the Fourth Week of Advent
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Dictionaries
Shaphan
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or SHAPHAN (‘coney’ or ‘rock-badger’; an old totem clan-name so W. R. Smith). 1 . ‘The scribe’ (secretary of state) of Josiah in 621 b.c., ‘son of Azaliah,’ who laid before the king the law-book discovered by Hilkiah (wh. see) in the Temple ( 2 Kings 22:3-11 = 2 Chronicles 34:8-18 ). Shaphan appears to have been the chief lay leader in the execution of Josiah’s reforms. His family for two following generations played a worthy part as servants of Jehovah, and friends of the prophet Jeremiah: the Ahikam of 2 Kings 22:12-14 (= 2 Chronicles 34:20-22 ) and Jeremiah 26:24 , the Gemariah of Jeremiah 36:12; Jeremiah 36:25 , and Elasah ( Jeremiah 29:3 ) were Shaphan’s sons; the Micaiah of Jeremiah 36:11-12 , and Gedaliah (wh. see), whom the Chaldæans made governor of Judæa after the Captivity of 586 b.c., his grandsons. 2 . The ‘Jaazaniah, son of Shaphan,’ denounced in Ezekiel 8:11 as ringleader in idolatry, was possibly, but not certainly, a son of the same Shaphan.
G. G. Findlay.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Hastings, James. Entry for 'Shaphan'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/s/shaphan.html. 1909.
