the rock hyrax: a small, thickset, rabbit-sized animal that lives in colonies among rocks and cliffs
TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong
This word names a real animal of the hill country of the Bible lands, a plump, short-eared creature about the size of a rabbit that shelters in the crevices of rocky slopes. Where it appears in poetry, it is pictured exactly where it lives: the high crags are the wild goat's home, and the rocks are the hyrax's refuge.
The book of Proverbs holds it up as a small lesson in wisdom. The hyrax is not strong, yet it thrives by choosing a safe home in the rocks. Its security comes from where it lives, not from its size or power.
In the food laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy it is listed among the animals Israel may not eat, because it appears to chew the cud but does not have a split hoof. This is where most confusion about the word arises (see the caution).
Lev 11:5Deu 14:7Psa 104:18Pro 30:26
2
Shaphan: a personal name meaning rock hyrax, borne by several men in the later history of Judah
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
Shaphan is a man's name built from the animal word above, the way English names like Deborah (bee) or Jonah (dove) take an animal for a person. It belonged to more than one man in the last century of the kingdom of Judah.
The best known Shaphan was the royal secretary under King Josiah who was handed the newly found book of the law in the temple and read it aloud to the king. His sons and grandsons then appear across the story of Jerusalem's final years, several of them protecting or standing near the prophet Jeremiah, and one grandson, Gedaliah, becoming governor after the city fell.
As a name it simply identifies these individuals, so a reader meets it as a label for a person rather than as a description.
captures that the animal lives among rocks, its defining trait in the poetryPro 30:26
Both
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Only rock badger
badger suggests a burrowing digger related to weasels, but this animal is not a badger and does not dig burrows
“hyrax”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“rock hyrax”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How shaphan differs from similar Hebrew words
אַרְנֶבֶתthe hare, the other animal paired with the rock hyrax in the food laws as a creature that seems to chew the cud yet is unclean; a rabbit-like mammal rather than a rock-dweller
The rock badger is pictured as a small, weak creature that shelters wisely in the crags, a stock image the hare never carries.Psa 104:18Pro 30:26
The same spelling doubles as a common personal name, Shaphan, borne by the scribe under Josiah and members of his family, a use the hare's name never has.2Ki 22:3Jer 26:24
Both
Both are small mammals declared unclean because they seem to chew the cud yet do not have a split hoof, and they stand side by side in the dietary rules.Deu 14:7Lev 11:6Lev 11:5
Known only from the food laws: the hare appears solely in the two parallel lists of forbidden animals, with no other role anywhere in Scripture.Lev 11:6
What scholars say about shaphan
The standard lexica (HALOT, BDB, DCH) identify שׁפן as the rock hyrax (Procavia capensis / syriaca), the dassie, a rock-dwelling ungulate-relative common in the Levant. The identification rests on the habitat clues of Psalm 104:18 and Proverbs 30:26 (rocky refuges) more than on the dietary-law description. The classification in Leviticus 11:5 and Deuteronomy 14:7 as an animal that raises the cud but lacks a divided hoof reflects merycism, the hyrax's habitual chewing motion, rather than true rumination; this observed behavior, not modern zoology, underlies the text. The Septuagint renders the term variously (χοιρογρύλλιος, and elsewhere δασύπους), reflecting ancient uncertainty about the exact species. The homograph שׁפן as the personal name Shaphan is a common Semitic practice of forming names from animal words; it names the scribe of Josiah's reign and members of his family prominent in Jeremiah and the fall of Judah.