Sepharvaim

AI summary: Sepharvaim appears in Scripture through the machinery of empire. It is one of the places from which populations were moved into Samaria after Assyria's conquests, and it reappears when Assyrian spokesmen boast that even cities like Sepharvaim could not resist their power. That gives the place a role in both the demographic reshaping of the land and the rhetoric of imperial intimidation. The cross references present Sepharvaim as a conquered Mesopotamian city drawn into Assyria's system of resettlement and domination.¹

Taken by Sargon, king of Assyria (2 Kings 17:24; 18:34; 19:13; Isa. 37:13). It was a double city, and received the common name Sepharvaim, i.e., “the two Sipparas,” or “the two booktowns.” The Sippara on the east bank of the Euphrates is now called Abu-Habba; that on the other bank was Accad, the old capital of Sargon I., where he established a great library. (See SARGON.) The recent discovery of cuneiform inscriptions at Tel el-Amarna in Egypt, consisting of official despatches to Pharaoh Amenophis IV. and his predecessor from their agents in Palestine, proves that in the century before the Exodus an active literary intercourse was carried on between these nations, and that the medium of the correspondence was the Babylonian language and script. (See KIRJATH-SEPHER.) ³