Tophel

To'phel (Heb. תֹּפֵל, mortar Sept. Τοφόλ; Vulg. Thophel), a place mentioned in De 1; De 1 as a boundary (? on the N. E.) of the great Sinaitic desert of Paran. It has therefore been with great probability identified with Tufileh (comp. Schwarz, Palaest. p. 210) on a wady of the same name running north of Bozra towards the north-west into the Ghor and south- east corner of the Dead Sea (Robinson, Bibl. Res. 2. 570). This latter is a most fertile region, having many springs and rivulets flowing into the Gh6r, and large plantations of fruit trees, whence figs are exported. The bird katta, a kind of partridge, is found there in great numbers, and the steinbock pastures in herds of forty or fifty together (Burckhardt, Holy Land. p. 405,406). The brook Tufileh, or its immediate neighborhood, is still the recognized boundary between Edom and Moab (Tristram, Land of Moab, p. 57).