Shaphat

The name Shaphat is borne in the Old Testament by five separate men: a Simeonite spy in the wilderness generation, the father of the prophet Elisha, a post-exilic descendant in the Davidic line through Shecaniah, a Gadite settled in Bashan, and a herd-overseer in David's civil establishment. Of the five, the Shaphat of Abel-meholah dominates the canonical record because the patronymic "the son of Shaphat" follows his son Elisha through the Elijah-succession narrative and into the prophet's confrontations with the kings of Israel.

The Simeonite Spy

The first Shaphat appears in the roster of the twelve men Moses sent to spy out Canaan. He is named at the head of the Simeonite line in the list: "Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori" (Num 13:5). The spy-roster places him beside Caleb of Judah and Hoshea son of Nun, but unlike Caleb and Joshua he leaves no further narrative trace; the chapter records only the Moses-sent commission and the Hoshea-renamed-Joshua note (Num 13:16).

The Father of Elisha at Abel-meholah

The principal Shaphat of the Old Testament is the father of Elisha. He is introduced indirectly, through the Horeb anointing-commission laid on Elijah. Yahweh names the new prophet by patronymic and hometown: "Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you will anoint to be prophet in your place" (1 Kings 19:16). The same verse pairs the Elisha-commission with the Jehu-commission — "Jehu the son of Nimshi you will anoint to be king over Israel" (1 Kings 19:16) — placing the Shaphat-son in the chapter's three-fold installation program alongside Hazael and Jehu.

The patronymic recurs in the field-encounter that follows. Elijah finds the prophet-elect at his father's farm: "found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing, with twelve yoke [of oxen] before him, and he [was] with the twelfth: and Elijah passed over to him, and cast his mantle on him" (1 Kings 19:19). The twelve-yoke draft-team behind which the young man is plowing presupposes a large landholding, and the wordless mantle-cast functions as the call to the prophet's office. Elisha's response confirms the household-setting: "he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray you, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you" (1 Kings 19:20). Whether the parents named here are still living or whether the request is purely ceremonial, the verse identifies Shaphat of Abel-meholah as the father whose plowman-son leaves the farm to attend Elijah.

The Patronymic in Elisha's Public Career

The "son of Shaphat" tag follows Elisha into the next reign. When the three kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom run out of water on the Edom march, Jehoshaphat asks for a prophet of Yahweh, and a slave answers, "Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah" (2 Kings 3:11). Jehoshaphat then certifies the prophet — "The word of Yahweh is with him" — and "the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him" (2 Kings 3:12). The patronymic here doubles as identification: Shaphat fixes the prophet's family-line, while the poured-water-on-the-hands-of-Elijah service-clause fixes his apprenticeship under the Tishbite.

The same patronymic stands as the formula of Jehoram's oath against the prophet during the Aramean siege of Samaria. The king swears, "God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat will stand on him this day" (2 Kings 6:31). Even in the king's curse the prophet is named by his father.

The Davidic-Line Shaphat

A third Shaphat appears in the Chronicler's continuation of David's house through Shecaniah. The line is carried as "the sons of Shecaniah: Shemaiah. And the sons of Shemaiah: Hattush, and Igal, and Bariah, and Neariah, and Shaphat, six" (1 Chronicles 3:22). The Davidic line is kept visible as a named father-to-son-to-sons sequence even into the post-exilic generations, with this Shaphat closing the named-six tally.

The Gadite of Bashan

A fourth Shaphat is registered among the Gadites who settled east of the Jordan: "And the sons of Gad dwelt across from them, in the land of Bashan to Salecah: Joel the chief, and Shapham the second, and Janai, and Shaphat in Bashan" (1 Chronicles 5:11-12). The Bashan-locative attached to his name distinguishes him from the Simeonite spy and from the Abel-meholah farmer.

David's Herd-Overseer in the Valleys

A fifth Shaphat appears in David's civil establishment as overseer of the cattle in the valleys. The Chronicler pairs him with the Sharonite herd-overseer: "and over the herds that fed in Sharon was Shitrai the Sharonite: and over the herds that were in the valleys was Shaphat the son of Adlai" (1 Chronicles 27:29). Sharon and the valleys appear here as the two named royal grazing-zones, each with its own named officer; this Shaphat the son of Adlai stands as the valley-pasture overseer in David's herd-portfolio.