Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.” (Genesis 20:1) It is also called Ethami. The wilderness of Shur was
entered in the Israelites after they had crossed the Red Sea. (Exodus 15:22,23) It was also called
the wilderness of Etham. (Numbers 33:8) Shur may have been a territory town east of the ancient
head of the Red Sea; and from its being spoken of as a limit, it was probably the last Arabian town
before entering Egypt.
Shushan, Or Susa
(a lily), is said to have received its name from the abundance of the lily (shushan or shushanah)
in its neighborhood. It was originally the capital of the country called in Scripture Elam, and by
the classical writers Susis or Susiana. In the time of Daniel Susa was in the possession of the
Babylonians, to whom Elam had probably passed at the division of the Assyrian empire made by
Cyaxares and Nabopolassar. (Daniel 8:2) The conquest of Babylon by Cyrus transferred Susa to
the Persian dominion; and it was not long before the Achaemenian princes determined to make it
the capital of their whole empire and the chief place of their own residence. According to some
writers the change was made by Cyrus; according to others it had at any rate taken place before the
death of Cambyses; but, according to the evidence of the place itself and of the other Achaemenian
monuments, it would seem most probable that the transfer was really the work of Darius Hystaspes.
Nehemiah resided here. (Nehemiah 1:1) Shushan was situated on the Ulai or Choaspes. It is identified
with the modern Sus or Shush, its ruins are about three miles in circumference. (Here have been
found the remains of the great palace build by Darius, the father of Xerxes, in which and the
surrounding buildings took place the scenes recorded in the life of Esther. The great central hall
was 343 feet long by 244 feet wide. The king’s gate, says Schaff, where Mordecai sat, “was probably
a hall 100 feet square, 150 feet from the northern portico. Between these two was probably the
inner court, where Esther appeared before the king.”—ED.)
Shushaneduth
(the lily of testimony), (Psalms 60:1) ... is probably an abbreviation of “Shoshannim-eduth.”
(Psalms 80:1) ... [Shoshannim]
Shuthalhites, The
[Shuthelah]
Shuthelah
(noise of breaking), head of an Ephraimite family, called after him Shuthalhites, (Numbers
26:35) and lineal ancestor of Joshua the son of Numb (1 Chronicles 7:20-27)
Sia
The “children of Sia” were a family of Nethinim who returned with Zerubbabel. (Nehemiah
7:47) The name is written Siaha in (Ezra 2:44) and SUD in 1 Esd. 5:29.
Siaha
- Sia. (Ezra 2:44)
Sibbecai
= Sibbechai the Hushathite.
Sibbechai
(a weaver), one of David’s guard, and eighth captain for the eighth month of 24,000 men of the
king’s 1043.) He belonged to one of the principal families of Judah, the Zarhites or the descendants
of Zerah, and is called “the Hushathite,” probably from the place of his birth. Sibbechai’s great
exploit, which gave him a place among the mighty men of David’s army, was his single combat
690
William Smith