SHAPHAN (‘coney’ or ‘rock-badger’; an old totem clan-name so W. R. Smith). 1 . ‘The scribe’ (secretary of state) of Josiah in 621 b.c., ‘son of Azaliah,’ who laid before the king the law-book discovered by Hilkiah (wh. see) in the Temple ( 2 Kings 22:3-11 = 2 Chronicles 34:8-18 ). Shaphan appears to have been the chief lay leader in the execution of Josiah’s reforms. His family for two following generations played a worthy part as servants of Jehovah, and friends of the prophet Jeremiah: the Ahikam of 2 Kings 22:12-14 (= 2 Chronicles 34:20-22 ) and Jeremiah 26:24 , the Gemariah of Jeremiah 36:12; Jeremiah 36:25 , and Elasah ( Jeremiah 29:3 ) were Shaphan’s sons; the Micaiah of Jeremiah 36:11-12 , and Gedaliah (wh. see), whom the Chaldæans made governor of Judæa after the Captivity of 586 b.c., his grandsons. 2 . The ‘Jaazaniah, son of Shaphan,’ denounced in Ezekiel 8:11 as ringleader in idolatry, was possibly, but not certainly, a son of the same Shaphan.
G. G. Findlay.