8:17 the leading man at the place Casiphia. The location is not certain, but it could be Ctesiphon on the Tigris River north of Babylon. Since in earlier (Deut. 12:5; Jer. 7:2–3) and later times, “the place” refers to a holy place, it seems that Casiphia was the site of a sanctuary. There was a Jewish sanctuary at Elephantine, Egypt, at this same time. Levites would have been concentrated at such a sanctuary, explaining why Ezra sent the delegation to Casiphia. Iddo would have been the leader at the sanctuary.