SHANI
618
SHARA MALACHAI
in all the processes of nature, and binding all the parts together in one mighty organism. — Gardner, Faiths of the World, s. v.
Shani. See Cuimson; Scarlet.
Shank, Joseph, a minister of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, was horn in Schoharie, N. Y., about 1818, and professed conversion at the age of twenty. He was licensed to preach in 1841, and soon after joined the Oneida Conference. In 1864 he was transferred to the Detroit Conference, but his health failed him in 1806. After a trip to the sea-coast, he returned to Fentonville, Jlich., where he died Sept. 30, 18G7. See AJinutes of Annual Conferences, 1868, p. 174.
Shanks, AsBURY H., a minister of the Methodist Episcojial Church, South, was born in South Carolina in 1808. He joined the Church in 18.30, and entered the itinerant ministry in 1831. His ordination of dea- con was received in 1833, and that of elder in 183.5. After fourteen years of labor, he located, studied law, and graduated from the law department of the Transyl- vania University. In 1849 he went to Texas, and en- gaged in the practice of his profession. He was ad- mitted into the East Texas Conference in 1858, but owing to ill-health was obliged to superannuate in 1859, and held that relation until his death, Oct. 20, 1868. He was a preacher of great power, a sound theologian, and in the practice of law never compromised liis minis- terial character. See Minutes of A nnual Conferences ofM. E. Ch. South, 1868, p. 283.
Sha'pham (Heb. Shaphum', BS"^, hold [Gesen.] or vigorous [Flirst], Sept. 'S.a(pafi v. r. leKpc'iT), the chief second in autliority among the Gadites in the days of Jotham (1 Chron. v, 12). B.C. cir. 750.
Sha'phan (Heb. Shaphan', "Sd, coney; Sept. 2a- <pav V. r. "Eancpav, and '2a<p<pm' in 2 Kings xxii), the scribe or secretary of king Josiah, and the father of an- other of his principal officers. B.C. cir. 628. He was the son of Azaliah (2 Kings xxii, 3 , 2 Chron. xxxiv, 8), father of Ahikam (2 Kings xxii, 12; 2 Chron. xxxiv, 20), Elasah (Jer. xxix, 3), and Gemariah (xxxvi, 10- 12), and grandfather of Gedaliah (xxxix, 14; xl, 5, 9, 11; xli,2; xliii, 6). Michaiah (xxxvi, 11), and probably of Jaazaniah (Ezelc. viii, 11). There seems to be no sufficient reason for supposing, as many have done, that Shaphan the father of Ahikam, and Shaphan the scribe, were different persons. The history of Shaphan brings out some points with regard to the office of scribe which he held. He appears on an equality with the governor of the city and the royal recorder, with whom he was sent by the king to Hilkiah to take an account of the money which had been collected by the Levites for the repair of tlie Temple and to pay the workmen (2 Kings xxii, 4 ; 2 Chron. xxxiv, 9 ; comp. 2 Kings xii, 10). Ewald calls him minister of finance {Gesch. iii, 697). It was on this occasion that Hilkiah communicated his discovery of a copy of the law, which he had probably found while making preparations for the repair of the Temple. Shaphan was intrusted to deliver it to the king. Whatever may have been the portion of the Pentateuch thus discovered, the manner of its discov- ery, and the conduct of the king upon hearing it read ijy Sha|ilian, prove that for man}' years it must have been hist, and its contents forgotten. The part read was apparently from Deuteronomy, and when Sha- phan ended, the king sent him with the high-])riest Hilkiah, and other men of high rank, to consult Huldah tlie prophetess. Her answer moved .Josiah deeply, and the work which began with the restoration of the de- cayed fabric of the Temple quickly took the form of a thorough reformation of religion and revival of the Levitical services, while all traces of idolatry were for a time swept away. Shaphan was then probably an old man, for his son Ahikam must have been in a posi- tii)n of importance, and his grandson (iedaliah was al- ready born, as we may infer from tlie fact that thirty-
five years afterwards he was made governor of the country by the Chaldaians, an office which would hard- ly be given to a verj' young man. Be this as it may, Shaphan disappears from the scene, and probably died before the fifth year of Jehoiakim, eighteen years later, when we find J^lishama was scribe (Jer. xxxvi, 12). There is just one point in the narrative of the burning of the roll of Jeremiah's prophecies by the order of the king which seems to identify Shaphan the father of Ahikam with Shaphan the scribe. It is well known that Ahikam was Jeremiah's great friend and protec- tor at court, and it was therefore consistent with this friendship of his brother for the prophet that Gemariah the son of Shaphan should warn Jeremiah and Baruch to hide themselves, and should intercede with the king for the preservation of the roll (xxxvi, 12, 19, 25). — Smith.
Shaphan. See Coney.
Sha'phat (Heb. Skaphat', 'i^S^. judge; Sept. Sa- (pc'iT, v. r. 2(ij^«r, ^arpc'i!^, etc.), the name of five men.
1. The son of Hori and spy from the tribe of Simeon on the first exploration of Canaan (Numb, xiii, 5). B.C. 1657.