Tarpelites
“Uncertain; possibly 'of the fallen mountain' or 'tablet-writers'”
Summary
The Tarpelites were one of the peoples transplanted by the Assyrians into Samaria following the deportation of the northern kingdom of Israel.
☩Biblical Reference
The Tarpelites appear in Ezra 4:9 among the list of peoples who wrote a letter opposing the rebuilding of Jerusalem under Zerubbabel. They are named alongside the Dinaites, Apharsathchites, and other groups who had been settled in Samaria by the Assyrian conquerors. This letter sought to convince the Persian king Artaxerxes that Jerusalem had a history of rebellion and should not be allowed to rebuild its walls.
☩Possible Origins
Various theories have been proposed regarding the identity of the Tarpelites. Rawlinson suggested they were the Tuplai, equivalent to the Greek Tibarenoi, a tribe on the coast of Pontus. Hitzig located them in Tripolis in Northern Phoenicia. Some scholars emend the text to read 'tablet-writers' from the Assyrian dupšarru. Others, like G. Hoffmann, interpreted the term as meaning 'beyond the bridge' or 'across the Euphrates,' qualifying the officials named rather than denoting a separate ethnic group.
Related Verses1 mention
Ezra· 1 verse
References
- 1.James Orr (ed.), "Tarpelites," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. V (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 2.George Morrish, "Tarpelites," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 3.Philip Schaff and Johann Herzog (ed.), "TARPELITES," in The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, vol. XI (Funk and Wagnalls, 1908–1914).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Tarpelites," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).