Asphar
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [1]
Asphar ( 1Ma 9:33 ). A pool in the desert of Tekoa, or Jeshimon, where Jonathan and Simon the Maccabees encamped. The site is not known with certainty, although it may plausibly be identified with the mod. Bîr Selhûb , a reservoir 6 miles W.S.W. of Engedi.
Smith's Bible Dictionary [2]
As'phar. The pool in the "Wilderness Of Thecoe". 1 Maccabees 9:33. Is it possible that the name is a corruption of Lacus Asphaltites ?
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [3]
( Ἀσφάρ v. r. Ἀσφάδ , 1 Maccabees 9:33), a "pool" ( Λάκκος , not Sea, as the Vulg. and some other versions render, but which often stands in the Sept. for בּוֹר , a Pit, or בְּאֵר , a Well), i.e. fountain or cistern in the south or south-east of Palestine (in the " wilderness of Thecoe" or Tekoa), where the Jews under Jonathan Maccabaeus had an encampment at the beginning of their struggle with Bacchides (see Josephus. Ant. 13:1, 2); meaning doubtless (if the Dead [Asphaltic] Sea, as Grotius and others suppose) some considerable reservoirs in the direction of Arabia (comp. v. 35), near the territory of the Nabathaeans (see Diod. Sic. 19:94).
