Asphar The Pool

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

as´far , (λάκκος Ἀσφάρ , lákkos Asphár ): When Jonathan and Simon fled from Bacchides they encamped by this pool in the wilderness of Tekoa (1 Macc 9:33; Ant , Xiii , i, 2). It is probably identical with Ez - Za‛ferāneh , a ruined site with an ancient cistern, to the South of Tekoa, and East of Ḥalḥūl . Bı̂r Selhub about 6 miles Southwest of ‛Ain Jidy is favored by some ( EB , under the word), the hills around it being known as Ṣafrā , in which there may be a survival of the old name.