MASPHA (Hebr. Mīspāh “watchtower”). — Name of various localities in the Holy Land.
1. Name given by Abraham to a heap of stones north of the River Jabbok (= ez-Zerqā) at the time of his separation from Laban (Gen. 31:44-54).
2. Village in Gilead, Jordan (Iudc. 10:17; 11:11), which is sometimes identified, although this is not necessary, with M. of Gilead (ibid. 11:29) and with Ramoth Masphe (Ios. 13:26). Iephte resided there (Iudc. 11:34), and there his daughter, unaware of the vow rashly made by her father, was informed by him of the death destined for her.
The location of M. is uncertain. Some, influenced by the Itinerary of Egeria, who saw Iephte’s tomb at Tisbeh, favor some locality not far from the Wādi Jābis, e.g., Sūf; others place it farther south, e.g., at Ḥirbet Ġel'ad.
3. Place situated at the foot of Hermon (Ios. 11:3), also called the land of M. (ibid. 11:8). The identification is uncertain; Metullah and Qal'at es-Subejbeh have been proposed.
4. Village in southern Judea (Ios. 15:38). The Onomasticon indicates two localities in the territory of Eleutheropolis (= Bejt Gibrin), and St. Jerome places one of them on the Bejt Gibrin–Jerusalem road. Ḥirbet es-Sāfijjeh, 3 km. to the northeast, and Ṣufijjeh, 10 km. from Bejt Gibrin, have been proposed as identifications.
5. City in the tribe of Benjamin, not far from Ramah (Ios. 18:25-26). It was the place where the Hebrews assembled after the incident at Gabaah, where the Levite’s wife met an ignominious death (Iudc. 20:1-2), and later on other occasions (I Sam. 7:5-14; 10:47). It was fortified by Asa as a defense against the northern tribes (I Reg. 15:22; II Par. 16:6). After the destruction of Jerusalem, Godolias established his residence there on behalf of the Babylonians (II Reg. 25:23-25), and several Jews came to live there, including Jeremias (Ier. 40:6-16; 41:1-16); they met their deaths, and their bodies were thrown into the pool built by Asa. Repopulated by Jews after the exile, M. helped in the restoration of Jerusalem (Neh. 3:7, 15, 19).
The identification of M. with Nebi Samwīl was once proposed, but today its identification with Tell en-Nasbeh prevails. The position of this tell, on the Jerusalem–Nazareth road, 13 km. from the former, on a hill, corresponds well to the literary information concerning M., while excavations carried out there have revealed an important city with a large surrounding wall, inhabited from the Chalcolithic period to the Middle Bronze Age and from the Early Iron Age to the Hellenistic period. Among the seals found, one bears the inscription: “‘Āhazjāh[ū] (son) of Mattanjāh[ū]” and another: “Ja-'azjāh[ū], slave (= official) of the king,” that is, with Hebrew names, even though they cannot be precisely identified with the biblical figures who bear these names. Other stamps bear the word lē-melekh and others the letters jh, or jhd or msh.
penser (= Revue biblique), 50 (1941), pp. 31-33; Ch. Ch. MacCown-J. C. Wampler et al., Tell en-Nasbeh, 2 vols., New Haven 1947 (historical and archaeological account of no. 5).