SHAPHAN:
- 1. Son of Azaliah and scribe of King Josiah. He received from Hilkiah, the high priest, the book of the Law which had been found in the Temple. Shaphan was one of those sent by the king to the prophetess Huldah (II Kings xxii.; II Chron. xxxiv.). In Jer. xxxvi. 10-12 mention is made of the hall in which, in the reign of King Jehoiakim, Shaphan's son officiated.
- 2. Father of Ahikam, who was sent, with others, by King Josiah to the prophetess Huldah, and who subsequently saved Jeremiah from his persecutors (II Kings xxii. 12; II Chron. xxxiv. 20; Jer. xxvi. 24).
- 3. Father of Elasah, to whom Jeremiah gave a letter to the exiles in Babylon (Jer. xxix. 3).
- 4. Father of Jaazaniah, who was one of the seventy men whom Ezekiel in his vision of the Temple saw sacrificing to idols (Ezek. viii. 11).
E. G. H. S. O.