The place, mentioned only once at Oba 20, in which the exiles from Jerusalem were relocated.
Its location has not yet been identified; its parallel to Canaan in the verse suggests that it was a region or a country rather than a specific town or city. The city of Sardis in Lydia, Asia Minor, was also known as Sfard in Persian, and the Aramaic resembles the name in Obadiah. It has been conjectured on this basis that this was the region meant. The Targum of Jonathan interpretes it as Spain; hence Spainish Jews are known as Sephardim.
©ALBERITH
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