Chephirah

Chephirah surfaces in the UPDV as a small Hivite town that becomes part of the Gibeonite confederacy, then is allotted to Benjamin, then reappears centuries later in the post-exilic returnee registers. The four references trace a single thread: the same place, the same neighbors (Gibeon, Beeroth, Kiriath-jearim), carried from the conquest period through the return.

A City Of The Gibeonite Confederacy

When Israel discovers that the league formed at Gibeon was contracted under a ruse, the cities involved are named together: "for the sons of Israel journeyed, and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim" (Jos 9:17). Chephirah is one of the four named cities of the Hivite confederation, listed alongside Gibeon and the two settlements — Beeroth and Kiriath-jearim — that recur with it in every later reference.

In The Inheritance Of Benjamin

Within the tribal allotments, Chephirah is assigned to Benjamin. The list of Benjamin's cities groups it with neighboring towns of the central hill country: "and Mizpeh, and Chephirah, and Mozah" (Jos 18:26). The framing clauses of the surrounding passage place the verse in its tribal setting — these are "the cities of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin according to their families" (Jos 18:21), closing with "This is the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin according to their families" (Jos 18:28). Chephirah, although originally Hivite by the testimony of Joshua 9, is recorded here as Benjaminite territory.

The Post-Exilic Returnees

After the exile, Chephirah reappears in the registers of those who came back from Babylon. Ezra's list groups its returnees with the same neighboring towns as Joshua 9: "The sons of Kiriath-arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred and forty and three" (Ezr 2:25). Nehemiah's parallel register repeats the grouping with the same total: "The men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred forty and three" (Ne 7:29). The two registers stand together — Kiriath-arim in Ezra, Kiriath-jearim in Nehemiah — but the cluster of three towns and the count of seven hundred forty-three is the same in both. The cities of the old Gibeonite confederacy are still recognizable as a unit centuries later, with Chephirah named in the middle of each list.