Saphir
“Fair or beautiful”
Summary
A village in Judah addressed by the prophet Micah with a prophetic wordplay, its name meaning 'fair' or 'beautiful.'
☩Prophetic Address
Saphir appears in Micah's prophecy of judgment against Judah and Israel: 'Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked.' The name Saphir means 'fair' or 'beautiful,' and Micah employs a bitter irony—the 'beautiful' city would experience shameful exposure when judgment came. This is one of several wordplays in Micah's prophecy connecting town names with their predicted fates.
☩Location
Eusebius and Jerome describe Saphir as being 'in the mountain district between Eleutheropolis and Ascalon.' It has been tentatively identified with es-Sawafir, a site seven or eight miles northeast of Ascalon and about twelve miles west of Beit-Jibrin. Others identify it with the village Simsim or a cluster of three villages called es-Suafir.
Related Verses1 mention
Micah· 1 verse
References
- 1.George Morrish, "Saphir," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 2.John McClintock and James Strong, "Saphir," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IX (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).