Sepharad

Obad. 20.SEPHARAD. This Hebrew Word is found in Obadiah. Here is the whole Passage of this Prophet. Transmigratio exercitûs hujus filiorum Israel, omnia loca Chananæorum usque ad Sareptam, & transmigratio Jerusalem, quæ in Bosphoro est, possidebit civitates Austri. Instead of Sarepta here, the Hebrew Text reads Zarphath; and instead of Bosphorus, it reads Sepharad. By the Name of Canaanites, the Jews understand Germany; by Zarphath, France; and by Sepharad, Usque ad Zarphath. Quæ in Sepharad. Hieron. in Abdiam.Spain. The Jew that taught St. Jerome the Hebrew Tongue, did assure him, that Sepharad stood for the Bosphorus, which is (said he) the Place whither the Emperor Adrian transported the Jews. The modern Hebrews by the Name Sepharad understand Spain. But there is a much greater Probability that this Word signifies one of those Cities beyond the Euphrates, whither the Jews had been transplanted; and perhaps it may be Sippara, or Sipparat in Mesopotamia, a little above the Division of the Euphrates. By this Name the Septuagint seem to have understood the Euphrates,

or the City of Ephrata, which is Bethlehem.LXX. Ἐφρ. alias Ἐφραθά. But Ephrata makes no Sense in this Place. The Jews of Jerusalem were certainly carry’d away beyond the Euphrates by Nebuchadnezzar. Cyrus sent them back into their own Country, and there they inhabited the southern Cities, Idumea, and Arabia Petræa.

The Jewish Historians¹ tell us, that Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, assisted by a great Number of Allies, who lent him their Troops. One of the chief of them, as they say, was Hispanus, who gave his Name to Spain. He was present at this Siege along with his Son-in-law Pyrrhus King of the Grecians. When the City was taken, it was easy for them to divide the Spoil and the Prisoners, because the City was separated by three Enclosures of Walls. Nebuchadnezzar took for his Share all the Artisans and Handicraft Men, who were in the first Enclosure, and gave to Pyrrhus all that were within the second. That was the Dwelling of the House of David, and of the Priests. Pyrrhus took his Prisoners along with him into Andalusia, and from thence to Toledo. The Descendants of David pass’d on to Seville, and into the Kingdom of Granada. Thus, say they, we see the Completion of the Prophecy of Obadiah. But as all this is but meer Fable, we shall not give ourselves the Trouble to refute it. The same is to be understood of such other Monuments, which, they say, have been found in Spain, by which they pretend to prove, that King Solomon extended his Empire into that Country. These are Inscriptions invented at Pleasure, to establish a chimerical Empire.

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