breakings; hopes
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary
SHEBARIM.A place mentioned (Jos_7:5) in the description of the pursuit of the Israelites by the men of Ai. RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] gives the quarries, but the text is probably corrupt.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
Jos_7:5. From sheber "a fracture," stone quarries near the slope E. of the town (Keil), or else a spot where were fissures in the soil, gradually deepening until they ended in a precipice to the ravine by which Israel had come from Gilgal, "the going down" margin, Hebrew Ha-Morad.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Sheb'arim. (the breaches). A place named in Jos_7:5 only, as one of the points in the flight from Ai.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
sheb?a-rim, shḗ-bā?rim (השּׁברים, ha-shebhārı̄m; ουνέτριψαν, sunétripsan): After the repulse of the first attack on their city the men of Ai chased the Israelites ?even unto Shebarim? (Jos_7:5). the Revised Version margin reads ?the quarries?; so Keil, Steuernagel, etc. Septuagint reads ?until they were broken,? i.e. until the rout was complete. The direction of the flight was of course from Ai toward Gilgal in the Jordan valley. No trace of such name has yet been found.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
(Heb. with the art., hash-Shebarim', הִשְּׁבָרְי, the breaches, as often elsewhere rendered; Sept. συνέτριψαν; Vulg. Sebarim) is given in the A.V. as the name of a place to which the Israelites retreated in the first attack of Ai (Jos_7:5). The root of the word has the force of dividing' or breaking,' and it is therefore suggested that the name was attached to a spot where there were fissures or rents in the soil, gradually deepening till they ended in a sheer descent or precipice to the ravine by which the Israelites had come from Gilgal'the going down' (הִמּוֹרָד; see Jos_7:5 and the margin of the A.V.). The ground around the site of Ai, on any hypothesis of its locality, was very much of this character. Keil (Josua, ad loc.) interprets Shebarim by stone quarries;' but this does not appear to be supported by other commentators or by lexicographers. The ancient interpreters (Sept., Targ., and Syr.) usually discard it as a proper name, and render it till they were broken up,' etc. But this is opposed both to the use of the art. here which seems to indicate a well known and specific locality and to the fact that but few of the Hebrews were slain there. A minute examination of the locality would doubtless reveal some clue to the name. SEE AI.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.