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•TIPHSAH passing over; ford, one of the boundaries of Solomon’s dominions (1 Kings 4:24), probably “Thapsacus, a great and wealthy town on the western bank of the Euphrates,” about 100 miles north-east of Tadmor. All the land traffic between the east and the west passed through it. Menahem undertook an expedition against this city, and “smote Tiphsah and all that were therein” (2 Kings 15:16). This expedition implied a march of some 300 miles from Tirzah if by way of Tadmor, and about 400 if by way of Aleppo; and its success showed the strength of the Israelite kingdom, for it was practically a defiance to Assyria. Conder, however, identifies this place with Khurbet Tafsah, some 6 miles west of Shechem.
•TIRAS the youngest of the sons of Japheth (Genesis 10:2; 1 Chronicles 1:5).
•TIRES “To tire” the head is to adorn it (2 Kings 9:30). As a noun the word is derived from “tiara,” and is the rendering of the Hebrews p’er, a “turban” or an ornament for the head (Ezekiel 24:17; R.V., “headtire;” 24:23). In Isaiah 3:18 the word saharonim is rendered “round tires like the moon,” and in Judges 8:21, 26 “ornaments,” but in both cases “crescents” in the Revised Version.
•TIRHAKAH the last king of Egypt of the Ethiopian (the fifteenth) dynasty. He was the brother-in-law of So (q.v.). He probably ascended the throne about B.C. 692, having been previously king of Ethiopia (2 Kings 19:9; Isaiah 37:9), which with Egypt now formed one nation. He was a great warrior, and but little is known of him. The Assyrian armies under Esarhaddon, and again under Assur-bani-pal, invaded Egypt and defeated Tirhakah, who afterwards retired into Ethiopia, where he died, after reigning twenty-six years.
•TIRSHATHA a word probably of Persian origin, meaning “severity,” denoting a high civil dignity. The Persian governor of Judea is so called (Ezra 2:63; Nehemiah 7:65, 70). Nehemiah is called by this name in