It also appears to be called Shilhim (Josh. 15:32) and Shaaraim. (1 Chron. 4:31) Scholars generally believe it to be Tell el-Farʽah, about nineteen miles (31 kilometers) W of Beer-sheba.
-
-
ShashaiAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SHASHAI
(Shaʹshai).
One of the postexilic sons of Binnui who took foreign wives for themselves, but, in response to Ezra’s urging, sent them away.—Ezra 10:10, 11, 38, 40, 44.
-
-
ShashakAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SHASHAK
(Shaʹshak).
A Benjamite whose eleven sons are listed among the headmen who lived in Jerusalem.—1 Chron. 8:14, 22-25, 28.
-
-
ShaulAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SHAUL
(Shaʹul) [likely, asked (of Jehovah)].
1. Sixth-named king of ancient Edom; successor of Samlah and predecessor of Baal-hanan. Shaul was from “Rehoboth by the River.”—Gen. 36:31, 37, 38; 1 Chron. 1:48, 49.
2. Last-named son of Simeon, born of a Canaanite woman. (Gen. 46:10; 1 Chron. 4:24) Shaul founded the family of the Shaulites numbered among the Simeonites.—Ex. 6:15; Num. 26:12, 13.
3. A Levite descendant of Kohath.—1 Chron. 6:22-24.
-
-
ShaulitesAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SHAULITES
(Sha·uʹlites).
A Simeonite family founded by Shaul.—Num. 26:12, 13.
-
-
Shaveh, Low Plain ofAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SHAVEH, LOW PLAIN OF
(Shaʹveh) [level (plain)].
“The king’s Low Plain,” where Abraham, victorious over Chedorlaomer and his allies, was met by the king of Sodom and received a blessing from Melchizedek, king of Salem. (Gen. 14:17-24) Centuries later, Absalom erected his monument in the “Low Plain of the King,” apparently the same place and likely near Jerusalem. (2 Sam. 18:18) Josephus indicated that Absalom’s Monument was set up “two furlongs
-