p. 97, 953). In this case the conjecture of Dr. Tlobino son is very admissible, that Opiik.vh (q. v.) of Benja- min (Josh, xviii, 23) and E])hraim are identicil, and that their modern representation is et-Tav/ibek, a vil- lage on a conspicuous conical hill, commanding a view "over the whole eastern slope, the valley of the Jor- dan and the Dead Sea" (^Researches, ii, 121). It is placed by Eusebius (Onomast. s. v. 'E(ppioi') eight Ro- man nules north of Jerusalem, while Jerome, with more probabilit}', makes the distance 20 lioman miles. This indication would seem to make it the same with the Epiirain or Epuron which is mentioned in 2 Chrou. xiii, 19, along with Bethel and Jeslianah, as towns taken from Jerolioam by Abijah. This, again, is doubtless the same which Joscphus also names ('E(f.pa- (ju) along with Bethel as "two small cities" (rroXix- vta), which were taken and garrisoned by Vespasian while reducing the countrj- around Jerusalem (\V(ir, iv, 9, 9). It is likewise probably identical with the EpiiRAur (see above) near Baal-Hazor (2 Sam. xiii, 23). See also Aph.erejia.
E'phraimite, as a designation of a descendant of the patriarch Ephraim, is properly denoted in the Ileb. by the patronymic C"'nEX~'j2, son of Ephraim (Num. X, 52, plur. A.V. "children of Ephraim"), or simply Ephraim (often rendei'ed " Ephraimites" in the A.V.) ; but in Judg. xii, 5 it ajipears as a rendering of '^r"'£X an Ephrailiite (q. v.), meaning thereViy, however, an Ephraimite, which is apparentlj' likewise the meaning of the same Heb. word in 1 Sam. i, 1 ; 1 Kings xi, 26, in both which passages, however, the A.V. regidarly Anglicizes " Ephrathite." The narrative in Judges raises the inquiry whether the Ephraimites had not a peculiar accent or patois, similar to that whicli in later times caused "the speech" of the Galila;ans to "be- tray" them to the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Matt- xxvi, 73).
E'phrain (Heb. in the margin Ephra'yin, ""S!?, but in the text Ephron' , "I'^S", i. e. "iinS", which lat- ter appears to be the genuine reading [see Ephron]; Sept. 'E<ppi!)v, Vulg. Ephron^, a city of Israel, which, with its dependent hamlets (r-'i;3 = " daughters," A. V. "towns"), Abijah and the army of Judah captured from Jeroboam with Bethel and Jeshanah (2 Chron. xiii, 19). It appears to be mentioned in the Talmud {3feiiack. ix, 1) as Ephraim (C^jS"). It has been con- jectured that this Ephrain or Epliron is identical with the Ephraim b}' which Absalom's sheep-farm of Baal- hazor was situated (2 Sam. xiii, 23) ; also with the cit}'- called Ephraim, near the wilderness in which our Lord lived for some time (John xi, 54) ; and with Oi'H- RAii (iT^S")i '1 city of Benjamin, apparentlv not far from Bethel (Josh, xviii, 23 ; comp. Josephus, War, iv, 9, 9), and which has l)een located by Dr. Robinson {Re- searches, new ed. i, 447), with much probability, at the modern village oi et-Taiyiheh. (See Ewald, fle.^T/«'f/^/e, iii, 219, 4GG ; v, 365 ; Stanley, Palestine, p. 210.) See Ephraim 3.
Eph'ratah [some EphraUah'] (Heb. Ephra'thah, nr'^EX, Gen. xxxv, 16, 19; xlviii, 7 twice; Psa. cxxxii^ C; Mic. V, 1; 1 Chron. ii, 50 ; iv, 4 ; Sept. 'E0- paBa or 'E(f)pa^a,Yu\g.Ejjhrata, A.V. " Ephratah" in all but Gen. and the last-named passage of Chron., where it gives " Ephrath"\ a prolonged [or sometimes " directive"] form of Eph'ratli (Hebrew Epihruth', n'HEX, jirobably /;•)«://«/, 1 Chron. ii, 19; Sc]it. <l)o«^, Vulg. Ejihrata'), the name of a woman and of one or two places.
1. The second wife of Caleb, the son of Hezron, mother of Hur, and grandmotlier of Caleb the spy, ac- cording to 1 Chron. ii, 19, 50, and prol)ably 24 [sec CA' leis-iophratah], and iv, 4, in winch last passage Hur is apparently called "the father (i. e. foumler) of Beth* lehem" (see below). B.C. post 1856.
EPHRATAH
255
EPHREM
2. The ancient name of Bethlehem in Jiidah, as is manifest from Gen. xxxv, IC, 10; xlviii, 7, both whieii passages distinctly prove that it was called E[)hrath or Ephratah in Jacob's time, and use the regular formula for adding the modern name, Crib~n'^2 i<"^n, u-hich is Bethlehem (comp, e. g. Gen. xxiii, 2 ; xxxv, 27 ; Josh. XV, 10). It cannot, therefore, have derived its name from Ephratah, the mother of Hur, as the author of Qurst. Ilebr. in Paraleip. says, and as one might oth- erwise have supposed from the connection of her de- scendants, Salma and Hur, with Betiilehem, which is somewhat obscurely intimated in 1 Chron. ii, 50, 51 ; iv, 4. It seems o1)vious, therefore, to infer that, on the contrary, Ephratah, the mother of Hur, was so called from the town of her birth, and that she probabl}' was the owner of the town and district ; in fact, that her name was really gentilitious. But if this be so, it would indicate more communication between the Is- raelites in Egypt and the Canaanites than is common- ly supposed. When, however, we recollect that the land of Goshen was the border country on the Pales- tine side ; that the Israelites in Goshen were a tribe of sheep and cattle drovers (Gen. xlvii, 3) ; that there was an easy communication between Palestine and Egypt from the earliest times (Gen. xii, 10; xvi, 1; xxi, 21, etc.); that there are indications of communi- cations between the Israelites in Egypt and the Ca- naanites, caused by their trade as keepers of cattle (1 Chron. vii, 21) ; and that, in the nature of things, the owners or keepers of large herds and flocks in Goshen would have dealings with the nomad tribes in Pales- tine, it will perhaps seem not impossible that a son of Hezron may have married a woman having property in Ephratah. Another way of accounting for the con- nection between Ephratah's descendants and Bethle- hem, is to suppose that the elder Caleb was not really the son of Hezron, but merel}' reckoned so as the head of a Hezronite house. He maj' in this case have been one of an Edomitish or Horitc tribe, an idea which is favored l>y the name of his son Hur [see Caleb], and have married an Ephrathite. Caleb the spy may have been their grandson. It is singular that " Salma, the father of Bethlehem," should have married a Canaan- itish woman. Could she have been of the kindred of Caleb in any way ? If she were, and if Salma obtain- ed Bethlehem, a portion of Hur"s inheritance, in con- sequence, this would account for both Hur and Salma being called " father of Bethlehem." Another possi- ble explanation is, that Ephratah may have been the name given to some daughter of Benjamin to com- memorate the circumstance of Rachel his mother hav- ing died close to Ephrath. This would receive some support from the son of Bachcrs other son Joseph be- ing called Ephraim, a word of identical etymology, as appears from the fact that "^r^iSX means indifferently an Ephrathite, i. e. Bethlekemiie (Ruth i, 1, 2), or an Ephraimite (1 Sam. i, 1). But it would not account for Ephratah's descendants being settled at Bethle- hem. From Ruth i, 2, where the sons of Naomi are called "Ephrathites of Bethlehem [of] Judah," it would seem that Ephrath was the name of a district of which Bethlehem was the chief town ; and the designation of Mic. iv, 2 as "Bethlehem [of] Ephratah," is ren- dered in Matt, ii, 6, " Bethlehem [in the] land (yi)) of Judah," as if to distinguish it by adding the name of a district, although a larger one (Lange, Comment, on Matt, in loc). At all events we should note that in Gen., and perhaps in Chron., it is called Ephralh or Ejyhraiiih; in Ruth, Beihkhem-Jndah, but the inhabit- ants Ephrathites; in jNIicah, Bethlehem - Ephratah ; in Matt. Bethlehem in the land of Jiida. The Sept. sup- plies [E^pa^rt {cd'Ti] ia-i lh]i\kfp')\ its omission among the cities of Judah in Josh, xv, 60 (see Reinec- cius, Progr. on this point, Weissenfels, 1723). Jerome, and after him Kalisch, observe that 'E^Anntah^ fruitful, has the same meaning as Bethlehem, house of bread, a