Sephar

"Numbering, (Gen. 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.

"(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."

"Taken by Sargon, king of Assyria (2 Kings 17:24; 18:34; 19:13;" "Isa. 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" [566]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 [567]KIRJATH-SEPHER.)

Definition of Sephar:
"book; scribe; number"