6. Ewald (^Propheten, i, 404) considers that Sepharad has a connection with Zarephath in the preceding verse ; and while deprecating the " penetration" of those who have discovered the name in a cuneiform inscription, suggests that the true reading is Sepharam, and that it is to be found in a place three hours from Akka, i. e. doubtless the modern Shefa 'Omar, a place of much an- cient repute and veneration among the Jews of Pales- tine (see Zunz, note to Parchi, p. 428); but it is not ob- vious how a residence within the Holy Land can have been spoken of as a captivity, and there are considerable differences in the forms of the two names.
7. Michaelis {SuppL'No. 1778) has devoted some space to this name ; and, among other conjectures, ingeniously suggests that the " Spartans" (q. v.) of 1 Mace, xii, 15 are accurately "Sepharadites." This suggestion, how- ever, does not appear to have stood the test of later in- vestigations.— Smith. But it is adopted by Keil (ad loc), who objects to the view expressed above (No. 5) that Sardis would naturally be Hebraized "T"i10.
8. JuynboU proposes (fJist. Samar, p. 20) to read '^•'~\^ ^103, at the end of (i. e. beyond) the Euphrates, as the origin of the Sept. rendering, but such a phrase would be unnatural.
Sepliardim, a name applied to the Spanish Jews. They were banished from Spain in 1492, and from Por- tugal in 1497, and yet they still maintain their identity as a separate class of Jews among their Itrethren in all parts of the world. Thej' look upon themselves as a higher order of Israelites. One peculiar point of dis- tinction which marks them out from other Jews is their daily use of the old Spanish language, with which they are so familiar that their own Scriptures are better known to them in the old Spanish version than in the original Hebrew. See Jews.
Sepharva'im {Yle\).Sepharva'yim,^'^)^^'q ; Sept. ^ETripapinuiifi, 'Eircpapovaifi) is mentioned by Sennach- erib in his letter to Hezekiah as a city whose king had been unable to resist the Assyrians (2 Kings xix, 13; Isa. xxxvii, 13; comp. 2 Kings xviii, 34). It is coup- led with Hena and Ava, or Ivah, which were towns ,on the Eu[)hrates above Babylon. Again, it is men- tioned in 2 Kings xvii. 24 as one of the places from which colonists were transported to people the desolate
Samaria, after the Israelites had been carried into cap- tivity, where it is again joined with Ava, and also with Cuthah and Babylon. These indications are enough to justify us in iilentifying the place with the famous tcnvn of tSipjmra, on the Euplirates above Babylon (Ptolemy, V, 18), which was near the site of the modern Mosuib, Sippara was mentioned by Berosus as the place where, according to him, Xithrus (or Noah) buried the records of the antediluvian world at the time of the deluge, and from which his posterity recovered them afterwards {Fragm. Hist. Or. ii, 501 ; iv, 280). Abydenus calls it TTuXiv Unnzap^vihv (Frae/m. 9), and says that Nebu- chadnezzar excavated a vast lake in its vicinity for purposes of irrigation. Pliny seems to intend the same place by his "oppida Hipparenorum" — where, according to him, was a great seat of the Chaldaic learning (/Jisi. Nat. vi, 30). When Pliny places Ilippara, or Sippara, on the Narragam (Nahr Agam), instead of on the Eu- phrates, his reference is to the artificial channel which branched off from the Euphrates at Sippara and led to the great lake (Chald. Sf^iSN) excavated by Nebuchad- nezzar. Abydenus called this branch " Aracanus" (Apn- KavoQ), At Akan {Fragm. 10). The plural form here used by Pliny may be compared with the dual form in use among the Jews; and the explanation of both is to be found in the fact that there were two Sipparas, one on either side of the river. Berosus called Sippara " a city of the sun" ('HX/oy ttoXh') ; and in the inscrijitions it bears the same title, being called Tsipar sha-Shamas, or " Sippara of the Sim" — the sun being the chief object of worship there. Hence the Sepharvites are said, in 2 Kings xvii, 31, to have "burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anamnielech, the gods of Sepharvaim" — these two distinct deities representing respectively the male and female powers of the sun, as Lunus and Luna represented tlie male and female pow- ers of the moon among the Romans. — Smith.
Se'pharvite (Heb. Sepharvi', "^l."!?!?, but only in the plural; Sept. "Ztrcipapovain v. r. ^Kfxpapovv'), a native of Sepharvaim (q. v.) (2 Kings xviii, 31).
Sephe'la (1 Mace, xii, 38). See Shkphelah.
Sepher Asara Maamauoth. See Affesdofulo, Caleij.
Sepher ha-Bahir. See Nechunjah bex-Ha- Kaxah.
Sepher ha-Nikkud. See Chajug, Jehuda bex- David.
Sepher Jezirah. See Jezirah.
Sepher Nitsachon. See Lipmann, Jomtob.
Sepher Toraii. See Torah.
Sepher Zerubbabei. (baaiT "lED) is the title of an apocalyptic book, written in the form of a dialogue between Zerubbabel and the angel Bletatron about the birth, education, life, war, and death of Armillus, who is about to appear after the war between Gog and ]\Iagog, etc. The wonders of the Messiah were to be seen between 1063 and 1068. This work, which was probably writ- ten between 1050 and 1060, was first i)rinted at Constan- tinople in 1519; then at Wilna in 1819. Lately it was published by Jellinek, according to two Leipsic BLSS. (Cod. 22 and .38), in his collection entitled t"^"[an r'^3 [Leipsic, 1853], ii, 54-57). See Ftirst, Bibf. Jttd. iii, 317 ; Griitz, Gesch. der .Jiiden, vi, 58 sq. (B. P.)