?* f ** *"***** *** *** *** ***** . ^ ( /Ar. / iefainec/ to tfo / UCSB ../ LIBRARY. THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA PRESENTED BY Benjamin T. Sankey UCSB VALUABLE WORKS PUBLISHED BT GOULD AND LINCOLN, 69 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON. ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY FOR 1850: or, Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art, exhibiting the most important discoveries and improvements in Mechan- ics, Useful Arts, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Astronomy, Meteorology, Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy, Geology, Geography, Antiquities, &c. ; together with a list of recent Scientific Publications ; a classified list of Patents ; obituaries of eminent Scientific Men ; an index of important papers in Scientific Journals, reports, &c. Edited by DAVID A. WELLS, and GEORGE BLISS, JR. 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SCtENTIFIC LAKE SUPERIOR : its Physical Character, Vegetation and Animals, compared witu those c r other and similar regions, by L. AGASBIZ, and contributions from other eminent SoietiUfi? Gentlemen. With a Narrative of the Expedition, and illustrations by J. E. Cabot. One volume octavo, elegantly illustrated, cloth,.... 3,50 The illustrations, seventeen in number, are In the finest style of the art, by Sonrel ; embracing yke and Landscape Scenery, Fishes, and other objects of Natural llistory, with an outline map it lake Superior. This work is one of the most valuable scientific works that has appeared in this country. Embodying the researches of our best scientific men, relating to a hitherto comparatively unknown region, it will be found to contain a great amount of scientific information. CHAMBERS' CYCLOP/EDIA OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. A Selection cf the choicest productions of English Authors, from the earliest to the present time. Connected by a Critical and Biographical History. Forming two large imperial octavo volumes of TOO pages each, double column letter press ; with upwards of 300 elegant Illustrations. Edited by KOBERT CHAMBERS, embossed cloth, 5,00 cloth, full gilt, extra,. . . .7$) sheep, extra, raised bands,. . . .6,00 The work embraces about one thousand Authors, chronologically arranged and classed as Poets, Historians, Dramatists, Philosophers, Metaphysicians, Divines, etc., with choice selections from their writings, connected by a Biographical, Historical, and Critical Narrative; thus presenting a complete view of English Literature, from the earliest to the present time. Let the reader open where he will, he cannot fail to find matter for profit and delight. The Selections are gems, ji finite riches in a little room, in the language of another "A WHOLE ENGLISH LIBKABV rrsco DOWN 1MTO OKK CHEAT BOOK!" O7- The AMERICA* edition of this valuable work is enriched by the addition of fine steel and mez/otint Engravings of the heads of SIIAKSPEABE, ADIHSO.V, BVKO.N ; a full length portrait ci Du. JOHNSON ; and a beautiful scenic representation of OLIVKU GOLDSMITH and Du. JOHNSON. These important and elegant additions, togetlxer with ui>erior paper and binding, render the AUEKICAK, superior to all other editions. CHAMBERS 1 MISCELLANY OF USEFUL AND ENTERTAINING KNOWL- EDGE. Edited by WILLIAM CHAMBERS. With elegant Illustrative Engravings. lOvols. cloth,.... 7,50 cloth, gilt lOjOC library, sheep 10,00 Of TIJ* work has been highly recommended by distinguished' individuals, as admirably adapted to Eamily, Sabbath and District School Libraries. " It would be difficult to find any miscellany superior or even equal to it ; it richly, deserves the epithet* 'useful and entertaining,' and I would recommend it very strongly, as extremely well adapted to form parts of a library for the young, or of a social or circulating library, in town or Country." George B. Etnerton, Esq^ Chairman JSoston School Book Committee. CHAMBERS' PAPERS FOR THE PEOPLE. 12mo, in beautiful ornamented covers 1 liis series is mainly addressed to that numerous class whose minds have been educated by the improved schooling, and the numerous popular lectures and publications of the present dry, and who consequently crave a higher kind of Literature than can be obtained through the existing iheap periodicals. 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Con densed from the larger work. By JOHN KITTO, D. D. Assisted by numerous distinguished Scholars and Divines, British, Continental and American. With numerous illustrations. One volume, octavo, 812pp. cloth, $3,00 $3- This is just THE work for Sabbath School Teachers, the Family Library, and for every one, indeed, who wishes aid in the study of the Scriptures. It contains an immense amount of important information to be found nowhere else. The New York Commercial Advertiser says, " This is a Dictionary of scriptural topics, which should find a place in every library. Sunday School Teachers, and all who study the Scriptures, will find this Cyclopaedia a more valuable auxiliary than any work extant of whichwe have a knowledge. It is the result of the combined biblical, scholastic, and scientific minds of the highest order, and scarcely a question can arise in the mind of the reader of the Sacred Book, but may be answered by reference to this comprehensive volume. For the Family Librarj, as well as for Bible Classes and Sunday School Teachers, we cordially recommend it." The Puritan Recorder says, " Here we have the larger work referred to in the title, boiled down more than oce half, and made more strong and rich by the evaporation. To that numerous and most useful class of laborers in the Lord's vineyard, the Sabbath School Teachers, we would respectfully offer our advice to appropriate three dollars each to make themselves possessors of this valuable help for the discharge of their duties. If any one of them should not have the money, we counsel him ' to sell his garment and buy one? " The Philadelphia Christian Observer says, " This is a large, handsome and valuable book ; it is very happily adapted to meet the wants of the Family, the Sunday School Teacher, and the great majority of the Christian public. As a Bible Dictionary, it is a work of distin- guished merit, embodying the results of the best and most recent researches in biblical literature, ia which the scholars of Europe and America have been engaged." T':ie Mercantile Journal says, " We have examined the work with the greatest interest, and can assure our readers that it is a book of no ordinary value. We know of no work which Is more worthy a place by the side of the liible in every family. It is a book which the Bible reader will consult with pleasure, and which will enhance the interest of the Bible itself, by making the reader more thoroughly acquainted with the localities mentioned therein, with the circumstances connected with the preparation of each book of the sacred Word, with the manners and customs of the ancients, with the geography of the Holy Land, and, in short, with every thing connected with the literature of the Bible whicli would be likely to be of interest to the ordinary reader.'' The Albany Spectator says, " Here is indeed a tich treasury for the minister and the church, embodying the products of the best, most recent, and reliable researches in biblical literature, and presented in a form so full, and yet so condensed, as to put it within the reach of hundreds of ministers who did not feel able to purchase the unabridged work In this volume you have the pith of the entire work." The Christian Chronicle says, "It is a work of immense research, embodying the latest results of biblical study, contributed by a large corps of enthusiastic and venerable scholars. For reference in the family, for the use of the Sabbath School Teacher, and for Bible Classes, it is beyond comparison the best biblical manual issued from the press We pre- dict for it an extensive circulation, for it must gradually displace Robinson's Camlet, and the other smaller and more incomplete manuals which have hitherto been in common use." The New "York Christian Intelligencer says, " We know of no work in the language, as a repository of biblical literature, to be at all compared with this most valuable collection of lir. Kitto. This work is an emanation from more than forty of the most able and pro- found scholars in sacred literature to be found in the world. England, Scotland, Ger- many, and these United States, have all here a most respectable representation ; and the work does honor to them all." POPULAR CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE CONDENSED THE POPULAR CYCLOPEDIA OI 1 BIBLICAL LITERATURE CONDENSED FROM THE LARGER WORK. JOHN KITTO, D.D., F.S.A., AUTHOR OF 'THE PICTORIAL BIBLE,' ' THE HISTORY AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE,' ETC., AND EDITOR OF THE JOURNAL OF SACRED LITERATURE. ASSISTED BY KEY. JAMES TAYLOR, D.D., 07 GLASGOW. ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS. * BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY GOULD AND LINCOLN, 59 WASHINGTON STREET. 1852. PREFACE. THE CYCLOPAEDIA OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE was designed to furnish a Dictionary of the Bible, not framed, as others had been, out of old materials, but embodying the products of the best and most recent researches in Biblical Literature, in which the scholars of this country and of the continent had been engaged. That work the result of an immense labour and research, and enriched by the contributions of writers of distinguished eminence in the various departments of Sacked Literature has been, by universal consent, pronounced to be the first work of its class, and the one best suited to the advanced knowledge of the present day, in all the studies connected with Theo- logical Science. But although that Cyclopaedia is regarded as indispensable to the libraries of all Ministers and Theological Students, it has been concluded that a Compendious Abridgment of its contents, embracing all the matter suited to popular and general use, might be acceptable to very many whose studies have not created a need for the larger work, or whose means do not enable them to secure the possession of it. In the present volume an attempt has, therefore, been made to supply this want, by providing such a popular Abridgment of the Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature as may be suited to the use of the great body of the religious public, and which may be expected to be of essential service to parents and teachers in the important business of Biblical Education, while to many young persons it may serve as an introduction to the more extensive work. The original publication is above twice the size of the present. Tht Epitome now offered for popular use has been prepared with much care and solicitude, by the condensation of most of the matter in the original work, and by the entire omission of some articles which were supposed to be of less interest to the general reader than to the Clergyman and the Theological yi PKEFACE. ' Student. In the work, as it here stands, is offered such an exhibition of the results of large research, without the details and authorities, as could not, it is believed, have been produced, had not the larger Cyclopaedia previously existed, and its valuable materials been made available for this service. Drawn from such a source, it is believed that this Abridgment will possess the same superi- ority over POPULAR Cyclopaedias of this class, as the original work confessedly does over those which aspire to higher erudition. In the Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature the initials of the writers are annexed to their respective contributions. This has not been deemed necessary in the present Abridgment ; but a list is given of all the writers who coop- erated with the editor in the production of the original work, from which the present Compendium has been formed. Many articles in the larger Cyclopaedia, more especially in the department of Natural History, are treated under the Hebrew or Greek form of word; but, in the present popular Compendium, it has been judged better that these articles should appear under the names by which they are represented in the authorized version of the Scriptures, and take their place in the alphabetical position they hold under these names. It remains only to be added, that although the editor has taken some part of the labour, and has supervised the whole operation, the substantial work of the Abridgment has been executed by the careful hands of the Reverend JAMES TAYLOR, D. D., of Glasgow. JOHN KITTO. LIST OF CONTRIBUTOBS. REV. W. L. ALEXANDER, D. D., Author of ' The Connexion and Harmony of the Old and New Testaments,' &c. KEY. G-. BAUR, Ph. D., Extraordinary Professor of Evangelical Theology in the University of Giessen. REV. J. R. BEARD, D. D., Member of the Historico-Theological Society of Leipzig. G. M. BELL, Author of 'Universal Mechanism,' &c. REV. C. H. F. BIALLOBLOTZKY, Ph. D., Gottingen, Author of ' De Abrogatione Legis.' REV. JOHN BROWN, D. D., Professor of Exegetical Theology to the United Presby- terian Church. REV. GEORGE BUSH, Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature in the University of New York. REV. JAMES D. BUTLER, Abbot Resident, Theological Seminary, Andover, United States. K. A. CREDNER, D. D., Professor of Theology in the University of Giessen. REV. S. DAVIDSON, LL. D., Professor of Biblical Literature and Oriental Languages in the Lancashire Independent College. REV. BENJAMIN DA VIES, D. D. REV. J. P. DENHAM, M. A., St. John's College, Cambridge, F. R. S. REV. J. "W. DORAN, LL. D., Association Secretary of the Church Missionary Society REV. JOHN EADIE, LL. D., Professor of Biblical Literature to the United Presbyteriar Church. G. H. A. VON EWALD, D. D., Professor of Theology in the University of Gottingen. REV. F. W. GOTCH, M. A., Trinity College, Dublin. H. A. C. HAVERNICK, D. D., Professor of Theology in the University of Konigsberg. E. W. HENGSTENBERG, D. D., Professor of Theology in the University of Berlin. REV. J. JACOBI, of the University of Berlin. yiii LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS. REV. R. JAMIESON, M. A., Editor of ' Paxton's Illustrations of Scripture.' REV. E. A. LAWRENCE, Haverhill, United States. REV. ROBERT LEE, D. D., Edinburgh. FREDERICK R. LEES, Ph. D., F.S.S. A.; Editor of 'The Truth-Seeker,' &c. E. MICHELSON, Ph. D. of the University of Heidelberg. REV. PETER MEARNS, Author of ' Tirosh,' &c. REV. N. MORREN, M. A., Author of Biblical Theology,' and Translator of ' Rosen- miiller's Biblical Geography.' F. W. NEWMAN, late Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, Professor of Latin Language and Literature in the University of London. JOHN NICHOLSON, B. A., Oxford, Ph. D., Tubingen; Author of 'An Account of the Establishment of the Fatemite Dynasty,' Translator of ' Ewald's Hebrew Gram- mar.' W. A. NICHOLSON, M.D. REV. JOHN PHILLIPS POTTER, M. A., Oriel College, Oxford. REV. BADEN POWELL, M. A., F. R. S., F. G. S., Savillian Professor of Geometry in the University of Oxford. J. F. ROTLE, M. D., F. R. S., F. L. S., F. G. S., Member of the Royal Asiatic So- cieties of Calcutta and London ; Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in King's College, London. j. E. RTLAND, Translator of ' Neander's Church History,' and of ' Semisch's Justin Martyr.' LIEUT.-COLONEL C. HAMILTON SMITH, K. H. and K. W., F. R. and L. S., President of the Devon and Cornwall Natural History Society, &c. &c. REV. J. Pro SMITH, D.D., F.R.S., F.G.S. REV. H. STEBBING, D. D., of St. John's College, Cambridge. Author of A History of the Church,' &c. REV. A. THOLUCK, D. D., Professor of Theology in the University of Halle. REV. DAVID WELSH, D. D., Professor of Divinity and Church History, New College, Edinburgh. REV. LEONARD WOODS, D. D., Professor of Theology in the Andover Theological Seminary, United States. REV. WILLIAM WRIGHT, LL. D. of Trinity College, Dublin, Translator of ' Seller's Biblical Hermeneutics.' Page Roman Standards, 8 Absalom's Tomb 13 Akker-kuf, 14 Accubation, . . . 17 Naja Haje ; and the form of Cneph from the Egyptian Monuments, 31 Naja tripudians and Cobra di Capello ; or Hooded and Spectacled Snakes, ... 81 Adoration ; Kissing the Hand, 35 Modern Syrian Plough, 42 Ancient Egyptian Plough, 42 Plough, Pole, Shares, Handle, Yoke, Ox- goad, 43 Sowing. Ancient Egyptian, 43 Ploughing and Sowing. Ancient Egyptian, 43 Reaping, 43 Binding Sheaves, , 44 Sickles, 44 Egyptian Harvest Scene, 44 Threshing by Cattle, 44 Syrian Corn-Drag, 45 Threshing by the Noreg, 45 Winnowing, 45 Alabaster Vessels, 50 Alexander the Great, 50 Alexander, surnamed Balas, 51 Alexandria in Egypt 52 Almug Tree (Santalum album), 54 Almond Tree, 56 Altars (Various), 59 Altars ; Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian, Ro- man, Persian, 60 Egyptian God, Amon, 64 Amulets ; Modern Oriental, Ancient Egyp- tian, 66 Amulet ; Shield of David, 70 Angling, 70 Anise (Anethum graveolcns), 71 Anklets, Ancient Oriental, Modern Orien- tal, 71 Anointing, 72 Antioch, 75 Antiochus the Great, 76 Antiochus Epiphanes, 77 Apes, 78 Bedouin Arabs, 82 Mount Ararat, 89 Tower of Ramleh, 92 Armlets (Various), 97 Arms ; Clubs, Billets, Mace, Battle-axes, Swords, . . 97 Arms ; Swords, Dagger, Quarter Pike, Spear-heads, Darts, Bows, Quivers, Arrows 98 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. P. S e Egyptian Stingers and Slings, 99 Defensive Arms ; Shields, Target, Roundel, 99 Armour ; Helmets (Various) , 100 Body Armour, 100 Cuirass and Corslet ; Greek, Roman, Bar- barian, 101 Goddess Ashtoreth, . 105 Domestic Ass of Western Asia, 107 Wild Ass, 108 Syrian Goddess Atergatis, 113 Athens, 114 Various Attitudes of Adoration, . . .116,117 Awls, Axes, 118 118 Baalgad, 120 Bags or Purses for Money 126 Balsam Tree, 127 Ancient Egyptian Baskets, 137 Bay Tree, 139 Syrian Bear, 140 Beards ; Gods, Kings, Private Persons, . . 141 Beds, . 142,143 Hippopotamus, 145 Bellows, 146 Pool of Bethesda, . . .149 Bird Cages, 152 Bottles, 159 Ancient City of Bozrah 161 Egyptian Brick-making, . ...... . 163 Ancient Jewish Funeral, . . 164 Grave Clothes ; Ancient Sarcophagi, . . . 164 Sepulchres, 165 Egyptian Calf Idol, 169 Arabian Camel ; Baggage, 170 Arabian Camel ; Saddle, 170 Lawsonia inermis, 171 Candlestick, 173 Mount Carmel, 181 Ancient Egyptian Carts, 182 4 Cats 182 Cedar of Lebanon, 184 Ceilings, 186 Censers 186 Chameleon 189 Chamois, 189 Egyptian Curricle, 190 Egyptian War Chariot, 191 Cherubim ; Persian, Egyptian, 194 Plane Tree, 195 Cinnamon (Kinnamomum Cassia), .... 199 Coney (Hyrax Syriacus) 210 Coriander (Coriandrum sativum), . . . .211 Caspian Tern, 214 Numidian Crane (Grus virgo), 217 Crocodile, 218 Ancient Asiatic Crowns, 219 Ancient Egyptian Crowns, 220 Modern Asiatic Crowns, 220 Cummin Plant, 223 Cuttings in the Flesh 224 Damascus, 229 Dial, 254 Goddess Diana, 255 Dishes, 257 Dog, 259 Doves, 260 Dresses, 263267 Eagle (Aquilaheliaca), 269 Ebony (Diospyros ebenum) 272 : Egyptians, 275 Interior of Pictured Tomb, 276 Pyramid of Cheops, 280 Asiatic Elephant, 283 Engines of War. Battering Ram, Balista, 292 LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS. pg Ephesus 296 Painting of the Eyes, 311 Tomb of Ezra, 314 Deer (Cervus barbarus), 315 Fig Tree (Ficus carica), 322 Cypress Tree (Cupressus), 323 Egyptian Table, -with Dishes, 328 Modern Syrians at Meat, 329 Fortifications (Various), 331 Syrian Fox 332 Games (Various) 340342 Watering Garden, 343 Garden Houses, 344 Egyptian Camp Gate, 345 GateofKonieh, 345 Gates (Various), 346,347 Gaza, 348 Ruins of Gerasa, 354 Girdles, 360 Glass Blowing, 361 Glede, or Kite (Milvus ater) , 361 Syrian Goat, 362 Wild Goat of Sinai, 362 Syrian Hare, 380 Peregrine Falcon, 381 Heads. Ethiopian, Mongolian, Caucasian, Malay, American, 383 Heron (Ardea cinerea), 392 Mount Hor, . . 399 Horns, 400 Houses (Various), 406 411 Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqua), 413 Hyaena, 413 Jericho, 461 Jerusalem, 463 .491 Joppa Henna (Lawsonia inermis), 521 Paje Egyptian Lamps, 524 Classical Lamps, 524 Lanterns, 525 Hoopoe, 52G Lentiles (Cicerlens), 530 Leopard, 530 Lion, 538 Litters, 539, 540 Lizard (Lacerta stellio), 541 Mandrake (Atropa Mandragora), . . . .558 Mill, 585 Millet (Panicum miliaceum) 585 Egyptian .Metal Mirrors, 587 Roman Quadrans, 588 Jewish Coin, 591 Egyptian Mourners, Ashes on the Head, 597 Wail with Tabrets, &c., 597 Musical Instruments (Various) , . . 599 603 Mustard Tree (Salvadora Persica), .... 603 Myrrh (Balsamodendron Myrrha), . . . 604 Nazareth, 610 Nard (Nardostachys jatamansi) , 616 Nets, ... 617 Nineveh, 620 Olive Tree (Olea Europea), 627 Ossifrage (Gypaetos barbatus), 631 Ostrich 631 Owl, 632 Ford of the Jordan, 637 Cluster of Dates, &c 640 Partridges, 644 Pelican, 650 Ancient Persian King on Throne, .... 654 Ancient Persian Guards, ........ 654 Phylactery 669 Plane Tree, 672 Modern Egyptian Potter, 674 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Page Drawers and Girdle, 675 Girdle and Tunic, 675 Egyptian Tunic, 675 Ephod and Girdle, 676 Egyptian Mitres 677 High Priest, 677 Rash (Papyrus), 700 Salutations. Various Attitudes, 706 Samaria. Church of St. John, 707 Ancient Egyptian Sandals, 712 Greek and Roman Sandals 712 Satyr ( Macacus Arabicus) , 715 Scythian. Scythian General, 717 Petra. From above the Amphitheatre, . . 720 Interior of a Tomb, 721 Serpents (Various) 722 Syrian Sheep, 725 Supposed Kesitah, 726 Ancient Ship of the largest kind, 729 Ancient Light Vessel 729 Shittim Wood (Acacia seyel), 730 Standards (Various) 748 Stork, 7-15 Page Swallow, 746 Sycamore Fig, 748 Tamarisk, 752 Arabian Tent, 756 Terebinth Tree, 757 Thorn (ZizyphusSpina-Christi), 760 The Porphyrion, 763 Turtle Dove, 769 Unicorn (Bibos cavifrons), 771 Wine Press, 773 Veils. Dress Veils, Out-door Veils, ... 773 Vulture (Vultur percnopterus ) , 775 Well and Bucket at Jaffa 781 Palm Martin (Paradoxurus Typus), . . .781 Egyptian Wheat, 783 Willow (SalixEgyptiaca), 784 Egyptian Wolf, 786 Syro-Arabian Costume. In-door dress, . . 788 Young Lady in Full Dress, 788 Matron in Full Dress, 789 Nose Jewel, 789 Wormwood (Artemisia Judaica), 790 Ancient Writing Materials, 791 CYCLOPEDIA OF CONDENSED. AA'RON, the eldest son of Amram and Jochebad, of the tribe of Levi, and brother of Moses. He was born B.C. 1574 (Hales, B.C. 1730), three years before Moses, and one year before Pharaoh's edict to destroy the male children of the Israelites (Exod. vi. 20 ; vii. 7). His name first occurs in the mysterious inter- view which Moses had with the Lord, who appeared to him in the burning bush, while he kept Jethro's flock in Horeb. Among other excuses by which Moses sought to evade the great commission of delivering Israel, one was that he lacked that persuasive readiness of speech (literally was 'not a man of words') which appeared to him essential to such an undertaking. But lie was reminded that his brother Aaron possessed in a high degree the endowment which he deemed so needful, and could therefore speak in his name and on his behalf (Exod. iv. 14). During the forty years' absence of Moses in the land of Midian, Aaron had married a woman of the tribe of Judah, named Elisheba (or Elizabeth), who had born to him four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazer, and Ithamar; and Eleazer had, before the return of Moses, become the father of Phinehas (Exod. vi. 23-25). In obedience to an intimation from God, Aaron went into the wilderness to meet his brother, and conduct him back to Egypt. After forty years of separation they met and embraced each other at the mount of Horeb. \V hen they arrived in Goshen, Aaron introduced his brother to the chiefs of Israel, and assisted him in open- ing and enforcing the great commission which had been confided to him (Exod. iv. 27-31). In the subsequent transactions, from the first inter- view with Pharaoh till after the delivered nation had passed the Red Sea, Aaron appears to have been almost always present with Moses, assist- ing and supporting him ; and no separate act of his own is recorded. This co-operation was ever afterwards maintained. Aaron and Hur were present on the hill from which Moses sur- veyed the battle which Joshua fought with the Amalekites ; and these two long sustained the weary hands upon whose uplifting the fate of the battle was found to depend (Exod. xvii. 10-12). While Moses was absent in the mountain to receive the tables of the law, the people seem to have looked upon Aaron as their head, and growing impatient at the protracted absence of their great leader, they gathered around Aaron, and clamorously demanded that he should pro- vide them with a visible symbolic image of their God, that they might worship him as other gods were worshipped. Aaron ventured not to stem the torrent, but weakly complied with their demand ; and with the ornaments of gold which they freely offered, cast the figure of a calf or young bull, being doubtless that of the bull-god Apis at Memphis, whose worship ex- tended throughout Egypt. However, to fix the meaning of this image as a symbol of the true God, Aaron was careful to proclaim a feast to Jehovah for the ensuing day. On that day the people met to celebrate the feast, after the fashion of the Egyptian festivals of the calf-idol, with dancing, with shouting, and with sports. Meanwhile Moses had been dismissed from the mountain, provided with the decalogue, written ' by the finger of God,' on two tablets of stone. These, as soon as he came sufficiently near to observe the proceedings in the camp, he cast from him with such force that they brake in pieces. His re-appearance confounded the multitude, who quailed under his stern rebuke, and quietly submitted to see their new-made idol destroyed. For this sin the population was decimated by sword and plague (Exod. xxxii.). During his long absence in the mountain, Moses had received instructions regarding the ecclesiastical establishment, the tabernacle [TA- BERNACLK], and the priesthood [PRIESTS], which he soon afterwards proceeded to execute. Under the new institution Aaron was to be high-priest, and his sons and descendants priests ; and the whole tribe to which he belonged, that of Levi, was set apart as the sacerdotal or learned caste [LEVITES]. Accordingly, after the tabernacle had been completed, and every preparation made for the commencement of actual service, Aaron and his sons were consecrated by Moses, who anointed them with the holy oil and in- vested them with the sacred garments. The high-priest applied himself assiduously to the duties of his exalted office, and during the 2 AAKONITES period of nearly forty years that it was filled by him, the incidents which bring him historically before us are very few. It is recorded to his honour that ' he held his pea/,e' when his two eldest sons were, for their great offence, struck dead before the sanctuary (Lev. x, 1-11) [ABIHU]. Aaron would seem to have been liable to some fits of jealousy at the superior influence and authority of his brother; for he at least sanctioned the invidious conduct of his sister Miriam [MIRIAM], who, after the wife cf Moses had been brought to the camp by Jethro, became apprehensive for her own position, and cast reflections upon Moses, much calculated to damage his influence, on account of his mar- riage with a foreigner always an odious thing among the Hebrews. For this, Miriam was struck with temporary leprosy, which brought the high-priest to a sense of his sinful conduct, and he sought and obtained forgiveness (Num. xii.). Some twenty years after (B.C. 1471), when the camp was in the wilderness of Paran, a formi- dable conspiracy was organized against the sacer- dotal authority exercised by Aaron and his sons, and the civil a-ithority exercised by Moses. This conspiracy was headed by chiefs of influence and station Korah, of the tribe of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, of the tribe of Reuben TKORAH]. But the Divine appointment was con- firmed by the signal destruction of the conspira- tors : and the next day, when the people assem- bled tumultuously and murmured loudly at the destruction which had overtaken their leaders and friends, a fierce pestilence broke out among them, and they fell by thousands on the spot When this was seen, Aaron, at the command of Moses, filled a censer with fire from the altar, and, rushing forward, ' he stood between the dead and the living,' and the plague was stayed (Num. xvi.). This was in fact another attesta- tion of the Divine appointment ; aud, for its fur- ther confirmation, the chiefs of the several tribes were required to lay up their staves overnight in the tabernacle, together with the rod of Aaron for the tribe of Levi ; and in the morning it was found that, while the other rods remained as they were, that of Aaron had budded, blossomed, and yielded the fruit of almonds. The rod was I preserved in the tabernacle in evidence of the Divine appointment of the Aaronic family to the priesthood (Num. xvii. 1). Aaron was not allowed to enter the Promised Land, on account of the distrust which he, as well as his brother, manifested when the rock was stricken at Meribah (Num. xx. 8-13). His death indeed occurred very soon after that event For when the host arrived at Mount Hor, the Divine mandate came, that Aaron, accompanied by his brother Moses and by his son Eleazer, should ascend to the top of that mountain in the view of all the people ; and that he should there transfer his pontifical robes to Eleazer, and then die. He was 1 23 years old when his career thus terminated ; and his son and his brother buried him in a cavern of the mountain | HOR, MOUNT}. The Israelites mourned for him thirty days ; and on the first day of the month Ab the Jews still hold a fast in commemoration of his death. AARONITES, the descendants of Aaron, who served as priests at the sanctuary (Num. iv. 5, uq.} 1 Chron. xii. 27 ; xxyiL 17). ABABIM AB (father) is found as the first member of several compound Hebrew proper names such as Abncr, father am, king of Judah. She is called the daughter of Eliab, David's elder brother (2 Chroa. xi. 18); but was doubtless only his descendant. 2. ABIHAIL (father of might, i. e. miajit;/). This name should be written ABICHAIL. It was borne by several persons: 1. ABICHAIL, the you of Huri, one of the family-chiefs of the tribe of Gad, who settled in Bashau (1 Chron. v. 14). 2. ABICHAIL, the father of Zuriel, who was the father of the Levitical tribes of Merari (Num. iii. 35). 3. ABICHAIL, the father of Queen Esther, and brother of Mordecai (Esth. ii. 15). ABI'HU (father if him), the second of the sons of Aaron, who, with his brothers Nadab, Eleazer, and Ithamar, was set apart and conse- crated for the priesthood (Exod. xxviii. 1). He and his brother Nadab having presumed to offer incense iii censers filled with ' strange ' or com- mon fire, they were instantly struck dead by lightning, and were taken away and buried in their clothes without the camp. As immediately after the record of this transaction comes a pro- hibition of wine or strong drink to the priests on duty at the tabernacle, it is not unfairly sur- mised that they were intoxicated when they committed this serious error in their ministra- tions (Lev. x. l-1 1). 1. ABI'JAH (see signif. in ABIAH, 2 Chron. xiii. 1). He is also called Abijam (1 Kings xv.). Abijah was the second king of the separate kingdom of Judah, being the son of Rehoboam, and grandson of Solomon. He began to reign B.C. 957, in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel ; and he reigned three years. At the commencement of his reign Abijah made a vigorous attempt to bring back the ten tribes to their allegiance. In this he failed ; although a signal victory over Jeroboam, who had double his force and much greater experience, enabled him to take several cities which had been held by Israel. The numbers reputed to have been present in this action are 800,000 on the side of Jeroboam, 400,000 on the side of Abijah, and 500,000 left dead on the field. The 'book of Chronicles mentions nothing concerning Abijah adverse to the favourable impressions which we receVre from his conduct on this occasion ; but in Kint;3 we are told that ' he walked in all the sins of h\s father ' (1 Kings xv. 3). He had fourteen wiv? s , by whom he left twenty-two sons and sixte u daughters. Asa succeeded him. 2. ABIJAH, son of Jeroboam I., king of Israel. His severe and threatening illness in- duced Jeroboam to send his wife with a present, suited to the disguise in which she went, to con- sult the prophet Ahijah respecting his recovery. This prophet was the same who had, in the days of Solomon, foretold to Jeroboam his elevation to the throne of Israel. Though blind with age, he knew the disguised wife of Jeroboam, and was authorized, by the prophetic impulse that came upon him, to reveal to her that, because there was found in Abijah only, of all the house of Jeroboam, ' some good thing towards the Lord,' he only, of all that house, should come to his grave in peace, and be mourned in Israel. Accordingly, when the mother returned home, the youth died as she crossed the threshold of AB1MELECH the door. ' And they buried him, and all Israel mourned for him* (1 Kings xiv. 1-18). 3. A BIJ AH, one of the descendants of Eleazer, the son of Aaron, and chief of one of the twenty- four courses or orders into which the whole body of the priesthood was divided by David (1 Chron. xxiv. 10; Luke i. 5). Of these the course of Abijah was the eighth.- ABI'JAM. [ABIJAH, 1.] ABI'LA, capital of the Abilene of Lysanias (Luke iii. 1); and distinguished from other places of the same name as the Abila of Lysa- iiias, and (by Josephus) as ' the Abila of Leba- non.' Abila has been supposed to be the same as Abel-beth-Maacah, but without foundation, for that was a city of Naphtali, which Abila was not About eighteen miles north-west of Damascus is Souk Wady Barrada, where an in- scription was found by Mr. Bankes, which, be- yond doubt, identifies that place with the Abila of Lysanias. Burckhardt states that there are here two villages, built on the opposite sides of the Barrada. ABILE'NE (Luke iii. 1), the small district or territory which took its name from the chief town, Abila. Its situation is in some degree determined by that of the town ; but its precise limits and extent remain unknown. Northward it must have reached beyond the Upper Barrada, in order to include Abila; and it is probable that its southern border may have extended to Mount Hermon (Jebel es-Sheikh). It seems to have included the eastern declivities of Anti- Libanus, and the fine valleys between its bate and the hills which front the eastern plains. This territory had been governed as a te- trarchate by Lysanias, son of Ptolemy and grandson of Mennseus, but he was put to death, B.C. 33, through the intrigues of Cleopatra, who then took possession of the province. After her death it fell to Augustus, who rented it out to one Zenodorus ; but as he did not keep it clear of robbers, it was taken from him, and given to Herod the Great At his death a part (the southern, doubtless) of the territory was added to Trachonitis and Ituraea to form a tetrarchy for his son Philip ; but by far the larger portion, including the city of Abila, was then, or shortly afterwards, bestowed on another Lysanias, meu- tioaed by Luke (iii. 1 ), who is supposed to have been a descendant of the former Lysanias, but who is nowhere mentioned by Josephus. About ten years after the time referred to by Luke, the emperor Caligula gave Abilene to Agrippa I. as ' the tetrarchy of Lysanias,' to whom it was afterwards confirmed by Claudius. At his death, it was included in that part of his possessions which went to his son Agrippa II. 1. ABIM'ELECH (fattier of tJie king, or perhaps royal father}, the name of the Philistine kiug of Gerar in the time of Abraham (Gen. xx. 1, ssqq.: B.C. 1898"; Hales, B.C. 2054); but, f.-om its recurrence, it was probably less a propar name than a titular distinction, like PHARAOH for the kings of Egypt, or AUGUSTUS for the emperors of Rome. Abraham removed into his territory after the destruction of Sodom ; and fearing that the beauty of Sarah might bring him into difficulties, he declared her to be his sister. The conduct of Abimclech in taking Sarah into his harem shows that kings even then ABIMELECH 5 claimed the right of taking to themselves the unmarried females not only of their natural subjects, but of those who sojourned in their dominions. But Abimelech, obedient to a divine warning, restored her to her husband. As a mark of his respect he added valuable gifts, and offered the patriarch a settlement in any part of the country ; but he nevertheless did not forbear to visit with a gentle rebuke the deception which had been practised upon him (Gen. xx.). No- thing further is recorded of King Abimelech, except that a few years after he repaired to the camp of Abraham, who had removed southward . beyond his borders, accompanied by Phichol, ' the chief captain of his host,' to invite the patriarch to contract with him a league of peace and friendship. Abraham consented; and this first league on record [ALLIANCE] was confirmed by a mutual oath, made at a well which had | been digged by Abraham, but which the herds- men of Abimelech had seized without their lord's knowledge. It was restored to the rightful owner, on which Abraham named it BEERSHEBA (the \Vell of the Oath), and consecrated the spot to the worship of Jehovah (Gen. xxi. 22-34 \ 2. ABIMELECH, another king of Gerar, in the time of Isaac (about B.C. 1804 ; Hales, 1960), who is supposed to have been the son of the preceding. Isaac sought refuge in his territory during a famine ; and having the same fear re- specting his fair Mesopotamian wife, Rebekah, as his father had entertained respecting Sarah, he reported her to be his sister. This brought upon him the rebuke of Abimelech, when he accidentally discovered the truth. In those times, as now, wells of water were of so much importance for agricultural as well as pastoral purposes, that they gave a proprietary right to the soil, not previously appropriated, in which they were dug. Abraham had digged wells during his sojourn in the country ; and, to bar the claim which resulted from them, the Philis- tines had afterwards filled them up ; but they were no:v cleared out by Isaac, who proceeded to cultivate the ground to which they gave him a right. The virgin soil yielded him a hundred- fold ; and his other possessions, his flocks and herds, also received such prodigious increase that the jealousy of the Philistines could not be suppressed ; and Abimelech desired him to seek more distant quarters, in language which gives a high notion of the wealth of the patriarchal chiefs, and the extent of their establishments : ' Depart from us : for thou art more and miyhtier than we.' Isaac complied, and went out into the open country, and digged wells for his cattle. But the shepherds of the Philistines were not in- clined to allow the claim to exclusive pasturage in these districts to be thus established; and their opposition induced the quiet patriarch to make successive removals, until he reached such a distance that his operations were no longer disputed. Afterwards, when he was at Beer- sheba, he received a visit from Abimelech, who was attended by Ahuzzath, his friend, and Phi- j chol, the chief captain of his army. The king | having explained that it was his wish to renew, ' with one so manifestly blessed of God, the ; covenant of peace which had been contracted, between their fathers, Isaac willingly consented, and the desired covenant was, with due cere- 6 ABINADAB mony, contracted accordingly (Gen. xxvi.) [PHI- LISTINES]. 3. ABIMELECH, a son of Gideon, by a con- cubine-wife, a native of Shechem, where her family had considerable influence. Through that influence Abimelech was proclaimed king after the death of his father, who had himself refused that honour, when tendered to him, both for himself and his children (Judg. viii. 22-24). In a short time, a considerable part of Israel seems to have recognised his rule. One of the first acts of his reign was to destroy his brothers, seventy in number, being the first example of a system of barbarous state policy of which there have been frequent instances in the East Only one, the youngest, named Jotham, escaped ; and he had the boldness to make his appearance on Mount Gerizim, where the Shechemites were as- sembled for some public purpose, and rebuke them in his famous parable of the trees choosing a king [JOTHAM; PARABLE]. In three years the Shechemites found ample cause to repent of what they had done. They eventually revolted during Abimelech's absence, and caused an ambuscade to be laid in the mountains, with the design of destroying him on his return. But Zebul, his governor in Shechem, contrived to apprise him of these circumstances, so that he was enabled to avoid the snare laid for him ; and, having hastily assembled some troops, ap- peared unexpectedly before Shechem. The people of that place had meanwhile secured the assistance of one Gaal and his followers [GAAL], who marched out to give Abimelech battle, lie was defeated, and returned into the town ; and his inefficiency and misconduct in the action had been so manifest, that the people were induced by Zebul to expel him and his followers. The people still ventured out to the labours of the field ; which being told Abimelech, who was at Arumah, he laid an ambuscade in four bodies in the neighbourhood ; and when the men came forth in the morning, two of the ambushed parties rose against them, while the other two seized the city gates to prevent their return. Afterwards the whole force united against the city, which, being now deprived of its most efficient inhabitants, was easily taken, and com- pletely destroyed by the exasperated victor. The fortress, however, still remained ; but the occupants, deeming it untenable, withdrew to the temple of Baal-Berith, which stood in a more commanding situation. This building Abimelech set on fire and destroyed, with the thousand men who were in it. Afterwards Abimelech went to reduce Thebez, which had also revolted. The town was taken with little difficulty, and the people withdrew into the citadel. Here Abimelech resorted to his fa- vourite operation, and while heading a party to burn down the gate, he was struck on the head by a large stone cast down by a woman from the wall above. Perceiving that he had received a death-blow, he directed his armour-bearer to thrust him through with his sword, lest it should be said that he fell by a woman's hand (Judg. ix.). Vainly did Abimelech seek to avoid this disgrace ; for the fact of his death by the hand of a woman was long after associated with his memory (2 Sam. xi. 21). ABIN'ADAB (father of nobleness, or noble ABISHUA father}. There are several persons of this name, all of whom are also called AMINADAB the letters b and m being very frequently inter- changed in Hebrew. 1. ABINADAB, one of the eight sons of Jesse, and one of the three who followed Saul to the war with the Philistines (1 Sam. xvi. 8). 2. ABINADAB, one of Saul's sons, who was slain at the battle of Gilboa (1 Sam. xxxi. 2). 3. ABINADAB, the Levite of Kirjath-jearim, in whose house, which was on a hill, the Ark of the Covenant was deposited, after being brought back from the land of the Philistiues. It was- committed to the special charge of his son Elea- zer ; and remained there seventy years, until it was removed by David (1 Sam. vii. 1, 2 ; 1 Chron. xiii. 7) [ARK]. 1. ABl'RAM (father of altitude, i. e. lii;;h}, one of the family-chiefs of the tribe of Reuben, who, with Dathan and On of the same tribe, joined Korah, of the tribe of Levi, in a con- spiracy against Aaron and Moses (Num. xvi.) [AARON]. 2. ABIRAM, eldest son of Hiel the Bethelito- (1 Kings xvi. 34) [HiEL ; JERICHO]. AB'ISHAG (father of error}, a beautiful young woman of Shunam, in the tril>e of Issachar, who was chosen by the sen-ants of David to be intro- duced into the royal harem, for the special purpose of ministering to him, and cherishing him in his old age. She became his wife ; but the marriage was never consummated. Some time after the death of David, Adonijah, hi.<- eldest son, persuaded Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, to entreat the king that Abishag might be given to him in marriage. But as rights and privileges peculiarly regal were associated with the control and possession of the harem of the deceased kings, Solomon detected in this appli- cation a fresh aspiration to the throne, which he visited with death (1 Kings i. 1-4; ii. 13-25) [ADONIJAH]. ABISHA'I (father of gifts\ a nephew of David by his sister Zeruiah, and brother of Joab and Asahel. The three brothers devoted them- selves zealously to the interests of their uncle during his wanderings. Though David had more reliance upon the talents of Joab, he appears to have given more of his private con- fidence to Abishai, whom we find near his person on several critical occasions. He alone accom- panied David to the camp of Saul (1 Sam. xxvi. 5-9). He fled with him beyond the Jordan from Absalom, and commanded one of three divisions of the army which crashed that re- bellion (2 Sam. xviii. 2). He rescued David when in imminent peril of his life from a giant named Ishbi-benob (2 Sam. xxi. 15-17), and was also the chief of the three 'mighties,' who performed the chivalrous exploit of breaking through the host of the Philistines to procure David a draught of water from the well of his native Bethlehem (2 Sam. xxiii. 14-17). Among the exploits of this hero it is mentioned that he withstood 300 men and slew them with his spear : but the occasion of this adventure, and the time and manner of his death, are equally unknown. ABISHU'A (father of safety'}, the son of Phi- nehas, and fourth high-priest of the Jews (1 Chron. vi. 50). The commencement &i;d ABNER duration of his pontificate are uncertain, but the latter is inferred, from circumstances, to have in- cluded the period in which Ehud was judge, and probably the preceding period of servitude to Eglon of Moab. He is called Abiezer by Josephus (Antiq. v. 11. 5). ABLUTION, the ceremonial washing, where- by, as a symbol of purification from unclean- uess, a person was considered 1. to be cleansed from the taint of an inferior and less pure con- dition, and initiated into a higher and purer state (Lev. viii. 6); 2. to be cleansed from the soil of common life, and fitted for special acts of religious service (Exod. xxx. 17-21); 3. to be cleansed from defilements contracted by par- ticular acts or circumstances, and restored to the privileges of ordinary life (Lev. xii.-xv.) ; 4. as absolving or purifying himself, or declaring himself absolved and purified, from the guilt of a particular act (Deut. xxi. 1-9). We do not meet with any such ablutions in patriarchal times : but under the Mosaical dispensation they all occur. After the rise of the sect of the Pharisees, the practice of ablution was carried to such excess, from the affectation of excessive purity, that it is repeatedly brought under our notice in the New Testament through the severe animad- versions of our Saviour on the consummate hy- pocrisy involved in this fastidious attention to the external types of moral purity, while the heart was left unclean. All the practices there exposed come under the head of purification from uncleanuess ; the acts involving which Were made so numerous that persons of the stricter sect could scarcely move without con- tracting some involuntary pollution. For this reason they never entered their houses without ablution, from the strong probability that they had unknowingly contracted some defilement in the streets ; and they were especially careful never to eat without washing the hands (Mark vii. 1-5), because they were peculiarly liable to be defiled ; and as unclean hands M'ere held to communicate uncleanness to all food (excepting fruit) which they touched, it was deemed that there was no security against eating unclean food but by always washing the hands cere- monially before touching any meat. The Israel- ites, who, like other Orientals, fed with their fingers, washed their hands before meals, for the sake of cleanliness [WASHING]. But these customary washings were distinct from the cere- monial ablutions. It was the latter which the Pharisees judged to be so necessary. When therefore some of that sect remarked that our Lord's disciples ate ' with unwashen hands ' (Mark vii. 2), it is not to be understood literally that they did not at all wash their hands, but that they did not plunge them ceremonially ac- cording to their own practice. In at least an equal degree the Pharisees multiplied the cere- monial pollutions which required the ablution of inanimate objects 'cups and pots; brazen vessels and tables ;' the rules given in the law (Lev. vi. 28; xi. 32-36; xv. 23) being extended to these multiplied contaminations. Articles of earthen ware, which Avere of little value were to be broken ; and those of metal and wood were to be scoured and rinsed with water. AB'NEfi (father of light), the cousin of Saul ABOMINATION 7 (being the son of his uncle Ner), and the com- mander-in-chicf of his army. After the death of Saul (B.C. 1056), Abner's experience and cha- racter for ability and decision enabled him to uphold the interests of his family for seven years ; and while David reigned in Hebron over Judah, Ishbosheth, a surviving son of Saul, was, by Abner's influence, made king over the ten tribes, and reigned in Mahanaim, beyond Jordan. A sort of desultory warfare arose between the rival monarchs, in which the advantage appears to have been always on the side of David, lu an engagement fought at Gibeon, the forces of Ishbosheth were beaten. Abner, their general, fled for his life, but was closely pursued by Asahel, the brother of Joab and Abishai. Abner, dreading a blood-feud with Joab, entreated Asahel, but in vain, to desist from the pursuit ; and finding that his life was in danger, he at length ran his pursuer through the body (> Sam. ii. 8-32). This, according to the law of honour which still prevails in the East, put a strife of blood between Joab and Abner [BLOOD- REVENGE]. As time went on, Abner, probably rendered arrogant and presumptuous by the conviction that he was the only remaining prop of the house of Saul, took to his own harem a woman who had been a concubine-wife of Saul. This act, from the ideas connected with the harem of a deceased king, was not only a great impro- priety, but was open to the suspicion of a poli- tical design, which Abner may very possibly have entertained. A mild rebuke from Ishbo- sheth, however, enraged him so much, that he immediately declared his intention henceforth to abandon his cause and to devote himself to the interests of David. Accordingly after ex- plaining his views to the elders of the tribes which still adhered to the house of Saul, he re- paired to Hebron with authority to make certain overtures to David on their behalf. He was received with great attention and respect ; and David even thought it prudent to promise that he should still have the chief command of the armies, when the desired union of the two kingdoms took place. Joab, David's general, happened to be absent at the time, but he re- turned to Hebron just as Abner had left it. He speedily understood what had passed; and his dread of the superior influence which such a man as Abner might establish with David, quickened his remembrance of the vengeance which his brother's blood required. Unknown to the king, but apparently in his name, he sent a message after Abner to call him back ; and as he returned, Joab met him at the gate, and, leading him aside, as if to confer privately with him. suddenly thrust his sword into his body (B.C. 1048). The lamentations of David, the public mourning which he ordered, and the funeral honours which were paid to the remains of Abner, the king himself following the bier as chief mourner, exonerated him in public opinion from having been privy to this assassination. As for Joab, his privilege as a blood-avenger must to a great extent have justified his treacherous act in the opinion of the people ; and that, together with his influence with the army, screened him from punishment (2 Sam. iii. 6-39). ABOMINATION. This word describes gene- 8 ABOMINATION rally any object of detestation or disgust (Lev. xviii. 22 ; Deut. vii. 25) ; and is applied to an impure or detestable action (Ezek. xxii. 11 ; xxxiii. 26; Mai. ii. 11, &c.); to any thing causing a ceremonial pollution (Gen. xliii. 32 ; xlvi. 34 ; Deut xiv. 3) ; but more especially to idols (Lev. xviii. 22 ; xx. 13 ; Deut. vii. 26 ; 1 Kings xi. 5, 7 ; 2 Kings xxiii. 1 3) ; and also to food offered to idols (Zech. ix. 7); and to filth of every kind (Nahum iii. 6). Especial attention has been drawn to two or three of the texts in which the word occurs, on account of their peculiar interest or difficulty. The first is Gen. xliii. 32 : ' The Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews ; for that is an abomi- nation unto the Egyptians.' The primary reason of this seems to have been that the cow, which was a sacred animal in Egypt, was eaten by the Jews and most other nations, and therefore the Egyptians considered themselves ceremonially defiled if they ate with any strangers. The second passage is Gen. xlvi. 34. Joseph is telling his brethren how to conduct themselves when introduced to the king of Egypt ; and he instructs them that when asked concerning their occupation they should answer : * Thy servants' trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we and also our fathers.' And the reason is added : ' That ye may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is tin abomi- nation unto the Egyptians.' In the former in- stance they were ' an abomination ' as strangers, with whom the Egyptians could not eat ; here they are a further abomination as nomade shep- herds, whom the Egyptians held in peculiar abhorrence. For this aversion two reasons are given : one is the grievous oppression which the i inhabitants of Lower and Middle Egypt had suf- fered from a tribe of uomade shepherds, to whom they had for many years been subject, who had only of late been expelled. The other reason, not necessarily superseding the former, but ra- ther strengthening it, is, that the Egyptians, as a settled and civilized people, detested the law- less and predatory habits of the wandering shep- herd tribes, which then, as now, bounded the valley of the Nile, and occupied the Arabias. The third marked use of this word again oc- curs in Egypt The king tells the Israelites to offer to their god the sacrifices which they de- sired, without going to the desert for that pur- pose. To which Moses objects, that they should have to sacrifice to the Lord ' the abomination of the Egyptians? who would thereby be highly exasperated against them (Exod. viii. 25, 26). A reference back to the first explanation shows that this ' abomination ' was the cow, the only animal which all the Egyptians agreed in holding sa- cred ; whereas, in the great sacrifice which the Hebrews proposed to hold, not only would hei- fers be offered, but the people would feast upon their flesh. THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION. In Dan. ix. 27, literally, ' the abomination of the desolater,' which, without doubt, means the idol or idola- trous apparatus which the desolater of Jerusalem should establish in the holy place. This appears to have been a prediction of the pollution of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, who caused an idolatrous altar to be built on the altar of burnt- offerings, whereon unclean things were offered ABRAHAM to Jupiter Olympius, to whom the temple itself was dedicated. The phrase is quoted by Jesus (Matt. xxiv. 15), and is applied by him to what was to take place at the advance of the Romans against Jerusalem. They who saw ' the abomi- nation of desolation standing in the holy place ' were enjoined to ' flee to the mountains.' And this may with probability be referred to the advance of the Roman army against the city with their image-crowned standards, to which idola- trous honours were paid, and which the Jews regarded as idols. The unexpected retreat and discomfiture of the Roman forces afforded such as were mindful of our Saviour's prophecy an opportunity of obeying the injunction which it contained. Those however who suppose that ' the holy place ' of the text must be the temple itself, may find the accomplishment of the pre- diction in the fact that, when the city had been taken by the Romans, and the holy house de- stroyed, the soldiers brought their standards in due form to the temple, set them up over the eastern gate, and offered sacrifice to them, for almost the entire religion of the Roman camp consisted in worshipping the ensigns, swearing by the ensigns, and in preferring the ensigns before all the other gods. 1. Roman Standards. Nor was this the last appearance of ' the abo- mination of desolation, in the holy place : ' for, not only did Hadrian, with studied insult to the Jews, set up the figure of a boar over the Beth- lehem gate of the city which rose upon the site and ruins of Jerusalem ; but he erected a temple to Jupiter upon the very site of the Jewish temple, and caused an image of himself to be set up in the part which answered to the sanctuary. This was a consummation of all the abomina- tions which the iniquities of the Jews brought upon their holy place. AB'RAHAM (father of a multitude), thfc ABRAHAM founder of the Hebrew nation. Up to Gen. xvii. 4, 5, he is uniformly called ABRAM (father of elevation, or high father} ; and this was his ori- ginal name; but the extended form, which it always afterwards bears, was given to make it significant of the promise of a numerous posterity which was at the same time made to him. Abraham was a native of Chaldea, and de- scended, through Heber, in the ninth genera- tion, from Shem the son of Noah. His father was Terah, who had two other sons, Nahor and Haran. Haran died prematurely 'before his father,' leaving a son Lot, and two daughters, Milcah and Iscah. Lot attached himself to his uncle Abraham ; Milcah became the wife of her uncle Nahor ; and Iscah, who was also called Sarai, became the wife of Abraham (Gen. ix. 26-29) [SARAH]. Abraham was born A.M. 2008, B.C. 1996 (Hales, A.M. 3258, B.C. 2153), in ' Ur of the Chaldees' (Gen. xi. 28). Although he is, by way of eminence, named first, it appears probable that he was the young- est of Terah's sons, and born by a second wife, when his father was 130 years old. Terah was seventy years old when the eldest son was born (Gen. xi. 32; xii. 4; xx. 12); and that eldest ton appears to have been Haran, from the fact that his brothers married his daughters, and that his daughter Sarai was only ten years younger than his brother Abraham (Gen. xvii. 17). Abraham was 60 years old when the family quitted their native city of Ur, and went and abode in Charran. The reason for this move- ment does not appear in the Old Testament ; but it is mentioned in Acts vii. 2-4: 'The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was (at Ur of the Chaldees) in Mesopotamia, bfftre he dwelt in Charran, and said unto him, Depart from thy land, and from thy kindred, and come hither to a laud which / will shew thee. Then departing from the land of the Chaldees, he dwelt in Charran.' Thisjirst call is not recorded, but only implied in Gen. xii. : and it is distinguished by several pointed cir- cumstances from the second, which alone is there mentioned. Accordingly Abraham departed, and his family, including his aged father, re- moved with him. They proceeded cot at once to the land of Canaan, but they came to Charran, and tarried at that convenient station for fifteen years, until Terah died, at the age of 205 years. Being free from his filial duties, Abraham, now 75 years of age, received a second and more pointed call to pursue his destination : ' Depart from thy land, and from thy kindred, and Jrom thy father's house, unto the land which I will shew thee' (Gen. xii. 1). This second call re- quired the patriarch to isolate himself, not only from his country, but from his family. He however took with him his nephew Lot, whom, having no children of his own, he appears to have regarded as his heir, and then went forth * not knowing whither he went' (Heb. xi. 8), but trusting implicitly to the Divine guidance. When Abraham arrived in the land of Ca- naan, he found it occupied by the Canaanites in a large number of small independent commu- nities, which cultivated the districts around their several towns. The country was however but thinly peopled ; and, as in the more recent limes ABRAHAM 9 of its depopulation, it afforded ample pasture- ground for the wandering pastors. In their eyes Abraham must have appeared one of that class. In Mesopotamia, though the family had been pastoral, they had dwelt in towns and houses, and had sent out their flocks and herds under the care of shepherds. But the migratory life to which Abraham had now been called, com- pelled him to take to the tent-dwelling form of pastoral life. The rich pastures in that part of the country tempted Abraham to form his first encampment in the vale of Moreh, which lies between the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim. Here the strong faith which had brought the childless man thus far from his home was re- warded by the grand promise from God : ' I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing ; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee : and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed ' (Gen. xii. 2, 3). It was further promised that to his posterity should be given the rich heritage of that beautiful country into which he had come (v. 7). The implied condition on his part was, that he should publicly profess the worship of the true God, and accordingly ' he built there an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.' He soon after removed to the district between Bethel and Ai, where he also built an altar to that ' JEHOVAH ' whom the world was then hastening to forget. His farther removals tended southward, until at length a famine in Palestine compelled him to withdraw into Egypt, where corn abounded. Here bis apprehension that the beauty of his wife Sarai might bring him into danger with the dusky Egyptians, overcame his faith and rectitude, and he gave out that she was his sister. As he had feared, the beauty of the fair stranger excited the admiration of the Egyp- tians, and at length reached the ears of the king, who forthwith exercised his regal right of call- ing her to his harem, and to this Abraham, ap- pearing as only her brother, could offer LO resistance. As, however, the king had no in- tention to act harshly in the exercise of his pri- vilege, he loaded Abraham with valuable gifts, suited to his condition, consisting chiefly of slaves and cattle. The-se presents could not have been refused by him without an insult which, under all the circumstances, the king did not deserve. A grievous disease inflicted on Pharaoh and his household relieved Sarai from her danger, by revealing to the king that she was a married woman ; on which he sent for Abraham, and, after rebuking him for his conduct, restored his wife to him, and recommended him to withdraw from the country. He accordingly returned to the land of Canaan, much richer than when he left it 'in cattle, in silver, and in gold' (Gen. xii. 8 ; xiii. 2). Lot also had much increased his possessions : and soon after their rettvn to their jrevious sta- tion near Bethel, the disputes between their re- spective shepherds about water and pasturage soon taught their that they had better separate. The recent promise of posterity to Abraham himself, although his wife had been accounted barren, probably tended also in some degree to weaken the tie by which the uncle and nephew had hitherto been united. The subject was 10 ABRAHAM broached by Abraham, who generously conceded to Lot the choice of pasture-grounds. Lot chose the well-watered plain in which Sodom and other towns were situated, and removed thither [Lor]. Immediately afterwards the patriarch was cheered and encouraged by a more distinct and formal reiteration of the promises which had been previously made to him, of the occupation of the land iii which he lived by a posterity numerous as the dust. Not long after, he removed to the pleasant valley of Mamre, in the neighbourhood of Hebron (then called Arba), and pitched his tent under a terebinth tree (Gen. xiii.). It appears that fourteen years before this time the south and east of Palestine had been invaded by a king called Chedorlaomer, from beyond the Kuphrates, who brought several of the small disunited states of those quarters under tribute. Among them were the five cities of the Plain of Sodoin, to which Lot had withdrawn. This burden was borne impatiently by these states, and they at length withheld their tribute. This brought upon them a ravaging visitation from ChedoHaomer and four other (perhaps tributary) kings, who scoured the whole country east of the Jordan, and ended by defeating the kings of the plain, plundering their towns, and carrying the people away as slaves. Lot was among the suf- ferers. When this came to the ears of Abraham, he immediately armed such of his slaves as were fit for war, in number 318, and being joined by the friendly Amoritish chiefs, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, pursued the retiring invaders. They were overtaken near the springs of the Jordan ; and their camp being attacked on opposite sides by night, they were thrown into disorder, and fled. Abraham and his men pursued them as far as the neighbourhood of Damascus, and then returned with all the men and goods which had been taken away. When the victors had reached ' the king's dale ' on their return, they were met by several of the native princes, among whom was Melchizedek, king of Salem, which is gene- rally supposed to have been Jerusalem. He was one of the few native princes, if not the only one, who retained the knowledge and worship of 4 the Most High God,' whom Abraham served. This circumstance created a peculiar relation between the king and the patriarch, which the former recognised by bringing forth ' bread and wine,' and probably other refreshments to Abra- ham, and which the latter acknowledged by presenting to Melchizedek a tenth of the spoils. By strict right, founded on the war usages which still subsist in Arabia, the recovered goods be- came the property of Abraham, and not of those to whom they originally belonged. This was acknowledged by the king of Sodom, who met the victors in the valley near Salem. He said, ' Give me the persons, and keep the goods to thyself.' But with becoming pride and disinter- estedness Abraham answered, ' I have lifted up mine hand [i. e. I have sworn] unto Jehovah, the most high God, that I will not take from a thread even to a sandal-thong, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say. I have made Abram rich ' (Gen. xiv.). Soon after his return to Mamre the faith of Abraham was rewarded and encouraged, not only by a more distinct and detailed repetition of the promises formerly made to him, but by ABRAHAM the confirmation of a solemn covenant non- tracted, as nearly as might be, ' after the man- ner of men * [COVENANT] between him and God. It was now that he first understood that his pro- mised posterity were to grow up into a nation under foreign bondage ; and that, in 400 years after (or, strictly, 405 years, counting from the birth of Isaac to the Exode), they should come forth from that bondage as a nation, to take possession of the land in which lie sojourned (Gen. xv.). After ten years' residence in Canaan (B.C. 1913), Sarai, being then 75 years old, and having long been accounted barren, chose to put her own interpretation upon the promised blessing of a progeny to Abraham, and persuaded him to take her woman slave Hagar, an Egyptian, as a secondary or concubine wife, with the view that whatever child might proceed from this union should be accounted her own [HAGAR]. The son who was born to Abraham by Hagar, and who received the name of Ishmael [ISHMAEL], was accordingly brought up as the heir of his father and of the promises (Gen. xvi.). Thirteen years after (B.C. 1900), when Abraham was 99 years old, he was favoured with still more explicit declarations of the Divine purposes. He was reminded that the promise to him was that he should be the father of many nations -, ai.d to indicate this , intention his name was now changed (as Before described) from Abram to Abraham. The Divine Being then solemnly renewed the covenant to be a God to him and to the race that should spring from him ; and in token of that covenant directed that he and his should receive in their flesh the sign of circum- cision [CIRCUMCISION]. Abundant blessings were promised to Ishmael ; but it was then first announced, in distinct terms, that the heir of the special promises was not yet born, and that the barren Sarai, then 90 years old, should twelve months thence be his mother. Then also her name was changed from Sarai to Sarah (the princess) ; and to commemorate the laughter with which the prostrate patriarch received tuch strange tidings, it wan directed that the name of Isaac (laughing) should be given to the future child. The very same day, in obedience to the Divine ordinance, Abraham himself, his son Ishmael, and his house-born and purchased slaves were all circumcised (Gen. xvii.). Three months after this, as Abraham sat IB his tent door daring the heat of the day, he saw three travellers approaching, and hastened to meet them, and hospitably pressed upon them refreshment and rest. They assented, and ui.der the shade of a terebinth tree partook of the abundant fare which the patriarch and his wife provided. From the manner in which one of the strangers spoke, Abraham soon gathered that his visitants were no other than the Lord himself and two attendant angels in human form. The promise of a son by Sarah was renewed ; and when Sarah herself, who overheard this within the tent, laughed inwardly at the tidii^s, which, on account of her great age, she at first disbelieved, she incurred the striking rebuke, ' Is any thing too hard for Jehovah ? ' The strangers then addressed themselves to their journey, and Abraham walked some way with them. The two angels went forward in the di- ABRAHAM rection of Sodom, while the Lord made known to him that, for their enormous iniquities, Sodom and the other ' cities of the plain ' were about to be made signal monuments of his wrath and of his moral government. Moved by compassion and by remembrance of Lot, the patriarch ven- tured, reverently but perseveringl~, to intercede for the doomed Sodom ; and at length obtained a promise that, if but ten righteous men were found therein, the whole city should be saved for their sake. Early the next morning Abra- ham arose to ascertain the result of this conces- sion : and when he looked towards Sodom, the smoke of its destruction, rising ' like the smoke of a furnace,' made known to him its terrible overthrow [SODOM]. Almost immediately after, Abraham removed into the territories of Abi- melech, king of Gerar, where, by a most extra- ordinary infatuation and lapse of faith, he al- lowed himself to stoop to the same prevarication in denying his wife, which, twenty-three years before, had occasioned him so much trouble in Egypt [ABIMELECH]. The same year Sarah gave birth to the long- promised son ; and, according to previous direc- tion, the name of Isaac was given to him [ISAAC]. This greatly altered the position of Ishmael, and appears to have created much ill-feeling both on his part and that of his mother towards the child ; which was in some way manifested so pointedly, on occasion of the festivities which attended the weaning, that the wrath of Sarah was awakened, and she insisted that both Hagar and her son should be sent away. This was a very hard matter to a loving father ; and Abraham was greatly distressed ; but being apprised in a dream that this demand was in accordance with the Divine intentions respecting both Ishmael and Isaac, he, with his habitual uncompromising obedience, hastened them away early in the morning, with provision for the journey. Their adventures belong to the article HAGAR. When Isaac was about 25 years old (B.C. 1872) it pleased God to subject the faith cf Abra- ham to a severer trial than it had yet sustained, or than has ever fallen to the lot of any other mortal man. He was commanded to go into the mountainous country of Moriah (probably where the temple afterwards stood), and there offer up in sacrifice the son of his affection, and the heir of so many hopes and promises, which his death must nullify. But Abraham's ' faith shrunk not, assured that what God had promised he would certainly perform, and that he was able to restore Isaac to him even from the dead ' (Heb. xi. 17-19), and he rendered a ready, however painful, obedience. Assisted by two of his ser- vants, he prepared wood suitable for the purpose, and without delay set out upon his melancholy journey. On the third day he descried the ap- pointed place ; and informing his attendants that he and his son would go some distance farther to worship, and then return, he proceeded to the spot. To the touching question of his son re- specting the victim to be offered, the patriarch replied by expressing his faith that God himself would provide the sacrifice; and probably he availed himself of this opportunity of acquaint- ing him with the Divine command. Isaac sub- mitted patiently to be bound and laid out as a victim on the wood of the altar, and would most ABU A HAM'S BOSOM 11 certainly have been slain by his father's up- lifted hand, had not the angel of Jehnvah ir.ter- posed at the critical moment to arrest the fatal stroke. A ram which had become entangled in a thicket was seized and offered ; and a i.ame was given to the place (Je/iouah-Jir li ' the Lord will provide') alluding to the believii g answer which Abraham had given to his heba (Gen. xxiii. 19). Eight years after (B.C. 1 SCO) Sarah died at the age cf 120 years, being then at or near Hebron. This loss first taught Abraham the necessity cf acquiring possession of a family sepulchre in the land of his sojourning. His choice fell on the cave of Machpelah [MACHPELAH], and after a striking negotiation with the owner in the gate of Hebron, he purchased it, and had it legally secured to him. This was the only possession he ever had in the Land of Promise (Gen. xxiii.). The next care of Abraham was to provide a suitable wife for his sou Isaac. It has always been the practice among pastoral tribes to keep up the family ties by intermarriages of blcocl- relations : and now Abraham had a further in- ducement in the desire to maintain the purity of the separated race froir foreign and idolatrous connections. He therefore sent his aged and confidential steward Eliezer, under the bond of a solemn oath to discharge his mission faithfully, to renew the intercourse between his family and that of his brother Nahor, whom he had left behind in Charran. He prospered in his im- portant mission [ISAAC], and in due time re- turned, bringing with him Rebekah, the daughter of Nahor's son Bethuel, who became the wife of Isaac, and was installed as chief lady of the camp, in the separate tent which Sarah had oc- cupied (Gen. xxiv.). Some time after Abraham himself took a wife named Keturah, by whom he had several children. These, together with Ishmael, seem to have been portioned off by their father in his lifetime, and sent into the east and south-east, that there might be no danger of their interference with Isaac, the divinely appointed heir. There was time for this : for A braham lived to the age of 175 years, 100 of which he had spent in the land of Canaan.' He died in B.C. 1822 (Hales, 1978\ and was buried by his two eldest sons in the family sepulchre which he had purchased of the Hittites (Gen. xxv. 1-10). ABRAHAM'S BOSOM. There was no name which conveyed to the Jews the same asso- ciations as that of Abraham. As undoubtedly he was in the highest state of felicity of which departed spirits are capable, 'to be with Abra- ham ' implied the enjoyment of the same felicity ; and ' to be in Abraham's bosom ' meant to be in repose and happiness with him. The latter phrase is obviously derived from the custom of sitting or reclining at table which prevailed among the Jews in and before the time of Christ [ACCUSATION]. It was quite usual to describe a just person as being with Abraham, or as lying on Abraham's bosom ; and as such images were unobjectionable, Jesus accommodated his speech to them, to render himself the more intelligible 12 ABSALOM by familiar notions, when, in the beautiful pa- rable of the rich man and Lazarus, he describes the state of the latter after death under these conditions (Luke xvi. 22, 23). AB'SALOM (father of peace), the third son of David, and his only son by Maachah, daugh- ter of Talmai, king of Geshur (2 Sam. iii. 3). He was deemed the handsomest man in the kingdom; and was particularly noted for the profusion of his beautiful hair, which appears to have been regarded with great admiration. David's other child by Maachah was a daughter named Tamar, who was also very beautiful. She became the object of lustful regard to her half- brother Amnon, David's eldest son ; and was violated by him. In all cases where polygamy is allowed, we find that the honour of a sister is in the guardianship of her full brother, more even than in that of her father, whose interest in her is considered less peculiar and intimate. We trace this notion even in the time of Jacob (Gen. xxxiv. 6, 13, 25, sqq.). So in this case the wrong of Tamar was taken up by Absalom, who kept her secluded in his own house, and said nothing for the present, but brooded silently over the wrong he had sustained and the ven- geance which devolved upon him. It was not until two years had passed that Absalom found opportunity for the bloody revenge he had me- ditated. He then held a great sheep-shearing feast at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, to which he invited all the king's sons. Amnon attended among the other princes ; and, when they were warm with wine, he was slain by the servants of Absalom, according to the previous directions of their master. Absalom then hastened to Geshur, and remained there three years with his father-in-law, king Talmai. Now Absalom, with all his faults, was emi- nently dear to the heart of his father, who mourned every day after the banished fratricide. His secret wishes to have home his beloved though guilty son were however discerned by Joab, who employed a clever woman of Tekoah to lay a supposed case before him for judg- ment ; and she applied the anticipated decision so adroitly to the case of Absalom, that the king discovered the object, and detected the interpo- sitioa of Joab. Regarding this as in some de- grcs expressing the sanction of public opinion, David gladly commissioned Joab to ' call home his banished.' Absalom returned ; but David, still mindful of his duties as a king and father, controlled the impulse of his feelings, and de- clined to admit him to his presence. After two years, however, Absalom, impatient of his dis- grace, found means to compel the attention of Joab to his case ; and through his means a com- plete reconciliation with the king was effected (2 Sam. xiii. xiv.). Absalom was now, by the death of his elder brothers, Amnon and Chileab, become the eldest surviving son of David, and heir apparent to the throne. But under the peculiar theocratic insti- tutions of the Hebrews, the Divine king reserved the power of bestowing the crown on any person whom he might prefer. The house of David was now established as the reigning dynasty, and out of his family Solomon had been selected by God as the successor of his father. In this fact, which was probably well known to the ABSALOM mass of the nation, we have a clear motive for the rebellion of Absalom, who wished to secure the throne, which he deemed to be his by the laws of primogeniture, during the lifetime of his father, while the destined successor was yet a child. The fine person of Absalom, his superior birth, and his natural claim, pre-disposed the people to regard his pretensions with favour : and this pre-disposition was strengthened by the conde- scending cympathy with which he accosted the suitors who repaired for justice or favour to the royal audience, combined with the state and at- tendance with which, as the heir apparent, he- appeared in public. By these influences ' lie- stole the hearts of the men of Israel ; ' and when at length, four years after his return from Geshur, he repaired to Hebron, and there proclaimed himself king, the great body of the people de- clared for him. So strong ran the tide of opinion in his favour, that David found it expedient to quit Jerusalem and retire to Mahanaim, beyond the Jordan. When Absalom heard of this, he proceeded to Jerusalem and took possession of the throne without opposition. Among those who had joined him was Ahithophel, who had been David's counsellor, and whose profound sagacity caa.-od his counsels to be regarded like oracles in Israel. Thisdefection alarmed David more than any otlu r circumstance, and he persuaded his friend Hushai to go and join Absalom, in the hope that he might be made instrumental in turning the sagacious counsels of Ahithophel to foolishness. The first piece of advice which Ahithophel gave Absalom was, that he should publicly take possession of that portion of his father's harem which had been left behind in Jerusalem. This was not only a mode by which the succession of the throne might be confirmed [ABISHAGJ, but in the present case this villauous measure would dispose the people to throw themselves the more unreservedly into his cause, from the as- surance that no possibility of reconciliation between him and his father remained. Husliai had not then arrived. Soon after he came, when a council of war was held to consider the course of operations to be taken a^aiii.-t David. Ahithophel counselled that the king should be pursued that very night, and smitten, while he was ' weary and weak handed, a;id before he had time to recover strength.' Iluslr.ii, however, whose abject was to gain time for David, speciously urged, f/omthe known valour of the king, the possibility and fatal conse- quences of a defeat, and advised that all Israel should be assembled against him in such Div- as it would be impossible for him to withstand. Fatally for Absalom, the counsel of Hushui was preferred to that of Ahithophel ; and time was thus given to enable the king to collect his re- sources. A large force was soon raised, which he properly organized and separated into throe divisions, commanded severally by Joab, Ahi- shai, and Ittai of Gath. The king him.-elf intended to take the chief command ; .but the people refused to allow him to risk his valued life, arid the command then devolved upon Joulx The battle took place in the borders of the forest of Ephraim ; and the tactics of Joab, in drawing the enemy into the wood, and there ABSALOM'S TOMB hemming them in, so that they were destroyed with ease, eventually, under the providence of God, decided the action against Absalom. Twenty thousand of his troops were slain, and the rest fled to their homes. Absalom himself fled on a swift mule ; but as he went, the boughs of a terebinth tree caught the long hair in which he gloried, and he was left suspended there. The charge which David had given to the tioops to respect the life of Absalom prevented any one from slaying him: but when Joab heard of it, he hastened to the spot, and pierced him through with three darts. His body was then taken down and cast into a pit there in the forest, and a heap of stones was raised upon it. David's fondness for Absaiom was unextin- guished by all that had passed ; and no sooner did he hear that his son was dead, than he re- tired to his chamber and gave vent to his pa- ternal anguish in the most bitter wailings O my son Absalom ! my son, my son Absalom ! would God I had died for .thee, O Absalom, my son, my son !' The consequences might have been most dangerous, had not Joab gone up to him, and, after sharply rebuking him for thus discouraging those who had risked their lives in his cause, induced him to go down and cheer the returning warriors by his presence (2 Sam. xiii.- xix. 8). ABSALOM'S TOMB. A remarkable monu- ment bearing this name makes a conspicuous figure in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, outside Jerusalem ; and it has been noticed and described by almost all travellers. It is close by the lower bridge over the Kidron, and is a square isolated block hewn out from the rocky ledge so as to leave an area or niche around it. The body of this monument is about 24 feet square. 2. Absalom's Tomb. The elevation is about 18 or 20 feet to the top of the architrave, and thus far it is wholly cut from the rock. The upper part of the tomb, which is about 20 feet high (the whole has therefore an elevation of about 40 feet), has been ABSTINENCE 11 carried up with mason-work of large stones. 1'here is a small excavated chamber in the body of the tomb, into which a hole had been broken through one of the sides several centuries ago. The old travellers who refer to this tomb, as well as Calmet after them, are satisfied that they find the history of it in 2 Sam. xviii. 18, which states that Absalom, having no EOIJ, built a mo- nument to keep his name in remembrance, at:d that this monument was called ' Absalom's Hand' that is, index, memorial, or inoinniieiit. With our later knowledge, a glance at this and the other monolithic tomb bearing the name of Zecharias, is quite enough to show that they had no connection with the times of the persons whose names have been given to them. But tradition seems never to have become fully settled as to the individuals whose names they should bear, and to the present day the ac- counts of travellers have been- varying and in- consistent. ABSTINENCE is a refraining from the use of certain articles of food usually eaten ; or from all food during a certain time for some particular object. It is distinguished from TEMPERANCE, which is moderation in ordinary food ; and from FASTING, which is abstinence from a religious motive. The first example of abstinence which occurs in Scripture is that in which the use of blood is forbidden to Noah (Gen. ix. 4) [BLOOD]. The next is that men- tioned in Gen. xxxii. 32 : ' The children of Is- rael eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day, because he (the angel) touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.' By the law, abstinence from blood was confirmed, ar.d the use of the flesh of even lawful animals was forbidden, if the manner of their death rendered it impossible that they should be, or uncertain that they were, duly exsanguinated (Exod. xxii. 31 ; Deut. xiv. 21). A broad rule was also laid down by the law, defining whole classes of animals that might not be eaten (Lev. xi/i [Foow]. Certain parts of lawful animals, as being sacred to the altar, were also interdicted. These were the large lobe of the liver, the kid- neys and the fat upon them, as well as the tail of the ' fat-tailed' sheep (Lev. iii. 9-1 1). Every- thing consecrated to idols was also forbidden (Exod. xxxiv. 15). Instances of abstinence from allowed food are not frequent, except in commemorative or afflictive fasts. The forty days' abstinence of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus are peculiar cases requiring to be separately con- sidered [FASTING]. The priests were com- manded to abstain from wine previous to their actual ministrations (Lev. x. 9), and the same abstinence was enjoined to the Nazarites during the whole period of their separation (Num.vi. 3). A constant abstinence of this kind was, at a later period, voluntarily undertaken by the Rechabites (Jer. xxxv. 14-18). Among the early Christian converts there were some who deemed themselves bound to adhere to the Mosaical limi- tations regarding food, and they accordingly abstained from flesh sacrificed to idols, as well as from animals which the law accounted un- clean ; while others contemned this as a weak- ness, and exulted in the liberty wherewith Christ had made his followers free (Rom. xiv. u ACCAD 1-3; 1 Cor. viii.). Mention is made by the apostle Paul of certain sectaries who should arise, forbidding marriage and enjoining absti- nence from meats which God had created to be received with thanksgiving (1 Tim. iv. 3, 4) The council of the apostles at Jerusalem decided that i.o other abstinence regarding food should be imposed upon the converts than ' from meats offered to idols, from blood, and from things strangled' (Acts xv. 29). ABYSS. The Greek word means literally without bottom, but actually deep, profound. In the New Testament it is used as a noun to describe Hades, or the place of the dead gene- rally (Rom. x. 7 1 ; but more especially that part of Hades in which the souls of the wicked were supposed to be confined (Luke viii. 31 ; Rev. ix. I, 2, 11 : xx. 1, 3; comp. 2 Pet. ii. 4). In the Revelation the authorized version invariably renders it ' bottomless pit,' elsewhere ' deep.' Most of these uses of the word are explained by reference to some of the cosmological notions which the Hebrews entertained in common with other Eastern nations. It was believed that the abyss, or sea of fathomless waters, encompassed the whole earth. The earth floated on the abyss, of which it covered only a small part Accord- ing to the same notion, the earth was founded upon the waters, or, at least, had its foundations in the abyss beneath (Ps. xxiv. 2 ; cxxxvi. 6). Under these waters, and at the bottom of the abyss, the wicked were represented as groaning, and undergoing the punishment of their sins. There were confined the Rephaim those old giants who, while living, caused surrounding nations to tremble (Prov. ix. 18; xxx. 16). In those dark regions the sovereigns of Tyre, Baby- lon, and Egypt are described by the prophets as undergoing the punishment of their cruelty and pride (.Jer. xxv. 14; Ezek. xxviii. 10, &c.). This ; vras ' the deep ' into which the evil spirits in Luke, viii. 31, besought that they might not be cast, and which was evidently dreaded by them [COSMOGONY; HADES]. AC'CAD, one of the five cities in ' the land of Shinar,' or Babylonia, which are said to have beeu built by Nimrod, or rather, to have been ' the beginning of his kingdom' (Gen. x. 10). It seems that several of the ancient translators found in their Hebrew MSS. Achar instead of Achad, and it is probable that this was really the name of the city. Its situation has been much disputed, but in all probability it may be identified with a remarkable pile of ancient buildings called Akker-kiif, in the district of Siticane, where there was a river named Argudes. These buildings are called by the Turks Ahlier- i-Nimnld and Ahker-i- Habil. Akker-kiif is about nine miles west of the Tigris, at the spot where that river makes its nearest approach to the Euphrates. The heap of ruins to which the name of Nimrod's Hill Tel-i-Nimriid, is more especially appropriated, consists of a mound surmounted by a mass of brickwork, which locks like either a tower or an irregular pyramid, according to the point from which it is viewed. It is about 400 feet in circumference at the bottom, and rises to the height of 125 feet above the sloping elevation on which it stands. The mound, which seems to form the foundation of the pile, is a mass of ACCHO rubbish accumulated by the decay of the super- structure. In the ruin itself, the layers of sun- dried bricks, of which it is composed, can be traced very distinctly. They are cemented to- gether by lin e or bitumen, and are divided into courses varying from 12 to 20 feet in height, and are separated by layers of reeds, as is usual in the more ancient remains of this primitive 3. Ak!ter-kuf. region. Travellers have been perplexed to make out the use of this remarkable monument, and various strange conjectures have been ha- zarded. The embankments of canals and reser- voirs, and the remnants of brickwork and pot- tery occupying the place all around, evince that the Tel stood in an important city ; and, as its construction announces it to be a Babyloi.ian relic, the greater probability is that it was one of those pyramidal structures erected upon hi;rh places, which were consecrated to the heavenly bodies, and served at once as the temples and the observatories of those remote times. Such buildings were common to all Babylonian towns ; and those which remain appear to have been constructed more or less on the model of that in the metropolitan city of Babylon. AC'CHO, a town and haven within the no- minal territory of the tribe of Asher, which however never acquired possession of it (Jadg. i. 31). The Greek and Roman writers call it ACE, but it was eventually better known as PTOLEMAIS, which name it received from the first Ptolemy, king of Egypt, by whom it was much improved. By this name it is mentioned in the New Testament (Acts xxi. 7). It was also called Colonia Claudii Co-saris, in conse- quence of its receiving the privileges of a Ro- man city from the emperor Claudius. But the names thus imposed or altered by foreigners never took with the natives, and the place is still known in the country by the name of AKKA. During the Crusades the place was usually known to Europeans by the name of A CON: afterwards, from the occupation of the Knights of St. Johu of Jerusalem, as St. JEAN D'ACRE, or simply ACRE. This famous city and haven is situated in N. lat 32 55', and E. long. 35 5', and occupies the north-western point of a commodious bay, called the Bay of Acre, the opposite or south- western point cf which is formed by the pro- montory of Mount Carmel. The city lies OB ACCHO the pUin to which it gives its name. Its western side is washed by the waves of the Mediter- ranean, and on the south lies the bay, beyond which may be feeu the town of Caipha, on the site cf the ancieut Calamos, and, rising high above both, the shrubby heights of Carmel. The mountains belonging to the chain of Anti- Libai-us are seen at the distance of about fcur leagues to the north, while to the east the view is bounded by the fruitful hills of the Lower Galilee. The bay, from the town of Acre to the promontory of Mount Carmel, is three leagues wide and two in depth. The port, on account of its shallowr. ess, can only be entered by vessels of small burden ; but there is excel- lent anchorage on the other side of the bay, before Caipha, which is, in fact, the roadstead of Acre. In the time of Strabo A echo was a great city, and it has continued to be a place cf importance down to the present time. But after the Turks gained possession of it, Acre so ra- pidly declined, that the travellers of the six- teenth and seventeenth centuries concur in de- scribing it as much fallen from its former glory. Traces of its ancient magnificence, however, still remained in the fragments of spacious Suildingg, sacred and secular, and in portions of old walls of extraordinary height and thickness. An impulse was given to the prosperity of the place by the measures of Sheikh Daher, and afterwards of Djezzar Pasha, and the town greatly increased in actual importance. The population in 1819 was computed at 10,000, of whom 3000 were Turks, the rest Christians of various denominations. Approached from Tyre the city presented a beautiful appearance, from the trees in the inside, which rise above the wall, and from the ground immediately around it on the outside being planted with orange, lemon, and palm trees. Inside, the streets had the usual narrowness and filth of Turkish towns ; the houses solidly built with stone, with flat roofs; the bazaars mean, but tolerably well supplied. The principal objects were the mosque built by Djezzar Pasha, the pasha's seraglio, the granary, and the arsenal. The trade was not considerable; the exports consisted chiefly of grain and cotton, the produce of the neighbour- ing plain ; and the imports chiefly of rice, coffee, and sugar from Damietta. As thus described, the city was all but demolished in 1832 by the hands of Ibrahim Pasha; and although con- siderable pains were taken to restore it, yet, as lately as 1837, it still exhibited a most wretched appearance, with ruined houses and broken arches in every direction. As the fame of Acre is rather modern than biblical, its history must in this place be briefly told. It belonged to the Phoenicians, until they, in common with the Jews, were subjugated by the Babylonians. By Ihe latter it was doubtless maintained as a military station against Egypt, as it was afterwards by the Persians. In the distribution of Alexander's dominions Accho fell to the lot. of Ptolemy Soter, who valued the acquisition, and gave it his own came. After- wards it fell into the hands of the kings of Syria ; and is repeatedly mentioned in the wars of the Maccabees. It was at one time the head- quarters of their heathen enemies. In the en- deavour of Demetrius Soter and Alexander ACCHO 15 Balas to bid highest for the support of Jonathan, the latter gave Ptolemais and the lands around to the temple at Jerusalem. Jonathan was afterwards invited to meet Alexander and the king of Egypt at that place, and was treated with great distinction by them, but there he at I length (B.C. 144) met his death through the I treachery of Tryphon. Alexander Janr.jcus took advantage of the civil war between An- tiochus Philometor and Auticchus Cyziceims to besiege Ptolemais, as the only maritime city in those parts, except Gaza, which he had r.ot sub- dued ; but the siege was raised by Ptolemy Lathyrus (then king of Cyprus), who got pos- session of the city, of which he was soon de- prived by his mother Cleopatra. She probably gave it, along with her daughter Selene, to An- tiochus Grypus, king of Syria. At least, after his death, Selene held possession of that and some other Phoenician towns, after Tigranes, king of Armenia, had acquired the rest of the kingdom. But an in judicious attempt to extei.d her dominions drew upon her the vengeance of that conqueror, who, in B.C. 70, reduced Ptole- mais, and, while thus employed, received with favour the Jewish embassy which was sent by Queen Alexandra, with valuable presents, to seek his friendship. A few years after, Ptolemais was absorbed, with all the country, into the Roman empire ; and the rest of its ancient his- tory is obscure and of little r.ote. It is only mentioned in the New Testament from St. Paul having spent a day there on his voyage to Cscsarea (Acts xxi. 7). It continued a place of importance, and was the seat of a bishopric in the first ages of the Christian Church. The see was filled sometimes by orthodox and sometimes by Arian bishops ; and it has the equivocal dis- tinction of having been the birth-place of the Sabellian heresy. Accho, as we may now again call it, was an imperial garrison town when the Saracens invaded Syria, and was one of those that held out until Caesarea was taken by Amni in A.D. 638. The Franks first became masters of it in A.D. 1110, when it was taken by Baldwin, king of Jerusalem. But in A.D. 1187 it was recovered by Salahed-din, who retained it till A.D. 1191, when it was retaken by the Christians. This was the famous siege in which Richard Ceeur- de-Lion made so distinguished a figure. The Christians kept it exactly one hundred year?, or till A.D. 1291 ; and it was the very last place of which they were dispossessed. It had been as- signed to the Knights Hospitallers of Jerusalem, who fortified it strongly, and defended it valiantly, till it was at length wrested from them by Khalil ben Kelaoun, or Melek Seruf, Sultan of Egypt. Under this dominion it re- mained till A.D. 1517, when the Mamluke dynasty was overthrown by Selim I., and all its terri- tories passed to the Turks. After this Acre remained in quiet obscurity till the middle of the last century, when the Arab Sheikh Daher took it by surprise. Under him the place re- covered some of its trade and importance. He was succeeded by the barbarous but able tyrant Djezzar Pasha, who strengthened the fortifica- tions and improved the town. Under him it rose once more into fame, through the gallant and successful resistance which, under the direc- 16 ACCOMMODATION tion of Sir Sidney Smith, it offered to the arms of Buonaparte. After that famous siege the fortifications were further strengthened, till it became the strongest place in all Syria. In 1832 the town was besieged for nearly six months by Ibrahim Pasha, during which 35,000 shells were thrown into it, and the buildings were literally beaten to pieces. It had by no means recovered from this calamity, when it was subjected to the operations of the English fleet under Admiral Stopford, in pursuance of the plan for restoring Syria to the Porte. On the 3rd of November, 1840, it was bombarded for several hours, when the explosion of the powder-magazine destroyed the garrison and laid the town in ruins. ACCOMMODATION (exegetical or special) is principally employed in the application of certain passages of the Old Testament to events in the New, to which they had no actual his- torical or typical reference. Citations of this description are apparently very frequent through- out the whole New Testament, but especially in the Epistle to the Hebrews. It cannot be denied that many such passages, although apparently introduced as referring to, or predictive of, certain events recorded in the New Testament, seem to have, in their original connection, an exclusive reference to quite other objects. The difficulty of reconciling such seeming misapplications, or deflections from their original design, has been felt in all ages, al- though it has been chiefly reserved to recent times to give a solution of the difficulty by the theory of accommodation. By this it is meant that the prophecy or citation from the Old Testament was not designed literally to apply to the event in question, but that the New Testa- ment writer merely adopted it for the sake of ornament, or in order to produce a strong im- pression, by showing a remarkable parallelism between two analogous events, which had in themselves no mutual relation. There is a catalogue of more than seventy of these accommodated passages adduced by the Rev. T. H. Home, in support of this theory, in his Introduction (ii. 343, 7th ed. 1834), but it will suffice for our purpose to select the following specimens : Matt xiii. 35, cited from Psalm Ixxviii. 2. viii. 1 7 , Isaiah liii. 4. ii. 15 ii. 17, 18 iii. 3 It will be necessary Hosea xi. 1. Jeremiah xxxi. 15. Isaiah xl. 3. for the complete elucida- tion of the subject, to bear in mind the distinc- tion not only between accommodated passages and such as must be properly explained (as those which are absolutely adduced as proofs), but also between such passages and those which are merely borrowed, and applied by the sacred writers, sometimes in a higher sense than they were used by the original authors. Passages which do not strictly and literally predict future events, but which can be applied to an event recorded in the New Testament by an accidental parity of circumstances, can alone be thus desig- nated. Such accommodated passages therefore, if they exist, can only be considered as descrip- tive, and not predictive. It Trill here be necessary to consider the ACCOMMODATION various modes in which the prophecies of the Old Testament are supposed to be fulfilled in the New. For instance, the opinion has been maintained by several divines, that there is sometimes a literal, sometimes only a mediate, typical, or spiritual fulfilment. Sometimes v prophecy is cited merely by way of illustration ^accommodation), while at other times nothing more exists than a mere allusion. Some pro- phecies are supposed to have an immediate literal fulfilment, and to have been afterwards accomplished in a larger and more extensive sense ; bet as the full development of this part of the subject appertains more properly to the much controverted question of the single and double sense of prophecy, we shall here dwell no further on it than to observe, that not only are commentators who support the theory of a double sense divided on the very important question, what are literal prophecies and what are only prophecies in a secondary sense, but they who are agreed on this question are at variance as to what appellation shall be given tc those passages which are applied by the New Testament writers to the ministry of our Savimir, and yet historically belong to an antecedent period. In order to lessen the difficulty, a dis- tinction has been attempted to be drawn from the formula with which the quotation is ushered in. Passages, for instance, introduced by the formula 'that it might be fulfilled,' are con- sidered, on this account, as direct predictions by some, who are willing to consider citations in- troduced with the expression 'then was ful- filled' as nothing more than accommodations. The use of the former phrase, as applied to a mere accommodation, they maintain is not war- ranted by Jewish writers : such passages, there- fore, they hold to be prophecies, at least in a secondary sense. Bishop Kidder appositely observes, in regard to this subject, that ' a scripture may be said to be fulfilled several ways, viz., properly and in the letter, as when that which was foretold comes to pass ; or again, when what was fulfilled in the type is fulfilled again in the antitype ; or else a scripture may be fulfilled more improperly, viz., by way of accommodation, as when an event happens to any place or people like to that which fell out some time before.' He instances the citation, Matt. ii. 17, ' In Kamah was a voice heard,' &c. 'These words,' he adds, 'are made use of by way of allusion to express this sorrow by. T!IP evangelist doth not say " that it might be ful- filled," but "then was fulfilled," q. d., such another scene took place.' It must at the same time be admitted that this distinction in regard to the formula of quotation is not acknowledged by the majority of com- mentators, either of those who admit or of those who deny the theory of accommodation. Among the former it will suffice to name Calmet, Doddridge, Rosenmiiller, and Jahn, who look upon passages introduced by the formula ' that it might be fulfilled,' as equally accommodations with those which are prefaced by the words ' then was fulfilled ;' while those who deny the accommodative theory altogether, consider both as formulas of direct prophecies, at least in a secondary or typical seut-e. This, for instance, is the case especially in regara to ACCOMMODATION the two citations of this description which first present themselves in the New Testament, viz., Matt. ii. 15, and Matt. ii. 17, the former of which is introduced by the first, and the latter by the second of these formulas. But inasmuch as the commentators above referred to cannot perceive how the citation from Hosea xi. 1, ' Out of Egypt have I called my son,' although prefaced by the formula ' that it might be fulfilled,' and which literally relates to the calling of the children of Israel out of Egypt, can be propheti- cally diverted from its historical meaning, they look upon it as a simple accommodation, or applicable quotation. Mr. Home observes, that. ' it was a familiar idiom of the Jews, when quoting the writings of the Old Testament, to say, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by such and such a prophet, not intending it to be understood that such a particular passage in one of the sacred books was ever designed to be a real prediction of what they were then relating, but signifying only that the words of the Old Testament might be properly adopted to express their meaning and illustrate their ideas.' ' The apostles,' he adds, ' who were Jews by birth, and wrote and spoke in the Jewish idiom, fre- quently thus cite the Old Testament, intending no more by this mode of speaking, than tha^the words of such an ancient writer might with equal propriety be adopted to characterize any similar occurrence which happened in their times. The formula " that it might be ful- filled," does not therefore differ in signification from the phrase " then was fulfilled," applied in the following citation in Matt. ii. 17, 18, from Jer. xxxi. 1 5-1 7, to the massacre of the infants at Bethlehem. They are a beautiful quotation, and not a prediction of what then happened, and are therefore applied to the massacre of the infants according not to their original and his- torical meaning, but according to Jewish phrase- ology.' Dr. Adam Clarke, also, in his Com- mentary on Jeremiah (xxxi. 15-17), takes the same view : ' St. Matthew, who is ever fond of accommodation, applied these words to the mas- sacre of the children of Bethlehem ; that is, they were suitable to that occasion, and therefore he applied them, but they are not a prediction of that event.' D. J. G. Rosenmiiller gives as examples, which he conceives clearly show the use of these for- mulas, the passages Matt. i. 22, 23; ii. 15, 17, 23 ; xv. 7 ; Luke iv. 21 ; James ii. 23 ; alleging that they were designed only to denote that something took place which resembled the literal and historical sense. The sentiments of a dis- tinguished English divine are to the same effect : ' I doubt not that this phrase, " that it might be fulfilled," and the like were used first in quoting real prophecies, but that this, by long use, sunk in its value, and was more vulgarly applied, so that at last it was given to Scripture only accom- modated.' And again, ' If prophecy could at last come to signify singing (Titus i. 12 ; 1 Sam. x. 10 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 1), why might not the phrase fulfilling of Scripture and prophecy signify only quotation' (Nicholl's Conference with a Theist, 1698, part iii. p. 13). The accommodation theory in exegetics has been equally combated by two classes of oppo- nents. Those of the more ancient school con- ACCUBATION 17 sider such mode of application of the Old Testa- ment passages not only as totally irreconcilable with the plain grammatical construction and obvious meaning of the controverted passages which are said to be so applied, but as an un- justifiable artifice, altogether unworthy of a divine teacher ; while the other class of expo- sitors, who are to be found chiefly among the most modern of the German Rationalists, main- tain that the sacred writers, having been them- selves trained in this erroneous mode of teaching, had mistakenly, but bond fide, interpreted the passages which they had cited from the Old Testament in a sense altogether different from their historical meaning, and thus applied them to the history of the Christian dispensation. Some of these have maintained that the accom- modation theory was a mere shift resorted to by commentators who could not otherwise explain the application of Old Testament prophecies in tire New consistently with the inspiration of the sacred writers : while the advocates of the sys- tem consider that the apostles, in adapting them- selves to the mode of interpretation which was customary in their days, and in further adopting what may be considered an argument e conccssis, were employing the most persuasive mode of oratory, and the one most likely to prove effectual; and that it was therefore lawful to adopt a method so calculated to attract attention to their divine mission, which they were at all times prepared to give evidence of by other and irrefragable proofs. ACCUBATION, the posture of reclining on couches at table, which prevailed among the Jews in and before the time of Christ. We see no reason to think that, as commonly alleged, they borrowed this custom from the Romans after Judea had been subjugated by Pompey. But it is best known to us as a Roman custom, and as such must be described. The dinner-bed, or triclinium, stood in the middle of the dining- room, clear of the walls, and formed three sides of a square which enclosed the table. The open end of the square, with the central hollow, allowed the servants to attend and serve the table. In all the existing representations of the dinner-bed it is shown to have been higher than the enclosed table. Among the Romans the usual number of guests on each couch was three, making nine for the three couches, but some- times there were four to each couch. The Greeks went beyond this number ; the Jews appear to have had no particular fancy in the matter, and we know that at our Lord's last supper thirteen persons were present. As each guest leaned, during the greater part of the entertainment, on his left elbow, so as to leave the right arm at c 18 ACCUSATION liberty, and as two or more lay on the same couch, the head of one man was near the breast of the man who lay behind him, and he was, therefore, said ' to lie in the bosom ' of the other. This phrase was in use among the Jews (Luke xvi. 22, 23; John i. 18; xiii. 23), and occurs in such a manner as to show that to lie next below, or ' in the bosom' of the master of the feast, was considered the most favoured place, and was usually assigned to near and dear connections. Thus it was ' the disciple whom Jesus loved' who ' reclined upon his breast' at the last supper. The frame of the dinner-bed was laid with mattresses variously stuffed, and, latterly, was furnished with rich coverings and hangings. Each person was usually provided with a cushion or boater on which to support the upper part of his person in a somewhat raised position ; as the left arm alone could not long without weariness sustain the weight. The lower part of the body being extended diagonally on the bed, with the feet outward, it is at once perceived how easy it was for ' the woman that was a sinner ' to come behind between the dinner-bed and the wall, and anoint the feet of Jesus (Luke vii. 37, 38 ; John xii. 3). The dinner-beds were so various at different times, in different places, and under different circumstances, that no one description can apply to them all. Even among the Romans they were at first (after the Punic war) of rude form and materials, and covered with mattresses stuffed with rushes or straw ; mattresses of hair and wool were introduced at a later period. At first the wooden frames were small, low, and round ; and it was not until the time of Augustus that square and ornamented couches came into fashion. In the time of Tiberius the most splendid sort were veneered with costly woods or tortoiseshell, and were covered with valuable embroideries, the richest of which came from Babylon, and cost large sums. The Jews perhaps had all these varieties, though it is not likely that the usage was ever carried to such a pitch of luxury as among the Romans ; and it is probable that the mass of the people fed in the ancient manner seated on stools or on the ground. It appears that couches were often so low, that the feet rested on the ground ; and that cushions or bolsters were in general use. It would also seem, from the mention of two and of three couches, that the arrangement was more usually square than semi-circular or round. It is utterly improbable that the Jews derived this custom from the Romans, as is constantly alleged. They certainly knew it as existing among the Persians long before it had been adopted by the Romans themselves (Esth. i. 6 ; vii. 8) ; and the presumption is that they adopted it while subject to that people. The Greeks also had the usage (from the Persians) before the Romans ; and with the Greeks of Syria the Jews had very much intercourse. Besides, the Ro- mans adopted the custom from the Carthaginians, and, that they had it, implies that it previously existed in Phoenicia, in the neighbourhood of the Jews. Thus, that in the time of Christ the custom had been lately adopted from the Ro- mans, is very improbable. It is also unlikely that in so short a time it should have become usual and even (as the Talmud asserts) obli- ACELDAMA gatory to eat the Passover in that posture of indulgent repose, and in no other. ACCURSED. [ANATHEMA.] ACCUSER. The original word, which bears this leading signification, means 1. One who has a cause or matter of contention ; the ac- cuser, opponent, or plaintiff in any suit (Judg. xii. 2 ; Matt. v. 25 ; Luke xii. 58). VVe have little information respecting the manner in which causes were conducted in the Hebrew courts of justice, except from the Rabbinical authorities who, in matters of this description, may be supposed well informed as to the later customs of the nation. Even from these we learn little- more than that great care was taken that, the accused being deemed innocent until convicted, he and the accuser should appear under equal circumstances before the court, that no preju- dicial impression might be created to the disad- vantage of the defendant, whose interests, we are told, were so anxiously guarded, that any one was allowed to speak whatever he knew or had to say in his favour, which privilege was with- held from the accuser. The word is also applied in Scripture, in the general sense, to any adver- sary or enemy (Luke xviii. 3; 1 Pet. v. 8). In the Jatter passage there is an allusion to the old Jewish opinion that Satan was the accuser or calumniator of men before God (Job i. G, sq. ; Rev. xii. 10, sq. ; comp. Zech. iii. 1). In this application the forensic sense was still retained, Satan being represented as laying to man's charge a breach of the law, as in a court of justice, and demanding his punishment [SATAN]. ACBL'DAMA (field of blood ), the field pur- chased with the money for which Judas betrayed Christ, and which was appropriated as a place of burial for strangers (Matt xxvii. 8; Acts i. 19). It was previously 'a potter's field.' The field now shown as Aceldama lies on the slope of the hills beyond the valley of Hinnom, south of Mount Zion. Sandys thus writes of it : ' On the south side of this valley, neere where it meeteth with the valley of Jehoshaphat, mounted a good height on the side of the mountain, is Aceldama, or the field of blood, purchased with the restored reward of treason, for a burial 1 place for strangers. In the midst whereof a large square roome was made by the mother of Constantine; the south side, walled with the naturall rocke ; flat at the top, and equall with the vpper level ; out of which ariseth certaine little cupoloes, open in the midst to let doune the dead bodies. Thorow these we might see the bottome, all couered with bones, and certair.e corses but newly let doune, it being now the sepulchre of the Armenians. A greedy graue, and great enough to deuoure the dead of a whole nation. For they say (and 1 believe it) that the earth thereof within the space of eight and forty houres will consume the flesh that is laid thereon.' He then relates the common story, that the em- press referred to, caused 270 ship-loads of this flesh-consuming mould to be taken to Rome, to form the soil of the Campo Santo, to which the same virX-.e is ascribed. Castela affirms that great quat. '.ities of the wondrous mould were removed bj divers Christian princes in the time of the Crusades, and to this source assigns the similar sarcophagic properties claimed not only by the Campo Santo at Rome, but by the ceme- ACHAN tery of St. Innocents at Paris, by the cemetery at Naples, and, we may add, that of the Campo Santo at Pisa. The plot of ground originally bought ' to bury strangers in,' seems to have been early set apart by the Latins, as well as by the Crusaders, as a place of burial for pilgrims. In the fourteenth century it belonged to the Knights-Hospitallers. Early in the seventeenth century it was in the possession of the Armenians, who bought it for the burial of their own pilgrims. The erection of the charnel-house is ascribed to them. In the time of Maundrell they rented it at a sequin a day from the Turks. Corpses were still de- posited there; and the traveller observes that they were in various stages of decay, from which he conjectures that the grave did not make that quick despatch with the bodies committed to it which had been reported. ' The earth, here- abouts,' he observes, 'is of a chalky substance ; the plot of ground was not above thirty yards long by fifteen wide ; and a moiety of it was occupied by the charnel-house, which was twelve yards high.' Richardson affirms that bodies were thrown in as late as 1818 ; but Dr. Robii:- son alleges that it has the appearance of having been for a much longer time abandoned : ' The field or plat is not now marked by any boundary to distinguish it from the rest of the hill-side ; and the former charnel-house, now a ruin, is all that remains to point out the site. . . . An opening at each end enabled us to look in ; but the bot- tom was empty and dry, excepting a few bones much decayed.' ACHA'IA, a region of Greece, which in the restricted sense occupied the north-western por- tion of the Peloponnesus, including Corinth and its isthmus. By the poets it was often put for the whole of Greece, whence Achaioi, the Greeks. Under the Romans, Greece was divided into two provinces, Macedonia and Achaia, the former of which included Macedonia proper, with Illyri- cum, Epirus, and Thessaly; and the latter, all that lay southward of the former. It is in this latter acceptation that the name of Achaia is always employed in the New Testament (Acts xviii. 12, 27; xix. 21; Rom. xv. 26; xvi. 5; 1 Cor. xvi. 1 5 ; 2 Cor. i. 1 ; ix. 2 ; xi. 10 ; 1 Thess. i. 7, 8). Achaia was at first a senatorial pro- vince, and, as such, was governed by proconsuls. Tiberius changed the two into one imperial pro- vince under procurators; but Claudius restored them to the senate and to the proconsular form of government. Hence the exact and minute propriety with which St. Luke expresses him- self in giving the title of proconsul to Gallic, who was appointed to the province in the time of Claudius (Acts xviii. 12). ACHA'ICUS, a native of Achaia, and a fol- lower of the apostle Paul. He, with Stephanus and Fortunatus, was the bearer of the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, and was recommended by the apostle to their special respect (1 Cor. xvi. 17). A'CHAN (troitbler) ; in 1 Chron. ii. 7 written ACHAR. From the peculiarly appropriate sig- nificance of the name, it is supposed to have been imposed after the occurrence of the facts which rendered it notorious. The city of Jeri- cho, before it was taken, was put under that awful ban, whereby all the inhabitants (except- ACHISH 19 ing Rahab and her family) were devoted to destruction, all the combustible goods to be con- sumed by fire, and all the metals to be conse- crated to God. This vow of devotement was rigidly observed by all the troops when Jericho was taken, save by oue man, Achan, a Judahite, who could not resist the temptation of secreting an ingot of gold, a quai.tity of silver, and a costly Babylonish garment, which he buried in his tent. But God made known this infraction, which (the vow having been made by the nation as one body) had involved the whole r.ation in his guilt. The Israelites were defeated, with serious loss, in their first attack upon Ai; ar.d as Joshua was well assured that this humiliation was designed as the punishment of a crime which had inculpated the entire people, he took immediate measures to discover the crimir.al. As in other cases, the matter was referred to the Lord by the lot, and the lot ultimately ir.dicated the actual criminal. The conscience-stricken offender then confessed his crime to Joshua; and his confession being verified by the production of his ill-gotten treasure, the people, actuated by the strong impulse with which men tear up, root and branch, a polluted thing, hurried away not only Achan, but his tent, his goods, his spoil, his cattle, his children, to the valley (afterwards called) of Achor, north of Jericho, where they stoned him, and all that belonged to him ; after which the whole was consumed with fire, and a cairn of stones raised over the ashes. The se- verity of this act, as regards the family of Achan, has provoked som.- remark. Instead of vindicating it, as is generally done, by the alle- gation that the members of Achan's family were probably accessories to his crime after the fact, we prefer the supposition that they were included in the doom by oue of those sudden impulses of indiscriminate popular vengeance to which the Jewish people wer-e exceedingly prone, and which, in this case, it would not have been in the power of Joshua to control by any authority which he could under such circumstances ex- ercise. A'CHAR. [A CHAN.] A'CHISH (called Abimelech in the title of Ps. xxxiv.), the Philistine king of Gath, with whom David twice sought refuge when he fled from Saul (1 Sam. xxi. 10-15; xxvii. 1-3). The first time David was in imminent danger ; for he was recognised and spoken of by the officers of the court as one whose glory had been won at the cost of the Philistines. This talk filled David with such alarm that he feigned himself mad when introduced to the notice of Achish, who, seeing him ' scrabbling upon the doors of the gate, and letting his spittle fall down upon his beard,' rebuked his people sharply for bring- ing him to his presence, asking, ' Have I need of madmen, that ye have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?' After this David lost no time in quitting the territories of Gath. About four years after, when the character and position of David became better known, and when he was at the head of not less than. 600 resolute adherents, he again repaired with his troop to King Achish, who received him in a truly royal spirit, and treated him with a ge- nerous confidence, of which David took perhaps C2 90 ACHMETHA rather more advantage than was creditable to him [DAVID]. ACHME'THA (Ezra vi. 2 ; in the Apocrypha 2 Mace. ix. 3 ; Judith i. 1,2; Tob. iii. 7 ; Joseph. Antiq. x. 1 1, 7 ; xi. 4, 6 ; also, in Greek authors, Ecbatana), a city in Media. The name seems to have been applied exclusively to cities having a fortress for the protection of the royal trea- sures. In Ezra we learn that in the reign of Darius Hystaspes the Jews petitioned that search might be made in the king's treasure-house at Babylon, for the decree which Cyrus had made in favour of the Jews (Ezra v. 17). Search was accordingly made in the record-office (' house of the rolls'), where the treasures were kept at Ba- by lou (vi. 1): but it appears not to have been found there, as it was eventually discovered ' at Achmetha, in the palace of the province of the Modes' (vi. 2). In Judith i. 2-4, there is a brief account of Ecbatana, in which we arc told that it was built by Arphaxad, king of the Modes, who made it his capital. It was built of hewn stones, and surrounded by a high and thick wall, furnished with wide gates and strong and lofty towers. Herodotus speaks of it in similar *rms, and ascribes its foundation to Dejoces, who was probably the same with the Arphaxad of Judith. Ecbatana has been usually identified with the present Hamadan, which is still an important town, and the seat of one of the governments into which the Persian kingdom is divided. It is situated in north lat. 34 53', cast long. 40, at the extremity of a rich and fertile plain, on a gradual ascent, at the base of the Elwund Mountains, whose higher summits are covered with perpetual snow. Some remnants of ruined walls of great thickness, and also of towers of sun-dried bricks, present the only positive evi- dence of a more ancient city than the present on the same spot Heaps of comparatively recent ruins, and a wall fallen to decay, attest that Hamadan has declined from even its modern importance. Tho population is said by South- gate to be about 30,000, which, from what the present writer has seen of the place, he should judge to exceed the truth very considerably. It is little distinguished, inside, from other Persian towns of the same rank, save by its excellent and well-supplied bazaars, and the unusually large number of khans of rather a superior description. This is the result of the extensive transit trade of which it is the seat, it being the great centre where the routes of traffic between Persia, Mesopotamia, and Persia converge and meet. Its own manufactures are chiefly in leather. Many Jews reside here, claiming to be descended from those of the Captivity who remained in Media. Benjamin of Tudela says that in his time the number was 50,000. Modern travellers assign them 500 houses ; but the Rabbi David de Beth Hillel, who was not likely to understate the fact, and who had the best means of information, gives them but 200 families. He says they are mostly in good cir- cumstances, having fine houses and gardens, and are chiefly traders and goldsmiths. In the mid-.t of the city is a tomb, which is said to be tha* of Mordecai and Esther. As Ecbatana was then the summer residence of the Persian court, it is probable enough that Mordecai and Esther died and were buried there ; and traditional tes- ACRABATENE timonv, taken in connection with this fact, and with s'uch a monument in a place where Jews have been permanently resident, is better evi- dence than is usually obtained for the allocation of ancient sepulchres. The tomb is in charge of the Jews, and is one of their places in pil- grimage. History notices another Ecbatana, in Pales- tine, at the foot of Mount Carmel, towards Ptole- mais, where Cambyses died. It is not mentioned by this or any similar name in the Hebrew writings. A'CHOR, a valley between Jericho and Ai, which received this name (signifying trouble) from the trouble brought upon the Israelites by the sin of Achan (Josh. vii. 24) [ACHAN]. AC'HSAH (an anklet), the daughter of Caleb, whose hand her father offered in marriage to him who should lead the attack on the city of Debir, and take it. The prize was won by bis nephew Othniel; and as the bride was con- ducted with the usual ceremony to her future home, she alighted from her ass, and sued her father for an addition of springs of water to her dower in lands. It is probable that custom rendered it unusual, or at least ungracious, for a request tendered under such circumstances by a daughter to be refused; and Caleb, in ac- cordance with her wish, bestowed upon her ' the upper and the nether springs' (Josh. xv. 1C-19 ; Judg. i. 9-15). AC'HSHAPH, a royal city of the Canaanites (Josh. xi. 1), has been supposed by many to be the same as ACHZIB, both being in the tribe of Ashcr. But a careful consideration of Josh. xix. 25 and 29, will make it probable that the places were different. There is more reason in the conjecture that Achshaph was another name for Accho or Acre, seeing that Accho otherwise does not occur in the list of towns in the lot of Asher, although it is certain, from Judg. i. 31, that Accho was in the portion of that tribe. AC'HZIB. There were two places of this name, not usually distinguished. 1. ACHZIB, in the tribe of Asher nominally, but almost always in the possession of the Phoe- nicians ; being, indeed, one of the places from which the Israelites were unable to expol the former inhabitants (Judg. i. 31). In the Tal- mud it is called CUEZIB. The Greeks called it ECDIPPA; and it still survives under the name of ZIB. It is upon the Mediterranean coast, about ten miles north of Acre. It stands on an ascent close by the sea-side, and is de- scribed as a small place, with a few palm-trees rising above the dwellings. 2. ACHZIB, in the tribe of Judah (Josh. xv. 44 ; Mic. i. 14), of which there is no historical mention, but, from its place in the catalogue, it appears to have been in the middle part of the western border-land of the tribe, towards the Philistines. This is very possibly the Chezib of Gen. xxxviii. 5. ACRABATE'NE, a district in that portion of Judica which lies towards the south end of the Dead Sea, occupied by the Edomites during the Captivity, and afterwards known as Iduma?a. It is mentioned in 1 Mace. v. 3; Joseph. Antiq. xii. 8. 1. It is assumed to have taken its name from the Maaleh Akrabbim, or Steep fifthe Scor- pions, mentioned hi Num. xxxiv. 4, and Josh. ACTS OF THE APOSTLES xv. 3, as the southern extremity of the tribe of Judah [AKHABBIM]. Another district of the same name is mentioned by Josephus as extend- ing between Shechem and Jericho, but it is not mentioned in Scripture. ACRE. [AccHO.] ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. This is the title of one of the canonical books of the New Testament, the fifth in order in the common arrangement, and the last of those properly of an historical character. Commencing with a reference to an account given in a former work of the sayings and doings of Jesus Christ before his ascension, its author proceeds to conduct us to an acquaintance with the circumstances at- tending that event, the conduct of the disciples on their return from witnessing it, the outpour- ing on them of the Holy Spirit according to Christ's promise to them before his crucifixion, and the amazing success which, as a consequence of this, attended the first announcement by them of the doctrine concerning Jesus as the promised Messiah and the Saviour of the World. After giving the history of the mother-church at Jeru- salem up to the period when the violent perse- cution of its members by the rulers of the Jews had broken up their society and scattered them, with the exception of the apostles, throughout the whole of the surrounding region ; and after introducing to the notice of the reader the case of a remarkable conversion of one of the most zealous persecutors of the church, who afterwards became one of its most devoted and successful advocates, the narrative takes a wider scope and opens to our view the gradual expansion of the church by the free admission within its pale of persons directly converted from heathenism and who had not passed through the preliminary stage of Judaism. The first step towards this more liberal and cosmopolitan order of things having been effected by Peter, to whom the honour of laying the foundation of the Christian church, both within and without the confines of Judaism, seems, in accordance with our Lord's declaration concerning him (Matt. xvi. 18), to have l>n reserved, Paul, the recent convert and the destiucd apostle of the Gentiles, is brought forward as the main actor on the scene. On his course of missionary activity, his successes and his sufferings, the chief interest of the narrative is thenceforward concentrated, until, having fol- lowed him to Rome, whither he had been sent as a prisoner to abide his trial, on his own appeal, at the bar of the emperor himself, the book abruptly closes, leaving us to gather further information concerning him and the fortunes of the church from other sources. Respecting the authorship of this book there can be no ground for doubt or hesitation. It is, unquestionably, the production of the same writer by whom the third of the four Gospels was composed, as is evident from the introduc- tory sentences of both (comp. Luke i. 1-4, with Acts i. 1). That this writer was Luke has not in either case been called in question, and is uniformly asserted by tradition. From the book itself, also, it appears that the author accom- panied Paul to Rome when he went to that city as a prisoner (xxviii.). Now, we know from two epistles written by Paul at that time, that Luke was with him at Rome (Col. iv. 14 ; 2 Tim. ACTS OF TJIE APOSTLES 21 iv. 11), -which favours the supposition that he was the writer of the narrative of the apostle's journey to that city. It was rejected by certain heretics in the primitive times, such as the Mar- cionites, the Severiar.s, and the Manicheans, or we should rather say, it was cast aside by them because it did not favour their peculiar views. A complaint made by Chrysostom would lead us to infer that in his day, though received as genuine, the Acts was generally omitted from ihe number of books publicly read in the churches, and had consequently become little known among the people attending those churches. Many critics are inclined to regard the Gospel by Luke and the Acts of the Apostles as having formed originally only one work, consisting of two parts. But this opinion is at variance with Luke's own description of the relation of these two writings to each other (being called by him, the one the former and the other the latter treatise) ; and also with the fact that the two works have invariably, and from the earliest times, appeared with distinct titles. Of the greater part of the events recorded in the Acts the writer himself appears to have been witness. He is for the first time introduced into the narrative in ch. xvi. 1 1 , where he speaks of accompanying Paul to Philippi. He then dis- appears from the narrative until Paul's return to Philippi, more than two years afterwards, when it is stated that they left that place in company (xx. 6) ; from which it may be justly inferred that Luke spent the interval in that town. From this time to the close of the period embraced by his narrative he appears as the companion of the apostle. For the materials, therefore, of all he has recorded from ch. xvi. 11, to xxviii. 31, he may be regarded as having drawn upon his own recollection or on that of the apostle. To the latter source, also, may be confidently traced all he has recorded concerning the earlier events of the apostle's career ; and as respects the circum- stances recorded in the first twelve chapters of the Acts, and which relate chiefly to the church at Jerusalem and the labours of the apostle Peter, we may readily suppose that they were so much the matter of general notoriety among the Christians with whom Luke associated, that he needed no assistance from any other merely human source in recording them. With regard to the desiyn of the evangelist in writing this book, a prevalent popular opinion is, that Luke, having in his Gospel given a history of the life of Christ, intended to follow that up by giving in the Acts a narrative of the establishment and early progress of his religion in the world. That this, however, could not have been his design is obvious from the very partial and limited view which his narrative gives of the state of things in the church gene- rally during the period through which it extends. As little can we regard this book as designed to record the official history of the apostles Peter and Paul, for we find many particulars concern- ing both these apostles mentioned incidentally elsewhere, of which Luke takes no notice (comp. 2 Cor. xi.; Gal. i. 17; ii. 11; 1 Pet. v. 13). Some are of opinion that no particular design should be ascribed to the evangelist in compos- ing this book beyond that of furnishing his friend Theophilus with a pleasing and instruo- 22 ACTS, SPURIOUS tive narrative of such events as had come under his own notice; but such a view savours too much of the lax opinions which these writers unhappily entertained regarding the sacred writers, to be adopted by those who regard all the sacred books as designed for the permanent instruction and benefit of the church universal. Much more deserving of attention is the opinion that ' the general design of the author of this book was, by means of his narratives, to set forth the co-operation of God in the diffusion of Christianity, and along with that, to prove, by remarkable facts, the dignity of the apostles and the perfectly equal right of the Gentiles with the Jews to a participation in the blessings of that religion.' Perhaps we should come still closer to the truth if we were to say that the design of Luke in writing the Acts was to sup- ply, by select and suitable instances, an illustra- tion of the power and working of that religion which Jesus had died to establish. In his Gospel he had presented to his readers an exhibition of Christianity as embodied in the person, character, and works of its great founder ; and having fol- lowed him in his narration until he was taken up out of the sight of his disciples into heaven, this second work was written to show how his reli- gion operated when committed to the hands of those by whom it was to be announced ' to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem ' (Luke xxiv. 47). Respecting the time when this book was com- posed it is impossible to speak with certainty. As the history is continued up to the close of the ACTS, SPURIOUS second year of Paul's imprisonment at Rome, it could not have been written before A.D. 63 ; it was probably, however, composed very soon after, so that we shall not err far if we assign the interval between the year 63 and the year 65 as the period of its completion. Still greater un- certainty hangs over the place where Luke com- posed it, but as he accompanied Paul to Rome, perhaps it was at that city and under the auspices of the apostle that it was prepared. The style of Luke in the Acts is, like his style in his Gospel, much purer than that of most other books in the New Testament. The He- braisms which occasionally occur are almo.-t exclusively to be found in the speeches of others, which he has reported. His mode of narrating events is clear, dignified, and lively ; and, as- Michaelis observes, ' he has well supported the character of each person whom he has intro- duced as delivering a public harangue, and has very faithfully and happily preserved the manner of speaking which was peculiar to each of his orators.' Whilst, as Lardner and othei-s have very satis- factorily shown, the credibility of the events recorded by Luke is fully authenticated both by internal and external evidence, very great ob- scurity attaches to the chronology of these events. Our space will not permit us to enter at large into this point, we shall therefore content our- selves with merely presenting, in a tabular form, the dates affixed to the leading events by those writers whose authority is most deserving of consideration in such an inquiry. The Ascension of Christ Stoning of Stephen .... ... Conversion of Paul Paul's first journey to Jerusalem (Acts ix. 26) James's Martyrdom, &c Paul's second journey to Jerusalem (Acts xi. 30) Paul's first missionary tour . . . . . Paul's third journey to Jerusalem (Acts xv.) Paul arrives at Corinth Paul's fourth journey to Jerusalem (Acts xviii. 22) Paul's abode at Ephesus Paul's fifth journey to Jerusalem (Acts xxi. 17) Paul arrives in Rome . 33 34 35 38 44 44 45-46 53 54 56 56-59 59 63 33 34 35 38 44 44 44-47 49 52 54 54-57 58 61 33 37? 44 44 54? 60 63 to s a 31 35 38 44 44 44 52 '53 55 56-58 59 62 33 36 36-38 39 44 44 49? 54 54 60 63 30 37 37 41 43 43 ' 44 48 50 52 53-55 56 59 31 37 38 41 43 44 44 48 52 54 55-59 58 61 ACTS, SPURIOUS [APOCRYPHA]. This term has been applied to several ancient writings pretended to *ave been composed by, or to supply historical facts respecting our Blessed Saviour and his disciples, or other individuals whose actions are recorded in the holy Scriptures. Some of these writings are still extant ; others are only known to have existed, by the accounts of them which are to be met with in ancient authors. Such, for example, is the beautiful sentiment cited by St. Paul (Acts xx. 35), It is more blessed to give than to receive, which some have supposed to be taken from some lost apocryphal book But the probability is that St. Paul received the passage by tradition from the other apostles. Various other sayings, ascribed to Christ by early writers, which are alleged to be derived from apocryphal gospels, are in all probability nothing more than loose quotations from the Scriptures, which were very common among the apostolical fathers. The most remarkable of the apocrypha. Acts ascribed to our Lord is the letter which he is ADAM said to have written to Agbarus, king of Edessa, in answer to a request from that monarch that he would come to heal a disease under which he laboured. Some few historians have maintained the genuineness of these letters, but most writers, including the great majority of Roman Catholic divines, reject them as spurious; and there is good reason to believe that the whole chapter of Eusebius which contains these documents is tself an interpolation. ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, SPURIOUS. Of these several are extant, others are lost, or only fragments of them are come down to us. The following is a catalogue of the principal spurious Acts still extant : The Creed of the Apostles. The Epistles of Barnabas, Clement, Ignatius, and Polj/carp. Tfie Recognitions of Clement, or the Travels of Peter. The Shepherd of Hermas. The Acts of Pilate (spurious), or the Gospel of Nicodemus. Tfie Acts of Paul, or the Martyrdom of Thecla. Abdias's History of the Twelve Apostles. The Constitutions of the Apostles. The Canons of the Apostles. The Li- turgies of the Apostles. St. Paul's Epistle to the Laodiceans. St. Paul's Litters to Seneca. AD'AD is the name of the chief deity of the Syrians, the sun. The name of this Syrian deity is most probably an element in the names of the Syrian kings Benhadad and Hadadezer. ADAD-RIM'MON, properly HADAD-RIMMON (a garden of pomegranates), a city in the valley of Jezreel, where was fought the famous battle between King Josiah and Pharaoh-Necho (2 Kings xxiii. 29; Zech. xii. 11). Adad-rimmon w?s afterwards called Maximianopolis, in honour of the emperor Maximian. It was seventeen Roman miles from Cacsarea, and ten miles from Jezreel. A'DAH (adornment, comeliness~) : 1. one of the wives of Lamech (Gen. iv. 19) ; 2. one of the wives of Esau, daughter of Elon the Hittite (Gen. xxxvi. 4). She is called Judith in Gen. xxvi. 34. AD'AM, the word by which the Bible desig- nates the first human being. It is evident that, in the earliest use of lan- guage, the vocal sound employed to designate the first perceived object, of any kind, would be an appellative, and would be formed from some- thing known or apprehended to be a charac- teristic property of that object. The word would, therefore, be at once the appellative and the proper name. But when other objects of the same kind were discovered, or subsequently came into existence, difficulty would be felt ; it would become necessary to guard against confusion, and the inventive faculty would be called upon to obtain a discriminative term for each and sin- gular individual, while some equally appropriate term would be fixed upon for the whole kind. Different methods of effecting these two pur- poses might be resorted to, but the most natural would be to retain the original term in its simple state, for the first individual : and to make some modification of it by prefixing another sound, or by subjoining one, or by altering the vowel or vowels in the body of the word, in order to have a term for the kind, and for the separate indi- viduals of the kind. This reasoning is exemplified in the first ap- plications of the word before us : (Gen. i. 26) ; ADAM 23 ' Let us make man [Adam] in our image ; ' (i. 27), ' And God created the man [the Adam] in his own image.' The next instance (ri. 7) ex- presses the source of derivation, a character or property; namely, the material of which the human body was formed : ' And the Lord God "Jehovah Elohim] formed the man [the Adam] lust from the ground [the adamahj. The mean- ing of the primary word is, most probably, any kind of reddish tint, as a beautiful human com- plexion (Lam. iv. 7); but its various derivatives ire applied to different objects of a red or brown tiue, or approaching to such. The word Aiium, :herefore, is an appellative noun made iiito a proper one. It is further remarkable that, in all ;he other instances in the second and third chap- ;ers of Genesis, which are nineteen, it is put with ;he article, the man, or the Adam. The question arises, Was the uttered round, originally employed for this purpose, the very vocable Adam, or was it some other sound of correspondent signification ? This is equivalent to asking, what was the primitive language of men? That language originated in the instinctive cries of human beings herding together in a con- dition like that of common animals, is an hypo- thesis which, apart from all testimony of revela- tion, must appear unreasonable to a man of se- rious reflection. There are other animals, be- sides man, whose organs are capable of pro- ducing articulate, sounds, through a considerable range of variety, and distinctly pronounced. How, then, is it that parrots, jays, and starlirgs have not among themselves developed an arti- culate language, transmitted it to their succes- sive generations, and improved it, both in the life-time of the individual and in the series of many generations ? Those birds never attempt to speak till they are compelled by a difficult process on the part of their trainers, and they never train each other. Upon the mere ground of reasoning from the necessity of the case, it seems an iuev table con- clusion that not the capacity merely, but the actual use of speech, with the corresponding fa- culty of promptly understanding it, was given to the first human beings by a superior power : and it would be a gratuitous absurdity to suppose that power to be any other than the Almighty Creator. In what manner such communication or infusion of what would be equivalent to a habit took place, it is in vain to inquire ; the subject lies beyond the range of human investi- gation : but, from the evident exigency, it must have been instantaneous, or nearly so. It is not necessary to suppose that a copious language was thus bestowed upon the human creatures in the first stage of their existence. We need to sup- pose only so much as would be requisite for the notation of the ideas of natural wants and the most important mental conceptions ; and from these, as germs, the powers of the mind and the faculty of vocal designation would educe new words and combinations as occasion de- manded. That the language thus formed continued to be the universal speech of mankind till after the deluge, and till the great cause of diversity took place, is in itself the most probable suppo- sition [TONGUES, CONFUSION OF]. If there were 24 ADAM any families of men which were not involved in the crime of the Babel- builders, they would almost certainly retain the primeval language. The longevity of the men of that period would be a powerful conservative of that language against the slow changes of time. That there were such exceptions seems to be almost an indubitable inference from the fact that Noah long survived the unholy attempt. His faithful piety would not have suffered him to fall into the snare ; and it is difficult to suppose that none of his children and descendants would listen to his admonitions, and hold fast their integrity by adhering to him : on the contrary, it is reason- able to suppose that the habit and character of piety were established in many of them. The confusion of tongues, therefore, whatever was the nature of that judicial visitation, would not fall upon that portion of men which was the most orderly, thoughtful, and pious, among whom the second father of mankind dwelt as their acknowledged and revered head. If this supposition be admitted, we can have no difficulty in regarding as the mother of lan- guages, not indeed the Hebrew, absolutely speak- ing, but that which was the stock whence branched the Hebrew, and its sister tongues, usually called the Shemitic, but more properly, by Dr. Prichard, the Syro- Arabian. It may then be maintained that the actually spoken names of Adam and all the others mentioned in the ante- diluvian history were those which we have in the Hebrew Bible, very slightly and not at all essentially varied. It is among the clearest deductions of reason, that men and all dependent beings have been created, that is, produced or brought into their first existence by an intelligent and adequately powerful being. A question, however, arises of great interest and importance. Did the Almighty Creator produce only one man and one woman, from whom all other human beings have de- scended? or did he create several parental pairs, from -whom distinct stocks of men have been derived? The affirmative of the latter po- sition has been maintained by some, and, it must be confessed, not without apparent reason. The manifest and great differences in complexion and figure, which distinguish several races of mankind, are supposed to be such as entirely to forbid the conclusion that they have all de- scended from one father and one mother. The question is usually regarded as equivalent to this : whether there is only one species of men, or there are several. But we cannot, in strict fairness, admit that the questions are identical. It is hypothetically conceivable that the Adorable God might give existence to any number of creatures, which should all possess the properties that characterize identity of species, even with- out such differences as constitute varieties, or with any degree of those differences. But the admission of the possibility is not a j concession of the reality. So great is the evi- dence in favour of the derivation of the entire mass of human beings from one pair of ancestors, that it has obtained the suffrage of the men most competent to judge upon a question of compa- rative anatomy and physiology. The animals which render eminent services to I man, and peculiarly depend upon his protection, j ADAM are widely diffused the horse, the dog, the hog, the domestic fowl. Now of these, the varieties in each species are numerous and different, to a degree so great, that an observer ignorant of physiological history would scarcely believe them to be of the. same species. But man is the most widely diffused of any animal. In the progress of ages and generations, he has natural- ized himself to every climate, and to modes of life which would prove fatal to an individual man suddenly transferred from a remote point of the field. The alterations produced afl'ect every part of the body, internal and external, without extinguishing the marks of the specific identity. A further and striking evidence is, that when persons of different varieties are con- jugally united, the offspring, especially in two or three generations, becomes more prolific, and acquires a higher perfection, in physical and mental qualities than was found in either of the parental races. From the deepest African black to the finest Caucasian white, the change runs through imperceptible gradations; and, if a middle hue be assumed, suppose some tint of brown, all the varieties of complexion may bu explained upon the principle of divergence in- fluenced by outward circumstances. The. con- clusion may be fairly drawn, in the words of the able translators and illustrators of Baron Curler's great work : ' We are fully warranted in con- cluding, both from the comparison of man with inferior animals, so far as the inferiority will allow of such comparison, and, beyond that, by comparing him with himself, that the great family of mankind loudly proclaim a descent, at some period or other, from one common origin.' Thus, by an investigation totally independent of historical authority, we are brought to the conclusion of the inspired writings, that the Creator ' hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth ' (Acts xvii. 26). We shall now follow the course of those sacred documents in tracing the history of the first man, persuaded that their right interpretation is a sure basis of truth. At the same time we shall not reject illustrations from natural history and the reason of particular facts. It is evident upon a little reflection, and the closest investigation confirms the conclusion, that the first human pair must have been created in a state equivalent to that which all subse- quent human beings have had to reach by slow degrees, in growth, experience, observation, imitation, and the instruction of others : that is, a state of prime maturity, and with an infusion, concreation, or whatever we may call it, of knowledge and habits, both physical and intel- lectual, suitable to the place which man had to occupy in the system of creation, and adequate to his necessities in that place. Had it been otherwise, the new beings could not have pre- served their animal existence, nor have held rational converse with each other, nor have paid to their Creator the homage of knowledge and love, adoration, and obedience ; and reason clearly tells us that the last was the noblest end of existence. Those whom unhappy prejudices lead to reject revelation must either admit this, or must resort to suppositions of palpable ab- ADAM surdity and impossibility. If they will not admit a direct action of Divine power in crea- tion and adaptation to the designed mode of existence, they must admit something far beyond the miraculous, an infinite succession of finite beings, or a spontaneous production of order, organization, and systematic action, from some unintelligent origin. The Bible coincides with this dictate of honest reason, expressing these facts in simple and artless language, suited to the circumstances of the men to whom revelation was first granted. That this production in a mature state was the fact with regard to the vegetable part of the creation, is declared in Gen. ii. 4, 5 : 'In the day of Jehovah God's making the earth and the heavens, and every shrub of the field before it should be in the earth, and erery herb of the field before it should bud.' The two terms, shrubs and herb- age, are put to designate the whole vegetable kingdom. The reason of the case comprehends the other division of organized nature ; and this is applied to man and all other animals, in the words, ' Out of the ground dust out of the ground Jehovah God formed them.' It is to be observed that there are two narra- tives at the beginning of the Mosaic records, different in style and manner, distinct and inde- pendent ; at first sight somewhat discrepant, but when strictly examined, perfectly compatible, and each one illustrating and completing the other. The first is contained in Gen. L 1, to iL 3; and the other, iL 4, to iv. 26, As is the case with the Scripture history generally, they consist of a few principal facts, detached anec- dotes, leaving much of necessary implication which the good sense of the reader is called upon to supply ; and passing over large spaces of the history of life, upon which all conjecture would be fruitless. In *ie second of these narratives we read, ' And Jehovah God formed the man \Htb. the Adam], dust from the ground [ha-adamaK], and blew into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living animal ' (Gen. ii. 7). Here are two objects of attention, the organic me- chanism of the human body, and the vitality with which it was endowed. The mechanical material, formed (moulded, or arranged, as an artificer models clay or wax) into the human and all other animal bodies, is called ' dust from the ground.' This would be a natural and easy expression to men in the early ages, -before chemistry was known or minute philosophical distinctions were thought of, to convey, in a general form, the idea of earthy matter, the constituent substance of the ground on which we tread. To say, that of this the human and every other animal body was formed, is a position which would be at once the most easily apprehensible to an uncultivated mind, and which yet is the most exactly true upon the highest philosophical grounds. We now know, from chemical analysis, that the animal body is composed, in the inscrutable manner called or- ganization, of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitro- gen, lime, iron, sulphur, and phosphorus. Now all these are mineral substances, which in their various combinations form a very large part of the solid ground. The expression which we hare rendered ADAM 25 1 living animal' sets before us the ORGANIC LIFE of the animal frame, that mysterious something which man cannot create nor restore, which baffles the most acute philosophers to search out its nature, and which reason combines with Scripture to refer to the immediate agency of the Almighty ' in him we live, arid move, and have our being.' The other narrative is contained in these words, 'God created man in his own image: in the image of God created he him ; male and female created he them' (Gen. i. 27). TJ:e imat/e (resemblance, such as a shadow bears to the object which casts it) of God is an expression which breathes at once archaic simplicity and the most recondite wisdom ; for what term could the most cultivated and copious language bring forth more suitable to the purpose ? It presents to us man as made in a resemblance to the author of his being, a true resemblance, but faint and shadowy ; an outline, faithful according to its capacity, yet infinitely remote from the reality : a distant form of the intelligence, wisdom, power, rectitude, goodness, and dominion of the Adorable Supreme. To the inferior sentient beings with which he is connected man stands in the place .of God. We have every reason to think that none of them are capable of con- ceiving a being higher than man. All, in their different ways, look up to him as their fuperior ; the ferocious generally flee before him, afraid to encounter his power, and the gentle court his protection and show their highest joy to consist in serving and pleasing him. Even in our degenerate state it is manifest that if we treat the domesticated animals with wisdom and kind- ness, their attachment is most ardent and faithful. Thus had man the shadow of the divine do- minion and authority over the inferior creation. The attribute of power was also given to him, in his being made able to convert the inanimate objects and those possessing only the vegetable life, into the instruments and the materials for supplying his wants, and continually enlarging his sphere of command. In such a state of things knowledge, and wis- dom are implied : the one quality, an acquaint- ance with those substances and their changeful actions which were necessary for a creature like man to understand, in order to his safety and comfort ; the other, such sagacity as would di- rect him in selecting the best objects of desire and pursuit, and the right means for attaining them. Above all, moral excellence must have been comprised in this ' image of God ;' and not only forming a part of it, but being its crown of beauty and glory. The Christian inspiration, than which no more perfect disclosure of God is to take place on this side eternity, casts its light upon this subject : for this apostle Paul, in urging the obligations of Christians to perfect holiness, evidently alludes to the endowments of the first man in two parallel and mutually illus- trative epistles ; ' the new man, renewed in knowledge after the image of HIM that created him ; the new man which, after [according to] GOD, is created hi righteousness and true holi- ness' (Col. in. 10; Eph. iv. 24). In this perfection of faculties, and with these 26 ADAM high prerogatives of moral existence, did hu- man nature, in its first subject, rise up from the creating hand. The whole Scripture-narrative implies that this STATE of existence was one of correspondent activity and enjoyment. It plainly represents the DEITY himself as condescending to assume a human form and to employ human speech, in order to instruct and exercise the happy creatures whom (to borrow the just and beautiful language of the Apocryphal ' Wisdom') \ ' God created for incorruptibility, and made him an image of his own nature' (Wisd. Sol. ii. 23). The noble and sublime idea that man thus had his Maker for his teacher and guide, pre- cludes a thousand difficulties. It shows us the simple, direct, and effectual method by which the newly formed creature would have commu- nicated to him all the intellectual knowledge, and all the practical arts and manipulations, which were needful and beneficial for him. Religious knowledge and its appropriate habits also required an immediate infusion : and these are pre-eminently comprehended in the ' image i of God.' On the one hand, it is not to be sup- j posed that the newly created man and his female ; companion were inspired with a very ample ! share of the doctrinal knowledge which was I communicated to their posterity by the succes- sive and accumulating revolutions of more than four thousand years : and, on the other, we can- not imagine that they were left in gross igno- rance upon the existence and excellencies of the Being who had made them, their obligations to him, and the way in which they might continue to receive the greatest blessings from him. It is self-evident that, to have attained such a kind and degree of knowledge, by spontaneous effort, under even the favourable circumstances of a state of negative innocence, would have been a long and arduous work. But the sacred narra- tive leaves no room for doubt upon this head. In the primitive style it tells of God as speaking to them, commanding, instructing, assigning their work, pointing out their danger, and show- ing how to avoid it. All this, reduced to the dry simplicity of detail, is equivalent to saying that the Creator, infinitely kind and condescend- ing, by the use of forms and modes adapted to their capacity, fed their minds with truth, gave them a ready understanding of it and that de- light in it which constituted holiness, taught them to hold intercourse with himself by direct addresses in both praise and prayer, and gave some disclosures of a future state of blessedness when they should have fulfilled the condition of their probation. An especial instance of this instruction and in- fusion of practical habits is given to us in the narrative : ' Out of the ground Jehovah God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air ; and brought them unto the man, to see what he would call them' (Gen. ii. 19). This, taken out of the style of condescending anthropomorphism, amounts to such a statement as the following: the Creator had not only formed man with organs of speech, but he taught him the use of them, by an immediate communication of the practical faculty and its accompanying intelligence ; and he guided the man, as yet the solitary one of his species, to this among the first applications of speech, the ADAM designating of the animals with which he was connected, by appellative words which would both be the help of his memory and assist his mental operations, and thus would be introduc- tory and facilitating to more enlarged applica- tions of thought and language. We are further warranted, by the recognised fact of the anec- dotal and fragmentary structure of the Scripture history, to regard this as the selected instance for exhibiting a whole kind or class of opera- tions or processes ; implying that, in the same or similar manner, the first man was led to under- stand something of the qualities and relations of vegetables, earthy matters, the visible heavens, and the other external objects to which lie had a relation. The next important article in this primeval history is the creation of the human female. The narrative is given in the more summary manner in the former of the two documents : ' Male and female created he them ' (Gen. 5. 27). It stands a little more at length in a third docu- ment, which begins the fifth chapter, and has the characteristic heading or title by which the Hebrews designated a separate work. ' This, the book of the generations of Adam. In the day God created Adam ; he made him in the likeness of God, male and female he created them ; and he blessed them, and lie called their name Adam, in the day of their being created ' (ver. 1, 2). The second of the narratives is more circum- stantial : And Jehovah God said, it is not good the man's being alone: I will make for him a help suitable for him.' Then follows fhe pas- sage concerning the review and the naming of the inferior animals ; and it continues ' but for Adam he found not a help suitable for him. And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man [the Adam], and he slept : and he took one out of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place : and Jehovah God built up the rib which he had taken from the man into a woman, and he brought her to the man.' The next particular into which the sacred history leads us, is one which we cannot ap- proach without a painful sense of its difficulty and delicacy. It stands thus in the authorized version : ' And they were both naked, the man and his wife ; and were not ashamed ' (ii. 25). The common interpretation is, that, in this re- spect, the two human beings, the first and only existing ones, were precisely in the condition of the youngest infants, incapable of perceiving any incongruity in the total destitution of artificial clothing. But a little reflection will tell us, aud the more carefully that reflection is pursued the more it will appear just, that this supposition is inconsistent with what we have established on solid grounds, the supernatural infusion into the minds of our first parents and into their nervous and muscular faculties, of the knowledge iu:d practical habits which their descendants have had to acquire by the long process of instruc- tion and example. We have seen the necessity that there must have been communicated to them, directly by the Creator, no inconsiderable measure of natural knowledge and the methods of applying it, or their lives could not have been secured ; and of moral and spiritual ' know- ledge, righteousness, and true holiness,' such a ADAM measure as would belong to the sinless state, and would enable them to render an intelligent and perfect worship to the Glorious Deity. It seems impossible for that state of mind aiid habits to exist without a correct sensibility to proprieties and decencies which infant children camict understand or feel ; and the capacities and duties of their conjugal state are implied in the narrative. Further, it cannot be overlooked that, though we are entitled to ascribe to the locality of Eden the most bland atmosphere and delightful soil, yet the action of the sun's rays upon the naked skin, the range of temperature through the day and the night, the alternations of dry ness and moisture, the various labour among trees and bushes, and exposure to insects, would render some protective clothing quite in- dispensable. From these considerations we feel ourselves obliged to understand the word aroin in that which is its most, usual signification in the Hebrew language, as importing not an absolute, but a partial or comparative nudity, a stripping oft' of the upper garment, or of some other usual article of dress, when all the habiliments were not laid aside : and this is a more frequent signification than that of entire destitution. If it be asked, Whence did Adam and Eve derive this clothing ? we reply, that, as a part of the divine instruc- tion which we have established, they were taught to take off the inner bark of some trees, which would answer extremely well for this pur- pose. If an objection be drawn from Gen. iii. 7, 10, 1 1, we reply, that, in consequence of the trans- gression, the clothing was disgracefully injured. Another inquiry presents itself. How long did the state of paradisiac innocence and happi- ness continue ? Some have regarded the period as very brief, not more even than a single day ; but this manifestly falls very short of the time which a reasonable probability requires. The first man was brought into existence in the region called Eden; then he was introduced into a particular part of it, the garden, re- plenished with the richest productions of the Creator's bounty for the delight of the eye and the other senses ; the most agreeable labour was required ' to dress and to keep it,' implying some arts of culture, preservation from injury, train- ing flowers and fruits, and knowing the various uses and enjoyments of the produce ; making observation upon the works of God, of which an investigation and designating of animals is expressly specified; nor can we suppose that there was no contemplation of the magnificent sky and the heavenly bodies: above all, the wondrous communion with the condescending Deity, and probably with created spirits of su- perior orders, by which the mind would be ex- cited, its capacity enlarged, and its holy felicity continually increased. It is also to be remarked, that the narrative (Gen. iL 19, 20) conveys the implication that some time was allowed to elapse, that Adam might discover and feel his want of a companion of his own species, 'a help corre- spondent to him.' These considerations impress us with a sense of probability, amounting to a conviction, that a period not very short was requisite for the exer- cise of man's faculties, the disclosures of his happiness, and the service of adoration which he ADAM 27 could pay to his Creator. But all these con- siderations are strengthened by the recollection that they attach to man's solitary state; and that they all require new and enlarged application when the addition of conjugal life is brought into the account. The conclusion appears irre- sistible that a duration of mauy days, or rather weeks or months, -vould be requisite for so many and important purposes. Thus divinely honoured and happy were the progenitors of mankind in the state of their creation. The next scene which the sacred history brings before us is a dark reverse. Another agent comes into the field and successfully emploj s his arts for seducing Eve, and by her means Adam, from their original state of rectitude, dignity, and happiness. Among the provisions of divine wisdom and goodness were two vegetable productions of wondrous qualities and mysterious significancy ; ' the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil ' (Gen. ii. 9). It would add to the precision of the terms, and perhaps aid our understanding of them, il we were to adhere strictly to the Hebrew by re- taining the definite prefix: and then we have ' the tree of the life' and ' the tree of the know- ledge.' Thus would be indicated THE particular life, of which the one was a symbol and instru- ment, and THE fatal knowledge springing from the abuse of the other. At the same time, we do not maintain that these appellations were given to them at the beginning. We rather suppose that they were applied afterwards, sug- gested by the events and connection, and so be- came the historical names. We see no sufficient reason to understand, as some do, ' the tree of life,' collectively, as im- plying a species, and that there were many trees of that species. The figurative use of the ex- pression in Rev. xxii. '2, where a plurality is plainly intended, involves no evidence of such a design in this literal narrative. The phraseo- logy of the text best agrees with the idea of a single tree, designed for a special purpose, and not intended to perpetuate its kind. Though in the state of innocence, Adam and Eve might be liable to some corporal suffering from the changes of the season and the weather, or accidental cir- cumstances ; in any case of which occurring, this tree had been endowed by the bountiful Creator with a medicinal and restorative pro- perty, probably in the way of instantaneous miracle. We think also that it was designed for a Eacramental or symbolical purpose, a repre- sentation and pledge of ' the life,' emphatically so called, heavenly immortality when the term of probation should be happily completed. Yet we by no means suppose that this ' tree of the life' possessed any intrinsic property of com- municating immortality. In the latter view, it was a sign and seal of tlie divine promise. But, with regard to the former intention, we see nothing to forbid the idea that it had most effi- cacious medicinal properties in its fruit, leaves, and other parts. Such were called trees of life by the Hebrews (Prov. iii. 18; xi. 30 ; xiii. 12; xv. 4). The ' tree of the knowledge of good and evil ' might be any tree whatever ; it might be of any 28 ADAM species even yet remaining, though, if it were so, we could not determine its species, for the plain reason, that no name, description, or information whatever is given that could possibly lead to the ascertainment. Yet we cannot but think the more reasonable probability to be, that it was a tree having poisonous properties, stimulating, and intoxicating, such as are found in some exist- ing species, especially in hot climates. On this | ground, the prohibition to eat or even touch the tree was a beneficent provision against the danger of pain and death. But the revealed ob- ject of this ' tree of the knowledge of good and evil' was that which would require no particular properties beyond some degree of external beauty and fruit of an immediately pleasant taste. That object was to be a test of obedience. For such a purpose, it is evident that to select an indifferent act. to be the object prohibited, was necessary ; as the obligation to refrain should be only that which arises simply, so far as the subject of the ! law can know, from the sacred will of the law- giver. This does not, however, nullify what we iiave said upon the possibility, or even proba- bility, that the tree in question had noxious qualities : for upon either tLe affirmative or the negative of the supposition, the subjects of this positive law, having upon all antecedent grounds tlie fullest conviction of the perfect rectitude and benevolence of their Creator, would see in it the simple character of a test, a means of proof, whether they would or would not implicitly con- fide in him. For so doing they had every pos- sible reason ; and against any thought or mental feeling tending to the violation of the precept, they were in possession of the most powerful motives. There was no difficulty in the observ- ance. They were surrounded with a paradise of delights, and they had no reason to imagine that any good whatever would accrue to them from their seizing upon anything prohibited. If per- plexity or doubt arose, they had ready access to their divine benefactor for obtaining information and direction. But they allowed the thought of disobedience to form itself into a disposition, and then a purpose. Thus was the seal broken, the integrity of the heart was gone, the sin was generated, and the outward act was the consummation of the dire process. Eve, less informed, less cautious, less endowed with strength of mind, became the more ready victim. ' The woman, being de- ceived, was in the transgression;' but 'Adam was not deceived ' (1 Tim. ii. 14). He rushed knowingly and deliberately to ruin. The offence had grievous aggravations. It was the prefer- once of a trifling gratification to the approbation of the Supreme Lord of the universe ; it implied a denial of the wisdom, holiness, goodness, veracity, and power of God ; it was marked with extreme ingratitude ; and it involved a con- temptuous disregard of consequences, awfully im- pious as it referred to their immediate connection with the moral government of God, and cruelly selfish as it respected their posterity. The instrument of the temptation was a ser- pent ; whether any one of the existing kinds it is evidently impossible for us to know. Of that numerous order many species are of brilliant colours and playful in their attitudes and man- ners , so that one may well conceive of such an ADAM object attracting and fascinating the first woman. Whether it spoke in an articulate voice, like the human, or expressed the sentiments attributed to it by a succession of remarkable and significant actions, may be a subject of reasonable question. The latter is possible, and it seems the prefer- able hypothesis, as, without a miraculous inter- vention, the mouth and throat of no serpent could form a vocal utterance of M-ords ; and we cannot attribute to any wicked spirit the power of working miracles. This part of the narrative begins with the words, * And the serpent was crafty above every animal of the field' (Gen. iii. 1). It is to be observed that this is not said of the order of serpents, as if it were a general property of them, but of that particular serpent Indeed, this ' cunning craftiness, lying in wait to deceive ' (Eph. iv. 14), is the very character of that ma- lignant creature of whose wily stratagems the reptile was a mere instrument. The existence- of spirits, superior to man, and of whom some have become depraved, and are labouring to spread wickedness and misery to tl>e utmost of their power, has been found to be the belief of all nations, ancient and modern, of whom we possess information. It has also been the ge- neral doctrine of both Jews and Christians, that one of those fallen spirits was the real agent in this first and successful temptation ; and this doctrine receives strong confirmation from the declarations of our Lord and bis apostles. See 2 Cor. ii. 11 ; xi. 3, 14 ; Rev. xii. 9 ; xx. 2 ; John viii. 44. The summary of these passages pre- sents almost a history of the Fall the tempter, his manifold arts, his serpentine disguises, his falsehood, his restless activity, his bloodthirsty cruelty, and his early success in that career of deception and destruction. The condescending Deity, who had held gra- cious and instructive communion with the pa- rents of mankind, assuming a human form and adapting all his proceedings to their capacity, visibly stood before them ; by a searching inter- rogatory drew from them the confession of their guilt, which yet they aggravated by evasions and insinuations against God himself; and pro- nounced on them and their seducer the sentence due. On the woman he inflicted the pains of child-bearing, and a deeper and more humiliating dependence upon her husband. He doomed the man to hard and often fruitless toil, instead of easy and pleasant labour. On both, or rather on human nature universally, he pronounced the awful sentence of death. The denunciation of the serpent partakes more of a symbolical cha- racter, and so seems to carry a strong impli- cation of the nature and the wickedness of the concealed agent. The human sufferings threat- ened are all, excepting the last, which will re- quire a separate consideration, of a remedial and corrective kind. Of a quite different character are the penal denunciations upon the serpent. If they be un- derstood literally, and of course applied to the whole order of Ophidia, they will be found to be so flagrantly at variance with the most demon- strated facts in their physiology and economy, as to lead to inferences unfavourable to belief in revelation. Let us examine the particulars : ' Because thou hast done this cursed art thou ADAM above all cattle ;' literally, ' above every behe- mali! But the serpent tribe cannot be classed with, that of the behemoth. The word is of very fre- quent occurrence in the Old Testament; and though, in a few instances, it seems to be put for brevity so as to be inclusive of the flocks as well as the herds, and in poetical diction it sometimes stands metonymically tor -animals generally (as Job xviii. 3; Ps. Ixxiii. 22; Eccles. iii. 18, 19, 21) ; yet its proper and universal application is to the large animals (pachyderms and rumi- nants), such as the elephant, camel, deer, horse, ox, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, &c. [BEHEMOTH]. As little will the declaration, ' cursed ,' agree with natural truth. It may, indeed, be supposed to be verified in the shuddering which persons generally feel at the aspect of any one of the order of serpents ; but this takes place also in many other cases. It springs from fear of the formidable weapons with which some species are armed, as few persons know before- hand which are venomous and which are harm- less ; and, after all, this is rather an advantage than a curse to the animal. It is an effectual defence without effort. Indeed, we may say that no tribe of animals is so secure from danger, or is so able to obtain its sustenance and all the enjoyments which its capacity, and habits require, as the whole order of serpents. If, then, we decline to urge the objection from the word behvmah, it is difficult to conceive that serpents have more causes of suffering than any other great division of animals, or even so much. Further, ' going upon the belly ' is to none of them a punishment With some differences of mode, their progression is produced by the push- ing of scales, shields, or rings against the ground, by muscular contractions and dilatations, by elastic springings, by vertical undulations, or by horizontal wrigglings ; but, in every variety, the entire organization skeleton, muscles, nerves, integuments is adapted to the mode of pro- gression belonging to each species. That mode, in every variety of it, is sufficiently easy and rapid (often very rapid) for all the purposes of the animal's life and the amplitude of its enjoy- ments. To imagine this mode of motion to be, in any sense, a change from a prior attitude and habit of the erect kind, or being furnished with wings, indicates a perfect ignorance of the ana- tomy of serpents. Yet it has been said by learned and eminent theological interpreters, that, before this crime was committed, the serpent probably did ' not go upon his belly, but moved upon the hinder part of his body, with his head, breast, and belly upright' (Clarke's Bible, p. 1690). This notion may have obtained credence from the fact that some of the numerous serpent spe- cies, when excited, raise the neck pretty high ; but the posture is to strike, and they cannot maintain it in creeping except for a very short distance. Neither do they ' eat dust.' All serpents are carnivorous ; their food, according to the size and power of the species, is taken from the tribes of insects, worms, frogs, and toads, and newts, birds, mice, and other small quadrupeds, till the scale ascends to the pythons and boas, which can master and swallow very large animals. The excellent writer just cited, in his anxiety to do honour, as he deemed it, to the accuracy of ADAM 29 Scripture allusions, has said of the serpent, ' Now that he creeps with his very mouth upon the earth, he must necessarily take his food out of the dust, and so lick in some of the dust with it.' But this is not the fact. Serpents habitually obtain their food among herbage or in water ; they seize their prey with the mouth, often ele- vate the head, and are no more exposed to the necessity of swallowing adherent earth than are carnivorous birds or quadrupeds. At the same time, it may be understood figuratively. ' Katiny the dust is but another term for grovelling in the j dust ; and this is equivalent to being reduced to a condition of meanness, shame, and contempt. See Micah vii. 17.' But these and other inconsistencies and diffi- culties (insuperable they do indeed appear to us) are swept away when we consider the fact before stated, that the Hebrew, literally rendered, is THE serpent was, &c., and that it refers specifi- cally and personally to a rational and account- able being, Uie spirit of lying and cruelty, tl.e devil, the Satan, the old serpent. That God, the infinitely holy, good, and wise, should have per- mitted any one or more celestial spirits to apos- tatize from purity, and to be the successful se- ducers of mankind, is indeed an awful and over- whelming mystery. But it is not more so than the permitted existence of many among man- kind, whose rare talents and extraordinary com- mand of power and opportunity, combined with extreme depravity, have rendered them the plague and curse of the earth ; and the whole merges into the awful and insolvable problem, Why has the All-perfect Deity permitted evil at all? W T e are firmly assured that He will bring forth, at last, the most triumphant evidence that ' He is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.' In the mean time, our happiness lies in the implicit confidence which we cannot but feel to be due to the Being of Infinite Per- fection. The remaining part of the denunciation upon the false and cruel seducer sent a beam of light into the agonized hearts of our guilty first pa- rents : ' And enmity will I put between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed : he will attack thee [on] the head, and thou wilt attack him [at] the heel.' Christian interpreters generally regard this as the first gospel-promise, and we think with good reason. It was a ma- nifestation of mercy : it revealed a Deliverer, who ' should be a human being, in a peculiar sense the offspring of the female, who should also, in some way not yet made known, counter- act and remedy the injury inflicted, and who, though partially suffering from the malignant power, should, in the end, completely conquer it, and convert its very success into its own punishment' (J. Pye Smith, Scripture Testimony to the Messiah, vol. i. p. 22C). The awful threatening to man was, ' In the day that thou eatest of it, thou wilt die the death.' The infliction is Death in the most com- prehensive sense, that which stands opposed to Life, the life of not only animal enjoyment, but holy happiness, the life which comported with the image of God. This was lost by the fall ; and the sentence of physical death was pro- nounced, to be executed in due time. Divine mercy gave a long respite. 30 ADAMANT The same mercy was displayed in still more tempering thp terrors of justice. The garden of delights was not to be the abode of rebellious creatures. But before they were turned out into a bleak and dreary wilderness, God was pleasec to direct them to make clothing suitable to their new and degraded condition, of the skins of ani- mals. That those animals had been offered ir sacrifice is a conjecture support ?d by so much probable evidence, that we may regard it as a vrell-estabLshed truth. Any att.'mpt to force back the way, to gain anew the tree of life, and take violent or fraudulent possession, would have been equally impious and nugatory. The sacri- fice (wh'.ch all approximative argument obliges iis to a'dmit), united with the pro.nise of a de- livere , and the promise of substantial clothing, contained much hope of pardon and grace. The terrible debarring by lightning flashes and their consequent thunder, and by visible supernatural agency (Gen. iii. 22-24), from a return to the bowers of bliss, are expressed in the characteristic patriarchal style of anthropopathy ; but the meaning evidently is, that the fallen creature is unable by any efforts of his own to reinstate himself in the favour of God, and that Avhatever hopo of restoration he may be allowed to cherish must spring solely from free benevolence. Thus, in laying the first stone of the temple, which shall be an immortal habitation of the Divine glory, it was manifested that 'Salvation is of the Lord," and that ' graca reigneth through right- eousness unto eternal life.' From this time we have little recorded of the lives of Adam and Eve. Their three sons are mentioned with important circumstances in con- nection with each of them. See the articles CAIN, ABEL, and SETH. Cain was probably born in the year after the fall ; Abel, possibly some years later; Seth, certainly one hundred and thirty years from the creation of his parents. After that, Adam lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters, doubtless by Eve, and then he died, nine hundred and thirty years old. In that prodigious period many events, and those of great importance, must have oc- curred ; but the wise providence of God has not seen fit to preserve to us any memorial of them, and scarcely any vestiges or hints are afforded of the occupations and mode of life of men through the antediluvian period [ANTEDILUVIANS]. 2. ADAM, a city at some distance east from the Jordan, to which, or beyond which, the over- flow of the waters of that river extended when the course of the stream to the Dead Sea was stayed to afford the Israelites a passage across its channel. AD'AMAH. [ADMAH.] ADAMANT. The word thus rendered is, in Hebrew, SHAMIR. It occurs in Jer. xvii. 1 ; Ezek. iii. 9; Zech. vii. 12. The Sept. in Jer. xvii. 1, and the Vulgate in all these passages, take it for the diamond. The signification of the word, ' a sharp point,' countenances this in- terpretation, the diamond being for its hardness used in perforating and cutting other minerals. Indeed, this use of the sfiamir is distinctly al- luded to in Jer. xvii. 1, where the stylus pointed with it is distinguished from one of iron. The two other passages also favour this view by tising it figuratively to express the hardness and ADBEEL obduracy of the Israelites. Oar Authorized Version has 'diamond' in Jer. xvii. 1, and ' adamant ' in the other texts : but in the ori- ginal the word is the same in all. Bochart, however, rejects the usual explanation, and con- ceives it to mean 'emery.' This is a calcined iron mixed with siliceous earth, occurring in livid scales of such hardness that in ancient times, as at present, it was used for polishing and engraving precious stones, diamonds ex- cepted. Rosenmiiller urges in favour of this notion that if the Hebrews had been acquainted with the diamond, and with the manner of work- ing it, we should doubtless have found it among the stones of the high-priest's breastplate ; and that, as the shamir was not one of the stones thus employed, therefore it was not the diamond. But to this it may be answered, that it was per- haps not u?ed because it could not be engraved on, or was possibly not introduced until a later period. A'DAR (Esth. iii. 7) is the sixth month of the civil and the twelfth of the ecclesiastical year of the Jews. The name was first introduced after the Captivity. The following are the chief days in it which are set apart for commemoration : The 7th is a fast for the death of Moses (Dent, xxxiv. 5, 6). On the 9th there was a fast in memory of the contention or open rupture of the cele- brated schools of Hillel and Shammai, which happened but a few years before the birth of Christ. The 13th is the so-called 'Fast of Esther.' Iken observes (Antiq. Hebr. p. 150) that this was not an actual fast, but merely a commemoration of Esther's fast of three days (Esth. iv. 16), and a preparation for the ensuing festival. Nevertheless, as Esther appears, from the date of Hainan's edict, and from the course of the narrative, to have fasted in Kuan, Bux- torf adduces from the Rabbins the following account of the name of this fast, and of the foun- dation of its observance in Adar, that the Jews assembled together on the 13th, in the time of Esther, and that, after the example of Moses, who fasted when the Israelites were about to engage in battle with the Amalekites, they de- voted that day to fasting nnd prayer, in prepa- ration for the perilous trial which awaited them on the morrow. In this sense, this fast would stand in the most direct relation to the feast of Purim. The 13th was also, ' by a common de- cree,' appointed as a festival in memory of the death of Nicanor (2 Mace. xv. 36). The 14th and 15th were devoted to the feast of Purim (Esth. ix. 21). In case the year was an inter- calary one, when the month of Adar occurred twice, this feast was first moderately observed in the intercalary Adar, and then celebrated with full splendour in the ensuing Adar. The former of these two celebrations was then called the lesser, and the latter the great Purim. ADA'SA, or ADARSA, called also by Josephtis ADAZER, ADACO, and ACODACO, a city in the tribe of Ephraim, said to have been four miles from Beth-horon, and not far from Gophna. It was the scene of some important transactions in :he history of the Maccabees (1 Mac. vii. 40, 45 ; Joseph. Antiq. xii. 10.5; Bell. Jud. i. 1). ADB'EEL, one of the twelve sons of Ishmael, and founder of an Arabian tribe (Gen. xxv. 13, 16). ADDER ADDER, the English name of a kind of ser- pent. It occurs several times in the English version of the Bible, rfhd is there used not for a particular species, but generally for several of this dangerous class of reptiles. We have before us a list, far from complete, of the erpetology of Palestine, Arabia, and Egypt, in which there are, among forty-three species indicated, about eight whose bite is accompanied with a venomous effusion, and therefore almost all very danger- ous. In our present state of knowledge we deem it best to discuss, under the words SERPENT and VIPER, all the Hebrew names not noticed in this article, and to refer to them those occurring in our version under, the appellations of ' asp,' ' cockatrice,' &c. ; and likewise to review the al- lusions to colossal boas and pythons, and, finally, to notice water-snakes and mursense, which translators and biblical naturalists have totally overlooked, although they must exist in the lakes of the Delta, are abundant on the north coast of Africa, and often exceed eight feet in length. In this place we shall retain that genus alone which Laurenti and Cuvier have established ADDER 31 upon characters distinguished from the inno- cuous coluber, and the venomous vipera, and denominated naja. The genus Naja Haridi (?) of Savary is distinguished by a plaited head, large, very venomous fangs, a neck dilatable under excite- ment, which raises the ribs of the anterior part of the body into the form of a disk or hood, when the scales, usually not imbricated, but lying in juxta-position, are separated, and expose the skin, which at that time displays bright iride- scent gleams, contrasting highly with their brown, yellow, and bluish colours. The spe- cies attain at least an equal, if not a superior, size to the generality of the genus viper ; are more massive in their structure ; and some pos- sess the faculty of self-inflation to triple their diameter, gradually forcing the body upwards into an erect position, until, by a convulsive crisis, they are said suddenly to strike backwards at an enemy or a pursuer. With such powers of destroying animal life, and with an aspect at once terrible and resplendent, it may be easily imagined how soon fear and superstition would Naja Haje ; and the farm of Cneph from the Egyptian Monuments. combine, at periods anterior to historical data, to raise these monsters into divinities, and en- deavour to deprecate their wrath by the blandish- ments of worship ; and how design and cupidity would teach these very votaries the manner of subduing their ferocity, of extracting their in- struments of mischief, and making them sub- servient to the wonder and amusement of the vulgar, by using, certain cadences of sound which affect their hearing, and exciting in them a de- sire to perform a kind of pleasurable movements that may be compared to dancing. Hence 'the napas of the East, the Jiag-worms of the West, and the liaje, have all been deified, styled aga- thodaemon or good spirit ; and figures of them occur wherever the superstition of Pagan an- tiquitiy has been accompanied by the arts of civilization. The most prominent species of the genus at present is the naja tripudians, cobra di capello, hooded or spectacled snake of India, venerated by the natives ; even by the serpent-charmers styled the good serpent to this day, and yet so Naja Tripndians and Cobra di Capello ; or, Hooded and Spectacled Snakes. ferocious that it is one of the very few that will attack a man when surprised in its haunt, al- though it may be gorged with prey. This spe- cies is usually marked on the nape with two round spots, transversely connected in the form of a pair of spectacles ; but among several va- rieties, one, perhaps distinct, is without the marks, and has a glossy golden hood, which may make it identical with the naja /iaje of Egypt, the undoubted Ihh-nuphi, ceneph, or a,gathodaemon of Ancient Egypt, and accurately represented on the walls of its temples, in almost innumerable instances, both in form and colour. This serpent also inflates the skin on the neck, not in the expanded form of a hood, but rather into an intumefaction of the neck. As in the former, there is no marked difference of appear- ance between the sexes ; but the psilli, or charm- ers, by a particular pressure on the neck have the power of rendering the inflation of the ani- mal, already noticed as a character of the genus, so intense, that the serpent becomes rigid, and can be held out horizontally as if it were a rod. 32 ADDER This practice explains what the soothsayers of Pharaoh could perform when they were op- posing Moses. That the rods of the magicians of Pharaoh were of the same external character with the rod of Aaron, is evident from no differ- ent denomination being given to them : there- fore we may infer that they used a real serpent as a rod namely the species now called haje for their imposture; since they no doubt did what the present serpent-charmers perform with the same species, by means of the temporary asphyxiation, or suspension of vitality, before noticed, and producing restoration to active life by liberating or throwing down. Thus we have the miraculous character of the prophet's mission shown by his real rod becoming a serpent, and the magicians' real serpents merely assuming the form of rods ; and when both were opposed in a state of animated existence, by the rod de- Touring the living animals, conquering the great typical personification of the protecting divinity of Egypt. This species of serpent may be regarded as extending to India and Ceylon ; and probably the naja' tripudians is likewise an inhabitant of Arabia, if not of Egypt, although the assertion of the fact (common in authors) does not exclude a supposition that they take the two species to be only one. We are disposed to refer the ' winged ' or ' flying ' serpent to the naja tripudians, in one of its varieties, because with its hood dilated into a kind of shining wings on each side of the neck, standing, in undulating motion, one-half or more erect, rigid, and fierce in attack, and deadly poisonous, yet still denominated ' good spirit,' and in Egypt ever figured in combination with the winged globe it well may have re- ceived tht name of saraph, swallowing or devour- ing, and may thus meet all the valid objections, and conciliate seemingly opposite comments (see Num. xxl 6, 8; Deut. yiii. 15; Isa. xiv. 29; xxx. 6). ACHSUB is another name of a serpent which may be considered as specifically different from the former, though it is most probably one more of this group of terrible creatures. The root of the name implies bending back, recurving, but not coiling up, for all snakes have that faculty. The syllable ach, however, shows a connection with the former denominations ; and both are perfectly reconcilable with a serpent very com- mon at the Cape of Good Hope, not unfrequent in Western Africa, and probably extending over that whole continent, excepting perhaps Morocco. It is the ' poff-adder ' of the Dutch colonists, about three feet in length, and about six inches in circumference at the middle of the body ; the head is larger than is usual in serpents ; the eyes are large, and very brilliant ; the back beauti- fully marked in half circles, and the colours black, bright yellow, and dark brown ; the belly yellow ; the appearance at all times, but chiefly when excited, extremely brilliant ; the upper jaw greatly protruding, somewhat like what occurs in the shark, places the month back to- wards the throat, and this structure is said to be connected with the practice of the animal when intending to bite, to swell its skin till it suddenly rises up, and strikes backwards as if it fell over. It is this faculty which appears to be indicated by the Hebrew name achsub, and therefore we ADJURATION believe it to refer to that species, or to one nearly allied to it. The Dutch name (poff-adder, or spooch-adder) shows that, in the act of swelling, remarkable eructations and spittings take place, all which no doubt are so many warnings, the bite being fatal. The poff-adder usually resides among brushwood in stony places and rocks, is fond of basking in the sun, rather slow in moving, and is by nature timid [SERPENT; VIPER]. AD'DON, one of several places mentioned in Neh. vii. 61, being towns in the land of captivity, from which those who returned to Palestine were unable to ' shew their father's house, or their seed, whether they were of Israel.' This, pro- bably, means that they were unable to fumish such undeniable legal proof as was required in such cases. And this is in some degree explained by the subsequent (v. 63) mention of priests who were expelled the priesthood because their descent was not found to be genealogically re- gistered. These instances show the importance which was attached to their genealogies by the Jews [GENEALOGY]. ADIABE'NE, the principal of the six pro- vinces into which Assyria was divided. Pliny and Ammianus comprehend the whole of Assyria under this name, which, however, properly de- noted only the province which was watered by the rivers Diab and Adiab, or the Great and Little Zab (Dhab), which flow into the Tigris be- low Nineveh (Mosul ), from the north-east. This region is not mentioned in Scripture ; but in Jo- sephus, its queen Helena and her son Izates, who became converts to Judaism, are very often named (Joseph. Anliq. xx. 2, 4 ; Bell. Jud. ii. 16, 19; v. 4, 6, 11). AD'IDA, a fortified town in the tribe of Judah. In 1 Mace. xii. 38, we read that Simon Macca- bscus set up ' Adida in Saphela, and made it strong with bolts and bars.' Eusebius says that Sephela was the name given in his time to the open country about Eleutheropolis. And this Adida in Sephela is probably the same which is mentioned in the next chapter (xiii. 13) as ' Adida over against the plain,' where Simon Maccabaeus encamped to dispute the entrance into Judaea of Tryphon, who had treacherously seized on Jonathan at Ptolemais. In the pa- rallel passage Josephus (Antiq. xiii. 6, 5) adds that this Adida was upon a hill, before which lay the plains of Judsca. One of the places which Josephus calls Adida (Bel]. Jud. iv. 9, 1) appears to have been near the Jordan, and was probably the Hadid of Ezra 55. 33. ADJURATION. This is a solemn act or appeal, whereby one man, usually a person vested with natural or official authority, imposes upon another the obligation of speaking or act- ing as if under' the solemnity of an oath. We have an example of this in the New Testament, when the high-priest thus calls upon Christ, ' I adjure thee by the living God, tell us ' &c. (Matt. xxvi. 63 ; see also Mark v. 7 ; Acts xix. 13 ; 1 Thes. v. 27). An oath, although thus im- posed upon one without his consent, was not only binding, but solemn in the highest degree ; and when connected with a question, an answer was compulsory, which answer being as upon oath, any falsehood in it would be perjury. Thus our Saviour, who had previously disdained to ADONIJAH reply to the charges brougnt against him, now felt himself bound to answer the question put to him. AD'MAH, one of the cities in the vale of Siddim (Gen. x. 19), which had a king of its own (Gen. xiv. 2). It was destroyed along with Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. xix. 24 ; Hos. xi. 8). ADONIBE'ZEK (lord of Bezek\ king or lord of Bezek, a town which Eusebius places 1 7 miles east of Neapolis or Shechem. The small extent of the kingdoms in and around Palestine at the time of its invasion by the Hebrews is shown by the fact that this petty king had subdued no less than seventy of them ; and the barbarity of the war-usages in those early times is painfully shown by his cutting off all the thumbs and great toes of his prisoners, and allowing them no food but that which they gathered under his table. These conquests made Adonibezek ' a triton among the minnows;' and we find him at the head of the confederated Canaanites and Periz- zites, against whom the tribes of Judah and Simeon marched after the death of Joshua. His army was routed and himself taken prisoner. The victors failed not to express their indigna- tion at the mode in which he had treated his captives, by dealing with him in the same manner. ADONPJAH (Jehovah [is] my Lord), the fourth son of David, by Haggith. He was born after his father became king, but when he reigned over Judah only (2 Sam. iii. 4). According to the Oriental notion developed in the article ABSALOM, Adonijah might have considered his claim superior to that of his eldest brother Amnon, who is supposed to have been born while his father was in a private station ; but not to that of Absalom, who was not only his elder brother, and born while his father was a Icing, but was of royal descent on the side of his mother. When, however, Amnon and Absalom were both dead, he became, by order of birth, the heir-apparent to the throne. But this order had been set aside in favour of Solomon, who was born while his father was king of all Israel. Absalom perished in attempting to assert his claim of primogeniture, in opposition to this ar- rangement. Unawed by this example, Adonijah assumed the state of an heir-apparent, who, from the advanced age of David, must soon be king. But it does not appear to have been his wish to trouble his father as Absalom had done ; for he waited tiU David appeared at the point of death, when he called around him a number of influ- ential men, whom he had previously gained over, and caused himself to be proclaimed king. This was a formidable attempt to subvert the appoint- ment made by the Divine king of Israel; for Adonijah was supported by such men as Joab, the general-in-chief, and Abiathar, the high- priest ; both of whom had followed David in all his fortunes. - But his plot was, notwithstanding, defeated by the prompt measure taken by David, who directed Solomon to be at once proclaimed, and crowned, and admitted to the real exercise of the sovereign power. Adonijah then saw that all was lost, and fled to the altar, which he re- fused to leave without a promise of pardon from King Solomon. This he received, but was warned that any further attempt of the came kind would be fatal to him. Accordingly, when, some time ADONIZEDEK 33 after the death of David, Adonijah covertly en- deavoured to reproduce his claim through a marriage with Abishag, the virgin widow of his father [ABISHAG], his design was at once pene- trated by the king, by whose order he was in- stantly put to death (1 Kings i.-ii. 13-25). ADONl'R AM (lord of height, that is, high lord) (1 Kings iv. 6). This name is exhibited in the contracted form of ADORAM in 2 Sam. xx. 24 ; 1 Kings xii. 18; and of Hadoram in 2 Chron. x. 18. 1. ADONIRAM, or HADORAM, son of Toi, king of Hamath, who was sent by his father to congratulate David on his victory over their com- mon enemy Hadarezer, king of Syria (1 Chron. xviii. 10X This prince is called Joram in 2 Sam. viii. 10. 2. ADONIRAM. A person of this name is mentioned as receiver-general of the imposts in the reigns of David, Solomon, and Rehoboam. Only one incident is recorded in connection with this person. When the ten tribes seceded from the house of David, and made Jeroboam king, Rehoboam sent Adoniram among them, for the purpose, we may presume, of collecting the usual imposts, which had become very heavy. Per- haps he had been rigid in his invidious office under Solomon : at all events the collector of the imposts which had occasioned the revolt was not the person whose presence was the most likely to soothe the exasperated passions of the people. They rose upon him, and stoned him till he died (1 Kings xii. 18). ADONIZE'DEK. The name denotes lord of justice, i. e. just lord, but some would rather have it to mean king of Zedek. He was the Canaanitish king of Jerusalem when the Israelites invaded Palestine; and the similarity of the name to that of a more ancient king of (as is supposed) the same place, Melchi-zedek (king of justice, or king of Zedek), has suggested that Zedek was one of the ancient names of Jerusa- lem. Be that as it may, this Adonizedek was the first of the native princes that attempted to make head against the invaders. After Jericho and Ai were taken, and the Gibeonites had suc- ceeded in forming a treaty with the Israelites, Adonizedek was the first to rouse himself from the stupor which had fallen on the Canaanites (Josh. x. 1, 3), and he induced the other Amo- ritish kings of Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon, to join him in a confederacy against the enemy. They did not, however, march directly against the invaders, but went and besieged the Gibeonites, to punish them for the discouraging example which their secession from the common cause had afforded. Joshua no sooner heard of this than he marched all night from Gilgal to the relief of his allies; and falling unexpectedly upon the besiegers, soon put them to utter rout. The pursuit was long, and was signalized by Joshua's famous command to the sun and moon, as well as by a tremendous hail-storm, which greatly distressed the fugitive Amorites [JOSHUA]. The five kings took refuge in a cave ; but were observed, and by Joshua's order the mouth of it was closed with large stones, and a guard set over it, until the pursuit was over. When the pursuers returned, the cave was opened, and the five kings brought out. The Hebrew chiefs then set their feet upon the necks of the prostrate 34 ADOPTION monarchs an ancient mark of triumph, of which the monuments of Persia and Egypt still afford illustrations. They were then slain, and their bodies hanged on trees until the evening, when, as the law forbade a longer exposure of the dead (Deut. xxi. 23), they were taken down, and cast into the cave, the month of which was filled up with large stones, which remained long after (Josh. x. 1-27). The severe treatment of these kings by Joshua has been censured and defended with equal disregard of the real circumstances, which are, that the war was avowedly one of ex- termination, no quarter being given or expected on either side : and that the war-usages of the Jews were neither worse nor better than those of the people with whom they fought, who would most certainly have treated Joshua and the other Hebrew chiefs in the same manner, had they fallen into their hands. ADOPTION. The Old Testament does not contain any word equivalent to this ; but the act occurs in various forms. The New Testament has the word often (Rom. viii. 15, 23; ix. 4; Gal. iv. 5 ; Eph. i. 5) ; but no example of the act occurs. The term signifies the placing as a son of one who is not so by birth. The practice of adoption had its origin in the desire for male offspring among those who have, in the ordinary course, been denied that blessing, or have been deprived of it by circumstances. This feeling is common to our nature ; but its operation is less marked in those countries where the equalizing influences of high civilization lessen the peculiar privileges of the paternal character, and where the security and the well- observed laws by which estates descend and pro- perty is transmitted,withdraw one of the principal inducements to the practice. And thus most of the instances in the Bible occur in the patriarchal period. The law of Moses, by settling the rela- tions of families and the rules of descent, and by formally establishing the Levirate law, which in some sort secured a representative posterity even to a man who died without children, appears to have put some check upon this custom. The allusions in the New Testament are mostly to practices of adoption which then existed among the Greeks and Romans, and rather to the latter than to the former ; for among the more highly civilized Greeks adoption was less frequent than among the Romans. In the East the practice has always been common, especially among the Semitic races, in whom the love of offspring has at all times been strongly manifested. It is scarcely necessary to say that adoption was confined to sons. The whole Bible history affords no example of the adoption of a female. The first instances of adoption which occur in Scripture are less the acts of men than of women, who, being themselves barren, gave their female slaves to their husbands, with the view of adopt- ing the children they might bear. Thus Sarah gave her handmaid Hagar to Abraham ; and the son that was born, Ishmael, appears to have been considered as her son as well as Abraham's, until Isaac was born. In like manner Rachel, having no children, gave her handmaid Bilhah to her husband, who had by her Dan and Naph- tali (Gen. xxx. 5-9) ; on which his other wife, Leah, although she had sons of her own, yet fearing that she had left off bearing, claimed the ADOPTION right of giving her handmaid Zilpah U. Jacob, that she might thus increase their number ; and by this means she had Gad and Asher (Gen. xxx. 9-13). In this way the greatest possible approximation to a natural relation was pro- duced. The child was the son of the husband, and, the mother being the property of the wife-, the progeny must be her property also ; and the act of more particular appropriation seems to have been that, at the time of birth, the hand- maid brought forth her child ' upon the knees of the adoptive mother ' (Gen. xxx. 3). A curious fact is elicited by the peculiar circumstances in Sarah's case, which were almost the only circum- stances that could have arisen to try the ques- tion, whether a mistress retained her power, as such, over a female slave whom she had thus vicariously employed, and over the progeny of that slave, even though by her own husband. The answer is given, rather startlingly, in the affirmative in the words of Sarah, who, when the birth of Isaac had wholly changed her feelings and position, and when she was exasperated by the offensive conduct of Hagar and her son, ad- dressed her husband *.hus, ' Cast forth this bond- woman and her son; for the son of this bond- woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac' (Gen. xxi. 10). A previous instance of adoption in the history of Abraham, when as yet he had no children, appears to be discoverable in his saying, ' One born in my house is mine heir.' This unques- tionably denotes a house-born slave, as distin- guished from one bought with money. Abraham had several such ; and the one to whom he is supposed here to refer is his faithful and devoted steward Eliezer. This, therefore, is a case in which a slave was adopted as a son a practice still very common in the East. A boy is often purchased young, adopted by his master, brought up in his faith, and educated as his son; or if the owner has a daughter, he adopts him through a marriage with that daughter, and the family which springs from this union is counted as descended from him. But liouse-born slaves are usually preferred, as these have never had anv home but their master's house, are considered members of his family, and are generally the most faithful of his adherents. This practice of slave adoption was very' common among the Romans ; and, as such, is more than once re- ferred to by St. Paul (Rom. viii. 15; Gal. iv. 5-6), the transition from the condition of a slave to that of a son, and the privilege of applying the tender name of ' Father ' to the former ' Master,' affording a beautiful illustration of the change which takes place from the bondage of the law to the freedom and privileges of the Christian state. As in most cases the adopted son was to be considered dead to the family from which he sprung, the separation of natural ties and con- nections was avoided by this preference of slaves, who were mostly foreigners or of foreign descent. For the same reason the Chinese make their adoptions from children in the hospitals, who have been abandoned by their parents. The Tartars are the only people we know who pre- fer to adopt their near relatives nephews or cousins, or, failing them, a Tartar of their own banner. The only Scriptural example of this ADOKATION kind is that, iii which Jacob adopted his own grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh to be counted as his sons (Gen. xlviii. 6). The object of this remarkable adoption was, that whereas Joseph himself could only have one share of his father's heritage along with his brothers, the adoption of his two sons enabled Jacob, through them, to bestow two portions upon his favourite son. The adoption of Moses by Pharaoh's daughter (Exod. ii. 1-10) is an incident rather than a prac- tice ; but it recalls what has just been stated re- specting the adoption of outcast children by the Chinese. In 1 Chron. ii. 34, &c., there is an instance recorded of a daughter being married to a free slave, and the children being counted as those of the woman's father. The same chapter gives another instance. Machir (grandson of Joseph) gives his daughter in marriage to Hezron, of the tribe of Judah. She gave birth to Segub, who was the father of Jair. Jair pos- sessed twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead, which came to him in right of his grandmother, the daughter of Machir ; and he acquired other towns in the same quarter, which made up his possessions to three-score towns or villages (1 Chron. ii. 21-24; Josh. xiii. 30; 1 Kings iv. 13). Now this Jair, though of the tribe of Judah by his grandfather, is, in Num. xxxii. 41, counted as of Manasseh, for the obvious reason which the comparison of these texts suggests, that, through his grandmother, he inherited the property, and was the lineal representative of Machir, the son of Manasseh. ADOKA'IM, a town in the south of Judah, enumerated along with Hebron and Mareshah, as one of the cities fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 9). This town does not occur in any writer after Josephus, until the recent researches of Dr. Robinson, who discovered it under the name of Dura, the first feeble letter having been dropped. It is situated five miles W. by S. from Hebron, and is a large village, seated on the eastern slope of a cultivated hill, with olive- groves and fields of grain all around. There are no ruins. ADORATION. This word is compounded of ad ' to,' and os, oris, ' the mouth," and literally signifies to apply the hand to the mouth,' that is, ' to kiss the hand.' The act is described in Scripture as one of worship (Job xxxi. 26, 27). And this very clearly intimates that kissing the hand was considered an overt act of worship in the East ADULLAM 35 The same act was used as a mark of respect in the presence of kings and persons high in office or station. Or rather, pevhaps, the hand was not merely kissed and then withdrawn from the mouth, but held continuously before or upon the mouth, to which allusion is made in such texts as Judg. xviii. 19; Job xxi. 5; xxix. 9; xl. 4; Ps. xxxix. 9. In one of the sculptures at Persepolis a king is seated on his throne, and before him a person standing in a bent posture, with his hand laid upon his mouth as he ad- dresses the sovereign (fig. 1). Exactly the same attitude is observed in the sculptures at Thebes, where one person, among several (in various pos- tures of respect) who appear before the scribes to be registered, has his hand placed thus sub- missively upon his mouth (fig. 2). ADRAM'MELECH is mentioned, together with Anammelech, in 2 Kings xvii. 31, as one of the idols whose worship the inhabitants of Sepharvaim established in Samaria, when they were transferred thither by the king of Assyria, and whom they worshipped by the sacrifice of their children by fire. This constitutes the whole of our certain knowledge of this idol. 2. ADRAMMELECH, one of the sons and murderers of Sennacherib, king of Assyria (2. Kings xix. 37 ; Isa. xxxvii. 38). ApRAMYTTIUM, a sea-port town in the province of Mysia in Asia Minor, opposite the isle of Lesbos, and an Athenian colony. It is mentioned in Scripture only, from the fact that the ship in which Paul embarked at Caesarea as a prisoner on his way to Italy, belonged to Adra-- myttium (Acts xxvii. 2). It was rare to find a vessel going direct from Palestine to Italy. The usual course, therefore, was to embark in some ship bound to one of the ports of Asia Minor, and there go on board a vessel sailing for Italy. This was the course taken by the centurion who had charge of Paul. The ship of Adramyttium took them to Myra in Lycia, and here they em- barked in an Alexandrian vessel bound for Italy. Adramyttium is still called Adramyt. It is built on a hill, contains about 1000 houses, and is still a place of some commerce. ADRIATIC SEA (Acts xxvii. 27). This name is now confined to the gulf lying between Italy on one side, and the coasts of Dalmatia and Albania on the other. But in St. Paul's time it extended to all that part of the Mediterranean between Crete and Sicily. This fact is of im- portance, as relieving us from the necessity of finding the island of Melita on which Paul was shipwrecked, in the present Adriatic gulf; and consequently removing the chief difficulty in the way of the identification of that island with the present Malta. A'DRIEL (the flock of God}, the person to whom Saul gave in marriage his; daughter Merab, who had been originally promised to David (1 Sam. xviii. 19). Five sons sprung from this union, who were taken to make up the number of Saul's descendants, whose lives, on the prin- ciple of blood-revenge, were required by the Gibeonites to avenge the cruelties which Saul had exercised towards their race [GIBEONITES]. ADUL'LAM, an old city (Gen. xxxviii. 1, 12, 20) in the plain country .of the tribe of Judah (Josh. xv. 35), and one of the royal cities of the Canaanites (Josh. xii. 15). It was one of the towns which Rehoboam fortified (2 Chron. xi. 7 ; Micah i. 1 5), and is mentioned after the Cap- tivity (Neh. xi. 30; 2 Mace. 12, 38). It is evident that Adullam was one of the cities of ' the valley,' or plain between the hill country J>2 36 ADULTERY of Judah and the sea ; and from its place in the lists of names (especially 2 Chron. xi. 7), it appears not to have been far from the Philistine city of Gath. It is probable, however, that the 'cave of Adullam' (1 Sam. xxii. 1) was not in the vicinity of the city, where no such cave has been found, but in the mountainous wilderness in the west of Judah towards the Dead Sea. This conjecture is favoured by the fact that the usual haunts of David were in this quarter; whence he moved into the land of Moab, which was quite contiguous, whereas he must have crossed the whole breadth of the land, if the cave of Adullam had been near the city of that name. The particular cave, usually pointed out as ' the cave of Adullam,' is about six miles south-west of Bethlehem, in the side of a deep ravine which passes below the Frank's mountain on the south. It is an immense natural cavern, with numerous passages, the mouth of which can be approached only on foot along the side of the cliff. It seems probable that David, as a native of Bethlehem, must have been well ac- quainted with this remarkable spot, and had pro- bably often availed himself of its shelter when out with his father's flocks. It would therefore naturally occur to him as a place of refuge when he fled from Gath ; and his purpose of forming a band of followers was mucn more likely to be realized here, in the neighbourhood of his native place, than in the westward plain, where the city of Adullam lay. ADULTERY. In the common acceptation of the word, adultery denotes the sexual inter- course of a married woman with any other man than her husband, or of a married man with any other woman than his wife. But the crime is not understood in this extent among Eastern nations, nor was it so understood by the Jews. With them, adultery was the act whereby any married man was exposed to the risk of having a spurious offspring imposed upon him. An adulterer was, therefore, any man who had illicit intercourse with a married or betrothed woman ; and an adulteress was a betrothed or married woman who had intercourse with any other man than her husband. An intercourse between a married man and an unmarried woman was not, as with us, deemed adultery, but fornication ; a great sin, but not, like adultery, involving the contingency of polluting a descent, of turning aside an inheritance, or of imposing upon a man a charge which did not belong to him. Adultery was thus considered a great social wrong, against which society protected itself by much severer penalties than attended an unchaste act not in- volving the same contingencies. It will be seen that this Oriental limitation of adultery is intimately connected with the exist- ence of polygamy. If adultery be defined as a breach of the marriage covenant, then, where the contract is between one man and one woman, as in Christian countries, the man as much as the woman infringes the covenant, or commits adul- tery, by every act of intercourse with any other woman : but where polygamy is allowed, where the husband may marry other wives, and take to himself concubines and slaves, the marriage contract cannot and does not convey to the woman a legal title that the man should belong to her alone. If, therefore, a Jew associated ADULTERY, TRIAL OF with a woman who was not his wife, his concu- bine, or his slave, he was guilty of nnchastity, but committed no offence which gave a wife reason to complain that her legal rights had been infringed. If, however, the woman with whom he associated was the wife of another, he was guilty of adultery, not by infringing his own marriage covenant, but by causing a breach of that which existed between that woman and her husband. By thus excluding from the r.ame and punishment of adultery the oiFence which did not involve the enormous wrong of imposing upon a man a supposititious offspring, in a nation where the succession to landed property went entirely by birth, so that a father could not by his testament alienate it from any one who was regarded as his son the law was enabled, with less severity than if the inferior offence had been included, to punish the crime with death. It is still so punished wherever the practice of po- lygamy has similarly operated in limiting the crime not, perhaps, that the law expressly as- signs that punishment, but it recognises the right of the injured party to inflict it, and, in fact, leaves it, in a great degree, in his hands. Now death was the punishment of adultery before the time of Moses ; and if he had assigned a less punishment, his law would have been inoperative, for private vengeance, sanctioned by usage, would still have inflicted death. But by adopting it into the law, those restrictions were imposed upon its operation which necessarily arise when the calm inquiry of public justice is substituted for the impulsive action of excited hands. Thus, death would be less frequently inflicted ; and that this effect followed seems to be implied in the fact that the whole biblical history offers no example of capital punishment for the crime. Eventually, divorce superseded all other punish- ment. It seems that the Roman law made the same important distinction with the Hebrew, between the infidelity of the husband and of the wife. ' Adultery ' was defined by the civilians to be the violation of another man's bed, so that the in- fidelity of the husband to his own wife could not alone constitute the offence. It is understood that the crime was punished among the Assyrians and Chaldeans by cutting off the nose and the ears ; and this brings to mind the passage in which the prophet Ezekiel (xxiii. 25), after, in the name of the Lord, re- proving Israel and Judah for their adulteries (i.e. idolatries) with the Assyrians and Chal- deans, threatens the punishment, ' they shall take away thy nose and thy ears.' One or both of these mutilations, most generally that of the nose, were also inflicted by other nations, as the Persians and Egyptians, and even the Romans ; but we suspect that among the former, as with the latter, it was less a judicial punishment than a summary infliction by the aggrieved party. It would also seem that these mutilations were more usually inflicted on the male than the female adulterer. In Egypt, however, cutting off the nose was the female punishment, and the man was beaten terribly with rods. The respect with which the conjugal union was treated in that country in the earliest times is manifested in the history of Abraham (Gen. xii. 19). ADULTERY, TRIAL OF. It would be ADULTERY, TRIAL OF unjust to the spirit of the Mosaical legislation to suppose that the trial of the suspected wife by the bitter water, called the Water of Jeal- ousy, was by it first produced. It is to be re- garded as an attempt to mitigate the evils of, and to bring under legal control, an old custom which could not be entirely abrogated. The original usage, which it was designed to mitigate, was probably of the kind which we still find in Western Africa, where, when a party is accused of murder, adultery, or witchcraft, if he denies the crime, he is required to drink the red water, and on refusing is deemed guilty of the offence. But in Africa the drink is highly poisonous in itself, and, if rightly prepared, the only chance of escape is the rejection of it by the stomach, whereas, among the Hebrews, the ' water of jealousy,' however unpleasant, was prepared in a prescribed manner with ingre- dients known to all to be perfectly innocent. It could not therefore injure the innocent, and its action upon the guilty must have resulted, not from the effects of the drink itself, but from the consciousness of having committed a horrible perjury. As regulated, then, by the law of Moses, the trial for suspected adultery by the bitter water amounted to this, that a woman suspected of adultery by her husband was allowed to repel the charge by a public oath of purgation, which oath was designedly made so solemn in itself, and was attended by such awful circum- stances, that it was in the highest degree unlikely that it would be dared by any woman not sup- ported by the consciousness of innocence. And the fact that no instance of the actual appli- cation of the ordeal occurs in Scripture, affords some countenance to the assertion of the Jewish writers, that the trial was so much dreaded by the women, that those who were really guilty generally avoided it by confession ; and that thus the trial itself early fell into disuse. And if, as we have supposed, this mode of trial was only tolerated by Moses, the ultimate neglect of it must have been desired and intended by him. In later times, indeed, it was disputed in the Jewish schools, whether the husband was bound to prosecute his wife to this extremity, or whether it was not lawful for him to connive at and pardon her act, if he were so inclined. There were some who held that he was bound by his duty to prosecute, while others maintained that it was left to his pleasure. From the same source we learn that this form of trial was finally abrogated about forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem. The reason assigned is, that the men themselves were at that time generally adulterous ; and that God would not fulfil the imprecations of the ordeal oath upon the wife while the husband was guilty of the same crime (John viii. 1-8). ADULTERY, in the symbolical language of the Old Testament, means idolatry and apostacy from the worship of the true God (Jer. iii. 8, 9 ; Ezek. xvi. 32 ; xxiii. 37 ; also Rev. ii. 22). Hence an Adulteress meant an apostate church or city, par- ticularly 'the daughter of Jerusalem,' or the Jewish church and people (Isa. i. 21 ; Jer. iii. 6, 8, 9 ; Ezek. xvi. 22 ; xxiii. 7). This figure re- sulted from the primary one, which describes the connection between God and his separated people as a marriage between him and them. .EGYPT 37 By an application of the same figure, ' An adul- terous generation' (Matt. xii. 39 ; xvi. 4 ; Mark vii. 38) means a faithless and impious genera- tion. ADUM'MIM, a place which is only twice named in Scripture. Once (Josh. xv. 7), where, from the context, it seems to indicate the border between Judah and Benjamin, and that it was an ascending road between Gilgal (and also Jericho) and Jerusalem. The second notice (Josh, xviii. 17) adds no further information, but repeats ' the ascent to Adummim.' Most com- mentators take the name to mean the place of blood, and follow Jerome, who finds the place in the dangerous or mountainous part of the road between Jerusalem and Jericho, and supposes that it was so called from the frequent effusion of blood by the robbers, by whom it was much infested. These are curious interpretations of the original word, which merely denotes the redness of the soil or rock. However, as a diffi- cult pass in a desolate rocky region, between important cities, the part of the road indicated by Jerome, and all after him, was as likely to be infested by robbers in earlier times as in those of Jerome and at the present day. Indeed, the character of the road was so notorious, that Christ lays the scene of the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke x.) upon it; and Jerome in- forms us that Adummim or Adommim was be- lieved to be the place where the traveller (taken as a real person) ' fell among thieves.' He adds that a fort and garrison was maintained here for the safeguard of travellers. The travellers of the present century mention the spot and neigh- bourhood nearly in the same terms as those of older date. They all represent the road as still infested by robbers, from whom some of them have not escaped without danger. The place thus indicated is about eight miles from Jerusa- lem, and four from Jericho. ADVOCATE, one who pleads the cause of another; also one who exhorts, defends, com- forts, prays for another. It is an appellation given to the Holy Spirit by Christ (John xiv. 16 ; xv. 26 ; xvi. 7), and to Christ himself by an apostle (1 John ii. 1 ; see also Rom. viii. 34 ; Heb. vii. 25). In the forensic sense, advocates or pleaders were not known to the Jews until they came under the dominion of the Romans, and were obliged to transact their law affairs after the Roman manner. Being then little conversant with the Roman laws, and with the forms of the jurists, it was necessary for them, in pleading a cause before the Roman magistrates, to obtain the assistance of a Roman lawyer or advocate, who was well versed in the Greek and Latin languages. In all the Roman provinces such men were found, who devoted their time and labour to the pleading of causes and the trans- acting of other legal business in the provincial courts. It also appears that many Roman youths who had devoted themselves to forensic business used to repair to the provinces with the consuls and praetors, in order, by managing the causes of the provincials, to fit themselves for more im- portant ones at Rome. Such an advocate was Tertullus, whom the Jews employed to accuse Paul before Felix (Acts xxiv. 1) [ACCUSER]. jE'GYPT. [EGYPT.] 3fi AFFINITY ^E'NON, fountain; the name of a place near Salem, where John baptized (John iii. 23) ; the reason given, 'because there was much water there,' would suggest that he baptized at the springs from which the place took its name. jETHIO'PIA. [ETHIOPIA.] AFFINITY is relationship by marriage, as distinguished from consanguinity, which is rela- tionship by blood. Marriages between persons thus related, in various degrees, were forbidden by the law of Moses, which previous usage, in different conditions of society, had allowed. These degrees are enumerated in Lev. xviii. 7, sq. The examples before the law are those of Cain and Abel, who, as the necessity of the case required, married their own sisters. Abraham married Sarah, the daughter of his father by another wife, or else, as some suppose, the daughter of his elder brother by a former wife of his father. Jacob also married the two sisters Leah and Rachel. In the first instance, and even in the second, there was an obvious consan- guinity, and only the last offered a previous re- lationship of affinity merely. So also, in the prohibition of the law, a consanguinity can be traced in what are usually set down as degrees of affinity merely. The degrees of real affinity interdicted are, that a man shall not (nor a woman in the corresponding relations) marry his 1. Father's widow (not his own mother); 2. The daughter of his father's wife by another husband ; 3. The widow of his paternal uncle ; 4. Nor his brother's widow if he has left chil- dren by her ; but, if not, he was bound to marry her to raise up childrefi to his deceased brother. The other prohibitions are connected with the condition of polygamy, and they prohibited a man from having 1. a mother and her daugh- ter for wives at the same time; 2. or two sisters for wives at the same time. These pro- hibitions, although founded in Oriental notions, adapted to a particular condition of society, and connected with the peculiarities of the Levitical marriage law, have been imported wholesale into our canon law. The fitness of this is doubted by many : but as, apart from any moral ques- tions, the prohibited marriages are such as few would, in the present condition of European society, desire to contract, and such as would be deemed repugnant to good taste and correct manners, there is little real matter of regret in this adoption of the Levitical law. Indeed, the objections to this adoption have rested chiefly upon one point ; and that happens to be a point in which the law itself appears to have been egregiously misunderstood. This is in the in- junction which, under permitted polygamy, for- bade a man to have two sisters at once ; an in- junction which has been construed, under the Christian law, which allows but one wife, to apply equally to the case of a man marrying the sister of a deceased wife. The law itself is, however, so plain, that it is difficult to conceive how its true object concerning which nearly all commentators are agreed could have been thus interpreted. It is rendered in our version, ' Neither shalt tliou take a wife to her sister, to vex her (or rather, perhaps, to rival her), to un- cover her nakedness, beside the other in her life- time.' And the design seems evidently to be to prevent the occurrence of such unseemly jea- . AGABUS lousies and contentions between sister-wives as embittered the life of Jacob the father of the twelve tribes. The more recondite sense has been extracted, with rather ungentle violence to the principles of Hebrew construction, by making ' vex her ' the antecedent of ' in her lifetime,' instead of ' take her sister to her, in her lifetime.' And it is explained, under this view, that the married sister should not be ' vexed ' in her life- time by the prospect that her sister might suc- ceed her. It may be safely said that such an idea would never have occurred in the East, where unmarried sisters are far more rarely than in Europe brought into such acquaintance with the husband of the married sister as to give occasion for such ' vexation ' or ' rivalry ' as this. This view of the matter, though completely ex- ploded among real biblical critics, is perhaps not calculated to do much harm, except under pecu- liar circumstances, and except as it may prove a snare to some sincere but weak consciences. AFFIRMATIVES. Among the Jews the for- mula of assent or affirmation was thou hast said. or thou hast rightly said. It is stated by Aryda and others that this is the prevailing mode ia which a person expresses his assent, at this day, in Lebanon, especially when he does not wisk to assert anything in express terms. This ex- plains the answer of our Saviour to the high- priest Caiaphas (Matt. xxvi. 64), when he was asked whether he was the Christ, the son of God, and replied, than hast said (see also Matt. xxvi. 25). All readers of even translations are fa- miliar with a frequent elegancy of the Scrip- tures, or rather of the Hebrew language, in using an affirmative and negative together, by which the sense is rendered more emphatic : sometimes the negative first, as Ps. cxviii. 17, ' I shall not die, but live,' &c. ; sometimes the ne- gative first, as Isa. xxxviii. 1, ' Thou shalt die, and not live.' In John i. 20, there is a remark- able instance of emphasis produced by a nega- tive being placed between two affirmatives ' And he confessed, and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ.' AFRICA. This ' quarter of the world ' is not mentioned as such by any general name in Scripture, although some of its regions are indi- cated. It is thought by some, however, that Africa, or as much of it as was then known, is denoted by ' the land of Ham,' in several of the Psalms. But we are inclined to think that the context rather restricts this designation of Egypt. Whether Africa was really the land of Ham,' that is, was peopled by the descendants of Ham, is quite another question [HAM]. AG'ABUS, the name of ' a prophet,' supposed to have been one of the seventy disciples of Christ. He, with others, came from Judaea to Antioch, while Paul and Barnabas (A.D. 43) were there, and announced an approaching fa- mine, which actually occurred the following year. Some writers suppose that the famine was general ; but most modern commentators unite in understanding that the terms of the original apply not to the whole world, nor even to all the Roman empire, but, as in Luke ii. 1, to Judaa only, and that the reference is to that famine which, in the fourth year of Claudius, overspread Palestine. The poor Jews, in general, were then relieved by the Queen of Adiabene, who sent to AGE purchase corn in Egypt for them ; and for the relief of the Christians in that country contribu- tions were raised by the brethren at Antioch, and conveyed to Jerusalem by Paul and Bar- nabas (Acts xi. 27-30). Many years after, this same Agabus met Paul at Csesarea, and warned him of the sufferings which awaited him if he prosecuted his journey to Jerusalem. A'GAG, the name of two kings of the Aina- lekites, and perhaps a common name of all their kings, like Pharaoh in Egypt (comp. Num. xxiv. 7 ; 1 Sam. xv. 8, 9, 20, 32). The first of these passages would imply that the king of the Amalekites was, then at least, a greater monarch, and his people a greater people, than is com- monly imagined [AMALEKITES]. The latter re- ferences are to that king of the Amalekites who was spared by Saul, contrary to that solemn vow of devotement to destruction, whereby the nation, as such, had of old precluded itself from giving any quarter to that people (Exod. xvii. 14 ; Deut. xxv. 17-19). Hence, when Samuel arrived in the camp of Saul, he ordered Agag to be brought forth. He came ' pleasantly,' deeming secure the life which the king had spared. But the prophet ordered him to be cut in pieces ; and the expression which he employed 'As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women ' indicates that, apart from the obligations of the vow, some such ex- ample of retributive justice was intended as had been exercised in the case of Adonibezek ; or, in other words, that Agag had made himself infamous by the same treatment of some prisoners of distinc- tion (probably Israelites) as he now received from Samuel. The unusual mode in which his death was inflicted strongly supports this conclusion. AGAGITE, used as a Gentile name for Ama- lekite in Est. iii. 1, 10 ; viii. 3, 5. AGATE, a precious or rather ornamental stone, which was one of those in the breast-plate of the high-priest (Exod. xxviii. 19, xxxix. 12). This stone is popularly known in this country under the name of Scotch pebble. There are few countries in which agates of some quality or other are not produced. The finest are those of India ; they are plentiful, and sometimes fine, in Italy, Spain, and Germany ; but those found in this country are seldom good. Agate is one of the numerous modifications of form under which silica presents itself, almost in a state of purity, forming 98 per cent, of the entire mineral. The siliceous particles are not so arranged as to produce the transparency of rock crystal, but a semi-pellucid, sometimes al- most opaque substance, with a resinous or waxy fracture ; and various shades of colour are pro- duced by minute quantities of iron. The same stone sometimes contains parts of different de- grees of translucency, and of various shades of colour ; and the endless combinations of these produce the beautiful and singular internal forms, for which, together with the high polish they are capable of receiving, agates obtain their value as precious stones. The Scripture text shows the early use of this stone for engraving ; and several antique agates, engraved with ex- quisite beauty, are still preserved in the cabinets : of the curious. AGE. [CHRONOLOGY; GENERATION; LON- GEVITY.] AGONY 39 AGE, OLD. The strong desire of a pro- tracted life, and the marked respect with which aged persons were treated among the Jews, are very often indicated in the Scriptures. The most striking instance which Job can give of the respect in which he was once held, is that even old men stood up as he passed them in the streets (Job xxix. 8), the force of which is illustrated by the injunction in the law, ' Before the hoary head thou shalt stand up, and shalt reverence the aged' (Lev. xix. 32). Similar injunctions are repeated in the Apocrypha, so as to show the deportment expected from young men towards their seniors in company. Thus, in describing a feast, the author of Ecclesiasticus (xxxii. 3, 7) says, ' Speak thou that art the elder, for it be- cometh thee. Speak, young man, if there be need of thee, and yet scarcely, when thou art twice asked.' Thus the attainment of old age is constantly promised or described as a blessing (Gen. xv. 15; Job v. 26), and communities as highly fa- voured in which old people abound (Isa. Ixv. 20; Zech. viii. 4), while premature death is the greatest of calamities upon individuals, and to the families to which they belong (1 Sam. ii. 32) ; the aged are constantly supposed to excel in understanding and judgment (Job. xii. 20 ; xv. 10 ; xxxii. 9 ; 1 Kings xii. 6, 8), and the mercilessness of the Chaldeans is expressed by their having ' no compassion ' upon the ' old man, or him who stooped for age ' (2 Chron. xxxvi. 17). The strong desire to attain old age was neces- sarily in some degree connected with or re- sembled the respect paid to aged persons ; for people would scarcely desire to be old, were the aged neglected or regarded with mere suffer- ance. Attention to age was very general in ancient times ; and is still observed in all such conditions of society as those through which the Israelites passed. Among the Egyptians, the young men rose before the aged, and always yielded to them the first place. The youth of Sparta did the same, and were silent or, as the Hebrews would say, laid their hand upon their mouth when- ever their elders spoke. At Athens, and in other Greek states, old men were treated with corresponding respect. In China the deference for the aged, and the honours and distinctions awarded to them, form a capital point in the go- vernment, and among the Moslems of Western Asia, whose usages offer so many analogies to those of the Hebrews, the same regard for se- niority is strongly shown. Among the Arabs it is very seldom that a youth can be permitted to eat with men. With the Turks, age, even be- tween brothers, is the object of marked de- ference. AGONY, a word directly meaning contest, and especially the contests by wrestling, &c. in the public games ; whence it is applied meta- phorically to a severe struggle or conflict with pain and suffering. Agony is the actual struggle with present evil, and is thus distinguished from anguish, which arises from the reflection on evil that is past. In the New Testament the word is only used by Luke (xx. 44), and is employed by him with terrible significance to describe the fearful struggle which our Lord sustained in the 40 AGONY garden of Gethsemane. The circumstances of this mysterious transaction are recorded in Matt, xxvi. 36-46 ; Mark xiv. 32-42 ; Luke xx. 39-48 ; Heb. v. 7, 8. None of these passages, taken sepa- rately, contains a full history of our Saviour's agony. Each of the three Evangelists has omitted some things which the others have recorded, and all are very brief. The passage in Hebrews is only an incidental notice. The three Evangelists ap- pear to have had the same design, namely, to con- vey to their readers an idea of the intensity of the Lord's distress ; but they compass it in different ways. Luke alone notices the agony, the bloody sweat, and the appearance of an angel from heaven strengthening him. Matthew and Mark alone record the change which appeared in his countenance and manner, the complaint which he uttered of the overpowering sorrows of his soul, and the repetition of the same prayer. All agree that he prayed for the removal of what he called ' this cup,' and are careful to note that he qualified this earnest petition by a preference of his Father's will to his own. With regard to the cause of his overwhelming distress, Jesus himself points it out in the prayer, ' If it be possible, let this cup pass from me ;' the cup which his Father had appointed for him ; and the question is, what does he mean by ' this cup." Doddridge and others think that he means the instant agony, the trouble that he then ac- tually endured. But this is satisfactorily an- swered by Dr. Mayer, who shows by reference to John xviii. 18, that the cup respecting which he prayed was one that was then before him, which he had not yet taken up to drink, and which he desired, if possible, that the Father should remove. It could, therefore, be no other than the scene of suffering upon which he was about to enter. It was the- death which the Fa- ther had appointed for him the death of the cross with all the attending circumstances which aggravated its horror ; that scene of woe which began with his arrest in the garden, and was consummated by his death on Calvary. Jesus had long been familiar with this prospect, and had looked to it as the appointed termina- tion of his ministry (Matt. xvi. 21 ; xvii. 9-12 ; xx. 17, 19, 28; Mark x. 32-34; John x. 18; xii. 32, 33). But when he looked forward to this destination, as the hour approached, a chill of horror sometimes came over him, and found expression in external signs of distress (John xii. 27 ; comp. Luke xii. 49, 50). It is manifest, therefore, that something more than the cross was now before him, and that he was now placed in a new and hitherto untried situation. Dr. Mayer says : ' I have no hesitation in believing that he was here put upon the trial of his obe- dience. It was the purpose of God to subject the obedience of Jesus to a severe ordeal, in order that, like gold tried in the furnace, it might be an act of more perfect and illustrious virtue ; and for this end he permitted him to be assailed by the fiercest temptation to disobey his will and to refuse the appointed cup. In pursuance of this purpose, the mind of Jesus was left to pass under a dark cloud, his views lost their clear- ness, the Father's will was shrouded in obscurity, the cross appeared in ten-fold horror, and nature was left, to indulge her feelings, and to put forth her reluctance.' AGRARIAN LAW Under another head [BLOODY SWEAT] will be found the considerations suggested by one of the remarkable circumstances of this event, AGRARIAN LAW. To this, or some such heading, belongs the consideration of the peculiar laws by which the distribution and tenure of land were regulated among the Hebrew people ; while the modes and forms in which the land was cultivated belong to AGRICULTURE. The Hebrews were for the most part a pastoral people until they were settled in Palestine, and their pastoral habits were mainly instrumental in keeping them distinct and separate from the Egyptians, who were agriculturists, and had a strong dislike to a shepherd life (Gen. xlvi. 34). But when they became an independent and so- vereign nation, the same result of separation from other nations was to be aided by inducing them to devote their chief attention to the culture of the soil. It was, doubtless, in siibservience to this object, and to facilitate the change, that the Israelites were put in possession of a country already in a state of high cultivation (Deut. vi. 11). And it was in order to retain them in this condition, to give them a vital interest in it, and to make it a source of happiness to them, that a very pe- culiar agrarian law was given to them. An equal distribution of the soil (Num. xxvi. 53-54) was the basis of the agrarian law. By it provi- sion was made for the support of 600,000 yeo- manry, with (according to different calculations) from sixteen to twenty-five acres of land each. This land they held independent of all temporal superiors, by direct tenure from Jehovah their sovereign, by whose power they were to acquire the territory, and under whose protection they were to enjoy and retain it. But this law was guarded by other provisions equally wise and salutary. The accumulation of debt was ) -re- vented, first, by prohibiting every Hebrew from accepting of interest (Lev. xxv. 35, 36) from any of his fellow-citizens ; next, by establishing a regular release of debts every seventh year ; ui.J, finally, by ordering that no lands could be alienated for ever, but must, on each year of Jubilee, or every seventh Sabbatic year, revert to the families which originally possessed them. Thus, without absolutely depriving individuals of all temporary dominion over their landed pro- perty, it re-established, every fiftieth year, that original and equal distribution of it, which was the foundation of the national polity ; and as the period of such reversion was fixed and regular, all parties had due notice of the terms on which they negotiated ; so that there was no ground for public commotion or private complaint. This law, by which landed property was re- leased in the year of Jubilee from all previous obligations, did not extend to houses in towns, which, if not redeemed within one year afte' being sold, were alienated for ever (Lev. xxv. 29, 30). This must have given to property in the country a decided preference over property in cities, and must have greatly contributed to the essential object of all those regulations, by afford- ing an inducement to every Hebrew to reside on ! and cultivate his land. Further, the original dis- tribution of the land was to the several tribes according to their families, so that each tribe j was, so to speak, settled in the same county, AGRICULTURE and each family in the same barony or hundred. Nor was the estate of any family in one tribe permitted to pass into another, even by the mar- riage of an heiress (Num. xxvii.) ; so that not only was the original balance of property pre- served, but the closest and dearest connections of affinity attached to each other the inhabitants of every vicinage. For this land a kind of quit-rent was payable to the sovereign proprietor, in the form of a tenth or tithe of the produce, which was assigned to the priesthood [TITHES]. The condition of mili- tary service was also attached to the land : as it appears that every freeholder (Deut. xx. 5) was obliged to attend at the general muster of the national army, and to serve in it, at his own ex- pense (often more than repaid by the plunder), as long as the occasion required. In this direc- tion, therefore, the agrarian law operated in se- curing a body of 600,000 men, inured to labour and industry, always assumed to be ready, as they were bound, to come forward at their coun- try's call. This great body of national yeomanry, every one of whom had an important stake in the national independence, was officered by its own hereditary chiefs, heads of tribes and families (comp. Exod. xviii. and Num. xxxi. 14); and must have presented an insuperable obstacle to treacherous ambition and political intrigue, and to every attempt to overthrow the Hebrew com- monwealth and establish despotic power. Nor were these institutions less wisely adapted to se- cure the state against foreign violence, and at the same time prevent offensive wars and re- mote conquests. For while this vast body of hardy yeomanry were always ready to defend their country, when assailed by foreign foes, yet, being constantly employed in agriculture, at- tached to domestic life, and enjoying at home the society of the numerous relatives who peopled their neighbourhood, war must have been in a high degree averse to their tastes and habits. Religion also took part in preventing them from being captivated by the splendour of military glory. On returning from battle, even if vic- torious, in order to bring them back to more peaceful feelings after the rage of war, the law required them to consider themselves as polluted by the slaughter, and unworthy of appearing in the camp of Jehovah until they had employed an entire day in the rites of purification (Num. xix. 13-16; xxxi. 19). Besides, the force was en- tirely infantry ; the law forbidding even the kings to multiply horses in their train (Deut. xvii. 16) ; and this, with the ordinance requiring the attendance of all the males three times every year at Jerusalem, proved the intention of the legislator to confine the natives within the limits of the Promised Land, and rendered long and distant wars and conquests impossible without the virtual renunciation of that religion which was incorporated with their whole civil polity, and which was, in fact, the charter by which they held their property and enjoyed all their rights. AGRICULTURE. The antiquity of agricul- ture is intimated in the brief history of Cain and Abel (Gen. iv. 2, 3). But of the actual state of agriculture before the deluge we know nothing. Whatever knowledge was possessed by the old world was doubtless transmitted to the new by Noah and his eons ; and that this knowledge was AGRICULTURE 41 considerable is implied in the fact that one of the operations of Noah, when he ' began to be a husbandman,' was to plant a vineyard, and to make wine with the fruit (Gen. ix. 20). There are few agricultural notices belonging to the patriarchal period, but they suffice to shew that the land of Canaan was in a state of cultivation, and that the inhabitants possessed what were at a later date the principal products of the soil in the same country. In giving to the Israelites possession of a country already under cultivation, it was the Divine intention that they should keep up that cultivation, and become thepiselves an agricultural people ; and in doing this they doubt- less adopted the practices of agriculture which they found already established in the country. As the condition of the seasons lies at the root of all agricultural operations, it should be noticed that the variations of sunshine and rain, which with us extend throughout the year, are in Pales- tine confined chiefly to the latter part of autumn and the winter. During all the rest of the year the sky is almost uninterruptedly cloudless, and rain very rarely falls. The autumnal rains usu- ally commence at the latter end of October or the beginning of November, not suddenly, but by degrees, which gives opportunity to the hus- bandman to sow his wheat and barley. The rains continue during November and December, but afterwards they occur at longer intervals ; and rain is rare after March, and almost never occurs as late as May. The cold of winter is not severe ; and as the ground is never frozen, the labours of the husbandman are not entirely in- terrupted. Snow falls in different parts of the country, but never lies long on the ground. In the plains and valleys the heat of summer is op- pressive, but not in the more elevated tracts. In such high grounds the nights are cool, often with heavy dew. The total absence of rain in sum- mer soon destroys the verdure of the fields, and gives to the general landscape, even in the high country, an aspect of drought and barrenness. No green thing remains but the foliage of the scattered fruit-trees, and occasional vineyards and fields of millet. In autumn the whole laud becomes dry and parched ; the cisterns are nearly empty ; and all nature, animate and inanimate, looks forward with longing for the return of the rainy season. In the hill country the time of harvest is later than in the plains of the Jordan and of the sea-coast. The barley harvest is about a fortnight earlier than that of wheat. In the plain of the Jordan the wheat harvest is early in May ; in the plains of the coast and of Esdraelon it is towards the latter end of that month ; and in the hills, not until June. The general vintage is in September, but the first grapes ripen in July ; and from that time the towns are well supplied with this fruit. SOIL, &c. The geological characters of the soil in Palestine have never been satisfactorily stated ; but the different epithets of description which travellers employ enable us to know tha it differs considerably, both in its appearance and character, in different parts of the land ; but wherever soil of any kind exists, even to a very slight depth, it is found to be highly ferule. As parts of Palestine are hilly, and hills have seldom much depth of soil, the mode of cultivating them in terraces was anciently, and is now, much em- 42 AGRICULTURE ployed. A series of low stone -walls, one above another, across the face of the hill, arrested the soil brought down by the rains, and afforded a series of levels for the operations of the husband- man. This mode of cultivation is usual in Le- banon, and is not unfrequent in Palestine, where the remains of terraces across the hills, in various parts of the country, attest the extent to which it was anciently carried. In such a climate as that of Palestine, water is the great fertilizing agent. The rains of au- tumn and winter, and the dews of spring, suffice for the ordinary objects of agriculture ; but the ancient inhabitants were able, in some parts, to avert even the aridity which the summer droughts occasioned, and to keep up a garden-like verdure, by means of aqueducts communicating with the brooks and rivers (Ps. i. 3; Ixv. 10 ; Prov. xxi. 1; Isa. xxx. 25; xxxii. 2, 20; Hos. xii. 11). Hence springs, fountains, and rivulets were as much esteemed by husbandmen as by shepherds (Josh. xv. 19 ; Judg. i. 15). The soil was also cleared of stones, and carefully cultivated ; and its fertility was increased by the ashes to which the dry stubble and herbage were occasionally reduced by burning over the surface of the ground (Prov. xxiv. 31; Isa. vii. 23; x. 17; xxxii. 13 ; xlvii. 14 ; Matt. iii. 12 ; Luke iii. 17). The dung, and, in the neighbourhood of Jeru- salem, the blood of animals, were also used to enrich the soil (2 Kings ix. 37 ; Ps. Ixxxiii. 10 ; Isa. xxv. 10 ; Jer. ix. 22 ; Luke xiv. 34, 35). That the soil might not be exhausted, it was ordered that every seventh year should be a sabbath of rest to the land. There was to be no sowing or reaping, no pruning of vines or olives, no vintage or gathering of fruits ; and whatever grew of itself was to be left to the poor, the stranger, and the beast of the field (Lev. xxv. 1-7). But such an observance required more faith than the Israelites were prepared to exer- cise. It was for a long time utterly neglected (Lev. xxvi. 34, 35; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21), but after the Captivity it was more observed. By this remarkable institution the Hebrews were also trained to habits of economy and foresight, and invited to exercise a large degree of trust in the bountiful providence of their Divine King. FIELDS. Syria, including Palestine, was re- garded by the ancients as one of the first coun- tries for corn. Wheat was abundant and ex- cellent ; and there is still one bearded sort, the ear of which is three times as heavy, and con- tains twice as many grains, as our common English wheat. Barley was also much culti- vated, not only for bread, but because it was the only kind of corn which was g iven to beasts ; for oats and rye do not grow in warm climates. Hay was not in use ; and therefore the barley was mixed with chopped straw to form the food of cattle (Gen. xxiv. 25, 32 ; Judg. xix. 19, &c.). Other objects of field culture were millet, spelt, various kinds of beans and peas, pepperwort, cummin, cucumbers, melons, flax, and, perhaps, cotton. Many other articles might be mentioned as being now cultivated in Palestine ; but, as their names do not occur in Scripture, we cannot with certainty know which of them were grown there in the ancient times. Anciently, as now, in Palestine and the East the arable lands were not divided by hedges into AGRICULTURE fields, as in this country. The ripening products therefore presented an expanse of culture un- broken, although perhaps variegated, in a large view, by the difference of the products grown. The boundaries of lands were therefore marked by stones as landmarks, which, even in pa- triarchal times, it was deemed a heinous wrong to remove (Job. xxiv. 2) ; and the law pro- nounced a curse upon those who, without au- thority, displaced them (Deut. xix. 14 ; xxvii. 17). The walls and hedges which are occa- sionally mentioned in Scripture belonged to orchards, gardens, and vineyards. 8. Modem Syrian Plough. AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS. Of late years much light has been thrown upon the agricul- tural operations and implements of ancient times, by the discovery of various representa- tions on the sculptured monuments and painted tombs of Egypt. As these agree surprisingly with the notices in the Bible, and, indeed, differ little from what is still employed in Syria and Egypt, it is very safe to receive the instruction which they offer. Ploughing. This has always been a light and superficial operation in the East. At first, the ground was opened with pointed sticks ; then, a kind of hoe was employed ; and this, in many parts of the world, is still the substitute for a plough. But the plough was known in Egypt and Syria before the Hebrews became cultivators (Job i. 14). In the East, however, it has always been a light and inartificial implement. At first, it was little more than a stout branch of a tree, from which projected another limb, shortened and pointed. This, being turned into the ground, made the furrows ; while at the farther end of the larger branch was fastened a transverse yoke, to which the oxen were harnessed. Afterwards a handle to guide the plough was added. Thus the plough consisted of 1. the pole ; 2. the point or share ; 3. the handle ; 4. the yoke. The Syrian plough is, and doubtless was, light enough for a man to carry in his hand. We annex a figure of the ancient Egyptian plough, which 9. Ancient Egyptian Plough. had the most resemblance to the one now used (as figured in No. 8), and the comparison be- tween them will probably suggest a fair idea oi the plough which was in use among the Hebrews. AGRICULTURE The following cut (from Sir Charles Fellows' work on Asia Minor) shows the parts of a still lighter plough used in Asia Minor and Syria, with but a single handle, and with different shares according to the work it has to execute. AGRICULTURE 43 3. Shares (various). 6. Ox-goad. The plough was drawn by oxen, which were sometimes impelled by a scourge (Isa. x. 26 ; Nahum iii. 2) ; but oftener by a long staff, fur- nished at one end with a flat piece of metal for clearing the plough, and. at the other with a spike for goading the oxen. This ox-goad might be easily used as a spear (Judg. iii. 31 ; 1 Sam. xiii. 21). Sometimes men followed the plough with hoes to break the clods (Isa. xxviii. 24) ; but in later times a kind of hammer was. em- ployed, which appears to have been then, as now, merely a thick block of wood, pressed down by a weight, or by a man sitting on it, and drawn orer the ploughed field. Sowing. The ground, having been ploughed as sooa as the autumnal rains had mollified the soil, was fit, by the end of October, to receive the seed ; and the sowing of wheat continued, in dif- ferent situations, through November into De- cember. Barley was not generally sown till January and February. The seed appears to have been sown and harrowed at the same time ; although sometimes it was ploughed in by a cross furrow. _ 11. Sowing. Ancient Egyptian. Ploughing in the Seed. The Egyptian paint- ings illustrate the Scriptures by showing that in those soils which needed no previous preparation 12. Ploughing and Sowing. Ancient Egyptian. by the hoe (for breaking the clods) the sower followed the plough, holding in the left hand a basket of seed, which he scattered with the right hand, while another person filled a fresh basket. We also see that the mode of sowing was what we call * broad-cast,' in which the seed is thrown loosely over the field (Matt. xiii. 3-8). In Egypt, when the levels were low, and the water had continued long upon the land, they often dis- pensed with the plough altogether ; and probably, like the present inhabitants, broke up the ground with hoes, or simply dragged the moist mud with bushes after the seed had been thrown upon the surface. To this cultivation without ploughing Moses probably alludes (Deut. xi. 10), when he tells the Hebrews that the land to which they were going was not like the land of Egypt, where they ' sowed their seed and watered it with their foot as a garden of herbs.' It does not seem that any instrument resembling our harrow was known ; the word rendered to harrow, in Job xxxix. 10, means literally to break the clods, and is so rendered in Isa. xxviii. 24 ; Hos. x. 11: and for this purpose the means used have been already indicated. The passage in Job is, how- ever, important. It shows that this breaking of clods was not always by hand, but that some kind of instrument was drawn by an animal over the ploughed field, most probably the rough log which is still in use. Harvest. It has been already indicated that the time of the wheat harvest in Palestine varies, in different situations, from early in May to late in June ; and that the barley harvest is about a fortnight earlier than that of wheat. Among the Israelites, as with all other people, the harvest was a season of joy, and as such is more than once alluded to in Scripture (Ps. xxvi. 5 ; Isa. ix. 3). Reaping. Different modes of reaping are in- dicated in Scripture, and illustrated by the Egyp- 13. Reaping. tian monuments. In the most ancient times, the 44 AGRICULTURE corn -was plu ked up by the roots, which con- tinued to be the practice with particular kinds of grain after the sickle was known. In Egypt, at this day, barley and dhurah (maize) are pulled up by " the roots. ' Wheat, as well as barley in general,' says Russell, ' does not grow half as high as in Britain ; and is therefore, like other grain, not reaped with the sickle, but plucked up by the roots with the hand. In other parts of the country, where the corn grows ranker, the sickle is used.' When the sickle was used, the wheat was either cropped off under the ear or cut close to the ground. In the former case, the straw was afterwards plucked up for use ; in the latter, the stubble was left and burnt on the ground for manure. As the Egyptians needed not such manure, and were economical of straw, they generally followed the former method ; while the Israelites, whose lands derived benefit from the burnt stubble, used the latter ; although the practice of cutting off the ears was also 14. Binding Sheaves. known to them (Job xxiv. 24). Cropping the ears short, the Egyptians did not generally bind them into sheaves, but removed them in baskets. Sometimes, however, they bound them into double sheaves ; and such as they plucked up were bound into single long sheaves. The Israelites appear generally to have made up their corn into sheaves (Gen. xxxvii. 7 ; Lev. xxiii. 10-15 ; Ruth ii. 7, 15; Job xxiv. 10; Jer. ix. 22; Mich. iv. 12), which were collected in*o a heap, or removed in a cart (Amos ii. 13) to the threshing-floor. The carts were probably similar to those which are still employed for the same purpose. With regard to the sickles, there appear to have been two kinds in use as among the Egyp- tians. The figures of these Egyptian sickles pro- bably mark the difference between them. One 15. Sickles. was very much like our common reaping-AooA, while the other had more resemblance in its shape to a scythe, and in the Egyptian examples appears to have been toothed. The reapers were the owners and their children, men-servants and women-servants, and day-labourers (Ruth ii. 4, AGRlCULTuKK 6, 21, 23 ; John iv. 36 ; James v. 4}.- Refresh- ments were provided for them, especially driuk, of which the gleaners were allowed to partake (Ruth ii. 9). So in the Egyptian harvest-scenes, we perceive a provision of water in skins, hung against trees, or in jars upon stands, with the reapers drinking, and gleaners applying to share the draught Among the Israelites, gleaning 16. Egyptian Harvest Scene. was one of the stated provisions for the poor : and for their benefit the corners of the field were left unreaped, and the reapers might not return for a forgotten sheaf. The gleaners were how- ever to obtain in the first place the express per- mission of the proprietor or his steward (Lev. xix. 9, 10 ; Deut. xxiv. 19 ; Ruth ii. 2, 7). 17. Tlueshing by Ottle. Threshing. The ancient mode of threshing, as described in Scripture and figured on the Egyptian monuments, is still preserved in Pa- lestine. Formerly the sheaves were conveyed from the field to the threshing-floor in carts ; but now they are borne, generally, on the backs of camels and asses. The threshing-floor is a level plot of ground, of a circular shape, gene- rally about fifty feet in diameter, prepare 5 for use by beating down the earth till a hard floor is formed (Gen. 1. 10; Judg. vi. 37; 2 Sam. xxiv. 16, 24). Sometimes several of these floors are contiguous to ach other. The sheaves are spread out upon them ; and the grain is trodden out by oxen, cows, and young cattle, arranged five abreast, and driven in a circle, or rather in all directions, over the floor. This was the common mode in the Bible times ; and Moses forbade that the oxen thus employed should be muzzled to prevent them from tastingthe corn (Deut. xxv. 4 ; Isa. xxviii. 28). flails, or sticks, were only used in threshing small quan- tities, or for the lighter kinds of grain (Ruth ii. 17 ; Isa. xxviii. 27"). There were, however, some kinds of threshing-machines, which are still used in Palestine and Egypt. One of them, represented in the annexed figure, is very much used in Palestine. It is composed of two thick planks, fastened together side by side, and bent upwards in front. Sharp fragments of stone are fixed into holes bored in the bottom. This ma- chine is drawn over the corn by oxen, a man 01 boy sometimes sitting on it to increase the weight. It not only separates the grain, but AGRICULTURE cnts the straw and makes it fit for fodder (2 Kings xiii. 7). This is, most probably, the 18. Syrian Corn-Drag. ' corn-drag,' which is mentioned in Scripture (Isa. xxviii. 27 ; xli. 15 ; Amos i. 3, rendered ' threshing instrument'), and would seem to have been sometimes furnished with iron points in- stead of stones. The Bible also notices a ma- chine called a Moreg (2 Sam. xxiv. 22 ; 1 Chron. xxi. 23 ; Isa. xli. 15), which is unquestionably the same which bears in Arabic the name of Noreg. This machine is not now often seen in Palestine ; but is more used in some parts of Syria, and is common in Egypt. It is a sort of 19. Threshing by the Noreg. frame of wood, in which are inserted three wooden rollers, armed with iron teeth, &c. It bears a sort of seat or chair, in which the driver sits to give the benefit of his weight. It is gene- rally drawn over the corn by two oxen, and separates the grain, and breaks up the straw even more eifectually than the drag. In all these processes, the corn is occasionally turned by a fork ; and, when sufficiently threshed, is thrown up by the same fork against the wind to separate the grain, which is then gathered up and winnowed. Winnowing. This was generally accom- plished by repeating the process of tossing up the grain against the wind with a fork (Jer. iv. 11, 12), by which the broken straw and chaff were dispersed, and the grain fell to the ground. 20. Winnowing. AHAB 45 The grain afterwards passed through a sieve to separate the bits of earth and other impurities. After this, it underwent a still further purifi- cation, by being tossed up with wooden scoops or short-handled shovels, such as we see in Egyptian paintings. AGRIP'PA [HERODIAN FAMILY]. Although of the two Herods, father and son, who also bore the name of Agrippa, the latter is best known by his Roman name, it seems best to include him with the other members of the Herodian dynasty, under the name which he bore among his own people. A'GUR, the author of the sayings contained in Prov. xxx., which the inscription describes as composed of the precepts delivered by { Agur, the son of Jakeh,' to his friends ' Ithiel and Ucal.' Beyond this everything that has been stated of him, and of the time in which he lived, is pure conjecture. iV'HAB (father's brother), son of Omri, and the sixth king of Israel, who reigned twenty-two years, beginning in B.C. 918 and ending in 8'J7. Ahab was, upon the whole, the weakest of all the Israelitish monarchs ; and although there are occasional traits of character which show that he was not without good feelings and dis- positions, the history of his reign shows that weakness of character in a king may sometimes be as injurious in its effects as wickedness. Many of the evils of his reign may be ascribed to the close connection which he formed with the Phoenicians. The wife of Ahab was Je- zebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, or Ithobaal, king of Tyre. She was a woman of a decided and energetic character, and, as such, soon esta- blished that influence over her husband which such women always acquire over weak, and not unfrequently also over strong, men. Ahab, being entirely under the control of Jezebel, sanc- tioned the introduction, and eventually esta- blished the worship of the Phoenician idols, and especially of the sun-god Baal. Hitherto the golden calves in Dan and Bethel had been the only objects of idolatrous worship in Israel, and they were intended as symbols of JEHOVAH. But all reserve and limitation were now aban- doned. The king built a temple at Samaria, and erected an image, and consecrated a grove to Baal. A multitude of the priests and pro- phets of Baal were maintained. Idolatry be- came the predominant religion; and Jehovah, with the golden calves as symbolical representa- tions of him, were viewed with no more reve- rence than Baal and his image. At length the judgment of God on Ahab and on his house was pronounced by Elijah, that, during the reign of his son, his whole race should be exterminated. Ahab died of the wounds which he received in a battle with the Syrians, according to a pre- diction of Micaiah, which the king disbelieved, but yet endeavoured to avert by disguising him- self in the action (1 Kings xvi. 29 ; xxii. 40). 2. AHAB and ZEDEKIAH. The names of two false prophets, who deceived the Israelites at Babylon. For this they were threatened by Je- remiah, who foretold that they should be put to death by the king of Babylon in the presence of those whom they had beguiled ; and that in fol- lowing times it should become a common male- diction to say, ' The Lord make thee like Ahat 46 AHASUERUS and Zedekiah, -whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire' (Jer. xxix. 21, 22). AHASUE'RUS, or ACHASHVEROSH, is the name, or rather the title, of four Median and Persian monarchs mentioned in the Bible. The first Ahasuerus is incidentally mentioned, in Dan. ix. 1, as the father of Darius the Mede. It is generally agreed that the person here re- ferred to is the Astyages of profane history. See the article DARIUS. The second Ahasuerus occurs in Ezra iv. 6, where it is said that in the beginning of his reign the enemies of the Jews wrote an accu- sation against them, the result of which is not mentioned. The Persian king here meant seems to be the immediate successor of Cyrus, the frantic tyrant Cambyses, who came to the throne B.C. 529, and died after a reign of seven years and five months. The third Ahasuerus is the Persian king of the book of Esther. The chief facts recorded of him there, and the dates of their occurrence, which are important in the subsequent inquiry, are these : In the third year of his reign he made a sumptuous banquet for all his nobility, and prolonged the feast for 180 days. Being on one occasion merry with wine, he ordered his queen Vashti to be brought out, to show the people her beauty. On her refusal to violate the decorum of her sex, he not only indignantly divorced her, but published an edict concerning her disobedience, in order to insure to every husband in his dominions the rule in his own house. In the seventh year of his reign he married Esther, a Jewess, who, however, con- cealed her parentage. In the twelfth year of his reign, his minister Haman, who had received some slights from Mordecai the Jew, offered him 10,000 talents of silver for the privilege of or- dering a massacre of the Jews in all parts of the empire on an appointed day. The king refused this immense sum, but acceded to his request ; and couriers were despatched to the most distant g'ovinces to enjoin the execution of this decree, efore it was accomplished, however, Mordecai and Esther obtained such an influence over him, that he so far annulled his recent enactment as to despatch other couriers to empower the Jews to defend themselves manfully against their enemies on that day ; the result of which was, that they slew 800 of his native subjects in Shushan, and 75,000 of them in the provinces. Although almost every Medo-Persian king, from Cyaxares I. down to Artaxerxes III. (Ochus), has in his turn found some champion to assert his title to be the Ahasuerus of Esther, some have contended on very plausible grounds that Darius Hystaspes is the monarch referred to. But in the first place, it is impossible to find the name of Darius in Achashverosh ; and, in the second, the moral evidence is against him. The mild and just character ascribed to Darius renders it highly improbable that, after favour- ing the Jews from the second to the sixth year of his reign, he should become a senseless tool in the hands of Haman, and consent to their extirpation. Lastly, we read of his marrying two daughters and a grand-daughter of Cyrus, and a daughter of Otanes and these only ; would Darius have repudiated one of these for such a trifle, when his peculiar position, as the AHASUERUS first king of his race, must have rendered such alliances indispensable ? The whole question, therefore, lies between Xerxes and his successor, Artaxerxes Longi- manus. As Artaxerxes allowed Ezra to go to Jerusalem with a colony of exiles in the seventh year of his reign (Ezra vii. 1-7) ; and as he issued a decree in terms so exceedingly favour- able to the religious as well as civil interests of the Jews (Ezra vii. 11-26), how could Haman, Jive years afterwards, venture to describe the Jews to him as a people whom, on the very account of their law, it was not for the king's profit to suffer ? And how could Haman so di- rectly propose their extermination, in the face of a decree so signally in their favour, and so recently issued by the same king ? especially as the laws of the Medes and Persians might not be altered ! Again, as Artaxerxes (assuming always that he is the Artachshast of Ezra vii. l, and not Xerxes) was capable of such liberality to the Jews in the seventh year of his reign, let us not forget that, if he is the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther, it was in that same year that he married the Jewess. Now, if by taking the first and tenth months in the seventh year of the king (the dates of the departure of Ezra, and of the marriage of Esther) to be the first and tenth months of the Hebrew year (as is the usual mode of notation), and not the first and tenth from the period of his accession we assume that the departure of Ezra took place after his marriage with her, his clemency might be the effect of her influence on his mind. Then we have to explain how he could be induced to consent to the extir- pation of the Jews in the twelfth year of his reign, notwithstanding that her influence still continued, for we find it evidently at work in the twelfth year. But if, on the other hand, his indulgence to Ezra was before his marriage, then we have even a greater difficulty to encounter. For then Artaxerxes must have acted from his own unbiassed lenity, and his purposed cruelty in the twelfth year would place him in an in- congruous opposition with himself. As we, moreover, find Artaxerxes again propitious to their interests, in the twentieth year of his reign when he allowed Nehemiah to return to Jeru- salem it is much easier to believe that he was also favourably disposed to them in the twelfth. At any rate, it would be allowing Esther a long time to exercise an influence on his disposition, if his clemency in the twentieth year was due to her, and not to his own inclination. Besides, the fact that neither Ezra nor Nehemiah gives the least hint that the liberal policy of Artaxerxes towards them was owing to the influence of their countrywoman, is an important negative point in the scale of probabilities. In this case also there is a serious difficulty in the name. As Artaxerxes is called Artachshast 'in Ezra and Nehemiah, we certainly might expect the author of the book of Esther to agree with them in the name of a king whom they all had had such occasion to know. Nor is it perhaps unim- portant to add, that Norberg rjserts, on the authority of native Persian historians, that the mother of Bahman, i. e. Artaxerxes Longimanus, was a Jewess. This statement would agree ex- cellently with the theory that Xerxes was Aha- suerus. Lastly, the joint testimony borne to his AHAZ clemency and magnanimity by the acts recorded of him in Ezra and Nehemiah, and by the ac- cordant voice of profane writers, prevents us from recognising Artaxerxes in the debauched, imbecile, and cruel tyrant of the book of Esther. On the ground of moral resemblance to that tyrant, however, every trait leads us to Xerxes. The king who scourged and fettered the sea ; who beheaded his engineers because the elements destroyed their bridge over the Hellespont ; who so ruthlessly slew the eldest son of Pythius be- cause his father besought him to leave him one sole support of his declining j r ears ; who dis- honoured the remains of the valiant Leonidas ; and who beguiled the shame of his defeat by such a course of sensuality, that he publicly offered a reward for the inventor of a new plea- sure is just the despot to divorce his queen be- cause she would not expose herself to the gaze of drunken revellers ; is just the despot to devote a whole people, his subjects, to an indiscriminate massacre ; and, by way of preventing that evil, to restore them the right of self-defence (which it is hard to conceive how the first edict ever could have taken away), and thus to sanction their slaughtering thousands of his other sub- jects. There are also remarkable coincidences of date between the history of Xerxes and that of Ahasuerus. In the third year of his reign the latter gave a grand feast to his nobles, which lasted 180 days (Esth. i. 3); the former, in his third year, also assembled his chief officers to deliberate on the invasion of Greece. Again, Ahasuerus married Esther at Shushan, in the seventh year of his reign : in the same year of his reign, Xerxes returned to Susa with the mortification of his defeat, and sought to forget himself in pleasure ; not an unlikely occasion for that quest for fair virgins for the harem (Esth. ii. 2). Lastly, the tribute imposed on the land and isles of the sea also accords with the state of his revenue exhausted by his insane attempt against Greece. In fine, these argu- ments, negative and affirmative, render it so highly probable that Xerxes is the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther, that to demand more con- clusive evidence, would be to mistake the very nature of the question. The fourth Ahasuerus is mentioned in Tobit xiv. 15, in connection with the destruction of Nineveh. That circumstance points out Cyax- ares I. as the person intended. AHA'VA, Ezra viii. 21, 31, the river by which the Jewish exiles assembled their second caravan under Ezra, when returning to Jerusalem. It would seem from ch. viii. 15, that it was desig- nated from a town of the same name : ' I assem- bled them at the river that flows towards Ahava.' In that case, it could not have been of much im- portance in itself ; and probably it was no other than one of the numerous streams or canals of Mesopotamia communicating with the Euphrates, somewhere in the north-west of Babylonia. A'HAZ (possessor}, son of Jotham, and eleventh K ing of Judah, who reigned sixteen years, be- ginning in B.C. 741, and ending- in 726. Ahaz was the most corrupt monarch that had hitherto appeared in Judah. He respected neither Je- hovah, the law, nor the prophets; he broke through all the restraints which law and custom AHAZIAII 47 had imposed upon the Hebrew kings, and had regard only to his own depraved inclinations. He introduced the religion of the Syrians into Jerusalem, erected altars to the Syrian gods, al- tered the temple in many respects after the Syrian model, and at length ventured to shut it up altogether. Such a man could not exercise that faith in Jehovah, as the political head of the nation, which formed the courage of a Hebrew king. Hence, after he had sustained a few repulses from Pekah and Rezin, his allied foes, when the Edomites had revolted from him, and the Philistines were making incursions into his country, notwithstanding a sure promise of divine deliverance, he called Pul, the king of Assyria, to his aid [ASSYRIA]. He even became tributary to that monarch, on condition of his obliging Syria and Israel to abandon their de- sign of destroying the kingdom of Judah ; and thus afforded to Tiglath-pilezer, the successor of Pul, an opportunity of conquering Syria, Israel beyond Jordan, and Galilee. The Assyrians afforded Ahaz no real assistance ; on the con- trary, they drove him to such extremities that he was scarcely able, with all the riches of the temple, of the nobility, and of the royal treasury, to purchase release from his troublesome pro- tectors. He died at the age of thirty-six (2 Kings xvi. ; 2 Chron. xxviii. ; Isa. vii.). 1. AHAZI'AH (whom Jehovah sustains) ; son and successor of Ahab, and seventh king of Israel. He reigned two years, B.C. 897, 896. It seems that Jezebel exercised over her son the same influence which had guided her husband ; and Ahaziah pursued the evil courses of his father. The most signal public event of his reign was the revolt of the Moabites, who took the opportunity of the defeat and death of Ahab to discontinue the tribute which they had paid to the Israelites. Ahaziah became a party in the attempt of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, to revive the maritime traffic by the Red Sea ; in consequence of which the enterprise was blasted, and came to nothing (2 Chron. xx. 35-37). Soon after, Ahaziah, having been much injured by a fall from the roof-gallery of his palace, had the infatuation to send to consult the oracle of Baal- zebub, the god of Ekron, respecting his recovery. But the messengers were met and sent back by Elijah, who himself announced to the king that he should rise no more from the bed on which he lay (1 Kings xxii. 51, to 2 Kings i. 18). 2. AHAZIAH, otherwise JEHOAHAZ, son of Jehoram by Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and sixth king of Judah. He reigned but one year (B.C. 885), and that wickedly, suf- fering himself in all things to be guided by the wicked counsels of his idolatrous mother, Atha- liah. He cultivated the connections which had unhappily grown up between the two dynasties, and which had now been cemented by marriage. Hence he joined his uncle Jehoram of Israel in an expedition against Hazael, king of Damacene- Syria, for the recovery of Ramoth-Gilead ; and afterwards paid him a visit while he lay wounded in his summer palace of Jezreel. The two kings rode out in their several chariots to meet Jehu ; and when Jehoram was shot through the heart, Ahaziah attempted to escape, but was pursued, and being mortally wounded, had only strength to reach Megiddo, where he died. His body was 43 AHIMAAZ conveyed by his servants in a chariot to Jeru- salem for interment (2 Kings ix. 28). 1. AUl' AH (friend of Jehovah); (1 Sam. xiv. 3), son of Ahitub, and high-priest in the reign of Saul, and brother and predecessor of the Abime- lech whom Saul slew for assisting David. Seeing that Abimelech was also high-priest in the same reign, and was also the son of Ahitub (1 Sam. xxii. 11), some have thought that both names belonged to the same person ; but this seems less likely than the explanation which has just been given. 2. AHIAH, one of the two secretaries of So- lomon (1 Kings iv. 3). Two other persons of this name occur in 1 Sam. xiv. 3 ; 1 Chron. viii. 7. AHI'AM, one of David's thirty heroes (2 Sam. xxiii. 33). AHIE'ZER (brother of help}, the hereditary chief or prince of the tribe of Dan at the time that the Israelites quitted Egypt (Num. i. 12). AHI'HUD (brother, i. e. friend of the Jews}, the prince of the tribe of Asher, who, with the other chiefs of tribes, acted with Joshua and Eleazer in dividing the Promised Land (Num. xxxiv. 27). AlU'JAH (same name as AHIAH), a prophet residing in Shiloh in the 'times of Solomon and Jeroboam. He appears to have put on record some of the transactions of the former reign (2 Chron. ix. 29). It devolved on him to an- nounce and sanction the separation of the ten tribes from the house of David, as well as the foundation (1 Kings xi. 29-39), and, after many years, the subversion of the dynasty of Jeroboam (1 Kings xiv. 7-11) [JEROBOAM]. AHI'KAM (brother of the enemij), one of the four persons of distinction whom Josiah sent to consult Huldah, the prophetess (2 Kings xxii. 12-14). Ahikam and his family are honourably distinguished for their protection of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. xxvi. 24 j- xxxix. 14). AHIM'AAZ (brother of anger, i. e. irascible), son and successor of Zadok, who was joint high- priest in the reign of David, and sole high-priest in that of Solomon. His history belongs to the time of David, to whom he rendered an import- ant service during the revolt of Absalom. David having refused to allow the ark of God to be taken from Jerusalem when he fled thence, the high-priests, Zadok and Abiathar, necessarily remained in attendance upon it ; but their sons, Ahimaaz and Jonathan, concealed themselves outside the city, to be in readiness to bear off to David any important information, respecting the movements and designs of Absalom, which they might receive from within. Accordingly, Hushai having communicated to the priests the result of the council of war, in which his own advice was preferred to that of Ahithophel [ABSALOM], they instantly sent a girl (probably to avoid suspicion) to direct Ahimaaz and Jonathan to speed away with the intelligence. The transaction was, however, witnessed and betrayed by a lad, and the messengers were so hotly pursued that they took refuge in a dry cistern, over which the woman of the house placed a covering, and spread thereon parched corn. She told the pur- suers that the messengers had passed on in haste ; and when all was safe, she released them, on which they made their way to David (2 Sam. AHIO xv. 24-37; xvii. 15-21;. As may be inferred from his being chosen for this service, Ahimaaz was swift of foot. Of this we have a notable example soon after, when, on the defeat and death of Absalom, he prevailed on Joab to allow him to carry the tidings to David. Another messenger, Cushi, had previously been de- spatched, but Ahimaaz outstripped him, and first came in with the news. He was known afar off by the manner of his running, and the king said, ' He is a good man, and cometh with good tid- ings ;' and this favourable character is justified by the delicacy with which he waived that part of his intelligence concerning the death of Ab- salom, which he knew would greatly distress so fond a father as David (2 Sam. xviii. 19-33). AHIM'AN (brother of a gift), one of three famous giants, of the race of Anak, who dwelt at Hebron when the Hebrew spies explored the land (Num. xiii. 22). AHIM'ELECH (brother of the king, i. e. the king's friend) ; he was son of Ahitub, and bro- ther of Ahiah, who was most probably his pre- decessor in the high-priesthood [AHIAH]. "When David fled from Saul, he went to Nob, a city of the priests in Benjamin, where the tabernacle then was ; and by representing himself as on pressing business from the king, he obtained from Ahimelech, who had no other, some of the sacred bread which had been removed from the presence-table. He was also furnished with tht sword which he had himself taken from Goliah, and which had been laid up as a trophy in the tabernacle (1 Sam. xxi. 1-9). These circum- stances were witnessed by Doeg, an Edomite in the service of Saul, and were so reported by him to the jealous king as to appear acts of con- nivance at, and support to, David's imagined disloyal designs. Saul immediately sent for Ahimelech and the other priests then at Nob, and laid this crime to their charge, which they repelled by declaring their ignorance of any hostile designs on the part of David towards Saul or his kingdom. This, however, availed them not ; for the king commanded his guard to slay them. Their refusal to fall upon persons invested with so sacred a character might have brought even Saul to reason ; but he repeated the order to Doeg himself, and was too readily obeyed by that malignant person, who, with the men under his orders, not only slew the priests then present, eighty-six in number, but marched to Nob, and put to the sword every living crea- ture it contained. The only one of the priests that escaped was Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, who fled to David, and afterwards became high priest (1 Sam. xxii.) [ABIATHAR! AHIN'ADAB (liberal, or, noble brother), one of the twelve officers who, in as many districts into which the country was divided, raised sup- plies of provisions in monthly rotation for the royal household. Ahinadab's district was the southern half of the region beyond the Jordan (1 Kings iv. 14). AHIN'OAM (brother of pleasantness), a woman of Jezreel. one of the wives of David, and mother of Amnon. She was taken captive by the Ama- lekites when they plundered Ziklag, but was re- covered by David (1 Sam. xxv. 43 ; xxvii. 3 ; xxx. 5 : 2 Sam. ii. 2 ; iii. 2). AHl'O (brotherly), one of the sons of Abin- AHITUB adab, who, with his brother Uzzah, drove the new cart on which the ark was placed when David first attempted to remove it to Jerusalem. Ahio went before to guide the oxen, while Uzzah walked by the cart (2 Sam. vi. 3, 4) [UZZAH]. AHI'RA (brother of evil), chief of the tribe of Naphtali when the Israelites quitted Kgvpt (Num. i. 15). AHI'SHAR (brother of the dawn\ the officer who was ' over the household ' of King Solomon (1 Kings iv. 6). This has always been a place of high importance and great influence in the Hast. AHITH'OPHEL (brother of foolishness), the very singular name of a man who, in the time of David, was renowned throughout all Israel for his worldly wisdom. He is, in fact, the only man mentioned in the Scriptures as having ac- quired a reputation for political sagacity among the Jews; and they regarded his counsels as oracles (2 Sam. xvi. 23). He was of the council of David ; but M r as at Giloh, his native place, at the time of Absalom's revolt, whence he was summoned to Jerusalem ; and it shows the strength of Absalom's cause in Israel that a man so capable of foreseeing results, and of estimating the probabilities of success, took his side in so daring an attempt (2 Sam. xv. 12). The news of this defection appears to have occasioned David more alarm than any other single in- cident in the rebellion. He earnestly prayed God to turn the sage counsel of Ahithophel ' to foolishness' (probably alluding to his name); and being immediately after joined by his old friend Hushai, he induced him to go over to Absalom with the express view that he might be instrumental in defeating the counsels of this dangerous person (xv. 31-37). Psalm Iv. is supposed to contain (12-14) a further expression of David's feelings at this treachery of one whom ha had so completely trusted, and whom he calls, ' My companion, my guide, and my familiar friend.' The detestable advice which Ahithophel gave Absalom to appropriate his father's harem, committed him absolutely to the cause of the young prince, since after that he could hope for no reconcilement with David (2 Sam. xvi. 20-23). His proposal as to the conduct of the war undoubtedly indicated the best course that could have been taken under the circumstances ; and so it seemed to the council, until Hushai interposed with his plausible ad- vice, the object of which was to gain time to enable David to collect his resources [AB- SALOM]. When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was rejected for that of Hushai, the far-seeing man gave up the cause of Absalom for lost ; and he forthwith saddled his ass, returned to his home at Giloh, deliberately settled his affairs, and then hanged himself, and was buried in the sepulchre of his fathers, B.C. 1023 (ch. xvii.). This is the only case of suicide which the Old Testament records, unless tha last acts of Samson and Saul may be regarded as such. 1. AIU'TUB (brother of goodness), son of Phi- nehas, and grandson of the high-priest Eli. His father Phinehas having been slain when the ark of God was taken by the Philistines, he suc- ceeded his grandfather Eli B.C. 1141, and was himself succeeded by his son Ahiab about B.C. 1093. AJALON 49 2. AHITUB was also the name of the father of Zadok, who was made high-priest by Saul after the death of Ahimelech (2 Sam. viii. 17 ; 1 Chron. vi. 8). There is not tho slightest ground for the notion that this Ahitub was ever high-priest himself indeed, it is historically impossible. AHO'LAH (her tent) and AHOLIBAH (my tent is in her\ two fictitious Or symbolical names adopted by Ezekiel (xxiii. 4) to denote the two kingdoms of Samaria (Israel) and Judah. They are both symbolically described as lewd women, adulteresses, prostituting themselves to the' Egyp- tians and the Assyrians, in imitating their abo- minations and idolatries ; wherefore Jehovah abandoned them to those very people for whom they showed such inordinate and impure af- fection. They were carried into captivity, and reduced to the severest servitude. The allegory is an epitome of the history of the Jewish church. AHO'LIAB (tent of his father), of the tribe of Dan, a skilful artificer appointed along with Bezaleel to construct the Tabernacle (Exod. xxxv. 34). AHUZ'ZATH (possession), the 'friend* of Abimelech II., king of Gerar, who attended him on his visit to Isaac (Gen. xxvi. 26). In him occurs the first instance of that unofficial but important personage in ancient Oriental courts, called ' the king's friend,' or favourite. AI (Josh. vii. 2 ; Gen. xii. 8 ; Neh. xi. 31 ; Isa. x. 28), a royal city of the Canaanites, which lay east of Bethel. It existed in the time of Abraham, who pitched his tent between the two cities (Gen. xii. 8 ; xiii. 3) ; but it is chiefly noted for its capture and destruction by Joshua (vii. 2-5; viii. 1-29). This, as a military trans- action, is noticed elsewhere [AMBUSCADE]. At a later period Ai was rebuilt, and is mentioned by Isaiah (x. 28), and also after the Captivity. The site was known, and some scanty ruins still existed in the time of Eusebius and Jerome, but Dr. Robinson was unable to discover any certain traces of either. AIR, the atmosphere, as opposed to the ether, or higher and purer region (Acts xxii. 24 ; 1 Thess. iv. 17 ; Rev. ii. 2 ; xvi. 17). The phrase to speak into the air (1 Cor. xiv. 9) is a pro- verbial expression to denote speaking in vain, and to beat the air (1 Cor. ix. 26), denotes acting in vain, and is a proverbial allusion to an abor- tive stroke into the air in pugilistic contests. The later Jews, in common with the Gentiles, especially the Pythagoreans, believed the air to be peopled with spirits, under the government of a chief, who there held his seat of empire. These spirits were supposed to be powerful, but malignant, and to incite men to evil. The early Christian fathers entertained the same belief, which has indeed come down to our own times. AJ'ALON, a town and valley in the tribe of D.in (Josh. xix. 42), which was given to the Levites (Josh. xxi. 24 ; 1 Chron. vi. 69). It was not far from Bethshemesh (2 Chron. xxviii. 18) ; it was one of the places which Rehoboam forti- fied (2 Chron. xi. 10), and among the strong- holds which the Philistines took from Ahaz (2 Chron. xxviii. 18). But the town, or rather the valley to which the town gave name, derives its chief renown from the circumstance that 6 Q A LEX AN DKi: |*V when Joshua, in pursuit of the five kings, arrived at some point near Upper Beth-horon, looking back upon Gibeon and down upon the noble valley before him, he uttered the celebrated command : ' Sun, stand thou still on Gibeon, and thou moon, in the valley of Ajalon ' (Josh. x. 12). The site of the town has been identified with the small village of Yalo near licit Ur (Beth-horon), and a broad wady to the north of it appears to be the valley of the same name. AKRAB'BIM (Scorpion-liei(/ht\ an ascent, hill, or chain of hills, which, from the name, would appear to have been much infested by scorpions and serpents, as some districts in that quarter certainly were (Deut viii. 15). It was one of the points which are only mentioned in describ- ing the frontier-line of the Promised Land southward (Judg. i. 36), and has been conjectured to be the same with the mountains of Akabah, which bound the great valley of Arabah on the east ALABASTER. This word occurs in the New Testament only in the notice of the ' ala- baster bof,' or rather vessel, of ointment of spikenard, very precious,' which a 'woman broke, and with its valuable contents anointed the head of Jesus, as he sat at supper in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper (Matt xxvi. 7 ; Mark xiv. 3). At Alabastron, in Egypt, there was a manufactory of small pots and vessels for hold- ing perfumes, which were made from a stone found in the neighbouring mountains. The Greeks gave to these vessels the name of the city from which they came. This name was eventually extended to the stone of which they were formed ; and at length it was applied with- out distinction to all perfume vessels, of what- ever materials they consisted. It does not there- fore, by any means follow that the alabastron which the woman used at Bethany was really of alabaster: but a probability that it was such arises from the fact, that vessels made of this stone were deemed peculiarly suitable for the most costly and powerful perfumes. ALEXAN'DER THE GREAT. This mighty king is named in the opening of the first book of Maccabees, and is alluded to in- the prophecies of ALEXANDER Daniel. These, however, are not the best reasons for giving his name a place in this work : he is chiefly entitled to notice here because his mili- tary career permanently affected the political state of the Jewish people, sis well as their phi- losophy and literature. It is not our part, there- fore, to detail even the outlines of his history, but to point out the causes and nature of this great revolution, and the influence which, for- mally through Alexander, Greece has exerted over the religious history of the West. The conquest of Western Asia by Greeks was so thoroughly provided for by predisposing causes, as to be no mere accident ascribable to Alexander as an individual. The personal ge- nius of the Macedonian hero, however, deter- mined the form and the suddenness of the con- quest ; and, in spite of his premature death, the policy which he pursued seems to have left some permanent effects. His respectful behaviour to the Jewish high- priest has been much dwelt on by Jcsephus (Aatiq. xi. 8. 4-6}, a writer whose trustworthi- ness has been much overrated. The story has been questioned on several grounds. Some of the results, however, can hardly be erroneous, such as, that Alexander guaranteed to the Jews, not in Judaea only, but in Babylonia and Media, the free observance of their hereditary laws, and on this ground exempted them from tribute every seventh (or sabbatical) year. It is then far from improbable that the politic invader affected to have seen and heard the high-priest in a dream (as Josephus relates), and showed him great reverence, as to one who had declared ' that he would go before him and give the em- pire of Persia into his hand.' Immediately after, Alexander invaded and conquered Egypt, and showed to its gods the same respect as to those of Greece. Almost without a pause he founded the celebrated city of Alexandria (B.C. 332), an event which, perhaps more than any other cause, permanently altered the state of the East, and brought about a direct interchange of mind between Greece, Egypt and Judaea [ALEXANDRIA]. The great founder of Alexandria died in his thirty-second year, B.C. 323. The empire which he then left to be quarrelled for by his generals comprised the whole dominions of Persia, with the homage and obedience of Greece snperaddol. But on the final settlement which took place after the battle of Ipsus (B.C. 301), Seleucus, the ALEXANDER Greek representative of Persian majesty, reigned over a less extended district than the last Da- rius. Not only were Egypt and Cyprus severed from the Eastern empire, but Palestine and Ccelosyria also fell to their ruler, placing Jeru- salem for nearly a century beneath an Egyptian monarch. On this subject, see further under ANTIOCHUS. ALEXANDRIA 51 \\ S3. 2. ALEXANDER, surnamed BALAS, from his mother Bala, a personage who figures in the history of the Maccabees and in Josephus. His extraction is doubtful ; but he professed to be the natural son of Antiochus Epiphanes, and in that capacity, out of opposition to Demetrius Soter, he was recognised as king of Syria by the king of Egypt, by the Romans, and eventually by Jonathan Maccaba?us, on the part of the Jews (1 Mace. x. 18). Demetrius was not long after slain in battle, and Balas obtained possession of the kingdom. He then sought to strengthen himself by a marriage with the king of Egypt's daughter. Prosperity ruined Alexander ; his voluptuousness, debauchery, and misgovernment rendered his reign odious, and encouraged De- metrius Nicator, the eldest son of the late Deme- trius Soter, to appear in arms, and claim his father's crown. Alexander took th'e field against him ; but the defection of his father-in-law Ptolemy proved fatal to his cause ; he was de- feated in a pitched battle, and fled with 500 cavalry to Abac in Arabia, and sought refuge with the emir Zabdiel. This Arabian murdered his confiding guest in the fifth year of his reign over Syria, and sent his head to Ptolemy, who himself died the same year, B.C. 145. Balas left a young son, who was eventually made king of Syria by Tryphon, under the name of Antiochus Theos. 3. ALEXANDER JANN^EUS, the first prince of the Maccabaean dynasty who assumed the name of king [MACCABKES]. 4. ALEXANDER, son of Herod the Great and Mariamne [HERODIAN FAMILY]. 5. ALEXANDER, a Jew of Ephesus, known only from the part he took in the uproar about Diana, which was raised there by the preaching of Paul. As the inhabitants confounded the Jews and Jewish Christians, the former put for- ward Alexander to speak on their behalf, but he was unable in the tumult to obtain a hearing (Acts xix. 33). 6. ALEXANDER, a coppersmith or brazier (mentioned in 1 Tim. i. 20 ; 2 Tim. iv. 14), who with-Hymenseus and others broached certain he- resies touching the resurrection, for which they were excommunicated by St. Paul. These per- sons, and especially Alexander, appear to have maligned the faith they had forsaken, as Avell as the character of the apostle. ALEXANDRIA (Acts vi. 9 ; xviii. 24 ; xxvii. 6), the chief maritime city and long the me- tropolis of Lower Egypt. It is situated on the Mediterranean, twelve miles west of the Canopic mouth of the Nile, in 31 13' N. lat. and 25 53' E. long. It owes its origin to the comprehensive policy of Alexander, who perceived that the usual channels of commerce might be advanta- geously altered ; and that a city occupying this site could not fail to become the common em- porium for the traffic of the eastern and western worlds, by means of the river Nile, and the two adjacent seas, the Red Sea and the Mediter- ranean : and the high prosperity which, as such, Alexandria very rapidly attained, proved the soundness of his judgment, and exceeded any ex- pectations which even he could have entertained. For a long period Alexandria was the greatest of known cities ; for Nineveh and Babylon had fallen, and Rome had not yet risen to pre-emi- nence: and even when Rome became the mistress of the world, and Alexandria only the metro- polis of a province, the latter was second only to the former in wealth, extent, and importance ; and was honoured with the magnificent titles of the second metropolis of the world, the city of cities, the queen of the East, a second Rome. The city was founded in B.C. 332, and was built under the superintendence of the same architect (Dinocrates) who had rebuilt the Temple of Diana at Ephesus. The ancient city appears to have been of seven times the extent of the modern. If we may judge from the length of the two main streets (crossing each other at right angles) by which it was inter- sected, the city was about four miles long by one and a half wide : and in the time of Diodorus it contained a free population of 300,000 persons, or probably 600,000, if we double the former number, as Mannert suggests, in order to include the slaves. The port of Alexandria was secure, but difficult of access ; in consequence of which, a magnificent pharos, or lighthouse, was erected upon an islet at the entrance, which was con- nected with the mainland by a dyke. This pharos was accounted one of the ' seven ' wonders of the world. It was begun by Ptolemy Soter, and completed under Ptolemy Philadelphus, by Sostratus of Cnidus, B.C. 283. It was a square structure of white marble, on the top of which fires were kept constantly burning for the direc- tion of mariners. It was erected at a cost of 800 talents, which, if Attic, would amount to 165,000/., if Alexandrian, to twice that sum. It was a wonder in those times, when such erections were almost unknown ; but, in itself, the Eddy- stone lighthouse is, in all probability, ten times more wonderful. The business of working out the great design of Alexander could not have devolved on a more fitting person than Ptolemy Soter. From his first arrival in Egypt, he made Alexandria his residence : and no sooner had he some respite from war, then he bent all the resources of his mind to draw to his kingdom the whole trade of the East, which the Tyrians had, up to his time, carried on by sea to Elath, and from thence, by the way of Rhinocomra, to Tyre. He built a E 2 ALEXANDRIA ALEXANDRIA city on the west side of the Red Sea, whence he sent out fleets to all those countries to which the Phojnicians traded from Elath. But, observing that the Red Sea, by reason of rocks and shoals, was very dangerous towards its northern ex- tremity, he transferred the trade to another city, which he founded at the greatest practicable dis- ance southward. This port, v,-hich was almost on the borders of Ethiopia, he called, from his mother, Berenice ; but the harbour being found inconvenient, the neighbouring city of Myos Hormos was preferred. Thither the products of th? East and South were conveyed by sea ; and were from thence taken on camels to Coptus, on the Nile, where they were again shipped for Alexandria, and from that city were dispersed to all the nations of the west, in exchange for merchandise which was afterwards exported to thi East By these means, the whole trade was fixed at Alexandria, which thus became the chief mart of all the traffic between the East and West, and which continued to be the greatest emporium in the 'world for above seventeen cen- turies, until the discovery of the passage by the Cape of Good Hope opened another channel for Ui2 commerce of the East. Alexandria became not only the seat of com- mercs, but of learning and the liberal sciences. This distinction also it owed to Ptolemy Soter, himself a man of education, who founded an aca- demy, or society of learned men, who devoted themselves to the study of philosophy, literature, and science. For their use he made a collection of choice books, which, by degrees, increased under his successors until it became the finest library in the world, and numbered 700,000 volumes. It sustained repeated losses, by fire i and otherwise, but these losses were as repeatedly ' repaired ; and it continued to be of great fame 4. and use in those parts, until it was at length burnt by the Saracens when they made them- selves masters of Alexandria in A.D. 642. Un- doubtedly the Jews at Alexandria shared in the benefit of these institutions, as the Christians did afterwards ; for the city was not only a seat of heathen, but of Jewish, and subsequently of Christian learning. It will be remembered that the celebrated translation of the Hebrew Scrip- tures into Gre'ek [SEPTUAGIXT] was made, under every encouragement from Ptolemy. Phila- delphus, principally for the use of the Jews in Alexandria, who knew only the Greek lan- guage. At its foundation Alexandria was peopled less by Egyptians than by colonies of Greeks, Jews, and other foreigners. The Jews, however much their religion was disliked, were valued as citizens; and every encouragement was held out by Alexander himself and by his successors in Ejrypt, to induce them to settle in the new city. The same privileges as those of the first class of inhabitants (the Greeks) were accorded to them, as well as the free exercise of their religion and peculiar usages: and this, with the protection and peace which a powerful state afforded against the perpetual conflicts and troubles of Palestine, and with the inclination to traffic, which had been acquired during the Captivity, gradually drew such immense numbers of Jews to Alex- andria, that they eventually formed a very large portion of its vast population, and at the same time constituted a most thriving and important section of the Jewish nation. The Jewish in- habitants of Alexandria are therefore often men- tioned in the later history of the nation; and Ihcir importance as a section of that nation would doubtless have been more frequently indi- cated, had not the Jews of Egypt thrown off ALEXANDRIA their ecclesiastical dependence upon Jerusalem and its temple, and formed a separate establish- ment of their own, in imitation of it, at a place about twelve miles north of Heliopolis, and called Onion, from Onias, the expelled high- priest, by whom it was founded. The inhabitants of Alexandria were divided into three classes: 1. The Macedonians, the ori- ginal founders of the city ; 2. the mercenaries who had served under Alexander ; 3. the native Egyptians. Through the favour of Alexander and Ptolemy Soter, the Jews were admitted into the first of these classes, and this privilege was .so important that it had great effect in drawing them to the new city. The dreadful persecution which the Jews of Alexandria underwent in A.D. 39, shows that, notwithstanding their long establishment there, no relations of friendliness had arisen between them and the other inhabitants, by whom in fact they were intensely hated. This feeling was so weft known, that at the date indicated, the Roman governor Avillius Flaccus, who was anxious to ingratiate himself with the citizens, was persuaded that the surest way of winning their affections was to withdraw his protection from the Jews, against whom the emperor was already exasperated by their refusal to acknow- ledge his right to divine honours, which he in- sanely claimed, or to admit his images into their synagogues. In consequence of the connivance of Flaccus, the unfortunate Jews were treated with every species of outrage and insult. Their synagogues were levelled with the ground, con- sumed by fire, or profaned by the emperor's statues. They were deprived of the rights of citizenship, and declared aliens. Their houses, shops, and warehouses were plundered of their effects, and they themselves were pent up in one narrow corner of the city, where the greater part were obliged to lie in the open air, and where the supplies of food being cut off. many of them died of hardship and hunger; and who- ever was found beyond the boundary, whether he had escaped from the assigned limits, or had come in from the country, was seized and put to death with horrid tortures. At length king Herod Agrippa, who stayed long enough in Alexandria to see the beginning of these atrocities, transmitted to the emperor such a report of the real state of affairs as in- duced him to send a centurion to arrest Flaccus, and bring him a prisoner to Rome. This put the rioters in a false position, and brought some relief to the Jews; but the tumult still con- tinued, and as the magistrates refused to acknow- ledge the citizenship of the Jews, it was at length agreed that both parties should send dele- gates, five on each side, to Rome, and refer the decision of the controversy to the emperor. At the head of the Jewish delegation was the cele- brated Philo, to whom we owe the account of these transactions; and at the head of the Alex- andrians was the noted Apion. The latter chiefly rested their case upon the fact that the Jews were the only people who refused to consecrate images to the emperor, or to swear by his name. But on this point the Jewish delegates defended themselves so well, that Caligula himself said, ' These men are not so wicked as ignorant and unhappy, in not believing me to be a god !' The ALEXANDRIA 53 ultimate result of this appeal is not known, but the Jews of Alexandria continued to be harassed during the remainder of Caligula's reign ; and their alabarch Alexander Lysimachus (brother of Philo) was thrown into prison, where he remained till he was discharged by Claudius, upon whose accession to the empire the Alexan- drian Jews betook themselves to arms. This occasioned such disturbances that they attracted the attention of the emperor, who, at the joint entreaty of Herod and Agrippa, issued an edict conferring on the Jews of Egypt all their an- cient privileges. The state of feeling in Alex- andria Avhich these facts indicate, was very fay from being allayed when the revolt of the Jews in Palestine caused even those of the nation who dwelt in foreign parts to be regarded as enemies, both by the populace and the' government. In Alexandria, on a public occasion, they were at- tacked, and those who could not save themselves by flight were put to the sword. Only three were taken alive, and they were dragged through the city to be consigned to the flames. The in- dignation of the Jews rose beyond all bounds at this spectacle. They first assailed the Greek citizens with stones, and then rushed with lighted torches to the amphitheatre, to set it on fire and burn all the people who were there assembled. The Roman prefect Tiberius Alexander, finding that milder measures were of no avail, sent out a body of 1 7,000 soldiers, who slew about 50,000 of the Jews, and plundered and burned their dwellings. After the close of the war in Palestine, new disturbances were excited in Egypt by the Si- carii, many of whom had fled thither. They endeavoured to persuade the Jews to acknow- ledge no king but God, and to throw off the Roman yoke. Such persons as opposed their designs and tendered wiser counsels to their brethren, they secretly assassinated, according to their custom. But the principal Jews in Alex- andria having in a general assembly earnestly warned the people against these fanatics, who had been the authors of all the troubles in, Pa- lestine, about 600 of them were delivered up to the Romans. Several fled into the Thebai'd, but were apprehended and brought back. The most cruel tortures which could be devised had no effect in compelling them to acknowledge the emperor for their sovereign ; and even their children seemed endowed with souls fearless of death, and bodies incapable of pain. ' Vespasian, when informed of these transactions, sent orders that the Jewish temple in Egypt should be de- stroyed. Lupus the prefect, however, only shut it up, after having taken out the consecrated gifts : but his successor Paulinus stripped it com' pletely, and excluded the Jews entirely from it. This was in A.D. 75, being the 343rd year from the building of the temple by Onias. St. Mark is said to have introduced the Christian religion into Alexandria, which early became one of the strongholds of the true faith. The Jews continued to form a principal portion of the inhabitants, and remained in the enjoy- ment of their civil rights till A.D. 415, when they ' incurred the hatred of Cyril the patriarch, at I whose instance they were expelled, to the number j of 40,000, and their synagogues destroyed. | However, when Amrou, in A.D. 640, took the 54 ALGUM place for the caliph Omar, he wrote to his master in these terms : ' I have taken the great city of the vest, which contains 4000 palaces, 4000 baths, 400 theatres, 12,000 shops for the sale of vegetable food, and 40,000 tributary Jeu-s.' From that time the prosperity of Alexandria very rapidly declined ; and when, in 969, the Fatemite caliphs seized on Egypt and built New Cairo, it was speedily reduced to the rank of a secondary Egyptian city. The discovery of the passage to the East by the Cape, in 1497, almost annihi- lated its remaining comme-rcial importance ; and although the commercial and maritime enter- prises of Mehemet All have again raised it to some distinction, Alexandria must still be ac- counted as one of those great ancient cities whose glory has departed. The number of Jews does not now exceed 500. The whole population at the present time (1843) is between 36,000 and 40,000, of whom 4876 are foreigners. AL'GUM, or AL'ML-G TREKS (1 Kings x. 11 ; 2 Chron. ix. 10, 1 1% With regard to Ophir, the place from which these trees were brought to us, there appears no doubt that it was to the southward of the Red Sea, and was most pro- bably in some part of India. Various trees have i een attempted to be identified with the almug, ! ut the balance of evidence seems to be in favour of the sandal-wood, which is known and highly esteemed in India. The tree which pro- duces it is a native of the mountainous parts of the coast of Malabar, where large quantities are cut for export to China, to different parts of India, and to the Persian and Arabian pnlfs. The outer parts of this tree are white and with- out odour ; the parts near the root are most fra- grant, especially of such trees as grow in hilly situations and stony ground. The trees vary in diameter from 9 inches to a foot, and are about 25 or 30 feet in height, but the stems soon begin to branch. This wood is white, fine-grained, and agreeably fragrant, and is much employed for making rosaries, fans, elegant boxes, and cabinets. [Santalum album.] As sandal-wood has been famed in the East from very early times, it is more likely than any other to have attracted the notice of, and been desired by, more northern nations. ALLEGORY That it, therefore, might have attained cele- brity, even in very early ages, is not at all un- likely ; that it should have attracted the notice of Phoenician merchants visiting the west coast of India is highly probable ; and also that thej should have thought it worthy of being taken a* a part of their cargo on their return f/om Ophir. That it is well calculated for musical instru- ments is confirmed by the authority of Professor Wheatstone, who says, ' I know no reason why sandal-wood should not have Leen employed in ancient days for constructing musical instru- ments. It is not so employed at present, because there are many much cheaper woods which pre- sent a far handsomer appearance. Musical in- struments would appear very unfinished to mo- dern taste unless varnished or French-polished, and it would be worse than useless to treat fra- grant woods in this way. Formerly perhaps it might have been more the fashion to delight tht senses of smell and hearing simultaneously thaii it is with us, in which case odoriferous woods- would be preferred for things so much handled as musical instruments are.' ALLEGORY. This word is found in the Authorized Version of Gal. iv. 24, but it doe* not actually exist as a noun in the Greek Tes- tament, nor even in the Septuagint. In the passage in question Saint Paul cites the historj of the free-born Isaac and the slave-born Ish- mael, and in proceeding to apply it spiritually, he says, not as in our version, ' which things are an allegory,' but ' which things are allegorized.' This is of some importance ; for in the one case the Apostle is made to declare a portion of Old Testament history an allegory, whereas in truth he only .speaks of it as allegorically applied. Allegories themselves are, however, of frequent occurrence in Scripture, although that name is not there applied to them. An ALLKGORY has been sometimes considered as only a lengthened metaphor ; at other times, as a continuation of metaphors. But the nature of allegory itself, and the character of allegorical interpretation, will be best understood by attend- ing to the origin of the term which denotes it. Now the term ' Allegory,' according to its ori- ginal and proper meaning, denotes a representa- tion of one thing which is intended to excite the representation of another thing. Every alle- gory must therefore be subjected to a twofold examination : we must first examine the imme- diate representation, and then consider what other representation it is intended to excite. In most allegories the immediate representation is made in the form of a narrative ; and, since it is the object of the allegory itself to convey a moral, not an historic truth, the narrative is commonly fictitious. The immediate repre- sentation is of no further value than as it leads to the ultimate representation. It is the appli- cation or the moral of the allegory which con- stitutes its worth. Every parable is a kind of allegory ; and as an example, especially clear and correct, we may refer to the parable of the sower (Luke viii. 5- 15). In this we have a plain narrative, a state- ment of a fiw simple and intelligible facts, such, probably, as had fallen within the observation of the persons to whom our Saviour addressed him- self. When he had finished the narrative, or ALLIANCES the immediate representation of the allegory, he then gave the explanation or ultimate represen- tation of it ; that is, he gave the allegorical in- terpretation of it. And that the interpretation was an interpretation, not of the words, but of the things signified by the words is evident from the explanation itself: ' The seed is the word of God ; those by the wayside are they that hear,' &c. (ver. 1 1, &c.). The impressive and pathetic allegory addressed by Nathan to David affords a similar instance of an allegorical narrative accompanied with its explanation (2 Sam. xii. 1-14). But allegorical narratives are frequently left to explain themselves, especially when the re- semblance between the immediate and ultimate representation is sufficiently apparent to make an explanation unnecessary. Of this kind we cannot have a more striking example than that beautiful one contained iu the 80th Psalm : ' Thou broughtest a vine out of Egypt,' &c. The use of allegorical interpretation is not, however, confined to mere allegory, or fictitious narratives, but is extended also to history, or real narratives. And in this case the grammatical meaning of a passage is called its historical meaning, in contradistinction to its allegorical meaning. There are two different modes in which Scripture history has been thus allego- rized. According to one mode, facts and cir- cum.stances, especially those recorded in the Old Testament, have been applied to other facts and circumstances, of which they have been described as representative. According to the other mode, these facts and circumstances have been described as mere emblems. The former mode is war- ranted by the practice of the sacred writers themselves ; for when facts and circumstances are so applied, they are applied as types of those things to which the application is made : but no such authority in favour of the latter mode of allegorical interpretation can be produced. ALLELU'IA. [HALLELUJAH.] ALLIANCES. From a dread lest the ex- ample of foreign nations should draw the Israel- ites into the worship of idols, they were made a peculiar and separate people, and intercourse and alliance with such nations were strongly inter- dicted (Lev. xviii. 3, 4 ; xx. 22, 23). The ten- dency to idolatry was in those times so strong, that the safety of the Israelites lay in the most complete isolation that could be realized ; and it was to assist this object that a country more than usually separated from others by its natural boundaries was assigned to them. It was shut In by the sea ou the west, by deserts on the south and east, and by mountains and forests on the north. Among a people so situated we should not expect to hear much of alliances with other nations. By far the most remarkable alliance in the political history of the Hebrews is that between Solomon and Hiram king of Tyre, which may primarily be referred to the affection which the latter entertained for David (1 Kings v. 2). He ' sent carpenters and masons ' to build David an house (2 Sam. v. 11), and wishing to cultivate the friendly intercourse thus opened with the Hebrew nation, on the death of David he sent an embassy to condole with Solomon on the death of his father, and to congratulate him on his ac- ALLIANCES 55 cession (1 Kings v. 1). The plans of the young king rendered the friendship of Hiram a matter of importance, and accordingly ' a league ' was formed (1 Kings v. 12) between them : and that this league had a reference not merely to the special matter then in view, but was a general league of amity, is evinced by the fact that more than 250 years after, a prophet denounces the Lord's vengeance upon Tyre, because she ' re- membered not the brotherly covenant' (Amos i. 9). Under this league large bodies of Jews and Phoenicians were associated, first in prepar- ing the materials for the Temple ( 1 Kings v. 6-18), and afterwards in navigating the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean (1 Kings ix. 26-28). The disastrous consequences of even the seemingly least objectionable alliances may be seen in the long train of evils, both to the kingdom of Is- rael and of Judah, which ensued from the mar- riage of Ahab with Jezebel, the king of Tyre's daughter [AHAB; JKZEBEL]. These conse- quences had been manifested even in the time of Solomon ; for he formed matrimonial alli- ances with most of the neighbouring kingdoms, and to the influence of his idolatrous wives are ascribed the abominations which darkened the latter days of the wise king (1 Kings xi. 1-8). The prophets, who were alive to these conse- quences, often raised their voices against such dangerous connections (1 Kings xi. 11 ; 2 Chron. xvi. 7; xix. 2; xxv. 7, &c. ; Isa. vii. 17), wjth- out effect. The Jewish history, after Solomon, affords examples of several treaties with differ- ent kings of Syria, and with the kings of Assyria and Babylon (see 1 Kings xv. 16-20; 2 Kings xvi. 5, &c. ; 2 Chron. xviii. 16, &c.). In later times, the Maccabees appear to have considered themselves unrestrained by any but the ordinary- prudential considerations in contracting alli- ances. The most remarkable alliance of this kind was the treaty made with the Romans by Judas Maccabseus, which, having been concluded at Rome, was graven upon brass and deposited in the Capitol (1 Mace. viii. 22-28 ; Josephus, Antiq. xii. 10). Anterior to the Mosaical institutions, such al- liances with foreigners were permitted, or; at least tolerated. Abraham was in alliance with some of the Canaanitish princes (Gen. xiv. 13) ; he also entered into a regular treaty of alliance, being the first on record, with the Philistine king Abimelech (xxi. 22, sq.}, which was re- newed by their sons (xxvi. 26-30). Even after the law, it appears, from some of the instances already adduced, that such alliances with dis- tant nations as could not be supposed to have any dangerous effect upon the religion or morals of the people, were not deemed to be interdicted. The treaty with the Gibeonites is a remarkable proof of this. Believing that the ambassadors came from a great distance, Joshua and the elders readily entered into an alliance with them ; and are condemned for it only on the ground that the Gibeonites were in fact their near neighbours (Josh. ix. 3-27). . From the time of the patriarchs, a covenant of alliance was sealed by the blood of some victim. A heifer, a goat, a ram, a turtle dove, and: a young pigeon, were immolated in confirmation of the covenant between the Lord and Abraham i (Gen. xv. 9). The animal or animals sacrificed 56 ALMOND TREE were cut in two (except birds, ver. 10), to typify the doom of perjurers. For allusions to this usage see Jer. xxxiv. 18; Sus. 55, 59; Matt, xxiv. 51 ; Luke xii. 46. The perpetuity of co- venants of alliance thus contracted is expressed by calling them ' covenants of salt' (Num. xviii. 19 ; 2 Chron. xiiii 5), salt being the symbol of ineorruption. The case of the Gibeonites affords an exemplary instance, scarcely equalled in the annals of any nation, of scrupulous adherence to such engagements. The Israelites had been absolutely cheated into the alliance ; but, having been confirmed by oaths, it was deemed to be inviolable (Josh. ix. 19). The prophet Ezekiel (xvii. 13-16) pours terrible denunciations upon king Zedekiah, for acting contrary to his sworn covenant with the king of Babylon. In this respect the Jews were certainly most favourably distinguished among the ancient nations ; and, from numerous intimations in Josephus, it ap- pears that their character for fidelity to their engagements was so generally recognised after the Captivity, as often to procure for them highly favourable consideration from the rulers of Western Asia and of Egypt. AL'LON-BAC'HUTH (the oak of weeping), a place in Bethel, where Rebekah's nurse was buried (Gen. xxxv. 8). AL'MON, one of the three cities which be- longed to the priests in the tribe of Benjamin (Josh. xxi. 18). It is supposed to be the same as the Alemeth of 1 Chron. vi. 60. AL'MON-DIB'LATHAIM, one of the stations of the Israelites on their way from Mount Hor to the plains of Moab, round by Mount Seir (Num. xxxiii. 46). ALMOND TREE (Gen. xliii. 11; Num. xvii. 8; Eccles. xii. 5; Jer. i. 11). This tree is a native of Syria and Palestine, and is highly ornamental from the beauty of its blossoms. 26. [Almond Tree.] The form of the almond would lead to its selec- tion for ornamental carved work (Exod. xxv. 33, 34; xxxvii. 19), independently of its form- ALMS ing an esteemed esculent, as well as probably yielding a useful oil. In Eccles. xii. 5, it is said, ' The almond tree shall flourish, and the fruit of the caper droop, because man goeth to his long home.' This evidently refers to the profuse flowering and white appearance of the almond tree when in full bloom, and before its leaves appear. It is hence adduced as illustrative of the hoary hairs of age, in the same way as the drooping of the fruit of the caper seems to refer to the hanging down of the head. Dr. Kitto mentions the almond among the first trees that flower in January. ' There are two species of Amygdalus in Palestine: the common almond tree, and the peach tree, and both are this month in blossom in every part of Palestine, on both sides of the Jordan. It was doubtless from this winter blossoming of the almond tree, not less than from the snowy whiteness of the blas- soms, that the hoary head of the aged man is, by a beautiful metaphor, said in Scripture to flourish like the almond tree' (Physic. Hist, oj Palestine}. ALMS. The regulations of the Mosaic laAv respecting property, and its benign spirit towards the poor, went far to prevent the existence of penury as a permanent condition in society, and, consequently, by precluding beggary, to render the need of almsgiving unnecessary. Poverty, however, considered as a state of comparative want, Moses seems to have contemplated as a probable event in the social frame which he had established ; and accordingly, by the appoint- ment of specific regulations, and the enjoining of a general spirit of tender-heartedness, he sought to prevent destitution and its evil conse- quences (Lev. xxv. 35 ; Deut. xv. 7, &c.). The great antiquity of the practice of benevolence towards the poor is shown in the very beautiful passage which is found in Job xxix. 13 et seq. How high the esteem was in which this virtue continued to be held in the time of the Hebrew monarchy may be learnt from Ps. xii. 1 ; see also Ps. cxii. 9 ; Prov. xiv. 31. The progress of social corruption, however, led to the oppression of the poor, which the prophets, after their man- ner, faithfully reprobated (Isa. Iviii. 7); vrhere, among other neglected duties, the Israelites are required to deal their bread to the hungry, and to bring the outcast poor to their house. See also Isa. x. 2 ; Amos ii. 7 ; Jer. v. 28 ; Ezek. xxii. 29. However favourable to the poor the Mosaic institutions were, they do not appear to have wholly prevented beggary ; for the imprecation found in Psalm cix. 10, ' Let his children be vagabonds and beg,' implies the existence of beggary as a known social condition. Begging naturally led to almsgiving, though the language of the Bible does not present us with a term for ' alms ' till the period of the Babylonish cap- ' tivity, during the calamities attendant on which the need probably introduced the practice. From Dan. iv. 27 it would appear that almsgiving had come to be regarded as a means of conciliating God's favour and of warding off evil. At a still later period this idea took a firm seat in the national mind, and alms-deeds were regarded as a mark of distinguished virtue. That begging was customary in the time of the Saviour is clear from Mark x. 46. And that it was usual ALOES for the worshippers, as they entered the temple, to give relief, appears from the context, and particularly from the fine answer to the lame man's entreaty, made by the apostle Peter. The general spirit of Christianity, iu regard to suc- couring the needy, is nowhere better seen than in 1 John iii. 17:' Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shut- teth up his bowels from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?' With the faithful and con- scientious observance of the ' royal law ' of love, particular manifestations of mercy to the poor seem to be left by Christianity to be determined by time, place, and circumstances ; and it cannot be supposed that a religion, one of whose prin- ciples is ' that, if any would not work, neither should he eat' (2 Thess. iii. 10), can give any sanction to indiscriminate almsgiving, or intend to encourage the crowd of wandering, idle beg- gars with which some parts of the world are still infested. The emphatic language employed by the Lord Jesus Christ and others (Luke iii. 1 1 ; vi. 30; xi. 41 ; xii. 33; Matt. vi. 1 ; Acts ix. 36; x. 2, 4) is designed to enforce the general duty of a merciful and practical regard to the dis- tresses of the indigent; while the absence of ostentation, and even secrecy, which the Saviour enjoined iu connection with almsgiving, was in- tended to correct actual abuses, and bring the practice into harmony with the spirit of the Gospel. In the remarkable reflections of Jesus on the widow's mite (Mark xii. 42) is found a principle of great value, to the effect that the magnitude of men's offerings to God is to be measured by the disposition of mind whence they proceed ; a principle which cuts up by the very roots the idea that merit attaches itself to almsgiving as such, and increases in proportion to the number and costliness of our alms-deeds. One of the earliest effects of the working of Christianity in the hearts of its professors was the care which it led them to take of the poor and indigent in the ' household of faitk.' Neg- lected and despised by the world, cut off from ils sympathies, and denied any succour it might have given, the members of the early churches were careful not only to make provision in each case for its own poor, but to contribute to the necessities of other though distant communities (Acts xi. 29; xxiv. 17; 2 Cor. ix. 12). This commendable practice seems to have had its Christian origin in the deeply interesting fact (which appears from John xiii. 29) that the Saviour and his attendants were wont, notwith- standing their own comparative poverty, to con- tribute out of their small resources something for the relief of the needy. ALOES, the two words which are so ren- dered occur in several passages of the Old Testament, as in Psalm xlv. 8; Prov. vii. 17; Canticles iv. 14, and evidently mean some odo- riferous substance which ought not to be con- founded with the bitter and nauseous aloes famed only as a medicine, and which is usually dis- agreeable in odour and nauseous in taste, and could never have been emplo3 r ed as a perfume. The words referred to seem to indicate a kind ol fragrant wood called A(,aUocluim, which was brought from India and Arabia. There can be little or no doubt that the same odoriferous wood is intended in John xix. 39, where we are told ALTAR B7 that when the body of our Saviour was taken down from the cross, Nicodemus brought myrrh and aloes for the purpose of winding up the body iu linen clothes with these spices. AL'PHA (A), the first letter of the Greek al- phabet, corresponding to the Hebrew Alcplt. Both the Hebrews and the Greeks employed the letters of their alphabets as numerals, and A (Alpha or Aleph) therefore denoted one or the Jirst. Hence our Lord says of himself, th:it lie is Alpha and Omct;a, i. e. the first and the last, the beginning and the ending, as he himself ex- plains it (Rev. i. 8, 11 ; xxi. 6 ; xxii 13). 1. ALPH^E'US, father of James the Less (Matt. x. 3 ; Luke vi. 1 5), and husband of Mary, the sister of our Lord's mother (John xix. 25); for which reason James is called ' the Lord's brother' [BROTHER]. By comparing John xix. 25, with Luke xxiv. 10, and Matt. x. 3, it ap- pears that Alphacus is the same person as Cleo- phas; Alphffius being his Greek, and Cleophas his Hebrew or Syriac name [NAMES]. 2. ALPH^EUS, the father of the evangelist Levi or Matthew (Mark ii. 14). ALTAR. The first altar we read of in the Bible was that erected by Noah on leaving the ark. Mention is made of altars erected by Abraham (Gen. xii. 7; xiii. 4; xxii. 9); by Isaac (xxvi. 25) ; by Jacob (xxxiii. 20 ; xxxv. 1, 3); by Moses (Exod. xvii. 15). After the giving of the law, the Israelites were commanded to make an altar of earth ; they were also per- mitted to employ stones, but no iron tool was to be applied to them. This has been generally understood as an interdiction of sculpture, in order to guard against a violation of the second commandment. Altars were frequently built on high places. Thus Solomon built an high place for Chemosh (1 Kings xi. 7), and Josiah brake down and burnt the high place, and stamped it small to powder (2 Kings xxiii. 15). This practice, however, was forbidden by the Mosaic law (Deut. xii. 13; xvi. 5), except in particular instances, such as those of Gideon (Judg. vi. 26) and David (2 Sam. xxiv. 18). It is said of Solomon ' that he loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David, his father, only he sacrificed the burnt incense on the high places' (1 Kings iii. 3). Altars were sometimes built on the roofs of houses: in 2 Kings xxiii. 1 2, we read of the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz. In the tabernacle, and afterwards in the temple, two altars were erected, one for sacrifices, the other for incense : the table for the shew-bread is also sometimes called an altar. 1. The altar of burnt-offering belonging to the tabernacle was a hollow square, five cubits in length and breadth, and three cubits in height ; it was made of Shittim-wood [SHITTIM], and overlaid with plates of brass. In the middle there was a ledge or projection, on which the priest stood while officiating ; immediately below this, a bi-ass grating was let down into the altar to support the fire, with four rings attached, through which poles were passed, when the altar was removed. As the priests were for- bidden to go up by steps to the altar (Exod. xx. 2fi), a slope of earth was probably made rising to a level with the ledge. In Exod. xxvii. 3, the following utensils are 53 ALTAR mentioned as belonging to the altar, all of which wei e to be made of brass. ( 1 ) pans or dishes to I receive the ashes that fell through the grating. (2) shovels for cleaning the altar. (3) vessels I for receiving the blood and sprinkling it on the altar. (4) large forks to turn the pieces of flesh or to take them off the fire (see 1 Sam. ii. 13). I 0>) '.fire-pans ;' the same word is elsewhere translated censers, Num. xvi. 17; but in Exod. xxv. 38, ' sniiff'-disJies.' 2. The altar of burnt-offering in Solomon's temple was of much larger dimensions, ' twenty cubits in length and breadth, and ten in height' (2 Chron. iv. I), and was made entirely of brass. It is said of Asa that he renewed, that is, either repaired (in which sense the word is evidently used in 2 Chroa. xxiv. 4) or reconsecrated the altar of the Lord that was before the porch of the Lord (2 Chron. xv. 8). This altar was re- moved by king Ahaz (2 Kings xvi. 14); it was ' cleansed ' by Hezekiah ; and in ths latter part of Manasseh's reign was rebuilt. 3. Of the altar of burnt-offering in the second temple, the canonical scriptures give us no in- formation excepting that it was erected before the foundations of the temple were laid (Ezra iii. 3, . 47, by Herod, king of Chalcis, who for this purpose re- moved Joseph, son of Camydus, from the high- priesthood. He held the office with credit, until Agrippa gave it to Ismael, the son of Tabi, who succeeded a short time before the departure of ANANIAS the procurator Felix, and occupied the station also under his successor Festus. Ananias, after retiring from his high-priesthood, ' increased in glory every day,' and obtained favour with the citizens, and with Albinus, the Roman procura- tor, by a lavish nse of the great wealth he had hoarded. His prosperity met with a dark and painful termination. The assassins, who played so fearful a part in the Jewish war, set fire to his house in the commencement of it, and com- pelled him to seek refuge by concealment ; but being discovered in an aqueduct, he was captured and slain. It was this Ananias before whom Paul was brought, in the procuratorship of Felix (Acts xxiii.). After this hearing Paul was sent to Caesarea, whither Ananias repaired, in order to lay a formal charge against him before Felix, who postponed the matter, detaining the apostle meanwhile, and placing him under the super- vision of a Roman centurion (Acts xxiv.). 2. ANANIAS, a Christian belonging to the in- fant church at Jerusalem, who, conspiring with his wife Sapphira to deceive and defraud the brethren, was overtaken by sudden death, and immediately buried. The Christian community at Jerusalem appear to have entered into a solemn agreement, that each and all should de- vote their property to the great work of further- ing the Gospel and giving succour to the needy. Accordingly they proceeded to sell their posses- sions, and brought the proceeds into the com- mon stock of the church. Thus Barnabas (Acts iv. 36, 37) ' having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.' The apostles then had the general disposal, if they had not also the immediate distribution, of the common funds. The contributions, therefore, were designed for the sacred purposes of religion (Actsv. 1-11). As all the members of the Jerusalem church had thus agreed to hold their property in com- mon, for the furtherance of the holy work in which they were engaged, if any one of them withheld a part, and offered the remainder as a whole, he committed two offences he de- frauded the church, and was guilty of falsehood : and as his act related not to secular but to re- ligious affairs, and had an injurious bearing, both as an example, and as a positive transgres- sion against the Gospel while it was yet strug- gling into existence, Ananias lied not unto man, but unto God, and was guilty of a sin of the deepest dye. Had Ananias chosen to keep his property for his own worldly purposes, he was at liberty, as Peter intimates, so to do ; but he had in fact alienated it to pious purposes, and it was therefore no longer his own. Yet he wished to deal with it in part as if it were so, showing at the same time that he was conscious of his misdeed, by presenting the residue to the com- mon treasury as if it had been his entire property. He wished to satisfy his selfish cravings, and at the same time to enjoy the reputation of being purely disinterested, like the rest of the church. He attempted to serve God and Mammon. With strange inconsistency on the part of those who deny miracles altogether, unbelievers have accused Peter of cruelly smiting Ananias and his wife with instant death. The sacred narrative, however, ascribes to Peter nothing more than a ANATHEiMA 67 spirited exposure of their aggravated offence. Their death, the reader is left to infer, was by the hand of God ; nor is any ground afforded in the narrative (Acts v. 1-11) for holding that Peter was in any way employed as an immediate instrument of the miracle. 3. ANANIAS, a Christian of Damascus (Acts ix. 10 ; xxii. 12), held in high repute, to whom the Lord appeared in a vision, and bade him pro- ceed to ' the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus : for, behold, he prayeth.' Ana- nias had difficulty in giving credence to the mes- sage, remembering how much evil Paul had done to the saints at Jerusalem, and knovring that he had come to Damascus with authority to lay waste the church of Christ there. Receiving, however, an assurance that the persecutor had been converted, and called to the work of preach- ing the Gospel to the Gentiles, Ananias went to Paul, and, putting his hands on him, bade him receive his sight, when immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales ; and, re- covering the sight which he had lost when the Lord appeared to him on his way to Damascus, Paul, the new convert, arose, and was baptized, and preached Jesus Christ. Tradition represents Ananias as the first that published the Gospel in Damascus, over which place he was subsequently made bishop ; but having roused, by his zeal, the hatred of the Jews, he was seized by them, scourged, and finally stoned to death in his own church. ANATH'EMA, literally anything laid up or suspended, and hence anything laid up in a tem- ple, set apart as sacred. The corresponding Hebrew word means a person or thing consecrated or devoted irrevoca- bly to God (Lev. xxvii. 21, 28) : hence, in refer- ence to living creatures, the devoted thing, whe- ther man or beast, must be put to death (Lev. xxvii. 29). The prominent idea, therefore, which the word conveyed was that of a person or thing devoted to destruction, or accursed. Thus the cities of the Canaanites were anathematized (Num. xxi. 2, 3). Thus, again, the city of Jeri- cho was made an anathema to the Lord (Josh. vi. 17), that is, every living thing in it (except Rahab and her family) was devoted to death ; that which could be destroyed by fire was burnt, and all that could not be thus consumed (as gold and silver) was for ever alienated from man and devoted to the use of the sanctuary (Josh. vi. 24). The prominence thus given to the idea of a. thing accursed led naturally to the use of the word in cases where there was no reference whatever to consecration to the service of God, as in Deut. vii. 26 ; it is sometimes used to designate the curse itself (e. g. Deut. xx. 1 7). In this sense, also, the Jews of later times use the Hebrew term, though with a somewhat dif- ferent meaning as to the curse intended, employ- ing it to signify excommunication or exclusion from the Jewish church. The more recent Rab- binical writers reckon three kinds or degrees of excommunication. The first of these is merely a temporary separation or suspension from eccle- siastical privileges, involving, however, various civil inconveniences, particularly seclusion from society to the distance of four cubits. The per- son thus excommunicated was not debarred enter- F2 68 ANATHEMA ing the temple, but instead of going in on the right hand, as was customary, he was obliged to enter on the left, the usual way of departure ; if he died whilst in this condition there was no mourning for him, but a stone was thrown on his coffin to indicate that he was separated from the people and had deserved stoning. This kind of excommunication lasted thirty days, and was pronounced without a curse. If the individual did not repent at the expiration of the term, the second kind of excommunication was resorted to. This could only be pronounced by an assembly of at least ten persons, and was always accom- panied with curses. A person thus excommuni- cated was cut off from all religious and social privileges : and it was unlawful either to eat or drink with him (compare 1 Cor. v. 11). If the excommunicated person still continued impeni- tent, a yet more severe sentence was pronounced against him, which is described as a complete excision from the church and the giving up of the individual to the judgment of God and to final perdition. There is, however, reason to believe that these three grades arc of compara- tively recent origin. As it is on all hands admitted that the Hebrew term which is the equivalent of anathema properly denotes, in its Rabbinical use, an excommunica- tion accompanied with the most severe curses and denunciations of evil, we are prepared to find that the anathema of the New Testament always implies execration ; but it is very doubt- ful whether it is ever used to designate a judicial act of excommunication. The phrase ' to call Jesus anathema' (1 Cor. xii. 2) refers not to a judicial sentence pronounced by the Jewish au- thorities, but to the act of any private individual who execrated him and pronounced him accursed. The term, as it is used in reference to any who should preach another gospel, ' Let him be ana- thema' (Gal. i. 8, 9), has the same meaning as, let him be accounted execrable and accursed. There is very great diversity of opinion respect- ing the meaning of the word in Rom. ix. 3; some understand it to signify excommunication from the Christian church, whilst most of the fathers, together with a great number of modern interpreters, explain the term as referring to the Jewish practice of excommunication. On the other hand, many adopt the more general mean- ing of accursed. The great difficulty is to ascer- tain the extent of the evil which Paul expresses his willingness to undergo ; Chrysostom, Calvin, and many others understand it to include final separation, not indeed from the love, but from the presence of Christ; others limit it to a violent death ; and others, again, explain it as meaning the same kind of curse as that under which the Jews then were, from which they might be delivered by repentance and the re- ception of the Gospel. There seems, however, little reason to suppose that a judicial act of the Christian Church is intended, and we may re- mark that much of the difficulty which com- mentators have felt seems to have arisen from their not keeping in mind that the Apostle does not speak of his wish as a possible thing, and their consequently pursuing to all its results what should be regarded simply as an expression of the most intense desire. The phrase ' let him be anathema maran-atha,' ANDBONICUS ' seems to be intended as simply an expression of | detestation. Though, however, we find little or j no evidence of the use of the word anathema i in the New Testament as the technical term for ! excommunication, it is certain that it obtained ! this meaning in the early ages of the church. AN'ATHOTH, one of the towns belonging to ! the priests in the tribe of Benjamin, and as such ! a city of refuge (Josh. xxi. 18; Jer. i. 1). It occurs also in 2 Sam. xxiii. 27; Ezra iL 23; Neh. vii. 27 ; but is chiefly memorable as the birthplace and usual residence of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. i. 1 ; xi. 21-2'J; xxix. 27). Dr. Robinson appears to have discovered this place in the present village of Aiiata, at the distance of an hour and a quarter from Jerusalem. It is seated on a broad ridge of hills, and commands an extensive view of the eastern slope of the mountainous tract of Benjamin ; including also the valley of the Jordan, and the northern part of the Dead Sea. It seems to have been once a walled town and a place of strength. Portions of the wall still remain, built of large hewn stones, and apparently ancient, as are also the foundations of some of the houses. It is now a small and very poor village. From the vici- nity a favourite kind of building-stone is carried to Jerusalem. ANCHOR. [SHIP.] AN'DREW, one of the twelve apostles. He was a native of the city of Bethsaida in Galilee, and brother of Simon Peter. He was at first a disciple of John the Baptist, and was led to re- ceive Jesus as the Messiah in consequence of John's expressly pointing him out as ' the Lan.b of God ' (John i. 36). His first care, after he had satisfied himself as to the validity of the claims of Jesus, was to bring to him his brother Simon. Neither of them, however, became at that time stated attendants on our Lord ; for we find that they were still pursuing their occupa- tion of fishermen on the sea of Galilee when Jesus, after John's imprisonment, called them to follow him (Mark i. 14, 18). Very little is re- lated of Andrew by any of the evangelists : the principal incidents in which his name occurs ^during the life of Christ are, the feeding of the five thousand (John vi. 8) ; his introducing to our Lord certain Greeks who desired to see him (John xii. 22) ; and his asking, along with his brother Simon and the two sons of Zebedee, for a further explanation of what our Lord had said in reference to the destruction of the temple (Mark xiii. 3). Of his subsequent history and labours we have no authentic record. Tradition assigns Scythia, Greece, and Thrace as the scenes of his ministry : and he is said to have suffered crucifixion at Patra? in Achaia, on a cross of the form ( X ), commonly known as ' St. Andrew's cross." 1. ANDRON'ICUS, the regent-goverr.or of Antioch in the absence of Antiochus Epiphanes, who, at the instigation of Menelaus, put to death the deposed high-priest Onias; for which deed he was himself ignominiously slain on the return of Antiochus (2 Mace, iv.) B.C. It9 [ONIAS]. 2. ANDRON1CUS, a Jewish Christian, the kinsman and fellow-prisoner of Paul (Rom. xvi. 7). 1. A'NER, ESH'COL, and MAM'RE, three Canaanitish chiefs in the neighbourhood of He- ANGELS bron, who joined their forces with those of Abra- ham in pursuit of Chedorlaomer and his allies, who had pillaged Sodom and carried Lot away captive (Gen. xiv. 24). These chiefs did not, however, imitate the disinterested conduct of the patriarch, but retained their portion of the spoil [ABRAHAM], 2. ANER, a city of Manasseh, given to the Levites of Kohath's family (1 Chron. vi. 70). ANGELS, a word signifying, both in Hebrew and Greek, messengers, and therefore used to de- note whatever God employs to execute his pur- poses, or to manifest his presence or his power. In some passages it occurs in the sense of an ordinary messenger (Job. i. 14 ; 1 Sam. xi. 3 ; Luke vii. 24 ; ix. 52) : in others it is applied to prophets (Tsa. xlii. 19; Hag. i. 13; Mai. iii.): to priests (Eccl. v. 6; Mai. ii. 7): to ministers of the New Testament (Rev. i. 20). It is also ap- plied to impersonal agents ; as to the pillar of cloud (Exod. xiv. 19): to the pestilence (2 Sam. xxiv. 10, 1"; 2 Kings xix. 35): to the winds (' who maketh the Avinds his angels,' Ps. civ. 4) : so likewise, plagues generally, are called ' evil angels' (Ps. Ixxviii. 49), and Paul calls his thorn in the flesh an ' angel of Satan ' (2 Cor. xii. 7). But this name is more eminently and distinc- tively applied to certain spiritual beings or heavenly intelligences, employed by God as the ministers of His will, and usually distinguished as angels of God or angels of Jehovah. In this case the name has respect to their official capa- city as ' messengers,' and not to their nature or condition. In the Scriptures we have frequent notices of spiritual intelligences, existing in another state of being, and constituting a celestial family, or hierarchy, over which Jehovah pre- sides. The practice of the Jews, of referring to the agency of angels every manifestation of the greatness and power of God, has led s-ome to contend that angels have no real existence, but are mere personifications of unknown powers of nature : but there are numerous passages in the Scriptures which are wholly inconsistent with this notion, and if Matt. xxii. 30. stood alone in its testimony, it ought to settle the question. So likewise, the passage in which the high dignity of Christ is established, by arguing that he is superior to the angels (Heb. i. 4. sqq.), would be without force or meaning if angels had no real existence. That these superior beings are very numerous is evident from the following expressions, Dan. vii. 10, 'thousands of thousands,' and ' ten thou- sand times ten thousand ;' Matt. xxvi. 53, ' more than twelve legions of angels;' Luke ii. 13, ' multitude of the heavenly host ;' Heb. xii. 22, 23, ' myriads of angels.' It is probable, from the nature of the case, that among so great a multitude there may be different grades and classes, and even natures ascending from man towards God, and forming a chain of being to fill up the vast space between the Creator and man the lowest of his intellectual creatures. This may be inferred from the analogies which pervade .the chain of being -on the earth whereon we live, which is as much the divine creation as the world of spirits. Accordingly the Scriptures describe angels as existing in a society com- posed of members of unequal dignity, power, ANGELS 69 and excellence, and as having chiefs and rulers (Zech.i. 11 ; iii. 7 ; Dan. x. 13 ; Jude 9 ; 1 Thess. iv. 16). In the Scriptures angels appear with bodies, and in the human form ; and no intimation is anywhere given that these bodies are not real, or that they are only assumed for the time and then laid aside. The fact that angels always appeared in the human form, does not, indeed, prove that' this form naturally belongs to them. But that which is not pure spirit must have some form or other : and angels may have the human form ; but other forms are possible. The ques- tion as to the food of angels has been very much discussed. If they do eat, we can know nothing of their actual food ; for the manna is mani- festly called 'angels' food' (Ps. Ixxviii. 25), merely by way of expressing its excellence. The only real question, therefore, is whether they feed at all or not. We sometimes find angels, in their terrene manifestations, eating and drinking (Gen. xviii. 8 ; xix. 3) ; but in Judg. xiii. 15, 16, the angel who appeared to Manoah declined, in a very pointed manner, to accept his hospitality. The passage already referred to in Matt. xxii. 30, teaches by implication that there is no dis- tinction of sex among the angels. In the Scrip- tures indeed the angels are all males : but they appear to be so represented, not to mark any distinction of sex, but because the masculine is the more honourable gender. Angels are never described with marks of age, but sometimes with j those of youth (Mark xvi. 5). The constant ab- sence of the features of age indicates the con- tinual vigour and freshness of immortality. The angels never die (Luke xx. 3fi). But no being besides God himself has essential immor- tality (1 Tim. vi. 16) : every other being there- fore is mortal in itself, and can be immortal only by the will of God. Angels, consequently, are not eternal, but had a beginning, although there is no record of their creation. The preceding considerations apply chiefly to the existence and nature of angels. Some of their attributes may be collected from other pas- sages of Scripture. That they are of superhuman intelligence is implied in Mark xiii. 32 : ' But of that day and hour knoweth no man, not even the angels in heaven.' That their power is great, may be gathered from such expressions as ' mighty angels ' (2 Thess. i. 7) ; ' angels, power- ful in strength ' (Ps. ciii. 20) ; ' angels who are greater [than man] in power and might.' The moral perfection of angels is shown by such phrases as 'holy angels' (Luke ix. 26); 'the elect angels' (1 Tim. v. 21). Their felicity is beyond question in itself, but is evinced by the passage (Luke xx. 36) in which the blessed in the future world are said to be ' like unto the angels, and sons of God.' The ministry of angels, or that they are em- ployed by Gou as the instruments of His will, is very clearly taught in the Scriptures. The very name, as already explained, shows that God em- ploys their agency in the dispensations of His Providence. And it is further evident, from i certain actions which are ascribed wholly to them (Matt. xiii. 41,49; xxiv. 31; Luke xvi. 22) ; and from the Scriptural narratives of other events, in the accomplishment of which they 70 ANGLING acted a visible part (Luke i. 11, 26; ii. 9, sq. ; Acts, v. 19, 20; x. 3, 19; xii. 7; xxvii. 23), that their agency is employed principally in the guidance of the destinies of man. In those cases also in which the agency is concealed from our view, we may admit the probability of its exist- ence ; because we are told that God sends them forth ' to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation ' (Heb. i. 14 ; also Ps. xxxiv. 7 ; xci. 11 ; Matt, xviii. 101. But the angels, when em- ployed for our welfare, do not act independently, but as the instruments of God, and by His com- mand (Ps. ciii. 20; civ. 4; Heb. i. 13, 14): not unto them, therefore, are our confidence and adoration due, but only unto him (Rev. xix. 10 ; xxii. 9) whom the angels themselves reverently worship. It was a favourite opinion of the Christian fathers that every individual is under the care of a particular angel, who is assigned to him as a guardian. They spoke also of two angels, the one good, the other evil, whom they conceived to be attendant on each individual; the good angel prompting to all good, and averting ill ; and the evil angrl prompting to all ill, and averting good. The Jews (excepting the Sad- ducees) entertained this belief. There is, how- ever, nothing to authorise this notion in the Bible. The passages (Ps. xxxiv. 7 ; Matt, xviii. 10) usually referred to in support of it, have assuredly no such meaning. The former, di- vested of its poetical shape, simply denotes that God employs the ministry of angels to deliver his people from affliction and danger ; and the celebrated passage in Matthew cannot well mean anything more than that the infant children of believers, or, if preferable, the least among the disciples of Christ, whom the ministers of the church might be disposed to neglect from their apparent insignificance, are in such estimation elsewhere, that the angels do not think it below their dignity to minister to them [SATAN]. ANGLING. The Scripture contains several allusions to this mode of taking fish. The first of these occurs as early as the time of Job : ' Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook ; or his tongue [palate, which is usually pierced by the hook] with a cord [line], which thou lettest down ? Canst thou put a hook into his 37. ANISE nose, or bore his jaw through with a thorn?' (Job xli. 1, 2). This last phrase obviously refers to the thorns which were sometimes used as hooks, and which are long after mentioned (Amos iv. 2), in the Auth. Vers. 'fish-hooks,' literally, the thorns of fishing. Of the various passages relating to this subject, the most remarkable is that which records, as ar important part of the ' burden of Egypt,' thai ' the fishers also shall mourn ; and all they that cast angle [the hook] into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon tht waters shall languish' (Isa. xix. 8). In thir poetical description of a part of the calami tie; which were to befal Egypt, we are furnished with an account of the various modes of fishing practised in that country, which is in exact con- formity with the scenes depicted in the old tomb.- of Egypt. Angling appears to have been re- garded chiefly as an amusement, in which tin- Egyptians of all ranks found much enjoyment. Not content with the abundance afforded by the Nile, they constructed within their ground spa- cious sluices or ponds for fish (Isa. xix. 10). where they fed them for the table, where the) amused themselves by angling, and by the dex terous use of the bident. These favourite occu- pations were not confined to young persons, nor thought unworthy of men of serious habits ; and an Egyptian of consequence is frequently repre- sented in the sculptures catching fish in a canal or lake, with the line, or spearing them as they glided past the bank. Sometimes the angle; posted himself in a shady spot at the water's- edge, and having ordered his servant to spread a mat upon the ground, he sat upon it as hi threw the line ; and some, with higher notion; of comfort, used a chair for the same pnrj OM-. The rod was short, and apparently of one piece the line usually single, though instances occur oi a double line, each furnished with its own hook. The fishermen generally used the net in prefer- ence to the line, but on some occasions they used the latter, seated or standing on the bank. It is, however, probable that there were people who could not afford the expense of nets ; and the use of the line is generally confined in like manner at the present day to the poorer classes, who de- pend upon skill or good fortune for their sub- sistence. This last was doubtless the state of many in ancient Palestine, and probably furnished the only case in which angling was there practised, as we find no instance of it for mere amusement. The fish caught in the lake of Tiberias were, some time since, taken exclusively with the rod and line, in the absence of boats upon that water ; and probably this is the case still. The Egyp- tian hooks were of bronze, as appears from the specimens that have been found. Insects, na- tural or artificial, were not used in angling, ground bait being exclusively employed : and the float does not appear to have been known. ANISE. The original Greek word ANETHOX, which occurs in Matt, xxiii. 23, was commonly employed by the Greek and Roman writers to designate a plant usd both medicinally and as an article of diet In Europe the word has always been used to denote a similar plant, which is familiarly known by the name of Dill, and there is no doubt that in the above passage ANKLETS it should have been so rendered. The common dill is an annual plant, growing wild among the corn in Spain and Portugal ; and on the coast of Italy, in Egypt, and about Astracan. It resem- bles fennel, but is smaller, has more glaucous leaves, and a less pleasant smell : the fruit or seeds, which are finely divided by capillary seg- ments, are elliptical, broader, flatter, and sur- rounded with a membraneous disk. They have a warm and aromatic taste, owing to the pre- sence of a pale yellow volatile oil, which itself has a hot taste and a peculiar penetrating odour. 36. [Anethum graveolens.] The error in translation here pointed oat is not of very great consequence, as both the anise and the dill are umbelliferous plants, which are found cultivated in the south of Europe. The seeds of both are employed as condiments and carminatives, and have been so from very early times ; but the ane.thon is more especially a genus of Eastern cultivation, since either the dill or another species is reared in all the countries from Syria to India. Jewish authorities state that the seed, the leaves, and the stem of dill were ' subject to tithe,' which indicates that the herb was eaten, as is indeed the case with the Eastern species in the present day. ANKLETS. This word does not occur in Scripture, but the ornament which it denotes is clearly indicated by ' the tinkling (or jingling} ornaments about the feet,' mentioned in the curious description of female attire which we find in Isa. iii. Even in the absence of special notice, we might very safely conclude that an ornament to which the Oriental women have always been so partial was not unknown to the Jewish ladies. In Egypt anklets of gold have been found, which are generally in the shape of simple rings, often however in that of snakes, and sometimes inlaid with enamel or even pre- cious stones. The sculptures show that they were worn by men as well as women. Their present u.a among the women of Arabia and Egypt sufficiently illustrates the Scriptural allu- sion. The Koran (xxiv. 31) forbids women 'to make a noise with their feet,' which, says Mr. Lane, ' alludes to the practice of knocking to- gether the anklets, which the Arab women in the time of the prophet used to wear, and which are still worn by many women in Egypt.' The same writer states that ' Anklets of solid gold and silver, and of the form here sketched (like fig. 3), are worn by some ladies, but are more ANOINTING 71 uncommon than they formerly were. They are of course very heavy, and, knocking together as the woman walks, make a ringing noise.' He thinks that in the text referred to (Isa. iii. 16) the prophet alludes to this kind of anklet, but admits that the description may apply to another kind, which he describes as ' Anklets of solid silver, worn by the wives of some of the richer peasants, and of the sheykhs of villages. Small ones of iron are worn by many children. It was also a common custom among the Arabs for girls or young women to wear a string of bells on their feet. I have seen many little girls in Cairo with small round bells attached to their anklets. Perhaps it is to the sound of ornaments of this kind, rather than of the more common anklet, that Isaiah alludes.' The anklets in use [1, 2, 5, 6, 7. Ancient Oriental. 3, 4, 8. Modem Oriental.] among the Arab women in the country of the Tigris and Euphrates are not usually solid, but hollow, so that, in striking against each other, they emit a much more sharp and sonorous sound than solid ones. 1. AN'NA, wife of Tobit, whose history is contained in the apocryphal book named after him (Tob. i. 9, &c.). 2. ANNA, an aged widow, daughter of Pha- nuel, of the tribe of Asher. She had married early, but after seven years her husband died, and during her long widowhood she daily at- tended the morning and evening services of the Temple. Anna was eighty-four years old when the infant Jesus was brought to the Temple by his mother, and entering as Simeon pronounced his thanksgiving, she also broke forth in praise to God for the fulfilment of his ancient promises (Luke ii. 36, 37). ANOINTING. The practice of anointing with perfumed oils or ointments appears to have been very common among the Hebrews, as it was among the ancient Egyptians. The prac- tice, as to its essential meaning, still remains in the East ; but perfumed waters are now far more commonly employed than oils or ointments. In the Scriptures three kinds of anointing are distinguishable: 1. For consecration and inau- guration; 2. For guests and strangers; 3. For health and cleanliness. Of these in order. 1. Consecration and Inauguration. The act of anointing appears to have been viewed as emble- matical of a particular sanctification ; of a de- signation to the service of God ; or to a holy and sacred use. Hence the anointing of the high- 78 ANOINTING priests (Exod. xxix. 29 ; Lev. iv. 3), and even of the sacred vessels of the tabernacle (Exod. xxx. 26, &c.) ; and hence also, probably, the anointing of the king, who, as ' the Lord's anointed,' and, under the Hebrew constitution, the viceroy of Jehovah, was undoubtedly invested with a sacred character. The first instance of anointing which the Scriptures record is that of Aaron, when he was solemnly set apart to the high-priesthood. Being first invested with the rich robes of his high office, the sacred oil was poured in much profu- sion upon his head. It is from this that the high-priest, as well as the king, is called ' the Anointed' (Lev. iv. 3, 5, 16 ; vi. 20; Ps. cxxxiii. 2). In fact, anointing being the principal cere- mony of regal inauguration among the Jews, as crowning is with us, ' anointed,' as applied to a king, has much the same signification as ' crowned.' As the custom of inaugural anointing first oc- curs among the Israelites immediately after they left Egypt, and no example of the same kind is met with previously, it is fair to conclude that the practice and the notions connected with it were acquired in that country. With the Egyp- tians, as with the Jews, the investiture to any sacred office, as that of king or priest, was con- firmed by this external sign ; and as the Jewish lawgiver mentions the ceremony of pouring oil upon the head of the high-priest after he had put on his entire dress, with the mitre and crown, the Egyptians represent the anointing of their priests and kings after they were attired in their full robes, with the cap and crown upon their heads, borne of the sculptures introduce a priest pouring oil over the monarch. 39. 2. The anointing of our Saviour's feet by ' the woman who was a sinner' (Luke vii. 38), led to the remark that the host himself had neglected to anoint his head (vii. 46) ; whence we learn that this was a mark of attention which those who gave entertainments paid to their guests. Among the Egyptians anointing was the ordi- nary token of welcome to guests in every party at the house of a friend ; acd in Egypt, no less than iu Judaea, the metaphorical expression 'anointed with the oil of gladness' was fully understood, and applied to the ordinary occur- rences of life. It was customary for a servant ANT to attend every guest as he seated himself, and to anoint his head. 3. It is probable, however, that the Egyptians, as well as the Greeks and Jews, anointed them- selves at home, before going abroad, although they expected the observance of this etiquette on the part of their entertainer. That the Jews thus anointed themselves, not only when paying a visit, but on ordinary occasions, is shown by many passages, especially those which describe the omission of it as a sign of mourning (Deut. xxviii. 40 ; Ruth iii. 3 ; 2 Sam. xiv. 2 ; Dan. x. 3; Amos vi. 6; Mic.vi. 15; Esth. ii. 12; Ps. civ. 15; Isa. Ixi. 3; Eccles. ix. 8; Cant. i. 3; iv. 10; also Judith x. 3; Sus. 17; Ecclus. xxxix. 26; Wisd. ii. 7). One of these passages (Ps. civ. 15, 'oil that maketh the face to shine') shows very clearly that not only the hair but the skin was anointed. Anointing the Sick. The Orientals are indeed strongly persuaded of the sanative properties of oil ; and it was under this impression that the Jews anointed the sick, and applied oil to wounds (Ps. cix. 18; Isa. i. 6; Mark vi. 13; Luke x. 34 ; James v. 14). Anointing was used in sundry disorders, as well as to promote the general health of the body. It was hence, as a salutary and approved medicament, that the seventy disciples were directed to ' anoint the sick' (Mark vi. 13); and hence also the sick man is directed by St. James to send for the elders of the church, who were ' to pray for him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.' Anointing the Dead. The practice of anoint- ing the bodies of the dead is intimated in Mark xiv. 8, and Luke xxiii. 56. This ceremony was performed after the body was washed, and was designed to check the progress of corruption. Although, from the mode of application, it is called anointing, the substance employed appears to have been a solution of odoriferous drugs. This (together with the laying of the body in spices) was the only kind of embalment in use among the Jews [Bt'KiAi]. ANT, fifth order of insects, occurs Prov. vi. C ; xxx. 25. Ants have only latterly become the subjects of accurate observation, and the rt- sult has dissipated many erroneous notions re- specting them, and revealed much interesting information concerning their domestic politj, language, migrations, affections, passions, vir- tues, wars, diversions, &c. The following facts are selected as relevant to Scriptural illustration. Ants dwell together in societies ; and although they have ' no guide, overseer, or ruler,' yet j they have all one soul, and are animated by one , object their own welfare and the welfare of ( each other. Each individual strenuously pur- sues his own peculiar duties; and regards (ex- j cept in the case of females), and is regarded by, ! every other member of the republic with equal respect and affection. They devote the utmost attention to their young. The egg is cleaned and licked, and gradually expands under this treatment, till the worm is hatched, which is then tended and fed with the most affectionate care. They continue their assiduity to the pupa, or chrysalis, which is the third transformation. They heap up the pupae, which greatly resemble so many grains of wlieat, or rather nee, by hun- dreds in their spacious lodges, watch them in ANT an attitude of defence, carry them out to enjoy the radiance of the sun, and remove them to different situations in the nest, according to the required degree of temperature ; open the pupa, and at the precise moment of the transforma- tion, disenthral the new-born, insect of its habi- liments. The most prevalent and inexcusable error, however, respecting' ants, has been the belief that they hoard up grains of corn, chiefly wheat, for their supply during winter, having first bitten out the germ to prevent it from growing in their nests. This notion, however, is now completely exploded with regard to European ants. The mistake has no doubt arisen from the great similarity, both in shape, size, and colour, before mentioned, of the pupa or chry- salis of the ant to a grain of corn, and from the ants being observed to carry them about, and to open the cuticle to let out the enclosed insect. It is now also ascertained beyond a doubt that no European ants, hitherto properly examined, feed on corn, or any other kind of grain. Nor has any species of ant been yet found of any kind laid up in its nest. The truth is, that ants are chiefly carnivorous, preying indiscriminately on all the soft parts of other insects, and espe- cially the viscera; also upon worms, whether dead or alive, and small birds or animals. If unable to drag their booty to the nest, they make an abundant meal upon it, and, like the bee, dis- gorge it, upon their return home, for the use of their companions ; and they appear able to re- tain at pleasure the nutritious juices unchanged for a considerable time. Ants are also extremely fond of saccharine matter, which they obtain from the exudation of trees, or from ripe fruits, &c. ; but their favourite food is the saccharine exudation from the body of the aphides, or plant- lice. These insects insert their tube or sucker between the fibres of vegetables, where they find a most substantial nutriment. This nutri- ment they retain a considerable time, if no ant approaches them. The ant has the talent of procuring it from the aphides at pleasure. It approaches the aphis, strikes it gently and re- peatedly with its antennas, when it instantly dis- charges the juice by two tubes, easily discerned to be standing out from its body. These crea- tures are the milch Jtine of the ants. By a re- markable coincidence, which M. Huber justly considers too much to be ascribed to chance, the aphides and the ants become torpid at the same degree of cold (27 Fahr.), and revive together at the same degree of warmth. He says, ' I am not acquainted with any ants to whom the art of obtaining from the pucerons (aphides) their subsistence is unknown. We might even ven- ture to affirm that these insects are made for their use ' (Huber, Natural History of Ants, p. 210, &c.X It is highly prooable that the exo f 'c ants sub- sist by similar means. The accounts given us of the termites, or ants, inhabiting the hottest climates, clearly show that they are carnivorous. Bosnian, in his description of Guinea, says that they will devour a sheep in one night, and that a fowl is amusement to them only for an hour. In these situations living animals often become their victims. An Italian missionary at Congo relates that a cow in a stall had been known to ANTEDILUVIANS 73 devoured by these devastators. We have therefore every reason to conclude that the ants of Palestine, like those of Europe, are carnivo- rous, become torpid in winter, and need no magazine of provisions. The words of Solomon (Prov. vi. 6, &c.), properly considered, give no countenance to the ancient error respecting ants. He does not affirm that the ant, which he pro- poses to the sluggard as an example, laid up in her magazine stores of grain against winter, but that, with considerable prudence and foresight, she makes use of proper seasons to collect a sup- ply of provisions sufficient for her purposes. There is not a word in them implying that she stores up grain or other provisions. She pre- pares her bread and gathers her food (namely, such food as is suited to her) in summer and harvest (that is, when it is most plentiful), and thus shows her wisdom and prudence by using the advantages offered to her. The sense is thus ably given by Dr. Hammond : ' As in the matter just mentioned the least delay is pernicious, so in all things else sluggishness, or negligence of those things which concern us most nearly, should ever be avoided ; and if we need any instructor on this head, we may go to one of the least and meanest of creatures.' The moral, then, in- tended in Solomon's allusion to the ant, is simply to avail one's self of the favourable time without delay. ANTEDILUVIANS, the name given col- lectively to the people who lived before the Deluge. The interval from the Creation to that event is not less, even according to the Hebrew text, than 1657 years, being not more than 691 years shorter than that between the Deluge and the birth of Christ, and only 167 years less than from the birth of Christ to the present time, and equal to about two-sevenths of the whole period from the Creation. By the Samaritan and Septuagint texts (as adjusted by Hales) a much greater duration is assigned to the antediluvian period namely, 2256 years, which nearly equals the Hebrew interval from the Deluge to the birth of Christ, and much exceeds the interval from the birth of Christ to the present time. In the article 'ADAM' it has been shown that the father of men was something more than ' the noble savage,' or rather the grown-up infant, which some have represented him. He was an instructed man ; and the immediate descendants of a man so instructed could not be an ignorant or uncultivated people. Their pur- suits from the first were agricultural and pas- toral ; for it is remarkable that of the strictly savage or hunting condition of life there is not the slightest trace before the Deluge. In fact, savageism is not discoverable before the Con- fusion of Tongues, and was in all likelihood a degeneracy from a state of cultivation, eventually produced in particular communities by that great social convulsion. All that was peculiar in the circumstances of the antediluvian period was eminently favourable to civilization. By reason of their length of life, the antedi- luvians had ample opportunities of acquiring the highest skill in the mechanical arts. They had also more encouragement in protracted undertakings, and stronger inducements to the erection of superior, more costly, more durable, and more capacious edifices and monuments. 74 ANTEDILUVIANS public and private, than exist at present. They might reasonably calculate on reaping the benefit of their labour and expenditure. The earth itself was probably more equally fertile, and its climate more uniformly healthful, and more auspicious to longevity, and consequently to every kind of mental and corporeal exertion and enter- prise, than has been the case since the great convulsion which took place at the Deluge. But probably the greatest advantage enjoyed by the antediluvians, and which must have been in the highest degree favourable to their ad- vancement hi the arts of life, was the uniformity of language. Nothing could have tended more powerfully to maintain, equalize, and promote whatever advantages were enjoyed, and to pre- vent any portion of the human race from de- generating into savage life. The opinion that the old world was acquainted with astronomy, is chiefly founded on the ages of Seth and his descendants being particularly set down (Gen. \. 6, sqq.\ and the precise year, month, and day being stated in which Noah and his family, &c. entered the ark, and made their egress from it (Gen. vii. 1 1 ; viii. 13). The knowledge of zoology, which Adam possessed, was doubtless imparted to his children ; and we find that Noah was so minutely informed on the subject as to distinguish between clean and un- clean leasts, and that his instructions extended to birds of every kind (Gen. vii. 2-4). A know- ledge of some essential principles in botany is shown by the fact that Adam knew how to dis- tinguish ' seed-bearing herb ' and ' tree in which is a seed-bearing fruit,' with ' every green herb ' (Gen. i. 29, 30). With mineralogy the antedilu- vians were at least so far acquainted as to dis- tinguish metals ; and in the description of the garden of Eden gold and precious stones are no- ticed (Gen. ii. 12). That the antediluvians were acquainted with music is certain ; for it is ex- pressly said that Jubal (while Adam was still alive) became ' the father of those who handle the kinnur and huyab' (Gen. iv. 21). The kinmir was evidently a stringed instrument resembling a lyre; and the hugab was without doubt the pandsean pipe, composed of reeds of different lengths joined together. This clearly intimates considerable progress in the science. Our materials are too scanty to allow us to affirm that the antediluvians possessed the means of communicating their ideas by writing or by hieroglyphics, although tradition, and a hint or two in the Scriptures, might support the asser- tion. With regard to architecture, it is a singular and important fact that Cain, when he was driven from his first abode, built a city in the land to which he went, and called it Enoch, after his son. This shows that the descendants of Adam lived in houses and towns from the first, and consequently affords another confirmation of the argument for the original cultivation of the human family. The metallurgy of the ante- diluvians has been noticed in ' ADAM :' and to what is there said of agriculture we shall only add a reference to the case of Noah, who, im- mediately after the Flood, became a husband- man, and planted a vineyard. He also knew the method of fermenting the juice of the grape ; for it is said he drank of the wine, which produced inebriation (Gen. ix. 20, 21). This ANTICHRIST knowledge he doubtless obtained from his pro- genitors anterior to the destruction of the old world. Pasturage appears to have been coeval with husbandry. Abel was a keeper of sheep, while his brother was a tiller of the ground (Gen. iv. 2) ; but there is no necessity for supposing that Cain's husbandry excluded the care of cattle. The class of tent-dwelling pastors that is, of those who live in tents that they may move with their flocks and herds from one pasture- ground to another did not originate till com- paratively late after the Fall ; for Jabal, the seventh from Adam in the line of Cain, is said to have been the 'father' or founder of that mode of life (Gen. iv. 20). It is impossible to speak with any decision respecting the form or forms of government which prevailed before the Deluge. The slight intimations to be found on the subject seem to favour the notion that the particular govern- ments were patriarchal, subject to a general theocratical control. The right of property was recognised, for Abel and Jabal possessed Hocks, and Cain built a city. From Noah's familiarity with the distinction of clean and unclean beasts (Gen. vii. 2), it would seem that the Levitical rules on this subject were by no means new when laid down in the code of Moses. Marriage, and all the relations springing from it, existed from the beginning (Gen. ii. 23-25) ; and although polygamy was known among the antediluvians (Gen. iv. 19), it w:>s most probably unlawful ; for it must have been obvious that, if more than one wife had been necessary for a man, the Lord would not have confined the first man to one woman. The marriage of the sons of Seth with the daughters of Cain appears to have been prohibited, since the consequence of it was that universal depra- vity in the family of Seth so forcibly exprost.il in this short passage, ' All flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth' (Gen. vi. 12). It is probable that even the longevity of the antediluvians may have contributed to the general corruption of manners. As there was probably a good deal of time upon their hands, the temptations to idleness were likely to be very strong; and the next step would be to licentious habits and selfish violence. The ample leisure possessed by the children of Adam might have been employed for many excellent purposes of social life and religious obedience, and undoubtedly it was so employed by many ; but to the larger part it became a snare and the occasion of temptations, so that ' the wickedness of man became great, the earth was corrupt before God, and was filled with violence.' ANTICHRIST. The meaning attached to this word has been greatly modified by the con troversies of various churches and sects. IB Scripture, however, and the early Christian writers, it has an application sufficiently distinct from partial interpretations. Antichrist, ac- cording to St. John, is the ruling spirit of error, the enemy of the truth of the Gospel as it is displayed in the divinity and holiness of Christ This is the primary meaning of the term,, and we are led at once to consider it as the proper j title of Satan. But the same apostle speaks of the existence of many antichrists ; whence we ANTIOCH learn that it is applicable to any being -who opposes Christ in the high places of spiritual wickedness. ANTI-LIB'ANUS. [LEBANON.] ANTIOCH. Two places of this name are mentioned in the New Testament. 1. A city on the banks of the Orontes, 300 miles north of Jerusalem, and about 30 from the Mediterranean. It was situated in the province of Seleucis, called Tetrapolis. It was the metropolis of Syria, the ANTIOCH 75 residence of the Syrian kings, and afterwards became the capital of the Roman provinces in Asia. It ranked third, after Rome and Alex- andria, among the cities of the empire, and was little inferior in size and splendour to the latter. Its suburb Daphne was celebrated for its grove and fountains, its asylum and temple were dedi- cated to Apollo and Diana. It v. r as very popu- lous; within 150 years after its erection the Jews slew 100,000 persons in it in one day. In the time of Chrysostom the population was com- puted at 200,000, of -whom one-half, or even a greater proportion, were professors of Christi- anity. Cicero speaks of the city as distinguished by men of learning and the cultivation of the arts. A multitude of Jews resided in it. Se- leueus Nicator granted them the rights of citizenship, and placed them on a perfect equality with the other inhabitants. These privileges \vcre continued to them by Vespasian and Titus. Antioch is called libera by Pliny, having ob- tained from Pompey the privilege of being governed by its own laws. The Christian faith was introduced at an early period into Antioch, and with great success (Acts XL 19. 21, 24). The name ' Christians' was here first applied to its professors (Acts xi. 26) Antioch soon became a central point for the dif- fusion of Christianity among the Gentiles, and maintained for several centuries a high rank in the Christian world. A controversy which arose between certain Jewish believers from Jerusalem and the Gentile converts at Antioch respecting the permanent obligation of the right of circum- cision was the occasion of the first apostolic council or convention (Acts .xv.). Antioch was the scene of the early labours of the apostle Paul, and the place whence he set forth on his first missionary labours i Acts xi. 26 ; xiii. 2). Ignatius was the second bishop or overseer of the church, for about forty years, till his martyrdom in A.D. 107. As the ecclesiastical system became gradually assimilated to the political, the churches in those cities which held the highest civil rank assumed a corresponding superiority in relation to other Christian communities. Such was the case at Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch, and, in the course of time, at Constantinople and Jerusalem, where the term Exarch was applied to the resi- dent bishop, but shortly exchanged for that of Patriarch. At the present time there are three prelates in Syria who claim the title of patri- archs of Antioch. namely : ( 1 ) the patriarch cf the Greek church; (2) of the Syrian Mono- physites ; (3) of the Maronites. Few cities have undergone and survived greater vicissitudes and disasters than Antioch. In A.D. 2CO Sapor, the Persian king, surprised and pil- laged it, and multitudes of the inhabitants were slain or sold as slaves. It has been frequently brought to the verge of utter ruin by earthquakes ; by that of A.D. 526 no less than 250,000 persons were destroyed, the population being swelled by an influx of strangers to the festival of the As- cension. The emperor Justinian gave forty-five centenaries of gold (180,000/.) to restore the city. Scarcely had it resumed its ancient splendour (A.D. 540) when it was again taken *and delivered to the flames by Chosroes. In A.D. 658 it was captured by the Saracens. In A.D. 975 it was retaken by Nicephoras Phocas. In A.D. 1080 the son of the governor Philaretus betrayed it into the hands of Soliman. Seventeen years after the Duke of Normandy entered it at the head of 300,000 Crusaders ; but as the citadel still held out, the victors were in their turn be- sieged by a fresh host under Kerboga and twenty- eight emirs, which at last gave way to their des- perate valour. In A.D. 1268 Antioch was occu- pied and ruined by Boadocbar or Bibars, sultan of Egypt and Syria; this first seat of the Christian name being dispeopled by the slaughter of 17,OCO persons, and the captivity of 100,000. About the middle of the fifteenth century the three patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Je- rusalem convoked a synod, and renounced all connection with the Latin church. Antioch at present belongs to the Pashalic of Haleb (Aleppo), and bears the name ofAiitalda. The inhabitants are said to have amounted to twenty thousand before the earthquake of 1822, which destroyed four or five thousand. The present town stands on scarcely one-third of the area enclosed by the ancient wall, of which the line may be easily traced. 2. ANTIOCH in (or near) Pisidia, being a bor- der city, was considered at different times as belonging to different provinces. It was founded by Seleucus Nicanor, and its first inhabitants were from Magnesia on the Maeander. After the defeat of Antiochus (III.) the Great by the Romans, it came into the possession of Eumenes, king of Pergamus, and was afterwards trans- ferred to Amyntas. On his death the Romans made it the seat of a proconsular government, and invested it with the privileges of immunity from taxes and a municipal constitution similar to that of the Italian towns. When Paul and Barnabas visited this city (Acts xiii. 14), they 76 ANTIOCHDS ANTIOCHUS found a Jewish synagogue and a considerable number of proselytes, and met with great success among the Gentiles (v. 48), but, through the vio- lent opposition of the Jews, were obliged to leave the place, which they did in strict accordance with their Lord's injunction (v. 51, compared with Matt x. 14 ; Luke ix. 5). Till within a very recent period Antioch was supposed to have been situated where the town of Ak-Sheker now stands ; but later investigations have determined its site to be adjoining the town of Yalobatch ; and Mr. Arundell observed there the remains of several temples and churches, besides a theatre and a magnificent aqueduct ; of the latter twenty-one arches still remained in a perfect state. ANTI'OCHUS, a name which may be inter- preted he who untfistands, or lasts out ; and denotes military prowess, as do many other of the Greek names. It was borne by one of the generals of Philip, whose son, Selencus, by the help of the first Ptolemy, established himself (B.C. 312) as ruler of Babylon. For eleven years more the contest in Asia continued, while Antigonus was grasping at universal supremacy. At length, in 301, he was defeated and slain in the decisive battle of Ipsus, in Phrygia. Ptolemy, son of Lagos, had meanwhile become master of southern Syria ; and Seleucus yas too much indebted to him to be disposed to eject him by force from this pos- session. In fact, the three first Ptolemies (B.C. 323-222) looked on their extra-Egyptian posses- sions as their sole guarantee for the safety of Egypt itself agains*, their formidable neighbour, and succeeded in keeping the mastery, not onlj r of Palestine and Coele-Syria, and of many towns on that coast, but of Cyrene and other parts of Libya, of Cyprus, and other islands, with nume- rous maritime posts all round Asia Minor. A permanent fleet was probably kept up at Samos, so that their arms reached to the Hellespont; and for some time they ruled over Thrace. Thus Syria was divided between two great powers, the northern half falling to Seleucus and his suc- cessors, the southern to the Ptolemies ; and this explains the titles ' king of the north ' and ' king of the south,' in the llth chapter of Daniel. The line dividing them was drawn somewhat to the north of Damascus, the capital of Coele- Syria. The first Selencus built a prodigious number of cities with Greek institutions, not, like Alex- ander, from military or commercial policy, but to gratify ostentation, or his love for Greece. To people his new cities was often a difficult matter ; and this led to the bestowal of premiums on those who were willing to become citizen?. Hence we may account for the extraordinary privileges which the Jews enjoyed in them all, having equal rights with Macedonians. But there was still another cause which recom- mended the Jews to the Syrian kings. A nation thus diffused through their ill-compacted empire, formed a band most useful to gird its parts to- gether. To win the hearts of the Jews, was to win the allegiance of a brave brotherhood, who would be devoted to their protector, and who conld never make common cause with any spirit of local independence. For this reason An- tiochus the Great, and doubtless his predecessors also, put peculiar trust in Jewish garrisons. 41. [A utiochus the Greet .] Again : through the great revolution of Asia, the Hebrews of Palestine were now placed nearly on the frontier of two mighty monarchies ; and it would seem that the rival powers bid against one another for their good will so great were the benefits showered upon them by the second Ptolemy. Even when a war broke out for the possession of Coele-Syria, under Antiochns the Great, and the fourth Ptolemy (B.C. 218,217), though the people of Jndaa, as part of the battle- field and contested possession, were exposed to severe suffering, it was not the worse for their ultimate prospects. Antiochus at least, when at a later period (BC. 198) left master of southern Syria, did but take occasion to heap on the Jews and Jerusalem new honours and exemptions. The Syrian empire, as left by Antiochus the Great to his son, was greatly weaker than that which the first Seleucus founded. Scarcely, in- deed, had the second of the line begun to reign (B.C. 280) when four sovereigns in Asia Minor established their complete independence : the kings of Pontus, Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Per- gamus. In the next reign that of Antiochns Theos the revolt of the Parthians under Arsaces (B.C. 250) was followed speedily by that of the distant province of Bactriana. For thirty years together the Parthians continued to grow at the expense of the Syrian monarchy. The great Antiochus passed a life of war (B.C. 223-187). In his youth he had to contend against his re- volted satrap of Media, and afterwards against his kinsman Acharus, in Asia Minor. Besides this, he was seven years engaged in successful campaigns against the Parthians and the king of Bactriana ; and, finally, met unexpected and staggering reverses in war with the Romans, so that his fast days were inglorious and his re- sources thoroughly broken. Respecting the reign of his son, Seleucus Philopator (B.C. 187- 176), we know little, except that he left his king- dom tributary to the Romans [see also SELEUCUS PHILOPATOR]. In Daniel, xi. 20, he is named a raiser of taxes, which shows what was the chief direction of policy in his reign. Selencus having been assassinated by one of his courtiers, his brother Antiochus Epiphanes hastened to occupy the vacant throne, although the natural heir, Demetrius, son of Seleucus, was alive, but a hostage at Rome. In Daniel xi. 21 it is indi- cated that he gained the kingdom by flatteries ; and there can be no doubt that a most lavish bribery was his chief instrument. According to the description in Livy (xli. 20), the magnifi- cence of his largesses had almost the appearance of insanity. A prince of such a temper and in such a po- sition, whose nominal empire was still extensive, ANTIOCHUS though its real strength and wealth -were depart- ing, may naturally have conceived, the first mo- ment that he felt pecuniary need, the design of plundering the Jewish temple. At such a crisis. the advantage of the deed might seem to over- balance the odium incurred : yet, as he would convert every Jew in his empire into a deadly enemy, a second step would become necessary APE 77 42. [Antiochus Epiphanes.] to crush the power of the Jews, and destroy their national organization. The design, therefore, of prohibiting circumcision and their whole cere- monial, would naturally ally itself to the plan of spoliation, without supposing any previous en- mity against the nation on his part. We have written enough to show how surprising to the Jews must have been the sudden and almost in- credible change of policy on the part of the rulers of Syria ; and how peculiarly aggravated the enmity Antioohus Epiphanes must in any case have drawn on himself. Instead of crushing his apparently puny foes, he raised up heroes against himself [MACCABEES], who, helped by the civil wars of his successors, at length achieved the deliverance of their people ; so that in the 170th year of the Seleucidse (B.C. 143) their in- dependence was formally acknowledged, and they began to date from this period as a new birth of their nation. The change of policy, from conciliation to cruel persecution, which makes the reign of Epiphanes an era in the relation of the Jews to the Syrian monarchy, has perhaps had great permanent moral results. It is not impossible that perseverance in the conciliating plan might have sapped the energy of Jewish national faith : while it is certain that persecution kindled their zeal and cemented their unity. Jerusalem, by its sufferings, became only the more sacred in the eyes of its absent citizens ; who vied in re- placing the wealth which the sacrilegious Epi- phanes had ravished. According to 1 Maccab. vi. 1-16, this king died shortly after an attempt to plunder a temple at Elymais ; and Josephus follows that account. An outline of the deeds of the kings of Syria in war and peace, down to Antiochus Epiphanes, is presented in the 1 1th chapter of Daniel ; in which Epiphanes and his father are the two principal figures. The wars and treaties of the kings of Syria and Egypt from B.C. 280 to B.C. 165 are described so minutely and so truly, in w. 6-36, as to force all reasonable and well-in- formed men to choose between the alternatives, either that it is a most signal and luminous pre- diction, or that it was written after the event. Besides Antiochus Epiphanes, the book o: Maccabees mentions his son, called Antiochus Eupator, and another young Antiochus, son of Alexander Balas, the usurper ; both of whom were murdered at a tender age. Iii the two last chapters of the book a fourth Antiochus appears, called by the Greeks Sidet.es, from the town of Sida, in Pamphylia. This is the last king of that house, whose reputation and power were not unworthy df the great name of Seleucus. In the year B.C. 134 he besieged Jerusalem, and having taken it next year, after a severe siege, he pulled down the walls, and reduced the nation once more to subjection, after only ten years' independence. AN'TIPAS, a person named as ' a faithful witness,' or martyr, in Rev. ii. 13. 2. ANTIPAS, or HEROD-ANTIPAS. [HERO- DIAN FAMILY.] ANTIPA'TER. [HERODIAN FAMILY.] ANTIPA'TRIS, a city built by Herod the Great, on the site of a former place called Caphar-saba. The spot was well watered, and fertile ; a stream flowed round the city, and in its neighbourhood were groves of large trees. Caphar-saba was 120 stadia from Joppa; and between the two places Alexander Balas drew a trench, with a wall and wooden towers, as a defence against the approach of Antiochus. Anti- patris also lay between Cacsarea and Lydia, its distance from the former place being twenty-six Roman miles. On the road from Ramlah to Nazareth, north of Ras-el Ain, there is a village called Kafir Saba ; and as its position is almost in exact agreement with the position assigned to Antipatris, it is supposed to be the same place, this Kafir Saba being no other than the repro- duced name of Caphar-saba, which, as in many other instances, has again supplanted the foreign, arbitrary, and later name of Antipatris. St. Paul was brought from Jerusalem to Antipa- tris by night, on his route to Csesarea (Acts xxiii. 31). ANTO'NIA, a fortress in Jerusalem, on the north side of the area of the temple, often men- tioned by Josephus in his account of the later wars of the Jews. It was originally built by the Maccabees, under the name of Baris, and was afterwards rebuilt with great strength and splen- dour by the first Herod. This fortress is the ' castle ' into which Paul was carried from the temple by the soldiers : from the stairs of which he addressed the people collected in the ad- jacent court (Acts xxi. 31-40). APE. The word is in the Hebrew KOPH, and it occurs only in 1 Kings x. 22 and 2 Chron. ix. 21, as among the curiosities in natural his- tory brought back by Solomon's ships from their distant voyages to Ophir. The name seems to have been introduced along with the animals, for in Sanscrit and Malabaric kapi is the name for an ape. We cannot of course attempt to determine the species brought into Palestine on the occasion indicated ; and the probability indeed is, that the name is a general one for all or any of the quadrumana of which the Hebrews had any knowledge. When we consider the mode in which these animals were introduced, it is.curious to compare this with the scene in the tomb of Thothmes III. at Thebes, where the presents and tributes of various distant nations are represented as being brought to the king. Among these are several living animals, includ- 78 APHEK 43. [Apes from Egyptian Monuments.] ing six quadrumanous animals. The smallest and most effaced may be apes ; but the others, and in particular the three here copied, are un- doubtedly Macaci or Cynocephali, that is, a species of the genus baboon, or baboon-like apes. The association renders these figures interesting ; but it is impossible to say that the animals brought to Solomon -were of these kinds, or in- deed to say to what species they should be re- ferred [SATYR"]. APEL'LES, a Christian at Rome, -whom Paul salutes in his Epistle to the Church there (Rom. xvi. 10), and calls 'approved in Christ,' i.e. an approved Christian. According to the old church traditions Apelles was one of the seventy disciples, and bishop either of Smyrna or Heracleia. APHAR'SACHITES or APHARSATHCHITES, the name of the nation to which belonged one portion of the colonists whom the Assyrian king planted in Samaria (Ezra iv. 9 ; v. 6). A'PHEK : the name signifies strength ; hence a citadel or fortified town. There were at least three places so called, viz. : 1. APHEK, a city in the tribe of Asher (Josh. xiii. 4; xix. 30), called Aphik in Judg. i. 31, where we also learn that the tribe was unable to gain possession of it. A village called Afka is still found in Lebanon, situated at the bottom of a valley, and may possibly mark the site of this Aphek. 2. APHEK, a town near which Benhadad was defeated by the Israelites (1 Kings xx. 26. ) Keturahites, i. e. the descendants of Abra- ham and his second wife Keturah, by whom he had six sons (Gen. xxv. 2): Simram, Jokshan (who, like Raamah, son of Cush, was also the father of two sons, Sheba and Dedan), Medan, Midian, Jishbak, and Shuach. Among these, the posterity of Midian became the best known. (c) Udomites, i. e. the descendants of Esau, who possessed Mount Seir and the adjacent region, called from them Idumjea. They and the Na- bathscans formed in later times a flourishing commercial state, the capital of which was the remarkable city called Petra. C. N. horites, the descendants of Nahor, Abraham's brother, who seem to have peopled the land of Uz, the country of Job, and of Buz, the country of his friend Elihu the Buzite, these 86 ARABIA being the names of Nahor's sons (Gen. xxii. 21). I). Lotites, viz. : (a) Moabites, who occupied the northern por- tion of Arabia Petrsea, as above described ; and their kinsmen, the (6) Ammonites, who lived north of them, in Arabia Deserta. Besides these, the Bible mentions various other tribes who resided within the bounds of Arabia, but whose descent is unknown, e. g. the Amale- kites, the Kenites, the Horites, the inhabitants of Maon, Hazor, Vedan, and Javan-Meusal (Ezek. xxvii. 19). In process of time some of these tribes were perhaps wholly extirpated (as seems to have been the case with the Amalekites), but the rest were more or less mingled together by inter-marriages, by military conquests, political revolutions, and other causes of which history has preserved no record; and thus amalgamated, they became known to the rest of the world as the ' ARABS,' a people whose physical and mental characteristics are very strongly and distinctly marked. In both respects they rank very high among the nations ; so much so, that some have regarded them as furnishing the prototype the primitive model form the standard figure of the human species. The inhabitants of Arabia have, from remote antiquity, been divided into two great classes, viz. the townsmen (including villagers), and the men of the desert, such being the meaning of the word ' Bedawees ' or Bedouins, the designation given to the ' dwellers in the wilderness.' From the nature of their country, the latter are neces- sitated to lead the life of nomades, or wandering shepherds ; and since the days of the patriarchs (who were themselves of that occupation) the ex- tensive steppes which form so large a portion of Arabia, have been traversed by a pastoral but warlike people, who, in their mode of life, their food, their dress, their dwellings, their manners, customs, and government, have always continued, and still continue, almost, unalterably the same. They consist of a great many separate tribes, who are collected into different encampments dispersed through the territory which they claim as their own ; and they move from one spot to another (commonly in the neighbourhood of pools or wells) as soon as the stinted pasture is exhausted by their cattle. It is only here and there that the ground is susceptible of cultiva- tion, and the tillage of it is commonly left to peasants, who are often the vassals of the Be- dawees, and whom (as well as all 'townsmen') they regard with contempt as an inferior race. Having constantly to shift their residence, they live in movable tents (comp. Isa. xiii. 20 ; Jer. xlix. 29), from which circumstance they re- ceived from the Greeks the name of Scenites, dwellers in tents [TENTS]. The heads of tribes are called sheikhs, a word of various import, but used in this case as a title of honour ; the govern- ment is hereditary in the family of each sheikh, but elective as to the particular individual ap- pointed. Their allegiance, however, consists more in following his example as a leader than in obeying his commands; and, if dissatisfied with his government, they will depose or abandon him. As the independent lords of their own ARABIA deserts, the Bedawees have from time immemo- rial demanded tribute or presents from all tra- vellers or caravans (Isa. xxi. 13) passing through their country ; the transition from which to rob- bery is so natural, that they attach to the latter no disgrace, plundering without mercy all who are unable to resist them, or who have not secured the protection of their tribe. Their watching for travellers ' in the ways,' i. e. the frequented routes through the desert, is alluded to Jer. iii. 2 ; Ezra viii. 3 1 ; and the fleetness of their horses in carrying them into the ' depths of the wilderness,' beyond the reach of their pur- suers, seems what is referred to in Isa. Ixiii. 13, 14. Their warlike incursions into more settled districts are often noticed (e. g. Job i. 15; 2 Chron. xxi. 16 ; xxvi. 7). The acuteness of their bodily senses is very remarkable, and is exemplified in their astonishing sagacity in tracing and distin- guishing the footsteps of men and cattle. The law of blood-revenge sows the seeds of perpetual feuds; and what was predicted (Gen. xvi. 12) of the posterity of Ishmael, the ' wild-ass man ' (a term most graphically descriptive of a Bedawee), holds true of the whole people [BIOOD-REVENGE]. They show bravery in repelling a public enemy, but when they fight for plunder, they behave like cowards. Their bodily frame is spare, but athletic and active, inured to fatigue and capable of undergoing great privations : their minds are acute and inquisitive ; and though their manners are somewhat grave and formal, they are of a lively and social disposition. Of their moral A'irtues it is necessary to speak with caution. They were long held up as models of good faith, incorruptible integrity, and the most generous hospitality to strangers ; but many recent travel- lers deny them the possession of these qualities ; and it is certain that whatever they may have been once, the Bedawees, like all the unsophis- ticated ' children of nature,' have been much cor- rupted by the influx of foreigners, and the na- tional character is in every point of view lowest where they are most exposed to the continual passage of strangers. In the language of the Arabians we find the full and adult development of the genius of that group of languages of Western Asia which is now usually distinguished as the Syro-Arabian. In the abundance of its roots, in the manifold va- riety of its formations, in the syntactical deli- cacies of its construction, it stands pre-eminent as a language among all its sisters. Every class of composition also: the wild and yet noble lyrics of the son of the desert, who had ' nothing to glory in but his sword, his guest, and his fer- vid tongue ; ' the impassioned and often sublime appeals of the Koran ; the sentimental poetry of a Mutanabbi ; the artless simplicity of their usual narrative style, and the philosophic disquisition of an Ibn Chaldun ; the subtleties of the gram- marian and scholiast ; medicine, natural history, and the metaphysical speculations of the Aris- totelian school all have found the Arabic lan- guage a fitting exponent of their feeling and thought. And, although confined within the bounds of the Peninsula by circumstances to which we owe the preservation of its pure antique form, yet Islam made it the written and spoken language of the whole of Western Asia, of Eastern and Northern Africa, of Spain, and of ARABIA some of the islands of the Mediterranean ; and the ecclesiastical language of Persia, Turkey, and all other lands which receive the Moham- medan faith ; in all which places it has left sen- sible traces of its former occupancy, and in many of which it is still the living or the learned idiom. The close affinity,. and consequently the incalculable philological use, of the Arabic with regard to the Hebrew language and its other sisters, may be considered partly as a question of theory, and partly as one of fact. The former would regard the concurrent records which the Old Testament and their own traditions have preserved of the several links by which the Arabs were connected with different generations of the Hebrew line, and the evidences which Scripture offers of persons speaking Arabic being intelli- gible to the Hebrews ; the latter would observe the demonstrable identity between them in the maiu features of a language, and the more subtle, but no less convincing traces of resemblance even in the points in which their diversity is most ap- parent. Thus springing from the same root as the Hebrew, and possessing such traces of affinity to a late period of Scripture history, this dialect was further enabled, by several circumstances in the social state of the nation, to retain its native resemblance of type until the date of the earliest extant written documents. These circumstances were, the almost insular position of the country, which prevented conquest or commerce from debasing the language of its inhabitants ; the fact that so large a portion of the nation adhered to a mode of life in which every impression was, as it were, stereotyped, and knew no variation for ages ; and the great and just pride which they felt in the purity of their language, which is still a characteristic of the Bedouins. The principal source of the wealth of ancient Arabia was its commerce. So early as the days or Jacob (Gen. xxxvii. 28) we read of a mixed caravan of Arab merchants (Ishmaelites and Midianites) who were engaged in the conveyance of various foreign articles to Egypt, and made no scruple to add Joseph, ' a slave,' to their other purchases. The Arabs were, doubtless, the first navigators of their own seas, and the great car- riers of the produce of India, Abyssinia, and other remote countries to Western Asia and Egypt Various Indian productions thus ob- tained were common among the Hebrews at an early period of their history (Exod. xxx. 23, 25). The traffic of the Red Sea was to Solomon a source of great profit ; and the extensive com- merce of Sabaa (Sheba, now Yemen) is men- tioned by profane writers as well as alluded to 111 Scripture (1 Kings x. 10-15). In the de- scription of the foreign trade of Tyre (Ezek. xxvii. 19-24) various Arab tribes are introduced (comp. Isa. Ix. 6 ; Jen vi. 20; 2 Chron. ix. 14). The Nabathseo-IdumsEans became a great trading | people, their capital being Petra. The transit- trade from India continued to enrich Arabia until the discovery of the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope ; but the invention of steam-navigation has now restored the ancient rqute for travellers by the Red Sea. Arabia, in ancient times, generally preserved its independence, unaffected by those great events which changed the destiny of the surrounding nations ; and in the sixth century of our {era, ARAM 87 the decline of the Roman empire and the cor- ruptions and distractions of the Eastern church favoured the impulse given by a wild and warlike fanaticism. Mahomet arose, and succeeded in gathering around his standard the nomadic tribes of central Arabia ; and in less than fifty years that standard waved triumphant ' from the straits of Gibraltar to the hitherto unconquered regions beyond the Oxus.' The khalifs trans- ferred the seat of government successively to Damascus, Kufa, and Bagdad ; but amid the dis- tractions of their foreign wars, the chiefs of the interior of Arabia gradually shook off their feeble allegiance, and resumed their ancient habits of independence, which, notwithstanding the revolutions that have since occurred, they for the most part retain. At present, indeed, the authority of Mehemet Ali, the Pasha of Egypt, is acknowledged over a great portion of the northern part of Arabia, while in the south the Imam of Maskat exercises dominion over a much greater extent of country than did any of his predecessors. ARAB, an ancient city on the southernmost borders of Palestine, whose inhabitants drove back the Israelites as they attempted to penetrate from Kadesh into Canaan (Num. xxi. 1), but were eventually subdued by Joshua, along with the other southern Canaanites (Josh. xii. 14, comp. x. 41 ; also Judg. i. 16). Eusebius and Jerome place Arad twenty Roman miles from Hebron. This accords well witli the situation of a hill called Tell 'Arad, which Dr. Robinson observed on the road from Petra to Hebron. He describes it as 'a barren-looking eminence rising above the country around.' He did not examine the spot, but the Arabs said there were no ruins upon or near it, but only a cavern. The name alone is, however, too decisive to admit a doubt that the hill marks the site of the ancient Arad. A'RAM, the name given by the Hebrews to the tract of country lying between Phoenicia on the west, Palestine on the south, Arabia Deserta and the river Tigris on the east, and the moun- tain range of Taurus on the north. Many parts of this extensive territory have a much lower level than Palestine, but it might receive the designation of ' the highlands,' because it does rise to a greater elevation than that country at most points of immediate contact, and especially on the side of Lebanon. Aram, or Aramsea, seems to have corresponded generally to the Syria and Mesopotamia of the Greeks and Ro- mans (see those articles). We find the following divisions expressly noticed in Scripture: 1. ARAM-DAMMESEK, the ' Syria of Damascus ' con- quered by David, 2 Sam. viii. 5, 6, where it de- notes only the territory around Damascus ; but elsewhere ' Aram,' in connection with its capital ' Damascus,' appears to be used in a wider sense for Syria Proper (Isa. vii. 1,8; xvii. 3 ; Amos i. 5). To this part of Aram the ' land of Hadrach ' seems to have belonged (Zech. ix. 1). 2. ARAM- MAACHAH ( 1 Chrou. xix. 6), or simply Maachah (2 Sam. x. 6, 8), was not far from the northern border of the Israelites on the east of the Jordan (comp. Deut. iii. 14, with Josh. xiii. 11, 13). 3. ARAM-BETH-RECHOB, the precise locality of which cannot with certainty be determined. 4. ARAM-ZOBAH I* Sam. x. 6). Jewish tradition 88 ARAM has placed Zobah at. Aleppo, whereas Syrian tra- dition identifies it with Nisibis, a city in the north-east of Mesopotamia. The former seems a much nearer approximation to the truth. We may gather from 2 Sam. viii. 3, x. 1 6, that the eastern boundary of Aram-7obah was the Eu- phrates, but Nisibis was far ^yond that river. The people of Zobah are uniformly spoken of as near neighbours of the Israelites, the Damas- cenes, and other Syrians ; and in one place (2 Chron. viii. 3) Hamath is called Hamath-Zobah, as pertaining to that district. We, therefore, conclude 'that Aram-Zobah extended from the Euphrates westward, perhaps as far north as to Aleppo. It was long the most powerful of the petty kingdoms of Aramsea, its princes com- monly bearing the name of Hadadezer or Hada- rezer. 5. ARAM-NAHARAIM, i. e. Aram, of the Two Rivers, or Mesopotamia. The rivers which enclose Mesopotamia are the Euphrates on the west and the Tigris on the east ; but it is doubt- ful whether the Aram-Naharaim of Scripture embraces the whole of that tract or only the northern portion of it (comp. Gen. xxiv. 10; Detit xxiii. 4; Judg. iii. 8). A part of this re- gion of Aram is also called Padan-Aram, the plain of Aram (Gen. xxv. 20 ; xxviii. 2, 6, 7 ; xxxL 18; xxxiii. 18), and one* simply Padan (Gen. xlviii. 7), also Sedch-Aram, the field of Aram (Hos. xii. 13). But though the districts now enumerated be the only ones expressly named in the Bible as be- longing to Aram, there is no doubt that many more territories were included in that extensive region, e. g. Geshur, Hul, Arpad, Riblah, Tad- mor, Hauran, Abilene, &c., though some of them may have formed part of the divisions already specified. It appears from the ethnographic table in the tenth chapter of Genesis (vers. 22, 23) that Aram was a son of Shem, and that his own sons were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. Another Aram is mentioned (Gen. xxii. 21) as the grandson of Nahor and son of Kemuel, but he is not to be thought of here. The descent of the Aramaeans from a son of Shem is confirmed by their language, which ^as one of the branches of the Semitic family, and nearly allied to the Hebrew. The Aramaic language that whole, of which the Chaldee and Syriac dialects form the parts constitutes the northern and least developed branch of the Syro-Arabian family of tongues. Its cradle was probably on the banks of the Cyrus, according to the best interpretation of Amos ix. 7 ; but Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and Syria form what may be considered its home and proper domain. Political events, however, subsequently caused it to supplant Hebrew in Palestine ; and then it became the prevailing form of speech from the Tigris to the shore of the Mediterranean, and, in a contrary direction, from Armenia down to the confines of Arabia. After obtaining such a wide dominion, it was forced, from the ninth century onwards, to give way before the encroaching ascendency of Arabic ; and it now only survives, as a living tongue, among the Syrian Christians in the neighbourhood of Mosul. According to his- torical records, and also according to the com- paratively ruder form of the Aramaic language itself, we might suppose that it represents, even ARARAT in the state in which we have it, some image of that aboriginal type which the Hebrews and Arabians, under more favourable social and cli- matical influences, subsequently developed into fulness of sound and structure. But it is diffi- cult for us now to discern the particular vestiges of this archaic form ; for, not only did the Ara- maic not work out its own development of the original elements common to the whole Syro- Arabian sisterhood of languages, but it was pre- eminently exposed, both by neighbourhood and by conquest, to harsh collision with languages of an utterly different family. Moreover, it is the only one of the three great Syro-Arabian branches which has no fruits of a purely national litera- ture to boast of. We possess no monument what- ever of its own genius; not any work which may be considered the product of the political and religious culture of the nation, and charac- teristic of it as is so emphatically the case both with the Hebrews and the Arabs. The first time we see the language, it is used by Jews as the vehicle of Jewish thought; and although, when we next meet it, it is employed by native authors, yet they write under the literary im- pulses of Christianity, and under the Greek in- fluence on thought and language which neces- sarily accompanied that religion. These two modifications, which constitute and define the so-called Chaldee and Syriac dialects, are the only forms in which the normal and standard Aramaic has been preserved to us. AR'ARAT occurs nowhere in Scripture as the name of a mountain, but only as the name of a country, upon the ' mountains ' of which the ark rested during the subsidence of the flood (Gen. viii. 4). The only other passages where 'Ararat' oc- curs are 2 Kings xix. 37 (Isa. xxxvii. 38) and Jer. li. 27. In the former it is spoken of as the country whither the sons ot Sennacherib, king of Assyria, fled, after they had murdered their father. This points to a territory which did not form part of the immediate dominion of Assyria, and yet might not be far off from it. The de- scription is quite applicable to Armenia, and K supported by the tradition of that country. The other Scripture text (Jer. li. 27) mentions Ararat, along with Minni and Ashkenaz, as kingdoms summoned to arm themselves against Babylon. In the parallel place in Isa. xiii. 2-4, the in- vaders of Babylonia are described as ' issuing from the mountains;' and if by Minni we un- derstand the Minyas in Armenia, and by Asti- henax ome country on the Euxine Sea, which may have had its original name, Axenos, from Ashkenaz, a son of Gomer, the progenitor of the Cimmerians (Gen. x. 2, 3) then we arrive at the same conclusion, viz., that Ararat was a mountainous region north of Assyria, and in all probability in Armenia. In Ezek. xxxviii. 6, we find Togarmah, another part of Armenia, connected with Gomer, and in Ezek. xxvii. 14, with Meshech and Tubal, all tribes of the north. With this agree the traditions of the Jewish and Christian churches, and likewise the accounts of the native Armenian writers. But though it may be concluded with tolerable certainty that the land of Ararat is to be identi- fied with a portion of Armenia, we possess no historical data for fixing on any one mountain ARARAT in that country as the resting-place of the ark. The earliest tradition fixed on one of the chain of mountains which separate Armenia on the south from Mesopotamia, and which, as they also inclose Kurdistan, the land of the Kurds, obtained the name of the Kardu, or Carduchian range, corrupted into Gordicean and Cordyaean. This was at one time the prevalent opinion among the Eastern churches, but it has now de- clined in credit and given place (at least among the Christians of the West) to that which now obtains, and according to which the ark rested on a great mountain in the north of Armenia to which (so strongly did the idea take hold of the popular belief) was, in course of time, given the very name of Ararat, as if no doubt could be entertained that it was the Ararat of Scrip- ture. We have seen, however, that in the Bible ARARAT 89 Ararat is nowhere the name of a mountain, and by the native Armenians the mountain in ques- tion uas never so designated. Still there is no doubt of the antiquity of the tradition of this being (as it is sometimes termed) the ' Mother of the World.' The Persians call it Kuhi Nuch, 4 Noah's Mountain.' The mountain thus known to Europeans as Ararat consists of two immense conical eleva- tions (one peak considerably lower than the other), towering in massive and majestic gran- deur from the valley of the Aras, the ancient Araxes. Smith and Dwight give its position N. 57 W. of Nakhehevan, and S. 2f> W. of Erivan ; and remark, in describing it before the recent earthquake, that in no part of the world had they seen any mountain whose imposing appear- ance could plead half so powerfully as this a claim to the honour of having once been the stepping-stone between the old world and the new. ' It appeared,' says Ker Porter, ' as if the hugest mountains of the world had been piled upon each other to form this one sublime im- mensity of earth and rocks and snow. The icy peaks of its double heads rose majestically into the clear and cloudless heavens ; the sun blazed bright pon them, and the reflection soot forth a dazzling radiance equal to other suns. My eye, not able to rest for any length of time upon the blinding glory of its summits, wandered down the apparently interminable sides, till I could no longer trace their vast lines in the mists of the horizon ; when an irrepressible impulse immediately carrying my eye upwards, again refixed my gaze upon the awful glare of Ararat.' To the same effect Morier writes : ' Nothing can be more beautiful than its shape, more awful than its height All the surrounding mountains sink into insignificance when compared to it. Il is perfect in all its parts ; no hard rugged fea- ture, no unnatural prominences, everything is in harmony, and all combines to render it one of the sublimest objects in nature.' Several attempts had been made to reach the top of Ararat, but few persons had got beyond the limit of perpetual snow. The honour was reserved to a German, Dr. Parrot, in the em- ployment of Russia, who, in his Journey to Ararat, gives the following particulars : ' The summit of the Great Ararat is in 39 42' N. lat, and 61 55' E. long, from Ferro. Its perpen- dicular height is 16,254 Paris feet above the level of the sea, and 13,350 above the plain of the Araxes. The Little Ararat is 12,-284 Paris feet above the sea, and 9561 above the plain of the Araxes.' Aftar he and his party had failed in two attempts to ascend, the third was sue- 90 ARCHITECTURE cessful, and on the 27th September (o. s.), 1829, they stood on the summit of Mount Ararat. It was a slightly convex, almost circular platform, about 200 Paris feet in diameter, composed of eternal ice, unbroken by a rock or stone : on ac- count of the immense distances, nothing could be seen distinctly. Since the memorable ascent of Dr. Parrot, Ararat has been the scene of a fearful calamity. An earthquake, which in a few moments changed the entire aspect of the country, commenced on the 20th of June (o. s.), 1840, and continued, at intervals, until the 1st of September. The de- struction of houses and other property in a wide tract of country around was very great ; fortu- nately, the earthquake having happened during I the day, the loss of lives did not exceed fifty. The scene of greatest devastation was in the narrow valley of Akorhi, where the masses of rock, ice, and scow, detached from the summit of Ararat and its lateral points, were thrown at one single bound from a height of 6000 feet to the bottom of the valley, where they lay scat- tered over an extent of several miles. ARAU'NAH, or ORNAN, a man of the Jebn- site nation, which possessed Jerusalem before it was taken by the Israelites. His threshing-floor was on Mount Moriah ; and when he understood that it was required for the site of the Temple, he liberally offered the gronnd to David as a free gift ; but the king insisted on paying the full value for it (2 Sam. xxiv. 18 ; 1 Chron. xxi. 18). AR'BA. [HEBRON.] ARCHELA'US, son of Herod the Great, and his successor in Idumjea, Judaea, and Samaria (Matt ii. 22) [HERODIAN FAMILY]. ARCHERY. [ARMS.] ARCHIPTUS, a Christian minister, whom St. Paul calls his fellow-soldier,' in Philem. 2, and whom he exhorts to renewed activity in Col. iv. 17. From the latter reference it would seem that Archippns had exercised the office of Evangelista sometimes at Ephesus, sometimes elsewhere ; and that he finally resided at Co- losse, and there discharged the office of presiding presbyter or bishop when St. Paul wrote to the Colossian church. ARCHITECTURE. It was formerly com- mon to claim for the Hebrews the invention of scientific architecture, and to allege that classic antiquity was indebted to the Temple of Solomon for the principles and many of the details of the art. This statement, however, is totally without foundation. There has never in fact been any people for whom a peculiar style of architecture could with less probability be claimed than for the Israelites. On leaving Egypt they could only be acquainted with Egyptian art. On entering Canaan they necessarily occupied the buildings of which they had dispossessed the previous inhabitants; and the succeeding generations would naturally erect such buildings as the country previously con- tained. The architecture of Palestine, and, as such, eventually that of the Jews, had doubtless its own characteristics, by which it was suited to the climate and condition of the country ; and in the course of time many improvements would no doubt arise from the causes which usually operate in producing change in any practical art. AREOPAGUS From the want of historical data and from the total absence of architectural remains, the de- gree in which these causes operated in imparting a peculiar character to the Jewish architecture cannot now be determined ; for the oldest ruins in the country do not ascend beyond the period of the Roman domination. It does, however, seem probable that among the Hebrews archi- tecture was always kept within the limits of a mechanical craft, and never rose to the rank of a fine art. Their usual dwelling-houses differed little from those of other Eastern nations, and we nowhere find anything indicative of exterior embellishment. Splendid edifices, such as the palace of David and the temple of Solomon, were completed by the assistance of Phoenician artists (2 Sam. v. 11 ; 1 Kings v. 6, 18; 1 Chron. xiv. 1). After the Babylonish exile, the assistance of such foreigners was likewise resorted to for the restoration of the Temple (Ezra Hi. 7). From the time of the Maccabsean dynasty, the Greek taste began to gain ground, especially under the Herodian princes, and was shown in the struc- ture and embellishment of many towns, baths, colonnades, theatres and castles. The Phoenician style, which seems to have had some affinity with the Egyptian, was not, however, superseded by the Grecian; and even as late as the Mishna, we read of Tyrian windows, Tyrian porches, &c. [HOUSE], With regard to the instruments used by build- ers besides the more common, such as the axe, saw, &c., we find incidental mention of the compass, the plumb-line (Amos vii. 7), and the measuring-line. AREOP'AGUS, an Anglicized form of the original words, signifying in reference to place, Mars Hill, but in reference to persons, the Council, which was held on the hill. The Council was also termed the Council on Mars Hill ; sometimes the Upper Council, from the elevated position where it was held ; and some- times simply, but emphatically, the Council : but it retained, till a late period, the original designation of Mars Hill. The place and the Council are topics of interest to the Biblical student, chiefly from their being the scene of the interesting narrative and sublime discourse found in Acts xvii., where it appears that the apostle Paul, feeling himself moved, by the evidences of idolatry with which the city of Athens was crowded, to preach Jesus and the resurrection, both in the Jewish synagogues and in the market-place, was set upon by certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, and led to the Areopagus, in order that they might learn from him the meaning and design of his new doctrine. Whether or not the Apostle was criminally ar- raigned, as a setter forth of strange gods, before the tribunal which held its sittings on the hill, may be considered as undetermined, though the balance of evidence seems to incline to the affirmative. Whichever view on this point is adopted, the dignified, temperate, and high- minded bearing of Paul under the peculiar cir- cumstances in which he was placed are worthy of high admiration, and will appear the more striking the more the associations are known and weighed which covered and surrounded the spot wliere he stood. Nor does his eloquent discourse appear to have been without good effect; for AREOPAGUS though some mocked, and some procrastinated, yet. others believed, among -whom was a member of the Council, ' Dionysius, the Areopagite.' The court of Areopagus was one of the oldest and most honoured, not only in Athens, but in the whole of Greece, and, indeed, in the ancient world. Through a long succession of centuries, it preserved its existence amid changes corre- sponding with those which the state underwent, till at least the age of the Caesars. Its origin ascends back into the darkest my- thical period. From the first its constitution was essentially aristocratic ; a character which to some extent it retained even after the demo- cratic reforms which Solon introduced into the Athenian constitution. Following the political tendencies of the state, the Areopagus became in process of time less and less aristocratical, and parted piecemeal with most of its important fimctions. First its political power was taken away, then its jurisdiction in cases of murder, and even its moral influence gradually departed. During the sway ot the Thirty Tyrants its power, or rather its political existence, was de- stroyed. On their overthrow it recovered some consideration, and the oversight of the execution of the laws was restored to it by an express decree. The precise time when it ceased to exist cannot be determined ; but evidence is not wanting to show that in later periods its members ceased to be uniformly characterized by blame- less morals. It is not easy to give a correct summary of its several functions, as the classic writers are not agreed in their statements, and the jurisdic- tion of the court varied, as has been seen, with times and circumstances. They have, however, been divided into six general classes:-!. Its j udicial function ; II. Its political ; III. Its police function; IV. Its religious; V. Its educational; and VI. (only partially) Its financial. Passing by certain functions, such as acting as a court of appeal, and of general supervision, which under special circumstances, and when empowered by the people, the Areopagus from time to time d'ischarged, we will say a few words in explanation of the points already named, giving a less restricted space to those which con- cern its moral and religious influence. Its judi- cial function embraced trials for murder and manslaughter, and was the oldest and most pecu- liar sphere of its activity. The indictment was brought by the second or king-archon, whose duties were for the most part of a religious nature. Then followed the oath of both parties, accompanied by solemn appeals to the gods. After this the accuser and the accused had the option of making a speech, which, however, they were obliged to keep free from all extra- neous matter, as well as from mere rhetorical ornaments. After the first speech, the accused was permitted to go into voluntary banishment, i f he had no reason to expect a favourable issue. Theft, poisoning, wounding, incendiarism, and treason, belonged also to this department of jurisdiction in the court of the Areopagus. Its political function consisted in the constant watch which it kept over the legal condition of the state, acting as overseer and guardian of the laws. Its police function also made it a protector ARETAS 91 and upholder of the institutions and laws. In this character the Areopagus had jurisdiction over novelties in religion, in worship, in cus- toms, in everything that departed from the tra- ditionary and established usages and modes of thought, which a regard to their ancestors endeared to the nation. The members of the court had a right to take oversight of festive meetings in private houses. In ancient tiir.es they fixed the number of the guests, and deter- mined the style of the entertainment. If n person had no obvious means of subsisting, or was known to live in idleness, he was liable to an action before the Areopagus ; if condemned three times, he was punished with the loss of his civil rights. In later times the court pos- sessed the light of giving permission to teachers (philosophers and rhetoricians) to establish them- selves and pursue their profession in the- city. Its strictly religious jurisdiction extended itself over the public creed, worship, and sacri- fices, embracing generally everything which could come under the denomination of sacred things. It was its special duty to see that the religion of the state was kept pure from all foreign elements. The accusation of impiety the vagueness of which admitted almost any charge connected with religious innovations belonged in a special manner to this tribunal. The freethinking poet Euripides stood in fear of, and was restrained by, the Areopagus. Its pro- ceeding in such cases was sometimes rather of an admonitory than punitive character. Not less influential was its moral and educa- tional power. Isocrates speaks of the care which it took of good manners and good order. Quin- tilian relates that the Areopagus condemned a boy for plucking out the eyes of a quail a pro- ceeding which has been both misunderstood and misrepresented, but which its original narrator approved, assigning no insufficient reason, namely, that the act was a sign of a cruel disposition, likely in advanced life to lead to baneful actions. The court exercised a salutary influence in gene- ral over the Athenian youth, their educators and their education. Its financial position is not well understood ; most probably it varied more than any other part of its administration with the changes which the constitution of the city underwent. It may suffice to mention, that in the Persian war the Areopagus had the merit of completing the number of men required for the fleet, by paying eight drachma? to each. ARE'TAS, the common name of several Arabian kings. 1. The first of whom we have any notice was a contemporary of the Jewish high-priest Jason and of Antiochus Epiphanes about B.C. 170 (2 Mace. v. 8). 2. Josephus men- tions an Aretas, king of the Arabians contem- porary with Alexander Jannseus (died B.c 79) and his sons. After defeating Antiochus Dio- nysus, he reigned over Coele-Syria, being called to the government by those that held Damascus by reason of the hatred they bore to Ptolemy Mennaeus.' He took part with Hyrcanus in his contest for the sovereignty with his brothei Aristobulus, and laid siege to Jerusalem, but, on the approach of the Roman general Scaurus, he retreated to Philadelphia. Hyrcanus and Areta*. were pursued and defeated by Aristobulus, at 92 ARIMATHEA a place called Papyron, and lost above GOOD men. Three or four years after, Scaurus, to whom Pompey had committed the government of Coele-Syria, invaded Petraea, but finding it difficult to obtain provisions for his army, he consented to withdraw on the offer of 300 talents from Aretas. 3. Aretas, whose name was ori- ginally jEneas, succeeded Obodas. He was the father-in-law of Herod Antipas. The latter made proposals of marriage to the wife of his half-brother Herod-Philip, Herodias, the daughter of Aristobulus their brother, and the sister of Aorippa the Great. In consequence of this, the daughter of Aretas returned to her father, and a war( which had been fomented by previous dis- putes about the limits of their respective countries) ensued between Aretas and Herod. The army of the latter was totally destroyed, and on his sending an account of his disaster to Rome, the emperor immediately ordered Vitellius to bring Aretas prisoner alive, or, if dead, to send his head. But while Vitellius was on his march to Petra, news arrived of the death of Tiberius, upon which, after administering the oath of alle- giance to his troops, he dismissed them to winter- quarters and returned to Rome. It must have been at this juncture that Aretas took possession of Damascus, and placed a governor in it with a garrison. For a knowledge of thia fact we are indebted to the apostle Paul. AR'GOB, a district in Bashan, east of the Lake of Gennesareth, which was given to the half- tribe of Manasseh (Deut. iii. 4, 13 ; 1 Kings iv. 13.^ 1 . A'RIEL, a word meaning ' lion of God,' and correctly enough rendered by 'lion-like,' in 2 Sam. xxiii. 20 ; 1 Chron. xi. 22. It was ap- plied as an epithet of distinction to bold and war- like persons, as among the Arabians, who sur- named AH The Lion of God.' 2. ARIEL. The same word is used as a local proper name in Isa. xxix. 1,2, applied to Jeru- salem ' as victorious under God ' says Dr. Lee ; and in Ezek. xliii. 15, 16, to the altar of burnt- offerings. ARIM ATHE'A, the birth-place of the wealthy Joseph, in whose sepulchre our Lord was laid (Matt, xxvii. 57 ; John xix. 38). The Arimathea of Joseph is generally regarded as the same place as the Kamathaim of Samuel, which stood near Lydda or Diospolis. Hence it has by some been identified with the existing Ramleh. Ramleh is in N. lat. 31 59', and E. long 35 28', 8 miles S.E. from Joppa, and 24 miles N.W. by W. from Jerusalem. It lies in the fine undulating plain of Sharon, upon the eastern side of a broad low swell rising from a fertile though sandy plain. Like Gaza and Jaffa, this town is surrounded by olive-groves and gardens of vegetables and delicious fruits. Occasional ARIMATHEA palm-trees are also seen, as well as the kharob and the sycamore. The streets are few; the houses are of stone, and many of them large and well built. There are five mosques, two or more of which are said to have once been Christian churches : and there is here one of the largest Latin convents in Palestine. The place is supposed to contain about 3000 inhabitants, of whom two-thirds are Moslems, and the rest Christians, chiefly of the Greek church, with a few Armenians. The inhabitants carry on some trade in cotton and soap. The great caravan- road between Egypt and Damascus, Sniyina, and Constantinople passes through Ramlch. us well as the most frequented road for Enror eau pilgrims and travellers between Joppa and Jeru- salem. The isolated tower, of which a figure is here given, is the most conspicuous object in or about the city. It is about 120 feet in height, ARITHMETIC of Saracenic architecture, square, and built with well-hewn stone. According to the Moslem ac- count it belonged to a ruined mosque. It bears the date 718 A.H. (A.D. 1310), and an Arabian author reports the completion at Ramleh, in that year, of a minaret unique for its loftiness and grandeur, by the sultan of Egypt, Nazir Mo- hammed ibn Kelawau. Among the plantations which surround the town occur, at every step, dry wells, cisterns fallen in, and vast vaulted reservoirs, which show that the city must in former times have been upwards of a league and a half in extent. ARISTAR'CHUS, a faithful adherent of St. Paul, whose name repeatedly occurs in the Acts and Epistles (Acts xix. 29 ; xx. 4 ; xxvii. 2 ; Col. iv. 10; Philem. 24). He was a native of Thessalonica, and became the companion of St. Paul, whom he accompanied to Ephesus, where he was seized and nearly killed in the tumult raised by the silversmiths. He left that city with the Apostle, and accompanied him in his subsequent journeys, even when taken as a pri- soner to Rome : indeed, Aristarchus -vas himself sent thither as a prisoner, or became 3uch while there, for Paul calls him his ' fellow-prisoner ' (Col. iv. 10). The traditions of the Greek church represent Aristarchus as bishop of Apamea in Phrygia. AKISTOBU'LUS, a person named by Paul in Rom. xvi. 10, where he sends salutations to his household. He is not himself saluted ; hence he may not have been a believer, or he may have been absent or dead. Nothing certain is known respecting him. Arlstobulus is a Greek name, adopted by the Romans, and in very common use among them. It was also adopted by the Jews, and was borne by several persons in the Maccabsean and Hero- dian families mentioned by Josephus and in the books of Maccabees. ARITHMETIC, the science of numbers or reckoning, was unquestionably practised as an art in the dawn of civilization. In the absence of positive information we seem authorized in referring the first knowledge of arithmetic to the East. From India, Chaldsea, Phoenicia, and Egypt, the science passed to the Greeks, who ex- tended its laws, improved its processes, and widened its sphere. To what extent the Ori- entals carried their acquaintance with arithmetic cannot be determined. The greatest discovery in this department of the mathematics, namely, the establishment of our system of ciphers, be- longs undoubtedly not to Arabia, as is generally supposed, but to the remote East, probably India. Our numerals were made known to these western parts by the Arabians, who, though they were nothing more than the medium of transmis- sion, have enjoyed the honour of giving them their name. The Hebrews were not a scientific, but a reli- gious and practical nation. What they borrowed from others of the arts of life they used without surrounding it with theory or expanding and framing it into a system. Of their knowledge of arithmetic little is known beyond what may be fairly inferred from the pursuits and trades which they carried on, for the successful prose- cution of which some skill at least in its simpler processes must have been absolutely necessary ; ARK, NOAH'S 93 and the large amounts which appear here and there in the sacred books serve to show that their acquaintance with the art of reckoning was con- siderable. Even in fractions they were not in- experienced. For figures, the Jews, after the Babylonish exile, made use of the letters of the alphabet ; and it is not unlikely that the ancient Hebrews did the same. ARK, NOAH'S (Gen. vi. 14). Vast labour and much ingenuity have been employed by various writers, in the attempt to determine the form of Noah's ark and the arrangement of its parts. The success has not been equal .to the exertion; for, on comparing the few simple facts in the Scripture narrative, every one feels how slight positive data there are for the minute de- scriptions and elaborate representations which such writers have given. That form- of the ark which repeated pictorial representations have rendered familiar a kind of house in a kind of boat has not only no foundation in Scripture, but is contrary to reason. The form thus given to it is fitted for progression and for cutting tlie waves ; whereas the ark of Noah was really des- tined to float idly upon the waters, without any other motion than that which it received from them. If we examine the passage in Gen. vi. 14-16, we can only draw from it the conclusion that the ark was not a boat or ship, but a build- ing in the form of a parallelogram, 300- cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high. So far as the name affords any evidence, it also goes to show that the ark of Noah was not a regu- larly-built vessel, but merely intended to float at large upon the waters. We may, therefore, pro- bably with justice, regard it as a large, oblong, floating house, with a roof either flat or only slightly inclined. It was constructed with three stories, and had a door in the side. There is no mention of windows in the side, but above, i. e. probably in the flat roof, where Noah was com- manded to make them of a cubit in sizQ (Gen. vi 16). The purpose of this ark was, to preserve cer- tain persons and animals from the Deluge with which God intended to overwhelm the laud, in punishment for man's iniquities. The persons were eight Noah and his wife, with his three sons and their wives (Gen. vii. 7 ; 2 Pet. ii. 5). The animals were, one pair of every ' unclean ' animal, and seven pairs of all that were ' clean.' By ' clean,' we understand fit, and by ' unclean,' unfit for food or for sacrifice. Of birds there were seven pairs (Gen. vii. 2, 3). Those who have written professedly and largely on the sub- ject, have been at great pains to provide for all the existing species of animals in the ark of Noah, showing how they might be distributed, fed, and otherwise provided for. But they are very far from having cleared the matter of all its difficulties ; which are much greater than they, in their general ignorance of natural his- tory, were aware of. These difficulties, how- ever, chiefly arise from the assumption that the species of all the earth were collected In the ark. The number of such species has been vastly under-rated by these writers partly from igno- rance, and partly from the desire to limit the number for which they imagined they required to provide. They have usually satisfied them- selves with a provision for three or four hundred 94 ARK, NOAH'S species at most ' But of the existing mam- malia,' says Dr. J. Pye Smith, 'considerably more than one thousand species are known ; of birds, fully five thousand ; of reptiles, very few kinds of which can live in water, two thousand ; and the researches of travellers and naturalists are making feqnent and most interesting addi- tions to the number of these and all other classes. Of insects (using the word in the popular sense) the number of species is immense ; to say one hundred thousand would be moderate : each has its appropriate habitation and food, and these are necessary to its life ; and the larger number could not live in water. Also the innumerable millions upon millions of animalcules must be provided for ; for they have all their appropriate and diversified places and circumstances of ex- istence.' Nor do these numbers form the only difficulty ; for, as the same writer observes : ' All land animals have their geographical re- gions, to which their constitutional natures are congenial, and many could not live in any other situation. We cannot represent to ourselves the idea of their being brought into one small spot, from the polar regions, the torrid zone, and all the other climates of Asia, Africa, Europe, America, Australia, and the thousands of islands, their preservation and provision, and the final disposal of them, without bringing up the idea of miracles more stupendous than any which are recorded in Scripture.' The difficulty of assembling in one spot, and of providing for in the ark, the various mam- malia and birds alone, even without including the otherwise essential provision for reptiles, insects, and fishes, is quite sufficient to suggest some error in the current belief. We are to consider the different kinds of accommodation and food which would be required for animals of such different habits and climates, and the necessary provision for ventilation and for cleansing the stables or dens. And if so much ingenuity has been required in devising arrange- ments for the comparatively small number of species which the writers on the ark have been willing to admit into it ; what provision can be made for the immensely larger number which, under the supposed conditions, would really have required its shelter ? There seems no way of meeting these diffi- culties but by adopting the suggestion of Bishop Stillingfieet, approved by Matthew Poole, Dr. J. Pye Smith, Le Clerc, Rosenmiiller, and others, namely, that, as the object of the Deluge was to sweep man from the earth, it did not extend beyond that region of the earth which man then inhabited, and that only the animals of that region were preserved in the ark. The bishop expresses his belief that the Flood was universal as to mankind, and that all men, except those preserved in the ark, were destroyed ; but he sees no evidence from Scripture that the whole earth was then inhabited ; he does not think that it can ever be proved to have been so ; and he asks, what reason there can be to extend the Flood beyond the occasion of it ? [DELUGE.] As Noah was the progenitor of all the nations of the earth, and as the ark was the second cradle of the human race, we might expect to find in all nations traditions and reports more or less distinct respecting him, the ark in which he was ARK, NOAH'S saved, and the Deluge in general. Accordingly no nation is known in which such traditions have not been found. Our present concern, however, is only with the ark. And as it ap- pears that an ark, that is, a boat or chest, was carried about with great ceremony in most of the ancient mysteries, and occupied an eminent sta- tion in the holy places, it has with much reason been concluded that this was originally intended to represent the ark of Noah, which eventually came to be regarded with superstitious reverence. On this point the historical and mythological testimonies are very clear and conclusive. The tradition of a deluge, by which the race of man was swept from the face of the earth, has been traced among the Chaldaeans, Egyptians, Phoe- nicians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Goths, Druids, Chinese, Hindoos, Burmese, Mexicans, Peruvians, Brazilians, Nicaraguans, the inhabitants of Western Caledonia, and the islanders of the Pacific ; and among most of them also the belief has prevailed that certain individuals were preserved in an ark, ship, boat, or raft, to replenish the desolated earth with in- habitants. These traditions, moreover, are cor- roborated by coins and monuments of stone. Of the latter there are the sculptures of Egypt and of India ; and it is not unlikely that those of the monuments called Druidical, which bear the name of kist-vaens, and in which the stones are disposed in the form of a chest or house, were in- tended as memorials of the ark. ARK OF THE COVENANT With regard to the evidence furnished by coins, we shall confine our illustrations to the two famous medals of Apamea. These medals belong, the one to the elder Philip, and the other to Pertinax. In the former it is extremely in- teresting to observe that on the front of the ark is the name of Noah, in Greek characters. The designs on these medals correspond remarkably, although the legends somewhat vary. In both we perceive the ark floating on the water, con- taining the patriarch and his wife, the dove on wing, the olive-branch, and the raven perched on the ark. These medals also represent Noah and his wife on terra < fir ma, in the attitude of render- ing thanks for their safety. The genuineness of these medals has been established beyond all question, and the coincidences which they offer are at least exceedingly curious. ARK OF THE COVENANT. The word here used for ark is, as already explained, dif- ferent from that which is applied to the ark of Noah. It is the common name for a chest or coffer, whether applied to the ark in the taber- nacle, to a coffin, to a mummy-chest (Gen. 1. 26), or to a chest for money (2 Kings xii. 9, 10). Our word ark has the same meaning, being derived from the Latin area, a chest. The distinction between aron and the present word has already been suggested. The sacred chest is distinguished from others as the ' ark of God ' (1 Sam. iii. 3) ; ' ark of the covenant ' (Josh. iii. 6) ; and ' ark of the law ' (Exod. xxv. 22). This ark was a kind of chest, of an oblong shape, made of shittim (acacia) wood, a cubit and a half broad and high, two cubits long, and covered on all sides with the purest gold. It was ornamented on its upper surface with a border or rim of gold; and on each of the two sides, at equal distances from the top, were two gold rings, in which were placed (to remain there perpetually) the gold- covered poles by which the ark was carried, and which continued with it after it was deposited in the tabernacle. The lid or cover of the ark was of the same length and breadth, and made of the purest gold. Over it, at the two extremities, were two cherubim, with their faces turned towards each other, and inclined a little towards the lid (otherwise called the mercy- seat). Their wings, which were spread out over the top of the ark, formed the throne of God, the King of Israel, while the ark itself was his footstool (Exod. xxv. 10-22 ; xxxvii. 1-9). This ark was the most sacred object among the Israelites : it was deposited in the innermost and holiest part of the tabernacle, called ' the holy of holies ' (and afterwards in the correspond- ing apartment of the Temple), where it stood so that one end of each of the poles by which it was carried (which were drawn out so far as to allow the ark to be placed against the back wall), touched the veil which separated the two apart- ments of the tabernacle (1 Kings viii. 8). In the ark were deposited the tables of the law (Exod. xxv. 16). A quantity of manna was laid up beside the ark in a vase of gold (Exod. xvi. 32, 3G ; 1 Kings viii. 9); as were also the rod of Aaron (Num. xvii. 10), and a copy of the book of the law (Deut. xxxi. 26). Nothing is more apparent throughout the his- torical Scriptures than the extreme sanctity which attached to the ark, as the material sym- ARKITES 35 bol of the Divine presence. During the marches of the Israelites it was covered with a purple pall, and borne by the priests, with great reve- rence and care, in advance of the host (Num. iv. 5, 6 ; x. 33). It was before the ark, thus in ad- vance, that the waters of the Jordan separated ; and it remained in the bed of the river, with the attendant priests, until the whole host had passed over ; and no sooner was it also brought up than the waters resumed their course (Josh. iii. ; iv. 7, 10, 11, 17, 18). The ark was similarly con- spicuous in the grasd procession round Jericho (Josh. vi. 4, 6, 8, 11, 12). It is not wonderful therefore that the neighbouring nations, who had no notion of spiritual worship, looked upon it as the God of the Israelites (1 Sam. iv. 6, 7), a de- lusion which may have been strengthened by the figures of the cherubim on it. After the set- tlement of the Jews in Palestine, the ark re- mained in the tabernacle at Shiloh, until, in the time of Eli, it was carried along with the army in the war against the Philistines, under the superstitious notion that it would secure the vic- tory to the Hebrews. They were, however, not only beaten, but the ark itself was taken by the Philistines (1 Sam. iv. 3-11), whose triumph was, however, very short lived, as they were so op- pressed by the hand of God, that, after seven months, they were glad to send it back again (1 Sam. v. 7). After that it remained apart from the tabernacle, at Kirjath-jearim (vii. 1, 2), where it continued until the time of David, who purposed to remove it to Jerusalem ; but the old prescribed mode of removing it from place to place was so much neglected as to cause the death of Uzzah, in consequence of which it was left in the house of Obededom (2 Sam. vi. 1-11); but after three months David took courage, and succeeded in effecting its safe removal, in grand procession, to Mount Zion (ver. 12-19). When the Temple of Solomon was completed, the ark was deposited in the sanctuary (1 Kings viii. 6-9). The passage in 2 Chron. xxxv. 3, in which Josiah directs the Levites to restore the ark to the holy place, is understood by some to imply that it had either been removed by Amon, who put an idol in its place, which is assumed to have been the ' trespass ' of which he is said to have been guilty (2 Chron. xxxiii. 23) ; or that the priests themselves had withdrawn it during idolatrous times, and preserved it in some secret place, or had removed it from one place to another. But it seems more likely that it had been taken from the holy of holies during the purification and re- pairs of the temple by this same Josiah, and that he, in this passage, merely directs it to be again set in its place. What became of the ark when the Temple was plundered and destroyed by the Babylonians is not known, and all conjecture is useless. It is certain, however, from the con- sent of all the Jewish writers, that the old ark was not contained in the second temple, and there is no evidence that any new one was made. Indeed the absence of the ark is one of the im- portant particulars in which this temple was held to be inferior to that of Solomon. The most holy place is therefore generally considered to have been empty in the second temple. ARK'ITES,the inhabitants of Arka, mentioned in Gen. x. 17 ; 1 Chron. 5. 15, as descended from the Phoanician or Sidonian branch of the great JO ARMENIA family of Canaan. This, in fact, as well as the other small northern states of Phoenicia, was a colony from the great parent state of Sidon. Arka, or Acra, their chief town, lay between Tripolis and Antaradus, at the western base of Lebanon, 32 R. miles from Antaradus, and 18 miles from Tripoli. Burckhardt, in travelling from the north-cast of Lebanon to Tripoli, at the distance of about four miles south of the Nahr- el-keber (Eleutherus), came to a hill called Tel- Arka, which, from its regularly flattened conical form and smooth sides, appeared to be artificial. Upon an elevation on its east and south sides, which commands a beautiiul view over the plain, the sea, and the Anzeyry mountains, are large and extensive heaps of rubbish, traces of ancient dwellings, blocks of hewn stone, remains of walls, and fragments of granite columns. These are no doubt the remains of Arka ; and the hill was probably the acropolis or citadel, or the site of a temple. ARM. This word is frequently used in Scrip- ture in a metaphorical sense to denote power. Hence, to ' break the arm ' is to diminish or destroy the power (Ps. x. 15; Ezek. xxx. 21; Jer. xlviii. 25). It is also employed to denote the infinite power of God (Ps. Ixxxix. 13 ; xlviii. 2 ; Isa. liii. 1 ; John xii. 38). In a few places the metaphor is, with great force, extended to the action of the arm, as : ' I will redeem you with a stretched out arm ' (Exod. vi. 5), that is, with a power fully exerted. The figure is here taken from the attitude of ancient warriors baring and outstretching the arm for fight. Thus in Isa. Hi. 10, ' Jehovah hath made bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations.' ARM AGED'DON, properly ' the mountain of Megiddo,' a city on the west of the river Jordan, rebuilt by Solomon (1 Kings ix. 15). Both Ahaziah and Josias died there. In the mystical language of prophecy, the word mountain repre- sents the Church, and the events which took place at Megiddo are supposed to have had a typical reference to the sorrows and triumphs of Ihe people of God under the Gospel. ' In that day,' says Zechariah, xii. 11, 'shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon;' referring to the death of Josias. But the same spot witnessed, at an earlier period, the greatest triumph of Israel, when 'fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo ' (Judg. v. 19). 'He gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armaged- don,' is the language of the Apocalypse ; and the word has been translated by some as ' the moun- tain of destruction,' by others as ' the mountain of the gospel;' many ingenious speculations having been employed on the passage in which it occurs, but with little satisfaction to the more sober readers of divine revelation. ARME'NIA, a country of Western Asia, is not mentioned in Scripture under that name, but is supposed to be alluded to in the three following Hebrew designations, which seem to refer either to the country as a whole, or to particular dis- tricts. I. Ararat, the land upon (or over) the mountains of which the ark rested at the Deluge (Gen. viii. 4) ; whither the sons of Sennacherib fled after murdering their father (2 Kings xix. 37 ; Isa. xxxvii. 38) ; and one of the ' kingdoms ' ARMENIA summoned, along with Minni and Ashkenaz, to arm against Babylon (Jer. li. 27). II. Minni is mentioned in Jer. li. 27, along with Ararat and Ashkenaz, as a kingdom called to arm itself against Babylon. The name is by some taken for a contraction of ' Armenia.' III. Tl-ogarmah, mentioned by the prophet Ezekiel xxvii. 14 : xxxviii. 6. The boundaries of Armenia may be described generally as the southern range of the Caucasus on the north, and a branch of the Taurus on the south. It forms an elevated table-land, whence rise mountains which (with the exception of the gigantic Ararat) are of moderate height. The climate is generally cold, but salubrious. The country abounds in romantic forest and moun- tain scenery, and rich pasture-land, especially in the districts which border upon Persia. Ancient writers notice the wealth of Armenia in metals and precious stones. The great rivers Euphrates and Tigris both take their rise in this region, as also the Araxes, and the Kur or Cyrus. Armenia is commonly divided into Greater and Lesser, the line of separation being the Euphrates; but the former constitutes by far the larger portion, and indeed the other is often regarded as per- taining rather to Asia Minor. There was ax- ciently a kingdom of Armenia, with its metropolis Artaxata : it was sometimes an independent state, but most commonly tributary to some more pow- erful neighbour. Indeed at no period was the whole of this region ever comprised under one government, but Assyria, Media, Syria, and Cap- padocia shared the dominion or allegiance of some portion of it, just as it is now divided among the Persians, Russians, Turks, and Kurds. In later times Armenia was the border-countiy where the Romans and Parthians fruitlessly strove for the mastery ; and since then it has been the frequent battle-field of the neighbouring states. Towards the end of the last war between Russia and Turkey, large bodies of native Ar- menians emigrated into the Russian dominions, so that their number in what is termed Turkish Armenia is now considerably reduced. By the treaty of Turkomanshee (21st Feb. 1828) Persia ceded to Russia the Khauats of Krivan and Nakhshivan. The boundary-line (drawn from the Turkish dominions) passes over the Little Ararat ; the line of separation between Persian and Turkish Armenia also begins at Ararat : so that this famous mountain is now the central boundary-stone of these three empires. Christianity was first established in Armenia in the fourth century ; the Armenian church has a close affinity to the Greek church in its forms and polity ; it is described by the American mis- sionaries who are settled in the country as in a state of great corruption and debasement. The total number of the Armenian nation throughout the world is supposed not to exceed 2,000,000. Their favourite pursuit is commerce, and their merchants are found in all parts of the East. The Armenian or Haikan language, notwith- standing the great antiquity of the nation to which it belongs, possesses no literary documents prior to the fifth century of the Christian era. The translation of the Bible, begun by Miesrob in the year 410, is the earliest monument of the language that has come down to us. The dialect in which this version is written, and in which it ARMS, ARMOUR is still publicly read in their churches, is callec the old Armenian. -The dialect now in use the modern Armenian in which they preach and carry on the intercourse of daily life, no only departs from the elder form by dialectua changes in the native elements of the language itself, but also by the great intermixture o: Persian and Turkish words which has resulted from the conquest and subjection of the country It is, perhaps, this diversity of the ancient and modern idioms which has given rise to the many conflicting opinions that exist as to the relation in which the Armenian stands to other languages As to form, it is said to be rough and full ol consonants ; to possess ten cases in the noun a number which is only exceeded by the Finnish ; to have no dual ; to have no mode of denoting gender in the noun by change of form ; to bear a remarkable resemblance to Greek in the use of the participle, and in the whole syntactical structure; and to have adopted the Arabian system of metre. ARMLET. Although this word has the same meaning as bracelet, yet the latter is practically so exclusively used to denote the ornament of the wrist, that it seems proper to distinguish by armlet the similar ornament which is worn on the upper arm. There is also this difference between them, that in the East bracelets are generally worn by women, and armlets only by ARMS.. ARMOUR 97 |i 51. men. The armlet, however, is in use among men only as one of the insignia of sovereign power. The Egyptian kings are represented with armlets, which were also worn by the Egyptian women. These, however, are not jewelled, but of plain or enamelled metal, as was in all likelihood the case among the Hebrews. ARMS, ARMOUR. In order to give a clear view of this subject, we shall endeavour to show succinctly, and from the best authorities now available, what were the weapons, both offensive and defensive, used by the ancient Asiatics. The instruments at first employed in the chace, or to repel wild beasts, but converted by the wicked to the destruction of their fellow-men, or used by the peaceable to oppose aggression, were naturally the most simple. Among these were the club and the throwicg-bat. The first con- sisted originally of a heavy piece of wood, variously shaped, made to strike with, and, ac- cording to its form, denominated a mace, a bar, a hammer, or a maul. This weapon was in use among the Hebrews ; for, in nfc time of the sings, wood had already been superseded by metal ; and the rod of iron (Ps. ii. 9) is supposed (o mean a mace, or gavelock, or crowbar. It is an instrument of great power when used by a strong arm. The throwstick, made of thorn- wood, is the same instrument which we see 1, 2, 3. Clubs. 4, 5. Crooked Billets, or throwing-bats. 6. Mace. 7. Battle axe. 8. Hardwood Sword. 9. Sharks-teeth Sword. 10. Flint Sword. 11. Saw-fish Sword. 12. 13. Egyptian Battle-axes. figured on Egyptian monuments. By the native Arabs it is still called lissan, and was anciently known among us by the name of crooked billet. These instruments, supplied with a sharp edge, would naturally constitute a battle-axe, and a kind of sword ; and such in the rudest ages we find them, made with flints set into a groove, or with sharks' teeth firmly secured to the staff with iwisted sinews. On the earliest monuments of Egypt, for these ruder instruments is already seen substituted a piece of metal with a steel or Bronze blade fastened into a globe, thus forming a falchion-axe ; and also a lunate-blade, riveted n three places to the handle, forming a true ttle-axe ; and there were, besides, true bills or axes in form like our own. Next came the dirk or poniard, the Hebrew name of which may possibly retain some allusion to the original instrument made of the antelope's horn, merely sharpened, which is still used in every part of the East where the material can be procured. From existing figures, the dirk ap- pears to have been early made of metal in Egypt, and worn stuck in a girdle ; but, from several texts (1 Sam xvii. 39 ; 2 Sam. xx. 8 ; and 1 Kings xx. 11), it is evident that the real 93 ARMS, ARMOUll sword was slung in a belt, and that ' girding ' and ' loosing the sword ' were synonymous terms 1. Horn Daiger. 2, 3. Swords. 4, 5. Tulwar Swords. 6. Quarter-pike. for commencing and ending a war. The blades were, it seems, always short; and the dirk- sword, at least, was always double-edged. The sheath was ornamented and polished. In Egypt there were larger and heavier swords, more nearly like modern tulwars, and of the form of an English round-pointed table-knife. But while metal was scarce, there were also swords which might be called quarter-pikes, being composed of a very short wooden handle, surmounted by a spear-head. In Nubia, swords of heavy wood are still in use. 1, 2. Spear-heads. 8, 4. Darts. 5. Oryx horn tpear-head. The spear was another offensive weapon common to all the nations of antiquity, and was of various size, weight, and length. Probably the shepherd Hebrews, like nations similarly situated in northern Africa, anciently made use of the horn of an oryx, or a leucoryx, above three feet long, straightened in water, and sheathed upon a thorn-wood stuff. When sharp- ened, this instrument would penetrate the hide of a bull, and, according to Strabo, even of an elephant: it was light, very difficult to break, resisted the blow of a battle-axe, and the animals which furnished it were abundant in Arabia and ARMS, ARMOUR in the desert east of Palestine. At a later period, the head was of brass, and afterwards of iron. Very ponderous weapons of this kind were often used in Egypt by the heavy infantry ; and, from various circumstances, it may be inferred that among the Hebrews and their immediate neigh- bours, commanders in particular were distin- guished by heavy spears. Among these were generally ranked the most valiant in fight and the largest in stature ; such as Goliath, ' whose spear was like a weaver's beam' (1 Sam. xvii. 7), and whose spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron ; which by some is asserted to be equal to twenty-five pounds weight. The spear had a point of metal at the but-end to fix it in the ground, perhaps with the same massy globe above it, which is still in use, intended to counter- balance the point. It was with this ferrel that Abner slew Asahel (2 Sam. ii. 22, 23). The javelins appear to have had different forms. In most nations of antiquity the infantry, not bearing a spear, carried two darts, those lightly armed using both for long casts, and the heavy-armed only one for that purpose ; the second, more ponderous than the othi-r, being re- served for throwing when close to the enemy, or for handling in the manner of a spear. While on the subject of the javelin, it may be remarked that, by the act of casting one at David (1 Sam. xix. 9, 10), Saul virtually absolved him from his allegiance ; for by the customs of ancient Asia, preserved in the usages of the Teutonic and other nations, the custom of the East Franks, &c., to throw a dart at a freedman, who escaped from it by flight, was the demonstrative token of manumission given by his lord or master; he was thereby sent out of hand, manumissus, well expressed in the old English phrase ' scot-free.' But for this act of Saul, David might have been viewed as a rebel. 1, 2, 3, 4. Bows. 55. 5, 6. Quivers. 7, 8. Arrows. But the chief offensive weapon in Egypt, and, from the nature of the country, it may be in- ferred, in Palestine also, was the war-bow. From the simple implements used by the first hunters, consisting merely of an elastic reed, a branch of a tree, or rib of palm, the bow became in th? ARMS, ARMOUR course of time very strong and tall, was made of brass, of wood backed with horn, or of horn entirely, and even of ivory ; some being shaped like the common English bow, and others, par- ticularly those used by riding nations, like the buffalo horn. There were various modes of bending this instrument, by pressure of the knee, or by the foot treading the bow, or by setting one end against the foot, drawing the middle with the hand of the same side towards the hip, and pushing the upper point forward with the second hand, till the thumb passed the loop of the string beyond the nock. The horned bows of the cavalry, shaped like those of the Chinese, occur on monuments of antiquity. This was the Parthian bow, as is proved by several Persian bas-reliefs, and may have been in use in the time of the Elamites, who were a mounted people. These bows were carried in cases to protect the string, which was composed of deer ainews, from injury, and were slung on the right hip of the rider, except when on the point of engaging. Then the string was often cast over the head, and the bow hung upon the breast, with the two nocks above each shoulder, like a pair of horns. The arrows were likewise enclosed in a case or quiver, hung sometimes on the shoulder, and at other times on the left side ; and six or eight flight-arrows were commonly stuck in the edge of the cap, ready to be pulled out and put to the string. The infantry always carried the arrows in a quiver on the right shoulder, and the bow was kept unbent until the moment of action. On a march it was carried on the shield arm, where there was frequently also a horn bracer secured below the elbow to receive the shock from the string when an arrow was discharged. The flight or long-range arrows were commonly of reed, not always feathered, and mostly tipped with flint points ; but the shot or aimed arrows, used for nearer purposes, were of wood tipped with metal, about 30 inches long, and winged with three lines of feathers, like those in modern use : they varied in length at different periods, and according to the substance of the bows. The last missile instrument to be mentioned is the sling (Job xli. 28), an improvement upon [Egyptian Slingers and Sling.] the simple act of throwing stones. It was the favourite weapon of the Benjamites, a small tribe, not making a great mass in an order of ARMS, ARMOUR 99 battle, but well composed for light troops. They could also boast of using the sling equally well with the left hand as with the right. The sling was made of plaited thongs, somewhat broad in the middle, to lodge the stone or leaden missile, and was twirled two or three times round before the stone was allowed to take flight. Stones could not be cast above 400 feet, but leaden bullets could be thrown as far as 600 feet. The force as well as precision of aim which might be attained in the use of this instrument was re- markably shown in the case of David ; and several nations of antiquity boasted of great skill in the practice of the sling. All these hand-weapons were in use at different periods, not only among the Hebrews and Egyp- tians, but likewise in Assyria, Persia, Greece, and Macedonia. The Roman pilum was a kind of dart, distinguished from those of other nations chiefly by its weight, and the great proportional length of the metal or iron part, which consti- tuted one half of the whole, or from two and a half to three feet. Much of this length was hol- low, and received nearly twenty inches of the shaft within it : the point was never hooked like that of common darts. _ DEFENSIVE ARMS. The most ancient defen- sive piece was the shield, buckler, roundel, or target, composed of a great variety of materials, 1. The Tzenna, or Great Shield. 2. Common Egyptian Shield. 3. Target. 4, 5. Ancient Shields of uriVnown tribes. 6. Roundel. very different in form and size. The Hebrews had the word tsenna, a great shield for defence and protection (Gen. xv. 1 ; Ps. xlvii. 9 ; Prov. xxx. 5), which is commonly found in connection with spear, and was the shelter of heavily-armed infantry ; and the magin, a buckler, or smaller shield, which, from a similar juxtaposition with sword, bow, and arrows, appears to have been the defence of other-armed infantry and of chiefs : a third called sohairah or roundel, may have been appropriated to archers and slingers ; and there were others called shelatim, apparently similar to the magin, and only differing from it in orna- ment In the more advanced eras of civilization shields were made of light wood not liable to split, covered with bull-hide of two or more thicknesses and bordered with metal : the lighter H2 100 ARMS, ARMOUR kinds were made of wicker-work or osier, simi- larly, but less solidly covered ; of double ox-hide cut into a round form. There were others of a single hide, extremely thick from having been boiled ; their surface presented an appearance of many folds, like round waves up and down, which yielded, but could rarely be penetrated. We may infer that at first the Hebrews borrowed the forms in use in Egypt, and had their common shields, a kind of parallelogram, broadest and arched at the top, and cut square beneath, bordered with metal, the surface being covered with raw hide with the hair on. The lighter shields may have been soaked in oil and dried in the shade to make them hard. During the Assyrian and Persian supremacy the Hebrews may have used the square, oblong, and round shields of these na- tions, and may have subsequently copied those of Greece and Rome. The princes of Israel had shields of precious metals : all were managed by a wooden or leathern handle, and often slung by a thong over the neck. The tsenna was most likely what in the feudal ages would have been called a pavise, for such occurs on the Egyptian monuments. This was about five feet high, with a pointed arch above and square below, resem- bling the feudal knight's shield, but that the point was reversed. Shields were hung upon the battlements of walls, and, as still occurs, chiefly above gates of cities by the watch and ward. In time of peace they were covered to preserve them from the sun, and in war uncovered ; this sign was poetically used to denote coming hostilities, as in Isa. xxii. 6, &c. The Helmet was next in consideration, and in the earliest ages was made of osier, or rushes, in the form of a beehive, or of a skull-cap. The skins of the heads of animals of lions, bears, wild boars, bulls, and horses were likewise adopted, 1. Of Rushes. 2. Egyptian. 3. 4. \\estern Asia. 5. Carian. 6, 7. Egyptian. 8. Assyrian. 9. Greek. 10. Ionian. 11. Parthian. 12. 13. Other Asiatic tribes. and were adorned with rows of teeth, manes, and bristles. Wood, linen cloth in many folds, and & kind of felt, were also in early use, and some of them may be observed worn by the nations of Asia at war with the conqueror kings of Egypt, even before the departure of Israel. At that time also these kings had helmets of metal, of rounded or pointed forms. The nations of far- ther Asia used the woollen or braided caps, still retained, and now called kaouk and fez, around ARMS, ARMOUR which the turban is usually wound; but these were almost invariably supplied witli long lap- pets to cover the ears and the back of the head, and princes usually wore a radiated crown on the summit. This was the form of the Syrian, probably of the Assyrian helmets, excepting that the last mentioned were of brass, though they still retained the low cylindrical shape. Some helmet of this kind was worn by the trained in- fantry, who were spearmen among the Hebrews ; but archers and slingers had round skull-caps of skins, felts, or quilted stuffs, such as are still in use among the Arabs. Body Armour. The most ancient Persian idols are clad in shagged skins. In Egypt cuirasses were manufactured of leather, of brass, and of a succession of iron hoops, chiefly covering the abdomen and the shoulders ; but a more ancient national form was a kind of thorax, tippet, or square, with an opening for the head in it, the four points covering the breast, back, and both upper arms. This was affected in particular by the royal band of relatives who surrounded the Pharaoh, were his subordinate commanders, mes- sengers, and body-guards, bearing his standards, ensign-fans, and sun-screens, his portable throne, his bow and arrows. Beneath this square was another piece, protecting the trunk of the body, and both were in general covered with a red- coloured cloth or stuff. On the oldest fictile vases a shoulder-piece likewise occurs, worn by Greek and Etruscan warriors. It covers the upper edge of the body armour, is perforated in the middle for the head to pass, but hangs equal on the breast and back, square on the shoulders, and is evidently of leather. By the use of metal for defensive armour, the Carians appear to have created astonishment among the Egyptians, and therefore to have been the first nation so pro- 1. Egyptian, tigulated. 2. Sleeve of ring-mail, Ionian. tected in Western Asia ; nevertheless, in the tombs of the kings near Thebes, a tigulated hauberk is represented, composed of small three- coloured pieces of metal ; one golden, the others reddish and green. It is this kind of armour which may be meant by the Hebrew word techera, the closest interpretation of which ap- pears to be a tiling. In 2 Chron. xviii, 33, Ahab may have been struck in one of the grooves ARMS, ARMOUR or slits in the squares of his techera, or between two of them where they do not overlap ; or per- haps, with more probability, between the metaJ hoops of the trunk of the tippet before mentioned, where the thorax overlaps the abdomen. The term ' scales,' in the case of Goliath's armour, denotes squamous armour, most likely where the pieces were sewed upon a cloth, and not hinged to each other, as in the techera. The techera could not well be worn without an under-garment of some density to resist the friction of metal; and this was probably the dress which Saul put upon David before he as- sumed the breastplate and girdle. The Cuirass and Corslet were, strictly speak- ing, of prepared leather, but often composed of quilted cloths : the former in general denotes, in antiquity, a suit with leathern appendages at the bottom and at the shoulder, as used by the Romans ; the latter, one in which the barrel did not come down below the hips. In later ages it ARROW 101 1 , 2. Early Greek. 3. Greek. always designates a breast and back piece of steel. It is, however, requisite to observe, that in estimating the meaning of Hebrew names for armour of all kinds, they are liable to the same laxity of use which all other languages have manifested. The Girdle, or more properly the baldric or belt, was of leather, studded with metal plates or buiise ; broad when the armour was slight, and then might be girt upon the hips; otherwise it supported the sword scarf-wise from the shoulder. Greaves were likewise known, even so early as the time of David, for Goliath wore them. They consisted of a pair of shin-covers of brass or strong leather, bound by thongs round the calves and above the ankles. They reached only to the knees, excepting among the Greeks, whose greaves, elastic behind, caught nearly the whole leg, and were raised in front above the knees. AR'NON, a river forming the southern bound- ary of trans-Jordanic Palestine, and separating it from the land of Moab (Num. xxi. 13, 26 Deut. ii. 24; iii. 8, 16 ; Josh. xii. 1 ; Isa. xvi. 2 Jer. xlviii. 20). It now bears the name of Wady Modjeb, and rises in the mountains of Gilead. near Katraue, whence it pursues a circuitous course of about eighty miles to the Dead Sea. It flows in a rocky bed, and, at the part visited by Burckhardt, in a channel so deep and precipi- tous as to appear inaccessible; yet along this, winding among huge fragments of rock, lies the most frequented road, and, not being far from Dibon, probably that taken by the Israelites. The stream is almost dried up in summer ; but huge masses of rock, torn from the banks> and deposited high above the usual channel, evince its fulness and impetuosity in the rainy season. ARO'ER, a town on the north side of the river Arnon, and therefore on the southern border of the territory conquered from the Amorites, which was assigned to the tribes of Reuben and Gad (Deut. ii. 36 ; Josh. xii. 2 ; xiii. 9). The Amo- rites had previously dispossessed the Ammonites of this territory ; and although in the texts cited the town seems to be given to Reuben, it is men- tioned as a Moabitish city by Jeremiah (xlviii. 19). Burckhardt found the ruins of this town under the name of Araayr, on the edge of a precipice overlooking the river. Aroer is always named in conjunction with ' the city that is in the midst of the river ;' whence it has been con- jectured that, like Rabbath Ammon [which see], it consisted of two parts, or distinct cities ; the one on the bank of the river, and the other in the valley beneath, surrounded, either naturally or artificially, by the waters of the river. 2. AROER, one of the towns ' built,' or pro- bably rebuilt, by the tribe of Gad (Num. xxxii. 34). Burckhardt, in journeying from Szalt towards Rabbath Ammon, notices a ruined site, called Ayra, as ' one of the towns built by the tribe of Gad.' It is about seven miles south-west from Szalt. Aroer of Gad is also mentioned in Judg. xi. 33, and 2 Sam. xxiv. 5. 3. AROER, a city in the tribe of Judah (1 Sam. xxx. 28). 4. AROER, a city in the south of Judah, to which David sent presents after recovering the spoil of Ziklag (1 Sam. xxx. 26, 28). At the distance of twenty geographical miles S. by W. from Hebron, there is a broad valley called Ararah, in which are evident traces of an ancient village or town. The identity of name shows that this was the Aroer of Judah. AR'PHAD, or ARPAD, a Syrian city, having its own king, and always associated in Scripture with Hamath, the Epiphania of the Greeks (2 Kings xviii. 34; xix. 34; Isa. x. 9 ; xxxvi. 19). But all the explanations given respecting it are purely conjectural, and Arphad must still be numbered among unascertained Scriptural sites. ARPHAX'AD, the son of Shem, and father of Salah ; born one year after the Deluge, and died B.C. 1904, aged 438 years (Gen. xi. 12, c.). ARROW. This word is frequently used as the symbol of calamities or diseases inflicted by God (Job vi. 4 ; xxxiv. 6 ; Ps. xxxviii. 2 ; Deut xxxii. 23 ; comp. Ezek. v. 16 ; Zech. ix. 14). 102 ARVAD Lightnings are, by a very fine figure, described as the arrows of God (Ps. xviii. 14 ; cxliv. 6 ; Habak. iii. 11 ; comp. Wisd. v. 21 ; 2 Sam. xxii. 15). 'Arrow' is occasionally used to denote some sudden or inevitable danger; as in Ps. xci. 5 : ' The arrow that flieth by day.' It is also figurative of anything injurious, as a deceit- ful tongue (Ps. cxxix. 4 ; Jer. ix. 7) ; a bitter word (Ps. Ixiv. 3) : a false testimony (Prov. xxv. 18). The arrow is, however, not always sym- bolical of evil. In Ps. cxxvii. 4, 5, well-con- ditioned children are compared to ' arrows in the hands of a mighty man ;' t. e. instruments of power and action. The arrow is also used in a good sense to denote the efficient and irresistible energy of the word of God in the hands of the Messiah (Ps. xlv. 6 ; Isa. xliv. 2). ARROWS. [ARMS.] ARROWS, DIVINATION BY. [DIVINA- TION.] ARTAXERX'ES, ARTACHSHAST. The word, which is supposed to mean great king, is the title under which more than one Persian king is men- tioned in the Old Testament. The first ARTACHSHAST is mentioned in Ezra iv. 7-24, as the Persian king who, at the insti- gation of the adversaries of the Jews, obstructed the rebuilding of the Temple, from his time to that of Darius, king of Persia. According to the arguments adduced in the article AHASUERUS, this king is the immediate predecessor of Darius Hystaspis, and can be no other than the Magian impostor, Smerdis, who seized on the throne B.C. 521, and was murdered after a usurpation of less than eight months (Herod, iii. 61-78). As to the second ARTACHSHAST, in the seventh year of whose reign Ezra led a second colony of the Jewish exiles back to Jerusalem (Ezra vii. 1, /.), the opinions are divided between Xerxes and his son Artaxerxes Longimanus, and it is difficult, if not impossible, to arrive at any cer- tain conclusion on the subject. The third ARTACHSHAST is the Persian king who, in the twentieth year of his reign, consi- derately allowed Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem for the furtherance of purely national objects, invested him with the government of his own people, and allowed him to remain there for twelve years (Neh. ii. 1, sq. ; v. 14). It is almost unanimously agreed that the king here intended is Artaxerxes Longimanus, who reigned from the year 464 to 425 B.C. AR'TEMAS. This name (which is a contrac- tion for Artemidorus) occurs only once (Tit. iii. 12), as that of an esteemed disciple whom St. Paul designed to send into Crete to supply the place of Titus, whom he invited to visit him at Nicopolis. When the Epistle was written, the Apostle seems not to have decided whether he should send Artemas or Tychicus for this pur- pose. AR'VAD, or, as it might be spelt, ARUAD, whence the present name Ruad, a small island and city on the coast of Syria, called by the Greeks Aradus, by which name it is mentioned in 1 Mace. xv. 23. It is a small rocky island, opposite the mouth of the river Eleutherus, to the north of Tripolis, about one mile in circum- ference and two miles from the shore. Strabo describes it as a rock rising in the midst of the waves, and modern travellers state that it is ASA steep on every side. Strabo also describes the houses as exceedingly lofty, and were doubtless so built, on account of the scantiness of the site : hence, for its size, it was exceedingly populous. AR'VADITES (Gen. x. 18; 1 Chron. i. 16), the inhabitants of the island Aradus [ARVAD], and doubtless also of the neighbouring coast. The Arvadites were descended from Arvad, one of the sons of Canaan (Gen. x. 18). Strabo de- scribes the Arvadites as a colony from Sidou. They were noted mariners (Ezek. xxvii. 8, 11), and formed a distinct state, with a king of their own ; yet they appear to have been in some de- pendence upon Tyre, for the prophet represents them as furnishing their contingent of mariners to that city (Ezek. xxvii. 8, 11). The Arvadites took their full share in the maritime traffic for which the Phoenician nation was celebrated, particularly after Tyre and Sidon had fallen under the dominion of the Graco-Syrian kings. ARU'MAH, otherwise RUMAH, a city near Shechem, where Abimelech encamped (Judg. ix. 41). A'SA (healimj or physician'), son of Abijah, grandson of Rehoboam, and third king of Judah. He began to reign two years before the death of Jeroboam, in Israel, and he reigned forty-one years, from B.C. 955 to 914. v As Asa was very young at his accession, the affairs of the govern- ment were administered by his mother, or, ac- cording to some (comp. 1 Kings xv. 1, 10), his grandmother Maachah, who is understood to have been a granddaughter of Absolom [MAACHAH]. She gave much encouragement to idolatry ; but the young king, on assuming the reins of govern- ment, zealously rooted out the idolatrous prac- tices which had grown up during his minority and under the preceding reigns ; and only the altars in the ' high places ' were suffered to remain (1 Kings xv. 11-13; 2 Chron. xiv. 2-5). He neglected no human means of putting his kingdom in the best possible military condition, for which ample opportunity was afforded by the peace which he enjoyed in the ten first years of his reign. And his resources were so well organized, and the population had so increased, that he was eventually in a condition to count on the military services of 580,000 men (2 Chron. xiv. 6-8). In the eleventh year of his reign, relying upon the Divine aid, Asa attacked and defeated the nume- rous host of the Cushite king Zerah, who had penetrated through Arabia Petraea into the vale of Zephathah, with an immense host (2 Chron. xiv. 9-15. ) As the triumphant Judahites were re- turning, laden with spoil, to Jerusalem, they were met by the prophet Azariah, who declared this splendid victory to be a consequence of Asa's con- fidence in Jehovah, and exhorted him to perse- verance. Thus encouraged, the king exei-ted himself to extirpate the remnants of idolatry, and caused the people to renew their covenant with Jehovah (2 Chron. xv. 1-15). It was this clear knowledge of his dependent political posi- tion, as the vice-gerent of Jehovah, which won for Asa the highest prai&e that could be given to a Jewish king that he walked in the steps of his ancestor David (1 Kings xv. 11). Nevertheless, the king failed towards the latter end of his reign to maintain the character lie had thus acquired. When Baasha, king of Israel, ASCENSION had renewed the war between the two kingdoms, and had taken Ramah, which he was proceeding to fortify as a frontier barrier, Asa, the conqueror of Zerah, was so far wanting to his kingdom and his God as to employ the wealth of the Temple and of the royal treasures to induce the king of Syria (Damascus) to make a diversion in his favour by invading the dom.inions of Baasha. By this means he recovered Ramah, indeed ; but his treasures were squandered, and he incurred the rebuke of the prophet Hanani, whom he cast into prison, being, as it seems, both alarmed and enraged at the effect his address was calculated to produce upon the people. Other persons (who had probably manifested their disapprobation) i also suffered from his anger (1 Kings xv. 16-22 ; ! 2 Chron. xvi. 1-10). In the three last years of j his life Asa was afflicted with a grievous ' disease j in his feet ;' and it is mentioned to his reproach ' that he placed too much confidence in his physi- cians. At his death, however, it appeared that his popularity had not been substantially im- paired ; for he was honoured with a funeral of unusual cost and magnificence (2 Chron. xvi. . 11-14). AS'AHEL ( God-created), son of David's sister ' Zeruiah, and brother of Joab and Abishai. He was noted for his swiftness of foot ; and after the battle at Gibeon he pursued and overtook Abner, who, with great reluctance, and to preserve his I own life, slew him with a backthrust of his spear, B.C. 1055 [ABNER] (2 Sam. ii. 18-23). A'SAPH (assembler}, a Levite, son of Barachias (1 Chron. vi. 39 ; xv. 17), eminent as a musician, and appointed by David to preside over the sacred choral services which he organized. The ' sons '. of Asaph ' are afterwards mentioned as choristers of the temple (1 Chron. xxv. 1, 2 ; 2 Chron. xx. , 14; xxix. 13; Ezra ii. 41 : iii. 10; Neh. vii. 44; xi. 22): and this office appears to have been made hereditary in his family (1 Chron. xxv. 1, 2). Asaph was celebrated in after times as a prophet and poet (2 Chron. xxix. 30 ; Neh. xii. 16), and the titles of twelve of the Psalms (Ixxiii. to Ixxxiii.) bear his name. The merits of this appropriation are elsewhere examined [PSALMS]. There were two other persons named Asaph : one who occupied the distinguished post of ' re- corder ' to king Hezekiah (2 Kings xviii. 18 ; Isa. xxxvi. 3) ; another who was keeper of the royal forests under Artaxerxes (Neh. ii. 8). ASCENSION. The event spoken of under this title is among those which Christians of every age have contemplated with the most pro- found satisfaction. It was in his ascension that Christ exhibited the perfect triumph of humanity over every antagonist, whether in itself, or in the circumstances under M'hich it may be supposed to existl The contemplation of this, the entrance of the Redeemer into glory, inspired the prophets of old with the noblest views of his kingdom. ' Thou hast ascended ou high ; thou hast led captivity captive ; thou hast received gifts for men ; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them' (Ps. Ixviii. 18) ; and ' Lift up your heads, O ye gates ; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the king of glory shall come in ' (Ps. xxiv. 9). That something of vast importance, in respect to the completion of the great scheme of salvation, was involved in this event, appears ASHDOD 103 from the words of our Lord himself, ' Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father : but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I as- cend unto my Father, and your Father ; and to my God and your God' (John xx. 17). Nor was it till this had taken place that he poured out the grace of the Spirit upon his church, or began the higher exercises of his office as a me- diating priest. In the primitive church, the feast of the Ascension, called also by St. Chry- sostom the Assumption of Christ, was considered, like the solemn days of the Nativity and the Passion, as of apostolic origin. St. Chrysostom, in his homily on the subject, calls it an illustrious and refulgent day, and describes the exaltation of Christ as the grand proof of God's reconciliation to mankind. AS'ENATH, the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On, whom the king of Egypt bestowed in mar- riage upon Joseph, with the view probably of strengthening his position in Egypt by this high connection. The considerations suggested by this marriage belong to another place [JOSEPH] ; and attention is here only required to the name, which, in common with other words of foreign origin, has attracted considerable notice. The most probable interpretation is that ?t means worshipper of Neith the titular goddess of Sais, the Athene of the Greeks. ASH. The word thus translated occurs only once in Scripture (Isa. xliv. 14), and is variously translated. Some consider pine-tree to be the correct translation, others the rubus or bramble. Celsius quotes from the Arab author, 'Abu 1 Fadli, the description of a tree called aran, which ap- pears well suited to the passage, though it has not yet been ascertained what tree is intended. The aran is said to be a tree of Arabia Petnca, of a thorny nature, inhabiting the valleys, but found also in the mountains, where it is however less thorny. The wood is said to be much valued for cleaning the teeth. The fruit is in bunches like small grapes. The berry is noxious while green, and bitter like galls ; as it ripens it becomes red, then black and somewhat sweetish, and when eaten is grateful to the stomach, &c., and seems to act as a stimulant medicine. Sprengel supposes this to be the caper plant To us it appears to agree in some respects with Sal- vadora persica, but not in all points, and there- fore it is preferable to leave it as one of those still requiring investigation by some traveller in Syria conversant both with plants and their Ori- ental names and uses. ASH'DOD, the AZOTUS of the Greeks and Ro- mans, and so called in 1 Mace. iv. 1 5 ; Acts viii. 40 ; a city on the summit of a grassy hill, near the Mediterranean coast, nearly mid-way between Gaza and Joppa, being 18 geog. miles N. by E. from the former, and 21 S. from the latter; and it is more exactly mid-way between Askelon and Ekron, being 10 geog. miles N. by E. from the former, and S. by W. from the latter. Ashdod was a city of the Philistines, and the chief town of one of their five states (Josh. xiii. 3 ; 1 Sam. vi. 17). It was the seat of the worship of Dagon (1 Sam. v. 5 ; 1 Mace. xi. 4) ; and it was before its shrine in this city that the captured ark was deposited and triumphed over the idol (1 Sam. T. 1-9). Ashdod was assigned to Judah ; but manv centuries passed before this and the other Phi- ld4 ASHER listine towns were subdued [PHH.ISTIXES] ; and it appears never to have been permanently in possession of the Judahites, although it was dis- mantled by Uzziah, who built towns in the terri- tory of Ashdod (1 Chron. xxvi. (i). It is men- tioned to the reproach of the Jews returned from captivity, that they married wives of Ashdod, with the result that the children of these mar- riages spoke a mongrel dialect, half Hebrew and half in the speech of Ashdod (Neh. xiii. 23, 24). These facts indicate the ancient importance of Ashdod. It was indeed a place of great strength ; and being on the usual military route between Syria and Egypt, the possession of it became an object of importance in the wars between Egypt and the great northern powers. Hence it was secured by the Assyrians before invading Egypt (Isa. i. 1, sq.} ; and at a later date it was taken by Psammetichus, after a siege of twenty-nine years, being the longest siege on record. The destruction of Ashdod was foretold by the pro- phets (Jer. xxv. 20 ; Amos i. 8 ; iii. 9 ; Zeph. ii. 4 ; Zach. ix. 6) ; and was accomplished by the Maccabees (1 Mace. v. 68: x. 77-84; xi. 4). It was, however, rebuilt, and was included in the dominion of Herod the Great, who bequeathed it, with two other towns, to his sister Salome. The evangelist Philip was found at Ashdod after he had baptized the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts viii. 40). Azotus early became the seat of a bishop- ric ; and we find a bishop of Azotus present at the councils of Nice, of Chalcedon, A.D. 359, of Seleucia, and of Jerusalem, A.D. 536. Ashdod exists at present as an inconsiderable village. The site is marked by ancient ruins, such as broken arches, and partly buried frag- ments of marble columns; there is also what has the appearance of a very ancient khan, the principal chamber of which had obviously, at gome former period, been used as a Christian chapel. The place is still called Esdud. ASH'ER (happy), one of the sons of Jacob by Zilpah, the handmaid of Leah (Gen. xxx. 13; xxxv. 26), and founder of one of the twelve tribes (Num. xxvi. 44-47). Asher had four sons and one daughter (Gen. xlix. 20 ; Deut xxxiii. 24). On quitting Egypt the number of adult males in the tribe of Asher was 41,500, which made it the ninth of the tribes (excluding Levi) in numbers Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin only being below it. But before entering Canaan an increase of 11,900 an increase exceeded only by Manasseh raised the number to 53,400, and made it the fifth of the tribes in population (oomp. Num. i. 40, 41 ; xxvi. 47). The inhe- ritance of this tribe lay in a very fruitful country, on the sea-coast, with Lebanon north, Carmel and the tribe of Issachar south, and Zebulon and Naphtali east. It is usually stated that the whole of the PhoBuician territories, in- cluding Sidon, were assigned to this tribe. But there are various considerations which militate against this conclusion. The Asherites were unable to gain possession for a long time of the territories actually assigned them, but ' dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land' (Judg. i. 32) ; and, ' as it is not usual to say of a larger number that it dwells among the smaller, the inference is, that they expelled but comparatively few of the Canaanites, leaving them, in fact, a majority of the population.' ASHTORETH ASHES, in the symbolical language of Scrip- ture, denote human frailty (Gen. xviii. 27), deep humiliation (Esth. iv. 1 ; Jonah iii. 6 ; Matt. xi. 21 ; Luke x. 13 ; Job xlii. 6 ; Dan. ix. 3). To sit in ashes was a token of grief and mourning (Job ii. 8; Lam. iii. 16; Ezek. xxvii. 30), as was also strewing them upon the head (2 Sam. xiii. 10 ; Isa. xli. 3) [MOURNING]. ' Feeding on ashes,' in Ps. cii. 9, appears to express grief, as of one with whose food the ashes with which he is covered mingle. But in Isa. xliv. 20, ' feed- ing on ashes,' which afford no nourishment, is judged to denote ineffectual means, labour to no purpose. Compare Hos. xii. 1. ASH'IMA (2 Kings xvii. 30), only once men- tioned in the Old Testament as the god of the people of Hamath. The Babylonian Talmud, and the majority of Jewish writers, assert that Ashima was worshipped under the form of a goat without ivool ; the Talmud of Jerusalem says, under that of a lamb. Elias Levita, a learned Rabbi of the sixteenth century, assigns the word the sense of ape. Jurieu and Calmet have pro- posed other fanciful conjectures. The opinion that this idol had the form of a goat, however, appears to be the one best supported by argu- ments as well as by authorities. ASH'KENAZ (Gen. x. 3), and ASHCIIKXA/, (Jer. Ii. 27), the name of a son of Gomer, son of Japhet, and of a tribe of his descendants. Jn Jeremiah it is placed with Ararat and Minni, provinces of Armenia; whence it is probable that Ashkenaz was a province of Armenia ; or at least that it lay not far from it, near the Cau- casus, or towards the Black Sea. ASH'PENAZ, chief of the eunuchs of king Nebuchadnezzar, to whose care Daniel and his companions were consigned, and who changed their names (Dan. i. 3, 7). ASH'TAROTH and ASHTAROTH-CARXAIM, a town of Bashan (Deut. i. 4; Josh. ix. 10) which was included in the territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh (Josh. xiii. 31), and was assigned to the Levites (1 Chron. vi. 71). It is placed by Eusebius 6 miles from Edrei, the other principal town of Bashan, and 25 miles from Bostra. The town existed in the time of Abraham (Gen. xiv. 5) ; and as its name of Ashtaroth appears to be derived from the worship of the moon under that name [see the following article], there is little need to look farther than the crescent of that luminary and its symbolical image for an explanation of the addition CARNAIJI, or rather KARXAIM, ' horned.' Astaroth-Carnaim is now usually identified with Mezareib, the situation of which corresponds accurately enough with the distances given by Eusebius. Here is the first castle on the great pilgrim road from Damascus to Mecca, which was built about 340 years ago by the Sultan Selim. There are no dwellings beyond the castle, and within it only a few mud huts upon the flat roofs of the warehouses, occu- pied by the peasants who cultivate the neigh- bouring grounds. ASH'TORETH (1 Kings xi. 5) is the name of a goddess of the Sidonians (1 Kings xi. 5, 33), but also of the Philistines (1 Sam. xxxi. 10), whose worship was introduced among the Israel- ites during the period of the judges (Jud. ii. 13; 1 Sam. vii. 4), was celebrated by Solomon him- self (1 Kings xi. 5), and was finally put down ASHTORETH by Josiah (2 Kings xxiii. 13). She is frequently mentioned in connection with Baal, as the cor- responding female divinity (Jud. ii. 13) ; and, from the addition of the words, 'and all the host of heaven,' in 2 Kings xxiii. 4, it is pro- bable that she represented one of the celestial bodies. There is also reason to believe that she is meant by the ' queen of heaven,' in Jer. vii. 18; xliv. 17; whose worship is there said to have been solemnised by burning incense, pour- ing libations, and offering cakes. According to the testimonies of profane writers, the worship of this goddess, under different names, existed in all countries and colonies of the Syro-Arabian nations. She was especially the chief female divinity of the Phoenicians and Syrians, and there can be no doubt was wor- shipped also at ancient Carthage. The classical writers, who usually endeavoured to identify the gods of other nations with their own, rather than to discriminate between them, have recognised several of their own divinities in Ashtoreth. Thus she was considered to be Juno or Venus, especially Venus Urania. As for the power of nature, which was wor- shipped under the name of Ashtoreth, Creuzer and Miinter assert that it was the principle of conception and parturition that subordinate power which is fecundated by a superior in- fluence, but which is the agent of all births throughout the universe. As such, Miinter maintains that the original form under which Ashtoreth was worshipped was the moon ; and that the transition from that to the planet Venus was unquestionably an innovation of a later date. It is evident that the moon alone can be pro- perly called the queen of heaven ; as also that the dependent relation of the moon to the Run makes it a more appropriate symbol of that sex, whose functions as female and mother, through- out the whole extent of animated nature, were embodied in Ashtoreth [BAAL]. The rites of her worship, if we may assume their resembling those which profane authors describe as paid to the cognate goddesses, in part agree with the few indications in the Old Test., in part complete the brief notices there into an accordant picture. The caJtes mentioned in Jer. vii. 18, were also known to the Greeks, and were by them made in the shape of a sickle, in reference to the new moon. Among animals, the dove, the crab, and, in later times, the lion, were sacred to her ; and among fruits, the pome- granate. No blood was shed on her altar ; but male animals, and chiefly kids, were sacrificed to her. The most prominent part of her wor- ship, however, consisted of those libidinous orgies, which Augustine, who was an eye-witness of their horrors in Carthage, describes with such indignation. Her priests were eunuchs in women's attire (1 Kings xiv. 24), and women (Hos. iv. 14), who, like the Bayaderes of India, prostituted liemselves to enrich the temple of this goddess. The prohibition in Deut xxiii. 18 appears to allude to the dedication of such funds to such a purpose. As for the places consecrated to her worship, although the numerous passages in which the authorized version erroneously speaks of groves, are to be deducted (as is ex- plained below), there are yet several occasions on whinh gardens and shady trees are mentioned ASHTORETH 105 as peculiar seats of (probably, her) lascivious rites (Isa. i. 29 ; Ixv. 3 ; 1 Kings xiv. 23 ; Hos iv. 13; Jer. ii. 20; iii. 13). She also had cele- brated temples (1 Sam. xxxi. 10). As to the form and attributes with which Ash- toreth was represented, the oldest known image, that in Paphos, was a white conical stone. In Canaan she was probably represented as a cow. In Phoenicia, she had the head of a cow or bull, as she is seen on coins. Sauchoniathon states that ' Astarte adopted the head of a bull as a symbol of her sovereignty ;' he also accounts for the star which is her most usual emblem, by saying that ' when she passed through the earth, she found a fallen star, which she consecrated in Tyre. At length, she was figured with the human form, as Lucian expressly testifies of the Syrian goddess which is substantially the same as Ashtoreth ; and she is so found on coins of Severus, with her head surrounded with rays, sitting on a lion, and holding a thunderbolt and a sceptre in either hand. To come now to ASHERAH (Judg. vi. 25). Selden was the first who endeavoured to show that this word which in the LXX. and Vulgate is generally rendered grove, in which our autho- rized version has followed them must in some places, for the sake of the sense, be taken to mean a wooden image of Ashtoreth ; and it may now be regarded as a settled point that Asherah is a name, and also denotes an image of this goddess. Some of the arguments which support this opinion are briefly as follows. It is argued that Asherah almost always occurs with words which denote idols and statues of idrls ; that the verbs which are employed to express the making an Asherah, are incompatible with the idea of a grove, as they are such as to build, to shape, to erect ; that the words used to denote the destruc- tion of an Asherah are those of breaking to pieces, subverting ; that the image of Asherah is placed in the Temple (2 Kings xxi. 7) ; and that Asherah is coupled with Baal in precisely the same way as Ashtoreth is : comp. Judg. ii. 13 ; x. 6 ; 1 Kings xviii. 19; 2 Kings xxiii. 4; and particularly Judges iii. 7, and ii. 13, where the plural form of both words is explained as of itself denoting images of this goddess. Besides, Selden objects that the signification grove is even incongruous in 2 Kings xvii. 10, where we read of ' setting up groves under every green tree.' On the strength of these arguments most modern scholars assume that Asherah is a name for Ashtoreth, and that it denotes more especially the relation of that goddess to the planet Venus, as the lesser star of 106 ASKELON good fortune. It appears, namely, to be an in- disputable fact that both Baal and Ashtoreth, although their priipary relation was to the sun and moon, came in process of time to be con- nected, in the religious conceptions of the Syro- Arabians, with the planets Jupiter and Venus, as the two stars of good fortune [See the article MESI]. ASIA. The ancients had no divisions of the world into parts or quarters; and hence the word Asia, in the modern large sense, does not occur in Scripture. Indeed it does not at all oncur, in any sense, in the Hebrew Scriptures, but is found in the books of the Maccabees and in the New Testament. It there applies, in the largest sense, to that peninsular portion of Asia which, since the fifth century, has been known by the name of Asia Minor; and, in a narrower sense, to a certain portion thereof which was known as Asia Proper. Thus, it is now gene- rally agreed, 1. That ' Asia' denotes the whole of ASIA MINOR, in the texts Acts xix. 26, 27; xx. 4, 1C, 18; xxvii. 2. &c. : but, 2. That only ASIA PROPER, the Roman or Proconsular Asia, is denoted in Acts ii. 9 ; vi. 9 ; xix. 10, 22 ; 2 Tim. i. 15; 1 Pet. i. 6; Rev. i. 4, 11. ASIA MINOR comprehended Bithynia, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Cicilia,. Pamphylia, Pisidia, Ly- caonia, Phrygia, Mysia, Troas (all of which are mentioned in the New Testament), Lydia,. Ionia, yEolis (which are sometimes included under Lydia), Caria, Doris, and Lycia. ASIA PROPER, or Proconsular Asia, comprehended the pro- vinces of Phrygia, Mysia, Caria, and Lydia. But it is evident that St. Luke uses the term Asia in a sense still more restricted, for in one place he counts Phrygia (Acts ii. 9, 10), and in another Mysia (xvi. 6, 7), as provinces distinct from Asia. Hence it is probable that in many, if not all, of the second set of references the word Asia denotes only Ionia, or the entire western coast, of which Ephesus was the capital, and in which the seven churches were situated. This is called Asia also by Strabo. ASIAR'CH^E (Acts xix. 31 ; Auth. Vers. ' certain of the chief of Asia'). These asiarchae, who derived their appellation from the name of the province over which they presided (as Sy- riarchae, 2 Mace. xii. 2, Lyciarch, Cariarch, &c.), were in Proconsular Asia the chief presidents of the religious rites, whose office it was to exhibit every year, in honour of the gods and of the Roman emperor, solemn games in the theatre. This they did at their own expense, whence none but the most opulent persons could bear the office, although only of one year's continuance. The appointment was much as follows: at the beginning of every year ({. e. about the autumnal equinox) each of the cities of Asia held a public assembly, in order to nominate one of their citi- zens as asiarch. A person was then sent to the general council of the province, at some one of the principal cities, as Ephesus, Smyrna, Sardis, &c., to announce the name of the individual who had been selected. Of the persons thus nomi- nated by the cities the council designated ten, and it is probable that one chosen by the pro- consul was pre-eminently the asiarch, but that the other nine acted as his assessors and also bore that title. AS'IvELON, a city of the Philistines, and seat ASPALATHUS of one of thoir five states (Judg. xiv. 19 ; 1 Sam. vi. 17; 2 Sam. i. 20). It was situated on the Mediterranean coast, between Gaza and Ashdod, twelve geog. miles north of the former, and ten S. by W. from the latter, and thirty-seven S.W.W. from Jerusalem. It was the only one of the five great Philistine towns that was a maritime port, and stood out close to the shore. Askelon was assigned to the tribe of Judah (Josh, xiii. 13: comp. Judg. i. 18) ; but it was never for any length of time in possession of the Israelites. The part of the country in which it stood abounded in aromatic plants, onions, and vines. It was well fortified, and early became the seat of the worship of Decerto. After the time of Alexander it shared the lot of Phoenicia, and also of Juda?a, being tributary sometimes to Egypt, and at other times to Syria. The mag- nificent Herod was born at Askelon, and although the city did not belong to his dominion, he adorned it with fountains, baths, and colonnades ; and after his death Salome, his sister, resided there in a palace which Ca?sar bestowed upon her. It suffered much in the Jewish war with the Romans, but afterwards it again revived, and in the middle ages was noted not only as a stronghold, but as a wealthy and important town. The town bears a prominent part in the history of the Crusades. After being several times dis- mantled and re-fortified in the times of Saladin and Richard, its fortifications were at length totally destroyed by the Sultan Bibars in A.D. 1270, and the port filled up with stones, for fear of future attempts on the part of the Crusaders. Its desolation has long been complete, and little now remains of it but the walls, with numerous fragments of granite pillars. The situation is described as strong; the thick walls, flanked with towers, were built on the top of a ridge of rock that encircles the town, and terminates at each end in the sea. The place still bears the name of Askulan. ASMODE'US (Tob. iii. 8), a demon or evil spirit, mentioned in the Apocryphal book of Tobit as having beset Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, and killed the seven husbands whom she had married before Tobit. The Rabbins call Asmodeus, as well as Beelzebub, ' the prince of devils,' whence the two names have been sup- posed to refer to the same demon. But this title they also give to ' the angel of death,' as the destroyer of all mankind. Thus the story in Tobit means no more than that the seven husbands died successively on their marriage with Sarah. ASMONE'ANS. [MACCABEES.] ASNAP'PER, the name of the king, or pos- sibly Assyrian satrap, who sent the Cuthean colonies into Palestine (Ezra iv. 10). Taking him for king of Assyria, he is generally iden- tified with Esar-haddon, although some believe the name to denote Salmanezer. The title ('most noble') which is given to him belonged to the satraps. ASPA'LATHUS, a name which occurs only in the Apocrypha (Ecclus. xxiv. 15), where the substance which it indicates is enumerated with the other spices and perfumes to which wisdom is compared. Though this drug is not men- tioned in the canonical Scriptures, it is probable that it may have been one of the substances ASS comprehended under the general name of spices. It was no doubt one of the substances employed by the ancients as a perfume and incense, as it forms one of the ingredients of the cyphi, or compound incense made use of by the Egyptian priests. The substance which was called aspala- thus has not been very clearly ascertained. ASPHALTUM (Auth.Vers. ' pitch') doubt- less derives its name from the Lake Asphaltites (Dead Sea), whence it was abundantly obtained. Usually asphaltum is of a shining black colour ; it is solid and brittle, with a conchoidal fracture, altogether not unlike common pitch. Its spe- cific gravity is from 1 to T6, and it consists chiefly of bituminous oil, hydrogen gas, and charcoal. It is found partly as a solid dry fossil, intermixed in layers of plaster, marl, or slate, and partly as liquid tar flowing from cavities in rocks or in the earth, or swimming upon the surface of lakes or natural wells. To judge from Gen. xiv. 10, mines of asphaltum must have existed formerly on the spot where sub- sequently the Dead Sea, or Lake Asphaltites, was formed. The Palestine earth-pitch seems, however, to have had the preference over all the other sorts. It was used among the ancients partly for covering boats, paying the bottoms of vessels (Gen. vi. 14 : Exod. ii. 3), and partly as a substitute for mortar in buildings ; and it is thought that the bricks of which the walls of Babylon were built (Gen. xi. 3) had been ce- mented with hot bitumen, which imparted to them great solidity. In ancient Babylon as- phaltum was made use of also as fuel, as the environs have from the earliest times been re- nowned for the abundance of asphalt-mines. Neither were the ancient Jews unacquainted with the medicinal properties of that mineral. The asphaltum was also used among the an- cient Egyptians for embalming the dead. This operation was performed in three different ways : the first with slaggy mineral pitch alone; the second with a mixture of this bitumen and a liquor extracted from the cedar ; and the third with a similar mixture, to which resinous and aromatic substances were added. Asphaltum is found in masses on the shore of the Dead Sea, or floating on the surface of its waters. The local Arabs affirm that the bitumen only appears after earthquakes. They allege that after the earthquake of 1834 huge quan- tities of it were cast upon the shore, of which the Jehalin Arabs alone took about 60 kuntars (each of 98 Ibs.) to market. There was another earthquake on January 1, 1837, and soon after a .arge mass of asphaltum (compared by one person to an island, and by another to a house) was discovered floating on the sea, and was driven aground on the western side, near Usdum. The neighbouring Arabs assembled, cut it up with axes, removed it by camels' loads, and sold it at the rate of four piastres the rutl, or pound ; the product is said to have been about 3000 dollars. Except during these two years, the Sheik of the Jehalin, a man fifty years old, had never known bitumen appear in the sea, nor heard of it from his fathers. ASS. 1. The common working ass of Western Asia (called in the Hebrew Chamor), is an animal of small stature, frequently represented on Egyptian monuments with panniers on the ASS 107 back, usually of a reddish colour. It appears to be a domesticated race of the wild ass of Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Southern Persia. In its natural state it never seeks woody, but upland pasture, mountainous and rocky retreats ; and it is habituated to stand on the brink of pre- cipices (a practice not entirely obliterated in our own domestic races), whence, with pro- truded ears, it surveys the scene below, blowing and at length braying iu extreme excitement. This habit is beautifully depicted by Jeremiah (xvii. C ; -xlviii. fi). The Auth. Vers. translates the Hebrew words Oir, Oirim, ' young ass," ' colt;' but this render- 1 ing does not appear on all occasions to be correct, the word being sometimes used where the Oirim or Ourim carry loads and till the ground, which seems to afford evidence of, at least, full growth (Isa. xxx. G, 24). The word Aton, Atunuth, is unsatisfactorily rendered ' she-ass,' unless we suppose it to refer to a breed of greater beauty and importance than the common, namely, the silver grey of Africa ; which being large and indocile, the females were anciently selected in preference for riding, and on that account formed 62. [Domestic Ass of Western Asia.] a valuable kind of property. It is now the fashion, as it was during the Parthian empire, and probably in the time of the Judges, to dapple this breed with spots of orange or crimson, or of both colours together ; and although the taste may be puerile, we conceive that it is the record of remote conquest achieved by a nation of Central Asia mounted on spotted or clouded horses, and revived by the Parthians, who were similarly equipped. As this animal was most serviceable to man, its name was held in respect rather than con- tempt. It is alleged, indeed, that the ass was held in contempt in Egypt ; but among the Arabs and Jews we have ' the voice of one crying in the wilderness,' a solemn allusion derived from the wild ass, almost the only voice iu the desert ; and in the distinguishing epithet of Mirvan II., last Ommiad caliph, who was called the wild ass of Mesopotamia proofs that no idea of con- tempt was associated with the prophet's meta- phor, and that, by such a designation, no insult was intended to the person or dignity of the prince. 2. WLLD Ass. By this term the Scripture seems 108 ASSID^ANS to intend the horse-ass, or -wild mule. The species is first noticed by Aristotle, -who mentions nine of these animals as being brought to Phrygia by Pharuaces the satrap, whereof three were living in the time of his son Pharnabazus. The allu- sion of Jeremiah, in speaking of the wild ass (xiv. 6), most forcibly depicts the scarcity of food when this species, inured to the desert and to want of water, are made the prominent ex- ample of suffering. They were most likely used in traces to draw chariots (Isa. xxi. 7). The wild ass is little inferior to the wild horse ; in shape it resembles a mule, in gracefulness a horse, and in colour it is silvery, with broad spaces of flaxen or bright bay on the thigh, flank, shoulder, neck, and head ; the ears are wide like the zebra's, and the neck is clothed with a ver- tical dark mane prolonged in a stripe to the tuft of the tail. The company of this animal is liked by horses, and, when domesticated, it is gentle : it is now found wild from the deserts of 63. [WUdAss.] the Oxus and Jaxartes to China and Central India. In Cutch it is never known to drink, and in whole districts which it frequents water is not to be found. Though the natives talk of the fine flavour of the flesh, and the Gour in Persia is the food of heroes, to an European its smelt is abominable. MULE occurs in 2 Sam. xiii. 29 ; 1 Kings i. 33 ; x. 25 ; and in other places. This animal is sufficiently well known to require no particular description. Where, or at what period, breeding mules was first commenced is totally unknown, although, from several circumstances, Western Asia may be rtgarded as the locality ; and the era as coinciding with that of the first kings of Israel. In the time of David, to be allowed to ride on the king's own mule was an understood concession of great, if not sovereign authority, and several years before the mention of this event all the king's sons already rode upon mules. It does not appear that the Hebrew people, at this early period at least, bred mules ; they received them from Armenia ; but the most beautiful were no doubt brought from the vicinity of Bassora. ASSH'UR, a son of Shem, who gave his name to Assyria (Gen. x. 11-22) [ASSYRIA]. ASS1D. and the common practice, their food being chiefly prepared in a liquid form, is to dip their thin wafer-like bread into the dish, and folding it between their thumb and two fingers, enclose a portion of the contents. It is not uncommon to see several hands plunged into one dish at the same time. But where the party is nu- merous, the two persons near or opposite arc commonly joined in one dish ; and accordingly, at the last Passover, Judas, being close to his master, was pointed out as the traitor by being designated as the person ' dipping his hand with Jesus in the dish.' The Apostle John, whose advantageous situation enabled him to hear the minutest parts of the conversation, has recorded the fact of our Lord, in reply to the question ' Who is it ?' answering it by ' giving a sop to Judas when he had dipped' (John xiii. 26) ; and this leads us to mention it as not the least among the peculiarities of Oriental manners, that a host often dips his hand into a dish, and lifting a handful of what he considers a dainty, offers the sop to one of his friends. In earlier ages, a double or a more liberal portion, or a choice piece of cookery, was the form in which a land- lord showed his respect for the individual he delighted to honour (Gen. xliii. 34; 1 Sam. i. 4; ix. 23; Prov. xxxi. 15). In the course of the entertainment servants are VOL. i. BANQUETS 129 frequently employed in sprinkling the head and person of the guests with odoriferous cerfunies, which, probably to counteract the effects of too copious perspiration, they use in great profusion, and the fragrance of which, though generally too strong for Europeans, is deemed an agreeable re- freshment (see Ps. xlv. 8 ; xxiii. 5 ; cxxxiii. 2). The various items of which un Oriental enter- tainment consists, bread, flesh, fish, fowls, melted butter, honey, and fruits, are in many places set on the table at once, in defiance of all taste. They are brought in upon trays one, containing several dishes, being assigned to a group of two or at most three persons, and the number and quality of the dishes being regulated according to the rank and consideration of the party seated before it. In ordinary cases four or five dishes constitute the portion allotted to a guest ; but if he be a person of consequence, or one to whom the host is desirous of showing more than ordinary marks of attention, other viands are successively brought in, until, if every vacant corner of the tray is occupied, the bowls are piled one above another. The object of this rude but liberal hospitality is, not that the indi- vidual thus honoured is expected to surfeit him- self by an excess of indulgence in order to testify his sense of the entertainer's kindness, but that he may enjoy the means of gratifying his palate with greater variety ; and hence we read of Joseph's displaying his partiality for Benjamin by making his ' mess five times so much as any of theirs ' (Gen. xliii. 84). The shoulder of a lamb, roasted, and plentifully besmeared with butter and milk, is regarded as a great delicacy still, as it was also in the days of Samuel. But according to the favourite cookery of the Ori- entals, their animal food is for the most part cut into small pieces, stewed, or prepared in a liquid state, such as seems to have been the ' broth ' presented by Gideon to the angel (Judg. vi. 19). The made-up dishes are ' savoury meat,' being highly seasoned, and bring to remembrance the marrow and fatness which were esteemed as the most choice morsels in ancient times. As to drink, when particular attention was intended to be shown to a guest, his cup was filled with wine till it ran over (Ps. xxiii. 5), and it is said that the ancient Persians began their feasts with wine, whence it was called ' a banquet of wine" (Esther v. 6). The hands, for occasionally both were required, besmeared with grease during the process of eat- ing, were anciently cleaned by rubbing them with the soft part of the bread, the crumbs of which, being allowed to fall, became the portion of dogs (Matt. xv. 27; Luke xvi. 21). But the most common way now at the conclusion of a feast is for a servant to go round to each guest with water to wash, a service which is performed by the menial pouring a stream over their hands, which is received into a strainer at the bottom of the basin. This humble office Elisha performed to his master (2 Kings iii. 11). People of rank and opulence in the East fre- quently give public entertainments to the poor. The rich man in the parable, whose guests dis- appointed him, despatched his servants on the instant to invite those that might be found sit- ting by the hedges and the highways a measure which, iii the circumstances, was absolutely neces-- 130 sary, as the heat of the climate would spoil the meats long before they could be consumed hy the members of his own household. But many of the great, from benevolence or ostentation, are in the habit of proclaiming set days for giving feasts to the poor; and then, at the time ap- pointed, may be seen crowds of the blind, the halt, and the mair led bending their steps to the scene of entertainment. This species of charity claims a venerable antiquity. Our Lord recom- mended his wealthy hearers to practise it rather than spend their fortunes, as they did, on luxu- rious living (Luke xiv. 12); and as such invi- tations to the poor are of necessity given by pub- lic proclamation, and female messengers are em- ployed to publish them, it is probably to the same venerable practice that Solomon alludes in Prov. ix. 3. BAPTISM. A conviction of the holiness of God excites in man the notion that he cannot possibly come into any amicable relation with him before he is cleansed of sin, which separates him from God. This sentiment found a very widely extended symbolic expression in the lus- trations which formed an essential part of the ceremonial creeds of the ancient nations. In the language of the prophets, cleansing with water is used as an emblem of the purification of the heart, which in the Messianic age is to glorify the soul in her innermost recesses, and to em- brace the whole of the theocratic nation (Ezek. xxxvi. 25, sq. ; Zech. xiii. 1). Such declarations gave rise to or nourished the expactation that the advent of the Messiah would manifest itself by a preparatory lustration, by which Elijah or some other great prophet would pave the way for him. This supposition lies evidently at the bottom of the questions which the Jews put to John the Baptist (John i. 25: comp. Matt, and Luke, iii. 7), whether he was the Messiah, or Elijah, or some other prophet ? and if not, why he under- took to baptize ? Thus we can completely clear up the historical derivation of the rite, as used by John and Christ, from the general and natural symbol of baptism, from the Jewish custom in particular, and from the expectation of a Mes- sianic consecration. Dans, Ziegler, and others have, nevertheless, supposed it to be derived from -the Jewish ceremonial of baptizing proselytes ; and Wetstein has traced that rite up to a date earlier than Christianity. But this opinion is not at all tenable : for, as an act which strictly gives validity to the admission of a proselyte, and is no mere accompaniment to his admission, bap- tism certainly is not alluded to in the New Testa- ment; while, as to the passages quoted in proof from the classical (profane) writers of that period, they are all open to the most fundamental objec- tions. Nor is the utter silence of Josephus and Philo on the subject, notwithstanding their various opportunities of touching on it, a less weighty ar- gument against this view. It is true that men- tion is made in the Talmud of that regulation as already existing in the first century" A.D. ; but such statements belong only to the traditions of the Gemara, and require careful investigation before they can serve as proper authority. This Jewish rite was probably originally only a puri- .fying ceremony ; and it was raised to the cha- racter of an initiating and indispensable rite co- ordinate with that of sacrifice and circumcisiou, BAPTISM only after the destruction of the Temple, when sacrifices had ceased, and ihe circumcision of proselytes had, by reason of public edicts, become more and more impracticable. BAPTISM OF JOHN. - It was the principal object of John the Baptist to combat the prevailing opinion, that the performance of external cere- monies was sufficient to secure participation in the kingdom of God and his promises ; he re- quired repentance, therefore, as a preparation for the approaching kingdom of the Messiah. That he may possibly have baptized heathens also, seems to follow from his censuring the Pharisees for confiding in their descent from Abraham, while they had no share in his spirit : yet it should not be overlooked that this remark was drawn from him by the course of the argu- ment ^ Matt. iii. 8, 9 ; Luke iii. 7, 8). We must, on the whole, assume that John considered the existing Judaism as a stepping-stone by which the Gentiles were to arrive at the kingdom of God in its Messianic form. The general point of view from which John contemplated the Mes- siah and his kingdom was that of the Old Testa- ment, though closely bordering on Christianity. He regards, it is true, an alteration in the mind and spirit as an indispensable condition for par- taking in the kingdom of the Messiah; still he looked for its establishment by means of conflict and external force, with which the Messiah was to be endowed ; and he expected in him a Judge and Avenger, who was to set up outward and visible distinctions. It is, therefore, by no means a matter of indifference whether baptism be ad- ministered in the name of that Christ who flouted before the mind of John, or of the suffering and glorified One, such as the apostles knew him ; and whether it was considered a preparation for a political, or a consecration into a spiritual theo- cracy. John was so far from this latter view, so far from contemplating a purely spiritual de- velopment of the kingdom of God, that he even began subsequently to entertain doubts concern- ing Christ (Matt. xi. 2). John's baptism had not the character of an immediate, but merely of a preparatory consecration for the glorified theo- cracy (John i. 31). The Apostles, therefore, found it necessary to re-baptize the disciples of John, who had still adhered to the notions of their master on that head (Acts xix.). To this apostolic judgment Tertullian appeals, and in his opinion coincide the most eminent teachers of the ancient church, both of the East and the West. THE BAPTISM OF JESUS BY JOHN (Matt. iii. 13, sq. ; Mark i. 9, sq. ; Luke iii. 21, sq. ; comp. John i. 19, sq. ; the latter passage refers to a time after the baptism, and describes, ver. 32, the incidental facts attending it). The baptism of Jesus, as the first act of his public career, is one of the most important events recorded in evan- gelical history : great difficulty is also involved in reconciling the various accounts given by the Evangelists of that transaction, and the several points connected with it. To question the fact itself, not even the negative criticism of Dr. Strauss has dared. This is, however, all that has been conceded by that criticism, viz., the mere and bare fact ' that Christ was baptized by John,' while all the circumstances of the event are placed in the region of mythology or fiction. BAPTISM Critical inquiry suggests the following ques- tions : 1. In what relation did Jesus stand to John before the baptism ? 2. What object did Jesus intend to obtain by that baptism ? 3. In what sense are we to take the miraculous incidents attending that act? With regard to the first point, we might be apt to infer, from Luke and Matthew, that there had been an acquaintance between Christ and John even prior to the baptism ; and that hence John declines (Matt. iii. 14) to baptize Jesus, arguing that he needed to be baptized by him. This, however, seems to be at variance with John i. 1?1, 33. Liicke {Comment, i. p. 416, sq. 3rd edit.) takes the words ' I knew him not ' in their strict and exclusive sense. John, he says, could not have spoken in this manner if he had at all known Jesus ; and had he known him, he could not, as a prophet, have failed to discover, even at an earlier period, the but too evident ' glory ' of the Messiah. In fact, the narrative of the first three Gospels presupposes the same, since, as the herald of the Messiah, he could give that refusal (Matt. iii. 14) to the Messiah alone. With regard to the second point at issue, as to the object of Christ in undergoing baptism, we find, in the first instance, that he ranked this action among those of his Messianic calling. This object is still more defined by John the Baptist (John i. 31), which Liicke interprets in the following words : ' Only by entering into that, community which was to be introductory to the Messianic, by attaching himself to the Bap- tist like any other man, was it possible for Christ to reveal himself to the Baptist, and through him to others.' Christ, with his never-failing reliance on God, never for a moment could doubt of his own mission, or of the right period when his character was to be made manifest by God ; but John needed to receive that assurance, in order to be the herald of the Messiah who was actually come. For all others whom John baptized, either before or after Christ, this act was a mere pre- paratory consecration to the kingdom of the Messiah; while for Jesus it was a direct and immediate consecration, by means of which he manifested the commencem.nt of his career as the founder of the new theocracy, which began at the very moment of his baptism, the initiatory character of which constituted its general prin- ciple and tendency. With respect to the miraculous incidents which accompanied the baptism of Jesus, if we take for our starting-point the narration of the three first Gospels, that the Holy Spirit really and visibly descended in the form of a dove, and proclaimed Jesus, in an audible voice, to be the Son of God, there can be no difficulty in bringing it to har- monize with the statement in the Gospel of John. This literal sense of the text has, indeed, for a long time been the prevailing interpretation, though many doubts respecting it had very early forced themselves on the minds of sober inquirer?, traces of which are to be found it Origen, and which Strauss has more elaborately renewed. To the natural explanations belong that of Paulu?, that the dove was a real one, which had by chance flown near the spot at that moment ; that of Meyer, that it was the figure BAPTISM 131 of a meteor which was just then visible in the sky ; and that of Kuinoel (ad Matth. iii.), who ' considers the dove as a figure for lightning, and the voice for that of thunder, which the eye- witnesses, in their extatic feelings, considered as a divine voice, such as the Jews called a Bath-hoi (Meyer). Such interpretations are not only irre- concilable with the evangelical text, but even presuppose a violation of the common order of nature, in favour of adherence to which these in- terpretations are advanced. A more close investigation of the subject, how- ever, induces us to take as a starting-point the account of the Apostle St. John. It is John the Baptist himself who speaks. He was an eye- witness, nay, to judge from Matthew and John, the only one present with Jesus, and is conse- quently the only source witli or without Christ of information. Indeed, if there were more people present, as we are almost inclined to infer from Luke, they rannot have perceived the miracles attending the baptism of Jesus, or John and Christ would no doubt have appealed to their testimony in verification of them. In thus taking the statement in St. John for the authentic basis of the whole history, a few slight hints in it may afford us the means of solving the difficulties attending the literal con- ception of the text. John the Baptist knows nothing of an external and audible voice, and when he assures us (i. 33) that he had in the Spirit received the promise, that the Messiah would be made manifest by the Spirit descending upon him, and remaining be it upon: or in him there ; this very remaining assuredly precludes any material appearance in the shape of a bird. The internal probability of the text, therefore, speaks in favour of a spiritual vision in the mind of the Baptist ; this view is still more strength- ened by the fact, that Luke supposes there were many more present, who notwithstanding per- ceived nothing at all of the miraculous incidents. The reason that the Spirit in the vision assumed the figure of a dove, we would rather seek in the peculiar flight and movement of that bird, than in its form and shape. This interpretation moreover has the advantage of exhibiting the philosophic connection of the incidents, since the Baptist appears more conspicuously as the im- mediate end of the divine dispensation. Christ had thus the intention of being introduced by him into the Messianic sphere of operation, while the Baptist recognises this to be his own peculiar calling : the signs by which he was to know the Messiah had been intimated to him, and now that they had come to pass, the prophecy and his mission were fulfilled. None of the Evangelists give any authority for the common tradition that the descent of the Spirit upon Christ was sensibly witnessed by the multitude. Matthew simply states that the vision appeared to Christ ; Mark adds that the Spirit appeared to him ' as a dove descending uoon him ;' Luke, more generally, states only the fact of the Spirit's descent in a sensible form ; and John informs us that besides Christ this vision was witnessed also by the Baptist. CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. Jesus, having under- gone baptism as the founder of the new kingdom, ordained it as a legal act by which individuals were to obtain the rights of citizens therein. K 2 132 BAPTISM Though he caused many to be baptized by his disciples (John iv. 1, 2), yet all were not bap- tized who were converted to him ; neither was it even necessary after they had obtained partici- ! pation in him by his personal choice and for- ! giving of sin. But when he could no longer personally and immediately choose and receive members of his kingdom, when at the same time all had been accomplished which the founder thought necessary for its completion, he gave power to the spiritual community to receive, in his stead, members by baptism (Matt xxviii. 19 ; Mark xvi. 16). Baptism essentially denotes the regenerating of him who receives it, his partici- pation both in the divine life of Christ and the promises rested on it, as well as his reception as a member of the Christian community. Each of these momentous points implies all the rest ; and the germ of all is contained in the words of Christ (Matt, xxviii. 19). The details are variously digested by the Apostles according to their peculiar modes of thinking. John dwells in like manner as he does oa the holy communion almost exclusively on the internal nature of baptism, the immediate mystical union of the Spirit with Christ ; baptism is with him equivalent to 'being born again' (John iii. 5, 7). Paul gives more explicitly and completely the other points also. He understands by it not only the union of the individual with the Head, by the giving one's self up to the Redeemer and the receiving of his life (Gal. iii. 27), but also the union with the other members (ib. 28; 1 Cor. xii. 13 ; Kphes. iv. 5; v. 26). He expresses a spiritual purport by saying that it intimates on the part of those who have received it, their being joined with Christ in his death and raised with him in his resurrection. As regards the design of Christian Baptism, different views have been adopted by different parties. The principal are the following: 1. That it is a direct instrument of grace ; the application of water to the person by a properly qualified functionary being regarded as the ap- pointed vehicle by which God bestows regene- rating grace upon men. This is the Romanist and Anglo-Catholic view. 2. That though not an instrument it is a seal of grace ; divine blessings being thereby confirmed and obsignated to the individual. This is the doctrine of the Confessions of the majority -of the Reformed Churches. 3. Tttat it is neither an instrument nor a seal of grace, but simply a ceremony of initiation into Church membership. This is the Socinian view of the ordinance. 4. That it is a tolten of regeneration ; to be re- ceived only by those who give evidence of being really regenerated. This is the view adopted by the Baptists. 5. That it is a symbol of purification ; the use of which simply announces that the religion of Christ is a purifying religion, and intimates that the party receiving the rite assumes the profes- sion, and is to be instructed in the principles, of that religion. This opinion is extensively en- tertained amongst the Congregationalists of Eng- land. Differences of opinion have also been intro- duced respecting the proper mode of baptism. Some contend that it should be by immersion BAPTISM alone ; others, that it should be only by affusion or sprinkling ; and others, that it matters not in which way it be done, the only thing required being the ritual application of water to the person. The first class appeal to the use of baptizo by the classical authors, with whom they affirm it is always used in the sense of dip- ping or immersing ; and to such expressions as ' being buried with Christ in baptism,' &C., -where they understand an allusion to a typical burial, by submersion in water. The second class rely upon the usage of baptizo by the sacred writers, who, they allege, employ it frequently where immersion is not to be supposed, as when they speak of ' baptism with fire," and ' baptism with the Spirit;' upon the alleged impossibility .of immersing such multitudes as we learn were baptized at once in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost; upon the supposed improbability of an Eastern female like Lydia allowing herself to be publicly immersed by a man whom she had never seen before ; upon the language med by Paul at Philippi, when he commanded water to be brought into the room, that he might bap- tize the jailor and his family, language which, it is said, cannot be understood of such a quantity of water as would be required to immerse m suc- cession a whole household; and upon the use of the term baptism, to designate what is elsewhere spoken of as the outpouring of the Spirit. The third class maintain, that according to universal usage baptizo signifies simply to wet, and that the following preposition determines whether it is to be taken in the sense of wetting by immer- sion or not; they urge especially that the word i's used in the New Testament possesses so much of a technical character, that it is not possible from it to deduce any correct inference as to the mode of baptizing; and they adduce historical evidence to show that baptism was performed in- differently by immersion or affusion as conve- nience dictated. In fine, differences of opinion have arisen re- specting the proper subjects of baptism. Here also we have three classes. 1. Those who maintain that baptism is to be administered only to those who believe and give evidence of being r ^generated. This opinion is grounded chiefly upon the positions that, Re- pentance and Faith are distinctly prescribed in the New Testament as conditions of baptism, and the alleged fact that the Apostles did not baptize any, until satisfied that they sincerely believed It is urged also by the advocates of this opinion against the practice of infant baptism, that not only are infants excluded from baptism by their inability to comply with the required terms, but that they are virtually excluded by their baptism not being expressly enjoined in the New Tes- tament. It is also alleged that infant baptism was unknown to the Early Church, and was a corrupt invention of the patristic age. 2. Those who contend that baptism is to be administered not only to believers who have not been before baptized, but to the infant offspring of believers. This opinion is chiefly based on the covenant established by God with Abraham. This covenant it is maintained was the everlast- ing covenant, the covenant of grace; under it a connection of a spiritual kind was recognised as existing between parents and their children ; in BAPTISM virtue of this the latter received the sign of the covenanted blessings; 110 evidence can be ad- duced that this divinely-appointed connection has been abrogated, though the sign of the cove- nant has been changed ; on the contrary, there is abundant evidence to show that the Apostles administered to the children of converts to Chris- tianity the same rite, that of baptism, which they administered to the converts themselves. It is also affirmed by this party that the requiring of faith and repentance as a condition of baptism in the case of adults cannot be fairly held as in- cluding children, inasmuch as by the same reason- ing children dying in infancy would be excluded from salvation. It is denied that the absence of any express injunction to baptize children virtu- ally prohibits their baptism ; and the assertion that infant baptism was unknown in the primi- tive age is rebutted by historical evidence. 3. Those who assert that baptism is to be ad- ministered to all who either will place them- selves under Christian instruction, such as adults who have grown up as heathens, Jews, or in- fidels ; or who may be thus placed by their parents or guardians, such as infants. In sup- port of this view, stress is laid upon our Lord's words when he commanded his Apostles to go and teach and baptize all nations ; the ' bap- tizing' being regarded as associated with the ' teaching' and commensurate with it, whilst what is said about 'believing' is regarded as re- lating to something which may or may not follow the teaching and baptizing, but which is declared to be essential to salvation. It is argued that the ApostoHc practice was altogether in accordance with this view of our Lord's commission, inas- much as the multitudes frequently baptized by tho Apostles were such, that to obtain satisfactory evidence of the knowledge and piety of each in- dividual was impossible in the time which elapsed between the Apostles' preaching and the bap- tizing to which it led ; whilst such cases as those of Simon Magus and the Philippian Jailor show that even very ignorant men, and men who could not possibly give what any person would receive as credible evidence of piety, were at once baptized. The practice of the Apostles also in baptizing whole households, including children and servants, without asking any questions as to their knowledge and belief, is urged in favour of this opiniqn, as well as the corresponding prac- tice of the Church. BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD. Paul (1 Cor. xv. 29) uses this phrase. Few passages have under- gone more numerous and arbitrary emendations than this text. We shall examine first A. Those interpretations which take it to be some particular application of baptism. 1 . Some imagine that Paul speaks of a baptism which a living man receives in the place of a dead one. Various passages have been quoted from the fathers in support of this opinion ; but all we can infer from their statements is, that baptism by substitution had taken place among the Mar- cionitef!, and perhaps also among the Cerinthians and other smaller sects towards the end of the fourth century ; but that it existed between that period and the time when Paul wrote the above passage is wholly unsubstantiated. The idea, then, that such a superstitious custom BAPTISM 133 existed in the Corinthian community is devoid of all historical evidence. The difficulties will still more increase, if we were to admit, with Olhausen, Riickert, and De Wette, that the Apostle approved of the absurd practice in question, since he would thus be brought into contradiction with his own prin- ciples on the importance of faith and external works, which he developes in his Epistle to the Galatians. In the words of Paul we discover no opinion of his own concerning the justice or in- justice of the rite ; it is merely brought in as an argumentum ex concesso in favour of the object which he pursues through the whole chapter (comp. 1 Cor. ii. 5). However much may be objected against this interpretation, it is by far more reasonable than the explanations given by other critics. The Corinthian community was certainly of a mixed character, consisting of indi- viduals of various views, ways of thinking, and different stages of education : so that there might still have existed a small number among them capable of such absurdities. We are not suffi- ciently acquainted with all the particulars of the case to maintain the contrary, while the simple grammatical sense of the passage is decidedly in favour of the proposed interpretation. 2. Origen, Luther, Chemnitz, and Joh. Ger- hard, interpret the words as relating to baptism over the graves of the members of the commu- nity, a favourite rendezvous, of the early Chris- tians. Luther says that in order to strengthen their faith in the resurrection, the Christians bap- tized over the tombs of the dead. But the custom alluded to dates from a much later period. 3. Epiphanius mentions also a view, according to which the word rendered l dead' is to be translated mortally ill persons whose baptism was expedited by sprinkling water upon -them on their death-bed, instead of immersing them in the usual way ; the rite is known un ler the name of baptismus clinicus, lectualis. But few of the modern theologians (among whom, however, are Calvin and Estius) advocate this view, which transgresses not less against the words of the text than against all historical knowledge of the subject. B. lite interpretations which suppose tftat tht text speaks of general church baptism. To these belongs the oldest opinion we know of, given in Tertullian, according to which the Greek word rendered 'for ' is here taken in the sense of- on account of, and the word rendered ' the dead ' in that of dead bodies, they themselves, the baptized, as dead persons. The notion which lies at the bottom of this version is, that the body possesses a guarantee for resurrection in the act of bap- tism, in which it also shares. The sinking tmdei and rising up is with them a symbol of burying and resurrection. 2. A later view, expressed by Chrysostom, adopts the same meaning as regards ' the dead," but construes the whole clause ' in behalf of the dead,' to signify ' in the belief of the resurrection i of the dead.' This ungrammatical version is j adopted by Theophylact : ' Why are men baptized | at all in behalf of resurrection, that is, in expect- ation of resurrection, if the dead rise not ?' 3. Pelagius, Olearius, Fabricius, are of opinion that the phrase ' on account of the dead,' or ' of those who are dead,' although strictly plural. 134 BARAK here alludes to an individual, namely, to Christ, | 'on account of whom' we are baptized, alluding to Rom. vi. 3. 4. Among the best interpretations is that of Spanheim and Joh. Christ. Wolf. They consider ' the dead ' to be martyrs and other believers, who, by firmness and cheerful hope of resurrec- tion, have given in death a worthy example, by which others were also animated to receive bap- tism. Still this meaning would be almost too briefly and enigmatically expressed, when no particular reason for it is known, while also the allusion to the exemplary death of many Chris- tians could chiefly apply to the martyrs alone, of whom there were as yet none at Corinth. 5. Olhausen's interpretation is of a rather doubtful character. The meaning of the passage he takes to be, that ' all who are converted to the church are baptized for the ;/ood of the dead, as it requires a certain number (Rom. xi. 12-25), a "fullness" of believers, before the resurrection can take place. Every one therefore who is bap- tized is so for the good of believers collectively, and of those who have already died in the Lord.' Olhausen is himself aware that the Apostle could not have expected that such a difficult and remote idea, which he himself calls ',a mystery,' would be understood by his readers without a further explanation and development of his doctrine. He therefore proposes an explanation, in which it is argued that the miseries and hardships Christians have to struggle against in this life can only be compensated by resurrection. Death causes, as it were, vacancies in the full ranks of the believers, which are again filled up by other individuals. ' What would it profit those who are baptized i the place of the dead (to fill up their place in the community) if there be no re- surrection ? ' BAR, a Hebrew word meaning SOT?, but used only poetically in that language (Ps. ii. 12; Prov. xxxi. 2). In Syriac. however, Bar an- swered to the more common Hebrew word for son, i. e. ben ; and hence in later times, in the New Testament, it takes the same place in the formation of proper names which Ben had for- merly occupied in the Old Testament BARAB'BAS, a person who had forfeited his life for sedition and murder (Mark xv. 7 ; Luke xxiii. 25). As a rebel, he was subject to the punishment laid down by the Roman law for such political offences ; while, as a murderer, he could not escape death even by the civil code of the Jews. But the latter were so bent on the death of Jesus, that, of the two, they preferred pardoning this double criminal (Matt, xxvii. le-26; Mark xv. 7-15; Luke xxiii. 18-25; John xviii. 40). BARACHI'AS, father of the Zechariah (Zecha- rias) mentioned in Matt, xxiii. 35 [ZECHARIAH ). BA'RAK, light ninq ; son of Abinoam of Ke- desh-Naphtali, a Galilean city of refuge in the tribe of Naphthali (Judg. iv. 6; comp. Josh. xix. 37 ; xxi. 32). He was summoned by the pro- phetess Deborah to take the field against the hostile army of the Canaanitish king Jabin, commanded by Sisera, with 10,roO men from the tribes of Naphthali and Zebulon, and to en- camp on Mount Tabor, probably because the 900 chariots of iron (Judg. iv. 3), in which the main force of Sisera consisted, could not so easily manoeuvre on uneven ground. After some hesi- BARNABAS tation, he resolved to do her bidding, on con dition that she would go with him, which she readily promised. Coi.fiding, therefore, in the God of Israel, he attacked the hostile army by surprise, put them to llight. and routed them to the last man. In conjunction with Deborah, he afterwards composed a song of victory in com- memoration of that event (Judg. v. 14, 15, 16). BARBARIAN. This term is used in the New Testament, as in classical writers, to denote other nations of the earth in distinction from the Greeks. ' I am debtor both to the Greeks and Barbarians.' InColoss.iii.il, 'Greek nor Jew Barbarian, Scythian ' Barbarian seems to refer to those nations of the Roman empire who did r.ot speak Greek, and Scythian to nations not under the Roman dominion. In 1 Cor. xiv. 11 the term is applied to a difference of language: ' If I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian ('as of another language,' Geneva Vers.), and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian (' as of another language,' Geneva Vers.) unto me.' Strabo (xiv. 2) suggests that the word J3ar-Lar-os was originally an imitative sound, designed to express a harsh dissonant language, or sometimes the in- distinct articulation of th:- Greek by foreigners. BAR-JE'SUS. [ELYMAS.] BAR-JCXNA (son of Jonas), the patronymic appellation of the Apostle Peter (Matt. xvi. 17). BARLEY. This grain is mentioned iu Scrip- ture as cultivated and used in Egypt (K-xod. ix. 31). and in Palestine (Lev. xxvii. 16 ; Deut, viii. 8 ; 2 Chroii. ii. 10 ; Ruth ii. 1 7 ; 2 Sam. xiv. 30 ; Isa. xxviii. 25; Jer. xli. 8; Joel i. 11). Barley was given to cattle, especially horses (1 Kings iv. 28), and was indeed the only ccrn grain given to them, as oats and rye were unknown to the Hebrews, and are not now grown in Palestine. This is still the chief use of barley in Western Asia. Bread made of barley was, however, used by the poorer classes (Judg. vii. 13; 2 Kings iv. 42; John vi. 9, 13; comp. Ezek. iv. 9). In Palestine barley was for the mott part sown at the time of the autumnal rains, October November, and again in early spring, or rather as soon as the depth of winter had passed. The barley of the first crop was ready by the time of the Pass- over, in the month Abib, March April (Ruth i. 22 ; 2 Sam. xxi. 9 ; Judith viii. 2) ; April is the month in which the barley-harvest is chiefly gathered in, although it begins earlier in some parts and later in others. In Exod. ix. 31, we are told that the plague of hail, some time before the Passover, destroyed the barley, which was then in the green ear; but not the wheat or the rye, which were only in the blade. This is minutely corroborated by the fact that the barley sown after the inundation is reaped, some after ninety days, some in the fourth month, and that it there ripens a mouth earlier than the wheat. BAR'N ABAS. His name was originally Joses, or Joseph (Acts iv. 36), but he received from the Apostles the surname of Barnabas, which signi- fies the Sun of Prophecy. Luke interprets it by .Son rf Exhortation. It can hardly be doubted that this name was given to Joses to der.ot.; his eminence as a Christian teacher. He is described by Luke as ' a good man. full of the Holy Ghost and of faith ' (Acts xi. 24). He was a native of BARNABAS Cyprus, but the son of Jewish parents of tho tribe of Levi. From Acts iv. 36, 37, it appears that he was possessed of land, but whether in Judaea or Cyprus is not stated. He generously disposed of the whole for the benefit of the Christian com- munity, and 'laid the money at the Apostles' feet," As this transaction occurred soon after the day of Pentecost, he must have been an early convert to the Christian faith. When Paul made his first appearance in Jeru- salem after his conversion, Barnabas introduced him to the Apostles, and attested his sincerity (Acts ix. 27). Though the conversion of Corne- lius and his household, with its attendant circum- stances, had given the Jewish Christians clearer views of the comprehensive character of the new dispensation, yet the accession of a large number of Gentiles to the church at Antioch was an event so extraordinary, that the Apostles and breihren at Jerusalem resolved on deputing one of their number to investigate it. Their choice was fixed on Barnabas. After witnessing the flourishing condition of the church, and adding fvcsh con- verts by his personal exertions, he visited Tarsus to obtain the assistance of Saul, who returned with him to Antioch, where they laboured for a whole year (Acts xi. 23-26). In anticipation of the famine predicted by Agabus, the Antiochian Christians made a contribution for their poorer brethren at Jerusalem, and sent it by the hands of Barnabas and Saul (Acts xi. 28-30), who speedily returned, bringing with them John Mark, a nephew of the former. By divine di- rection (Acts xiii. 2) they were separated to the office of missionaries, and as such visited Cyprus and some of the principal cities in Asia Minor (Acts xiii. 14). Soon after their return to An- tioch, the peace of the church was disturbed by certain zealots from Judaea, who insisted on the observance of the rite of circumcision by the Gentile converts. To settle the controversy, Paul and Barnabas were deputed to consult the Apostles and elders at Jerusalem (Acts xv. 1, 2); they returned to communicate the result of their conference (ver. 2:2), accompanied by Judas Bar- sabas and Silas, or Silvanus. On preparing for a second missionary tour, a dispute arose between them on account of John Mark, which ended in their taking different routes ; Paul and Silas went through Syria and Cilicia, while Barnabas and his nephew revisited his native island (Acts xv. 36-41). At this point Barnabas disappears from Luke's narrative, which to its close is occupied solely with the labours and sufferings of Paul. From the Epistles of the latter a few Hints (the only authentic sources of information) may be gleaned relative to his early friend and associate. From 1 Cor. ix. 5, 6, it would appear that Barna- bas was unmarried, and supported himself, like Paul, by some manual occupation. In Gal. ii. 1, we have an account of the reception given to Paul and Barnabas by the Apostles at Jerusalem, probably on the occasion mentioned in Acts xv. In the same chapter (ver. 13) we are informed that Barnabas so far yielded to the Judaizing zealots at Antioch, as to separate himself for a time from communion with the Gentile converts. Respecting the later years of Barnabas we have no authentic information. The year when he died cannot be determined with certainty ; if his neohew, as some have supposed, joined Paul BARUCH 135 after that event, it must have taken place not later than A.D. 63 or 64. BARRENNESS is, in the East, the hardest lot that can befal a woman, and was considered among the Israelites as the heaviest punishment with which the Lord could visit a female (Gen. xvi. 2; xxx. 1-^3; 1 Sam. i. C, 29 ; Isa. xlvii. 9 ; xlix. 21 ; Luke i. 25). This general notion of the disgrace of barrenness in a woman may early have given rise, in the patriarchal age, to the cus- tom among barren wives of introducing to their husbands their maid-servants, and of regarding the children born in that concubinage as their own, by which they thought to cover their own disgrace of barrenness (Gen. xvi. 2 ; xxx. 3). BAR'SABAS. [JostPii BARSABAS; JUDAS BARSABAS.] BARTIIOL'OMEYV (the snn nf Tolmai, '2 Sam. xiii. 37) was one of the twelve Apos- tles, and is generally supposed to have been the same individual who in John's Gospel is called Nathanael. The reason of this opinion is, that in the three first Gospels Philip and Bartho- lomew are constantly named together, while Na- thanael is nowhere mentioned ; on the contrary, in the fourth Gospel the names of Philip and Na- thanael ore similarly combined, but nothing is said of Bartholomew. Nathanael therefore must be considered as his real name, while Bartholo- mew merely expresses his filial relation. He was a native of Cana in Galilee (John xxi. 2). He was introduced by Philip to Jesus, who, on seeing him approach, at once pronounced that eulogy on his character which has made his name almost synonymous with sincerity : ' Be- hold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile ' (John i. 47). He was one of the disciples to whom our Lord appeared after his resurrec- tion, at the Sea of Tiberias (John xxi. 2) ; he was also a witness of the Ascension, and returned with the other Apostles to Jerusalem (Acts i. 4, 12, 13). Of his subsequent history we have little more than vague traditions. BARTIME'US, son of Timcus, the blind beggar of Jericho whom Christ restored to sight (Mark x. 46). BA'RUCH, llessed; the faithful friend and amanuensis of the prophet Jeremiah, was of a noble family of the tribe of Judah, and generally considered to be the brother of the prophet Se- raiah, both being represented as sons of Neriah ; and to Baruch the prophet Jeremiah dictated all his oracles. During the siege of Jerusalem, Ba- ruch was selected as the depositary of the deed of purchase which Jeremiah had made of the territory of Hanameel, to which deed he had been a witness. In the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiachim, king of Judah (B.C. 605), Baruch was directed to write all the prophecies delivered by Jeremiah up to that period, and to read them to the people, which he did from a window in the Temple upon two solemn occasions. He afterwards read them before the counsellors of the king at a private interview, when Baruch being asked to give an account of the manner in which the prophecy had been composed, gave an exact description of the mode in which he had taken it down from the prophet's dictation. Upon this they ordered him to leave the roll, advising that he and Jeremiah should conceal themselves. They then informed the king of what had taken 13G BASHAN place, upon which he had the roll read to him ; but, after hearing a part of it, he cut it with a penknife, and, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his counsellors, threw it into the fire of his winter parlour, There he was sitting. He then ordered Jeremiah and Baruch to be seized, but they could not be found. The Jews to this day commemorate the burning of this roll by an an- nual fast Another roll was now written by Barnch from the prophet's dictation, containing all that was in the former, with some additions, the most remarkable of which is the prophecy respecting the ruin of Jehoiachim and his house, as the punishment of his impious act. This roll is the prophecy of Jeremiah which we now pos- sess. Baruch, being himself terrified at the threats contained in the prophetic roll, received I the comforting assurance that he would himself | be delivered from the calamities which should befal Judah and Jerusalem. After the capture of Jerusalem, in the eleventh year of the reign of king Zedekiah, -when the Jews, after their re- turn from Babylon, obstinately persisted in their determination to migrate to Egypt, against the remonstrances of the prophet, both Baruch and Jeremiah accompanied them to that country, where they remained until the death of Jeremiah. There is no account in Scripture of Baruch's re- turn from Egypt, but the Rabbins allege that he died in Babylon, in the twelfth year of the exile. Josephus asserts that he was well skilled in the Hebrew language ; and that, after the taking of Jerusalem, Nebuzaradan treated Baruch with consideration, from respect to Jeremiah, whose misfortunes he had shared, and whom he had accompanied to prison and exile (Antiq. x. 11). BARUCH, BOOK OF (APOCRYPHA), follows next after the book of Jeremiah in the Septuagint Version. Several learned writers strongly con- tend for its canonicity ; but the weight of evidence is generally believed to preponderate against it The subject of the book is (1) an exhortation to wisdom and a due observance of the law. (2) It then introduces Jerusalem as a widow, comforting her children with the hope of a re- turn. (3) An answer follows in confirmation of *.his hope. A prologue is prefixed, stating that Baruch had read his book to Jeremiah and the people in Babylon by the river Sud (Euphrates), by which the people were brought to repentance, and sent the book with a letter and presents to Jerusalem. BARZIL'LAI, a wealthy old Gileadite of Ro- gelim, who distinguished himself by his loyalty when David fled beyond the Jordan from his son Absalom. He sent in a liberal supply of provisions, beds, and other conveniences for the use of the king's followers (2 Sam. xvii. 27 ; xix. 32). On the king's triumphant return, Bar- /illai attended him as far as the Jordan, but de- clined, by reason of his advanced age, to proceed to Jerusalem and receive the favours to which he had entitled himself. BA'SHAN. a name which probably denotes the peculiar fertility of the soil. The sacred writers in- clude in Bashan that part of the country eastward of the Jordan which was given to half the tribe of Manasseh, situated to the north of Gilead. The first notice of this country is in Gen. xiv. 5 ; compare with Josh. xii. 4 When the Israelites invaded the Promised Land, Argob, a province of BASKET Bashan, contained ' sixty fenced cities, with walls and gates and brazen bars, besides unwalled towns a great many" (Deut. iii. 4, f> ; 1 Kings iv. 13). These were all taken by the Israelites, and Og and his people utterly destroyed. Golan, one of the cities of refuge, was situated in this country (Deut iv. 43; Josh, xx- 8; xxi. 27). Solomon appointed twelve officers to furnish the monthly supplies for the royal household, and allotted the region of Argob to the son of Geber (1 Kings iv. 13). Towards the close of Jehu's reign Hazael in- vaded the land of Israel, and smote the whole east- ern territory, ' even Gilead and Bashan ' (2 Kings x. 33) ; but after his death the cities he had tak<-ii were recovered by Jehoash (Joash) (2 Kings xiii. 25), who defeated the Syrians in three battles, as Elisha had predicted (2 Kings xiii. 19). After the captivity the name Batanaea was applied to only a part of the ancient Bashan ; the rest being called Trachonitis, Aaranitis, and Ganlaiiiris. All these provinces were granted by Augustus to Herod the Great, awl on his death Batanrra formed a part of Philip's tetrarchy. At his decease, A.D. 34, it was annexed, by Tiberius, to the province of Syria ; but in A.D. 37 it was given by Caligula to Herod Agrippa, the son of Aris- tobulus, with the title of king (Acts xii. 1). From the time of Agrippa's death, in A.D. 44, to A.U. 53, the government again reverted to the Romans, but it was then restored by Claudius to Agrippa 1 1. (Acts xxv. 13). The richness of the pasture-land of Bashan, and the consequent superiority of its breed of cattle, are frequently alluded to in the Scriptures. We read in Deut. xxxii. 14, of 'rams of the breed of Bashau ' (Ezek. xxxix. 18). ' Rams, lambs, bulls, goats, all of them fallings of Bashan.' The oaks of Bashan are mentioned in connection with the cedars of Lebanon (Isa. ii. 13 ; Zech. xi. 2). In Ezekiel's description of the wealth and magnificence of Tyre it is said, 'Of the oaks of Bashan have they made their oars ' (xxvii. 6). The ancient commentators on Amos iv. 1, ' the kine of Bashan,' Jerome, Theodoret, and Cyril, speak in the strongest terms of the exuberant fertility of Bashan, and modern tra- vellers corroborate their assertions. BASKET. There are several words in the Hebrew Scriptures by which different kinds of baskets appear to be indicated : 1. DUD, which occurs in 2 Kings x. 7, where the heads of Ahab's sons are sent from Samaria to Jezreel in baskets ; Jer. xxiv. 2, as contain- ing figs ; and Ps. Ixxxi. 6 (rendered pots'), also as containing figs ; where, therefore, deliverance from the baskets means deliverance from the BASKET bondage of carrying burdens in baskets. In fact, very heavy burdens were thus carried in Egypt, as corn in very large baskets from the field to the threshing-floor, and from the threshing-floor to the granaries. They were carried between two men by a pole resting on their shoulders ; which agrees with the previous clause of the cited text, ' I removed his shoulder from the burden.' This labour and form of the basket are often shown in the Egyptian sculptures. 2. TF.BA, which occurs in connection with agricultural objects, the basket and the store' (Deut. xxvi. 2-4; xxviii. 5-17), and would there- fore appear to have been somewhat similar to the above ; and, in fact, the Egyptian sculptures show different baskets applied to this use. 3. KF.IAJB. From the etymology, this appears to have been an interwoven basket, made of leaves or rashes. In Lev. v. 27, however, it is used for a bird-cage, which must have been of open work, and probably not unlike our own wicker bird-cages. The name is also applied to fruit-baskets (Amos viii. 1, 2), Egyptian ex- amples of which are presented in figs. 2 and 4 (which contain pomegranates) of the annexed cut. 83. [Ancient Egyptian,] 4. SALSILLOTII, occurs only in Jer. vi. 9, where it obviously denotes baskets in which grapes were deposited as they were gathered. The form of the baskets used for this purpose is often shown on the Egyptian monuments, and is similar to that represented in fig. 4, cut 83. 5. In all the other places where the word basket occurs, we are doubtless to understand a basket made of rushes, similar both in form and material to those used by carpenters for carrying their tools. This is still the common kind of basket throughout Western Asia ; and its use in ancient Egypt is shown by an actual specimen which was found in a tomb at Thebes, and which is now in the British Museum. It was, in fact, a carpenter's basket, and contained his tools (fig. 1, cut 83). The specimens of Egyptian baskets in the British Museum, represented in our cut. convey a favourable idea of the basket-work of ancient times. Some of these are worked ornamentally with colours (figs. 3, 5, cut 83). And besides these the monuments exhibit, a large variety of hand-baskets, of different shapes, and so exten- sively employed as to show the numerous appli- cations of basket-work in the remote times to which these representations extend. They are mostly manufactured, the stronger and larger BATH-SHIiCA 137 sorts of the fibres, and the finer of the leaves of the palm-tree, and not unfrequently of rushes, j but more seldom of reeds. BASTARD (Deut. xxiii. 2, and Zech. ix. C). Some understand by this word the offspring of prostitutes, but they forget that prostitutes were expressly forbidden to be tolerated by the law of Moses (Lev. xix. 29; Deut. xxiii. 17). The most probable conjecture is that which applies the term to the offspring of heathen prostitutes iu the neighbourhood of Palestine ; since 1:0 pro- vision was made by Moses against their tolera- tion, and who were a sort of priestesses 'to the Syrian goddess Astarte (comp. Num. xxv. ), ?q ; Hos. iv. 14; 1 Kings xiv. 24 ; xv. 12 ; xxii. 47 : 2 Kings xxiii. 7). That there existed such bastard offspring among the Jews, is proved by the history of Jephthah (Judg. xi. 1-7), who on this account was expelled, and deprived of his patrimony. BAT occurs in Lev. xi. 19; Deut. xiv. 18; Isa. ii. 20; and Baruch vi. 2->. In Hebrew the word implies flying in the dark ; which, taken in connection with the sentence ' moreover the othelaph and every creeping thing that flicth is unclean unto you; they shall not be eaten,' is so c'ear, that there cannot be a mistake respecting the order of animals meant. At first siiiht, ani- mals so diminutive, lean, and repugnant to the sense?, must appear scarcely to have required the legislator's attention ; but the fact evidently shows that there were at the time men or tribes who ate animals classed with bats, a practice still in vogue in the great Australasian islands, where the frugivorous Pteropi of the harpi or goblin family, by our seamen denominated flying-dogs, and erroneously vampyres, are caught and eaten ; but where the insectivorous true bats, such as the genera common in Europe, are rejected. Some of the species of harpies are of the bulk of a rat, with from three to four feet of expanse between the tips of the wings ; they have a fierce dog- like head, and are nearly all marked with a space of rufous hair from the forehead over the neck and along part of the back. They reside in the most dense foliage of large trees, whence they fly out at night and do considerable damage to the plantations of fruit-tre.es. It was to one or more species of this section of Cheiroptera that the Mosaic prohibition was perhaps directed ; and it is likewise to them that may be referred the foundation of the ancient legends concerning harpies, which, however much they may be dis- torted, have a basis of truth. Indeed, when we consider their voice, the faculty they have of feeding with their thumbs, their formidable teeth, their habit of flying in the day during dark wea- ther, and their willingness, though they are fru- givorous, to devour not only insects, but also the blood and flesh of small animals, we may admit that originally they were more daring in the pre- sence of man; that their true characters are but moderately amplified by poetical fancy ; and that the Mosaic injunction was strikingly appropriate. In the text of Scripture where allusion is made to caverns and dark places, true Yespertilionidae, or insect-eating hats, similar to the European, are clearly designated. BATH-SHE'BA, also BATH-SHUA, daughter of Eliam, grand-daughter of Ahitophel, and wife of Uriah ; she was seduced and became pregnant 138 BATTLE, SYSTEM OF by King David during the absence of her hus- band, who was then engaged at the siege of Kabbah (2 Sam. xi. 4, 5; Fs. 11 2\ The child thus born in adultery became ill and died (2 Sara. xii. 15-18). After the lapse of the period i'f mourning for her husband, who was slain by the contrivance of David (xi. 15), she was le- gally married to the king (xi. 27), and bore him Solomon (xii. 24; 1 Kings i. 11 ; ii. 13). In I Chrou. iii. 5, she is called Bath-shua instead of Bath-sheba; and her father Ammiel, instead of Eliam (comp. Matt. i. 6). The other children of Bath-sheba are named in 2 Sam. v. 14; I Chron. iii. 5. She is afterwards mentioned only in consequence of her good-natured intercession for Adonijah, which incidentally displays the respect with which she was treated by king Solomon, her son (1 Kings ii. 1'J). [DAVID; Al>ONUA!..] BATTLE, SYSTEM OF. Though the He- brews in their mode of conducting warlike ope- rations varied somewhat in the course of ages, and are elsewhere shown to have been swayed by the practice of greater and more military na- tions, still, from the period when ths institution of royalty gave rise to an organized system, it was a maxim to spare the soldiers all unuecesr sary fatigue before an engagement, and to supply them liberally with food. Their arms were en- joined to be in the best order, and when drawn up for battle they formed a line of solid squares of a hundred men, each square being ten deep, and with sufficient interval between them to allow of facility in movements, and for the slingers to pass through. The archers may have occupied the two t'auks, or formed in the rear, according to the intentions of the commander on ', the occasion ; but the slingers were always sta- tioned in the rear until they were ordered for- ward to impede a hostile approach, or to com- mence an engagement somewhat in the manner of moder.i skirmishers. Meantime, while the trumpets waited to sound the last signal, the king, or his representative, appeared in his sacred dress, except when he wished to remain un- known, as at Megiddo (2 Chron. xxxv. 22), and proceeded *o make the final dispositions, in the middle of his chosen braves, attended by priests who, by their exhortations, animated the ranks within hearing. Jt was now, we may suppose, when the enemy was at hand, that the sliders would be ordered to pass between the intervals of the line of solid squares, open their order, and with shouts, let fly their stone or leaden missiles, until by the gradual approach of the opposing fronts they would be hemmed in, and be recalled to the rear, or to cover a flank. Then would come the signal to charge, and the great shout of battle ; the heavy infantry, receiving the order to attack, would press direct upon the front of the enemy, under cover of their shields and levelled spears ; the rear ranks might then, if so armed, cast their second darts, and archers from their rear shoot high, so as to pitch the arrows over their own main line of spearmen into the dense masses beyond them. If the enemy broke through the intervals, we may imagine that a line of charioteers in reserve, breaking from their position, might in part charge among the disordered ranks of the foe, drive them back, and facilitate the restoration of the oppressed masses, BAY-TREE or wheeling round a flank, fall npon the enemy, or be encountered by a similar manoeuvre, and perhaps repulsed. The king, meanwhile, sur- rounded by his princes, posted close to the rear of his line of battle, and in the middle of the showered missiles, would watch the enemy and remedy every disorder. Thus it was that several of the sovereigns of Judah were slain ^2 Chron. xviii. 33, and xxxv. 23), and that such an enor- mous waste of human life took place : for the shock of two hostile lines of masses at least ten in depth, advancing under the confidence of breastplate and shield, when once engaged hand to hand, had difficulties of no ordinary nature to retreat ; because the hindermost ranks not feel- ing personally the first slaughter, would not, and the foremost could not, fall back ; neither could the commanders disengage the line without a certainty of being defeated. The fate of the day was therefore no longer within the control of the chief, and nothing but obstinate valour was left to decide the victory. Under such circumstances defeat led to irretrievable confusion ; and where either party possessed superiority in cavalry and chariots of war, it would be materially increased : but where the infantry alone had principally to pursue a broken enemy, that force, laden with shields, and preserving order, could overtake very few who chose to abandon their defensive armour, unless they were hemmed in by the locality. Sometimes a part of the army was posted in ambush, but this manoeuvre was most commonly practised against the garrisons of cities (Josh. viii. 12 ; Judg. xx. 38). In the case of Abraham (Gen. xiv. 16), when he led a small body of his own people suddenly collected, and fell upon the guard of the captives, released them, and recovered the booty, it was a surprise, not an ambush ; nor is it necessary that he should have fallen in with the main army of the enemy. At a later period, there is no doubt the Hebrew armies, in imitation of the Romans, formed into more than one line of masses ; but, it may be added, there is ample evidence that they always possessed more stubborn valour than discipline. BATTLEMENT. [HOUSE.] BAY-TREE, or LAUREL. This word occur? only once in Scripture, namely in Ps. xxxvii. 35 : ' I have seen the wicked in great povrer, spreading himself like a green bay-tree.' Com- mentators and translators have differed respect- ing the meaning of this word, some supposing it to indicate a specific tree, as the laurel ; and others, supported by the Septuagint and Vulgate, the cedar of Lebanon. It is by some considered to mean an evergreen tree, and by others, a green tree that grows in its native soil, or that has not suffered by transplanting, as such a tree spreads itself luxuriantly. It appears to us that the Hebrew word would indicate some tree resem- bling the bay-tree, rather than the bay-tree it- self; but until that can be discovered, the latter is, upon the whole, well suited to stai.d as its re- presentative. The laurel, or bay-tree, laiirus noWis of bo- tanists, is well known to the Asiatics by its Arabic name of ghar, under which it is men- tioned by Serapiou and Avicenna, who quote chiefly Dicscorides and Galen, thus indicating that they had not much original inlormation of BDELLIUM their own respecting a tree which is probably not indigenous in the countries in which they wrote. The leaves and berries of the laurel, as well as the bark and the root, were employed in medicine : the berries continue, even hi the pre- sent day, to be exported to India, where we found them in the bazaars, under the name of BEANS 139 84. [Bay-tree. I-aurus nobilio.] Inibdl-yfiar, being still esteemed as a stimulant medicinal, though not possessed of any proper- ties superior to those of the laurels of more southern latitudes. The bay-tree is well known to be common in the south of Europe, as in Spain, Italy, Greece, and the Levant. It is usu- ally from -20 to 30 feet in height, ofien having a bushy appearance, from throwing up so many suckers ; but in England it has attained a height of (jO feet, which is not unusual in warmer cli- mates. It is unnecessary to allude further to the celebrity which it attained among the ancients a celebrity which has not yet passed away, the laurel- wreath being still the symbolical crown as well of warriors as of poets. Its ever green grate- ful appearance, its thick shade, and the agreeable spicy odour of its leaves, point it out as that which was most likely in the eye of the Psalmist. BDEL'LIUM. This word occurs but twice in the Scriptures: in Gen. ii. 12, as a product of the land of Havilah ; and Num. xi. 7, where the manna is likened to it. It has been much dis- puted among critics, both ar.cient and modern. Some consider it as a precious stone, and the Jewish Uabbins, together with some modern commentators, translate it by pearl. But it is more than probable that the pearl was as yet un- known iu the time of Moses ; and it is nowhere mentioned in the Old Testament under its proper name except in Esth. i. 6. It is. therefore, most probable that the Hebrew liedolach is the aromatic gum bdellium, which issues from a tree growing in Arabia, Media, and the Indies. Plii.y's description of the tree from which the bdellium is taken makes Ka-mpfer's assertion highly p/obable, that it is the sort of palm-tree so frequently met with on the Persian coast and in Arabia Felix. The term bdellium, however, is applied to two gummy resinous sub- stances. One of them is the Indian bdellium, or false myrrh (perhaps the bdellium of the Scrip- tures), which is obtained from Amyris (balsamo- dendron?) Commiphora. The trunk of the tree is covered with a light-coloured pellicle, as in the common birch, which peels ott' from time to time, exposing to view a smooth green coat, which in succession supplies other similar ex- foliations. This tree diffuses a grateful fra- grance, like that of the finest myrrh, to a considerable distance around. Dr. Royle was informed that this species yielded bdellium ; and in confirmation of this statement, we may add that many of the specimens of this bdellium in the British Museum have a yellow pellicle adhering to them, precisely like that of the com- mon birch, and that some of the pieces are per- forated by spiny branches another character serving to recognise the origin of the bdellium. Indian bdellium has considerable resemblance to myrrh. Many of the pieces have hairs ad- hering to them. The other kind of bdellium is called African bdellium. It is a natural production of Senegal, and is called by the natives, who make tooth- picks of its spines, niottout. It consists of rounded or oval tears, from one to two inches in diameter, of a dull and waxy fracture, which in the course of time become opaque, and are co- vered externally by a white or yellowish dust. It has a feeble but peculiar odour, and a bitter taste. BEANS. This word occurs twice in Scrip- ture. The first occasion is in 2 Sam. xvii. 28, where beans are described as being brought to David, as well as wheat, barley, lentils, &c., as is the custom at the present day in many parts of the East when a traveller arrives at a village. So in Ezekiel iv. 9, the prophet is directed to take wheat, barley, brans, lentils, &c., and make bread thereof. The common beans, or at least one of its varieties, has been employed as an ar- ticle of diet from the most ancient times. Beans were employed as articles of diet by the ancients, as they are by the moderns ; and are considered to give rise to flatulence, but otherwise to be wholesome and nutritious. They are cultivated over a great part of the old world, from the north of Europe to the south of India; in the latter, however, forming the cold weather cul- tivation, with wheat, peas, &c. They are exten- sively cultivated in Egypt and Arabia. Dr. Kitto states that the extent of their cultivation in Palestine he had no means of knowing. In Egypt they are sown in November, and reaped in the middle of February (three and a half months in the ground) ; but in Syria they may be had throughout the spring. The stalks are cut down with the scythe, and these are after- wards cut and crushed, to fit them for the food of camels, oxen, and goats. The beans themselves, when sent to a market, are often deprived of their skins. Basnage reports it as the sentiment of some of the Rabbins, that beans were not law- ful to the priests, on account of their being con- sidered the appropriate food of mourning and affliction : but he does not refer to the authority ; and neither in the sacred books iior in the Mishua. can be found any traces of the notion to which he alludes. So far from, attaching any 140 BEARD sort of impurity to this legume, it is described as among the first-fruit offerings ; and several other articles in the latter collection prove that the Hebrews had beans largely in use, after they had passed them through the mill. BEAR is noticed in 1 Sam. xvii. 34, 36, 37 ; 2 Sam. xvii. 8; 2 Kings ii. 24; Prov. xvii. 12 ; xxviii. 15 ; Isa. xi. 7 ; Lam. iii. 10; Hos. xiii. 8 ; Amos v. 19, &c. The genus Ursus is the largest of all the plantigrade carnassiers, and with the faculty of subsisting on fruit or honey unites a greater or less propensity, according to the spe- cies, to slaughter and animal food. To a sullen andferocious disposition it joins immense strength, little vulnerability, considerable sagacity, and the power of climbing trees. The brown bear, Ursus arctos, is the most sanguinary of the species of the Old Continent, and Ursus Syriacus, or the 85. [Syrian Bear.] bear of Palestine, is one very nearly allied to it, differing only in the stature being proportion- ably lower and longer, the head and tail more prolonged, and the colour a dull buff or light bay, often clouded, like the Pyrena:an variety, with darker brown. On the back there is a ridge of long semi-erect hairs running from the neck to the tail. It is still found in the elevated woody parts of Lebanon. BEARD (THE). Ancient nations' in general agreed with the modern inhabitants of the East in attaching a great value to the possession of a beard. The total absence of it, or a spare and stinted sprinkling of hair upon the chin, is thought By the Orientals to be as great a de- formity to the features as the want of a nose would appear to us ; while, on the contrary, a long and bushy beard, flowing down in luxuriant profusion to the breast, is considered not only a most graceful ornament to the person, but as contributing in no small degree to respectability and dignity of character. With this knowledge of the extraordinary respect and value which have in all ages been attached to the beard in the East, we are prepared to expect that a corre- sponding care would be taken to preserve and improve its appearance; and, accordingly, to dress and anoint it with oil and perfume was, with the better classes at least, an indispensable part of their daily toilet (Ps. cxxxiii. 2). In many cases it was dyed with variegated colours, by a tedious and troublesome operation. On the other hand, the allowing the beard to remain in a foul and dishevelled state, or to cut it off, was one of the most striking outward indications of BEARD deep and overwhelming sorrow (2 Sam. xix. 24 Ezra ix. 13 ; Isa. xv. 2 ; Jer. xli. 5. Nor was less jealousy shown in guarding the honour of, than in setting off to advantage, this attribute of manhood. The slightest exhibition of contempt, by sneering, spitting at, pulling, or even pressing against it in a rude and careless manner, was resented as an insult, such as wonjd now, among men of the world, be deemed expi- able only by a duel. No one was permitted to touch it except in the way of respectf?al and affectionate salutation, which was done by gently taking hold of its extremity with the right hand and kissing it; but even in that case it was only wives in approaching their husbands, children their parents, or the nearest and most attached friends, to whom this unusual liberty was granted. The act itself being an expression of kind and cordial familiarity, its performance by Joab shows in a flagrant light the base and unprin- cipled conduct of that ruthless veteran, when he took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him (rather if), and then having assumed this attitude under the mask of the most friendly feelings, smote his unsuspecting victim under the fifth rib (2 Sam. xx. 9). To be deprived of a beard was, and still is, in some places of the East, the badge of servitude a mark of infamy, that degraded a person from the ranks of men to those of slaves and women. Among people influenced by such ideas, we can easily conceive how deep and intolerable was the affront which the king of the Ammonites put upon the ambassadors of David, when, among other acts of insolence, he shaved off one-half of their beards, and sent them home in that gro- tesque condition, exposed to the derision of their countrymen (2 Sam. x.). Persons of their high rank, Avho, in all probability, were fastidious about the orderly state and graceful appearance of their beards, would be even more sensitive as to this ignominious treatment than those of au humbler condition ; and, as the shaving off one- half of the beard was among some ancient nations the punishment of cowardice, these circumstances united will help to account for the spirit of de- termined revenge which the king and the whole nation of Israel breathed, on intelligence of the national outrage. From the above facts it is clear that the Israel- ites maintained their beard and the ideas con- nected with it, during their abode among the Egyptians, who were a shaven people. This is not unimportant among the indications which evince that, whatever they learned of good or evil in that country, they preserved the appear- ance and habits of a separate people. As the Egyptians shaved their beards off entirely, the injunction in Lev. xix. 27 against shaving ' the corners of the beard ' must have been levelled against the practice of some other and bearded nation. The prohibition is usually understood to apply against rounding the corners of the beard where it joins the hair ; and the reafon is supposed to have been to preclude a superstition of certain Arabian tribes, who, by shaving off or rounding away the beard where it joined the hair of the head, devoted themselves to a certain deity who held among them the place which Bacchus did among the Greeks (camp. Jer. ix. 26 ; xxv. 23 ; xlix. 32). The ultimate effect BEASTS seems to have been altogether to prevent the Jews from shaving oft' the edges of their beards The effect of this prohibition in establishing a distinction of the Jews from other nations can- not be understood, unless we contemplate the extravagant diversity in which the beard was and is treated by the nations of the East. The cut is very interesting, being a collection of bearded heads of foreigners obtained from the BEASTS 141 Egyptian monuments, and, without doubt, in- cluding the beards, head-dresses, and physiogno- mies of most of the nations bordering on Kgypt and Palestine. In nearly all of them we see that the upper edges of the beard were shaven off, and apparently the hair of the upper lip. The ancient Egyptians, although they shaved their beards, had the singular custom of tying a false beard upon the chin. This was probably in the way of a compromise between their love of cleanliness and their desire to preserve some trace of the distinguishing sign of manhood. They were made of plaited hair, and had a pe- culiar form according to the rank of the persons by whom they were worn. Private individuals had a small beard, scarcely two inches long ; that of a king was of considerable length, and square at the bottom ; and the figures of gods were distinguished by its turning up at the end. 87. [2, 3, 5, 11. Gods. 1, 4, 6, 9, 10. Kings. 7, 8. Private persons.] BE A STS. In the Bible, this word, when used in contradistinction to man (Ps. xxxvi. 6), de- notes a brute creature generally ; when in con- tradistinction to creeping things (Rev. xi. 2-7 ; xxvii. 2(i), it has reference to four-footed ani- mals ; and when to wild mammalia, as in Gen. i. 25, means domesticated cattle. The zoology of Scripture may, in a general sense, be said to embrace the whole range of ani- mated nature ; but after the first brief notice of the creation of animals recorded in Genesis, it is limited more particularly to the animals found in Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, Syria, and the coun- tries eastward, in some cases, to beyond the Euphrates. It comprehends mammalia, birds, reptiles, fishes, and invertebrate animals : but in a work like the Bible, written for a far different purpose, we might naturally expect that only a small part of these would be found described, and that generical indications would more fre- quently occur than specific characteristics. As the intention of Scripture, in its allusions to ani- mate or inanimate objects, was not scientific de- scription, but the illustration of arguments and precepts by images drawn from objects familiar to those to whom it was addressed, it is not to be expected that zoology or botany should be treated systematically, or in terms such as modern sci- ence has adopted ; yet where we can now full j ascertain the true meaning of the text, the ima- gery drawn from natural history is always forcible, correct, and effective, even where it treats the subject under the conditions of the contemporary popular belief; for, had the in- spired writers entered into explanatiors on mat- ters of science not then commonly understood, the poetical force of the imagery, and conse- quently its intended effect, must necessarily have been greatly diminished; yet, where system is appropriate, we find a classified general distri- bution of the creation, simple indeed, but suf- ficiently applicable to all the purposes for which it was introduced. It resembles other parts of the philosophy of the earliest nations, in which the physical distribution of matter, excepting so far as man is concerned, proceeds by triads. Botany is treated under the heads of grass, shrubs, and trees : in animated nature, beginning with the lowest organized in the watery element, we have first ' the moving creature that hath life,' animalcula, Crustacea, insecta, c. ; second, fishes and amphibia, including the huge tenants of the waters, whether or not they also frequent the laud, crocodiles, python serpents, and perhaps even those which are now considered as of a more ancient zoology than the present system, the great Saurians of geology ; and third, it ap- pears, birds, ' flying creatures ' (Gen. i. 20) ; and still advancing (cetaceans, pinnatipeds, whales and seals being excluded), we have quadrupeds, forming three other divisions or orders: 1st, cattle, embracing the ruminant herbivora, ge- nerally gregarious, and capable of domesticity ; 2nd, wild beasts, carnivora, including all* beasts of prey; and 3rd, reptiles, minor quadrupeds, such as creep by means of many' feet, or glide along the surface of the soil, serpents, annelides, &c. ; finally, we have man, standing alone in intellectual supremacy. The classification of Moses, as it may be drawn from Deuteronomy, appears to be confined to Vertebrata alone, or animals having a spine and ribs, although the fourth class might include others: taking man as one, it forms five classes 1st, Man; 2nd, Beasts ; 3rd, Birds ; 4th, Reptiles ; 5th, Fishes. It is the same as that in Leviticus xi., where beasts are further distinguished into those with solid hoofs and those with cloven feet. But the passage specially refers to animals that might be law- fully eaten because they were clean, and others 142 BEDS prohibited because they were declared unclean, although some of them, according to the common belief of tha time, might ruminate ; for it may be repeated that the Scriptures were not in- tended to embrace anatomical disquisitions aim- ing at the advancement of human science, but to convey moral and religious truth, without dis- turbing the received opinions of the time on questions having little or no relation to their main object In like manner, fishes and birds are divided into clean and unclean ; and, taken altogether, the classification now described forms an excellent series of distinctions, which, even at the present day, and in countries far distant from the scene where it was ordained, still remains applicable, with little exception, and from its intrinsic propriety will remain in force, notwith- standing our present knowledge of the manners and opinions of the East and of Egypt has ren- dered many of the earlier comments upon it in a great measure useless. BEDS. The manner of sleeping in warm Eastern climates was, and is, necessarily very different from that vi-hicb. is followed in our colder regions. The present usages appear to be the same as those of the ancient Jews, and suf- ficiently explain the passages of Scripture which bear on the subject Beds of feathers are alto- gether unknown, and the Orientals lie exceed- ingly hard. Poor people *.vho have no certain home, or when on a journey, or employed dis- tant from their homes, sleep on mats or wrapped in their outer garment, which from its importance in this respect was forbidden to be retained in pledge over night from the owner (Gen. ix. 21, 23; Exod. xxii. 27; Deut xxv. 13). Under such circumstances a stone covered with some folded cloth or piece of dress is often used for a pillow (Gen. xxviii. 11). The more wealthy classes sleep on mattresses stuffed with wool or cotton, and which are often no other than a quilt thickly padded, either used singly or one or more placed upon each other. A similar quilt of finer materials forms the coverlet in winter, and in summer a thin blanket suffices ; but sometimes the convenient outer garment is used for the latter purpose, and M-as so among the Jews, as we see from 1 Sam. xix. 3. The difference of use here is, that the poor wrap themselves tip in it, and it forms all their bed ; whereas when used by the rich it is as a coiiering only. A pillow is placed upon the mattress, and over both, in good houses, is laid a sheet. The bolsters are more valuable than the mattresses, both for their coverings and material : they are usually stuffed with cotton or other soft sub- stance (Ezek. xviii. 20); but instead of these, skins of goats or sheep appear to have been for- merly used by the poorer classes and in the hardier ages. These skins were probnbly sewed up in the natural shape, like water-skins, and stuffed with chaff or wool (1 Sam. xix. 13). It has been doubted whether different Hebrew words translated ' couch,' and ' bed,' and ' bed- stead ' in the authorized version were actually bedsteads of different sorts, or simply the stand- ing and fixed divans, such as those on which the | Western Asiatics commonly make their beds at night It has been usually thought that the choice lay between these alternatives, because it has not been understood that in the East there BEDS is, in fact, a varied arrangement in this matter: and there is reason to think that the different Hebrew words answer to and describe simi- larly different arrangements, although we may be unable now to give to the several Hebrew words the distinctive applications to still subsist- ing things. The divan, or dais, is a slightly elevated plat- form at the upper end, ar.d often along the sides of the room. On this are laid the mattresses on which the Western Asiatics sit cross-legged in the day-tinv.-, with large cushions against the wall to support the back. At night the light bedding is usually laid out upon this divan, ar.d beds for many persons are easily formed. The bedding is removed in the morning, and depo- sited in recesses in the room, made for the pur- pose. This is, however, a sort of general sleep- ing-room for the mali-s of the family and for guests, none but the master having access to the inner parts of the house, where alone there are proper and distinct bed-chambers, where the bedding is cither laid on the carpeted tloor or placed on a lo\r frame or bedstead. The most common bedstead in Egypt and Arabia is of this shape, framed rudely of palm- sticks. It was used in ancient Egypt, and is figured in the mural paintings. In Palestine, Syria, Persia, where the palm-tree is not common, and where timber is more plentiful, a bed-frame of similar shapt; is made of boards. This kind of bedstead is also used upon the house-tops during the season in which people sleep there. It is more than likely that O's bedstead was of this descrip- tion (Deut. iii. 11). In the times in which he lived the palm-tree was more common in Pales- tine than at present, and those in ordinary use were probably formed of palm-sticks. Thus formed, they are incapable of sustaining any un- due weight without being disjointed and bent awry; and this M-ould dictate the necessity of making the bedstead destined to sustain the vast bulk of Og rather with rods of iron than with the mio-ribs of the palm-fronds. These btdsteads are also of a length seldom more than a few inches beyond the average human stature (commonly 6 feet 3 inches), and hence the propriety with which the length of Og's bedstead is stated to con- vey an idea of his stature. It is not necessary to suppose that the bedsteads were all of this fort. There are traces of a sort of portable couch (1 Sam. xix. 15), which appears to have served as a sofa for sitting ou in the day-time (1 Sam. xxviii. 23; Ezek. xxiii. 41 ; Amos vi. 4); : and there is now the less reason to doubt that the ancient Hebrews had a convenience of this sort, as we find such couches in use among the neighbour- ing nations, and figured on their monuments. The subjoined example is from ancient Egypt. A bed with a tester is mentioned in Judith xvi. 23, which, \vith other indications and the frequent mention of rich tapestries hung upon and about a BEE bed for luxuriousness and ornament, proves that such beds as are still used by royal and distin- BEELZEBUL 143 guished personages were not unknown under the Hebrew monarchies (comp. Esth. i. 6 ; Prov. vii. 16, sq. ; Ezvk. xxiii. 41). It is evident that the ancient Jews, like the mo- dern inhabitants of their land, wldom or never changed their dress on going to bed. Most people only divest themselves of their outer garment, and loosen the ligature of the waist, excepting during the hottest part of the summer, when they sleep almost entirely unclad. BEE (occurs in Deut. i. 44 ; Judg. xiv. 8; Ps. cxviii. 12; Isa. vii. 18). This insect belongs to the family apidce, order hymenoptera, species apis rnellifica. commonly called the honey-bee, because this species has often yielded honey to man. In proceeding to notice the principal passages of Scripture in which the bee is mentioned, we first pause at Deut i. 44, where Moses alludes to the irresistible vengeance with which bees pursue their enemies : ' The Amorites came out against you and chased you as bees do, and destroyed you iii Seir unto Hormah.' The powerlessness of man under the united attacks of these insects is well attested. Pliny relates that bees were so trouble- some in some parts of Crete, that the inhabitants were compelled to forsake their homes ; and JElian records that some places in Scythia were formerly inaccessible on account of the swarms of bees with which they were infested. Park relates that at Doofroo, some of the people being in search of honey, unfortunately disturbed a swarm of bees, which came out in great numbers, attacked both men and beasts, obliged them to fly in all direc- tions, so that he feared an end had been put to his jo-.-ii.cy, and that one ass died the same night, aud another the next morning. .Even in this country the stings of two exasperated hives have been known to kill a horse in a few minutes. The reference to the bee contained in Judg. xiv. 8, has attracted the notice of most readers. It is related in the 5th and 6th verses that Samson, aided by supernatural strength, rent a young lion, that warred against him, as he would have rent a kid, and that ' after a time,' as he returned to take liis wife, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and, beliold, there was a swarm of bees and honey iii the carcass of the lion. It has been hasiily concluded that this narrative favours the mistaken notion of the ancients, possibly derived from misunderstanding this very account, that bees might be engendered in the dead bodies of animals ; and ancient authors are quoted to testify to the aversion, of bees to flesh, unpleasant smells, and filthy places. But it may readily be per- ceived that it is not said that the bees were bred in the body of the lion. Again, the frequently re- curring phrase, ' after a time,' literally ' after days,' introduced into the text, proves that at least sufficient time had elapsed for all the fleth of the animal to have been removed by birds and Leasts of prey, the ants, &c. The Syriac version trans- lates ' the bony carcass.' The learned Bochart remarks that the Hebrew phrase sometimes signi- fies a whole year, and in this passage it would seem likely to have this meaning, because such was the length of time which usually elapsed between espousal and marriage (see ver. 7). The circum- stance that ' Loney ' was found in the carcass as well as bees, shows that sufficient time had elapsed since their possession of it, for all the flesh to be removed. Nor is such an abode for bees, probably in the skull or thorax, more unsuitable than a hollow in a rock, or in a tree, or in the ground, in which we know they often reside, or those clay nests which they build for themselves in Brazil. Nor is the fact without parallel. Herodotus re- lates that a swarm of bees took up their abode in the skull of one Silius, an ancient invader of Cy- prus, which they filled with honeycomb?, after the inhabitants had suspended it over the gate of their city. A similar story is told by Aldrovandus of some bees that inhabited and built their combs in a human skeleton in a tomb in a church at Ve- rona. The phrase in Ps. cxviii. 1 2, ' They compassed me about like tees,' is easily understood by all who know the manner in which bees attack the object of their fury. The only remaining passage has been strangely misunderstood (Isa. vii. 18): 'The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost parts of the river of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.' Here the fly and the bee are no doubt personifications of those inveterate ene- mies of Israel, the Egyptians and Assyrians, whom the Lord threatened to excite against his disobedient people. But the hissing for them has been interpreted, even by modern writers of emi- nence, as involving ' an allusion to the practice of calling out the bees from their hives, by a hissing or whistling sound, to their labour in the fields, and summoning them to return when the heavens begin to lower, or the shadows of evening to fall.' No one has offered any proof of the existence of such a custom, and the idea will itself seem suffi- ciently strange to all who are acquainted with the habits of bees. The true reference is, no doubt, to the custom of the people of the East, and even of many parts of Europe, of calling the atten- tion of any one in the street, &c. by a significant hiss or rather hist, as Hishop Lowth translates the word both here and in Isa. v. 26. Hissing, or rather histing, is in use among us for setting a dog on any object. Hence the sense of the threaten-' ing is, I will direct the hostile attention of the Egyptians and Assyrians against you. bEEL'ZEBUL, the name assigned (Matt. xii. 21) to the prince of the daemons. There is no doubt that the reading Beehebul is the one which has the support of almost every critical authority ; and the Beelzebub of the Peslnto (if indeed it "is not a corruption, as Michaelis thinks), and of the Vulgate, aud of some modern versions, has pro- bably been accommodated to the name of tne 144 BEER-SHEBA Philistine god Baalzebub. Some of those who consider the latter to have been a reverential title for that god, believe that Beelzebul is a wilful corruption of it, in order to make it contemptible. [BAAL.] BEER, a well ; a local proper name, denoting, whether by itself or in composition, the presence of a well of water. There were two places so called. 1. A place in the land of Moab, which was one of the encampments of the Israelites (Num. xxi. 16). 2. A town in the tribe of Judah. It is mentioned only once in Scripture (Judg. ix. 21), as the place to which Jotham fled. It is supposed to be the same with the modern Bireh, a large village situated on the ridge, running from east to west, which bounds the northern prospect, as beheld from Jerusalem and its vicinity, and may be seen from a great distance north and south. It contains a population of 700 Moslems. The houses are low, and many of th'em half under- ground. Many large stones and various substruc- tions evince the antiquity of the site ; nnd there are remains of a fine old church of the time of the Crusades. BEE'ROTH, the plural of Beer, and by many taken for the same place. It .is mentioned as a city of the Gibeonites (Josh. ix. 17), and was reckoned in the tribe of Benjamin (2 Sam. iv. 2 ; Ezra ii. 25). BE'ER-SHE'BA, well cfihe oath; a place in the southernmost part of Canaan, celebrated for the sojourn of the patriarchs. It took its name from the well which was dug there by Abraham, and the oath which confirmed his treaty with Abimelech (Gen. xxi. 31). It seems to have been a favourite station of that patriarch, and here he planted one of those ' groves ' which formed the temples of those remote times (Gen. xxi. 33). A town of some consequence afterwards arose on the spot, and retained the same name. It was first assigned to the tribe of Judah (Josh. xv. 28), and afterwards transferred to Simeon (Josh. xix. 2), but was still popularly ascribed to Judah (2 Sam. xxiv. 7). Being the southernmost city of the land, its name is of frequent occurrence as being ; proverbially used in describing the extent of the i land, in the phrase ' from Dan (in the north) to i Beersheba' (in the south), and reversely, 'from ! Beersheba unto Dan ' (Judg. xx. 1 ; 2 Sam. xvii. i 1 1 ; 1 Chron. xxi. 2 ; 2 Chron. xxx. 5). It was at Beersheba that Samuel established his sons as judges for the southernmost districts (1 Sam. viii. j 2) : it was from thence that Elijah wandered out ' into the southern desert (1 Kings xix. 3): here \ was one of the chief seats of idolatrous worship in the time of Uzziah (Amos v. 5; viii. 14); and to this place, among others, the Jews returned after the Captivity (Neh. xi. 27, 30). This is the last time its name occurs in the Old Testament. In the New Testament it is not once mentioned ; find : for many centuries it seems to have been in a ' great measure forgotten. Its site was recently j visited by Dr. Robinson, who, on converging j from the desert and entering the borders of Pa- : lestine, came upon two deep wells still called : Bir-es-Leba, situate on the northern side of a wide ; watercourse called Wady ir-Leba. These wells are 55 rods apart. They are circular, and stoned up very neatly with masonry, apparently very ancient. The water in both was pure and sweet, \ and in great abundance ; the finest, indeed, BEGGARS the travellers had found since leaving Sinai. Both wells were surrounded with drinldng- troughs of stone for camels and flocks, such as were doubtless used of old by the flocks which were fed on the adjacent hills. No ruins were at first visible ; but, on examination, foundations of former dwellings were traced, dispersed loosely over the low hills to the north of the wells, and in the hollows between. They seem to have been built chiefly of round stones, although some of the stones are squared and some hewn; suggesting the idea of a small straggling city. The site of the wells is nearly midway between the southern end of the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean at Raphaca, or twenty-seven miles south-east from Gaza, and about the same distance south-by-west from Hebron. BEEVES. The rearing of horned cattle was encouraged by the people of Israel. These ani- mals were protected in some cases by express provisions of the law ; they were held clean, being the usual sacrifice of consideration, and the chief article of flesh diet of the population. Judging from Egyptian remains, there were two great breeds of straight-backed cattle, the long- hcrned and the short-horned; and in Upper Fgypt at least, there was one without horns. Another hunched species existed, which served to draw chariots, yoked in the same manner as the Brahminee bulls of India are at present. In Egypt the straight-backed or common cattle appear to have formed a very handsome breed with lunate horns. They were generally spotted black or red upoo a white ground, and there were, besides, others white, red, or black. They all served for common use, but those without red were selected when new sacred bulls were to be supplied ; for they alone had the colours which could show the marks made by chance or by art, and required to fit the animal for the purpose in- tended. There was, besides, a sacred cow ; and a black bull was worshipped at Hermonthis. In Palestine the breed of cattle was most likely in ancient times, as it still is, inferior in siye to the Egyptian. Unless the name be taken synonymously with that of other species, there is not in the Bible any indication of the buffalo. The Asiatic spe- cies was not known in Greece till the time of Aristotle. The indigenous buffaloes of Africa, amounting at least to two very distinct species, appear to have belonged to the south and west of that continent, and only at a later period to have approached Egypt as far as the present Bornou ; for none are figured on any known mo- nument in either Upper or Lower Egypt. With regard, however, to wild oxen of the true Tau- rine genus, some may, at a very remote period, have been found in Bashan, evidently the origin of the name, a region where mountain, wood, and water, all connecting the Syrian Libanus with Taurus, were favourable to their existence : but the wild bulls of the district, mentioned in Ps. xxii. 12, and in various other passages, ap- pear, nevertheless, to refer to domestic species, probably left to propagate without much human superintendence, except annually marking the increase, and selecting a portion for consumption, in the same manner as is still practised in some parts of Europe. BEGGARS. [ALMS.] BEHEMOTH BE'HEMOTH (Job xl. 15) is regarded as the plural of behemah, but commentators are by no means agreed as to its true meaning. A number of learned men, with Bochart and Calmet at their head, understand the word in the singular number as a specific name, denoting the hippo- potamus, seeking to prove, by somewhat forced BELL 145 OT. [Hippopotamus.] interpretations of the beautiful poetical allusions in Job xl. 15-24, the exactness of the description when compared with the species, which, how- ever, in some respects is more applicable to the elephant, while in others it is equally so to both animals. Hence the term behemoth, taken in- tensely (for in some places it is admitted to designate cattle in general), may be assumed to fee a poetical personification of the great Pachy- dermata, or even Herbivora, wherein the idea of hippopotamus is predominant. This view ac- counts for the ascription to it of characters not truly applicable to one species ; for instance, the tail is likened to a cedar, which is only admis- sible in the case of the elephant; again, 'the mountains bring him forth food ;' ' he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan,' a river which ele- phants alone could reach ; ' his nose pierceth through snares,' certainly more indicative of that animal's proboscis with its extraordinary deli- cacy of scent and touch, ever cautiously applied, than of the obtuse perceptions of the river-horse. Finally, the elephant is far more dangerous as an enemy than the hippopotamus, which nume- rous pictorial sculptures on the monuments of Egypt represent as fearlessly speared by a single hunter standing on his float of log and reeds. Yet although the elephant is scarcely less fond of water, the description referring to manners, such as lying under the shade of willows among reeds, in fens, &e., is more directly characteristic of the hippopotamus. The book of Job appears, from many internal indications, to have been written in Asia, and is full of knowledge, although that knowledge is not expressed according to the precise technicalities of modem science ; it offers pictures in magnificent outline, without conde- scending to minute and laboured details. Con- sidered in this light, the expression in Ps. 1. 10, ' For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle (behemoth) upon a thousand hills,' acquires a grandeur and force far surpassing the mere idea of cattle of various kinds. If, therefore, we take this plural noun to bear the meaning here briefly indicated, we may likewise consider the leviathan, its counterpart, a similarly generalized term with the idea of the crocod'le most pro- minent; but from the very namr indicating a twisting animal, and which from various texts evidently include the great pythons, cetacea, arid sharks of the surrounding seas and deserts, it conveys a more sublime allusion than if limited to the crocodile, an animal familiar to ever" Egyptian, and well known even in Palestine. BE'KAH, half a shekel. [WEIGHTS.] BEL is the name under which the national god of the Babylonians is cursorily mentioned in Isa. xlvi. 1 ; Jer. 1. 2 ; li. 44. This deity is also no- ticed in Bar. vi. 40, and the apocryphal addition to the book of Daniel, where we read of meat and drink being daily offered to him, according to a usage occurring in classical idolatry. A particu- lar account of the pyramidal temple of Bel, at Babylon, is given by Herodotus, who also states that the sacrifices of this god consisted of adult cattle, of their young, when sucking, and of in- cense. The question whether the snn or the planet Jupiter was the power of nature adored under the name of Bel, is discussed under the article BAAL. 13EL and DRAGON. [DANIEL, APOCRYPHAL ADDITIONS TO.] BE'LA. [ZOAR.] BELL. The first bells known in history are those small golden bells which were attached to the lower part of the blue robe (the robe of the ephod) which formed part of the dress of the high-priest in his sacerdotal ministrations (Exod. xxviii. 33,34; comp. Ecclus. xlv. 11). They were there placed alternately with the pomegra- nate-shaped knobs, one of these being between every two of the bells. The number of these bells is not mentioned in Scripture ; but tradition states that there were sixty-six. We need not seek any other reason for this rather singular use of bells than that which is assigned : ' His sound shall be heard when he goeth into the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not' (Exod. xxviii. 35) ; by which we may understand that the sound of the bells manifested that he was properly arrayed in the robes of cere- mony which he was required to wear when he entered the presence-chamber of the Great King; and that as no-minister can enter the presence of an earthly potentate abruptly and unannounced, so he (whom no human being could introduce) was to have his entrance harbingered by the sound of the bells he wore. This sound, heard outside, also notified to the people the time in which he was engaged in his sacred ministra- tions, and during which they remained in prayer (Luke i. 9, 10). ' BELLS OF THE HORSES' are mentioned in Zech. xiv. 20, which were probably such as were hung to the bridles or foreheads, or to belts around the necks, of horses trained for war, that they might thereby be accustomed to noise and tumult, and not by their alarm expose the riders to danger in actual warfare. We incline to think, however, that the use of horse-bells with which the Jews were most familiar, and which the prophet had in view, was that which at pre- sent exists in the East, and in other countries where carriage by pack-horses and mules is common. The laden animals, being without riders, have bells hung from their necks, that they may be kept together, in traversing by night the open plains and deserts, by paths and roads uncohfi ned by fences or boundaries ; that 146 BEN they may be cheered by the sound of the bells ; and that if any horse strays, its place may be known by the sound of its bell, while the general sound from the caravan enables the traveller who has strayed or lingered, to find and regain his party, even in the night. That the same motto, HOLINESS TO THE LORD, which was upon the mitre of the high-priest, should, in the happy days foretold by the pro- phet, be inscribed even upon the bells of the horses, manifestly signifies that all things, from the highest to the lowest, should in those days be sanctified to God. It is remarkable that there is no appearance of bells of any kind in the Egyptian monu- ments. BELLOWS. This word only occurs in Jer. vi. 29, and is there used with reference to the casting of metal. As fires in the East are always of wood or charcoal, a sufficient heat for ordinary purposes is soon raised by the help of fans, and the use of bellows is confined to the workers in metal. Such was the case anciently ; and in the mural paintings of Egypt we observe no bellows but such as are used for the forge or furnace. They thus occur as early as the time of Moses, being represented in a tomb at Thebes which bears the name of Thothmes I II. They consisted of a leathern bag, secured and fitted into a frame, from which a long pipe extended for carrying the wind to the fire. They were worked by the feet, the operator standing upon them with one under each foot and pressing them alternately, while he pulled up each exhausted skin with a string he held in his hand. In one instance it is observed from the painting, that when the man left the bellows they were raised as if filled with air, and this would imply a knowledge of the valve. BELLY. Among the Hebrews, and with most ancient nations, the belly was regarded as the seat of the carnal aflFections, as being, ac- fordiug to the notions of antiquity, that which first partakes of sensual pleasures (Tit i. 12 ; Phil. iii. 19 ; Rom. xvi. 18). It is used likewise symbolically for the heart, the innermost recesses of the soul (Prov. xviii. 8; xx. 27; xxii. 18). The embittering of the belly signifies all the train of evils which may come upon a man (Jer. iv. 19 ; ix. 15 ; comp. Numb. v. 27). BELSHAZ'ZAR is the name given in the book of Daniel to the last king of the Chaldees. under whom Babylon was taken by the Medes anu Persians. Nothing is really known of this king except from the book of Daniel. BKLTESHAZ'ZAR. [DANIEL.] BEN (son), is often found as the first element of proper names ; in which case the word which BENHADAD follows it is always to be considered dependent on it. in the relation of our genitive. The word which follows Sen may either be of itself a proper name, or be an appellative or abstract, the principle of the connection being essentially the same in both cases. [BAR.] BENAI'AH, son of Jehoiada, and commander of David's guard (the Cherethites and Pelcthites, 2 Sam. viii. 18). His exploits were celebrated in Israel. He overcame two Moabitish cham- pions (' lions of God'), slew an Egyptian giant with his own spear, and went down into an ex- hausted cistern and destroyed a lion which had fallen into it when covered with snow (2 Sam. xxiii. 21). Benaiah (doubtless with the guard he commanded) adhered to Solomon when Joab and others attempted to set up Adonijuh ; and when that attempt failed, he, as belonged to his office, was sent to put Joab to death, after which he was appointed commander in chief in his place (1 Kings i. 36 ; ii. 29). Some persons named Benaiah returned from the exile with Ezra (x. 25, 30, 35, 43). BENHA'DAD (son of Hadad), the name of three kings of Damascene-Syria. As to the latter part of this name, Hadad, there is little doubt that it is the name of the Syrian gcd A DAD. 1. BENHADAD, the king of Syria who was subsidised by Asa king of Judah to invade Israel, and thereby compel Baasha (who had in- vaded Judah) to return to defend his own king- dom (I Kings xv. 18). [AsA.] This Benhadad has, with some reason, been supposed to be Hadad the Edomite who rebelled against Solomon (1 Kings xi. 25). 2. BENHADAD, king of Syria, son of the pre- ceding. His earlier history is much involved in that of Ahab, with whom he was constantly at war [AHAB]. He owed the signal defeat in which that war terminated to the vain notion that assimilated JEHOVAH to the local deities which the nations of Syria worshipped, deeming Him ' a God of the hills,' but impotent to defend his votaries in ' the plains' (1 Kings xx. 1-30). Instead of pursuing his victory, Ahab concluded a peace with the defeated Benhadad, which was observed for about twelve years, when the Syrian king declared war against Je- horam the son of Ahab, and invaded Israel . but all his plans and operations were frustrated by being made known to Jehoram by the prophet Elisha (2 Kings vi. 8, ad fin.}. After some years he however renewed the war, and besieged Jehoram in his capital, Samaria, until the inha- bitants were reduced to the last extremities and most revolting resources by famine. The siege was then unexpectedly raised, according to a prediction of Elisha, through a panic infused into the besiegers, who concluding that a noise which they seemed to hear portended the ad- vance upon them of a foreign host procured by Jehoram, thought only of saving themselves by flight. The next year Benhadad, learning that Elisha, through whom so many of his designs had been brought to nought, had arrived at Damascus, sent an officer of distinction named Hazael with presents, to consult him as to his recovery from an illness under which he then suffered. The prophet answered, that his disease was not mortal, but that he would nevertheless BENJAMIN die. This was accomplished a few days after by this very Hazael, who smothered the sick monarch in his bed, and mounted the throne in his stead, B.C. 884(2 Kings viiL 7-15). [Eu- SHA; HAZAEL: JEHORAM.] 3. BENHADAD, king of Syria, son of the Hazael just mentioned'. He was thrice defeated by Jehoash, king of Israel, who recovered from him all the territories beyond Jordan which Ha- zael had rent from the dominion of Israel (2 Kings xiii. 3, 24, 25). BEN'JAMIN, youngest son of Jacob, by Rachel (Gen. xxxv. 1 8). His mother died im- mediately after he was born, and with her last breath named him Ben-Oni, ' Son of my pain,' which the father changed into Benjamin, a word of nearly the same sound, but portending comfort and consolation, Son of my riyht hand,' pro- bably alluding to the support and protection he promised himself from this, his last child, in his old age. The tribe of Benjamin, though the least nu- merous of Israel, became nevertheless a consi- derable race in process of time. In the desert it counted 35,400 warriors, all above twenty years of age (Num. i. 3(> ; ii. 22) ; and, at the entrance of Israel into Canaan, even as many as 45,100. The portion allotted to this tribe was in pro- portion to its small number, and was encom- passed by the districts of Ephraim, Dan, and Judah, in central Palestine. The territory, though rather small, was highly-cultivated and naturally fertile, and contained thirty-six towns (with the villages appertaining to them), which are named in Josh, xviii. 21-28; and the prin- cipal of which were Jericho, Bethagla, Bethel, Gibeon, liamah, and Jebus or Jerusalem. This latter place subsequently became the capital of the whole Jewish empire ; but was, after the division of the land, still in possession of the Jtbusites. The lower ot less fortified part had been taken by Judah (Judg. i. 8), who in this matter had almost a common interest with Ben- jamin ; but Zion, the upper part, was not finally wrested from the Jebusites till the time of David (2 Sam. v. 6, sq.}. In the time of the Judges, the tribe of Benjamin became involved in a civil war with the other eleven tribes, for having re- fused to give up to justice the miscreants of Gibeon who had publicly violated and caused the death of a concubine of a man of Ephraim, who had passed with her through Gibeon. This war termiuated in the almost utter extinction of the tribe ; leaving no hope for its regeneration from the circumstance, that, not only had nearly all the women of that tribe been previously slain by their foes, but the eleven other tribes had en- gaged themselves by a solemn oath not to marry their daughters to any man belonging to Ben- jamin. Wheu the thirst of revenge, however, had abated, they found means to evade the letter of the oath, and to revive the tribe again by an alliance with them (Judg. xxi. 20, 21). This revival was so rapid, that in the time of David it already numbered 59,434 able warriors (1 Chron. vii. -12); in that of Asa, 280,000 (2 Chron. xiv. 8) ; and in that of Jehoshaphat, 200,000 (2 Chron. xvii. 17). This tribe had also the honour of giving the first king to the Jews, Saul being a iJenjamite (1 Sam. ix. 1, 2). After his death, the Ben- BERYL 1*7 jamites, as might have been expected, declared - themselves for his son Ishbosheth (2 Sam. ii. 1 8, sqr.); until, after the assassination of that ! prince, David became king of all Israel. David ; having at last expelled the Jebusites from Zion, j and made it his own residence, the close alliance i that seems previoutly to have existed between ; the tribes of Benjamin and Judah (Judg. i. 8) was cemented by the circumstance that, while Jerusalem actually belonged to the district of Benjamin, that of Judah was immediately con- tiguous to it. Thus it happened, that, at the division of the kingdom after the death of Solo- mon, Benjamin espoused the cause of Judah, and formed, together with it. a kingdom by them- selves. Indeed, the two tribes stood always in such a close connection, as often to be included under the single term Judah (1 Kings xi. 13; xii. 20). After the exile, also, these two tribes constituted the flower of the new Jewish colony in Palestine (comp. Ezr. xi. 1 ; x. 9). BERE'A (Acts xvii. lo), a city of Macedonia, situate on the river Astneus, not far from Pelia, towards the south-west, and near Mount Ber- mius. It was afterwards called Irenopolis, and is now known by the name of Boor. Paul and Silas withdrew to this place from Thessalonica ; and the Jewish residents are described as more ingenuous, and of a better disposition (not ' more noble,' as in the Authorized Version) ' than those of Thessalonica,' in that they diligently searched the Scriptures to ascertain the truth of the doctrines taught by the Apostles. BEKNl'CE, eldest daughter of Herod Agrippa I., and sister of the younger Agrippa (Acts xxv. 13, 23 ; xxvi. 30). She was married to her uncle Herod, king of Chalcis ; and after his death, in order to avoid the merited suspicion of incest with her brother Agrippa, she became the wife of Polemon, king of Cilicia. This con- nection being soon dissolved, she returned to her brother, and afterwards became the mistress of Vespasian and Titus. BER'YL. This is supposed by some to be the precious stone intended by the word shoham, which occurs in Gen. ii. 12; Exod. xxviii. 9; xxxv. 9-27; Job xxviii. 16; Ezek. xxviii. 13. Whether the beryl be the shoham or not, it is a Scriptural stone by virtue of the mention of it in Rev. xxi, 20. There is no doubt that the stone which we call beryl is the substance to which the ancients gave the same name. It is of a pale sea-green colour, inclining sometimes to water blue, and sometimes to yellow. In its crystal- lized form it exhibits sexagonal columns striped longitudinally. The shoham furnished the shoulder-pieces in the breastplate of the high- priest, on each of which six names were en- graven, and for this purpose the stalky beryl, consisting of long, stout, hexagonal pieces, was peculiarly suited. Beryls are found, but not often, in collections of ancient gems. In Gen. ii. 12, the shoham is named as the product of Havilah ; in Job xxviii. 16, it is mentioned as a stone of great value, being classed with the sap- phire and the gold of Ophir; in Ezek. xxviii. 13, it appears as a valuable article of commerce. Luiher, relying upon the authority of some ancient versions, makes the shoham to have been the onyx. This indeed is the stone usually given for the shoham in Hebrew lexicons, and 1,9 144 BETH-AKBEL is the one which the Authorized Version has alco adopted. BE'SOR, a brook mentioned in 1 Sam. xxx. 9. It is without doubt the same that Richardson crossed on approaching Gaza from the south, and which he calls Oa di Gaza (Wady Gaza). The bed was thirty yards wide, and its stream was, early in April, already exhausted, although some stagnant water remained. BETH (house) is often found as the first ele- ment of proper names of places in the Bible. It is only necessary to observe that, in all such com- pounds, as Bethel, &c., the latter part of the word must be considered, according to our Occidental languages, to depend on the former in the rela- tion of the genitive; so that Bethel can only mean house of God.' The notion of house is, of course, capable of a wide application, and is used to mean temple, habitation, place, according to the sense of the word with which it is combined. BETHAB'ARA or BETHBARAH. This name means place oftheford, f. e. of or over the Jordan ; and is mentioned in John i. 28, as the place where John baptized. The best manuscripts and recent editions, however, have Bethany : the reading Bethabara appears to have arisen from the con- jecture of Origen, who in his day found no such place on the Jordan as Bethany, but knew a town called Bethabara, where John was said to have baptized, and therefore took the unwarrant- able liberty of changing the reading. BETH'ANY (jplace of dates}. 1. The place near the Jordan where John baptized, the exact situation of which is unknown. Some copies here read Bethabara, as stated in the preceding article. 2. BETHANY, a town or village about fifteen furlongs east-south-east from Jerusalem, beyond the Mount of Olives (John xi. 18), so called, probably, from the number of palm-trees that grew around. It was the residence of Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha, and Jesus often went out from Jerusalem to lodge there (Matt. xxi. 17; xxvi. 6; Mark xi. 1, 11, 12; xiv. 3; Luke xix. 29; xxiv. 50; John xi. 1, 18; xii. 1). The place still subsists in a shallow wady on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. Dr. Robinson reached Bethany in three-quarters of an hour from the Damascus gate of Jerusalem ; which gives a distance cor- responding to the fifteen furlongs (stadia) of the Evangelist. It is a poor village of about twenty families. The only marks of antiquity are some hewn stones from more ancient build- ings, found in the walls of some of the houses. The monks, indeed, show the house of Mar}' and Martha, and of Simon the leper, and also the sepulchre of Lazarus, all of which are constantly mentioned in the narratives of pilgrims and tra- vellers. The sepulchre is a deep vault, like a cellar, excavated in the limestone rock in the middle of the village, to which there is a descent by twenty-six steps. Dr. Robinson alleges that there is not the slightest probability of its ever having been the tomb of Lazarus. The form is not that of the ancient sepulchres, nor does its situation accord with the narrative of the New Testament, which implies that 'the tomb was not in the town (John xvi. 31, 38). BETH-AR'BEL, a place mentioned only in Hos. x. 14 ; and as it there seems to be implied 'hat it was an impregnable fortress, the probabi- BETHEL lity is strengthened of its being the same as the Arbela of Josephus. This was a village in Gali- lee, near whicli were certain fortified caverns. They are first mentioned in connection with the march of Bacchides into Judsea, at which time they were occupied by many fugitives, and the Syrian general encamped there long enough to subdue them. At a later period these caverns formed the retreats of banded robbers, who greatly distressed the inhabitants throughout that quarter, and were at length extirpated by Herod. These same caverns were afterwards fortified by Jose- phus himself against the Romans during his command in Galilee. There is little doubt that Arbela of Galilee, with its fortified caverns, may be identified with the present Kulat ibu Maan and the adjacent ruins now known as Irbid. BETH-A'VEN (house rf idols), a nickname for the town of Bethel, applied to it after it became the seat of the worship of the golden calves [BETHKL]. There was, however, a town of this name not far from Bethel eastward (Josh. vii. 2 ; 1 Sam. xiii. 5), the existence of which, perhaps, occasioned the transfer of the name to Bethel. There was also a desert of the same name (Josh, xviii. 12). BETH'EL, originally Luz, an ancient town which Eusebius places 12 R. miles north of Jeru- salem, on the right hand of the road to Shechem. Jacob rested here one night on his way to Padan- Aram, and commemorated the vision with which he was favoured by erecting and pouring oil upon the stone which had served him for a pillow, and giving to the place the name of Bethel (place or house of God), which eventually superseded the more ancient designation of Luz (Gen. xxviii. 11-19). Under that name it is mentioned pro- leptically with reference to the earlier time of Abraham (Gen. xii. 8 ; xiii. 3). After his pros- perous return, Bethel became a favourite station with Jacob: here he built an altar, buried Debo- rah, received the name of Israel (for the second time), and promises of blessing; and here also he accomplished the vow which he had made on his going forth (Gen. xxxv. 1-15; comp. xxxii. 28, and xxviii. 20-22). It seems not to have been a town in those early times ; but at the conquest of the land, Bethel is mentioned as the royal city of the Canaanites (Josh. xii. 16). It became a boundary town of Benjamin towards Ephraim (Josh, xviii. 22), and was actually conquered by the latter tribe from the Canaanites (Judg. i. 22-2(5). At this place, already consecrated in the time of the patriarchs, the ark of the covenant was. apparently for a long while, deposited [ARK], and probably the tabernacle also (Judg. xx. 26 ; comp. 1 Sam. x. 3). It was also one of the places at which Samuel held in rotation his court of jus- tice (1 Sam. vii. 16). After the separation of the kingdoms Bethel was included in that of Israel, which seems to show, that although originally in the formal distribution assigned to Benjamin, it had been actually possessed by Ephraim in right of conquest from the Canaanites which might have been held by that somewhat unscrupulous tribe to determine the right of possession to a place of importance close on their own frontier. Jeroboam made it the southern seat (Dan being the northern) of the worship of the golden calves ; and it seems to have been the chief seat of that worship (1 Kings xii. 28-33; xiii. 1). This ap- propriation, however, completely desecrated BETHESDA Bethel in the estimation of the orthodox Jews ; and the prophets name it with abhorrence and contempt even applying to it the name of Beth- aven (house of idols) instead Bethel (house of God) (Amos i. 5; Hos. iv. 15; v. 8; x. 5, 8). The town was taken from Jeroboam by Abijah, king of Judah (2 Chron. xiii. 19) ; but it agaiii re- verted to Israel (2 Kings x. 28). After the Israelites were carried away captive by the Assy- rians, all traces of this illegal worship were extir- pated by Josiah, king of Judah, who thus ful- filled a prophecy made to Jeroboam 350 years before (2 Kings xiii. 1, 2; xxiii. 15-18). The place was still in existence after the Captivity, and was in the possession of the Benjamitcs (Ezra ii. 28 ; Neh. vii. 32). In the time of the Maccabees Bethel was fortified by Baechides for the king of Syria. It is not named in the New Testament ; but it still existed, and was taken by Vespasian. It is described by Eusebius and Jerome as a small village ; and this is the last notice of it as an inhabited place. Bethel and its name were believed to have perished until within these few years ; when it has been identified with Beitin, the situation of which corresponds very exactly with the position assigned to the ancient Bethel. The ruins, which are consider- able, lie upon the point of a low hill, between the heads of two shallow wadys which unite below, and run off into a deep and rugged valley. The spot is shut in by higher land on every side. BE'THER. The Mountains of Bether are only mentioned in Cant. ii. 17; viii. 14; and no place called Bether occurs elsewhere. The word means, properly, dissection. The mountains of Bether may therefore be mountains of disjunction, of separation, etc., that is, mountains cut up, di- vided by ravines, etc. BETHE'SDA (house or place ofmercy\ a pool at the Sheep-gate of Jerusalem, built round with porches for the accommodation of the sick who sought benefit from the healing virtues of the water, and upon one of whom Christ performed the healing miracle recorded by St. John (v. 2-9). That which is now, and has long been pointed out as the Pool of Bethesda, is a dry basin or reser- voir outside the northern wall of the enclosure around the Temple Mount, of which wall its southern side may be said to form a part. The east end of it is close to the present gate of St. Stephen. The pool measures 360 feet in length, BETHLEHEM 149 92. [Pool of Bethesda.] 130 feet in breadth, and 75 in depth from the bottom, besides the rubbish which has been accu- mulated in it for ages. Dr. Robinson is of opinion that this excavation is not entitled to the designation it bears ; but his arguments have been so forcibly met by more recent and not less useful inquirers, that until some better alterna- tive is offered, it will be well to Acquiesce in the local conclusion. _ BETH-HO'RON : two places of this name are distinguished in Scripture as the Upper and Nether Be'th-horon (Josh. xvi. 3, 5; xviii. 13; 1 Chron. vii. 24). The Nether Beth-horon lay in the N.W. corner of Benjamin ; and between the two places was a pass called both the ascent and descent of Beth-horon, leading from the region of Gibeon (el-Jib) down to the western plain (Josh, xviii. 13, 14 ; X. 10, 11). Down this pass the five kings of the Amorites were driven by Joshua (Josh. x. 11). The upper and lower towns were both fortified by Solomon ( 1 Kings ix. 17; 2 Chron. viii. 5). Cestius Gallus, the Roman pro-consul of Syria, in his march from Cscsarea to Jerusalem, after having burned Lydda, ascended the mountain by Beth-horon and encamped near Gibeon. From these intima- tions it would appear that in ancient times, as at the present day, the great road of communication and of heavy transport between Jerusalem and the sea-coast was. by the pass of Beth-horon. The two Beth-horons still exist under the name of Beit-Ur. The Lower Beit-Ur is upon the top of a low ridge, which is separated by a wady, or narrow valley, from the foot of the mountain upon which the Upper Beit-Ur stands. Both are now inhabited villages. The lower is very small, but foundations of large stones indicate an ancient site doubtless that of the Nether Beth-horon. The Upper Beit-Ur is likewise small, but also exhibits traces of ancient walls and foundations. In the steep ascent to it the rock is in some parts cut away, and the path formed into steps, indi- cating an ancient road. On the first offset or step of the ascent are foundations of huge stones, the remains perhaps of a castle that once guarded the pass. It is remarkable that the places are still distin- guished as Beit-Ur el-Foka (the Upper), and Beit- Ur el-Tahta (the Lower). BETH'LEHEM, (house or place of bread, i. q. Bread-town;) a city of Judah (Judg. xvii. 7), six miles southward from Jerusalem, on the road tc Hebron. It was generally called Bethlehem- Judah, to distinguish it from another Bethlehem in Zebulun (Josh. xix. 15; Judg. xii. 10). It is also called Ephratah (the fruitful), and its inhabitants Ephratites (Gen. xlviii. 7; Mic.v. 2). Bethlehem is chiefly celebrated as the birth place of David and of Christ, and as the scen of the Book of 1'uth. It was fortified by Reho boam (2 Chron. xi. 6) ; but it does not appear to have been a place of much importance ; for Micah, extolling the moral pre-eminence of Beth- lehem, says, ' Thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah,'' &c (Mic. v. 2). There never has been any dispute or doubt about the site of Bethlehem, which has always been an inhabited place, and, from its sacred associations, has been visited by an un- broken series of pilgrims and travellers. It is now a large straggling village, beautifully situ- 150 BETHLEHEM atod on the brow of a high hill, and consisting chiefly of one broad and principal street. The houses are built for the most part of clay and bricks ; and every house is provided with an apiary, the beehives of which are constructed of a series of earthen pots, ranged on the house- tops. The inhabitants are said to be 3000, and were all native Christians at the time of the most recent visits ; for Ibrahim Pasha, finding that the Moslem and Christian inhabitants were always at strife, caused the former to withdraw, and left the village in quiet possession of the latter, whose numbers had always greatly pre- dominated. The chief trade and manufacture of the inhabitants consist of beads, crosses, and other relics, which are sold at a great profit. Some of the articles, wrought in mother-of-pearl, are carved with more skill than one would expect to find in that remote quarter ; and the workmanship in some instances would not dis- credit the artists of Britain. The people are said to be remarkable for their ferocity and rude- ness, which is indeed the common character of the inhabitants of most of the places accounted holy in the East At the farthest extremity of the town is the Latin convent, connected with which is the Church of the Nativity, said to have been built by the empress Helena. It has suffered much from time, but still bears manifest traces of its Grecian origin ; and is alleged to be the most chaste architectural building now remaining In Palestine. Two spiral staircases lead to the cave called the ' Grotto of the Nativity,' which is about 20 feet below the level of the church. This cave is lined with Italian marbles, and lighted by numerous lamps. Here the pilgrim is conducted with due solemnity to a star inlaid in the marble, marking the exact spot where the Saviour was born, and corresponding to that in the firmament occupied by the meteor which intimated that great event ; he is then led to one of the sides, where, in a kind of recess, a little below the level of the rest of the floor, is a block of white marble, hollowed out in the form of a ! manger, and said to mark the place of the one in which the infant Jesus was laid. His attention is afterwards directed to the ' Sepulchre of the Innocents;' to the grotto in which Sit. Jerome I passed the greater portion of his life ; and to the i chapels dedicated to Joseph and other saints. There has been much controversy respecting the claims of this grotto to be regarded as the place in which our Lord was born. Tradition is in its favour, but facts and probabilities are against it. It is useless to deny that there is much force in a tradition regarding a locality, which can l>e traced up to a period not remote from that of the event commemorated ; and this event was fo important as to make the scene of it a point of such unremitting attention, that the knowledge of the spot was not likely to be lost. This view would be greatly strengthened if it could be satisfactorily proved that Hadrian, to cast odium upon the mysteries of the Christian religion, not only erected statues of Jupiter and Venus over the holy Sepulchre and on Calvary, but placed one of Adonis over the spot of ihe Nativity at Bethlehem. This part of the evidence is exa- mined under another head [GOLGOTHA}. Against tradition, whatever may be its value in the pre- BETHSAIDA sent case, vre have to place the utter improbability that a subterranean cavern like this, with a steep descent should ever have been used as a stable for cattle, and, what is more, for the stable of a khan or caravanserai, which doubtless the ' inn ' of Luke ii. 7 was. Although therefore it is true that cattle are, and always have been, stabled in caverns in the East ; yet certainly not in such caverns as this, which appears to have been ori- ginally a tomb. Old empty tombs often, it is argued, afford shelter to man and cattle ; but such was not the case among the Jews, who held themselves ceremonially defiled by contact with sepulchres, besides, the circumstance of Christ's having been born in a cave would not have been less remarkable than his being laid in a manger, and was more likely to have been noticed by the Evangelist, if it had occurred : and it is also to be observed that the present grotto is at some distance from the town, whereas Christ appears to have been born in the town, and whatever may be the case in the open country, it has never been usual in towns to employ caverns as stables for cattle. On the north-east side of the town is a deep valley, alleged to be that in which the angels appeared to the shepherds announcing the birth of the Saviour (Luke ii. 8). In the same valley is a fountain of delicious water, said with reasonable probability to be that for which David lor.ged, and which three of his mighty men procured for him at the hazard of their lives (2 Sam. xxiii. 15-18). BETH-NIM'KA, or simply NIMRA, a town in the tribe of Gad (Num. xxxii. 3, 36 ; Josh. xiii. 27), which Eusebius places five Koman miles north of Livias. This leaves no doubt of its being the same ruined city called Nimrin, south of Szalt, which Burckhardt mentions as situated near the point where the Wady Shoeb joins the Jordan. BETHPHA'GE (house of fg$\comp. Cant, ii. 13), a small village, which our Lord, coming from Jericho, appears to have entered before reaching Bethany (Matt. xxi. 1 ; Luke xix. 29) ; it probably, therefore, lay near the latter place, a little below it to the east No trace of it now exists. BETH-RE'HOB. [Eraon.] BETHSA'IDA (fishing-town\ a town (Johni. 45; Mark viii. 23) in Galilee (John xii. 21), on the western side of the sea of Tiberias, towards the middle, and not far from Capernaum (Mark vi. 45; viii. 22). It was the native place of Peter, Andrew, and Philip, and the frequent residence of Jesus. This gives some notion of the neighbourhood in which it lay ; but the pre- cise site is utterly unknown, and the very name has long eluded the search of travellers. 2. BETHSAIDA. Christ fed the 5000 ' near to a city called Bethsaida' (Luke ix. 10); but it is evident from the parallel passages (Matt. xiv. 13; Mark vi. 32-45), that this event took place, not in Galilee, but on the eastern side of the lake. This was held to be one of the greatest difficulties in sacred geography, till the ingenious Reland afforded materials for a satisfactory solu- tion of it, by distinguishing two Bethsaidas; one on the western, and the other on the north-eastern border of the lake. The former was undoubt- edly 'the city of Andrew and Peter;' and, it is in perfect agreement with the sacred text to BETHSHEMESH conclude that it was the Bethsaida near which Christ fed the five thousand, and also, probably, where the blind man was restored to sight. It was originally only a village, called Bethsaida, but was rebuilt and enlarged by Philip the Tetrarch not long after the birth of Christ, and received the name of 'Julias in honour of Julia the daughter of Augustus (Luke iii. 1). Philip seems to have made it his occasional residence ; and here he died, and was buried in a costly tomb. BETH-SHA'N (house of rest, or Kest-town'), a city belonging to the half-tribe of Manasseh, west of the Jordan, and situated in a valley of that river, where it is bounded westward by a low chain of the Gilboa mountains. It is on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus, and is about two miles from the Jordan, eighteen from the southern end of Lake Gennesareth, and twenty- three from- Na/areth. It also bore the name of Scythopolis, perhaps because Scythians had set- tled there in the time of Josiah (B.C. G31), in their passage through Palestine towards Egypt. Although Bethshan was assigned to Manasseh (Josh. xvii. 11), it was not conquered by that tribe (Judg. i. 17). The body of Saul was fas- tened to the wall of Bethshan by the Philistines (1 Sam. xxxi. 10). The ancient native name, as well as the town itself, still exists in the Beisan of the present day. It stands on a rising ground somewhat above the valley of the Jordan, or in the valley of Jezreel, where it opens into the Jordan valley. It is a poor place, containing not more than sixty or seventy houses, inha- bited by Moslems. The ruins of the ancient city are of considerable extent. It was built along the banks of the rivulet which waters the town and in the valleys formed by its several branches, and must have been nearly three miles in circumference. The chief remains are large heaps of black hewn stones, with many found- ations of houses and fragments of a few columns. BETH-SHE'MESH (house of the sun, i. q. Sun- towit ;) a sacerdotal city (Josh. xxi. 16; 1 Sam. vi. 15; 1 Chron. vi. 59) in the tribe of Judah, on the south-east border of Dan (Josh. xv. 10), and the land of the Philistines (1 Sam. vi. 12), probably in a lowland plain (2 Kings xiv. 1); and placed by Eusebius ten Roman miles from Eleutheropolis, in the direction of the road to Nicopolis. It belonged at an early date to the Philistines, and they had again obtained posses- sion of it in the time of Ahaz (1 Kings iv. 9 ; 2 Chron. xxviii. 18). It was to this place that the ark was taken by the milch kine from the land of the Philistines, and it was here that, ac- cording to the present text, ' fifty thousand and threescore and ten men ' were miraculously slain for irreverently exploring the sacred shrine (1 Sam. vi. 19). This number has occasioned much discussion. It appears likely that the text has been corrupted in transcription by an erroneous solution of an arithmetical sign. The Syriac and Arabic have 5070 instead of 50070. At the dis- tance, and in the vicinity indicated by Eusebius and Jerome, a place called Ain Shems was found by Dr. Robinson, arid, with great probability, identified with Beth-Shemesh. The name is applied to the ruins of an Arab village constructed of ancient materials. To the west of the village, BIBLE 151 upon and around the plateau of a low swell or mound, are the vestiges of a former extensive city, consisting of many foundations and the remains of ancient walls of hewn stone. BETHU'EL, son of Abraham's brother Nahor, and father of Laban and of Rebecca, whom Isaac married (Gen. xxii. 22, 23). BETHULI'A, a place mentioned only in the Apocryphal book of Judith (iv. 5: vii. ], a) ( and which appears to have lain near the plain of Esdraelon on the south, not far from Dothaim, and to have guarded one of the passes towards Jerusalem. Its site is still undetermined. HETH'-ZUR, a town in the tribe of Judah (Josh. xv. 58), twenty Roman miles from Jeru- salem, on the road to Hebron, and consequently two miles from the latter city. It was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 7). The inhabitants assisted in building the walls of Jerusalem (Neh. iii. 16). Lysias was defeated in the neighbour- hood by Judas Maccabseus, who fortified the place as a stronghold against Idumsea. It was besieged and taken by Antiochus Kupator, and fortified by Bacchides. whose garrison defended themselves against Jonathan Maccabams ; but it was taken and fortified by his brother Simon. Josephus calls Beth-zur the strongest fortress in Judsea. Its site has not been ascertained. BETROTHING. [MARRIAGE.] BE'ZEK, a city over Avhich Adoni-bezek was king (Judg. i. 4, sq.), and where Saul mustered his army to march to the relief of Jabesh-Gilead (1 Sam. xi. 8). Eusebius and Jerome mention two towns of this name close together, seventeen miles from Neapolis in Shechein, on the road to Bethshan. BE'ZER, a city beyond the Jordan, in the tribe of Reuben, and one of the six cities of refuge (Deut. iv. 43 ; Josh. xx. 8). The site is unknown. BIBLE, a name supposed to have been first applied in the fifth century to denote the collec- tive volume of the sacred writings. The word occurs in the Prologue to Ecclesiasticus, 'the Law, the Prophets, and the rest of the books,' and 2 Tim. iv. 13, ' and the books.' Before the adoption of this name the more usual terms in the Christian Church by which the sacred books were denominated were, the Scripture or Writing, the Scriptures, the Sacred Writings, and the Sa- cred Letters. The term in question was first applied to the entire collection of sacred writings by St. Chrysostom. IK the course of time it superseded all others both in the Eastern and Western Church, and is now every where the popular appellation. The Bible is divided into the Old and New Testaments. The name Old Testament is ap- plied to the books of Moses by St. Paul (2 Cor. iii. 14), inasmuch as the former covenant com- prised the whole scheme of the Mosaic revela- tion, and the history of this is contained in them. The names given to the Old Testament were, the Scriptures (Matt. xxi. 42) ; Scripture (2 Pet. i. 20) ; the Holy Scriptures (Rom. i. 2) ; the sa cred letters (2 Tim. iii. 15); the holy books, the law (John xii. 34) ; the law, the prophets, and the psalms (Luke xxiv. 44); the law and th6 BLOOD had usually great influence with their masters, and hence the importance attached to Blastus's favouring the peace -with Tyre and Sidon. BLESSING. The terms ' blessing' and ' to bless ' occur very often in the Scriptures, and in applications too obvious to require explanation or comment. The patriarchal blessings of sons form the exception, these being, in fact, pro- phecies rather than blessings, or blessings only in so far as they for the most part involved the invocation and the promise of good things to come upon the parties concerned. The most re- markable instances are those of Isaac ' blessing ' Jacob and Esau (Gen. xxvii.); of Jacob ' bless- ing' his twelve sons (Gen. xlix.); and of Moses 1 blessing the twelve tribes (Deut. xxxii.). BLESSING, VALLEY OF, a translation of the name Valley of Berachah (benediction), which was borne by the valley in which Jeho- sbaphat celebrated the miraculous overthrow of the Moabites and Ammonites. It was from this circumstance it derived its name ; and from the indications in the text, it must have been in the tribe of Judah, near the Dead Sea and Engedi, and in the neighbourhood of Tekoa (2 Chron. xx. 23-26). BLINDING. [PCNISHBIEKTS.] BLINDNESS. The frequent occurrence of blindness in the East has always excited the astonishment of travellers. Volncy says that, out of a hundred persons in Cairo, he has met twenty quite blind, ten wanting one eye, and twenty others having their eyes red, purulent, or blemished. This is principally owing to the Egyptian ophthalmia, which is endemic in that country and on the coast of Syria. This disease is contagious ; but it is not often communicated from one individual to another. It is not con- fined to the East, but appears here and there throughout Europe. The French and English suffered greatly from it while they were in Egypt, and subsequently. Small pox is another great cause of blindness in the East In the New Testament, blind mendicants are frequently mentioned (Matt. ix. 27 ; xii. 22 ; xx. 30; xxi. 14; John v. 3). The blindness of Bar Jesus (Acts xiii. 6) was miraculously pro- duced, and of its nature we know nothing. Ex- amples of blindness from old age occur in Gen. xxvii. 1 ; 1 Kings xiv. 4 ; 1 Sam. iv. 1 5. The Syrian army that came to apprehend Elisha was suddenly smitten with blindness in a miraculous manner (2 Kings vi. 18); and so also was St. Paul (Acts ix. 9). The Mosaic law has not neglected to inculcate humane feelings towards the blind (Lev. xix. 14 ; Deut. xxvii. 18). Blindness is sometimes threatened in the Old Testament as a punishment for disobedience (Deut. xxviii. 28; Lev. xxvi. 16; Zeph. i. 17). BLOOD. There are two respects in which the ordinances of the Old and New Testaments concerning blood deserve notice here the pro- hibition of its use as an article of food, and the appointment and significance of its use in the ritual of sacrifice ; both of which appear to rest on a common ground. In Gen. ix. 4, where the use of animal food is allowed, it is first absolutely forbidden to eat ' flesh with its soul, its blood ;' which expression, were it otherwise obscure, is explained by the BLOOD-REVENGE mode in which the same terms are employed in Deut xii. 23. In the Mosaic law the prohibi- ! tion is repeated with frequency and emphasis ; although it is generally introduced in connection ; with sacrifices, as in Lev. iii. 17; vii. 26 ; j xvii. 10-14; xix. 26; Deut. xii. 16-23; xv. 23. In cases where the prohibition is introduced in connection with the lawful and unlawful articles of diet, the reason which is generally assigned in the text is, that ' the blood is the soul ;' and it is ordered that it be poured on the ground like water. But where it is introduced in reference to the portions of the victim which were to be | offered to the Lord, then the text, in addition to the former reason, insists that ' the blood ex- piates by the soul' (Lev. xvii. 11, 12). This strict injunction not only applied to the Israel- ites, but even to the strangers residing among them. The penalty assigned to its transgression was the being cut off from the people ;' by which the punishment of death appears to be intended (cf. Heb. x. 28), although it is difficult to ascertain whether it was inflicted by the sword or by stoning. To this is to be added, that the Apostles and elders, assembled in council at Jerusalem, when desirous of settling the ex- tent to which the ceremonial observances were binding upon the converts to Christianity, re- newed the injunction to abstain from blood, and coupled it with things offered to idols (Acts xv. 29). In direct opposition to this emphatic prohibi- tion of blood in the Mosaic law, the customs of Uncivilized heathens sanctioned the cutting of slices from the living animal, and the eating of the flesh while quivering with life and dripping with blood. Even Saul's army committed this b-irbarity, as we read in 1 Sam. xiv. 32 ; and the prophet also lays it to the charge of the Jews in Ezek. xxxiii. 25. This practice, ac- cording to Bruce's testimony, exists at present among the Abyssinians. Moreover, pagan reli- gions, and that of the Phoenicians among the rest, appointed the eating and drinking of blood, mixed with wine, as a rite of idolatrous wor- ship, and especially in the ceremonial of swearing. To this the passage in Ps. xvi. 4, ap- pears to allude. The appointment and significance of the use of blood in the ritual of sacrifice belongs indeed to this head ; but their further notice will be more appropriately pursued in the ait. SACRIFICE. BLOOD-REVENGE, or revenge for blood- shed, was regarded among the Jews, as among all the ancient and Asiatic nations, not only as a right, but even as a duty, which devolved upon the nearest relative of the murdered person. The Mosaical law (Num. xxxv. 31) expressly forbids the acceptance of a ransom for the for- feited life of the murderer, although it might be saved by his seeking an asylum at the altar of the Tabernacle, in case the homicide was accidentally committed (Exod. xxi. 13 ; 1 Kings i.50; ii. 28). If, however, after Judaism had been fully developed, no ether sanctuary had been tolerated but that of the Temple at Jeru- salem, the chances of escape of such an homicide from the hands of the avenger, ere he reached the gates of the Temple, must have become k-ss in proportion to the distance of the spot where the BLOODY SWEAT murder was committed from Jerusalem : six cities of refuge were therefore appointed for the momentary safety of the murderer, in various parts of the kingdom, the roads to which were kept in good order to facilitate his escape (Deut. xix. 3). Thither the avenger durst not follow him, and there he lived in safety until a proper examination had taken place before the autho- rities of the place (Jos. xx. 6, 9), in order to ascertain whether the murder was a wilful act or not. In the former case he was instantly delivered up to the Gael, or avenger of blood, against whom not even the altar could protect him (Exod. xxi. 14; I Kings ii. 29); in the latter case, though he was not actually delivered into the hands of the Gael, he was notwithstand- ing not allowed to quit the precincts of the town, but was obliged to remain there all his lifetime, or until the death of the high-priest (Num. xxxv. ; Deut. xix. 3 ; Josh. xx. 1-C), if he would not run the risk of falling into the hands of the avenger, and be slain by him with impunity (Num. xxxv. 26; Deut. xix. 6). That such a voluntary exile was considered more in the light of a punishment for manslaughter than a pro- vision for the safe retreat of the homicide is evident from Num. xxxv. 32, where it is ex- pressly forbidden to release him from his con- finement on any condition whatever. That the decease of the high-priest should have been the means of restoring him to liberty was probably owing to the general custom among the ancients, of granting free pardon to certain prisoners at the demise of their legitimate prince or so- vereign, whom the high-priest represented, in a spiritual sense, among the Jews. These wise regulations of the Mosaical law, as far as the spirit of the age allowed it, prevented all family hatred, persecution, and war from ever taking place, as was inevitably the case among the other nations, where any bloodshed whatever, whether wilful or accidental, laid the homicide open to the duteous revenge of the relatives and family of the slain person, who again in their turn were then similarly watched and hunted by the opposite party, until a family-war of ex- termination had legally settled itself from gene- ration to generation, without the least prospect of ever being brought to a peaceful termination. Nor do we indeed find in the Scriptures the least trace of any abuse or mischief ever having arisen from these regulations (comp. 2 Sam. ii. 19, sq. ; Hi. 21, sqr.). That such institutions are altogether at va- riance with the spirit of Christianity may be judged from the fact that revenge, so far from being counted a right or duty, was condemned by Christ and his apostles as a vice and passion to be shunned (Acts vii. 60 ; Matt. v. 44 ; Luke vi. 28; Rom. xii. 14, sq. ; comp. Rom. xiii., where the power of executing revenge is vested in the authorities alone). BLOODY SWEAT. According to Luke xxii. 44, our Lord's sweat was 'as great drops of blood falling to the ground.' Michaelis takes the passage to mean nothing more than that the drops were as large as falling drops of blood. This, which also appears to be a common ex- planation, is liable to some objection. For, if an ordinary observer compares a fluid which he is accustomed to see colourless, to blood, which is BOAR 157 so well known and so well characterised by its colour, and does not specify any particular point of resemblance, he would more naturally be un- derstood to allude to the colour, since it is the most prominent and characteristic quality. There are several cases recorded by the older medical writers, under the title of bloody sweat. I With the exception of one or two instances, not i above suspicion of fraud, they have, however, all been cases of general haemorrhagic disease, in j which blood has flowed from different parts of the body, such as the nose, eyes, ears, lungs, stomach, and bowels, and, lastly, from various parts of the skin. When blood oozes from the skin, it must reach the external surface through orifices in the epidermis, which have been pro- duced by rupture, or we must suppose that it has been extravasated into the sweat-ducts. But, even in this latter case, we must no more con- sider haemorrhage of the skin to be a modifica- tion of the function of sweating, than bleeding from the nose to be a modification of the secre- tion of mucus. The blood is simply mixed with the sweat, precisely in the same way as, when spit up from the lungs, it is mixed with mucus and saliva in passing through the air-tubes and mouth. It is, therefore, incorrect to suppose that haemorrhage from the skin indicates a state of body at all analogous to that which occasions sweating. But while experience teaches that cutaneous haemorrhage, when it does occur, is the result of disease, or, at any rate, of a very peculiar idio- syncrasy, and is in no way indicative of the state of the mind, daily experience and the accu- mulated testimony of ages prove that intense mental emotion and pain produce on the body effects even severer in degree, but of a very dif- ferent nature. It is familiar to all that terror will blanch the hair, occasion momentary pa- ralysis, fainting, convulsions, melancholy, im- becility, and even sudden death. Excessive grief and joy will produce some of the worst of these. Sweat is caused by fear, and by bodily pain ; but not by sorrow, which excites no secretion except tears. It is very evident, then, that medical expe- rience does not bear at all upon the words of St. Luke. The circumstances connected with our Lord's sufferings in the garden must' be consi- dered by themselves, without any reference to actual observation ; otherwise, we shall be in danger of rendering a statement, which may be easily received on its own grounds, obscure and contradictory. BOANER'GES (sons of thunder, Markiii. 17), a surname given by Christ to James and John, probably on account of their fervid, impetuous spirit. BOAR occurs in Lev. xi. 7 ; Deut. xiv. 8 ; Ps. Ixxx. 13; Prov. xi. 22; Isa. Ixv. 4; Ixvi. 3, 17. The Hebrew, Egyptian, Arabian, Phoenician, and other neighbouring nations abstained from hog's flesh, and consequently, excepting in Egypt, and (at a later period) beyond the Sea of Galilee, no domesticated swine were reared. Although in Palestine, Syria, and Phoenicia hogs were rarely domesticated, wild boars are often mentioned in the Scriptures, and they were fre- quent in the time of the Crusades. At present 158 BOOK OF LIFE wild boars frequent the marshes of the Delta, and are cot uncommon on Mount Carmel and in the valley of Ajalah. They are abundant about the sources of the Jordan, a'nd lower down where the river enters th Dead Sea. The wild boar of the East, though commonly smaller than the old breeds of domestic swiue, grows occasionally to a very large size. It is passive while unmolested, but vindictive and fierce when roused. It is doubtful whether the species is the same as that of Europe, for the farrow are not striped : most likely it is identical with the wild hog of India. 1. BO'AZ, a wealthy Bethlehemite, and near kinsman of the first husband of Ruth, whom he eventually espoused under the obligations of the Levirate law, which he willingly incurred. The conduct of Boaz-his fine spirit, just feeling, piety, and amenity of manners appears to great advantage in the bcok of Ruth, and forms an in- teresting portraiture of the condition and deport- ment of what. was in his time the upper class of Israelites. By his marriage with Ruth he be- came the father of Obed, from whom came Jesse, the father of David. He was thus one of the direct ancestors of Christ, and as such his name occurs in Matt i. 5 [RUTH ; GENEALOGY]. 2. BOAZ, the name given to one of the two brazen pillars which Solomon erected in the court of the Temple [JACHIN AND BOAZ]. BO'CHIM (weepings), the name given to a place (probably near S'hilob, where the tabernacle th?n was), where an ' angel of the Lord ' re- proved the assembled Israelites for their dis- obedience in making leagues with the inhabitants of the land, and for their remissness in taking possession of their heritage. This caused the bitter weeping among the people for which the place took its name (Judg. iii. 1). BO'HAN (a thumb), a Reubenite, in whose honour a stone was erected which afterwards served as a boundary-mark on the frontier be- tween Judah and Benjamin (Josh. xv. 6 : xviii. 17). It does not appear from the text whether this stone was a sepulchral monument, or set up to commemorate some great exploit performed by this Bohan in the conquest of Canaan. BOND, BONDAGE. [SLAVERY.] BOOK. [WHITING.] BOOK OF LIFE. In Phil. iv. 3, Paul speaks of Clement and other of his fellow- labourers, ' whose names are written in the book of life' On this Heinrichs observes that as the future life is represented under the image of a citi/enship, community, political society, just be- fore (iii. '20), it is in agreement with this to sup- pose (as usual) a catalogue of the citizens' names, both natural and adopted (Luke x. 20; Rev. xx. 15 ; xxi. 27), and from which the unworthy are erased (Rev. iii. 5). Thus the names of the good are often represented as registered in heaven (Luke x. 20). But this by no means implies a certainty of salvation, but only that at that time the persons were on the list, from which (as in Rev. iii. 5) the names of unworthy members might be erased. This explanation is sufficient and sat:s r actory for the other important passage in Rev. iii. 5, where the glorified Christ promises to ' him that overcometh,' that he will not blot his name out of the book of life. When God threatened to destroy the Israelites altogether, and make of Moses a great nation the legislator im- BORROWING plored forgiveness for them, and added ' if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of the book which thou hast written' (Exod. xxxii. 34). By this he meant nothing so foolish or absurd as to ofl'er to forfeit eternal life in the world to come but only that he, and not they, should be cut ott from the world and brought to an untimely end. A sealed book (Isa. xxix. 11 ; Rev. v. 1-3) it a book whose contents are secret, and have for n very long time been so, and are not to be pu^, lished till the seal is removed. A book or roll written within and without, i. e. on the back side (Rev. v. I), may be a book containing a long series of events ; it not being the custom of the ancients to write on the back side of the roll, unless when the in- side would not contain the whole of the writing. To eat a book signifies to consider it carefully, and digest it well in the mind (Jer. xv. 1C ; Uc-v. x. 9). BOOTH, a hut made of branches of trees, and thus distinguished from a tent properly so called. Such were the booths in which Jacob sojourned for a while on his return to the bor- ders of Canaan, whence the place obtained the name of Succoth (Gen. xxxiii. 17); and such were the temporary green sheds in which the Israelites were directed to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. xxiii. 42, 43). As this ob- servance was to commemorate the abode of the Israelites in the wilderness, it has been rather unwisely concluded by some that they there lived in such booths. But it is evident from the narrative, that, during their wanderings, they dwelt in tents ; and, indeed, where, in that tree- less region, could they have found branches with which to construct their booths ? Such structures are only available in well-wooded regions ; and it is obvious that the direction to celebrate the feast in booths, rather than in tents, was given because, when the Israelites became a settled people in Palestine, and ceased to have a general use of tents, it was easier for them to erect a temporary shed of green branches than to provide a tent for the occasion. BORROWING. On the general subject, as a matter of law or precept, see LOAN. In Exod. xii. 35, we are told that the Israel- ites, when on the point of their departure from Egypt, ' borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment ;' and it is added, that ' the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they ler.t unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.' This was in pur- suance of a Divine command which had been given to them through Moses (Exod. iii. 22 ; xi. 2). This has suggested a difficulty, seeing that the Israelites had certainly r.o intention to return to Egypt, or to restore the valuables which they thus obtained from their Egyptian ' neighbours.' The general acceptation of the word rendered borrow is to request or demand, and some have affirmed that it should be so rendered here that the Israelites did not borrow the valuables, but demanded them of their Egyptian neighbours, as an indemnity for their services, and for the hard and bitter bondage which they had endured. To this it has been objected, that the Israelites had been public servants, rendering certain onerous BOTTLE services to the state, but not in personal bondage to individual Egyptians, whom, nevertheless, they, according to this account, mulcted of much valuable property in compensation for wrongs committed by the state. And that this mode of extorting private and partial compensation for public wrong will not stand the test of our rules of public morality, any more than that of bor- rowing without the intention to restore. Others are inclined to adhere to- the old interpretation, that the Israelites actually did borrow the valu- ables of the Egyptians, with the understanding, on the part of the latter, that they were to be restored. Turn which way we will in this matter, there is but a choice of difficulties ; and this leads us to suspect that we are not acquainted with all the facts bearing on the case, in the absence of which we spend our strength for nought in labouring to explain it. One of the difficulties is somewhat softened by the conjecture of Pro- fessor Bush, who, in his Note on Exod. xi. 2, ob- serves, ' We are by no means satisfied that Moses was required to command the people to practise the device here mentioned. We regard it rather, as far as they were concerned, as the mere pre- diction of a fact that should occur.' BOSOM. It is usual with the Western Asia- tics to carry various sorts of things in the bosom of their dress, which forms a somewhat spacious depository, being wide above the girdle, which confines it so tightly around the waist as to pre- vent anything from slipping through. To have one in our bosom implies kindness, secrecy, intimacy (Gen. xvi. 5 ; 2 Sam. xii. 8). Christ is i tke bosom of the father ; that is, pos- sesses the closest intimacy with, and most perfect knowledge of, the Father (John i. 13). Our Saviour is said to carry his lambs in his bosom, which tcuchingly represents his tender care and watchfulness over them. BOSSES, the thickest and strongest parts, the prominent points of a buckler [ARMS, ARMOUR]. BOTTLE. Natural objects, it is obvious, would be the earliest things employed for hold- ing and preserving liquids ; and of natural objects those would be preferred which either BOTTLE 159 presented themselves nearly or quite ready for use, or such as could speedily be wrought into the requisite shape. The skins of animals afford in themselves more conveniences for the purpose than any other natural product. The first bottles therefore were probably made of the skins of animals. Accordingly we learn from Herodotus that it was customary among the ancient Egyp- tians to use bottles made of skins ; and this is confirmed by the monuments, on which such various forms as the above occur. Fig. 1 is curious as showing the mode in which they were carried by a yoke ; and as it balances a large bottle in a case, this skin may be presumed to have contained wine. Fig. 7 is such a skin of water as in the agricultural scenes is suspended from the bough of a tree, and from which the labourers occasionally driuk. Figs. 2 ard 3 re- present two men with skins at their backs, belong- ing to a party of nomades entering Egypt. This party has been with some plausibility supposed to represent the sons of Jacob. Skin-bottles doubtless existed among the He- brews even in patriarchal times; but the first clear notice of them does not occur till Joshua ix. 4, where it is said that the Gibeonites, wishing to impose upon Joshua as if they had come from a long distance, took ' old sacks upon their asses, and wine-bottles old and rent and bound up.' Age, then, had the effect of wearing and tearing the bottles in question, which must consequently have been of skin. Our Saviour's language (Matt. ix. 17 ; Luke v. 37, 38 ; Mark ii. 22) is thus clearly explained : ' Men do not put new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break and the wine run- neth out, and the bottles perish ;' ' New wine must be put in new bottles, and both are pre- served.' To the conception of an English reader who knows of no bottles but such as are made of clay or glass, the idea of bottles breaking through age presents an insuperable difficulty; but skins may become ' old, rent, and bound up ;' they also prove, in time, hard and inelastic, and would in such a condition be very unfit to hold new wine-, probably in a state of active fermentation. Even new skins might be unable to resist the internal pressure caused by fermentation. As the drinking of wine is illegal among the Moslems who are now in possession of Western Asia, little is seen of the ancient use of skin- bottles for wine, unless among the Christians of Georgia, Armenia, and Lebanon, where they are still thus employed. In Georgia the wine is stowed in large ox-skins, and is moved or kept at hand for use in smaller skins of goats or kids. But skins are still most extensively used through- out Western Asia for water. Their most usual forms are shown in the above cut (95), which also displays the manner in which they are car- ried. The water-carriers bear water in such skins and in this manner. 160 BOW It is an error to represent bottles as being made exclusively of dressed or undressed skins among the ancient Hebrews. Among the Egyp- tians ornamental vases were of hard stone, ala- baster, glass, ivory, bone, porcelain, bronze, silver, or gold ; and also for the use of the people generally, of glazed pottery or common earthen- ware. As early as Thothmes III., assumed to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus, B.C. 1490, vases are known to have existed of a shape so elegant and of workmanship so superior, as to show that the art was not, even then, in its infancy. Many of the bronze vases found at Thebes and in other parts of Egypt are of a quality which cannot fail to excite admiration, and which proves the skill possessed by the Egyptians in the art of working and compounding metals. Their shapes are most various some neat, some plain, some grotesque; some in form not unlike our cream-jugs, others as devoid of taste as the wine-bottles of our cellars or the flower-pots ef our conservatories. They had also bottles, small vases, and pots, used for holding ointment or for other purposes connected with the toilet, which were made of alabaster, glass, porcelain, and hard stone. 1, 3, Earthenware ; 2, 5, 6. 7, Green -jlass ; 4, Blue glass ; 8, 11, Alabaster ; 9, 10, Porcelain. The perishable nature of skin-bottles led, at an early period, to the employment of instruments of a more durable kind ; and it is to be presumed that the children of Israel would, during their sojourn in Egypt, learn, among other arts prac- tised by their masters, that of working in pottery ware. Thus, as early as the days of the Judges (iv. 19; v. 25), bottles or vases composed of some earthy material, and apparently of a superior make, were in use; for what in the fourth chapter is termed ' a bottle,' is in the fifth desig- nated* a lordly dish.' Isaiah (xxx. 14) ex- pressly mentions ' the bottle of the potters,' as the reading in the margin gives it, being a literal translation from the Hebrew, while the terms which the prophet employs show that he could not have intended any thing made of skin ' he shall break it as the breaking of the potter's ves- sel that is broken in pieces, so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water out of the pit.' (See also Jerem. xix. 1-10, 11, and chap, xiii. 12-14.) Metaphorically the word bottle is used, especially in poetry, for the clouds con- sidered as pouring out and pouring down water (lobxxxviii. 37). BOW. [AKMS.] The bow is frequently men- BOZRAH tioned symbolically in Scripture. In Ps. vii. 12, it implies victory, signifying judgments laid up in store against oflenders. It is sometimes used to denote lying and falsehood (Ps. Ixiv. 4 ; cxx. 4 ; Jer. ix. 3), probably from the many circum- stances which tend to render a bow inoperative, especially in unskilful hands. Hence also ' a deceitful bow' (Ps. Ixxviii. 57; Hos. vii. 16). The bow also signifies any kind of arms. The bow and spear are the most frequently men- tioned, because the ancients used these most (Ps. xliv. 6; xlvi. 9; Zech. x. 4; Josh. xxiv. 12). In Habakk. iii. 9 ' thy bow was made bare,' means that it was drawn out of its case. The Orientals used to carry their bows in a case hung on their girdles. BOWELS are often put by the Hebrew writers for the internal parts generally, the inner man, and so also for heart, as we use that term. Hence the bowels are made the seat of tender- ness, mercy, and compassion ; and thus the Scriptural expressions of the bowels being moved, bowels of mercy, straitened in the bowels, &c. By a similar association of ideas, the bowels are also sometimes made the seat of wisdom and under- standing( Job xxxviii. 36 ; Ps. li. 10 ; Isa. xvi. 11). BOWING. [ATTITUDES.] BOX-TREE (Isa. Ix. 13; xli. 19). It is not very certain that the box-tree is really denoted by the Hebrew and so translated : but nothing more probable has been suggested, and it agrees well enough with the indications afforded by the texts in which the name occurs. The box is a native of most parts of Europe. It grows well in England, as at Boxhill, &c., while that from the Levant is most valued in commerce, in consequence of its being highly esteemed by wood-engravers. Turkey box is yielded by Biixus Balearica, a species which is found in Minorca, Sardinia, and Corsica, and also in both European and Asiatic Turkey, and is imported from Constantinople, Smyrna, and the Black Sea. Box is also found on Mount Caucasus, and a species extends even to the Himalaya mountains. It is much employed in the present day by the wood-engraver, the turner, carver, mathematical instrument maker, and the comb and flute maker. The box-tree, being a native of mountainous regions, was peculiarly adapted to the calcareous formations of Mount Lebanon, and therefore likely to be brought from thence with the coni- ferous woods for the building of the temple, and was as well suited as the fir and the pine trees for changing the face of the desert. BOZ'RAH, an ancient city, known also to the Greeks and Romans by the name of BOSTRA. In most of the passages of the Old Testament where it is mentioned, it appears as a chief city of the Edomites (Isa. xxxiv. 6; Ixiii. 1; Amos i. 12; Jer. xlix. 13, 22); but it appears to have been afterwards taken from them by the Moabites, who for a time retained it in their possession. Bozrah lay southward from Edrei, one of the capitals of Uashan, and, according to Eusebius, 24 Roman miles distant from it. Alexander Severus made it the seat of a Roman colony. In the acts of the Nicene, Ephesian, and Chalcedo- nian councils mention is made of bishops of Bozrah, and at a later period it became an im- portant seat of the Nestorians. Abulfeda makes BRACELET it the capital of the Hauran, in which, according to Dnrckhardt, it is still one of the most im- portant towns. It has recently been visited by various- travellers, who give a very ample de- scription of its ruins, the extent and importance of which are alone sufficient to evince the ancient consequence of the place. They are of various kinds, Greek, Roman, and Saracenic, with traces al the native works in the private dwellings. There monuments of ancient grandeur serve but to heighten the impression which is created by I he present desolation and decay. ' Bozrah,' says Lord Lindsay, 'is now for the most part a heap of ruins, a most dreary spectacle : here and there the direction of a street or alley is discern- ible, but that is all. The modern inhabitants a mere handful arc almost lost in the mase of ruins. Olive-trees grew here within a few years, they told us all extinct now, like the vines tor DREAD 161 97. [Bozrali.J vhich the Bostra of the Romans was famous. And such, in the nineteenth century, and under Moslem rule, is the condition of a city which even in the seventh century, at the time of its capture by the Saracens, was called by Caled " the market-place of Syria, Irak, and the Hed- jaz." ' I have sworn by myself, saith the Lord of Hosts, that Bozrah shall become a desolation and reproach, a waste and a curse ; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes !" (Jer. xlix. l.'O And it is so.' BRACELET. This name, in strict propriety, is as applicable to circlets worn on the upper part of the arm as to those worn on the wrist ; but as it has been found convenient to distinguish the former as ARMLETS, the term bracelet must be restricted to the latter. These are, and always have bten, much in use among Eastern females. Many of them are of the same shapes and pat- terns as the armlet*, and are often of such consi- derable weight and bulk as to appear more like manacles than ornaments. Many arc often worn one above another on the same arm, so as to oc- cupy the greater part of the space between the writt and the elbow. The materials vary ac- cording to the condition of the wearer. Among the higher classes they are of mother-of-pearl, of fine flexible gold, and of silver, the last being the most common. The poorer women use plated steel, horn, brass, copper, beads, and other materials of a cheap description. Some notion of the size and value of the bracelets used both now and in ancient times may be formed from the fact that those which were presented by Eleazer to Rebecca weighed ten shekels (Gen. xxiv. -2'2). The bracelets are sometimes flat, but more fre- quently round or semicircular, except at the point where they open to admit the hand, where they are flattened. They are frequently hollow, giving the show of bulk (which is much desired) without the inconvenience. Bracelets of gold twisted rope-wise are those now most used in Western Asia : but we cannot determine to what extent this fashion may have existed in ancient times. BRAMBLE. [THORN.] BRANCH. As trees, in Scripture, denote great men and princes, so branches, boughs, sprouts, or plants denote their offspring. In con- formity with this way of speaking, Christ, in respect of his human nature, is styled a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots (Isa. xi. 1 \ that is, a prince arising from the family of David. A branch is the symbol of kings descended from royal ancestors, as branches from the root (Ezek. xvii. 3, 10; Dan. xi. 7). As only a vigo- rous tree can send forth vigorous branches, a branch is used as a general symbol of prosperity (Job viii. lii). From these explanations it is easy to see how a branch becomes the symbol of the Messiah (Isa. xi. 1 : iv. 2; Jer. xxiii 15; Zech. iii. 8: vi. 12; and elsewhere). Branch is also used as the symbol of idolatrous worship (Ezek. viii. IT), probably in allusion to the ge- neral custom of carrying branches as a sign of honour. An abominable branch (Isa. xiv. 19) means a tree on which a malefactor has been hanged. In Ezek. xvii. 3 Jehoiachim is called the nighfst branch of the cedar, as being a king. BRASS. This word occurs in the Authorized Version. But brass is a factitious metal, not known to the early Hebrews, and wherever it occurs, copper is to be understood [COPPKR]. That copper is meant is shown by the text, ' Out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass ' (Deut viii. 9), it being of course impossible to dig a factitious metal, whether brass or bronze, out of mines. Brass (to retain the word) is in Scripture the symbol of insensibility, baseness, and presump- tion or obstinacy in sin (Isa. xlviii. 4 ; Jer. vi. 28; Ezek. xxii. 18). Brass is also a symbol of strength (Ps. cvii. 16; Isa. xlviii. 4; Mic. iv. 13). So in Jer. i. 18 and xv. 2(\ brazen walls signify a strong and lasting adversary or oppo- nent. BHEAD. The word 'bread' was of far more extensive meaning among the Hebrews than with us. There are passages in which it appeare to b. applied to all kinds of victuals (Luke xi. 3) ; but it more generally denotes all kinds of baked and pastry articles of food. It is also used, however, in the more limited sense of bread made from wheat or barley, for rye is little cultivated in the East. Barley being used chiefly by the poor, and for feeding horses [BARLEY], bread, in the more limited ser.se, chiefly denotes the various kinds of cake-like bread prepared from wheaten flour. Corn is ground daily in the East. After the wheaten flour is taken from the hand-mill, it is 162 BREAD made into a dough or paste in a small wooden trough. It is next leavened; after which it is made into thin cakes or flaps, round or oval, and then baked. The kiieading-troaghs, in which the dough is prepared, have no resemblance to ours in size or shape, hut are small wooden bowls in which onl y a comparatively small quantity of dough is prepared. The Bedouin Aral*, indeed,, use for this purpose a leather, which can be drawn np into a bag by a running cord along the border, and in which they prepare and often carry their dough. It is clear, from the history of the departure from E bakers by unsettled individuals and poor per- sons; and many small households send their douiih to be baked at the public oven, the bak?r receiving for his trouble a portion of the baked bread, which he adds to his day's stock of bread for sale. Such public ovens and bakers by trade must have existed anciently in Palestine, and in the East generally, ts is evident from Hos. vii. 4 and Jer. xxxvii. 21. For their larger operations the bakers have ovens of brick, not altogether unlike our own; and in large houses there are similar ovens. The ovens used in domestic kiking are, however, usually of a portable description, and are large vessels of stone, earthenware, or copper, inside of which, whan properly h -ated, small loaves and cakes a-e baked, and on the outer surface of which thin flaps of bread, or else a large wafer- like biscuit, may be prepared. Another mode of baking bread is much used, especially in the villages. A pit is sunk in the middle of the floor of the principal room, alx>nt four or five feet deep by three in diameter, % well lined with co npost or cement When sufficiently heated by a fire kindled at the bottom, the bread is made by the thin pancake-like flaps of dough being, by a peculiar knack of hand in the women, struck against the oven, to which they adhere for a few moments, till they are suf- ficiently dressed. Another sort of oven, or rather mode of bak'ng, is much in use among the pastoral tribes. A shallow hale, about six inches deep by three or four feet in diameter, is made in thj ground : this is fill.'d up with dry brushwood, upon which, when kindled, pebbles are th'own to concentrate and retain the heat Meanwhile the dough is prepared ; and when the oven is sufficiently heated, th ; ashes and pebbles are removed, and the spot well cleaned out. The dough is then deposited in the hollow, and is left there over BRICKS night The cakes thus baked are about two fingers thick, and are very palatable. There can be little doubt that this kind of oven and mode of baking bread were common among the Jews. There is a baking utensil called in Arabic tetjen, which appears to have been in use among the ancient Hebrews. It is a sort of pan of earthenware or iron (usually the latter), flat, or slightly convex, which is put over a slow fire, and on which the thin flaps of dough are laid and baked with considerable expedition, although only one cake can be baked in this way at a time. This is not a household mode of preparing bread, but is one of the simple and primitive processes employed by the wandering and semi- wandering tribes, shepherds, husbandmen and otliers, who have occasion to prepare a small quantity of daily bread in an easy off-hand man- ner. Bread is also baked in a manner which, although apparently very different, is but a mo- dification of the principle of the tajen, and is used chicly in the houses of the peasantry. There is a cavity in the fire-hearth, in which, when required for baking, a fire is kindled and burnt down to hot embers. A plate of iron, or sometimes copper, is placed over the hole, and on this the bread is baked. Another mode of baking is in use chiefly among the pastoral tr.bes, and by travellers in the open country, but is not unknown in the vil- lages. A smooth clear spot is chosen in the loose ground, a sandy soil so common in the Eastern deserts and harder lands - being pre- ferred. On this a fire is kindled, and, when the ground is sufficiently heated, the embers and ashes are raked aside, and the dough is laid on the heated spot, and then covered over with the glowing embers and ashes which haJ just been removed. The bread is several times turned, and in less than half an hour is sufficiently baked. Bread thus baked is referred to in Gen. xviii. fi; 1 Kings xviii. 13; xix. C: Ezek. iv. lu. This is the kind of as/<-bread which Sarah, on the arrival of the three strangers, was required to bake ' quickly ' for the hospitable ente.rtain- ment of the unknown travellers. BREASTPLATE, a piece of defensive ar- mour. [ARMS, AKMOUK.] BREASTPLATE OF THE HICH-PJUEST, a splendid ornament covering the breast of the high-priest. It was composed of richly em- broidered cloth, in which were set, in four rows, twelve precious stones, on each of which was en- graven the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel (Exod. xxviii. 15-2'.); xxxix. 8-21). [PRIESTS.] BRICKS. Bricks compacted with straw and dried in the sun, are those which are chiefly mentioned in the Scriptures. Of such bricks the tower of Babel was doubtless composed ["BAIJKL, BABYLON], and the making of such formed the chief lalxmr of the Israelites when bondsmen in Egypt (Kxod. i. 13, 14). The use of crude brick, baked in the sun, was universal in Upper and Lower Egypt, both for public and private buildings; and thj b -ick- field gave abundant occupation to numerous labourers throughout the country. We fi .d that, independent of native labou-e-s, a g-ent m;my foreigners were constantly engaged iu the b/ick- BROOK fields at Thebes and other parts of Egypt. The Jews, of course, were not excluded from this drudgery; and, like the captives detained in the Thebaid, they were condemned to the same la- bour in Lower Egyp*. They erected granaries, tveasure-cities, and other public buildings for the Egyptian monarch. It has been supposed by some that the captive foreigners represented on the monuments as engaged in brick-making were Jew;?, and that the scenes represented were those of their actual operations in Egypt. Whether this supposition is correct or not, it is curious to discover other foreign captives occupied in the same manner, and overlooked by similar ' task- masters,' and performing the very same labours as the Israelites described in the Bible ; and it is worthy of remark, as noticed by Wilkinson, that more bricks bearing the name of Tfwthmes II f. (who is supposed to have bern the king at the time nf the Erode) have been discovered than at any other period. BURIAL 163 [U8. Egyptian Brick making.] The process of manufacture indicated by the representations in cut l<8, does not materially differ from that which is still followed in the same country. The clay was brought in baskets from the Nile, thrown into a heap, thoroughly saturated with water, and worked up to a. proper temper by the feet of the labourers. This part of the labour in such a climate must have been very fatiguing and unwholesome, and it conse- quently appears to have been shunned by the native Egyptians. There is an allusion to the severity of this labour in Nahum iii. 14, 15. The clay, wht-n tempered, was cut by an instru- ment somewhat resembling the agricultural hoe, ai:d moulded in an oblong trough ; the bricks were then dried in the sun, and some from their colour appear to have been baked or burned, but no trace of this operation has yet been dis- covered in the monuments. 13HIDE, BRIDEGROOM. [MARRIAGE.] BRIKKS. [THORNS.] BROOK. The original word (NAHAL) thus translated might better be rendered by torrent. It is applied, 1. to small streams arising from a subterraneous spring, and flowing through a de< j p valley, such as the Arnon, Jabbok, Kidron, Sorek, &c. ; and also the brook of the willows, mentioned in Isa. xv. 7 ; 2. to winter-torrents, arising from rains, and which are soon dried up in the warm season (Job vi. 15, 19). Such is che noted river (brook) of Egypt, so often men- tioned as at the southernmost border of Canaan (Num. xxxiv. o; Josh. xv. 4, 47). and, in fact, such aro most of the brooks aud streams of Pales- 1 tine, which are numerous in winter and early pprhifr. but of which very few survive the begin- ning of the summer. BROTHER. This term is so variously and extensively applied in Scripture, that, it becomes important carefully to distinguish the different acceptations in which it is used. 1. It denotes a brother in the natural sense, whether the offspring of the same father only (Mutt. i. 2; Luke iii. 1,19), or of the same father and mother (Luke vi. 14, &c.). 2. A near rela- tive or kinsman by blood, cousin (Gen. xiii. 8; xiv. 1C; Matt, xii 40; John vii. 3; Acts i. 14; Gal. i. 19). 3. One who is connected with another by any tie of intimacy or fellowship : hence 4. One born in the same country, de- scended from the same stock, a fellow country- man (Matt. v. 47 ; Acts iii. 22 : Heb. vii. 5 : Exod. ii. 11 ; iv. 18). 5. One of equal rank and dignity (Job xxx. 29; Prov. xviii. 9; Matt xxiii. 8). 6. Disciples, followers, &c. (Matt, xxv. 40; Heb. ii. 11, 12).- 7. One of the same faith (Amos i. 9 ; Acts ix. 30 ; xi. 29 ; 1 Cor. v. xi.) ; from which and other texts it appears that the first converts to the faith of Jesus were known to each other by the title of Brethren, till the name of Christians was given to them at Antioch (Acts xi. 26). 8. An associate, colleague in office or dignity, &c. (Ezra iii. 2 ; 1 Cor. i. 1 ; 2 Cor. i. 1 ; &c.) 9. One of the same nature, a fellow man (Gen. xiii. 8; xxvi. 31 ; Matt. v. 22, ?3, 24; vii. 5; Heb. ii. 17; viii. 11). 10. One beloved, i. e. as a brother, in a direct address (Acts ii. 29 ; vi. 3 ; 1 Thess. v. 1 ). BURIAL and SEPULCHRES. Throughout the whole of their national history the Israelites observed the practice of burial. Amongst them, it was deemed not only an act of humanity, but a sacred duty of religion to pay the la*t honours to the departed ; while, to be deprived of these, as was frequently the fate of enemies at the hands of ruthless conquerors (2 Sam. xxi. 9-14; 2 Kings ix. 28, 34 ; Ps. Ixxix. 2 ; Eccles. vi. 3), was considered the greatest calamity and dis- grace which a person could suffer. On the death of any member of a family, pre- parations were forthwith made for the burial, which among the Jews, were in many respects similar to those which are common in the East at the present day, and were more or less ex- pensive according to circumstances. After the solemn ceremony of the last kiss and closing the eyes, the corpse, which was perfumed by the nearest relative, having been laid out and the head covered with a napkin, was subjected to entire ablution in warm water (Acts ix. 37), a precaution probably adopted to guard against premature interment. But, besides this first and indispensable attention, other cares of a more elaborate and costly description were amongst certain classes bestowed on the remains of de- ceased friends, and all of which may be included under the general head of embalming. Nowhei e was this operation performed with such religious care and in so scientific a manner as in ancient Egypt, which could boast of a class of profes- sional men trained to the business-, and such adepts had these ' physicians ' become in the art of preserving dead bodies, that there are mummies still found, which must have existed for many thousand years. The bodies of Jacob and ii 2 164 BURIAL Joseph underwent this eminently Egyptian pre- paration foi 4 burial, which cm both occasions was ioubtless executed in a style of the greatest mag- nificence (Geu. 1. 2, 2<>)- Whether this expen- sive method of embalming was imitated by the earlier He- brews, we have no distinct accounts; but we learn from their practice in later ages that they had some observance of the kind, only BURIAL they substituted a simpler and more expeditious though it must have been a less efficient process, which consisted in merely swathing the corpse round with numerous folds of linen, and some- times a variety of stuff's, and anointing it with a mixture of aromatic substances, of which aloes and myrrh were the chief ingredients (John xix. 39-40). 99. [Ancient Jewish Funeral : Costume, Modern Syrian.] The corpse, after receiving the preliminary , But the most common mode of carrying a attentions, was enveloped in the grave-clothes, : corpse to the grave was on a bier or bed (-2 b'am. vhich were sometimes nothing more than the , iii. 31), which in some cases must have teen ordinary dress, or folds of linen cloth wrapped furnished in a costly ar.d elegant style. The round the body, and a napkin about the head; bier, however, in use among the common and meaner sort of people was nothing but a plain wooden board, on which, supported by two poles, the body lay concealed only by a bliyht coverlet from the view of tne attendants. On such a humble vehicle was the widow's son of Nain carried (Luke vii. 14), and ' this mode of per- forming funeral obsequies,' says an intelligent 100. [Grave-clothes.] though in other cases a shroud was used. The body thus dressed was deposited in an upper chamber in solemn state, open to the view of all visitors (Acts ix. 37). From the moment the vi-al spark was extinguished, the members of the family, especially the females, in the violent style of Oriental grief, burst out into shrill, loud, and doleful lamentations, and were soon joined by their friends and neighbours, who, on hearing of the event, crowded to the house in great numbers (Mark v. 38). By the better classes, this duty of sympathizing with the bereaved family was, and still is, performed by a class of females who engaged themselves as professional mourners, and who, seated amid the mourning circle, studied, by vehement sobs and gesticulations, and by singing dirges in which they eulogized the personal qualities or virtuous and benevolent actions of the deceased (Acts ix. 39). to stir the source of tears, and give fresh impulse to the grief of the afflicted relatives. Numbers of these singing men and women lamented the death of Josiah ('2 Chron. xxxv. 25). The period between the death and the burial was much shorter than custom sanctions in our country ; for a long delay in the removal of a corpse would have been attended with much inconvenience, from the heat of the climate generally, and, among the Jews in particular, from the circumstance that every one that came near the chamber was unclean fora week. Interment, therefore, where there was no embalming, was never postponed beyond twenty-four hours after death, and generally it took place much earlier. There are two instances in sacred history where consignment to the grave followed immediately after decease (Acts v. 6, 10). Persons of distinction were deposited in coffins. 101. [Ancient Sarcophagi in Palestine.] traveller, 'obtains equally in the present day among the Jews, Mohammedans, and Christians of the East.' The nearest relatives kept close by the bier, and performed the office of hearers, in which, however, they were assisted by the com- pany in succession. In cases where the expei se could be afiorded, hired mourners accompanies the procession, and. by every now and then lift- ing the covering and exposing the corpse, pavt the signal to the company to renew their shouts of lamentation. Sepulchres were, as they still are in the East, by a prudential arrangement sadly neglected in our country situated without the precincts ol cities. Among the Jews, in the ca. c e of Levitical cities, the distance required to be 000 cubits, an<1 in all it was considerable. Nobody was allowed to be buried within the wall?, Jerusalem fonnii.g the only exception, and even there the privilege 13URIAL was reserved for the royal family of David and a few persons of exalted character (1 Kings ii. 10; 2 Kings xiv. 20). In the vicinity of this capital were public cemeteries for the general accommodation of the inhabitants, besides a field appropriated to the burial of strangers. The style of the public cemeteries around the cities of ancient Palestine in all probability re- sembled that of the present burying-places of the East, of which Dr. Shaw gives the following description : ' They occupy a large space, a great extent of ground being allotted for the purpose. Kaeh family has a portion of it walled in like a garden, where the bones of its ancestors have remained undisturbed for many genera- tions. For in these inclosures the graves are all distinct and separate ; each of them having a stone placed upright, both at the head and feet, in- scribed with the name or title of the deceased ; whilst the intermediate space is either planted with flowers, bordered round with stone, or paved with tiles.' There were other sepulchres which were pri- vate property, erected at the expense and for the use of several families in a neighbourhood, or provided by individuals as a separate burying- place for themselves. These were situated either in some conspicuous place, as Rachel's on the highway to Bethlehem (Gen. xxxv. 19), or in some lonely and sequestered spot, under a wide- spreading tree (Gen. xxxv. 8) in a field or a garden. In common cases, sepulchres were formed by digging a small depth into the ground. Over these, which were considered an humble kind of tomb, the wealthy and great BURIAL 165 102. [Sepulchral Cupola.] often erected small stone buildings, in the form of a house or cupola, to serve as their family sepulchre. ' This custom,' says Came, ' which is of great antiquity, and particularly prevails in the lonely parts of Lebanon, may serve to explain some passages of Scripture. The pro- phet Samuel was buried in his own house at liamah, and Joab was buried in his house in the wilderness. These, it is evident, were not their dwelling-houses, but mansions for the, dead, or family vaults which they had built within their own policies.' Not unfrequently, however, the richer classes purchased, like Abraham, some of the natural caverns with which Palestine abounded, and converted them by some suitable alterations into family sepulchres; while others with vast pains and expense made excavations in the solid rock (Matt, xxvii. 60). Many sepulchres of this description are still found in Palestine. Along the sides of those vast caverns niches were cut, or sometimes shelves ranged one above an- other, on which were deposited the bodies of the dead, while in others the ground-floor of the tomb was raised so as to make different compartments, the lowest place in the family vaults being re- served for the servants. These interior arrange- ments may be the better understood by the help of the annexed engravings. No. 103 is the inte- rior of the celebrated Tomb of the Kings (so 103. [Interior of Tomb of the Kings.] called), near Jerusalem. In it are some further specimens of the stone sarcophagi already noticed. 104. [Ground-plans of Sepulchres.] No. 104 contains two ground -plans showing the general charade- of the interior arrangements of the more extensive crypts. Some of those found near Tyre, and at Alexandria, are of the round form shown in fig. 1, but these seem exceptions ; for the tombs at Jerusalem, in Asia Minor, and generally in Egypt and the East, offer the ar- rangement shown in fig. 2. The mouth of the sepulchre was secured by a huge stone (Matt, xxvii. 60; John xi. 38). But the entrance-porch, to which the removal of this rude door gave admittance, was so large that several persons could stand in it and view the in- terior ; and hence we read that the women who visited the sepulchre of our Lord, ' entering it saw a young man sitting, clothed in a long whiU garment' (Mark xvi. 5); and in like manner, in reference to the flight of steps, that Peter ' stoop- ICG BURNT-OFFERINGS ing down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying' (John xx. 5). Some of the more splendid of these tombs, however, instead of the block of stone, have the porches surmounted with tasteful mason-work, and supported by well-finished colon- nades; and as they stand open and exposed, do now, as they did formerly, afford retreats to num- bers of vagrants and lawl.-ss characters. The rocky valleys around Jerusalem exhibit number- less specimens of these sepulchral excavations. Monuments of this elegant description were erected to many of the prophets and other holy men who figured as prominent characters in the early history of Israel, and it seems to have been considered, in the degenerate age of our Lord, an act of great piety to repair and ornament with 105. [Exterior of Sepulchre : Jerusalem.] fresh devices the sepulchres of those ancient wor- thies (Matt xxiii. 29). All the tombs, however, in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem were at certain seasons whitewashed (Matt xxiii. 27). The origin of this prevailing custom is to be traced to a desire of making the sepulchres easily dis- cernible, and so preventing the risk of contract- ing ceremonial defilement through accident or ignorance. To paint them with white was obvi- ously the best preservative against the appre- hended danger; and the season chosen for this garniture of the sepulchres was on the return of spring, a little before the Passover, when, the winter rains being over, a long unbroken tract of dry weather usually ensued. The words of Christ referred to were spoken but a few days before the Passover, when the fresh coating of white paint would be conspicuous on all the adjoining hills and valleys; and when we consider the striking contrast that must have been presented between the graceful architecture and carefully dressed appearance of these tombs without, and the dis- gusting relics of mortality that were mouldering within, we cannot fail to perceive the emphatic energy of the language in which our Lord re- buked the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. It remains only to notice that, during the first few weeks afer a burial, members of a family, especially the females, paid frequent visits to the tomb (John xi. 31). This affecting custom still continues in the East. BURNT-OFFERINGS, sacrifices which owed their Hebrew name (olafi, literally, ' what goes up,' from alah, ' to ascend'), to the circumstance that the whole of the offering was to be consumed by fire upon the altar, aid to rise, as it were, in smoke towards heaven. BURNT-OFFERINGS Such burnt-offerings are among the most an- cient, if not the earliest, on Scriptural record. We find them already in use in the patriarchal times; hence the opinion of some, that Abel's ofl'ering (Gen. iv. 4) was a burnt-offering as re- garded the firstlings of his flock, while the piei-es of fat which he offered was a thank-offering, just in the manner that Moses afterwards ordained, or rather confirmed from ancient custom (Lev. i. sq. ). It was a burnt-offering that Noah offered to the Lord after the Deluge (Gen. via. 20). Only oxen, male sheep or goats, or turtle-doves and young pigeons, all without blemish, were fit for burnt-offerings. The offerer, in person, was obliged to carry this sacrifice first of all into the fore-court, as far as the gate of the tabernacle or temple, where the animal was examined by the officiating priest to ascertain that it was without blemish. The offerer then laid his hand upon the victim, confessing his sins, and dedicated it as his sacrifice to propitiate the Almighty. The animal was then killed (which might be done by the offerer himself) towards the north of the altar (Lev. i. 11). in allusion, as the Talmud alleges, to the coming of inclement weather (typical of the Divine wrath) from the northern quarter of the heavens. After this began the ceremony of taking up the blood and sprinkling it around the altar, that is, upon the lower part of the altar, not immediately upon it, lest it should extinguish the fire thereon (Lev. iii. 2 ; Deut. xii. 27 ; 2 Chron. xxix. 22). The next act was the skinning or flaying of the animal, and the cutting of it into pieces, actions which the offerer himself was allowed to perform (Lev. i. 6). The skin alone belonged to the offi- ciating privst (Lev. vii. 8). The dissection of the animal began with the head, legs, &c,, and it was divided into twelve pieces. The priest then took the right shoulder, breast, and entrails, and placing them in the hands of the offerer, he put his own hands beneath those of the former, and thus waved the sacrifice up and down several times in acknowledgment of the all-powerful pre- sence of God. The officiating priest then retraced his steps to the altar, placed the wood upon it in the form of a cross, and lighted the fire. The entraiis and legs being cleansed with water, the separated pieces were placed together upon the altar in the form of a slain animal. Poor people were allowed to bring a turtle-dove or a young pigeon as a burnt offering, these birds being very common and cheap in Palestine. The mode of killing them was by nipping off the head with the nails of the hand. Standing public burnt- offering* were those used daily morning and evening (Num. xxviii. 3 ; Exdd. xxix. 38), and on the three great festivals (Lev. xxiii. 37 ; Num. xxviii. 1 1-27 ; xxix. 2-22 ; Lev. xvj. 3; comp. 2 Chron. xxxv. 12-16). Private and occasional burnt-offerings were those brought by women rising from childbed (Lev. xii. 0); those brought by persons cured of leprosy (16. xiv. 19-22) ; those brought by persons cleansed from issue ({6. xv. 14, sq.); and those brought by the Nazarites when rendered unclean by having come in contact with a dead body (Num. vi. 9), or after the days of their separation were fulfilled (ib. vi. 14). Nor were the burnt-offerings confined to these cases alone ; we find them in use almost on all C^SAREA 167 important occasions, events, and solemnities, whe- ther private or public, and often in very large numbers (conip. Judg. xx. 26 ; I Sam. vii. 9 ; 2 Chron. xxxi. 2; 1 Kings iii. 4; 1 Chron. xxix. 21 ; 2 Chron. xxix. 21 ; Ezra vi. 17; viii. 35). Heathens also were allowed to off;-r burnt-offer- ings in the temple, and Augustus gave orders to acrifice for him every day in the temple at Jeru- salem a burnt-offering, consisting of two lambs and one ox. BUSHEL is used in the Auth. Vers. to express a measure of about a peck. BUTTER. [MiLK.] BUZ, son of Nalior and Milcah, and brother of Huz (Gen. xxii. 21). Elihu. one of Job's friends, who is distinguislu-d as an Aramaean or Syrian (Job xxxii. 2), was doubtless descended from this Buz. Judgments are denounced upon the tribe of Buz by Jeremiah (xxv. 23 '. ; and from the context this tribe appears to have been located in Arabia Deserta. c. CAB, a measure mentioned in 2 Kings vi. 25. The Rabbins make it the sixth part of a seah or satnm, and the eighteenth part of an ephah. In that case a cab contained 3j pints of our wine measure, or 2| pints of our corn measure. CA'BUL, a district given to Hiram, king of Tyre, by Solomon, in acknowledgment of the important services which he had rendered to- wards the building of the Temple (1 Kings ix. 13). Hiram was by no means pleased with the gift, and the district received the name of Cabul (tntplfasinq) from this circumstance. The situ- ation of Cabul has been disputed ; but we are content to accept the information of Josephus, who seems to place it in the north-west part of Galilee, adjacent to Tyre. C^E'SAR, a name assumed by, or conferred upon, all the Roman emperors after Julius Caesar. In this way it became a sort of title like Pharaoh, and, as such, is usually applied to the emperors in the New Testament, without their distinctive proper names (AUGUSTUS). The Caesars mentioned in the New Testament arc Augustus (Luke ii. 1); Tiberius (Luke iii. 1; xx. 22). Claudius (Acts xi. 28) ; Nero (Acts xxv. 8) ; Caligula, who succeeded Tiberius, is not mentioned. C^ESAHE'A. There were two important towns in Palestine thus named in compliment to Roman emperors. 1. CJESAREA PALTSTINA, or Caesarea of Pales- tine, so called to distinguish it from the other Ca?sarea, from its eminence as the Roman me- tropolis of Palestine, and the residence of the procxirato". It was built by Herod the Great, with much of beauty and convenience, twenty- two years before the birth of Christ. Here he erected one of the most stupendous works of antiquity a semicircular mole, which protected the port of Casarea on the south and west, leaving only a sufficient opening for vessels to enter from the north; so that, within the en- closed space, a fleet might ride at all weathers in perfect security. The mole was constructed of immense blocks of stone brought from a great distance, and sunk to the depth of 20 fathoms in the sea. Besides this, Herod added many splendid buildings to the city: and when the whole was finished, which was within twelve years from the commencement of the under- taking, he fixed his residence there, and thus elevated the city to the rank of the civil and military capital of Judaea, which rank it con- tinued to enjoy as long as the country remained a province of the Roman empire. Vespasian raised Caesarea to the rank of a Roman colony, granting it first, exemption from the capitation tax, and afterward?, from the ground taxes. The place was, however, inhabited chiefly by Gentiles, though some thousands of Jews lived in it. Caesarea is the scene of several interesting cir- cumstances described in the New Testament such as the conversion of Cornelius, the first- fruits of the Gentiles (Acts x.); the residence of Philip the Evangelist (Acts xxi. 8); the journey thither of St. Paul; his pleading there before Felix ; his imprisonment for two years ; and his final pleading before Festus and King Agrippa (Acts xxiv.). It was here also, in the amphi- theatre built by his father, that Herod Agrippa was smitten of God and died (Acts xii. 21-23). On the commencement of the war with the Romans, all the Jewish inhabitants of Csesarea. to the number of 20,OCO, were massacred by the Gentiles, who had long held them at feud. In later times, Caesarea is chiefly noted as the birth-place and episcopate of Eusebius, the cele- brated Church historian, in the beginning of the 4th century. Caesarea is almost thirty-five miles north of Joppa or Jaffa, and fifty-five miles from Jeru- salem. It still retains the ancient name in the form of Kaiseraih ; but has long been desolate. The most conspicuous ruin is that of an old castle, at the extremity of the ancient mole. A great extent of ground is covered by the remains of the city. The water is abundant and of ex- cellent quality ; and the small vessels of the country often put in here to take in their sup- plies. Gesarea is, apparently, never frequented for any other purpose ; even the high-road leaves it wide ; and it has been visited by very few of the numerous travellers in Palestine. The pre- sent tenants of the ruins are snakes, scorpions, lizards, wild boars, and jackals. 2. C.ESAREA PHILIPPI. Towards the springs of the Jordan, and near the foot of Isbel Shrik, or the Prince's Mount, a lofty branch of Le- banon, forming in that direction the boundary between Palestine and Syria Proper, stands a city originally called Banias, which was in later times much enlarged and beautified by Philip the tetrarch, who called it Caesarea in honour of Tiberius the emperor, adding the cog- nomen of Philippi to distinguish it from Casarea of Palestine. It lay about 120 miles north from Jerusalem, and a day and a half's journey from Damascus (Matt. xvi. 13 ; Mark viii. 27). Herod Agrippa also still farther extended and embel- lished it. In compliment to the emperor INero, its name was afterwards changed to Neronias ; and Titus, after the overthrow of Jerusalem, ex- hibited some public games here, in which the Jewish prisoners were compelled to fight like 168 CAIN gladiators. Under the Christians it was erected into a bishopric of Phoenicia. It has now re- sumed its original came of Banias. ar.d has dwindled into a paltry aud insignificant villag', whose mean and destitute condition contrasts strikingly with the rich and luxuriant character of the surrounding country. It is said that many remains of ancient architecture are found in the neighbourhood. The ruins of the castle of Biinias, which appears to have been a work of the Saracen?, crown the summit of the adjoining mountain, and display a wall 10 feet in thickness, by which the fortress was defended. The ruins of ano'.hsr fortified castle are visible on the south of the village, and a substantial bridge which conducts to it, inscribed with an Arabic legend, ifs date being of the age of the Crusades. CAl'APHAS, whom Josephus calls Joseph Caiaphis, was high priest of the Jews in the reign of Tiberius Caesar (Luke iii. 2). We learn from Josephus that he succeeded Simon the son of Camith (about A.D. 27 or '28), and held the office nine years, when he was deposed. His wife was the daughter of Annas, or Ananus, who had for- merly been high-priest, and who still possessed great influence and control in sacerdotal matters, several of his family successively holding the high-priesthood. The names of Annas ar.d Caia- phas are coupled by Luke - ' Annas and Caiaphas being the high-priests ;' and this has given occa- sion to no small amount of discussion. The most p-obable opinion is that Caiaphas was the high-priest, ar.d that Annas was his vicar or deputy. Caiaphas is the high-priest who rent his clothes, and declared Jesus to be worthy of death. When Judas had betrayed him, our Lord was first taken to Annas, who sent him to Caiaphas (John xviii. 13), who perhaps abode in another part of the same palace. What became of Caiaphas after his deposition in A.D. 38, is not known. CAIN. The derivation of this word is dis- puted ; but it probably signifies an acquisi- tion or possession. Some degree of mystery attends the immediate origin of the horrible crime of Cain. Abel, it appears, brought two offerings, the one an oblation, the other a sacrifice. Cain brought but the former a mere acknowledg- ment, it is supposed, of the sovereignty of God; neglecting to offer the sacrifice which would have been a confession of fallen nature, and, typically, an atonement for sin. It was not, therefore, the mere difference of feeling with which the two offerings were brought which constituted the virtue of the one, or the guilt of the other brother. God's righteous indignation against sin had been plainly revealed ; and there can be no doubt that the means of safety, of reconciliation and atone- ment, were as plainly made kr.own to Adam and his offspring. The refusal, therefore, of the sacrifice was a virtual denial of God's right to condemn the sinner, and at the same time a proud rejection of the proffered means of grace. 'J he punishment which attended the crime was such as could only be inflicted by an Almighty avenger. It admitted of no escape, scarcely of any conceivable alleviation. Cursed from the earth himself, the earth was doomed to a double barren- ness wherever the offender should set his foot. Physical want and hardship, therefor.-, were iirnong the first of the miseries heaped upon his CALEB head. Next came those of mind and conscience : ' The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground,' was the announcement of his discovered guilt. He could now hear that same voice himself; nor did any retreat re-main to him from the terrors of his own ,-:oul or those of Divine vcngear.ce. By the statement that ' Cain went out from the presence of the Lord,' proba- bility is given to the conjecture which represents him as abiding, till thus exiled, in some favoured spot where the Almighty still, by visible signs, manifested himself to his fallen creatures. The expression of dread lest, as he wandered over the face of the earth, he might be recognised atul slain, has an awful sound when falling f;om the mouth of a murderer. But he was to be pro- tected against the wrath tf his fellow-men : ai.d of this God gave him assurance, not by setting a mark upon him, which is a false translation, Lut by appointing a sign or token which he himself might understand as a proof that he should not perish by the hand of another, as Abel had perished by his. It may Le worthy of observation, that especial mention is made of the fact, that Cain having travelled into the land of Nod there built a city : and further, that his descendants were chie: y celebrated for their skill in the arts of social life. In both accounts may probably be discovered tin powerful struggles with which Cain strove to overcome the difficulties which attended his posi tion as one to whom the tillage of the ground was virtually prohibited. CAI'NAN (possessor). 1. Son of Enos, and father of Mahaleel (Gen. v. 9; 1 Chron. i. 2). 2. Son of Arphaxad, the son of Sheir,, aud father of Salah. His name is wanting in the present copies of the Hebrew Scriptures ; but is found in the Septuagint version of Gen. x. 24; xi. 12 ; and in Luke iii. 3f>. It is supposed, however, on good grounds, that his name was not originally in the Hebrew text and the Septuagint versions derived from it, and that it was inserted in the text of Luke by some inadvertent transcribers. who, remarking it in some copies of the Sep'.ua- gint, added it. CAKES. [BREAD]. CA'LAII, or rather CALACH, a city of Assyria, built by Ashur or Nimrod. It was at some dis- tance from Nineveh, the city of Kesen lying between them. Most writers concur in placing it on the Great Zab (the ancient Lycus) not far from its junction with the Tigris. CA'LEB (dog), son of Jephunneh, of the tribe ofJudah. He was sent with Joshua and others to explore the land of Canaan, ar.d in conse- quence of his joining with Joshua in opposing the discouraging accounts brought back by the other spies, they were loth specially exempted from th decree of death which was proi.om.ced on the generation to which they belonged (Num. xiii. 6 ; xiv. 6, 24, 38). When the land of Ca- naan had been invaded and partly conquered, Caleb was privileged to choose Kirjatharba, or Hebron, and its neighbourhood, for his possession (Jo.-h. xiv. -15). He accordingly went aud wrested it from the native inhabitants, at.d thence proceeded to Debir, which was taken for him by his nephew L/thnicl, who, as his reward received in marriage the hand cf Caleb's daughter [ACHSAU], with a valuable dower (Josh. xv. CALNEII 13-19). Caleb is usually supposed to have out- lived Joshua. CALF is mentioned in several places, but not requiring a zoological explanation, it may be sufficient to make a few remarks on the worship of calves and other superstitious prac- tices connected with them. The most ancient and remarkable notice in the Scriptures on this head, is that of the golden calf which was cast by Aaron from the earrings of the people, while the Israelites were encamped at the foot of Sinai and Moses was absent on the Mcunt. The next notice refers to an event which occurred ages after, when Jeroboam, king of Israel, set up two idols in the form of a calf, the one in Dan and the other in Bethel. This almost incomprehen- sible degradation of human reason was, more par- ticularly in the first instance, no doubt the result of the debasing influences which operated on the minds cf the Israelites during their sojourn in Egypt, where, amid the daily practice of the most degrading and revolting religious cere- monies, they were accustomed to see the image of a sacred calf, surrounded by other symbols, carried in solemn pomp at the head of marching armies ; such as may be still seen depicted in the processions of Barneses the Great or Sesostris. 106. [Egyptian Calf-Idol.] A similar divinity belonged to the earliest Indian, Greek, and even Scandinavian mythologies ; and therefore it may be conceived that the symbol, enduring even to this day, was at that period generally understood by the multitude, and con- sequently that it was afterwards revived by Jero- boam without popular opposition. With regard to Jer. xxxiv. 18, 19, it may be sufficient to men- tion that many nations of antiquity had a prac- tice of binding themselves to certain resolutions by the ceremony of cutting a calf or other victim into two halves or sides, laying them on the "round, and passing between the severed parts. This was considered as constituting a peculiarly binding obligation (comp. Gen. xv. 10, 17). CAL'NEH, or rather CHALNEH, the fourth of Nimrod's cities (Gen. x. 10), and probably not different from the Calno of Isa. x. 9, or the Canneh of Ezek. xxvii. 23. According to the Chaldee translation, with which Kusebius and Jerome agree, this is the same place that was subsequently called Ctesiphon. It lay on the Tigris, opposite Celeucia, and was for a time the capitjl of the Parthians. In the time of the prophet Amos, Calneh appears to have consti- tuted an independent principality (Amos vi. 1,2): but not long after it became, with the rest of CAMEL 1*9 Western Asia, a prey to the Assyrians (Isa. x. 9). About 150 years later, Calneh was still a con- siderable town, as may be inferred from its being mentioned by Ezekiel (xxvii. i>3) among the places which traded with Tyre. The site of Ctesiphon, or Calneh, was afterwards occupied by El-Madain, i. e. the two cities, of which the only remains are the ruins of a remarkable palace called Teuk-kesra, some mounds of rubbish, and a considerable extent of massive wall towards the river. CAL'VARY, the place where Christ was cru- cified See GOLGOTHA. CAMBY'SES. [AHASCERUS.] CAMEL. The genus Camelus, as constituted by modern naturalists, comprises two species positively distinct, but still possessing the common characters of being ruminants without horns, without muzzle, with nostrils forming oblique slits, the upper lid divided, and separately mo-'- able and extensile, the soles of the feet horny, with two toes covered by unguiculated claws, the limbs long, the abdomen drawn up, and the Leek, long and slender, is bent down and up, the reverse of that of a horse, which is arched. Ca- mels have thirty-six teeth in all. They have callosities on the breast-bone and on the 1 exures of the joints. Of the four stomachs, which they have in common with other animals chewing the cud, the paunch is provided with membranous cells to contain an extra provision of water, ena- bling the species to subsist for four or move days without drinking. But when in the desert, the camel has the faculty of smelling it afar off, and then, breaking through all control, he rushes on- wards to drink, stirring the element previously with a fore foot until quite muddy. Camels are temperate animals, being fed on a march only once in twenty-four hours, with about a pound weight of dates, beans, or barley, and are enabled in the wilderness, by means of their long flexible necks and strong cuspidate teeth, to snap as they pass at thistles and thorny plants. They are emphatically called the ships of the desert; having to cross regions where no vegetation what- ever is met with, and where they could not be enabled to continue their march but for the aid of the double or single hunch on the back, which, being composed of muscular fibre, and cellular substance highly adapted for the accumulation of fat, swells in proportion as the animal is healthy and well fed, or sinks by absorption as it supplies the want of sustenance under fatigue and scarcity. Now, when to these endowments are added a lofty stature and great agility ; eyes that discover mh.ute objects at a diotance; a sense of smelling of prodigious acuteness ever kept in a state of sensibility by the animal's power of closing the nostrils to exclude the acrid particles of the tandy deserts : a spirit, moreover, of patience, not the result of fear, but of forbearance, carried to ihe length of self-sacrifice in the practice of obedience, so often exemplified by the camel's boi es in great numbers strewing the surface of the desert; when we perceive it furnished with a dense wool, to avert the solar heat and nightly cold, while on the animal, and to clothe and ledge his master when manufactured, and know that the female carries milk to feed him, we have one of the most incontrovertible examples of Almighty power and beneficence in the adaptation of 170 CAMEL means to a direct purpose, that can well be sub- mitted to the apprehension of man ; for, -without the existence of the camel, immense portions of the surface of the earth would be uninhabitable, and even impassable. Surely the Arabs are righf, ' Job's beast is a monument of God's mercy!' The two species are 1. The Bactrian camel, which is large and robust ; naturally with two hunches, and originally a native of the highest table-lands of Central Asia, where even now, wild individuals may be found. The species extends through China, Tartary, and Russia, and is principally imported across the mountains into Asia Minor, Syria, and Persia. 107. [Arabian Camel : baggage.] 2. The Arabian camel or dromedary, which has naturally but one hunch, and may be con- sidered as of Western- Asiatic or of African origin, although no kind of camel is figured on any "mo- nument of Egypt. We find, however, camels mentioned in Genesis xii. ; but being placed last among the cattle given by Pharaoh to Abraham, the fact seems to show that they were not con- sidered as the most important part of his donation. This can be true only upon the supposition that only a few of these animals were delivered to him, and therefore that they were still rare in the valley of the Nile; though soon after there is abundant evidence of the nations of Syria and Palestine having whole herds of them fully domesticated. 108. [Arabian Camel : saddle.] Of the Arabian species two very distinct races are noticed ; those of stronger frame btit slower CAMPHIKE pace used to carry burdens, varying from 500 to 700 weight, and travelling little more than twenty-four miles per day; and those of lighter form bred for the sadd'le with single riders, whereof the fleetest serve to convey intelligence, &c., and travel at the rate of 200 miles in twenty- four hours. All camels, from their very birth, are taught to bend their limbs and lie down to receive a load or a rider. They are often placed circu- larly in a recumbent posture, and together with their loads form a sufficient rampart of defence against robbers on horseback. The milk of she- camels is still considered a very nutritive cooling drink, and when turned it becomes intoxicating. Their dung supplies fuel in the desert, and in saixly regions where wood is scarce ; and occa- sionally it is a kind of resource for horses when other food is wanting in the wilderness. Their flesh, particularly the hunch, is in request among the Arabs, but was forbidden to the Hebrews, more perhaps from motives of economy, and to keep the people from again becoming wanderers, than from any real uncleanness. Camels were early a source of riches to the patriarchs, and from that period became an increasing object of rural importance to the several tribes of Israel, who inhabited the grazing and border districts, but still they never equalled the numbers pos- sessed by the Arabs of the desert. On swift dromedaries the trotting motion is so hard that to endure it the rider requires a severe appren- ticeship ; but riding upon slow camels is not dis- agreeable, on account of the measured stop of their walk ; ladies and women in general are conveyed upon them in a kind of wickerwork sedan. With regard to the passage in Matt. xix. 24, ' It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,' &c., and that in Matt, xxiii. 24, 'Ye strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel,' it may be sufficient to observe, that both are pro- verbial expressions, similarly applied in the kindred languages of Asia. CAM'PHIRE occurs twice in the Song of Solomon (i. 14 ; iv. 13). The Hebrew word is Koylter, and has been supposed by some to de- note in these places a bunch of grape?, and by others camphor. The word camphire is the old mode of spelling camphor ; but this substance does not appear to have been known to ancient com- merce. The word Kopher is certainly very like Kafoor, the Eastern name for camphor, but it also closely resembles the Greek Kupros, usually written Cypros. Indeed, as has been observed, it is the same word, with the Greek pronuncia- tion and termination. The Kuprox of the Greeks is, no doubt, the Lau-sonia iiiermis of botanists. If we examine the works of Oriental travellers and naturalists, we shall find that this plant is universally esteemed iu Kastern coun- tries, and appears to have been so from the earliest times, both on account of the fragrance of its flowers, and the colouring properties of its leaves. Thus Rauwolff, when at Tripoli, ' found there another tree, not unlike unto our privet, I y the Arabians called Alcana, or Htnna, ar.e established, there exists considerable difference of opinion amongst Christians. Some contend, with the Catholic.*, that the authorita- tive decision of tha Church is alo.ie competent to determine the Canon ; others appeal to the con- current testimony of the Jewish ai.d early Chris- tian writers; aud others rest their strongest CANON reliance on the internal evidence furnished by the books of Scripture themselves. We cannot say that we are satisfied with any of these sources of evidence exclusively. As Michaclis remarks, the first is one to which no consistent Protestant can appeal, for the matter to be determined is of such a kind, that, unless we grant the Church to be infallible, it is quite possible that she may at any given period of her existence determine erroneously ; and one sees not why the question may not be as successfully investigated by a pri- vate individual as by the Church. The con- current testimony of the ancient witnesses is in- valuable so far as it goes ; but it may be doubted if it be sufficient of itself to settle this question, for the question is not entirely one of facts, and testimony is good proof only for facts. As for the internal evidence, one needs ouly look at the havoc which Semler and his school have made of the Canon, to be satisfied that where doctrinal considerations are allowed to determine exclu- sively such questions, each man will extend or extruncate the Canon so as to adjust it to the Procrustean couch of his own preconceived notions. As the question is one partly of fact and partly of opinion, the appropriate grounds of decision will be best secured by a combination of authentic testimony with the evidence supplied by the books themselves. We want to know that these books were really written by the persons whose names they bear ; we want to be satisfied that these persons were commonly re- puted and held by their contemporaries to be assisted by the divine spirit in what they wrote ; and we want to be sure that care was taken by those to whom their writings were first ad- dressed, that these should be preserved entire and uncorrupt. For all this we must appeal to the testimony of competent witnesses, as the only suitable evidence for such matters. But after we have ascertained these points affirmatively, we still require to be satisfied that the books them- selves contain nothing obviously incompatible with the ascription to their authors of the divine assistance, but, on the contrary, are in all respects favourable to this supposition. We want to see that they are in harmony with each other ; that the statements they contain arc- credible ; that the doctrines they teach are not foolish, immoral, or self-contradictory ; that their authors really assumed to be under the divine direction in what they wrote, and afforded competent proofs of this to those around them: and that all the circum- stances of the case, such as the style of the writers, the allusions made by them to places and event", &c., are in keeping with the conclusion to which the external evidence has already led. In this way we advance to a complete monil proof of the divine authority and canonical claims of the sacred writings. The books specified as canonical in the 6th Article of the Church of England, and the 1st of the Confession of the Church of Scotland, are re- ceived as such by the majority of Protestants. To these the Church of Rome adds, as part of the Old Testament, ten other looks, or parts of books, which Protestants reject as Apocnplial [APO- CRYPHA]. For the evidence in support of tlie genuineness and divine authority of those books universally regarded by Christians as canonical, taken individually, we may refer to the articles CANTICLES n this work under the titles of these books respectively. CAN'TICLES, SOLOMON'S Soxc, or Song of Sons as it is designated in the inscription, is gent-rally believed to have been so denominated fo denote the superior beauty and excellence of this poem. In favour of the canonical authority of this book (which has been questioned in ancient and modern times) we may observe, that it is found ia all the copies of the Hebrew B.ble which have descended to our times, as well as in the version of tha Seventy, which was finished some time in the recoad century before the Christian era. It is also found in all the ancient catalogues which have come down to us from the early Christian church. It has consequently all tne external marks of canonicity possessed by any other book of the Old Testament not expressly cited in the New. Those who have questioned its right to a place in the sacred volume have proceeded more on dogmatical than on historico-critical grounds. The subject of this book is confessedly LOVE. But it has been a matter of much controversy, especially in modern times, what kind of love is here celebrated. It is equally a matter of dis- pute among divines whether the interpretation of the poem is limited to its obvious and primary meaning, or whether it does not also include a latent mysticul and allegorical sense. We shall speak of these subjects in order. Ard, first, as to the literal and primary meaning, the earliest info-mation which we have is contained in the preface of Origen to his commentary on this book. This eminent scholar holds it to be an epithalamium, or marriage-song, in the form of a drama. This idea has been, in modern times, improved by Lowth, Bossuct, Michaelis, and other commentators. ' The Song of Songs,' says Bishop Lowth, ' for so it is entitled, either on account of the excellence of the subject or of the composition, is an epithalamium, or nuptial dia- logue, or rather, if we may be allowed to give it a title more agreeable to the genius of the He- brews, a Song of Loves. Such is the title oi Psalm xlv. It is expressive of the utmost fer- vour as well as delicacy o: passion : it is instinct with all the spirit and sweetness of aifection. The principal characters are Solomon himsel: and his bride, who are represented speaking both in dialogue, and in soliloquy, when accidentally separated. Virgins, also, the companions of the bride, are introduced, who seem to be constantly on the stage, and bear a part of the dialogue Mention is also made of young men, friends o the bridegroom, but they are mute persons. This is exactly conformable to the manners of the Hebrews, who had always a number of compa nions to the bridegroom, thirty of whom wen present in honour of Samson at his nuptial feas (Judg. xiv. 11). lu the New Testament, accord ing to the Hebrew idiom, they are called child ren, or sons of the bridechamber, and friends o the bridegroom. There, too, we find mention o ten virgins who -vent forth to meet the bride- groom and conduct him home ; which circum stai ces indicate that this poem is founded on the nuptial rites of the Hebrews, and is expressive o the forms or ceremonial of their marriage.' Bcssuet's idea of this poem was, that it is a CANTICLES 175 egular drama, or pastoral eclogue, consisting of even acts, each act filling a day, concluding with the Sabbath, inasmuch as thu bridegroom on this day does not, as usual, go forth to his rural employments, but proceeds from the mar- riage chamber into public with his bride. Lowth >o far differs from Bossuet as to deny the exist- ence of a regular drama, irasmuchas there is no :ermination to the plot. Michaelis, in his notes o his German translation of Lowth's Prelections, endeavours to overturn the views of Hossuet and Lowth, and to show that this poem can have no relation to the celebration of a marriage, inas- nuch as the bridegroom is compelled in his r.up- I tial week to quit his spouse and frienls for whole days, in order to attend to his cattle in the pas- ures. His opinion is, that this poem has no reference to a future marriage, but that the chaste oves of conjugal and domestic life are dercribed. This state, he conceives, in the East, admits of more of the perplexities, jealousies, plots, and artifices of love than it does with us ; the scene .s more varied, and there is consequently greater scope for invention. But the idea that the conjugal state, or the loves of married persons, are here referred to, has been strongly opposed by some of the ablest modern writers, who maintain that the chaste mutual loves of two young persons antecedent to marriage are here celebrated. Here it may be necessary to state, that the learned are divided on the point whether the Canticles consist of one continued and connected poem, or of a number of detached songs or amo- rets. The first person who maintained the latter opinion was Father Simon, who was on this ac- count unjustly accused of denying thy cauonicity of the book. This opinion has been subsequently defended by Eichhorn, Jahn, Pareau, and many others. A very general opinion is, that it is an idyl, or rather, a uumber of idyls, all forming a collective whole. Such is the opinion held, among others, by Sir William Jones and Dr. J. Masoa Good, in his beautiful translation of tho Song of Songs. Ewald considers the puem to consist of a drama in four parts. The heroine of the poem, according to this writer, is a country maiden, a native of Engedi, who, while ram- bling in the plains, fell in with the chariots of Solomon, and was carried by him into his palace It has been in all ages a matter of dispute, whether we are to seek f >r any hidden or occult meaning under the envelope of the literal and obvious sense. While several eminent men have maintained that the object of these poems is con- fined to the celebration of the mutual love of the sexes, or that its main design, in so far as its sacred character is considered, is the inculcation of marriage, and especially of monogamy, the majority of Christian interpreters, at least since the days of Origen (who wrote ten books of commentaries on this poem), have believed that a divine allegory is contained under the garb of an epithalamium, founded on the historical fact of the marriage of Solomon with the daughter of Pharaoh : others have held it to be a simple allegory, having no historical truth for its basis. As. however, the Scriptures give no ictimation that this book contains a mystical or allegorical 176 CANTICLES sense, recourse has been had to the analogy of some of the Messianic Psalms, whi>se application to spiritual objects is recognised in the New Testament. Especially a great resemblance lias been observed between the character of the Can- ticles and the 45th Psalm ; and it will suffice for our present purpose to cite the opinion of Rosen- m tiller, one of the ablest commentators on th; : Messianic Psalms, in reference to this subject. Professing to follow the opinion of the ancient Hebrews, communicated by the Chaldee pa;-a- phrast, and the writer of the Epistle to the He- brews namely, that the 45th Psalm celebrated the excellences and praises of the great Messiah ; he observes, ' Throughout the latter part of the psalm this allegory, in which the Hebrew poets particularly d .'lighted, is maintained. They were accustomed to represent God as entertaining to- wards his chosen people, feelings which they compared to conjugal att'ectionsi and which they deduced, under this fig ire, into all the various and even minute expressions. In the illustrating and beautifying of this allegory, the whole of the Song of Songs is occupied : that the subject of th-.it poem, and that of the psalm before us, is the same, there is no doubt among sound interpre- ters.' The reader may also refer, in illustration of this subject, to the many passages of the Old and New Testament in which this figure is re- tained by the sacred writers : such as Isaiah liv. 5; Ixii. 5; Jerem. iii. 1, &c. ; Ezek. xvi. and xxiii. ; Matt. ix. 15 ; John iii. 29 ; 2 Cor. xi. 2 ; Ephes. v. 23, &c. ; llev. xix. 7; xxi. 2; xxii. 17. The tradition of the Jews as preserved by the ancient Chaldee paraphrast is that the poem embodies a figurative description of the gracious conduct of Jehovah towards his people, in deli- vering them from the Egyptian bondage, con- ferring great benefits on them during their pro- gress through the wilderness, and conveying them in safety to the promised land. Aben Ezra considered that the Canticles represented the history of the Jews from Abraham to the Mes- siah. Others have conceived the brid<; to be Wisdom, with whom Solomon was acquainted from his childhood, and "with whose beauty he was captivated. Luther, in his Commentary on Canticles, maintained the allegorical interpreta- 'ion, conceiving Jehovah to be the bridegroom, the bride the Jewish nation, and the poem itself a figurative description of Solomon's civil govern- ment. In his Commentary on 1 Peter, however, he explains the bride to be the New Testament church. The modern writers of the Roman church have, in general, followed Origen and Jerome in their allegorical interpretations. The opinion of those who have acknowledged no other than the literal interpretation of the Canticles has had a considerable influence in the question of the canonicity of the book. Nor is it at all surprising that those who were in the h-ibit of attaching a spiritual meaning to it should find it difficult to believe that a book trea'.ing of human love should have a place in the inspired volnmj. Th^ author and age of Canticles have been also much disputed Th* inscription ascribes it to Sclo:non ; and this is confirmed by the uni- versal voice of antiquity, although some of the Jews have attributed it to Hezekiah. CAPPADOCIA CAPER'NAUM, a city on the north crcstern side of the Lake of Gennesareth, and oa the border of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. The infidelity and impenitence of th^ inhabitants of this place, after the evidence given to them by our Saviour himself of the truth of his mission, brought upon them this heavy denunciation : ' And thon, Capernaum, which art exalted unto h.'aven, shall be brought down to hell : for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day,' &c. (Matt, xi 23 ) This seems to have been more than any other place the residence of Christ after he commenced his great mission ; and hence the force of the denunciation, which has been so completely accomplished, that even the site of Capernaum is quite uncertain. Dr. Robinson is inclined to look for the site in a place marked only by a mound of ruins, called by the Arabs, Khan Minyeh. This is situated in the fertile plain on the western border of the Lake of Gennesareth, to which the name of ' the land of Gennesareth ' is given byJosephus. This plain is a sort of triangular hollow, formed by the re- treat of the mountains ab.mt thj middle of the western shore. In this plain there are now two fountains, one called 'Ain el Madauwarah, the Round Fountain' another called 'Ain et-Tin, near the northern extremity of the plain, and not far from the lake. This is the fountain which Dr. Robinson inclines to regard as that which Josephus mentions under the name of Caphar- naum ; and which we may conclude was not far from the town, and took its name from it. Near this fountain is a low mound of ruins, occupying a considerable circumference, which certainly offer the best probability that has yet been produced of being the remains of the doomed city: and if these be all its remains, it has, according to that doom, been brought low in- deed. CAPH'TOR (Deut. ii. 23 : Jer. xlvii. 4 ; Amos ix. 7) was the real and proper country of the Philistines. There has been a great diversity of opinion with regard to the exact .-ituation of that country. The general opinion that Caphtor was Cappadocia is not founded on any sound argu- ment. Others, again, have tried to prove that the Philistines derived their origin from the island of Crete. By far more probable is the opinion, that Caphtor is the island of Cyprus. From the geo- graphical situation of that island, it may have been known to the Egyptians at a very early period, and they may have sent colonies thither, who afterwards removed, from some reason or other, to the southern coast of Palestine border- ing on Egypt. CAPPADO'CIA, an ancient province of Asia Minor, bounded on the north by Puntus, on the east by the Euphrates and Armenia Minor, on the south by Mount Taurus (beyond which arj Cilicia and Syria), and on the east by Phrygia and Galatia. The country is mountainous and abounds in water, and was celebrated for the pro- duction of wheat, for its fine pastures, and for its j excellent breed of horses, asses, and sheep. The inhabitants were notorious for their duluess and vice. Cappadocia was subjugated by the Per- sians under Cyrus ; but after the time of Alex- ander the Great it had kings of its own, who l:c' the common name of Ariarathcs. It continued CAPTIVITIES to be governed by tributary kings under the Ro- mans till A.D. 1 7, when Tiberius made it a Ro- man province. Christianity was very early propagated in Cappadocia, for St. Peter names it in addressing the Christian churches in Asia Minor (I Pet. i. 1). Cappadocians were pre- sent at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii.9). CAPTIVITIES. The word Captivity, as applied to the people of Israel, has been appro- priated, contrary to the analogy of our language, to mean Expatriation. The violent removal of the entire population of a city, or sometimes even of a district, is not an uncommon event in ancient history. As a measure of policy, no objection to it on the ground of humanity was felt by any one ; since, in fact, it was a very mild proceeding, in comparison with that of selling a tribe or na- tion into slavery. Every sirch destruction of national existence, even in modern times, is npt to be embittered by the simultaneous disruption of religious bonds ; but in the ancient world, the positive sanctity attributed to special places, and the local attachment of Deity, made expatriation doubly severe. The Hebrew people, for instance, in many most vital points, could no longer obey their sacred law at all, when personally removed from Jerusalem ; and in many others they vf ere forced to modify it by reason of their change of circumstances. Two principal motives impelled conquering powers thus to transport families in the mass; first, the desire of rapidly filling with a valuable population new cities, built for pride or for policy ; next, the determination to break up hos- tile organizations, or dangerous reminiscences of past greatness. Both might sometimes be com- bined in the same act. To attain the former object, the skilled artisans would in particular be carried off; while the latter was better effected by transporting all the families of the highest birth, and all the well-trained soldiery. The expatriation of the Jewish people belongs to two great eras, commonly called the first and second Captivity ; yet differing exceedingly in character. It is to the former that the above re- marks chiefly apply. In it, the prime of the na- tion were carried eastward by the monarchs of Assyria and Babylon, and were treated with no unnecessary harshness, even under the dynasty that captured them. That which we name the first Captivity, was by no means brought about by a single removal of the population. In fact, from beginning to end, the period of deportation occupied full 150 years; as the period of return reaches probably through 100. The first blow fell upon the more distant tribes of Israel, about 741 B.C.; when Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria (2 Kings xv. 29), carried off the pastoral popu- lation which lived beyond the Jordan, with Ze- bulon and Naphtali. (To this event allusion is made in Isaiah ix. 1 ; a passage very ill trans- lated in our received version.) In the time of this conquering monarch, Assyria was rapidly rising into power, and to aggrandize Nineveh was probably a great object of policy. It is therefore credible, as he had received no parti- cular provocation from the Israelites, that he carried off these masses of population to stock his huge city with. His successor Sbalmanezer made the Israeli tish king Hoshea, tributary. When the CAPTIVITIES 177 tribute was withheld, he attacked and reduced Samaria (B.C. 721), and, by way of punishment and of prevention, transported into Assyria and Media its king and all the most valuable popula- tion remaining to the ten tribes (2 Kings xvii. C). The families thus removed were, in great mea- sure, settled in very distant cities; many of them probably not far from the Caspian Sea ; and their place was supplied by colonies from Babylon and Susis (2 Kings xvii. 24). Such was the end of Israel as a kingdom. An interval of more than a century followed before Judah was to suffer a similar fate. Two separate deportations are nar- rated in the book of Kings, three in that of Jere- miah, while a fourth and earlier one appears in the book of Daniel i. 1-3. But it is pretty clear that the people of Judah, as of Israel, were car- ried out of their land by TWO principal removals. The former, B.C. 598, was directed to swell the armies and strengthen the towns of the con- queror; for of the 18,000 then carried away. 1000 were 'craftsmen and smiths, all strong and apt for Avar,' and the rest are called ' mighty men of valour.' It was not until the rebellion of Zcdekiah that Nebuchadnezzar proceeded to the extremity of breaking up the national ex- istence, B.C. 588. As the temple was then burnt, with all the palaces and the city walls, and no government was left but that of the Babylonian satrap, this latter date is evidently the true era of the captivity. Previously Zedekiah was tribu- tary ; but so were Josiah and Ahaz long before ; the national existence was still saved. Details concerning the Return from the capti- vity are preserved in the books denominated after Ezra and Nehemiah; and in the prophe- cies of two contemporaries, Haggai and Zecha- riah. The first great event is the decree of Cyrus, B.C. 536, in consequence of which 42,360 Jews of Babylon returned under Sheshbazzar, with 7337 slaves, besides cattle. This ended in their build- ing the altar, and laying the foundation of the second temple, 53 years after the destruction of the first. The progress of the work was, how- ever, almost immediately stopped: for Zerub- babel, Jeshua, and the rest abruptly refused all help from the half-heathen inhabitants of Sama- ria, and soon felt the effects of the enmity thus induced. That the mind of Cyrus was changed by their intrigues, we are not informed ; but he was probably absent in distant parts, through continual war. When Darius (Hystaspis). an able and generous monarch, ascended the throne, the Jews soon obtained his favour. At this crisis, Zerubbabel was in chief authority (Shesh- bazzar. perhaps being dead), and under him the temple was begun in the second and ended in the sixth year of Darius, B.C. 520-516. Although this must be reckoned an era in the history, it is not said to have been accompanied with any new immigration of Jews. We pass on to ' the seventh year of king Artaxerxes ' (Longimanus), Ezra vii. 7, that is, B.C. 458, when Ezra comes up from Babylon to Jerusalem, with the king's commendatory letters, accompanied by a large body of his nation. The enumeration in Ezra viii. makes them under 1800 males, with their families; perhaps amounting to 5000 persons, young and old: of whom 113 are recounted as having heathen wives (Ezra x. 18 43). In the twentieth year of the same king, or B.C. 445, N 178 CAPTIVITIES Nehemiah, his cupbearer, gains his permission to restore ' his fathers' sepulchres,' and the walls of his native city ; and is sent to Jerusalem with large powers. This is the crisis which decided the national restoration of the Jewish people : for before their city was fortified, they had no defence against the now confirmed enmity of their Samaritan neighbours ; and, in fact, before the walls could be built, several princes around were able to offer great opposition [ SANBALLAT]. The Jewish population was overwhelmed with debt, and had generally mortgaged their little estates to the rich; but Nehemiah's influence succeeded in bringing about a general forfeiture of debts, or at least of the interest : after which we may regard the new order of things to have been finally established in Judaa [NEHEMIAH]. From this time forth it is probable that nume- rous families returned in small parties, as to a secure home, until all the waste land in the neighbourhood was re-occupied. There has been great difference of opinion as to how the 70 years of captivity spoken of by Jeremiah (xxv. 12; xxix. 10) are to be esti- mated. A plausible opinion would make them last from the destruction of the first temple, B.C. 588, to the finishing of the second, B.C. 516 : but the words of the text so specify ' the punishing of the king of Babylon ' as the end of the 70 years which gives us the date B.C. 538 that many cling to the belief that a first captivity took place in the third year of Jehoiakim, B.C. 605. But, in fact, if we read Jeremiah himself, it may appear that in ch. xxv. he intends to compute the 70 years from the time at which he speaks (ver. 1, 'in the fourth year of Jehoiakim,' f. e. B.C. C04); and that in xxix. 10, the number ' seventy years ' is still kept up, in remembrance of the former prophecy, al- though the language there used is very lax. The great mass of the Israelitish race never- theless remained in dispersion. Previous to the captivity, many Israelites had settled in Egypt (Zech. x. 1 1 ; Isa. xix. 18), and many Jews after- wards fled thither from Nebuzaradan ( Jer. xli. 1 7). Others appear to have established themselves in Slieha, where Jewish influence became very power- ful [SHEBA]. It is maintained by some that the ten tribes in- termarried so freely with the surrounding popu- lation as to have become completely absorbed ; and it appears to be a universal opinion that no one now knows where their descendants are. But it is a harsh assumption that such intermarriages were commoner with the ten tribes than with the two; and certainly, in the apostolic days, the twelve tribes are referred to as a well-known people, sharply defined from the heathen (James 1. 1 ; Acts xxiv. 7). Not a trace appears that any repulsive principle existed at that time between the Ten and the Two. ' Ephraim no longer en- vied Judah, nor Judah vexed Ephraim ;' but they had become ' one nation ;' though only partially on the mountains of Israel' (Isa. xi. 13; Ezek. xxxvii. 22). It would seem, therefore, that one result of the captivity was to blend all the tribes together, and produce a national union which had never been effected in their own land. If ever there was a difference between them as to the books counted sacred, that difference entirely vaii'shrd ; at least no evidence appears of the contrary fact. When, moreover, the laws of CAPTIVITIES landed inheritance no longer enforced the main- tenance of separate tribes and put a difficulty in the way of their intermarriage, an almost inevit- able result in course of time was the entire oblite- ration of this distinction ; and as a fact, no modern Jews know to what tribe they belong, although vanity always makes them choose to say that they are of the two or three, and not of the ten tribes. That all Jews now living have in them the blood of all the ten tribes, ought (it seems) to be be- lieved, until some better reason than mere asser- tion is advanced against it. When Cyrus gave permission to the Israelites to return to their own country, and restored their sacred vessels, it is not wonderful that few per- sons of the ten tribes were eager to take advantage of it In two centuries they had become thoroughly naturalized in their eastern settlements ; iior had Jerusalem ever been the centre of proud aspira- tions to them. It was therefore to be expected that only those would return to Jerusalem whose expatriation was very recent; and principally those whose parents had dwelt in the Holy City or its immediate neighbourhood. The century which followed their return was, On the whole. one of great religious activity and important per- manent results on the moral character of the nation. Even the prophetic spirit by no means disappeared for a century and a half; although at length both the true and the false prophet were supplanted among them by the learned and dili- gent scribe, the anxious commentator, and the over-literal or over-figurative critic. In place of a people prone to go astray after sensible objects of adoration, and readily admitting heathen cus- toms ; attached to monarchical power, but inat- tentive to a hierarchy; careless of a written law, and movable by alternate impulses of apostacy and repentance; we henceforth find in them a deep and permanent reverence for Moses and the prophets, an aversion to foreigners and foreign customs, and a profound hatred of idolatry. Now first, as far as can be ascertained, were the syna- gogues and houses of prayer instituted, and the law periodically read aloud. Now began the close observance of the Passover, the Sabbath, and the Sabbatical year. From this era the civil power was absorbed in that of the priesthood, and the Jewish people affords the singular spectacle of a nation in which the priestly rule came later in time than that of hereditary kings. In their habits of life also, the Jewish nation was permanently affected by the first captivity. The love of agriculture, which the institutions of Moses had so vigorously inspired, had necessarily declined in a foreign land ; and they returned with a taste for commerce, banking, and retail trade, which was probably kept up by constant inter- course with their brethren who remained in dis- persion. The same intercourse in turn propagated towards the rest the moral spirit which reigned at Jerusalem. The Egyptian Jews, it would seem, had gained little good from the contact of idolatry (Jer. xliv. S) ; but those who had fallen in with the Persian religion, probably about the time of its great reform by Zoroaster, had been preserved from such temptations, and returned purer than they went. Thenceforward it was the honourable function of Jerusalem to act as a re- ligious metropolis to the whole dispersed nation ; and it caunot be doubted that the ten tribes, as CARAVAN well as the two, learned to be proud of the Holy City, as the great and free centre of their name and their faith. The same religious influences thus diffused themselves through all the twelve tribes of Israel. Thus in Egypt and Arabia, in Babylonia, As- syria, Media, masses of the nation were planted, who, living by traffic and by banking, were neces- sitated to spread in all directions as their numbers increased. By this natural progress they moved -westward as well as eastward, and, in the time of St. Paul, were abundant in Asia Minor, Greece, and the chief cities of Italy. The extermination suffered by the Jewish in- habitants of Palestine, under the Romans, far better deserves the name of captivity : for after the massacre of countless thousands, the captives were reduced to a real bondage. According to Josephus, I, '.00,000 men fell in the siege of Jeru- salem by Titus, and 97,000 were captured in the whole war. Of the latter number the greatest part was distributed among the provinces, to be butchered in the amphitheatres or cast there to wild beasts; others were doomed to work as pub- lic slaves in Egypt: only those under the age of seventeen were sold into private bondage. An equally dreadful destruction fell upon the remains of the nation, which had once more assembled in Judasa, under the reign of Hadrian (A.D. 133); and by these two savage wars the Jewish popula- tion must have been effectually extirpated from the Holy Laud itself, a result which did not fol- low from the Babylonian captivity. Afterwards, a dreary period of fifteen hundred years' oppres- sion crushed in Europe all who bore the name of Israel, and Christian nations have visited on their head a crime perpetrated by a few thousand inha- bitants of Jerusalem, who were not the real fore- luthers of the European Jews. Nor in the East has their lot been much more cheering. With few and partial exceptions, they have ever since been a despised, an oppressed, and naturally a de- graded people; though from them have spread light and truth to the distant nations of the earth. CARAVAN is the name given to a body of merchants or pilgrims as they travel in the East. A multitude of people, of all ages and conditions, assembling to undertake a journey, and prosecuting it en masse for days and weeks together, is a thing unknown in Europe, where, from the many facili- ties for travelling, and a well organized system of police, travellers can go alone and unprotected along the highways to any distance with the most perfect security. But in Eastern countries the dangers arising from the vast deserts that intersect these regions, as well as from wild beasts and bands of marauding Arabs, are too numerous and imminent for single traders or solitary travellers to encounter ; and hence merchants and pilgrims are accustomed to unite for mutual protection in traversing these wild and inhospitable parts, as well as for offering a more effectual resistance to the attacks of robbers. Through this kind of , intercourse, which principally obtains in Turkey, : Persia, and Arabia, most of the inland commerce , of the East is carried on. Any person can, under certain regulations, form a caravan at any time. But generally there are stated periods, which are well known as the regular starting-times for the mercantile journeys ; and the merchants belonging to the company, or those travellers who are de- CARAVAN 179 sirous of accompanying it for the benefit of a safe conduct, repair to the place of rendezvous where the caravan is to be formed, exhibiting, as their goods and camels successively arrive, a motley group a busy and tumultuous scene of prepara- tion, which can be more easily conceived than described. As in the hot season the travelling is performed under night, the previous part of the day on which the caravan leaves is consumed in the preparatory labours of packing an indispens- able arrangement, which has been observed with unbroken uniformity since the days of Ezekiel (xiS. 3) ; and then, about eight o'clock, the usual starting-time, the whole party put themselves in motion, and continue their journey without inter- ruption till midnight (Luke xi. 5, (i) or later. At other seasons they travel all day, only halting for rest and refreshment during the heat of noon. The average rate of travel is from 1 7 to 20 miles per day. The earliest caravan of merchants we read of is the itinerant company to whom Joseph was sold by his brethren (Gen. xxxvii.). The date of this transaction is more than seventeen centuries before the Christian era, and notwithstanding its anti- quity, it has all the genuine features of a caravan crossing the desert at the present hour. This caravan was a mixed one, consisting of three classes, Ishmaelites (ver. 25), Midianites (ver. '28), and Medanites, as the Hebrew calls the last (ver. 36), who, belonging to the mountainous region of Gilead, would seem, like the nomade tribes of Africa in the present day, to have engaged them- selves as commercial travellers, and were then, in passing over the plain of Dothan, on the high caravan-road for the market of Egypt. Besides these communities of travelling mer- chants in the East, there are caravans of pilgrims, f. e. of those who go for religious purposes to Mecca, comprising vastly greater multitudes of people. Four of these start regularly every year : one from Cairo, consisting of Mahommedans from Barbary ; a second from Damascus, conveying the Turks ; a third from Babylon, for the accommo- dation of the Persians ; and a fourth from Zibith, at the mouth of the Red Sea, which is the rendez- vous for those coming from Arabia and India. The organization of the immense hordes which, on such occasions, assemble to undertake a dis- tant expedition, strangers to each other, and un- accustomed to the strict discipline which is indis- pensable for their comfort and security during the march, though, as might be expected, a work of no small difficulty, is accomplished in the East by a few simple arrangements which are the result of long experience. One obvious bond of union to the main body, when travelling by night and through extensive deserts, is the music of the Arab servants, who by alternate songs in their national manner beguile the tedium of the way : while the incessant jingling of innumerable bells fastened to the necks of the camels enlivens the patient beasts, frightens animals of prey, and keeps the party together. To meet all the exigencies of the journey, however, the caravan is placed under the charge of a caravan bashe, the chief who presides over all, and under whom there are five leading officers appointed to different departments : one who regulates the march ; a second, whose duties only commence at halting time; a third who superintends the servants and cattle; a fourth 180 CARAVAN who takes charge of the baggage ; a fifth who acts as paymaster, &c. ; and besides these, there are the officers of the military escort that always accompanies it. Another functionary of the highi-st importance is the hi/beer, or guide, whose services are indispensable in crossing the great deserts, such as that along the coast of the Red Sea or on the western extremities of Africa. He is commonly a person of influence, belonging to some powerful tribe, whose personal qualifications must embrace an extensive and accurate acquaint- ance with the whole features of the land. It is absolutely necessary that he understand the pro- gnostics of the weather, the time and places where the terrible simoom or hot wind blows, and the tracts occupied by shifting sands ; and that he know the exact locality and qualities of the wells, the oases that afford the refreshments of shade for the men and grass for the cattle, the situation of hostile or treacherous tribes, and the means of escaping those threatened dangers. There is a close and very striking resemblance between the arrangements of these caravans and the order adopted by the Israelites during their journey through almost the same extensive deserts. The arrangement of those vast travelling bodies seems to have undergone no material alteration for nearly four thousand years, and therefore affords the best possible commentary illustrative of the Mosaic narrative of the Exodus. Like them, the immense body of Israelitish emigrants, while the chief burden devolved on Moses, was divided into companies, each company being under the charge of a subordinate officer, called a prince (Num. vii.). Like them, the Hebrews made their first stage in a hurrie.d manner and in tumultuous disorder (Exod. xii- 11); and, like them, each tribe had its respective standard [STANDARDS] ; which was pitched at the different stages, or thrust perpendicularly into the ground, and thus formed a central point,' around which the straggling party spread themselves during their hours of rest and leisure (Num. ii. 2). Like them, the signal for starting was given by the blast of a trumpet, or rather trumpets (Num. x. 2, 5) ; and the time of inarch and halting was regulated by the same rules that have been observed by all travellers from time immemorial during the hot season. Like theirs, too, the elevation of the standard, as it was borne forward in the van of each company, formed a prominent object to prevent dispersion, or enable wanderers to recover their place within the line or division to which they belonged. Nor was there any difference here, except that, while the Israelites in like manner prosecuted their journey occasionally by night as well as by day, they did not, like the caravans of pilgrims, re- quire the aid of fires in their standards, as the friendly presence of the fiery pillar superseded the necessity of any artificial lights. One other point of analogy remains to be traced in the cir- cumstance of Hobab being enlisted in the service of the Hebrew caravan as its guide through the great Arabian desert The extreme solicitude of Moses to secure the services of his brother-in-law in that capacity will be accounted for if it is borne in mind, that although the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night sufficed to regulate the main stages of the Hebrews, foraging parties would at short intervals require to be sent out, and scouts to reconnoitre th^ country for fuel, or CARBUNCLE to negotiate with the native tribes for provender and water. And who so well qualified to assist in these important services as Hobab, from his intimate acquaintance with the localities, his in- fluence as a Sheikh, and his family connection with the leader of Israel ? The nature and economy of the modern Hadj caravans might be applied also to illustrate the return of the Hebrew exiles under Ezra from the land of their captivity. The bands of Jewish pilgrims that annually repaired from every corner of Judaea to attend the three great festivals in Jerusalem, wanted this government and distribution into distinct companies, and seem to have resembled less the character of the great Mecca caravans than the irregular processions of the Hindoos to and from the scene of some of their religious pageants. On such occasions multitudes of men, worr.f.n, and children, amounting to ten or twenty thousand, may be seen bending their way to the place of ceremonial, with their beds, cooking implements, and other luggage on their heads, prosecuting their journey in this manner from day to day, by lo:>g or shorter stages, as custom or physical strength may dictate. As in a crowd of this motley description not the slightest regard is paid to regularity or order, and every one of course takes the place or mingles with the group that pleases him, the separation of the nearest friends for a whole day must, in Mich circumstances, be a common and unavoidable occurrence ; and yet anxiety is never felt, unless the missing one fail to appear at the appointed rendezvous of the family. In like manner among the ancient Jews, the inhabitants of the same village or district would naturally form themselves into travelling parties, for mutual security as well as for enjoying the society of acquaintance. The poorer sort would have to travel on foot, while females and those of the better class might ride on asses and camels. But as their country was divided into tribes, and those who lived in the same hamlet or canton would be more or less connected by family ties, the young, the volatile, and active among the Jewish pilgrims had far more inducements to disperse themselves amongst the crowd than those of the modern processions, numbers of whom, are necessarily strangers to each other. In these circumstances it is easy to understand how the young Jesus might mingle successively with groups of his kindred and ac- quaintance, who, captivated with his precocious wisdom and piety, might be fond to detain him in their circle, while his mother, together with Joseph, felt no anxiety at his absence, knowing the grave and sober character of their companions in travel ; and the incident is the more natural that his parents are said to have gone ' one day's journey from Jerusalem before they missed him ;' since, according to the present, and probably the ancient, practice of the East, the first stage is always a short one, seldom exceeding two or three hours. Beer the modern el-Bireh, where Mary's discovery is reputed to have been made is scarcely three miles from Jerusalem, where the caravan of Galilscan pilgrims halted. CARAVANSERAI. [!NN.] CAR'BUNCLE. There are two Hebrew words rendered by ' Carbuncle ' in the Authorized Ver- sion. One of them, NOPIIECH, which occurs in CARMEL Exod. xxviii. 18; xxxix. 11; Ezek. xxviiL 13, appears to have been a kind of ruby or garnet, perhaps the noble Oriental garnet, which is a transparent red stone, with a violet shade, and strong glossy* lustre. The other word is EK- DACH, which occurs in Isa. liv. 12, where the gates of the new Jerusalem are described as being composed of it. It seems to denote some stone of a fiery lustre, but the particular kind cannot well be determined. CAR'CHEMISH is mentioned in Isa. x. 9 among other places in Syria which had been sub- dued by an Assyrian king, probably Tiglath-pi- leser. It appears to have been a frontier town and a stronghold on the Euphrates (Jer. xlvi. 2 ; 2 Chron. xxxv. 20), and is probably therefore the city which the Greeks called Kirkesion, the Latins Cercusium, and the Arabs, Kerkesiyeh ; for this too lay on the western bank of the Eu- phrates, where it is joined by the Chaboras. It was a large city, and surrounded by strong walls, which, in the time of the Romans, were occa- sionally renewed, as this was the remotest out- post of their empire, towards the Euphrates, in the direction of Persia. It is unknown whether any traces of it still exist; for, as it lies oft' the usual route of caravans, it has not been noticed by modern travellers. CAR'IA, a country lying at the south-western extremity of Asia Minor, to which, among others, the Romans wrote in favour of the Jews ( 1 Mace. xv. 22, 33). Its priucipal towns were Halicar- uassus, Cnidus, and Myndus, which are all men- tioned in the rescript of the Roman senate, to which we refer. Halicarnassus was the birth- place of Herodotus ; Cnidus is mentioned in Acts xxvii. 7, as having been passed by St. Paul on his voyage to Rome. CAR'MEL, a range of hills extending north- west from the plain of Esdraelon, and ending in a promontory, or cape, which forms the Bay of Acre. The extent of this range of hills is about six miles, not in a direct line ; but the two extre- mities (on the western side towards the sea) ji't CARMEL 131 111. out, and stand over against each other, forming a bow in the middle. The height is about 1500 feet ; and at the foot of the mountain, on the north-east, runs the brook Kishon, and a little further north, the river Belus. Mount Carmel consists rather of several connected hills than of : one ridge ; the north and eastern parts being somewhat higher than the southern and westeru. The foot of the northern portion approaches the water very closely, but further south it retires more inland, so as to leave between the mountain and the sea an extensive and very fertile plain. Mount Carmel forms the only great promon- tory upon the coast of Palestine. According to the reports of most travellers, the mountain well deserves its Hebrew name (Carmel country of vineyards and gardens). It is entirely covered with verdure. On its summit are pines and oaks, and further down olives and laurel trees, every- where plentifully watered. It gives rise to a multitude of crystal brooks, the largest of which issues from the so-called Fountain of Elijah ; and they all hurry along, between banks thickly overgrown with bushes, to the Kishon. Every species of tillage succeeds here admirably, under this mild and cheerful sky. The prospect from the summit of the mountain over the gulf of Acre and its fertile shores, and over the blue heights of Lebanon and the White Cape, is en- chanting. The mountain is of compact limestone, and, as often happens where that is the casa [ CAVES!, there are in it very many caverns it is said, more than a thousand. In one tract, called the Monk's Cavern, there are as many as four hun- dred adjacent to each other, furnished with win- dows and with places for sleeping hewn in the rock. That the grottoes and caves of Mount Carmel were already, in very ancient times, the abode of prophets and other religious persons is well known. The prophets Elijah and Elisha often resorted thither (1 Kings xviii. 19, sq. 42; 2 Kings ii. 25 ; iv. 25 ; and comp. perhaps 1 Kings xviii. 4, 13). At the present day is shown a cavern called the cave of Elijah, a little below the Monks' Cavern already mentioned, and which is now a Moslem sanctuary. Upon the summit is an ancient establishment of Carmelite monk?, which order, indeed, derived its name from this mountain. The old convent was destroyed by Abdallah Pasha, who converted the materials to his own use ; but it has of late years been rebuilt on a somewhat imposing scale by the aid of con- tributions from Europe. 2. CAKMEL. Another Carmel, among the mountains of Judah, is named in Josh. xv. 55. It was here that Saul set up the trophy of his victory over Amalek (1 Sam. xv. 12), and where Nabal was shearing his sheep when the afiair took place between him and David in which Abigail bore so conspicuous a part (1 Sam. xxv. 2, sq.). This Carmel is described by Eusebius and Jerome as, in their day, a village, with a Roman garrison, ten miles from Hebron, verging towards the east. From the time of the Crusades till the present century its name seems to have been forgotten. But it has been recently recog- nised by travellers under the name of Kurmul. The place is now utterly desolate, but the ruins indicate a town of considerable extent and im- portance. The most remarkable ruin is that of a castle, quadrangular, standing on a swell of ground in the midst of the town. The distance of this place from Hebron is nearer eight Roman miles than ten, as assigned by Eusebius and Je- rome. 182 CASSIA CARPENTER. [HANDICRAFT.] CAR'PUS, a disciple of Paul, who dwelt at Troas (2 Tim. iv. 13). CART. The Hebrew word rendered by our translators in some places by ' waggon,' and in others by ' cart,' denotes any vehicle moving on wheels aud usually drawn by oxen ; and their particular character must be determined by the context indicating the purpose for which they were employed. First, we have the carts which the king of Egypt sent to assist in transporting Jacob's family from Canaan (Gen. xlv. 19, 27). From their being so sent it is manifest that they were not used in the latter country ; and that they were known there as being peculiar to Egypt is shown by the confirmation which they attended to Jacob of the truth of the strange story told by his sons. The carts or wains represented in the Egyptian sculptures are the following, which, however, appear to belong to a foreign people. But that the Egyptians had something like them of their own appears from figs. 1, 2, in cut Ii3. Elsewhere (Num. vii. 3, G ; 1 Sam. vi. 7) we read of carts used for the removal of the sacred arks and utensils. These also were drawn by two oxen. In Rosellini we have found a very curious representation of the vehicle nsed for such purposes by the Egyptians (No. 113, fig. 3). It is little more than a platform on wheels ; and the apprehension which induced Uzzah to put forth his hand to stay the ark when shaken by the oxen (2 Sam. vi. C), may suggest that the cart employed on that occasion was not unlike this, as it would be easy for a jerk to displace whatever might be upon it. CASLU'HIM, properly Casluchim, a people whose progenitor was a son of Mizraim (Gen. x. 14; 1 Chron. i. 12). He, or they, for the word applies rather to a people than to an indi- vidual, are supposed by Bochart and others to have carried a colony from Egypt, which settled in the district between Pelusium and Gaza, or, in other words, between the Egyptians and the Philistines. There are some grounds for this conjecture ; but it is impossible to obtain any certainty on so obscure a subject CASSIA. Our translators have rendered two distinct Hebrew words by this term. One of these (Ketzioth) is mentioned in three places CAT (Exod. xxx. 24: Ezek. xxvii. 19; and in Ps. xlv. 8), in conjunction with myrrh, cinnamon, sweet calamus, and ahalim, or eagle-wood. All these are aromatic substances, and, with the ex- ception of myrrh, which is obtained from Africa, are products of India and its islands. It is pro- bable, therefore, that ketzioth is of a similar nature, and obtained from the same countries. It is supposed, however, that the substance referred to is not cassia; but it will be preferable to treat of the whole subject in connection with cinnamon. [KlNNAMON.] The other word rendered cassia in our Autho- rized Version is kiddah. It occurs first in Kxod. xxx. 24, where cassia (kiddah) is mentioned in connection with olive oil, pure myrrh, sweet cin- namon, and sweet calamus ; secondly, in Ezek. xxviii. 19, where Dan and Javan are described as bringing bright iron, cassia (kiddah), and calamus to the markets of Tyre. There is no reason why the substance now called cassia might not have been imported from the shores of India into Egypt and Palestine. The Arabian Koost (Aucklandiu Costus\ known in Calcutta by the name of Pitchttk, an aromatic substance exported in large quantities from Cashmere into the Punjab, whence it finds its way to Bombay and Calcutta, for export to China, where it is highly valued as one of the ingredients in the incense which the Chinese burn in their temples and private houses. CASTLE. [FORTIFICATIONS.] CAS'TOR AND POL'LUX, in heathen mytho- logy, the twin sons of Jupiter by Leda. They had the special province of assisting persons in danger of shipwreck ; and hence their figures were often adopted for ' the sign,' from which a ship derived its name, as was the case with that ' ship of Alexandria ' in which St. Paul sailed on his journey for Rome (Acts xxviii. 11). CAT. It might be assumed that the cat was an useful, if not a necessary, domestic animal to the Hebrew people in Palestine, where corn was grown for exportation, as well as for con- sumption of the resident population, twenty or thirty-fold more than at present and where, moreover, the conditions of the climate required the precaution of a plentiful store being kept in reserve to meet the chances of scarcity. The ani- mal could not be unknown to the people, for their ancestors had witnessed the Egyptians treating it as a divinity. Yet we find the cat nowhere men>- tioned in the canonical books as a domestic ani- mal. And in Baruch it is noticed only as a tenant of Pagan temples, where no doubt the fragments of sacrificed animals and vegetables attracted vermin, and rendered the presence of cats neces- sary. This singular circumstance, perhaps, re- CAVES suited from the animal being deemed unclean, and being thereby excluded domestic familiarity, though the Hebrews may still have encouraged it, in common with other vermin-hunters, about the outhouses and farms, and corn-stores, at the risk of some loss among the broods of pigeons which, in Palestine, were a substitute for poultry. With regard to the neighbouring nations just named, they all had domestic cats, it is presumed, derived from a wild species found in Nubia, and first described by Ruppel under the name of Felis Maniculata. The typical animal is smaller, more slender, and more delicately limbed than the European. The fur is pale yellowish grey, with some dark streaks across the paws, an'd at the tip of the tail. In the domesticated state it varies in colours and markings, for the ancient monuments of Egypt contain many painted figures, which show them cross-barred like our wild species in Europe. Two specimens are here given from these paintings ; one clearly a cat ; the other, which is not apparently a cat but a species of gennet or paradoxurus, is, in the ori- ginal, figured as catching birds, acting like a re- triever for his master, who is fowling in a boat. CATERPILLAR occurs in the Auth. Vers. 1 Kings viii. 37; 2 Chron. vi. 28; Ps. Ixxviii. 46; cv. 34; Isa. xxxiii. 4; Jer. li. 14. 27 ; Joel i. 4 ; ii. 25. But it is more than doubtful whether any species of caterpillar is here intended. The name in the original indicates a creature whose chief characteristic is voracity, and which also attaches to all the species of locusts. The ancients, indeed, concur in referring the word to the locust tribe of insects, but are not agreed whether it signifies any particular species of locust, or is the name for any of those states or transformations through which the locust passes from the egg to the perfect insect. The Latin Fathers take it to mean the larva of the locust, and the Greek un- derstand it as the name of an adult locust. On the whole it seems probable that the Hebrew word means a locust, but of which species it is impos- sible to determine. CATTLE. [BEASTS; BULL.] CAVES. The geological formation of Syria is highly favourable to the production of caves. It consists chiefly of limestone, in different degrees of density, and abounds with subterranean rivu- le'iS. The springs issuing from limestone gene- rally contain carbonate of lime, and most of them yield a large quantity of free carbonic acid upon exposure to the air. To the erosive effect upon limestone rocks, of water charged with this acid, the formation of caves is chiefly to be ascribed. The subordinate strata of Syria, sandstone, chalk, basalt, natron, &c, favour the formation of caves. Consequently the whole region abounds with sub- terranean hollows of different dimensions. Some of them are of immense extent, such as those noticed by Strabo, who speaks of a cavern near Damascus capable of holding 4000 men. The first mention of a cave in Scripture relates to that into which Lot and his two daughters retired from Zoar, after the destruction of Sodom and Gomor- rah (Gen. xix. 30). The next is the Cave of Afachpelah, in the field of Ephron,which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth(Gen. xxv. 3, 10). There Abraham buried Sarah, and was himself afterwards buried; there also Isaac, Rebecca, Lah, and Jacob, were buried (Gen. xlix. 31 ; CAVES 183 1. 13). The cave of Machpelah is said to be under a Mahometan mosque, surrounded by a high wall called the Haram ; but even the Moslems are not allowed to descend into the cavern. The tradi- tion that this is the burial-place of the patriarchs is supported by an immense array of evidence. The situation of the Cave at MakhedaJi, into which the five kings of the Amorites retired upon their defeat by Joshua, and into which their car- cases were ultimately cast, is not known (Josh. x. 16, 27). Some of the caves mentioned in the Scriptures were artificial, or consisted of natural fissures enlarged or modified for the purposes in- tended. It is recorded (Judg. vi. 2) that ' be- cause of the Midianites, the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strongholds.' Caves made by art are met with in various quarters. An innumer able multitude of excavations are found in the rocks and valleys round Wady Musa, which were probably formed at first as sepulchres, but after- wards inhabited, like the tombs of Thebes. Caves were used as dwelling-places by the early inha- bitants of Syria. The Horites, the ancient inha- bitants of lduma?a Proper, were Troglodytes or dwellers in caves, as their name imports. Jerome records that in his time Iduma?a was full of ha- bitations in caves, the inhabitants using subter- ranean dwellings on account of the great heat. The Scriptures abound with references to ha- bitations in rocks ; among others, see Num. xxiv. 21; Cant. ii. 14; Jer. xlix. 1C; Obad. 3. Even at the present time many persons live in caves. Caves afford excellent refuge in the time of war. Thus the Israelites (1 Sam. xiii. 6) are said to have hid themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits. See also Jer. xli. 9. Hence, then, to ' enter into the rock, to go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth' (Isa. ii. 19), would, to the Israelites, be a very proper and familiar way to express terror and consternation. The pits spoken of seem to have consisted of large wells, in * the sides ' of which excavations were made, leading into various chambers. Such pits were sometimes used as prisons (Isa. xxiv. 22; li. 14; Zech. ix. 11); and with niches in the sides, for burying- places (Ezek. xxxii. 23). Many of these vaulted pits remain to this day. The strongholds of En- gedi, which afforded a retreat to David and his followers (1 Sam. xxiii. 29; xxiv. 1), can be clearly identified. They are now called A in Tidy by the Arabs, which means the same as the Hebrew, namely, ' The Fountain of the Kid.' ' On all sides the country is full of caverns, which might serve as lurking-places for David and his men, as they do for outlaws at the present day. The whole scene is drawn to the life." The Cave of' Adullam, to which David retired to avoid the persecutions of Saul (1 Sam. xxii. 1, 2), and in which he cut off the skirt of Saul's robe (I Sam. xxiv. 4), is an immense natural cavern at the Wady Khureitun, which passes below the Frank mountain. Such is the extent of the cavern, that it is quite conceivable how David and his men might ' remain in the sides of the cave,' and not be noticed by Saul (Travels, vol. ii. p. 41). Caverns were also frequently fortified and occu- pied by soldiers. Josephus relates also that Herod sent horsemen and footmen to destroy the robbers that dwelt in caves, and did much mischief in the 184 CEDAR country They were very near to a village called Arbela (now called Kulat Ibn Ma'an). The oc- cupants were not subdued without great difficulty. Herod then laid siege to certain other caverns containing robbers, but found operations against them very difficult These were situated on the middle of abrupt and precipitous mountains, and could not be come at from any side, since they had only some winding pathways, very narrow, by which they got up to them. The rock that lay on their front overhung valleys of immense depth, and of an almost perpendicular declivity. To meet these difficulties Herod caused large boxes filled with armed men to be lowered from the top of the mountain. These men had long hooks in their hands with which they might pull out those who resisted them, and tumble them down the mountains. From these boxes they at length slipped into the caverns, destroyed the robbers, and set fire to their goods. Certain caves were afterwards fortified by Josephus him- self during his command in Galilee under the Romans. A fortified cavern existed in the time of the Crusades. It is mentioned by William of Tyre, as situate in the country beyond the Jordan, sixteen Roman miles from Tiberias. The cave of Elijah is pretended to be shown, at the foot of Mount Sinai, in a chapel dedicated to him ; and a hole near the altar is pointed out as the place where he lay. CEDAR. There is a difference of opinion among authors whether the original term thus translated in the numerous passages of Scripture where it occurs is always used in the same signi- fication ; that is, whether it is always intended to specify only one particular kind of the pine tribe, or whether it is not sometimes used gene- rically. In this latter opinion we are disposed 115. [Cedar of Lebanon.] to concur, for if we proceed to compare the several passages of Scripture in which the word occurs, we shall equally find that one plant is not strictly applicable to them all. The earliest no- tice of the cedar is in Lev. xiv. 4. 6, where we are told that Moses commanded the leper that CEDAR was to be cleansed to make an offering of two sparrows, cedar-wood, wool dyed in scarlet, and tiyssop ; and in ver. 49, 51, 52, the houses in which the lepers dwell are directed to be purified with the same materials. Again, in Num. xix. 6, Moses and Aaron are commanded to sacrifice a red heifer : And the priest shall take cedar- wood and hyssop and scarlet.'- As remarked by Lady Callcott (Script. Herbal, p. 92), The cedar was not a native of Egypt, nor could it have been procured in the desert without great diffi- culty ; but the juniper is most plentiful there, and takes deep root in the crevices of the rocks of Mount Sinai.' That some, at least, of the cedars of the ancients were a species of juniper is evident from the passages we have quoted ; the wood of most of them is more or less aromatic. The ancients, it may be remarked, threw the berries of the juniper on funeral piles, to pro- tect the departing spirit from evil influences, and offered its wood in sacrifice to the infernal gods, because they believed its presence was acceptable to them. They also burned it in their dwelling- houses to keep away demons. It is curious that, in the remote parts of the Himalayan Mountains, another species of this genus is similarly em- ployed. At a later period we have notices of the various uses to which the wood of the cedar was applied, as 2 Sam. v. 1 1 ; vii. 2-7 ; 1 Kings v. 6, 8, 10 ; vi. 9, 10, 15, 16, 18, 20; vii. 2, 3, 7, 11. 12; ix. 11; x. 27 ; 1 Chrou. xvii. C ; 2 Chron. ii. 8 ; ix. 27 ; xxv. 18. In these passages we are informed of the negotiations -with Hiram, King of Tyre, for the supply of cedar-trees out of Lebanon, and of the uses to which the timber was applied in the construction of the Temple, and of the king's palace : he ' covered the houss. with beams and boards of cedar ;' ' the walls of the house within were covered with boards of cedar ;' there were cedar pillars,' and beams of cedar ;' and the altar was of cedar. In all these passages there is nothing distinctive stated respecting the cha- racter of the wood, from which we might draw any certain conclusion, further than that, from the selection made and the constant mention of the material used, it may be fairly inferred that it must have been considered as well fitted, or rather of a superior quality, for the purpose of building the Temple and palace. From this, however, proceeds the difficulty in admitting that what we call the cedar of Lebanon was the only tree intended. For modern experience has ascer- tained that its wood is not of a superior quality. To determine this point, we must not refer to the statements of those who take their descriptions from writers who, indeed, describe cedar-wood, but do not prove that it was derived from the cedar of Lebanon. The term 'cedar' seems to have been as indefinite in ancient as in modern times, when we find it applied to the wood of the red or pencil cedar, to that of the Bermuda cedar. and to many other woods, as to white cedar, and Indian cedar. Mr. Loudon, in his Arboretum (p. 241 7), de- scribes it thus : ' The wood of the cedar is of a. reddish white, light and spongy, easily worked, but very apt to shrink and warp, and by no means durable.' But when the tree is grown on mountains, the annual layers of wood are much narrower and the fibre much finer than when it CEDAR is grown on plains ; so much so that a piece of cedar-wood brought from Mount Lebanon by Dr. Parisel, in 1829, and which he had made into a small piece of furniture, presented a surface com- pact, agreeably veined, and variously shaded, and which, on the whole, may be considered handsome. But Dr. Pococke, who brought away a piece of one of the large cedars which had been blown down by the wind, says that the wood does not differ in appearance from white deal, and that it does not appear to be harder. Mr. Loadon says that a table which Sir J. Banks had made out of the Hillingdon cedar was soft, with- out scent (except that of common deal), and possessed little variety of veining. Though we have seen both temples and palaces built entirely with one kind of cedar, we think it more pro- bable that, as the timber had to be brought from a distance, where all the kinds of cedar grew, the common pine-tree and the cedar of Lebanon Would both furnish some of the timber required for the building of the Temple, together with juniper cedar. Celsius was of opinion that the cedar indicated the Pinus sylvestris or Scotch pine, which yields the red and yellow deals of Norway, and whjch is likewise found on Mount Lebanon. This opinion seems to be confirmed by Ezekiel xxvii. 5, ' They have made all thy ship boards of fir-trees of Senir, they have taken cedar from Lebanon to make masts for thee.' For it is not probable that any other tree than the common pine would be taken for masts. Thoua.h Celsius appears to us to be quite right in concluding that the cedar, in some of the pas- sages of Scripture, refers to the pine-tree, yet it seems equally clear that there are other passages to which this tree will not answer, and if we consider some of the remaining passages of Scrip- hire, we cannot fail to perceive that they forcibly apply to the cedar of Lebanon and to the cedar of Lebanon only. Thus, in Ps. xcii. 12, it is said, ' The righteous shall flourish like a palm- tree, and spread abroad like a cedar of Lebanon.' It has been well remarked, ' that the flourishing head of the palm and the spreading abroad of the cedar are equally characteristic.' But the prophet Ezekiel (ch. xxxi.) is justly adduced as giving the most magnificent, and at the same time the most graphic, description of this cele- brated tree : (ver. 3) ' Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowy shroud, and of an high stature ; and his top was among the thick boughs :' (ver. 5) ' Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters :' (ver. 6) ' All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all, the beasts of the field bring forth their young.' In this description, Mr. Gilpin has well observed, the principal charac- teristics of the cedar are marked : first, the mul- tiplicity and length of its branches. Few trees divide so many fair branches from the main stem, or spread over so large a compass of ground. ' His boughs are multiplied,' as Ezekiel says, ' and his branches become long,' which David calls spreading abroad. His very boughs are equal to the stem of a fir or a chestnut. The eecor.d characteristic is what Ezekiel, with great beauty and aptness, calls his shadowy shroud. CEILING 185 No tree in the forest is more remarkable than the cedar for its close-woven leafy canopy. Ezekiel's cedar is marked as a tree of full "and perfect growth, from the circumstance of its top being among the thick boughs. The other principal passages in which the cedar is mentioned are 1 Kings iv. 33; 2 Kings xix. 23; Job xl. 17; Ps. xxix. 5; Ixxx. 10 ; xcii. 12; civ. 1C; cxlviii. 9; Cant. i. 17; v. 15; viii. 9; Isa. ii. 1.3; ix. 8, 10; xiv. 8; xxxvii. 2-1; xli. 19; xliv. 14; Jer. xxii. 7, 14, 23; Ezek. xvii. 3, 22, 23; Amos ii. 9; Zeph. ii. 14; Zech. xi. 1, 2; and in the Apo- crypha, 1 Esdras iv. 43 ; v. 55 ; Ecclus. xxiv. 13 ; 1. 12; but it would occupy too much space to adduce further illustrations from them of what indeed is the usually admitted opinion. It is, however, necessary before concluding to give some account of this celebrated tree, as no- ticed by travellers in the East, all of whom make a pilgrimage to its native sites. The cedar of Lebanon is well known to be a widely-spreading tree, generally from 50 to 80 feet high, and when standing singly, often covering a space with its branches, the diameter of which is much greater than its height. The horizontal branches, when the tree is exposed on all sides, are very large in proportion to the trunk, being disposed in dis- tinct layers or stages, and the distance to which they extend diminishes as they approach the top, where they form a pyramidal head, broad in pro- portion to its height. The branchlets are dis- posed in a flat fan-like manner on the branches. The leaves, produced in tufts, are straight, about one inch long, slender, nearly cylindrical, taper- ing to a point, and are on short footstalks. The cones, when they approach maturity, become from 2 inches to 5 inches long. Every part of the cone abounds with resin, which sometimes exudes from between the scales. Speaking of the cedars of Lebanon, M. Lamartine, in 1832, says, 'These trees diminish in every succeeding age. Travellers formerly counted 30 or 40 ; more recently, 17; more recently still, only 12. There are now but 7. These, however, from their size and general appearance, may be fairly presumed to have existed in biblical times. Around these ancient, witnesses of ages long since past, there still remains a little grove of yellow cedars, appearing to me to form a group of from 400 to 500 trees or shrubs. Every year, in the month of June, the inhabitants of Beschierai, of Eden, of Kandbin, and the other neighbouring valleys and villages, climb up to these cedars, and celebrate mass at their feet. How many prayers have resounded under these branches, and what more beautiful canopy for worship can exist?" CEILING. The Orientals bestow much at- tention upon the ceilings of their principal rooms. Where wood is not scarce, they are usually com- posed of one curious piece of joinery, framed entire, and then raised and nailed to the joists. These ceilings are often divided into small square compartments ; but are sometimes of more com- plicated patterns. Wood of a naturally dark colour is commonly chosen, and it is never painted. In places where wood is scarce, and sometimes where it is not particularly so, the ceilings are formed of fi e plaster, with tasteful mouldings and ornaments, coloured and relieved with gilding, and with pieces of mirror inserted in the hollows formed by the involutions of the 186 CENSER raised mouldings of the arabesques, which enclose them as in a frame. The antiquity of this taste can be clearly traced by actual examples up to the times of the Old Testament, through the Egyptian monuments, which display ceilings painted with rich colours in such patterns as are shown in the annexed cut. The explanation thus 116. obtained satisfactorily illustrates the peculiar em- phasis with which ' ceiled houses ' and ' ceiled chambers' are mentioned by Jeremiah (xxii. 14) and Haggai (i. 4). CENCHRE'A, one of the ports of Corinth, whence Paul sailed for Ephesns (Acts xviii. 18). It was situated on the eastern side of the isthmus, about seventy stadia from the city : the other port on the western side of the isthmus was called Lechaenm. [CORINTH.] CENSER, the vessel in which incense was presented in the temple (2 Chron. xxvi. 1 9 ; Ezek. vjii. 11 : Ecclns. 1. 9). Censers were used in the daily offering of incense, and yearly on the day of atonement, when the high-priest entered the Holy of Holies. On the latter occasion the priest filled the censer with live coals from the sacred fire on the altar of burnt-offering, and bore it into the sanctuary, where he threw upon the burning coals the ' sweet incense beaten small ' which he had brought in his hand (Lev. xvi. 1 2, 13). In this case the incense was burnt while the high-priest held the censer in his hand; but in the daily offering the censer in which the live coals were brought from the altar of burnt- offering was set uo-v-i upon the altar of incense. This alone would suggest the probability of some difference of shape between the censers used on these occasions. The daily censers must have had a base or stand to admit of their being placed on the golden altar, while those employed on the day of atonement were probably furnished with a handle. In fact, there are different names CHAIN for these vessels. We learn also that the" daily censers were of brass (Num. xvi. 39), whereas the yearly one was of gold. The form of the daily censer we have no means of determining beyond the fact that it was a pan or vase, with a stand whereon it might rest on the golden altar. The numerous figures of Egyptian cen- sers, consisting of a small cup at the end of a long shaft or handle (often in the shape of a hand), probably offer adequate illustration of those employed by the Jews on the day of atone- ment. There was, however, another kind of censer (Fig. 1), kss frequently seen on the Egyp- tian monuments, and likewise furnished with a handle, which will probably be regarded by many as offering a more probable resemblance. CENSUS. [POPULATION.] CENTU'RION, a Homan military officer in command of a hundred men, as the title implies. Cornelius, the first Gentile convert to Christianity, held this rank (Acts x. 1, 22). Other Centurions are mentioned in Matt viii. 5, 8, 13 ; xxvii. 54 ; Luke vii. 2, 6 ; Acts xxi. 32 ; xxii. 25, 26 ; xxiii. 17, 23; xxiv. 23; xxvii. 1,6, 11,31,45; xxviii. 16. CE'PHAS, a surname which Christ bestowed upon Simon (John i. 42), and which corresponds with Peter, both words meaning a ' rock,' which is the signification of the original [PETER]. CHAFF, the refuse of winnowed corn. It is used as a symbol for unprofitable and worthless characters (Ps. i. 4 ; Matt. iii. 12). CHAIN. Chains of gold appear to have been as much used among the Hebrews, for ornament or official distinction, as they are among ourselves at the present day. The earliest mention of them occurs in Gen. xli. 42, where we are toJd that a chain of gold formed a part of the investiture of Joseph in the high office to which he was raised in Egypt; a later instance occurs in Dan. v. 29, from which we learn that a golden chain was part of a dres of honour at Babylon. In Egypt the judges wore cliains of pold, to which was attached a jewelled figure of Thmei, or Truth ; and in that country similar chains were also CHALDEANS as ornaments by the women. It is not, however, necessary to suppose that the Hebrews derived this custom from the Egyptians ; for the fact that chains are mentioned among the spoil of the Midianites shows that they were in use among people whose condition of life more nearly re- sembled that of the Israelites before they obtained possession of Canaan. It would seem that chains were worn both by men and women (Prov. i. 9 ; Kztfk. xvi. 11), and we find them enumerated tunong the ornaments of brides (Cant. i. 10 ; iv. 9). It was a custom among the Romans to fasten a prisoner with a light chain to the soldier who was appointed to guard him. One end of it was attached to the right hand of the prisoner, and the other to the left hand of the soldier. This is the chain by which Paul was so often bound, and to which he repeatedly alludes (Acts xxviii. 20 ; Eph. vi. 20; 2 Tim. i. 16). When the utmost security was desired, the prisoner was attached by two chains to two soldiers, as was the case with Peter (Acts xii. 6). CHAL'CEDONY (Kev. X xi. 19), a precious stone, forming a variety of amorphous quartz. It is harder than flint (specific gravity 2'04), commonly semi-transparent, and is generally of one uniform colour throughout, usually a light brown and often nearly white ; but other shades of colour are not infrequent, such as grey, yellow, green, and blue. Chalcedony occurs in irregular masses, commonly forming grotesque cavities, in trap rocks and even granite. It is found in most parts of the world ; and in the East is employed in the fabrication of cups and plates, and articles of taste, which are wrought with great skill and labour, and treasured among precious things. In Europe it is made into snuff-boxes, buttons, knife- han'Mes, and other minor articles. CHALD^E'ANS is the name which is found appropriated in parts of the Old Testament to in- habitants of Babylon and subjects of the Baby- lonian kingdom. In 2 Kings xxv., where an account is given of the siege of Jerusalem in the reign of Zedekiah, by Nebuchadnezzar, the latter monarch is expressly designated ' King of Ba- bylon,' while his troops in general are spoken of as ' Chaldees,' ' the army of the Chaldees." In Isaiah xiii. 19, Babylon is called 'the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excel- lency ;' and in xxiii. 1.3 of the same book, the country is termed ' the land of the Chaldseans.' So in Daniel ix. 1, ' In the first year of Darius, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans.' The origin and condition of the people who gave this name to the Babylonians, have been subjects of dispute among the learned. Probably, however, they were the same people that are described in Greek writers as having originally been an uncultivated tribe of mountaineers, placed on the Carduchian mountains, in the neighbourhood of Armenia, whom Xenophon describes as brave and fond of freedom. In Habakkuk i. 6-10 the Chaldseans are spoken of in corresponding terms : ' Lo, I raise up the Chaldscans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling-places that are not theirs ; they are terrible and dreadful ; their horses are swifter than leopards and more fierce than evening wolves; their horsemen shall spread themselves; they shall fly as the eagle that CHALDEANS 187 hasteth to eat.' They are also mentioned in .lob i. I* . Chaldacans fell upon the camels (of Job) and carried them away.' These passages show not only their warlike and predatory habits, but, especially that in Job, the early period in history at which they were known. As in all periods of history hardy and brave tribes of mountaineers have come down into the plains and conquered their comparatively civil- ized and effeminate inhabitants, so these Arme- nian Chaldaeans appear to have descended on Babylon, made themselves masters of the city and the government, and eventually founded a dominion, to which they gave their name, as well as to the inhabitants of the city and the country tributary to it, infusing at the same time young blood and fresh vigour into all the veins and members of the social frame. What length of time the changes herein implied may have taken cannot now be ascertained. Of the kingdom of Babylon, Nimrod (Gen. x. 8, sqq.) was the founder and first sovereign. The next name of a Babylonian monarch is found in Gen. xiv. 1, where ' Amraphel, king of Shinar,' is cursorily mentioned. A long interval occurs, till at last, in 2 Kings xx. 12, 13, the name of another is given : ' Berodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon,' it appears ' sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah ; for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and showed them all the house of his precious things : there was nothing in his house, nor in his dominion, that Hezikiah showed them not.' On becoming acquainted with this fact, the prophet Isaiah announced that the treasures of the kingdom would be plundered and taken to Babylon along with the descendants of Hezekiah, who were to become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. The friendly act which passed between these two kings took place in the year B.C. 713. About a hundred years later, the prophets Jeremiah and Habakkuk speak of the invasion of the Chaldsean army. Nebu- chadnezzar now appears in the historical books, and, iu Ezra v. 12, is described as 'the king of Babylon, the Chaldaian, who destroyed this house (the temple), and carried the people away into Babylon.' How extensive and powerful his em- pire was, may be gathered from the words of Jeremiah xxxiv. 1 'Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the Idngdoms of the earth of his dominion; and all the people, fought against Jerusalem.' The result was, that the city was surrendered, and the men of war fled, together with king Zedekiah, but were over- taken in the plains of Jericho and completely routed. The Israelitish monarch was carried before Nebuchadnezzar, who ordered his eyes to be put out, after he had been compelled to wit- ness the slaughter of his sons : he was then bound in fetters of brass and conveyed a captive to Ba- bylon. The next Chaldee-Babylonian monarch given in the Scriptures is the son of the preceding, Evil-merodach, who (2 Kings xxv. 27) began his reign (B.C. 562) by delivering Jehoiachin, king of Judah, after the unfortunate sovereign had endured captivity, if not incarceration, for a period of more than six and thirty years. Cir- cumstances incidentally recorded in connection with this event serve to display the magnitude and grandeur of the empire ; for it appears (ver. 188 CHALDEANS 28) that there were other captive kings in Baby- lon besides Jehoiachin, and that each one of them was indulged with the distinction of having his own throne. With Belshazzar (B.C. 538), the son of Nebuchadnezzar, closes the line of Chaldaean tnonarchs. In the seventeenth year of his reign, this sovereign was put to death, while engaged with all his court in high revelry, by Cyrus, when he took the city of Babylon in the night season (Dan. v. 30), and established in the city and its dependencies the rule of the Medo-Per sians [BELSHAZZAR]. It has been seen, from the foregoing statements, that the history of Babylon supplied by the Scrip- tures is brief, imperfect, and fragmentary. Little additional light can be borrowed from other quar- ters, in relation to the period comprised within the Biblical accounts. Authentic history affords no information as to the time when the Chaldaean immigration took place. The kingdom of the Chaldees is found among the four ' thrones ' spoken of by Daniel (vii. 3, sqq.), and is set forth under the symbol of a lion having eagles' wings. The government was de- spotic, and the will of the monarch, who bore the title of 'King of Kings' (Dan. ii. 37), was su- preme law, as may be seen in Dan. iii. 12; v. 19. The kings lived inaccessible to their subjects in a well-guarded palace. The number of court and state servants was not small ; in Dan. vi. 1, Darius is said to have set over the whole kingdom no fewer than ' ai> hundred and twenty princes.' The chief officers appear to have been a sort of ' mayor of the palace,' or prime minister, to which high office Daniel was appointed (Dan. ii. 49), ' a master of theeunuchs' (Dan.i.3),'a captain of the king's guard ' (Dan. ii. 14), and ' a master of the magi- cians,' or president of the Magi (Dan. iv. 9). Dis- tinct probably from the foregoing was the class termed (Dan. iii. 24, 27) 'the king's counsellors,' who seem to have formed a kind of ' privy council ' or even ' cabinet ' for advising the mo- narch and governing the kingdom. The entire empire was divided into several provinces (Dan. ii. 48 ; iii. 1), presided over by officers of various ranks. An enumeration of several kinds may be found in Dan. iii. 2, 3. The head officers, who united in themselves the highest civil and military power, were denominated ' presidents ' (Dan. vi. 2) ; those who presided over single provinces or districts bore the title of ' governor.' The admi- nistration of criminal justice was rigorous and cruel, will being substituted for law, and human life and human suffering being totally disregarded. Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. ii. 5) declares to the col- lege of the Magi 'If ye will not make known unto me the dream with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill ' (see also Dan. iii. 1!) ; vi. 8 ; Jer. xxix. 22). The religion of the Chaldees was, as with the ancient Arabians and Syrians, the worship of the heavenly bodies ; the planets Ju- piter, Mercury, and Venus were honoured as Bel, Nebo, and Meni, besides Saturn and Mars. As- trology was naturally connected with this worship of the stars, and the astronomical observations which have made the Chaldacan name famous were thereby guided and advanced. The lan- guage spoken in Babylon was what is designated Chaldee, which is Shemitic in its origin, belong- CHAMBERS OF IMAGERY ing to the Aramaic branch. The immigrating Chaldceans spoke probably a quite different tongue, which the geographical position of their native country shows to have belonged to the Medo-Persian stock. The term Chalda?ans represents also a branch of the order of Babylonian Magi. In Dan. ii. 2 they appear among ' the magicians, and the astro- logers, and the sorcerers,' who were 'called for to shew the king his dream.' In the luth verse of the same chapter they are represented as speak- ing in the name of the rest ; or otherwise theirs was a general designation which comprised the entire class (Dan. iv. 7 ; v. 7) : a general descrip- tion of these different orders is found in Dan. v. 8, as ' the king's wise men.' CHAMBERS OF IMAGERY. These are mentioned in Ezek. viii. 12, as among the abomi- nations within the precincts of the holy place at Jerusalem, which were disclosed to the prophet in vision where he was among the captives on the banks of the Chebar.with the design of justifying and explaining the judgments which had been brought and were still to be brought upon the chosen people. A heavenly guide conducts the prophet to view in succession the various idolatries of alienated Judah. After having shown him enough to excite his horror and indignation, the angel bade him turn another way, and he would see greater abominations. Leading him to that side of the court along which were ranged the houses of the priests, his conductor pointed to a mud-wall (ver. 7), which, to screen themselves from observation, the apostate servants of the true God had raised ; and in that wall was a small chink, by widening which he discovered a passage into secret chamber, which was completely im- pervious to the rays of the sun, but which he found, on entering it, lighted up by a profusion of brilliant lamps. The sides of it were covered with numerous paintings of beasts and reptiles the favourite deities of Egypt; and, with their eyes intently fixed on these decorations, was a conclave of seventy persons, in the garb of priests the exact number, and, in all probability, the individual members of the Sanhedrim, who stood in the attitude of adoration, holding in their hands each a golden censer, containing all the costly and odoriferous materials which the pomp and magnificence of the Egyptian ritual required. ' There was every form of cVeeping things and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed round about.' The scene de- scribed was wholly formed on the model of Egyptian worship ; and every one who has read the works of Wilkinson, Belzoni, Richardson, and others, will perceive the close resemblance that it bears to the outer walls, the sanctuaries, and the hieroglyphical figures that distinguished the an- cient mythology of Egypt. In order to show the reader still further how j exactly this inner chamber that Ezekiel saw was constructed after the Egyptian fashion, we sub- join an extract from the work of Mr. Madden, descriptive of the great Temple of Edfou, one of the admired relics of antiquity; from which it will be seen that the degenerate priests of Jeru- salem had borrowed the whole style of the edifice, in which they were celebrating their hidden rites its form, its entrance, as well as its pictorial ornaments on the walls from their idolatrous CHAMOIS neighbours of Egypt : ' Considerably belovr the surface of the adjoining building,' says he, ' my conductor pointed out to me a chink in an old wall, which, he told me, I should creep through on my hands and feet ; the aperture was not two feet and a half high, and scarcely three feet and a half broad. My companion had the courage to go first, thrusting in a lamp before him : I fol- lowed. The passage was so narrow that my mouth and nose were almost buried in the dust, and I was nearly suffocated. After proceeding about ten yards in utter darkness, the heat be- came excessive, the breathing was laborious, the perspiration poured down my face, and I would have given the world to have got out ; but my companion, whose person I could not distinguish, though his voice was audible, called out to me to crawl a few feet farther, and that I should find plenty of room. I joined him at length, and had the inexpressible satisfaction of standing once more upon my feet. We found ourselves in a splendid apartment of great magnitude, adorned with an incredible profusion of sacred paintings and hieroglyphics.' CHAMELEON, a small species of lizard, cele- brated for the faculty it has of changing the colour of its skin. This property, however, has no reference to the substance it may be placed on, as generally asserted, but is solely derived from the bulk of its respiratory organs acting upon a transparent skin, and on the blood of the animal. The chameleons form a small genus of Saurians, easily distinguished by the shagreened character of the skin, and the five toes on the feet, divided differently from those of most other animals, there being, if the expression may be allowed, two thumbs opposed to three fingers. Their eyes are telescopic, move separately, and can be di- rected backwards or forwards. Chameleons are slow, inoffensive, and capable of considerable abstinence from food; which consists solely of flies, caught by the rapid protrusion of a long and viscous tongue. Among themselves they are CHAOS 189 118. [Chameleon Africanus.] irascible, and are then liable to change their colours rapidly; dark yellow or grey is pre- dominant when they are in a quiescent state, but, while the emotions are in activity, it passes into green, purpl?, and even ashy black. The species found in Palestine and all Northern Africa, is the common African chameleon, and is that re- ferred to in Lev. xi. 30, where unclean animals are mentioned. CHAMOIS (Deut. xiv. 5"). Some suppose that the animal meant is the Camelopard, others the Elk. But it is plain that the Mosaical enumeration of clean animals would not include such as were totally out of the reach of the Hebrew people, and at best only known to them from specimens seen in Egypt, consisting of pre- sents sent from Nubia, or in pictures on the walls of temples. The Camelopard or Giraffe is exclusively an inhabitant of Southern Africa, and therefore could not come in the way of the people of Israel. The same objection applies to the Elk, because that species of deer never appears further to the south than Northern Germany and Poland ; and with regard to the Chamois, which has been adopted in our version, though it did exist in the mountains of Greece, and is still found in Central Asia, there is no vestige of its having at any time frequented Libauus or any other part of Syria. We may, therefore, with more pro- priety refer to the ruminants indigenous in the regions which were in the contemplation of the sacred legislator, and the only species that seems to answer to the conditions required is a wild sheep, still not uncommon in the Mokattam rocks near Cairo, found in Sinai, and eastward in the broken ridges of Stony Arabia, where it is known under the name of Kebsch. 119. [Kebsch. Ovis Tragclaphus.] CH A'OS, a term taken from the Greek mytho- logy, and employed to denote the unformed con- dition of the world. Our present object is to inquire what the Chaos was of which Moses speaks (Gen. i. 2). Was it the first form in which matter was created ? and do the succeed- ing operations described relate to the very be- ginning of material order and animal life ? Or was it merely a condition preparatory to the re- organization of the world, which had already been the abode of living beings ? in other words, is the first verse of the inspired record to be dis- sociated from the succeeding, and to be under- stood only as a declaration of the important truth, that the visible universe was not made from any- thing already existing (Heb. xi. 3); whilst the confusion and darkness which are described in the succeeding verse, relate to a state long subse- quent to the ' beginning,' and were introductory to a new order of material exigence, of which man is the chief and lord? The first of these opinions is not only in accordance with the an- cient notions of chaos to which we have referred, but is that which would be naturally maintained, 190 CHAOS unless cause he shown to the contrary. No one would gratuitously assume a long interval, where it must be admitted there is no intimation of such an interval having occurred. Accordingly, most interpreters, who have been ignorant of geological phenomena, have at once decided that the chaos of which Moses speaks was the form in which matter was first created. Some have even declared that there cannot have been any such interval as we have spoken of. But, on the other hand, the world gives intimations, in the rocks which compose its crust, of various and long-con- tinued changes both of condition and of inha- bitants. Thos^ who have carefully examined these different forms of being, and have attentively studied the circumstances in which their remains are now found, have been forced to the convic- tion, that in many cases the rocks have been gra- dually formed by deposition at the bottom of an ocean, which has been successively the habitation of races differing alike from each other and from those now existing; that the coeval land likewise has had its distinct races of inhabitants, and that the land and water have changed places many times in the history of the world. It is impos- sible to do more than barely glance at these geological facts ; but it will be seen that they lead to these three concl isions (1) That the world has existed during some long period before the Mosaic record of creation in six days (2) That, during that period, it was the abode of ani- mals differing in organization and structure from those now found on its surface and (.3) That it has been exposed to various convulsions and re- organizations, more or less general. In the face of these facts it appears impossible to hold the ordinarily received opinion that the universe was created only just before the creation of man ; and the question then is, how are these facts to be reconciled with the Mosaic narrative ? Not by denying the evidence of our senses, nor, on the other hand, by treating the Mosaic account as an allegorical representation, but surely by re- examining the interpretation tee have put on the words of Scripture, and by seeking to ascertain whether the discrepancy does not arise from our view of the narrative. A favourite mode of ex- plaining the Mosaic account, a few years back, was to take the six days of creation for unlimited periods, during which the changes we are speak- ing of took place. This ground has, however, been almost completely abandoned, both because the occount so understood does not agree with the physical phenomena, and because such an inter- pretation is, to say the least, hardly admissible on exegetical principles. If we keep in mind that the revelation of God to man is not intended to teach physical science that it never speaks the language of philosophy, but of appearances and that it tells of these only so far as they relate . to the human race, we obtain a clue by which 1 we may be safely guided through these diffi- culties. We shall not then wonder that no notice should be taken of previous conditions and in- habitants of this earth, supposing such to have existed. The irst sentence of the inspired record will then be regarded as the majestic declaration of a fact, which me world had lost sight of, but which it deeply concerned men to know. What occurred subsequently, until the earth was to be furnished for the abode of man, is to be gathered CHARIOTS not from the written word, but from the memo- rials engraven on the tablets of the world itself. The succeeding verse of the Mosaic account then relates to a state of chaos, or confusion, into which the world was thrown immediately before the last reorganization of it. Geologists are not indeed at present (if ever they may be) in a con- dition to identify the disruption and confusion of which we suppose Mosts to speak with any one of these violent convulsions, of which geological phenomena plainly tell ; but that ever.ts which might be described in his language have taken place in the world's history, over considerable portions of its surface, seems to be fully esta- blished. Whether the chaos of which we are now speaking was universal, or was confined to those regions which formed the cradle of the human race, is a question on which we do not feel it needful to enter. We do not regard the evidence which geology furnishes as complete enough to decide such a point. CHARIOTS. The Scriptures employ dif- ferent words to denote carriages of different sorts, but it is not in every case easy to distinguish the kind of vehicle which these words severally denote. We are now, however, through the dis- covery of ancient sculptures and paintings, in possession of such information respecting the cha- riots of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia, as gives advantages in the discussion of this subject which were not possessed by earlier writers. The chariots of -these nations are, in fact, men- tioned in the Scriptures ; and by connecting the known with the unknown, we may arrive at more determinate conclusions than have hitherto been attainable. The first chariots mentioned in Scripture are those of the Egyptians ; and by close attention to the various notices which occur respecting them, we may be able to discriminate the different kinds which were in use among that people. The earliest notice of chariots in Scripture occurs in Gen. xli. 43, where the king of Egypt honours Joseph by commanding that he should ride in the second of the royal chariots. This was doubtless a state-chariot, aud the state-cha- riots of the Egyptians do not appear to have been different from their war-chariots, the splendid military appointments of which rendered them fit for purposes of royal pomp. We also observe 120. [Egyptian Curricle.] that where private carriages were known, as in Egypt, they were of the same shape as those used in war, and only differed from them by having less complete military accoutrements, although even in these the case for arrows is not wanting. One of the most interesting of the Egyptian paintings represents a person of quality arriving CHARIOTS late at an entertainment in his curricle, drawn (like all the Egyptian chariots) by two horses. He is attended by a number of running footmen, one of whom hastens forward to knock at the door of the house, another advances to take the reins, a third bears a stool to assist his master in alighting, and most of them carry their sandals iu their hands that they may run with the more ease. This conveys a lively illustration of such passages as 1 Sam. viii. 1L; 2 Sam. xv. 1. The principal distinction between these private cha- riots and those actually used in war was, as appears from the monuments, that in the former the party drove himself, whereas in war the cha- riot, as among the Greeks, often contained a second person to drive it, that the warrior might be at liberty to employ his weapons with the more effect. But this was not always the case ; for in the Egyptian' monuments we often see even royal personages alone in their chariots, warring furiously, with the reins lashed round their waist (No. 121). So it appears that Jehu (who cer- tainly rode in a war-chariot) drove himself; for his peculiar style of driving was recognised at a considerable distance (2 Kings ix. 20). In the prophecy of Nahum, who was of the first captivity, and resident (if not born) at Elkosh in Assyria, there is much allusion to chariots, suggested doubtless by their frequency before his eyes in the streets of Nineveh and throughout the Assyrian empire. In fact, when prophesying the downfal of Nineveh, he gives a particular and animated description of their action in the streets of the great city : ' The shield of his mighties is made red : The valiant men are clothed in scarlet: The chariots are as the fire of lamps, in the day when he prepareth them. And the horsemen spread fear In the streets, the chariots madden : They run to and fro in the broad places : Their appearance is as lamps, they run as lightning.' Nahum ii. 3, 4. These allusions to the horsemen and chariots of Nineveh give much interest to some recent discoveries on the site of that very ancient city, of various inscriptions and sculptures, which seem to show that the work was earlier than the age of Cyras, and may be referred to the times of the Assyrian empire. Some of the sculptures repre- sent horsemen completely armed and at full gallop. But the matter of greatest interest is the discovery of a curious bas-relief, representing a chariot drawn by two horses, and containing three persons. The principal of these appears to be a bearded man, lifting his right arm, and holding in his left hand a bow. He wears a tiara painted red (' the valiant men are clothed in scarlet ') ; behind him is a beardless slave, car- rying a fringed parasol, and at his left is the charioteer holding the reins and the whip. The principal person and the charioteer wear ear- rings. The chariot-wheels have eight spokes : the chariot itself has been covered with carving, now impossible to be made out. The horses are admi- rably drawn, and afford indications of pure Arabian blood. Their harness is very rich, and still bears evident traces of colouring, among which blue and red only can be distinguished, the rest having turned black, Behind the chariot CHARITY 191 rides a cavalier, bearing a lance, with a sword at his belt, and a quiver over his shoulder. CHARIOTS OF WAR. The Egyptians used horses in the equipment of an armed force before j Jacob and his sons had settled in Goshen ; they ! had chariots of war, and mounted asses and \ mules, and therefore could not be ignorant of the art of riding ; but for ages after that period Arab nations rode on the bare back, and guided the ' animals with a wand. Others, and probably the shepherd invaders, noosed a single rope in a slip- ' knot round the lower jaw, forming an imperfect bridle, with only one rein; a practice still in vogue among the Bedouins. Thus cavalry were but little formidable compared with chariots, until a complete command over the horse was obtained by the discovery of a true bridle. This seems to have been first introduced by chariot- drivers, and there are figures of well-constructed harness, reins, and mouth pieces, in very early ] Egyptian monument?, representing both native ! and foreign chariots of war. These differed little from each other, both consisting of a light pole, suspended between and on the withers of a pair of horses, the after-end resting on a light axle- tree, with two low wheels. Upon the axle stcod a light frame, open behind and floored for the warrior and his charioteer, who both stood within : on the sides of the frame hung the war-bow, in its case: a large quiver with arrows, and darts had commonly a particular sheath. In Persia, the chariots, elevated upon wheels of consider- able diameter, had four horses abreast ; and, in early ages, there were occasionally hooks or scythes attached to the axles. In fighting from chariots great dexterity was shown by the warrior, not only in handling his weapons, but also in stepping out upon the pole to the horses' shoul- ders, in o?dev the better to reach his enemies, and the charioteivr was an important person, sometimes equal in rank to the warrior himself. Both the kingdoms of Judah and Israel had war-chariots, and, from the case of king Josiah at the battle of 121. [Egyptian War Chariot.] Megiddo, it is clear they had also travelling- vehicles, for being wounded he quitted his fight- ing-chariot and in a second, evidently more com- modious, he was brought to Jerusalem (2 Chron. xxxv. 24) Chariots of war continued to be used in Syria in the time of the Maccabees (2 Mac. xiii. 5), and in B:itaiu when Caesar invaded the island. CHARITY. The Greek word ac/ape frequently thus rendered in the Authorized 'Version of the 192 CHEMOSH New Testament (e. g. \ Cor. xiii. throughout), is that which is more usually translated ' love ' in the same version (e. g. John xv. throughout). The translation of the word by ' love ' is the more proper, seeing that ' charity ' has acquired a sig- nification iu our language which limits it to overt acts of beneficence. The Greek word denotes that kindly state of mind or feeling which Tenders a person full of such goodwill or affectionate regard towards others as is always ready to evince itself in word or action. In short, it describes that state of feeling which the apostle enjoined the Romans (xii. 10) to entertain : ' Be ye kindly af- ffctioned one to another.' This extended meaning of the word explains the pre-eminence which the Apostle assigns to the virtue which it implies over every other Christian grace ( 1 Cor. xiii.). CHARMING OF SERPENTS. [ADDER.] CHE'BAR, a river of Mesopotamia, upon the banks of which king Nebuchadnezzar planted a colony of Jews, among whom was the prophet Ezekiel (2 Kings xxiv. 15 ; Ezek. i. I, 3 ; iii. 15, 23 ; x. 15, 22). This is without doubt the same river that was known among the Greeks as the Chaboras, and which now bears the name of Khabour. It flows to the Euphrates through Mesopotamia, and is the only considerable stream which enters that river. It is formed by the junction of a number of small brooks, which rise in the neighbourhood of a ruined town called Ras-el-Ain, 13 furlongs south-west of Merdin. It takes a southerly direction till it re- ceives the waters of another stream equal to itself, when it bends westward to the Euphrates, which it enters at Kerkesia, the Carchemish of Scripture. [CARCHKMISH.] CHEDORLAO'MER, King of Elam, and leader of the five kings who invaded Canaan in ihe time of Abraham (Gen. xiv.). [ABRAHAM ; ASSYRIA; ELAM.] CHEESE. There is much reason to conclude that the cheese used by the Jews differed in no respect from that still common in the East; which is usually exhibited in small cakes about the size of a tea saucer, white in colour, and ex- cessively salt. It has no rind, and soon becomes exceedingly hard and dry being, indeed, not made for long keeping. It is best when new and comparatively soft ; and, in this state, large quantities are consumed in lumps or crumbs not made up into cakes. All cheeie in the East is of very indifferent quality ; and it is within the writer's own knowledge that the natives in- finitely prefer English or Dutch cheese when they can obtain it. In making cheese, the com- mon rennet is either butter-milk or a decoction of the great-headed thistle, or wild artichoke. The curds are afterwards put into small baskets made of rushes or palm leaves, which are then tied up close, and the necessary pressure ap- plied. CHE'MOSH is the name of a national god of the Moabites (1 Kings xi. 7 ; 2 Kings xxiii. 13 ; Jer. xlviii. 7 ; who are for this reason called the ' people of Chemosh,' in Num. xxi. 29), and of the Ammonites (Judg. xi. 24), whose worship was introduced among the Israelites by Solomon (1 Kings xi. 7). No attempt which has been made to identify th:s god with others whose at- tributes are better known, are sufficiently plau- sible to deserve particular notice. The only CHERUBIM theory which rests on any probability is that which assumes a resemblance between Chemosh and Arabian idolatry. Jewish tradition affirms that he was worshipped under the symbol of a black star; and Maimonides states that his wor- shippers went bare-headed, and abstained from the use of garments sewn together by the needle. The black star, the connection with Arabian idolatry, and the fact that Chemosh is coupled with Moloch, favour the theory that he had some analogy with the planet Saturn. CHENANI'AH, God's goodness ; a master of the temple music, who conducted the grand mu- sical services when the ark was removed from the house of Obed-edom to Jerusalem (1 Chron. xv. 22). CHER'ETHITES and PEL'ETHITES, names borne by the royal life-guards in the time of David (2 Sam. viii. 18; 1 Chron. xviii. 17). Prevailing opinion translates their names, ' Headsmen and Foot-runners.' In the later years of David, their captain, Benaiah, rose to a more commanding importance than the generals of the regular troops ; just as in imperial Rome the prsefect of the praetorian guards became the second person in the empire. It is evident that, to perpetrate any summary deed, Benaiah and the guards were chiefly relied on. That they were strictly a body-guard is distinctly stated in 2 Sam. xxiii. 23. In 1 Sam. xxx. 14, the Che- rethites are named as a nation of the south, and in 2 Sam. xv. 15, the Cherethites and Pelethites are mentioned along with the Gittites, who were undoubtedly foreigners. It has therefore been supposed, with some probability, that David entrusted the care of his person to foreign guards. CHE'RITH, a river in Palestine, on the banks of which the prophet Elijah found refuge (1 Kings xvii. 3-7). Local traditions have n.ni- formly placed the Cherith on this side the Jor- dan ; and this agrees with the history and with Josephus. Dr. Robinson drops a suggestion that it may be the Wady Kelt, which is formed by the union of many streams in the mountains west of Jericho, issuing from a deep gorge, in which it passes by that village and then across the plain to the Jordan. It is dry in summer. CHER'UBIM (Cherub, pi. Cherubim} is the name of certain symbolical figures frequently mentioned in Scripture. The derivation and meaning of the term cannot now be known with certainty. Figures of the cherubim were conspicuous im- plements in the Levitical tabernacle. Two of them were placed at each end of the mercy-scat, standing in a stooping attitude, as if looking down towards it, while they overshadowed it with their expanded wings and, indeed, they were component parts of it, formed out of the same mass of pure gold as the mercy-seat itself (Exod. xxv. 19). These figures were afterwards transferred to th'- most holy place in Solomon's temple, and it has been supposed from 1 Chron. xxviii. 18, that that prince constructed two additional ones after the same pattern, and of the same solid and costly material ; but whether it was with a view to increase their number in accordance with the more spacious and magnificent edifice to which they were removed, or merely to supply the CHERUBIM place of those made by Moses, which in the many vicissitudes that befel the ark might have been mutilated or entirely separated from the mercy-seat to which they were attached is not ascertained. This much, however, is known, that Solomon erected two of colossal dimensions, in an erect posture with their faces towards the walls (2 Chron. iii. 13), covering with their out- stretched wings the entire breadth of the most holy place. These sacred hieroglyphics were profusely embroidered on the tapestry of the tabernacle, on the curtains and the great vail that separated the holy from the most holy place (Kxod. xxvi. 1, 31), as well as carved in several places (1 Kings viii. 6-8) on the walls, doors, and sacred utensils of the temple. The position occupied by these singular images at each ex- tremity of the mercy-seat while the Shechinah, or sacred flame that symbolized the divine pre- sence, and the awful name of Jehovah in written characters were in the intervening space gave rise to the well-known phraseology of the sacred writers, which represents the Deity dwelling be- tween or inhabiting the cherubim ; and, in fact, so intimately associated were they with the ma- nifestation of the divine glory, that whether the Lord is described as ut rest or in motion, as seated on a throne, or riding in a triumphal cha- riot, these symbolic figures were essential ele- ments in the description (Numb. vii. 89 ; Ps. xviii. 10 ; Ixxx. 1 ; xcix. 1-9 ; Isa. vi. 2 ; xxxvii. 16). The first occasion on which the Cherubim are mentioned in Scripture is on the expulsion of our first parents from Eden, when the Lord placed cherubim on the east of the garden ; or as it may be rendered, ' before or on the edge of the garden.' The word in the original translated ' on the east.' may signify as well before or on the edge of;' and the historian does not say that the Lord placed there ' cherubim,' but ' the cherubim.' The word rendered by our translators ' placed,' sig- nifies properly ' to place in a tabernacle,' an ex- pression which, viewed in connection with some incidents in the after history of the primaeval family (Gen. iv. 14-16), seems a conclusive esta- blishment of the opinion that this was a local tabernacle, in which the symbols of the Divine presence were manifested, suitably to the altered circumstances in which man after the Fall came before God, and to the acceptable mode of wor- ship he was taught to observe. That consecrated place, with its striking symbols, called ' the pre- sence of the Lord,' there is reason to believe, continued till the time of the Deluge, otherwise there would have been nothing to guard the way to the tree of life : and thus the knowledge of their form, from the longevity of the antedilu- vians, could have been easily transmitted to the time of Abraham. Moreover, it is an approved opinion that, when those emblems were removed at the close of the patriarchal dispensation from the place of public worship, the ancestors of that patriarch formed small models of them for domestic use, under the name of Sera- phim or Teraphim. The next occasion in the couttse of the sacred history on which the che- rubim are noticed is when Moses was com- manded to provide the furniture of the taber- nacle ; and. although he received instructions to make all things according to the pattern shown CHERUBIM 193 him in the Mount, and although it is natural to suppose that he saw a figure of the cherubim, yet we find no minute and special description of them, as is given of everything else, for the direction of the artificers (Exod. xxvi. 31). The simple mention which the sacred historian makes, in both these passages, of the cherubim, conveys the impression that the symbolic figures which had been introduced into the Levitical tabernacle were substantially the same with those established in the primaeval place of worship on the outskirts of Eden, and that by traditional information, or some other means, their form was so well known, both to Bezaleel and the whole congregation of Israel, as to render superfluous all further de- scription of them. On no other ground can we account for the total silence as to their configura- tion, unless we embrace the groundless and un- worthy opinion of those who impute to the author of the Pentateuch a studied concealment of some parts of his ritual, after the manner of the Mystics. But there was no mystery as to those remarkable figures, for Ezekiel knew at once (x. 20) the living creatures which appeared in his vision supporting the throne of God, and bearing it in majesty from place to place, to be cherubim, from having frequently seen them, in common with all other worshippers, in the carved work of the outer sanctuary. Moreover, as is the opinion of many eminent divines, the visionary scene with which this prophet was favoured, exhibited a transcript of the Temple, which was shown in pattern to David, and afterwards erected by his son and successor : and, as the chief design of that later vision was to inspire the Hebrew exiles in Ba- bylon with the hope of seeing, on their return to Judaea, another temple, more glorious than the 122. [Babylonian.] one then in ruins, it is reasonable to believe that, as the whole style and apparatus of this mystic temple bore an exact resemblance (1 Kings vi. 20) to that of Solomon's magnificent edifice, so the cherubs also that appeared to his fancy por- trayed on the walls would be fac-similes of those that belonged to its ancient prototype. Taking then his description of them to be the proper ap- pearance that belonged in common to all his cherubic creatures (chaps, i. x. xli.), we are led to conclude that they were compound figures, unlike any living animals or real object in nature, but rather a combination, in one nondescript ar- tificial image, of the distinguishing features and properties of several. The ox, as chief among 194 CHERUBIM the tame and useful animals, the lion among the wild ones, the eagle among the feathery tribes, and man, as head over all were the animals which, or rather parts of which, composed the symbolical figures. Each cherub had four dis- tinct faces on one neck that of a man in front, that of a lion on the right side, and of an ox on the left ; while behind was the face of an eagle. Each had four wings, the two under ones cover- ing the lower extremities (Heb. the feet), in token 'of decency and humility, while the upper ones, spread out on a level with the head and shoulders, were so joined together, to the edge of his neigh- bours', as to form a canopy ; and in this manner they soared rather than flew, without any vi- bratory motion with their wings, through the air. .Each had straight feet. The Hebrew version renders it ' a straight foot ;' and the probability is, that the legs were destitute of any flexible joint at the knee, and so joined together that its loco- motions must have been performed in some other way than by the ordinary process of walking, or lifting one foot after another. The ideal picture, then, which Ezekiel's description would lead us to form of the cherub, is that of a winged man, or winged ox, according to the particular phase it exhibited or the particular direction from which 123. [Persian.] it was seen. To use the words of Dr. Watts, ' That figure which would have had all four faces visible if it had stood forth as a real animal or a statue, could have had but two faces, or at most three, visible when figured on a wall or curtain, the other being hid behind; and thus the cherubs may be in all places of Scripture the same four-faced animals, and yet only two or three of their faces appear, according to their de- signed situation and the art of perspective. 124. [Egyptian.] Whether the golden calf constructed by Aaron might be not the Apis of Egypt but a repre- sentation of the antediluvian Cherubim as some suppose, from its being made on ' a feast to the .Lord,' and called ' the gods of Israel ' (Exod. CHERUBIM xxxii. 5), and whether Jeroboam, in the erection of his two calves, intended a schismatic imitation of the sacred symbols in the Temple of Jerusalem rather than the introduction of a new species of idolatry (1 Kings xii. 28), we shall not stop to inquire. But, as paganism is a corruption of patriarchal worship each nation having added something according to its own taste and fancy- perhaps we may find a confirmation of the views given above of the compound form of the che- rubim in the strangely compounded figures under which some of the heathen deities are repre- sented, or which symbolised their attributes, as shown in the preceding engravings. Many of these have outspread or lowering wings, after the manner of the Hebrew cherubim ; and there are perhaps few subjects which admit of more ample illustration from ancient monuments. The opinions concerning the design. of the cherubim are as diversified as those relative to their form. All are agreed that they had a sym- bolical meaning, although it is not easy to ascer- tain it. The ancients, as well as the fathers, considered that they had both a physical and a metaphysical object. The opinions of the mo- derns may be reduced to three systems. Hutch- inson and his followers consider the cherubim as emblems of the Trinity, with man incorporated into the divine essence. But the grand objection to this theory, where it is at all intelligible, is, that not only are the cherubim, in all the places of Scripture where they are introduced, described as distinct from God, and no more than his at- tendants, but that it represents the divine Being, who is a pure spirit, without parts, passions, or anything material, making a visible picture of himself, when in all ages, from tb- beginning of time, he has expressly prohibited : the likeness of anything in heaven above' AnoJier system regards the cherubim as symbolical of the chief ruling powers by which God carries on the operations of nature. As the heaven of heavens was typified by the holy of holies in the Levi- tical tabernacle (Heb. ix. 3-12, 24-28), this system considers that the visible heavens may be typified by the holy place or the outer sanctuary, ;n:d accordingly finding, as its supporters imagine they do, the cherubim identified with the aerial firmament and its elements in such passages as the following: Ps. xviii. 10; Deut. xxxiii. 2(i ; Ps. Ixviii. 4 ; he is said to descend in fire (Exod. xix. 18), and between which he dwelt in light (I Tim. vi. 1<>); and it was in this very manner he manifested his divine glory in the tabernacle and temple they interpret the cheru- bim, on which the Lord is described as riding, to be symbolical of the wind, the clouds, the fire, the light ; in short, the heavens, the atmosphere, the great physical powers by whii-.h the Crearor and preserver of the universe carries on the operations of nature. A third system considers the cherubim, from their being instituted immediately after the Fall, as having particular reference to the redemption of man, and as symbolical of the great and active rulers or ministers of the church. Those who adopt this theory as the true explanation of their emblematical meaning, are accustomed to refer to the living creatures, or cherubim, mentioned in the Apocalyptic vision (Rev. iv. 6), impro- perly rendered in our English translation CHESTNUT-TREE ' beasts,' and which, it is clear, were not angels, but redeemed men connected with the church, and deeply interested in the blessings and glory procured 'by the Lamb. The same character may be ascribed to the living creatures in Ezekiel's visions, and to the cherubim, which stood over and looked into the mercy-seat, sprinkled with the blood of the atonement, and on the Shechinah, or divine glory arising from it, as well as th cherubic figures which were placed on the edge of Eden ; and thus the cheru- bim, which are prominently introduced in all the three successive dispensations of the covenant of grace, appear to be symbols of those who, in every age, should officially study and proclaim the glo'-y and manifold wisdom of God. CHESTNUT TREE, a tree which is named thrice in the Scriptures. It occurs among the 'speckled rods' which Jacob placed in the wa- tering-troughs before the sheep (Gen. xxx. 37): its grandeur is indicated in Ezek. xxxi. 8, as well as in Ecclus. xxiv. 19 : it is noted for its magni- ficence, shooting its high boughs aloft. This CHILDREN 195 1Z5. [Plane-tree Platanus Orientalis.] description agrees well with the plane-tree, which is adopted by all the ancient translators, and scarcely any one now doubts that this is the tree which is meant. The Oriental plane-tree is a native of Western- most Asia, although, according to Professor Royle, it extends as far eastward as Cashmere. The stem is tall, erect, and covered with a smooth bark which annually falls off. The flowers are small and scarcely distinguishable : they come out a little before the leaves. The wood of the plane-tree is fine-grained, hard, and rather brittle than tough; when old, it is said to acquire dark veins, and to take the appearance of walnut wood. In those situations which are favourable to its growth, huge branches spread out in all directions from the massive trunk, invested with broad, deeply-divided, and glossy green leaves. This body of rich foliage, joined to the smoothness of the stem, and the symmetry of the general growth, renders the plane-tree one of the noblest objects in the vegetable kingdom. It has now, and had also of old, the reputation of being the tree which most effectually excludes the sun's beams in summer, and most readily admits them in winter thus affording the bes>t shelter from the extremes of both seasons. For this reason it was planted near public buildings and palaces, a practice which the Greeks and Romans adopted ; and the former delighted to adorn with it tneir academic walks and places of public exercise. In the East, the plane seems to have been considered sacred, as the oak was formerly in Britain. This distinc- tion is in most countries awarded to the most magnificent species of tree which it produces. In Palestine, for instance, where the plane does not appear to have been very common, the tere- binth seems to have possessed pre-eminence. No one is ignorant of the celebrated story of Xerxes arresting the inarch of his grand army before a noble plane-tree in Lydia. that he might render honour to it, and adorn its boughs with golden chains, bracelets, and other rich ornaments. The Oriental plane endures our own climate well, and grows to a fine tree ; but not to the enormous size which it sometimes attains in the East. Evelyn (in his Sy'ta) seems to ascribe the introduction of the plane-tree into England to the great Lord Bacon, who planted some which were still flourishing at Vertilam in 1706. This was, perhaps, the first plantation of any note; but it appears from Turner's Herbal (pub- lished in 1551), that the tree was known and cultivated in this country before the chancellor was born. CH ILDREN. The more children especially male children a person had among the Hebrews, the more was he honoured, it being considered as a mark of divine favour, while sterile people were, on the contrary, held in contempt (comp. Gen. xi. 30 ; xxx. 1 ; 1 Sam. ii. 5 ; 2 Sam. vi. 23 ; Ps. cxxvii. 3, sq. ; cxxviii. 3 ; Luke i. 7 ; ii. 5). That children were often taken as bondsmen by a creditor for debts contracted by the father, is evident from 2 Kings iv. 1 ; Isa. 1. 1 ; Neh. v. 5. Among the Hebrews, a father had almost unli- mited power over his children, nor do we find any law in the Pentateuch restricting that power to a certain age ; it was indeed the parents who even selected wives for their sons (Gen. xxi. 2 1 ; Exod. xxi. 9, 10, 1 1 ; Judg. xiv. 2, 5). It would appear, however, that a father s power over his daughters was still greater than that over his sons, since he might even annul a sacred vow made by a daughter, but not one made by a son (Num. xxx 4, 16). Children cursing or assault- ing their parents were punished by the Mosaical Law with death (Exod. xxi. 15, 17 : Lev. xx. 9). Before the time of Moses a father had the right to choose among his male children, and declare one of them (usually the child of his favourite wife) as his first-born, though he was perhaps only the youngest. Properly speaking, the ' first- born ' was he who was first begotten by the father, since polygamy excluded all regard in that respect to the mother. Thus Jacob had sons by all his four wives, while only one of them was called the first-born (Gen. xlix. 3); we find, however, instances where that name is applied also to the first-born on the mother's side (1 Chron. ii. 50 ; comp. v. 42 ; Gen. xxii. o >. 196 CHITTIM 21). The privileges of the first-born were con- siderable, as shown in BIRTHRIGHT. The first-born son, if not expressly deprived by the father of his peculiar rights, as was the case with Renben (Gen. xlix.), was at liberty to sell them to a younger brother, as happened in the case of Esau and Jacob (Gen. xxv. 31, 4 agrees verbatim with Genesis j xxxvi. 31-43. Perhaps, however, this passage in | both has been drawn from the same source. As the Almighty does nothing superfluously, i and puts forth no exertion of his power where his i infinite wisdom does not perceive a fitting neces- sity, it would have been unnecessary, as far as we can perceive, to suggest anew to the mind of ; the writer facts with which he must have been | partially acquainted by tradition, and which he | had an opportunity of knowing from the sacred j records. It is evident that the Chronicles were i compiled not only from former inspired writings, ! but, for the most part, from public records, regis- j ters, and genealogies belonging to the Jews, i That national a:mals existed there can be no , doubt. They are expressly mentioned, as in ' 1 Chron. xxvii. 24. They contained an account ' of the most important events in the history of the ; Hebrews, and were generally lodged in the taber- nacle or temple, where they could be most conve- ! nienlly consulted. The histories of kings appear to Lave- been ; usually written by prophets (1 Chron. xxix. 29; ' 2 Chron. ix. 29 ; xii. 15 ; xiii. 22). Hence they constantly refer to the divine rewards and punish- j ments characterizing the theocracy. These his- ; torical writings of the prophets were, for the most | part, inserted in the public annals, as is evident ' from 2 Chron. xx. .34; xxxii. 32; xii. 15; xxiv. ! 27. Whether they were always so inserted is j questionable, for they seem to be distinguished from the annals of the kingdom in 2 Chron. j xxxiii. 19. From such sources Ezra extracted the accounts which he was prompted to write for i the use of mankind in all ages. We cannot \ believe that his selection was indiscriminate or j careless. His inspiration effectually secured him '< against everything that was inaccurate or unsuit- \ able to the purposes for which he was superna- ! turally enlightened. That he committed mistakes cannot for a moment be admitted, else his history ' is impugned and its position in the canon inexpli- } cable. His veracity, integrity, and scrupulous | exactness must be held fast by every right-minded i believer. From an inspection of 1 Chron. xvi. 4-41 ; ' 1 Chron. xxii.-xxvi. 28; xxviii. xxix.; 2 Chron! ; xv. 1-15: 2 Chron. xvii. 7, &c. ; xxvi. 16-21 ; ; xxx.; xxxi., it will be manifest, that it was om | design of Ezra to notice with particularity thi i order of the divine worship as established by i David and Solomon, with various reformations in the theocracy that took place at different times. \ The Levitical priesthood, and the public service i J9S CHRYSOLITE of God, are specially noticed and prominently brought into view. From. 2 Chron. xiii. ; xx. 21, &c. ; xix. 2, &c. ; xxv. 7, &c., it is evident that God's miraculous interference on behalf of Judah, and his displeasure with idolatrous Israel, were also intended to be depicted. In accordance with the same object, pious kings evincing appro- priate zeal for the glory of Jehovah are com- mended, and their efforts marked with approval (coinp. 2 Chron xiv. 6-15; xvii. 10, &c. ; xx. ; xxvi. '>, &c. ; xxvii. 4-6, &c.), while the ruin of idolatrous practices is forcibly adduced (2 Chron. xxi. 11, &c. ; xxviii. 5, &c. ; xxxiii. 1 l,&c. ; xxv. 14, &c.: xxxvi. 6). Such are the characteristic peculiarities of these books; and we now ask the impartial reader t) consider if they be not worthy of the Holy Spirit under whose guidance the Chronicles were written. Are they not admirably in unison with the character of Ezra the high-priest and re- former ? What more natural, or more accordant with the solicitudes of this holy man, than to dwell upon such matters as relate to the worship of Jehovah, to the priests, and Levites? Surely he was appropriately directed to record the reforma- tions effected by godly kings, and the disastrous consequences of forsaking the true God, whose zeal was abundantly manifested in reform, and to whom idolatry was peculiarly offensive. And yet upon these very chapters and paragraphs charges the most flagrant have been founded. The author of them has been accused of hatred to Israel, pre- dilection for the Levites, love of the marvellous, design to magnify pious kings and to heighten the mistakes of the kingdom of Israel. It is unne- cessary to enter into any refutation of these mon- strous accusations. They bear with them their own condemnation. They are the offspring of that Rationalism which resolves to see nothing but what it relishes. On every page of these his- torical books are impressed genuineness and ho- nesty. The writer candidly refers to the sources whence his information was derived ; and con- temporary readers, placing implicit reliance on bis statements, allowed the original documents to pL'ris.h. He relates many things disgraceful to Judah and its kings, while he evinces no desire to palliate or conceal sin. He even retains, as we have seen before, expressions incongruous with his own age, and therefore exactly copied from the ancient records. Surely a writer guilty of falsification would have been careful to alter these into exact correspondence with his own times. Transparent simplicity of character needs not such minutiae. CHRYS'OLITE. This word occurs only in Rev xxi. 20 in the enumeration of the stones which formed the foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem. This stone is found solid, and in grains, or in an- gular pieces. The prevailing colour is yellowish green, and pistachio green of every variety and degree of shade, but always with a yellow and gold lustre. Although this stone is not mentioned in the Authorized Version of the Old Testament, it i supposed to be intended by the Hebrew word Tliarshish, which occurs in Exod. xxviii. 20 ; xxxix. IS; Ezek. i. ; x. 9; xxviii. 13; Cant. v. 4 ; Dan. x. 6, and is in all these places trans- lated ' beryl.' The name Tliarshish stone seems to intimate that it was known to the Hebrews as brought from the part so called. [THARSHISH.] CILICIA CHRYSOP'RASUS. This occurs only in Rev. xxi. 20. The name literally signifies ' leek-green stone,' and it is, as that name imports, of a green- ish golden colour like a leek, that is usually apple-green passing into grass green. CHURCH. The original Greek word which is thus rendered, in its larger signification denotes a number of persons called together for any purpose, an assembly of any kind, civil or religious. As, however, it is usually applied in the New Testa- ment to religious assemblages, it is very properly translated by ' assembly,' in the few instances in which it occurs in the civil sense (Acts xix. 32, 39, 41). It is, however, well to note that the word rendered ' assembly ' in these verses is the same which is rendered ' church ' everywhere else. In a few places the word occurs in the Jewish sense, of a congregation, an assembly of the people for worship, either in a synagogue (Matt, xviii. 17) or generally of the Jews regarded as a reli- gious body (Acts vii. 38 ; Heb. ii. 12). But the word most frequently occurs in the Christian sense of an assemblage (of Christians) generally (1 Cor. xi. 18). Hence it denotes a church, the Christian church; in which, how- ever, we distinguish certain shades of meaning, viz. 1. A particular church, a church in a certain place, as in Jerusalem (Acts viii. 1 ; xi. 22, &c.), in Antioch (Acts xi. 26; xiii. 1, &c.), in Corinth (1 Cor. i. 2 ; 2 Cor. i. 1), &c. &c. 2. Churches of (Gentile) Christians, without dis- tinguishing place (Rom. xvi. 4). 3. An assembly of Christians which meets anywhere, as in the house of any one (Rom. xvi. 5; 1 Cor. xvi. 19 : Philem. 2). The Church universal the whole body of Christian believers (Matt. xvi. 18; 1 Cor. xii. 28: Gal. i. 13; Eph. i. 22; iii. 10; Heb. xii. 23, &c.). CHU'SHAN-RISHATHA'IM, a king of Meso- potamia, by whom the Israelites were oppressed for eight years (B.C. 1394 to B.C. 1402), until delivered by Othniel (Judg. iii. 8-10). CHU'ZA, steward of Herod Antipas, "whose wife Joanna was one of those who employed their means in contributing to the wants of Christ and his apostles (Luke viii. 3). CILIC'IA, the south-eastern part of Asia Minor, bounded on the W. by Pamphylia ; sepa- rated on the N. from Cappadocia by the Taurus range, and on the E. by Amanus from Syria ; and having the gulf of Issus (Iskenderoon) and the Cilician Sea (Acts xxvii. 5) on the South. By the ancients the eastern, part was called Cilicia Proper, or the level Cilicia; and the western, the rough, or mountainous. The former was well-watered, and abounded in various kinds of grain and fruits. The chief towns in this division were Issus, at the south-eastern extre- mity, celebrated for the victory of Alexander over Darius Codomanus (B.C. 333), and not far from the passes of Amanus ; Sola, originally a colony of Argives and Rhodians; and Tarsus, the birth-place of the Apostle Paul [TABSUS]. Cilicia Trachea furnished an inexhaustible supply of cedars and firs for ship-building; it was also noted for a species of goat, of whose skins cloaks and tents were manufactured. Its breed of horses was so superior, that 360 (one for each day of the year) formed part of the annual tribute to the king of Persia. The neighbourhood of CINNAMON Corycus produced large quantities of saffron. Though partially subjected to the Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Syrians, and Romans, the Eleu- thero- (o:r free) Cilicians, as the inhabitants of the mountainous districts were called, were governed by their own kings, till the time of Vespasian. The sea-coast was for a long time occupied by pirates, who carried on the appro- priate vocation of slave-merchants, and found ample encouragement for that nefarious traffic among the opulent Romans ; but at last their de- predations became so formidable, that Pompey was invested with extraordinary powers for their suppression, which he accomplished in forty days. He settled the surviving freebooters at Sola;, which he rebuilt and named Pompeiopolis. Ci- cero was proconsul of Cilicia (A.U.C. 702), and gained some successes over the mountaineers of Amanus, for which he was rewarded with a triumph. Many Jews were settled in Cilicia (Acts vi. 9). Accordirg to the modern Turkish divisions of Asia Minor, Cilicia Proper belongs to the Pasha- lie of Adana ; and Cilicia Trachea to the Liwah of Itchil in the Motisselimlik of Cyprus. CIN'NAMON occurs in three places of Scrip- ture ; first, about 1 GOO years before the Christian era, in Exod. xxx. 23, where it is enumerated as one of the ingredients employed in the prepara- tion of the holy anointing oil : ' Take thou also unto thee powerful spices, myrrh, and of sweet cinnamon {kinnamon besem) half as much (t. e, 250 shekels), together with sweet calamus and cassia.' It is next mentioned in Prov. vii. 1 7, and again in Cant. iv. 14 ; while in Rev. xxiii. 13, among the merchandise of Babylon, we have 'cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense.' Many writers have doubted whether the kin- namon of the Hebrews is the same article that we now call cinnamon. Others have doubted whether our cinnamon was at all known to the ancients. But the same thing has been said of almost every other drug which is noticed by them. If we were to put faith in all these doubts, we should be left without any substances possessed of sufficiently remarkable properties to have been articles of ancient commerce. Cinnamon of the best quality is imported in the present day from Ceylon, and also from the Malabar coast, in consequence of the cinnamon plant having been introduced there from Ceylon. An inferior kind is also exported from the pen- insula of India. From these countries the cin- namon and cassia of the ancients must most likely have been obtained, though both are also produced in the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, in China, and in Cochinchina. Cinnamon is im- ported in bales and chests the bundles weighing about one pound each. The pieces consist of compound quills, are about three feet long, slender, and inclose within them several smaller quills. These are thin, smooth, of a brownish colour, of a warm, sweetish, and agreeable taste, and fragrant odour ; but several kinds are known in modern markets, as they were in ancient times. In Ceylon cinnamon is carefully cultivated, the best cinnamon gardens being on the south- western coast, where the soil is light and sandy, and the atmosphere moist from the prevalent CINNAMON 199 southern winds. The plants begin to yield cin- namon when about six or seven years old, after which the shoots may be cut every three or four years. The best kind? of cinnamon are obtained from twigs and shoots ; less than half, or more than two or three inches in diameter, are not peeled. ' The peeling is effected by making two opposite, or when the branch is thick, three or four longitudinal incisions, and then elevating the bark by introducing the peeling knife be- neath it. In twenty-four hours the epidermis and greenish pulpy matter are carefully scraped off. In a few hours the smaller quills are introduced into the larger ones, and in this way congeries of quills are formed, often measuring forty inches in length. The bark is then dried in the sun, and afterwards made into bundles, with pieces of split bamboo twigs.' Besides cinnamon, an oil of cinnamon is obtained in Ceylon, by macerating the coarser pieces of the bark, after being re- duced to a coarse powder, in sea-water, for two days, when both are submitted to distillation. A fatty substance is also obtained by bruising and boiling the riper fruit, when an oily body floats on the surface, which on co_oling concretes into a dirty whitish, rather hard, fatty matter. Some camphor may be procured from the roots. 127. [Kinnamomum cassia.] Cassia bark was distinguished with difficulty from cinnamon by the ancients. In the present day it is often sold for cinnamon ; indeed, unless a purchaser specify true cinnamon, he will pro- bably be supplied with nothing but cassia. It is made up into similar bundles with cinnamon, has the same general appearance, smell, and taste ; but its substance is thicker and coarser, its colour darker, its flavour much less sweet and fine than that of Ceylon cinnamon, while it is more pungent, and is followed by a bitter taste ; it is also less closely quilled, and breaks shorter than genuine cinnamon. Dr. Pereira, whose de- scription we have adopted, has ascertained that cassia is imported into the London market from Bombay (the produce of the Malabar coast), and also from the Mauritius, Calcutta, Batavia, Sin- gapore, the Philippine Islands, and Canton. Mr. Reeves says, ' Vast quantities both of cassia seeds (buds) and cassia lignea are annually brought to 200 CIRCUMCISION Canton from the province of Kwangse, whose principal city (Kwiihin, literally ' cassia forest') derives its name from the forests" of cassia around it The Chinese themselves use a much thicker bark, unfit for the European market." The Malabar cassia lignea is thicker and coarser than that of China. From the various sources, inde- pendently of the different qualities, it is evident, as in the case of cinnamon, that the ancients might have been, as no doubt they were, ac- quainted with several varieties of cassia. These, we have no doubt, are yielded by more than one species. Mr. Marshall, from information ob- tained while he was staff-surgeon in Ceylon, maintained that cassia, or at least a part of it, was the coarser bark of the true cinnamon. Dr. Wight has ascertained that more than one species yields the cassia of Malabar, often called cin- namon. Besides cassia bark, there is also a cassia oil, and cassia buds, supposed to be pro- duced by the same tree. There can be no reason- able doubt, as cinnamon and cassia were known to the Greeks, that they must have been known to the Hebrews also, as the commerce with India can be proved to have been much more ancient than is generally supposed. CIN'NERETH, or CINNEROTH, one of the 'fenced cities' of the tribe of Naphtali (Josh. xix. 35; Deut. iii. 17 ; Josh. xi. 2). In the last of the texts cited it seems to indicate a district. It is also the earlier name of the lake Gen- nesareth (which is supposed to be a corruption of Cinnereth), from which we may collect that the town lay on the western border of the lake, and was of sufficient consequence to give its own name to it. It is even supposed that Cinnereth, afterwards Gennesareth, was the earlier name of the town of Tiberias, and under the latter change still extended its own denomination to the lake ; nor is there anything improbable in this con- jecture. CIRCUMCI'SION. The history of Jewish Circumcision lies on the surface of the Old Testa- ment Abraham received the rite from Jehovah, Moses established it as a national ordinance, and Joshua carried it into effect before the Israelites entered the land of Canaan. Males only were subjected to the operation, and it was to be per- formed on the eighth day of the child's life : foreign slaves also were forced to submit to it, on entering an Israelite's family. Those who are unacquainted with other sources of information on the subject besides the Scriptures might easily 1 suppose that the rite was original with Abraham, characteristic of his seed, and practised among I those nations only who had learned it from them. This, however, appears not to have been the case. First of all, the Egyptians were a circumcised people. It has been alleged by some writers that this was not true of the whole nation, but of the priests only. A great preponderance of argu- ment, however, appears to us to prove that the rite was universal among the old Egyptians, as long as their native institutions flourished ; al- though there is no question that, under Persian and Greek rule, it gradually fell into disuse, and was retained chiefly by the priests and by those who desired to cultivate ancient wisdom. The Colchians, who, according to Herodotus, were a colony from Egypt, learnt the practice CIRCUMCISION from the Egyptians, as also did the savage Tro- glodytes of Africa. Herodotus, moreover, tell* us that the Ethiopians were also circumcised ; and he was in doubt whether they had learned the rite from the Egyptians, or the Egyptians from them. By the Ethiopians we must understanc him to mean the inhabitants of Meroe or Sen- naar. In the present day the Coptic Church continues to practise it : the Abyssinian Christian* do the same; and that it was not introduced among the latter with a Judaical Christianity appears from their performing it upon both sexes. Oldendorp describes the rite as widely spread through Western Africa 16 on each side of the Line even among natives that are not Moham- medan. In later times it has been ascertained that it is practised by the Kafir nations in South Africa, whom Prichard supposes to form ' a great part of the native population of Africa to the southward of the Equator.' How far the rite was extended through the Syro-Arabian races is uncertain, but there can be no doubt that it was widely diffused among them. The Philistines, in the days of Saul, were how- ever uncircumcised ; so also, says Herodotus, were all the Phoenicians who had intercourse with the Greeks. That the Canaanites, in the days of Jacob, were not all circumcised, is plain from the affair of Dinah and Shechem. The story of Zipporah (Exod. iv. 25), who did not circumcise her son until fear came over her, that Jehovah would slay her husband Moses, proves that the family of Jethro, the Midianite, had no fixed rule about it, although the Midianites are generally regarded as children of Abraham by Keturah. On the other hand, we have the dis- tinct testimony of Josephus, that the Ishmaelite Arabs, inhabiting the district of Nabathaca, were circumcised after their thirteenth year. The fact that the books of Moses, of Joshua, and of Judges, never bestow the epithet imcircumcised as a re- proach on any of the seven nations of Canaan, any more than on the Moahites or Ammonites, the Amalekites, the Midianites, or other inland tribes with whom they came into conflict, taken in connection with the circumstance, that as soon as the Philistines became prominent in the nar- rative, after the birth of Samson, this epithet is of rather common occurrence, and that the bringing back, as a trophy, the foreskins of slain enemies, never occurs except against the Philistines (1 Sam. xviii.), would lead us to conclude, that while the Philistines, like the Sidonians and the other mari- time Syrian nations known to the Greeks, were wholly strangers to the practice, it was common among the Canaanites and all the more inland tribes. How far the rite of circumcision spread over the south-west of Arabia no definite record sub- sists. The silence of the Koran confirms the statement of Abulfeda, that the custom is older than Mohammed, who, it would appear, in no respect regarded it as a religious rite. Never- theless it has extended itself with the Moham- medan faith, as though it were a positive ordi- nance. Pocock cites a tradition, which ascribes to Mohammed the words 'Circumcision is an or- dinance for men, and honourable in women.' This extension of the rite to the other sex might in itself, satisfy us that it did not come to those nations from Abraham and Ishmael. We have CISTERN [ready seer that Abyssinian circumcision has le same peculiarity : so that it is every way pro- able that Southern Arabia had the rite from the ame source or influence as Ethiopia. In fact, le very closest relations are known to have sub- isted between the natious on the opposite coasts f the Red Sea. The moral meaning of the word ' uncircum- ised' was a natural result of its having been nade legally essential to Hebrew faith. Uncir- umcised in heart and ears ' was a metaphor to hich a prophet would be carried, as necessarily s a Christian teacher to such phrases as ' unbap- ized in soul,' or ' washed by regeneration.' If, lowever, we try to take a step farther back still, and ask why this ordinance in particular was elected, as so eminently essential to the seed of Abraham, we probably find that we have reached \ point at which we must be satisfied with know- ng the fact without the reason. Evert/ external ordinance, as for instance baptism, must have more or less that is arbitrary in it. It is, how- :ver, abundantly plain that circumcision was not ntended to separate the Jews from other nations enerally, for it could not do so : and, least of all, from the Egyptians, as the words in Joshua (v. 9) show. Rather, it was a well known and already understood symbol of purity. CISTERN. In a country which has scarcely more than one perennial stream, where fountains are not abundant, and where the months of sum- mer pass without rain, the preservation of the rain-water in cisterns must always have been a matter of vast importance, not only in the pas- ture-grounds, but in gardens, and, above all, in towns. Hence the frequent mention of cisterns in Scripture, and more especially of those which are found in the open country. These were, it seems, the property of those by whom they were formed (Num. xxi. 22). They are usually little more than large pits, but sometimes take the character of extensive subterraneous vaults, open only by a small mouth, like that of a well They are filled with rain-water, and (where the climate allows) with snow during winter, and are then closed at the mouth with large flat stones, over which sand is spread in such a way as to prevent their being easily discovered. If by any chance the waters which the shepherd has thus treasured up are lost by means of an earthquake or some other casualty, or are stolen, both he and his flocks are exposed to great and imminen danger ; as are also travellers who hasten to a cistern and find its waters gone. For this reason a failure of water is used as the image of any great calamity (Isa. xli. 17, 18; xliv. 3). There is usually a large deposit of mud at the bottom of these cisterns, so that he who falls into them even when they are without water, is liable to perish miserably (Gen. xxxvii. 22, sq. ; Jer xxxviii.6; Lam. iii. 53; Ps. xl. 2; Ixix. 15) Cisterns were sometimes used, when empty, as prisons, and indeed prisons which were con structed under ground received the same name (Gen. xxxix. 20; xL 15). In cities the cisterns were works of much la bour, for they were either hewn in the rocks 01 surrounded with subterraneous walls, and linec with a fine incrustation. The system which in this respect formerly prevailed in Palestine is doubtless, the same that exists at present ; anc CITIES OF REFUGE 201 ndeed there is every probability that most of he cisterns now in use were constructed in very ancient times. Professor Robinson assures us, hat ' the main dependence of Jerusalem at the resent day is on its cisterns ; and this has pro- >ably always been the case.' He then mentions he immense cisterns now and anciently existing within the area of the Temple: supplied partly )y rain water, and partly by an aqueduct from Solomon's Pools, and which, of themselves, would furnish a tolerable supply in case of a siege. But, in addition to these, almost every private house in Jerusalem, of any size, is un- derstood to have at loast one or more cisterns, xcavated in the soft Jimestone rock on which the city is built. The cisterns have usually merely a round opening at the top, sometimes auilt up with stonework above, and furnished with a curb and a wheel for the bucket ; so that they have externally much the appearance of an ordinary well. The water is conducted into them from the roofs of the houses during the rainy season ; and, with proper care, remains pure and sweet during the whole summer and autumn. In this manner most of the larger houses and the public buildings are supplied. The Latin convent, in particular, is said to be amply furnished ; and in seasons of drought is able to deal out a sufficiency for all the Christian inhabitants of the city. Most of these cisterns have undoubtedly come down from ancient times ; and their immense extent furnishes a full solution of the question as to the supply of water for the city. Under the disadvantages of its position in this respect, Jerusalem must necessarily have always been dependent on its cisterns ; and a city which thus annually laid in its supply for seven or eight months could never be overtaken by a want o1 water during a siege. Nor is this a trait pecu- liar to the Holy City ; for the case is the same throughout all the hill country of Judah and Benjamin. Fountains and streams are few, compared with Europe and America ; and the inhabitants, therefore, collect water during th< rainy season in tanks and cisterns in the cities in the fields, and along the high roads, for the sustenance of themselves and of their tlocks anc herds, and for the comfort of the passing tra veller. Many, if not the most, of these art obviously antique ; and they exist not unfre- quentiy along the ancient roads which are no deserted. Thus, on the long-forgotten way from Jericho to Bethel, ' broken cisterns ' of high an- tiquity are found at regular intervals. Tha Jerusalem was thus actually supplied of old with water is apparent also from the numerous re mains of ancient cisterns still existing in th< tract north of the city, which was once enclosec within the walls. CITIES OF REFUGE. Places of refug where, under die cover of religion, the guilt' and the unfortunate might find shelter and pro tection were not unknown among the aiicien heathen. The right of shelter and impunity wa enjoyed by certain places reputed sacred, such a. groves, temples, and altars. This protective power commonly spread itself over a considerable district round the holy spot, and was watched over and preserved by severe penalties. Among the Greeks and Romans the number of these 202 CITIES OF REFUGE places of asylum became in process of time very great, and led, by abuse, to a fresh increase of criminals. Tiberius, in consequence, caused a solemn inquiry into their effects to be made, which resulted in a diminution of their number and a limitation of their privileges. This pagan custom passed into Christianity. As early as Constantino the Great, Christian churches were asylums for the unfortunate per- sons whom an outraged law or powerful enemies pursued. Theodosius, in 431, extended this pri- vilege to the houses, gardens, and other places which were under the jurisdiction of the churches, and the synod of Toledo, in 681, widened the right of asylum to thirty paces from every church. Since then this ecclesiastical privilege prevailed in the whole of Catholic Christendom, and was preserved undiminished, at least in Italy, *>o long as the papal independence re- mained. The right acted beneficially in ages when violence and revenge predominated, and fixed habitations were less common than now ; but its tendency to transfer power from the ma- gistrate to the priesthood was injurious to the inviolability of law and the steady administration of justice. It has accordingly in recent times been abrogated by most governments. Among the Jews the ' cities of refuge ' bore some resemblance to the asylum of the classic nations, but were happily exempt from the evil consequences to' which reference has been made, and afford, even to the present day, no mean proof of the superior wisdom and benignant spirit of the Jewish laws. The institution was framed with a view to abate the evils which ensued from the old esta- blished rights of the blood-avenger [BLOOD- REV EXGE], and thereby to further the prevalence in the nation of a mild, gentle, and forgiving spirit From the laws on this point (Exod. xxi. 13; Num. xxxv. 9-34; Deut. xix. 1-13) it appears that Moses set apart out of the sacerdotal cities six as ' cities of refuge." There were, on the eastern side of the Jordan, three, namely, ' Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country of the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead of the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan of the Manassites' (Deut. iv. 43) ; on the western side three, namely, ' Ke- desh in Galilee in Mount Naphtali, and Shechem in Mount Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah' (Josh. xx. 7). If found desirable, then other cities might be added. An inspection of the map will show how wisely these places were chosen so as to make a city of refuge easy of access from all parts of the land. To any one of these cities a person who had unawares and unintentionally slain any one might flee, and if he reached it before he was overtaken by the avenger of blood, he was safe within its shelter, provided he did not remove more than a thousand yards from its circuit, nor quit the refuge till the decease of the high-priest under whom the Homicide had taken place. If, however, he transgressed these provi- sions, the avenger might lawfully put him to death. The roads leading to the cities of refuge were to be kept in good repair. Before, how- ever, the fugitive could avail himself of the shelter conceded by the laws, he was to undergo a solemn trial,, and make it appear to the satis- CITIES OF REFUGE faction of the magistrates of the place where the homicide was committed that it was purely acci- dental. Should he, however, be found to have been guilty of murder, he was delivered ' into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he might die.' And the Israelites were strictly forbidden to spare him either from considerations of pity or in consequence of any pecuniary ransom. This disallowal of a compensation by money in the case of murder shows a just regard for human life, and appears much to the advantage of the Hebrew legislation when compared with the practice of other countries (Athens, for instance, and Islam), in which pecuniary atonements were allowed,. if not encouraged, and where, in consequence, the life of the poor must have been in as great jeopardy as the character of the wealthy. The asylum afforded by Moses displays the same benign regard to human life in respect of the homicide himself. Had no obstacle been put in the way of the Goel, instant death would have awaited any one who had the misfortune to occa- sion the death of another. By his wise arrange- ments, however, Moses interposed a seasonable delay, and enabled the manslayer to appeal to the laws and justice of his country. Momentary wrath could hardly execute its fell purposes, and a suitable refuge was provided for the guiltless and unfortunate. Yet as there is a wide space between the inno- cence of mere homicide and the guilt of actual murder, in which various degrees of blame might easily exist, so the legislator took means to make the condition of the manslayer less happy than it was before the act or the mischance, lest entire impunity might lead to the neglect of necessary precaution and care. With great propriety, there- fore, was the homicide made to feel some legal inconvenience. Accordingly he was removed from his patrimony, restricted in his sphere of locomotion, affected indirectly in his pecuniary interests, and probably reduced from an affluent or an easy station to one of service and labour. The benefit of the protection afforded was com- mon to strangers and sojourners with native Israelites. What ensues rests on the authcfrity of the Rab- bins. In order to give the fugitive all possible advantage in his flight, it was the bnsiness of tlie Sanhedrim to make the roads that led to the cities of refuge convenient by enlarging them and removing every obstruction that might hurt his foot or hinder his speed. No hillock was left, no river was allowed over which 'there was not a bridge, and the road was at least two and thirty cubits broad. At every turning there were posts erected bearing the words Refuge, Jtffittje, to guide the unhappy man in his flight ; and two students in the law were appointed to accompany him, that, if the avenger should overtake him before he reached the city, they might attempt to pacify him till the legal investigation could take place. When once settled in the city of refuge, the manslayer had a convenient habitation assigned him gratuitously, and the citizens were to teach him some trade whereby he might support him- self. To render his confinement more easy, the mothers of the high-priests nsed to feed and clothe these unfortunate fugitives, that they might CITIZENSHIP not be impatient and pray for the death of their sons, on whose decease they were restored to their liberty and their property. If the slayer died in the city of refuge before he was releast d, his bones were delivered to his relations, after the death of the high-priest, to be buried in the sepulchre of his fathers. In addition to this right of asylum, a custom appears to have prevailed from very early times, both among the chosen people and the nations of the world, of fleeing, in case of personal danger, to the altar. With the Jews it was customary for the fugitive to lay hold of the horns of the altar, whether in the tabernacle or temple : by which, however, shelter and security were ob- tained only for those who had committed sins of i:!iorance or inadvertence (Exod. xxi. 14 ; 1 Kings ir.50; ii. 28). From the two last passages it seems that state-criminals also sought the protec- tion of the altar, probably more from the force of custom than any express law. Their safety, however, depended on the will of the king ; for in the passages referred to it appears that in one case (that of Adonijah) life was spared, but in the other (that of Joab) it was taken away even ' by the altar.' Compare Matt xxiii. 35. CITIZENSHIP. Strict isolation did by no means, as some suppose, form the leading prin- ciple in the system of theocracy as laid down by Moses, since even non-Israelites not only were allowed to reside in Palestine, but had the fullest protection of the law, equally with the descendants of Abraham (Exod. xii. 19 ; Lev. xxiv. 22 ; Num. xv. 15; xxxv. 15; Deut. L 10; xxiv. 17: the law of usury, Deut. xxiri. 20, made, how- ever, an exception), and were besides recom- mended in general terms by Moses to humanity and charity (Exod. xxii. 21 ; xxiii. 9 ; Lev. xix. 33, 34 ; Deut. x. 1 8 ; comp. Jer. viL 6 ; Mai. iii. 5), as well as to a participation in certain prero- gatives granted to the poor of the land, such as a share in the tithe and feast-offering, and the har- vest in the Jubilee-year (Deut. xiv. 29 ; xvi. 10, 14; xxvi. 11 ; Lev. xxv. 6). In return, it was required on the part of non-Israelites not to com- mit acts by which the religious feelings of the people might be hurt (Exod. xx. 10 ; Lev. xvii. 10 ; XTiiL 26 ; xx. 2 ; xxiv. 1G ; Deut. v. 14. The eating of an animal which had died a natural death, Deut xiv. 21, seems to have been the sole exception). The advantage the Jew had over the Gentile was thus strictly spiritual, in his being a citizen, a member of the theocracy, of the community of God, on whom positive laws were enjoined. But even to this spiritual privi- lege Gentiles were admitted under certain restric- tions (Deut. xxiii. 1-9). The only nations that were altogether excluded from the citizenship of the theocracy by especial command of the Lord, were the Ammonites and Moabites, from a feeling of vengeance against them : and in the same situ- ation were all castrated persons, and bastards, from a feeling of disgrace and shame (Deut. xxiii. 1-6). In the time of Solomon, no less than 153,600 strangers were resident in Palestine (2 Chron. ii. 17). Roman citizenship (Acts xxii. 28), was granted in the times of the Emperors to whole provinces and cities, as also to single individuals, for some service rendered to the state or the imperial family, or eren for a certain sum of money (Acts CLOUD 203 xxii. 28). The Apostle Paul was a Roman citizen by family (Acts, I c ), and hence his protesting against corporal or capital punishment. CLAU'DA, a small island off the S.\V. coast of Crete, mentioned in Acts xxvii. ir>. It now bears the name of Gozzo. CLAU'DI A, a Christian female of Rome, men- tioned in 2 Tim iv. 21. CLAU'DIUS, the fifth Roman emperor, and successor of Caligula, A.D. 41-54 (Acts xi. '28 ; xviii. 2\ His full name was Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus. Previously to his accession he led rather a dissolute life, and the throne was in a great measure secured to him through the address and solicitations of Herod Agrippa. This obligation he returned by great and peculiar favours to that personage : and the Jews were generally treated with indulgence till the ninth year of his reign, when those who abode at Rome were all banished thence (Acts xviii. -2). Several famines occurred under Claudius, one of which, in the fourth year of his reign, extended to Pa- lestine and Syria, and appears to be that which was foretold by Agabus (Acts xi. 28). CLAUDIUS LYSIAS. [LYSIAS.] CLAUDIUS FELIX. [FELIX.] CLAY, a substance frequently mentioned in Scripture, chiefly with reference to its employ- ment by the potter, the elegant and useful forms assumed by the rude material under his Lands supplying a significant emblem of the Divine power over the destinies of man ( Isa. Ixiv. 8 ; Rom. ix. 21). A remarkable allusion to the use of clay in sealing occurs in Job xxxviii. 14, * He turneth it as clay to the seal.' This may be ex- plained by reference to the ancient practice of impressing unburnt bricks with certain marks and inscriptions which were obviously made by means of a large seal or stamp. We trace this in the bricks of Egypt and Babylon [BRICKS]. Modern Oriental usages supply another illustra- tion. Travellers, when entering the khans in towns, often observe the rooms in which goods have been left in charge of the Wianjee sealed on the outside with clay. A piece of clay is placed over the lock, and impressed by a large wooden stamp or seal. CLE'MENT, a person mentioned by Paul (Phil. iv. 3), as one whose name was in the book of life. For the meaning of this phrase, see BOOK OF LIFE. This Clement was, by the ancient church, identified with the bishop of Rome of the same name; and that opinion has naturally been followed by Roman Catholic expositors. It can- not now be proved incorrect ; but the suspicion exists that the case here may be as with many other names in the New Testament, which have been assigned to celebrated persons of a later period. Clement is said to have lived to the third year of the emperor Trajan (A.D. 100), when he suffered martyrdom. 1. CLEOPAS, one of the two disciples to whom Jesus appeared in the way to Eramaus (Luke xxiv. 18). He is not to be confounded with the other Cleophas, who was also called Alphxus. 2. CLEOPHAS, or rather Clopas, who was also called Alpha.' us, which see. CLIMATE. [PALESTINE.] CLOUD. The allusions to clouds in Scripture, as well as their use in symlolical language, must be understood with reference to the nature of the 204 COAL climate, where the sky scarcely exhibits the trace of a cloud from the beginning of May to the end of Septeml>er, daring which period clouds so rarely appear, and rains so seldom fall, as to be considered phenomena as was the case with the harvest rain which Samuel invoked (1 Sam. xii. 17, 18), and with the little cloud, not larger than a man's hand, the appearance of which in the west was immediately noticed as something re- markable not only in itself, but as a sure har- binger of rain (1 Kings xviii. 44). As in such climates clouds refreshingly veil the oppressive glories of the sun, clouds often symbo- lize the Divine presence, as indicating the splen- dour, insupportable to man, of that glory which they wholly or partially conceal (Exod. xvi. 10 ; xxxiii. 9: xxxiv. 5; xl. 34, 35; Num. xi 25; xxi 5 ; Job xxii. 14 ; Ps. xviii. 11,12; xcvii. 2 ; civ. 3 ; Isa. xix. 1 ; Matt xvii. 5 ; xxiv. 30, &c. ; Acts i. 9; Rev. i. 7: xiv. 14, 16). Somewhat allied to this use is that which makes clouds the symbols of the Divine power (2 Sam. xxii. 12 ; Ps. Ixviii. 34 ; Ixxxix. 6 ; civ. 3; Nahum i. 3). Clouds are also the symbol of armies and mul- titudes of people (Jer. iv. 13 ; Isa. Ix. 8 ; Heb. xii. 1). There are many other dispersed symbolical al- lusions to clouds i.i Scripture not coming under these descriptions ; but their purport is in every case too obvious to need explanation (see particu- larly Prov. xvi. 16; Eccles. xii. 2; Isa. iv. 5; xliv. 22 ; 2 Pet. ii. 17 : Jude 12). CNI'DUS, otherwise GNIDUS, a town and pe- ninsula of Doris in Caria, jutting out from the south-west part of Asia Minor, between the islands of Rhodes and Cos. It was celebrated for the worship of Venus. The Romans wrote to this city in favour of the Jews (1 Mace. xv. 23), and St. Paul passed it in his way to Home (Acts xxvii. COAL. It is generally assumed that, in those numerous passages of our version in which the word coal occurs, charcoal, or some other kind of artificial fuel, is to be understood ; at all events, that the word has not its English meaning. The idea is founded upon the supposition that fossil coal was not known to the ancients as an article of fuel, and especially to the ancient inhabitants of Syria, whose country it is generally imagined did not produce it. But the existence of coal in Syria is now placed beyond a doubt. Many in- dications of coal occur in the Lebanon mountains : the seams of this mineral even protrude through the superincumbent strata in various directions. At Cornale, eight hours from Beirout at 2500 feet above the level of the sea, where the coal seams are three feet in thickness, a mine is ac- tually being worked by order of Mohammed Ali, in which more than 100 men are employed. The coal is of good quality, and mixed with iron py- rites. In 1837 the quantity of coal extracted was 14,700 cantars of 217 okes, each making about 4000 tons. A furnace for smelling the ore and a railroad to convey the coals to Beirout were then in contemplation. It appears from the testimony of Theophrastus that pit-coal was used by artificers in Greece, nearly 300 years B.C., and the well-ascertained existence of coal in Syria, emerging to the very surface, may, in conjunction with some particulars respecting the mention of coal in the Scriptures, COCKLE tend to show the possibility that coal, in the pro- per sense, was not wholly unknown or unem- ployed by the ancient Hebrews, &c. COCK. It is somewhat singular that this bird and poultry in general should not be distinctly noticed in the Hebrew Scriptures. They were, it may be surmised, unknown in Egypt when the Mosaic law was promulgated, v and, though im- ported soon after, they always remained in an undetermined condition, neither clean nor un- clean, but liable to be declared either, by decisions swayed by prejudice, or by fanciful analogies ; perhaps chiefly the latter; because poultry are devourers of unclean animals, scorpions, scolo- pendra, small lizards, and young serpents of every kind. But although rearing of common fowls was not encouraged by the Hebrew population, it is evi- dently drawing inferences beyond their proper bounds, when it is asserted that they were un- known in Jerusalem, where civil wars, and Greek and Roman dominion, had greatly affected the national manners. In the denials of Peter, de- scribed in the four Gospels, where the cock-crow- ing is mentioned by our Lord, the words are plain and direct, not we think admitting of cavil, i or of being taken to signify anything but the real voice of the bird, in its literal acceptation, and not as denoting the sound of a trumpet so called, because it proclaimed a watch in the night; for, to what else than a real hen and her brood does our Saviour allude in Luke xiii. 34. where the text is proof that the image of poultry was familiar to the disciples, and consequently that they were not rare in Judea? To the present time in the East, and on the Continent of Europe, this bird is still often kept as amongst the Celte, not so much for food as for the purpose of announcing the approach and dawn of day. COCKATRICE. [SERPENT.] COCKCROWING. The cock usually crows ' several times about midnight, and again about break of day. The latter time, because he then i crows loudest, and his ' shrill clarion ' is most nse- ( ful by summoning man to his lahours, obtained ! the appellation of the cockcrowing emphatically, and by way of eminence : though sometimes the distinctions of the first and second cockcrowing are met with in Jewish and heathen writers. These times, and these names for them, were, no doubt some of the most ancient divisions of the night adopted in thy East, where ' the bird of dawning 'is most probably indigenous. In onr Lord's time the Jews had evidently adopted the Greek and Roman division of the night into four ' periods, or watches ; each consisting of three j [ hours ; the first beginning at six in the evening '. ; ( Luke xii. 38 ; Matt. xiv. 25 ; Mark vi. 48 ; viii. 35). It has been considered a contradiction that Matthew (xxvi. 34) records our Lord to have said to Peter, 'Before the cock crow thou s-hult deny me thrice ;' whereas St. Mark ( xiv. 30 } says, ' Before the cock crow thrice.' But Matthew, giving only the general sense of the admonition ' (as also Luke xxii. ;!4; John xiii. X$), evidently alludes to that only which was etUtomarilg called the cockcrowing, but Mark, who wrote under Peter's inspection, more accurately recording the very words, mentions the two cockcrowings. COCKLE. This word occurs in the singular COLOSSI form in Job xxxi. 40, and in the plural form in Isaiah v. 2 and 4, where, however, it is rendered ' wild grapes.' It is probable that the same plant is referred to iu these two passages ; but difficul- ties have here, as elsewhere, been experienced in ascertaining the precise plant intended. All, however, are agreed that some useless, if not noxious, herb must be understood in both cases. The probability is in favour of its being the ox's grape or wolf-grape, either of which somewhat resembles the grape in the form of its berried fruit, but is very different in its properties, being narcotic and poisonous. Hasselquist, in reference to the passage of Isaiah, says, I am inclined to believe that the prophet here means the hoary nightshade, because it is common in Egypt and Palestine, and the Arabian name agrees well with it The Arabs call it anib-el-dib, i. e. wolf-grape. The prophet could not have found a plant more opposite to the vine than this, for it grows much iu the vineyards, and is very pernicious to them, wherefore they root it out : it likewise resembles a vine by its shrubby stalk.' C(ELESY R1A, the hollow Syria. This name, which is evidently of Grecian origin in the times of the Seleucidse, was originally applied to the valley lying between the mountain-ranges of Li- banus and Anti-Li banus. It was also used to denote the whole tract of country (with the ex- ception of Judaea and Phoenicia) reaching from Seleucis to Arabia and the confines of Egypt. In the time of David, Crclesyria was probably in- cluded in ' Syria of Damascus,' which was con- quered by that monarch (2 Sam. viii. 6), but re- covered from Solomon by Rezon the son of Elia- dah (1 Kings xi. 24). The possession of it was an object of many struggles between the Seleu- cid;c and the kings of Egypt Bochart supposes that Syrophcenicia is the same as Ceelesyria. Scythopolis and Gadara are mentioned by Jose- phus as cities of Crelesyria. Under the Emperor Dioclesian, Phoenice and Coslesyria formed one province* called Phoenicia Libanica. Under the present Turkish government the western part of Ccelesyria is in the Pashalic of Saide, and the eastern in the Pashalic of Damascus. COFFER. The name given in the Authorized Version to the receptacle (1 Sam. vi. 8, 11, 15) which the Philistines placed beside the ark when they sent it home, and in which they deposited the golden mice and emerods that formed their trespass-offering. It is supposed to be the same, or nearly the same thing, as the Arabian rijaza, which is a kind of wallet, into which stones are put : it is hung to one of the two sides of the haudaj [a litter borne by a camel or mule] when it inclines towards the other. COFFIN. [BURIAL.] COLONY. This distinction is applied to Phi- Hppi in Macedonia (Acts xvi. 12). Augustus Ca-sar had deported to Macedonia most of the Italian communities which had espoused the cause of Antony ; by which means the towns ol Philippi, Dyrrachium, &c., acquired the rank oi Roman colonies, which possessed t)-e privilege of a tree municipal constitution, such as was cus- tomary in Italy, in exemption from personal and land taxes, and in the c immerce of the soil, or the right of selling the laud. COLOS'SJE, a city of Phrygia, on the river Lycus (now Gorduk), not far from its confluence COLOSSIANS 205 with the Maeander, and near the towns of Lao- dicea, Apamea, and Hieropolis (Col. ii. 1 : iv. 13, 15). A Christian church was formed here very early, probably by Epaphras (Col. i 7; iv. 12, sq.\ consisting of Jews and Gentiles, to whom Paul, who does not appear to have ever visited olossse in person (Col. ii. 1), addressed an Epistle from Rome. Not long after, the town was, to- gether with Laodicea and Hierapolis, destroyed an earthquake. This, according to Eusebius, was in the ninth year of Nero ; but the town must have been immediately rebuilt, for in his twelfth year it continued to be named as a flou- rishing place. It still subsists as a village named Khonas. The huge range of Mount Cadmus rises immediately behind the village, close to which there is in the mountain an immense per- pendicular chasm, affording an outlet for a wide mountain torrent. The ruins of an old castle stand on the summit of the rock forming the left side of this chasm. There are some traces of ruins and fragments of stone in the neighbour- hood, but barely more than sufficient to attest the existence of an ancient site : and that this site was that of Colossa; is satisfactorily established by the Rev. F. V. J. Arundell, whose book (Dis- coveries in Asia Minor) contains an ample de- scription of the place. COLOS'SIANS, EPISTLK TO THE. That this Epistle is the genuine production of the Apostle Paul is proved by the most satisfactory evidence, and has never indeed been seriously called in question.. It is less certain, however, when and where it was composed by him. The common opinion is that he wrote it at Rome during his imprisonment in that city (Acts xxviii. Hi, 30), and although it has been controverted, the ba- lance of evidence is decidedly in its favour. The Epistle to the Ephesians and to Philemon are supposed to have been written about the same time. In what order these three epistles were written, it is not possible clearly to determine. Between that to the Colossians and that to the Ephesians the coincidences are so close and numerous that 206 COLOSSI ANS the one must have been written immediately after the other, whilst the mind of the Apostle was occupied with the same leading train of thought. Hy the greater part the priority is assigned to the Kpistle to the Colossians. The Epistle to Philemon being a mere friendly letter, intended chiefly to facilitate the reconciliation of Oaesimus to his master, was probably written immediately before tfte departure of the party by whom it was to be carried. i The Epistle to the Colossians was written, ap- parently, in consequence of information received by Paul through Epaphras concerning the in- ternal state of their church (i. 6, 8). Whether the Apostle had ever himself before this time visited Colosscc is matter of uncertainty and dis- pute. From ch. ii. 1, where he says, ' I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,' &c., it has by some been very confidently concluded ihat he had not. To this it is replied by Theodoret, Lardner, and others, that Paul does not intend to include the C lossians and Laodiceans among those who had not seen his face, but specifies the latter as a distinct class; as is evident, they think, from his using the third person in ver. 2. This latter consideration, however, is of no weight, for the use of the third person here is easily accounted for on the principle that the pronoun takes the person of the nearer noun rather than that of the more remote (cf. Gal. i. 8 ) ; and it certainly would be absurd to maintain that all contained in the second verse has no re- lation to the Colossians and Laodiceans, not- withstanding the reference to them in ver. 1, and again in ver. 4. As respects the words in ver. 1 , they will, in a mere philological point of view, bear to be understood in either way. It has been urged, however, that when, in ver. 5, the Apostle says, ' though I am absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit,' &c., his language is strongly indicative of his having formerly been amongst the Colossians, for the verb rendered ' I am absent ' is used properly only of such absence as arises from the person's having gone away from the place of which his absence is predicted. In support of the same view have been adduced Paul's having twice visited and gone through Phrygia (Acts xvi. 6; xviii. 23), in which Co- lossa? was a chief city ; his familiar acquaintance with so many of the Colossian Christians, Epa- phras, Archippus, Philemon (who was one of his own converts, Phil. 13, 19), and Apphia, pro- bably the wife of Philemon [APPHIA] : his appa- rent acquaintance with Onesimus, the servant of Philemon, so that he recognised him again at Home ; the cordiality of friendship and interest subsisting between the Apostle and the Colossians as a body (Col. i. 24, 25; ii. 1 ; iv. 7, &c.); the Apostle's familiar acquaintance with their state and relations (i. <> ; ii. (i, 7, &c.) ; aud their know- ledge of so many of his companions, and especially of Timothy, whose name the Apostle associates with his own at the commencement of the Epistle, a circumstance which is worthy of consideration from this, that Timothy was the companion of Paul during his first tour through Phrygia, when pro- bably the Gospel was first preached at Colossae. O/ these considerations it must be allowed that the cumulative force is very strong in favour of COLOSSIANS the opinion that the Christians at Colossa; had been privileged to enjoy the personal ministra- tions of Paul. At the same time, if the Colos- sians and Laodiceans are not to be included among those of whom Paul says they had not seen his face, it seems unaccountable that, in writing to the Colossians, he should h ive referred to this class at all. If, moreover, he had visited the Colossians, was it not strange that he should have no deeper feeling towards them than he had for the multitudes of Christians scattered over the world whose faces he had never seen ? In fine, as it is quite possible that Paul may have been twice in Phrygia without being once in Colossae, is it not easy also to account for his in- terest in the church at Colossa', his knowledge of their affairs, and his acq' aintance with indivi- duals among them, by supposing that members of that church had frequently visited him in dif- ferent places, though he had never visited Co- IOSSSD ? A great part of this Epistle is directed against certain false teachers who had crept into the church at Colossa;. To what class these teachers belonged has not been fully determined. Sonic contend that they were disciples of John the Baptist; others, with more show of reason, con- clude that they were Essenes. Thy most pro- bable opinion is that they were a party of specu- latists who endeavoured to combine the doctrines of Oriental theosophy and asceticism with Chris- tianity, and promised thereby to their disciples a deeper insight into the spiritual world, aud a fuller approximation to heavenly purity and in- telligence, than simple Christianity could yield. Against this party the Apostle argues by re- minding the Colossians that in Jesus Christ, as set before them in the Gospel, they had all that they required that he was the image of the in- visible God, that he was before all things, that by him all things consist, that they were complete in him, and that he would present them to God holy, unblamable, and unreprovable, provided they continued stedfast in the faith. He then shows that the prescriptions of a mere carnal asceticism are not worthy of being submitted to by Christians ; and concludes by directing their attention to the elevated principles which should regulate the conscience and conduct of such, and the duties of social and domestic life to which these would prompt. In the conclusion of the Epistle, the Apostle, after sending to the Colossians the salutations of himself and others who were with him, en- joins the Colossians to send this Epistle to the Laodiceans, and that they likewise should read ' that from Laodicea.' It is disputed whether by these concluding words Paul intends an Epistle from him to the Laodiceans or one from the Laodiceans to him. The former seems the more probable interpretation of the Apostle's words ; for supposing him to refer to a letter from the Laodiceans to him, the questions arise, How were the Colossians to procure this unless lie himself sent it to them ? And of what use would such a document be to them? To this latter question it has been replied that probably the letter from the Laodiceans contaim d some state- ments which influenced the Apostle in writing to the Colossians, and which required to be known before his letter in reply could be perfectly un COMMERCE derstood. But this is said without the slightest shadow of reason from the Epistle before us; and it is opposed by the fact that the Laodicean epistle was to be used by the Colossians after they had read that to themselves. It seems, upon the whole, most likely that Paul in this passage refers to an epistle sent by him to the church in Laodicea at the same time with that to the church at Colossse. It is probable also that this Epistle is now lost, though the suggestion of Grotius that it was the same with the Canonical Epistle to the Ephesians has found some advocates (EPHESI- AXS, KPISTLE TO THE]. The extant Epistle to the Laodieeans is on all hands allowed to be a clumsy forgery. COMFORTER (Paracletes'). The word thus rendered is applied to Christ in 1 John ii 1. Indeed, in that famous passage in which Christ promises the. Holy Spirit as a paraclete to his sor- rowing disciples, he takes the title himself: ' I will send you another paraclete' (John xiv. 16), implying that he was himself one, and that on his departure he would send another. The ques- tion then is, In wl). The word merchant implies that the standard of money was fixed by usage among merchants, who comprised a numerous and respectable class of the community. Manufactures yere by this time so far advanced, that not only those more 208 COMMERCE immediately connected with agriculture, such as flour ground from corn, wine, oil, butter, and also the most necessary articles of clothing arid fur- niture, but even those of luxury and magnificence, were much in use, as appears by the ear-rings, bracelets of gold and of silver, and other precious things presented by Abraham's steward to Re- bekah (Gen. xxiv. 22, 53). In the book of Job, whose author, in the opi- nion of the most learned commentators, resided iu Arabia, and was contemporary with the earlier portion of Biblical history, much light is thrown upon the commerce, manufactures, and science of the age and country in which he lived. There is mention of gold, iron, brass, lead, crystal, jewels, the art of weaving, merchants, gold brought from Ophir, which implies commerce with a remote country, and topazes from Ethiopia ; ship-build- ing, so far improved that some ships were distin- guished for the velocity of their motion ; writing in a book, and engraving letters or writing on plates of lead and on stone with iron pens, and also seal-engraving ; fishing with hooks, and nets, and spears ; musical instruments, the harp, and organ ; astronomy, and names given to particular stars. These notices tend to prove that, although the patriarchal system of making pasturage the chief object of 'attention was still maintained by many of the g-eatest inhabitants where the author of the book of Job resided, the sciences were actively cultivated, the useful and ornamental arts in an advanced state, and commerce pro- secuted with d iligence and success. The inhabitants of Arabia appear to have availed themselves, at a very early period, of their advantageous situation between the two fertile and opulent countries of India and Egypt, and to have obtained the exclusive monopoly of a very profitable carrying trade between those countries. They were a class of people who gave their whole attention to merchandise as a regular and established profession, and travelled with caravans between Arabia and Egypt, carrying upon the hacks of camels the spiccries of India, the balm of Canaan, and the myrrh produced in their own country, or of a superior quality from the opposite coast of Abyssinia all of which were in great demand among the Egyptians for embalming the dead, in their religious cere- monies, and for ministering to the pleasures of that superstitions and luxurious people. The merchants of one of these caravans bought Joseph from his brothers for twenty pieces of silver, and carried him into Egypt. The southern Arabs were eminent traders, and enjoyed a large pro- portion, and in general the entire monopoly, of the trade between India and the western world, from the earliest ages, until the system of that important commerce was totally overturned when the inhabitants of Europe discovered a direct route to India by the Cape of Good Hope. At the period when Joseph's brethren visited Egypt, ' inns' or caravanserais were established for the accommodation of travellers in that country and in the northern parts of Arabia. The more civilized southern parts of the penin- sula would no doubt be furnished with caravan- serais st:ll more commodious. During the residence of the Israelites in Egypt manufactures of almost every description were carried to great perfection. Flax, fine linen, gar- COMMERCE ments of cotton, rings and jewels of gold ami silver, works in all kinds of materials, chariots for pleasure and chariots for war, are all men- tioned by Moses. They had extensive manufac- tories of bricks. Literature was in a flourishing state ; and, in order to give an enlarged idea of the accomplishments of Moses, it is said he was ' learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians ' (Acts xii. 22). The expulsion of the Canaanites from a great part of their territories by the Israelites under Joshua, led to the gradual establishment of colo- nies in Cyprus, Rhodes, and several islands in the jEgean Sea ; they penetrated into the Euxine or Black Sea, and spreading along the shores of Sicily, Sardinia, Gaul, Spain, and Africa, esta- blished numerous trading places, which gra- dually rose into more or less importance. At this period mention is first made of Tyre as a strong or fortified city, whilst Sidon is dignified with the title of Great During the reign of David, king of Israel, that powerful monarch disposed of a part of the wealth obtained by his conquests in purchasing cedar- timber from Hiram, king of Tyre, with whom he kept up a friendly correspondence while he lived He also hired Tyrian masons and carpenters for carrying on his works. Solomon, the son of David, cultivated the arts of peace, and indulged his taste for magnifioence and luxury to a great extent. He employed the wealth collected b}' his father in works of architecture, and in strengthening and improving his kingdom. He built the famous Temple and fortifications of Jerusalem, and many cities, among which was the celebrated Tadmor or Palmyra. From the king of Tyre he obtained cedar and fir. or cypress- timbers, and large stones cut and prepared for building, which the Tyrians conveyed by water to the most convenient landing-place in Solomon's dominions. Hiram also sent a vast number of workmen to assist and instruct Solomon's people, none of whom had skill ' to hew timber like the Sidonians.' Solomon, in exchange, furnished the Tyrians with corn, wine, and oil, and received a balance in gold. Solomon and Hiram appear to have subsequently entered into a trading specula- tion or adventure upon a large scale. Tyrian shipwrights were accordingly sent to build vessels for both kings at Eziongeber, Solomon's port on the Red Sea, whither he himself went to animate them with his presence (2 Chron. viii. 17). These ships, conducted by Tyrian navigators, sailed in company to some rich countries called Ophir and Tarshish. The voyage occupied three years, yet the returns in this new found trade were very great and profitable. This fleet took in apes, ebony, and parrots on the coasts of Ethiopia, gold at Ophir, or the place of traffic whither the people of Ophir resorted ; it traded on both sides of the Red Sea, on the coasts of Arabia and Ethiopia, in all parts of Ethiopia beyond the straits when it had entered the ocean : thence it passed up the Persian Gulf, and might visit the places of trade upon both its shores, and run up the Tigris or the Euphrates as far as these rivers were navigable. After the reign of Solomon the commerce of the Israelites seems to have very materially declined. An attempt was made by Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and Ahaziah, king of Israel, to eflect its revival ; but the ships which they built at Ezion- CONCORDANCE geber having been wrecked in the harbour, the undertaking was abandoned. It does not appear that they had any assistance from the Phoenicians in fitting out this fleet. Great efforts were made by the Egyptians to extend the commerce of their country, among which not the least considerable was the unsuccessful attempt to construct a canal from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf. The rising prosperity of Tyre soon eclipsed the ancient and long-flourishing commercial city of Sidon. About 600 years before Christ her com- mercial splendour appears to have been at its height, and is graphically described by Ezekiel xxvii). The imports inte Tyre were fine linen from Egypt; blue and purple from the isles of Elisha ; silver, iron, tin, and lead from Tarshish the south part of Spain ; slaves and brazen vessels from Javan or Greece, Tubal and Mesh- ech ; horses, slaves bred to horsemanship, and mules from Togarmah; emeralds, purple, em- broidery, fine linen, corals, and agates from Syria ; corn, balm, honey, oil, and gums from the Israelites; wine and wool from Damascus, po- lished ironware, precious oils, and cinnamon from Dan, Javan, and Mezo ; magnificent carpets from Dedan ; sheep and goats from the pastoral tribes of Arabia ; costly spices, some the produce of India, precious stones, and gold from the mer- chants of Sheba or Sabsea, and Ramah or -Regma, countries in the south part of Arabia ; blue cloths, embroidered works, rich' apparel in corded cedar? chests, supposed to be original India packages, and other goods from Sheba, Ashur, audChilmad, and from Haran, Canneh, and Eden, trading ports on the south coast of Arabia. The vast wealth that thus flowed into Tyre from all quar- ters brought with it its too general concomitants extravagance, dissipation, and relaxation of morals. The subjection of Tyre, ' the renowned city which was strong in the sea, whose merchants were princes, whose traffickers were the honour- able of the earth,' by Cyrus, and its subsequent overthrow by Alexander, after a determined and most formidable resistance, terminated alike the grandeur of that city and the history of ancient commerce, as far as they are alluded to in Scrip- ture. COMMON. The Greek term properly sig- nifies what belonys to all (as in Wisd. vii. 3), but the Hellenists applied it to what was profane, t. e. not holy, and therefore of common or promis- cuous use (Acts x. 14). They also applied the terra to what was impure, whether naturally or legally (as in Mark vii. 2. compared with Mace, i. 47, 02). And, finally, it was used of meats forbidden, or such as had been partaken of by idolaters, and which, as they rendered the par- takers thereof impure, were themselves called common and unclean. COMMUNION, a fellowship or agreement, when several persons join and partake together of one thing (2 Cor. vi. 14 ; 1 John i. 3) ; hence its application to the celebration of the Lord's supper as an act of fellowship among Christians (1 Cor. x. 16) ; and it is to this act of participa- tion or fellowship that the word ' communion ' is now restricted in the English language, the more familiar application of it having fallen into dis- use. CONCORDANCE, the name assigned to a CONCUBINAGE 209 book which gives the words contained in the Holy Scriptures in alphabetical order, with a re- ference to the place where each may be found. CONCUBINAGE, in a Scriptural sense, means the state of cohabiting lawfully with a wife of second rank, who enjoyed no other conjugal right but that of cohabitation, and whom the nusband could repudiate, and send away with a small pre- sent (Gen. xxi. 14). In like manner, he could, by means of presents, exclude his children by her from the heritage (Gen. xxv. (i). Such con- cubines had Nahor (Gen. xxii. 24), Abraham (xxv. 6), Jacob (xxxv. 22), Eliphas (xxxvi. 12), Gideon (Judg. viii. 3), Saul (2 Sam. iii. 7), David (1 Sam. v. 13 : xv. 16 ; xvi. 21), Solomon (1 Kings xi. 3), Caleb (1 Chron. ii. 46), Manasseh (ib. vii. 14), Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 21), Abiah (2 Chr. xiii. 21), and Belshazzar (Dan. v. 2). To judge from the conjugal histories of Abraham and Jacob (Gen. xvi. and xxx.), the immediate cause of concubinage was the barrenness of the lawful wife, who in that case introduced her maid-ser- vant, of her own accord, to her husband, for the sake of having children. Accordingly we do not read that Isaac, son of Abraham, had any con- cubine, Rebekah, his wife, not being barren. In process of time, however, concubinage appears to have degenerated into a regular custom among the Jews, and the institutions of Moses were di- rected to prevent excess and abuse in that respect, by wholesome laws and regulations (Exod. xxi. 7-9 ; Deut. xxi. 10-14). It would seem that the unfaithfulness of a concubine was not regarded as an act of real adultery (Lev. xix. 20). When a son had intercourse with the concubine of his father, a sort of family punishment, we are in- formed, was inflicted on him (Gen. xxxv. 22 ; 1 Chron. v. 1). In the Talmud, the Rabbins differ as to what constitutes concubinage ; some regarding as its distinguishing feature the absence of the betroth- ing ceremonies, and of the portion of property allotted to a woman by special engagement, and to which she was entitled on the marriage day, after the decease of the husband, or in case of re- pudiation ; others, again, the absence of the latter alone. The Roman law calls concubinage an allowed custom. When this expression occurs in the con- stitutions of the Christian emperors, it signifies what we now sometimes call a marriage of con- science. The concubinage tolerated among the Romans, in the time of the Republic and of the heathen emperors, was that between persons not capable of contracting legal marriage. Inherit- ances might descend to children that sprung from such a tolerated cohabitance. Concubinage be- tween such persons they looked on as a kind of marriage, and even allowed it several privileges ; but then it was confined to a single person, and was of perpetual obligation, as much as marriage itself. Concubinage is also used to signify a mar- riage with a woman of inferior condition, to whom the husband does not convey his rank. Dajos (Paratilla) observes, that the ancient laws allowed a man to espouse, under the title of con- cubine, certain parsons who were esteemed un- equal to him, on account of the want of some qualities requisite to sustain the full honour of marriage; and he adds, that though such con- cubinage was beneath marriage both as to dignity 210 CONY and civil rights, yet was concubine a reputable title, and very different from that of ' mistress ' among us. The connection was considered so lawful that the concubine might be accused of adultery in the same manner as a wife. This kind of concubinage is still in use in some countries, particularly in Germany, under the title of halb-ehe (half-marriage), or left-hand marriage, in allusion to the manner of its being contracted, namely, by the man giving the woman his left hand instead of the right. This is a real marriage, though without the usual solemnity, and the parties are both bound to each other for ever, though the female cannot bear the husband's name and title. CONY, in the original Shaphan, occurs in Lev. xl. 5; Deut xiv. 7; Ps. civ. 18; Prov. xxx. 26. Commentators in general now con- clude, on the mot satisfactory grounds, that those versions which give Cony for the Hebrew Sha- phan are incorrect. The Shaphan in scientific zoology is one of the small genus Hyrax, distin- guished by the specific name of Syrian. Ex- ternally it is somewhat of the size, form, and brownish colour of a rabbit, and, though it has short round ears, sufficiently like for inexact ob- servers to mistake the one for the other. Navi- gators and colonists often carry the local names of their native land to other countries, and bestow them upon new objects with little propriety : this seems to have been done in the instance before us, there being reason to believe that the Phoenicians on visiting the western shores of the European side of the Mediterranean, found the country, as other authorities likewise assert, infested -with rabbits or conies, and that without attending to the difference they bestowed upon them the He- brew or Phoenician name of Shaphan. 129. [Hyrax Syriacus.] The hyrax is of clumsier structure than the rabbit, without tail, having long, bristly hairs scattered through the general fur ; the feet are naked below, and all the nails are flat and rounded, save those on each inner toe of the hind feet, which are long and awl-shaped ; therefore the species cannot dig, and is by nature intended to reside, not, like rabbits, in burrows, but in the clefts of rocks. This character is correctly ap- plied to the Shaphan by David. Their timid gregarious habits, and the tender- ness of their paws, make them truly the wise and feeble folk ' of Solomon ; for the genus lives in colonies in the crevices of stony places in Syria, Palestine, Arabia, Eastern Egypt, Abys- sinia, and even at the Cape of Good Hope, where one or two additional species exist. In every locality they are quiet, gentle creatures, loving to bask in the sun, never stirring far from their retreats, moving with caution, and shrinking from COOS the shadow of a passing bird, for they are often the prey of eagles and hawks ; their habits are strictly diurnal, and they feed on vegetables and seeds. CONFLAGRATION, GENERAL. The opinion that the end of the world is to be effected by the agency of fire is very ancient, and was common amongst heathen philosophers. It is not easy to discover the origin of this opinion ; it can scarcely be traced to tradition derived from re- velation, since there is no distinct reference to such a catastrophe in the Old Testament. It is, moreover, remarkable, considering how universal and definite is the ordinary belief on the subject, that there is only one passage in the New Testa- ment, viz. 2 Pet. iii. 7-10, which can be adduced as speaking distinctly of this event. This pas- sage is, indeed, very explicit, but it should not be forgotten that some learned and able expositors have referred it altogether to the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Jewish polity. If, however, with the majority of interpreters, we refer the pre- diction to the end of the world, to which it seems most naturally to apply, we could not have a more distinct statement of the fact that the present order of things is to be terminated by the world we in- habit and all the works of man it contains being ' burnt up.' There is no reason for assuming that the whole material universe is to be involved in this catastrophe ; the mention of the heavens leads our thoughts no further than the atmosphere and vapours surrounding this planet. Nor should we regard this conflagration as involving the ab- solute destruction or annihilation of the world; it is more consistent with the narrative itself, as well as with physical science, to consider it as in- troductory to a new and better state of things ' new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness' (v. 11). By what means the con- flagration is to be effected we are not informed, and all attempts to explain how this is to be ac- complished must be mere speculation, into which we do not think it necessary or advantageous to enter. We have only at present to remark that such an event is not inconsistent with physical facts. We know that the temperature of the earth increases gradually and with considerable regularity as we descend below the surface, and have every reason to believe that the central mass is intensely hot We know, moreover, that there are subterranean fires of great extent, if not form- ing part of this heated central mass. The means, therefore, of combustion are near at hand. But even if there were no such central heat, chemistry points out very easy means by which the con- flagration may be effected through the agency of various elementary substances. We find evidence also in the pyrogenous rocks which form so large a part of the crust of the earth, that the world has already been subjected, if not to conflagration, yet to a more intense and general action of heat than any which is now observed on the surface of the earth ; and it is clearly not impossible that the action may be yet more intense and more ge- neral. CONFAH. [JECOXIAH.] CO'OS, Cos or Co (cow Stan-Co or Stanchio), a small and fertile islard in the ^Egean Sea, near the coast of Caria, in Asia Minor, almost between the promontories on which the cities Cnidus and Halicarnassus were situated. It was celebrated CORBAN for its wine, silks, and cotton of a beautiful tex- ture. The island is mentioned in 1 Mace. xv. 23 ; Acts xxi. 1. COPPER. Tubal-cain is recorded as the first artificer in brass and iron (Gen. iv. 22). In the time of Solomon, Hiram of Tyre was celebrated as a worker in brass (I.Kings vii. 14; comp. 2 Chron. ii. 14). To judge from Hesiod and Lucretius, the art of working in copper was even prior to that in iron, probably from its being found in larger masses, and from its requiring less labour in the process of manufacture. Pales- tine abounded in copper (Dent. viii. 9), and David left behind him an immense quantity of it to be employed in building the Temple (1 Chron. xxii. 3-14). Of copper were made all sorts of vessels in the Tabernacle and Temple (Lev. vi. 28; Num. xvi. 39; 2 Chron. iv. 16; Ezra viii. 27), weapons, and more especially helmets, armour, shields, spears (1 Sam. xvii. 5, 6, 38; 2 Sam. xxi. 16), also chains (Judg. xvi. 21), and mirrors (Exod. xxxviii. 8). The larger vessels were moulded in founderies, as also the pillars for architectural ornaments (1 Kings vii.). It would however appear (1 Kings vii. 14) that the art of copper-founding was, even in the time of Solo- mon, but little known among the Jews, and was peculiar to foreigners, particularly the Phffiui- cians. Michaelis observes, that Moses seems to have given to copper vessels the preference over earthen, and on that ground endeavours to remove the common prejudice against their use for culinary purposes. From copper, also, money was coined (Matt. x. 9). CORAL (Jobxxviii. 18; Ezek. xxvii. 16), a hard, cretaceous marine production arising from the deposit of calcareous matter by a minute po- lypous animal, in order to form the cell or poly- pidom into whose hollows the tenant can wholly or partially retire. The corals thus produced are of various shapes, most usually branched like a tree. The masses are often enormous in the tropical seas, where they top the reefs and cap the submarine mountains, frequently rising to or near the surface so as to form what are called coral islands and coral reefs. These abound in the Red Sea ; from which, most probably, was derived the coral with which the Hebrews were ac- quainted ; but coral is also found in the Mediter- ranean. It is of different colours, white, black, red. The red kind was anciently, as at present, the most valued, and was worked into various ornaments. COR'BAN, a Hebrew word employed in the Hellenistic Greek, to designate an oblation of any kind to God. It occurs only once in the New Testament (Mark vii. 11). There is some diffi- culty in the exact meaning of this passage and the corresponding one, Matt. xv. 5. Many inter- preters, at the head of whom" stands Beza, suppose that a gift of the property of the son had actually been made to the service of God. The sense is then, ' Whatever of mine might benefit thee is corban, is already dedicated to God, and I have therefore no power over it.' Others, more cor- rectly as we think, translate the sentence, ' Be it corban (that is, devoted) whatever of mine shall profit thee.' Lightfoot notices a formula of fre^ quent occurrence in the Talmud which seems to be exactly that quoted by our Lord, ' [Be it] cor- ban, [as to] which I may be profitable to thee.' CORIANDER 211 He, as well ?s Grotius, shows that this and similar formula? were not used to signify that the thing was actually devoted, but was simply intended to prohibit the use of it from the party to whom it was thus made corban, as though it were said, If , I give you anything or do anything for you, may it be as though I gave you that which is devoted to God, and may I be accounted perjured and sa- crilegious. This view of the passage eertainly gives much greater force to the charge made by our Lord that the command ' Whoso curseth father or mother let him die the death' was nul- lified by the tradition. It would, indeed, seem surprising that such a vow as this (closely analo- gous to the modern profanity of imprecating curses on one's self if certain conditions be not fulfilled) should be considered to involve a reli- gious obligation from which the party could not be freed even if afterwards he repented of his rashness and sin. It appears, however, from Rabbinical authority that anything thus devoted was irreclaimable, and that even the hasty utter- ance of a word implying a vow was equivalent to a vow formally made. This, indeed, seems to be the force of the expression used in Mark, ' ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father or his mother.' A more striking instance of the subversion of a command of God by the tradition of men can hardly be conceived. CORIANDER occurs in two places in Scrip- ture, viz. Exod. xvi. 31, 'And it (manna) was like coriander seed, white ; and the taste of it was like wafers made of honey ;' Num. xi. 7, ' And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium.' The coriander is known throughout Arabia, Persia, and India, 130. [Coriandrum sativum. in all of which it is cultivated, being universally employed as a grateful spice, and as one of the ingredients of currie-powder. It is also common in Egypt. It is now very common in the south of Europe, and also in this country, being culti- vated, especially ia Essex, on account of its seeds, p2 212 CORINTH which are required by confectioners, druggists, and distillers, in large quantities : in gardens it is reared on account of its leaves, which are used in soups and salads. The coriander is an umbelli- ferous plant, the Coriandrum sativum of botanists. The fruit, coinmonly called seeds, is globular, greyish-coloured, about the size of peppercorn, having its surface marked with fine striae. Both its taste and smell are agreeable, depending on the presence of a volatile oil, which is separated by distillation. CO'RINTH, a Grecian city, placed on the isthmus which joins Peloponnesus (now called the Morea) to the continent of Greece. A lofty rock 'rises above it, on which was the citadel, or the Acrocorinthus. It had two harbours : Cenchreae, on the eastern side, about 70 stadia distant ; and Lechseum, on the modern Gulf of Lepanto, only 12 stadia from the city. Its earliest name, as given by Homer, is Ephyre. Owing to the great difficulty of weathering Malea, the southern pro- montory of Greece, merchandise passed through Corinth from sea to sea; the city becoming an entrepot for the goods of Asia and Italy (Strabo, viii. 6). At the same time it commanded the traffic by land from north to south. An attempt made to dig through the isthmus was frustrated by the rocky nature of the soil ; at one period, however, they had an invention for drawing galleys across from sea to sea on trucks. With such advantages of position, Corinth was very early renowned for riches, and seems to have been made by nature for the capital of Greece*. The >numerous colonies which she sent forth, chiefly to the west and to Sicily, gave her points of attachment in many parts ; and the good will, which, as a mercantile state, she carefully main- tained, made her a valuable link between the va- rious Greek tribes. The public and foreign policy of Corinth appears to have been generally remark- able for honour and justice; and the Isthmian games, which were celebrated there every other year, might have been converted into a national congress, if the Corinthians had been less peace- ful and more ambitious. When the Acnaean league was rallying the chief powers of southern Greece, Corinth became its military centre ; and as the spirit of freedom was active in that confederacy, they were certain, sooner or later, to give the Romans a pretence for attacking them. The fatal blow fell on Corinth (B.C. 14t>), when L. Mummius, by order of the Roman Senate, barbarously destroyed that beau- tiful town, eminent even in Greece for painting, sculpture, and all working in metal and pottery ; and as the territory was given over to the Sicyo- nians, we must infer that the whole population was sold into slavery. The Corinth of which we read in the New Testament was quite a new city, having been rebuilt and established as a Roman colony, and peopled with freedmen from Home by the dictator Caesar, a little before his assassination. Although the soil was too rocky to be fertile, and the terri- tory very limited, Corinth again became a great and wealthy city in a short time, especially as the Roman proconsuls made it the seat of government (Acts xviii.) for southern Greece, which was now called the province of Achaia. In earlier times Corinth had been celebrated for the great wealth of its Temple of Venus, which had a gainful CORINTHIANS traffic of a most dishonourable kind with the numerous merchants resident there. The same phenomena, no doubt, reappeared in the later and Christian age. The little which is said in the New Testament seems to indicate a wealthy and luxurious community, prone to impurity of mo- rals ; nevertheless, all Greece was so contami- nated, that, we may easily overcharge the accusa- tion against Corinth. The Corinthian Church is remarkable in the Epistles of the Apostle Paul by the variety of its spiritual gifts, which seem for the time to have eclipsed or superseded the office of the elder or bishop, which in most churches became from the beginning so prominent. Very soon, however, this peculiarity was lost, and the bishops of Coriuth take a place co-ordinate to those of other capital cities. One of them, Dionysius, appears to have exercised a great influence over many and dis- tant churches, in the latter part of the second century. CORINTHIANS, EPISTLES TO THE. FIRST EPISTLE. The testimony of Christian antiquity is unanimous in ascribing this in- spired production to the pen of the Apostle Paul, and with this the internal evidence arising from allasions, undesigned coincidences, style, and tone of thought, fully accords. The epistle seems to have been occasioned partly by some intelligence received by the Apostle concerning the Corinthian church from the domestics of Chloe, a pious female connected with that church (i. 11), and, probably, also from common report ; and partly by an epistle which the Corinthians themselves had addressed to the Apostle, asking advice and instruction on several points (vii. 1), and which probably was conveyed to him by Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus (xvi. 17). Apollos, also, who succeeded the Apostle at Corinth, but who seems to have been with him at the time this epistle was written (xvi. 12), may have given him information of the state of things among the Christians in that city. From these sources the Apostle had become acquainted with the painful fact that since he had left Corinth (Acts xviii. 18) the church in that place had sunk into a state of great corruption and error. One prime source of this evil state of things, and in itself an evil of no inferior magnitude, was the existence of schisms or party divisions in the church. Every one of you,' Paul tells them, ' saith I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ' (i. 12). This has led to the conclusion that four great parties had arisen in the church, which boasted of Paul, Apollos, Peter, and Christ, as their respective heads, and various conjectures have been made respecting the peculiarities of sentiment by which these parties may be supposed to have been distinguished from each other. But serious doubts may be entertained whether there really were in the Corinthian church sects or parties specifically distinguished from each other by peculiarities of doctrinal sentiment. That erroneous doctrines were entertained by indi- viduals in the church, and that a schismatical spirit pervaded it, cannot be questioned ; but that these two stood formally connected with each other may fairly admit of doubt. Schisms often arise in churches from causes which have little or nothing to do with diversities of doctrinal sen- timent among the members ; and that such were CORINTHIANS the schisms which disturbed the church at Corinth appears to us probable, from the circumstance that the existence of these is condemned by the Apostle, without reference to any doctrinal errors out of which they might arise ; whilst, on the other hand, the doctrinal errors condemned by him are denounced without reference to their having led to party strifes. From this we are inclined to the opinion that the schisms arose merely from quarrels among the Corinthians as to the comparative excellence of their respective teachers those who had learned of Paul boasting that he excelled all others, and the converts of Apollos and Peter advancing a similar claim for them, whilst a fourth party haughtily repudiated all subordinate teaching, and pretended that they derived all their religious knowledge from the di- rect teaching of Christ. The language of theApostle in the first four chapters, where alone he speaks directly of these schisms, and where he resolves their criminality not into their relation to false doctrine, but into their having their source in a disposition to glory in men, must be regarded as greatly favouring this view. Comp. also 2 Cor. v. 16. Besides the schisms and the erroneous opinious which had invaded the church at Corinth, the Apostle had learned that many immoral and dis- orderly practices were tolerated among them, and were in some cases defended by them. A con- nection of a grossly incestuous character had been formed by one of the members, and gloried in by his brethren (v. 1,2); law-suits before heathen judges were instituted by one Christian against another (vi. 1) ; licentious indulgence was not so firmly denounced and so carefully avoided as the purity of Christianity required (vi. 9-20) ; the public meetings of the brethren were brought into disrepute by the women ap- pearing in them unveiled (xi. 3-10), and were disturbed by the confused and disorderly manner in which the persons possessing spiritual gifts chose to exercise them (xii.-xiv.) ; and in fine the ' love feasts,' which were designed to be scenes of love and union, became occasions for greater con- tention through the selfishness of the wealthier members, who, instead of sharing in a common meal with the poorer, brought each his own repast, and partook of it by himself, often to ex- cess, while his needy brother was left to fast (xi. 20-34). The judgment of the Apostle had also been solicited by the Corinthians concerning the comparative advantages of the married and the celibate state (vii. 1-40), as well as, apparently, the duty of Christians in relation to the use for food of meat which had been offered to idols (viii. 1-13). For the correction of these errors, the remedying of these disorders, and the solu- tion of these doubts, this epistle was written by the Apostle. It consists of four parts. The first (i.-iv.) is designed to reclaim the Corinthians from schismatic contentions ; the second (v.-vi.) is directed against the immoralities of the Co- rinthians ; the third (vii.-xiv.) contains replies to the queries addressed to Paul by the Corinthians, and strictures upon the disorders which prevailed in their worship ; and the fourth (xv.-xvi.) con- tains an elaborate defence of the Christian doc- trine of the resurrection, followed in the close of the epistle by some general instructions, intima- tions, and greetings. CORINTHIANS 213 From 2 Cor. xii, 14, and xiii. 1, compared with 2 Cor. ii. 1, and xiii. 2, it appears that before the writing of that epistle Paul had twice visited Corinth, and that one of these visits had been after the Church had fallen into an evil state. Did this second visit to Corinth precede also the writing of the first epistle? On this point the Acts give us no help, as the writer is totally silent concerning this second visit of Paul to Corinth. But we may safely infer from 2 Cor. i. 15, 16, 23, that Paul had not been at Corinth between the writing of the first and second epistles, so that we must place his second visit before the writing of the first epistle. When this second visit took place we can only conjec- ture ; but Billroth's suggestion that it was made some time during the period of Paul's residence of three years at Ephesus (Acts xx. 31), perhaps on the first reception of unpleasant news from Corinth, is extremely probable. Supposing the Apostle to have made this short visit and to have returned to Ephesus, this first epistle may have been written either in that city or in Macedonia, through which Paul probably journeyed on his way from Corinth to Ephesus. This latter is the traditional opinion, and is greatly favoured by the way in which Paul speaks of Ephesus (1 Cor. xv. 32) as a place in which he had been rather than one in which he was when writing this epistle. From the allusion to the Passover in ch. V. 7, 8, most have inferred that the epistle was written at the time of Easter ; but this does not necessarily follow from the Apostle's allusion. As to the year, great diversity of opinion pre- vails, but most are agreed that it was not earlier than 56 nor later than 59. The subscription above referred to intimates that this epistle was conveyed to Corinth by Stephanas, Fortunatus, Achaicus, and Timothy. As respects the last named there is evidently a mistake, for from ch. xvi. 10 it appears that Timothy's visiting Corinth was a thing not cer- tain when this letter was finished, and from 2 Cor. viii. 17, 18, it appears that Timothy did not visit Corinth till afterwards. Cowp. also Acts xix. 22. As respects the others, this tradition is probably correct. SECOND EPISTLE. Not long after the trans- mission of the first epistle, the Apostle left Ephesus in consequence of the uproar excited against him by Demetrius the silversmith, and betook himself to Troas (Acts xix. 23, sq.). Here he expected to meet Titus with intelligence from Corinth of the state of things ithat church. In this expectation, Paul was disappointed. He ac- cordingly went into Macedonia, where, at length, his desire was gratified, and the wished-for in- formation obtained (2 Cor. ii. 13; vii. 15, sq.). The intelligence brought by Titus concerning the church at Corinth was on the whole favour- able. The censures of the former epistle had produced in their minds a godly sorrow, had awakened in them a regard to the proper dis- cipline of the church, and had led to the ex- clusion from their fellowship of the incestuous person. This had so wrought on the mind of the latter that he had repented of his evil courses, and showed 1 such contrition that the Apostle now pities him, and exhorts the church to restore him to their communion (2 Cor. ii. 6-11 ; vii. 8, sq.) A cordial response had also been given to the 214 CORMORANT appeal that had been made on behalf of the saints in Palestine (ix. 2). But with all these pleasing symptoms there -were some of a painful kind. i The anti-Pauline influence in the church had in- creased, or at least had become more active ; and those who were actuated by it had been seeking by all means to overturn the authority of the : Apostle, and discredit his claims as an ambas- i sador of Christ. This intelligence led the Apostle to compose liis second epistle, in which the language of com- mendation and love is mingled with that of cen- sure, and even of threatening. This epistle may be divided into three sections. In the first (i.-iii.) the Apostle chiefly dwells on the effects produced by his first epistle and the matters therewith con- nected. In' the second (iv.-ix.) he discourses on the substance and effects of the religion which he proclaimed, and turns from this to an appeal on behalf of the claims of the poor saints on their liberality. And in, the third (x.-xiii.) he vindi- cates his own dignity and authority as an apostle against the parties by whom these were opposed. CORMORANT (Hebrew Sa/ocA) occurs Lev. xi. 17; Dent xiv. 17. The name is considered to have reference to darting, rushing, or stooping like a falcon. Nothing is known of it but that it was an unclean bird. Cnvier considers Gesner to be right in considering it to denote a gull, and it might certainly be applied with propriety to the black- backed gull ; but although birds of such powerful wing and marine habitat are spread over a great part of the world, it does not appear that, if known at the extremity of the Mediter- ranean, they were sufficiently common to have been clearly indicated by either the Hebrew or Greek names, or to have merited being noticed in the Mosaic prohibition. Both the above are in general northern residents, being rarely seen even so low as the Bay of Biscay. With regard 131. [Caspian Tern.] to the cormorant, birds of that genus are no doubt found on the coasts of Palestine, where high cliffs extend to the sea-shore ; but all the species dive, and none of them rush flying upon their prey. We therefore conclude the salach to have been a species of ' tern,' considered to be identical with the ' Sterna Caspica,' so called because it is found about the Caspian Sea ; but it is equally common to the Polar, Baltic, and Black Seas, and if truly the same, is not only abundant for several months in the year on the coast of Pales- tine, but frequents the lakes and pools far inland ; flying across the deserts to the Euphrates, and to the Persian and Red Seas, and proceeding up the Nile. It is the largest of the tern or sea-swallow genus, being about the weight of a pigeon, and near two feet in length, having a large black CORNELIUS naped head ; powerful, pointed crimson bill : a white and grey body, with forked tail, and wings greatly exceeding the tips of the tail : the fuet are very small, weak, and but slightly webbed, so that it swims perhaps only accidentally, but with sufficient power on land to spring up and to rise from level ground. It flies with immense velocity, darting along the surface of the sea to snap at mollusca or small fishes, or wheeling through the air in pursuit of insects; and in calm weather, after rising to a great height, it drops perpendicularly down to near the surface of the water, but never alights except on land; and it is at all times disposed to utter a kind of laughing scream. This tern nestles in high cliffs, sometimes at a very considerable distance from the sea. We figure one that was shot among a flight of these birds, some distance up the river Orontes. CORN. The word dagan, which is rendered ' grain,' ' corn,' and sometimes ' wheat' in the Authorized Version, is the most general of the Hebrew terms representing ' corn,' and is more comprehensive than any word in our language, seeing that it probably includes not only all the proper corn-grains, but also various kinds of pulse and seeds of plants, which we never com- prehend under the name of ' corn' or even of ' grain.' It may, therefore, be taken to represent all the commodities which we describe by the different words corn, grain, seeds, peas, beans. Among other places in which this word occurs, see Gen. xxvii. 28-37 ; Num. xviii. 27 ; Deut. xxviii. 51 ; Lam. ii. 12, &c. The different products coming under the de- nomination of corn, are noticed under the usual heads, as BARLEY, WHEAT, &c. ; their culture, under AGRICULTURE ; their preparation, under BREAD, FOOD, MILL, &c. CORNE'LIUS. The centurion of this name, whose history occurs in Acts x., most probably belonged to the Cornelii, a noble and distin- guished family at Rome. He is reckoned by Julian the Apostate as one of the few persons of distinction who embraced Christianity. His sta- tion in society will appear upon considering that the Roman soldiers were divided into legions, each legion into ten cohorts, each cohort into three bands, and each band into two centuries or hundreds ; and that Cornelius was a commander of one of these centuries, belonging to the Italic band; so called from its consisting chiefly of Italian soldiers, formed out of one of the six cohorts granted to the procurators of Judasa, five of which cohorts were stationed at Caesarea, the usual residence of the procurators. The religious position of Cornelius, before his interview with Peter, has been the subject of much debate. It is contended by some that he was what is called a proselyte of the gate, or a Gentile, who, having renounced idolatry and worshipping the true God, frequented the synagogue, and offered sacrifices by the hands of the priests ; but, not having re- ceived circumcision, was not reckoned among the Jews. But, on the whole, it is more probable that he belonged to the class of pious Gentiles who had so far benefited by their contact with the Jewish people as to have become convinced that theirs was the true religion, who consequently worshipped the true God, were acquainted with the Scriptures of the Old Testament, most pro- CORNELIUS bably in the Greek translation, and observed several Jewish customs, as, for instance, their hours of prayer, or anything else that did not in- volve an act of special profession. This class of persons seems referred to in Acts xiii. 16, where they are plainly distinguished from the Jews, though certainly mingled with them. To the same class is to be referred Candace's treasurer (Acts viii. 27, &c.): and in earlier times, the midwives of Egypt (Exod. i. 17), Rahab (Josh, vi. 25), Ruth, Araunah the Jebusite (2 Sam. xxiv. 18, &c.), the persons mentioned 1 Kings viii. 41, 4:2, 43, Naaman (2 Kings v. 16, 17). We regard Cornelius, therefore, as having been selected of God to become the firstfruits of the Gentiles. His character appears suited, as much as possible, to abate the prejudices of the Jewish converts against what appeared to them so great an in- novation. It is well observed by Theophylact, that Cornelius, though neither a Jew nor a Chris- tian, lived the life of a good Christian. He was influenced by spontaneous reverence to God. He practically obeyed the restraints of religion, for he feared God, and this latter part of the description is extended to all his family or house- hold (ver. 2). He was liberal in alms to the Jewish people, which showed his respect for (hem ; and he ' prayed to God always,' at all the hours of prayer observed by the Jewish nation. Such piety, obedience, faith, and charity, pre- pared him for superior attainments and benefits, and secured to him their bestowment (Ps. xxv. 9; 1. 23; Matt xiii. 12; Luke viii. 15; John vji. 17). The remarkable circumstances under which these benefits were conferred upon him are too plainly and forcibly related in Acts x. to require much comment. While in prayer, at the ninth hour of the day, he beheld, in waking vision, an angel of God, who declared that ' his prayers and alms had come up for a memorial before God,' and directed him to send to Joppa for Peter, who was then abiding ' at the house of one Simon, a tanner.' Cornelius sent accordingly ; and when his messenger had nearly reached that place, Peter was prepared by the symbolical revelations of a noonday ecstacy, or trance, to understand that nothing which God had cleansed was to be regarded as common or unclean. It is well remarked by Paley, that the circum- stances of the two visions are such as to take them entirely out of the case of momentary mi- racles, or of such as may be accounted for by a false perception. ' The vision might be a dream ; the message could not. Either communication taken separately might be a delusion ; the con- currence of the two was impossible to happen without a supernatural cause.' (Evidences, prop, i. chap. 2). The inquiries of the messengers from Cornelius suggested to Peter the application of his vision, and he readily accompanied them to Joppa, attended by six Jewish brethren, and hesitated not to enter the house of one whom he, as a Jew, would regard as unclean. The Apostle waived the too fervent reverence of Cornelius, which, although usual in the East, was rendered by Romans only to their gods ; and mutual ex- planations then took place between him and the centurion. After this the Apostle proceeded to address Cornelius and his assembled friends, and expressed his conviction that the Gentiles were COTTON 215 no longer to be called unclean, and stated the leading evidence and chief doctrines of the Gospel, i While he was discoursing, the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, contrary to the order hitherto observed of being preceded by baptism and im- position of , hands, fell on his Gentile auditors. Of this fact Peter and his companions were con- vinced, for they heard them speak with tonguc-s foreign and before unknown to them, and which Peter and his companions knew to be such by the aid of their own miraculous gifts, and, under divine impulse, glorify God as the author of the Gospel. The Jewish brethren who accompanied Peter were astonished upon perceiving, by these indubitable indications, that the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the Gentiles, as upon themselves at the beginning (x. 45). Peter, already pre pared by his vision for the event, and remember- ing that baptism was by the command of Jesus. associated with these miraculous endowments, said, ' Can any man forbid water that these should be baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we ?' and yet, agreeably to the apostolic rule of committing the administration of baptism to others, and, considering that the consent of the Jewish brethren would be more explicit if they performed the duty, he ordered them to baptize Cornelius and his friends, his household, whose acceptance as members of the Christian church had been so abundantly tes- tified. CORNER-STONE. The symbolical title of ' chief corner stone ' is applied to Christ in Eph. ii. 20, and 1 Pet. ii. 8, 16, which last passage is a quotation from Isa. xxviii. 16. There seems no valid reason for distinguishing this from tin- stone called ' the head of the corner' (Matt. xxi. 42), although some contend that the latter is the top-stone or coping. The ' corner-stone ' was a large and massive stone so formed as, when placed at a corner, to bind together two outer walls of an edifice. This properly makes no part of tht foundation, from which it is distinguished in Jer. ]i. 56 ; though, as the edifice rests thereon, it may be so called. Sometimes it denotes those massive slabs which, being placed towards the bottom of any wall, serve to bind the work together, as in Isa. xxviii. 16. Of these there were often two layers, without cement or mortar. This ex- planation will sufficiently indicate the sense in which the title of ' chief corner-stone ' is applied to Christ. COTTON. Cotton is well known to be a wool-like substance which envelopes the seeds, and is contained within the roundish-pointed capsule or fruit of the cotton-shrub. Every one also knows that cotton has, from the earliest ages, been characteristic of India. But in the present day cotton, by the aid of machinery, has been manufactured in this country on so exten- sive a scale, and sold at so cheap a rate, as to have driven the manufacture of India almost entirely out of the market. Still, however, until a very recent period, the calicoes and chintzes of India formed very extensive articles of commerce from that country to Europe. India possesses two very distinct species of plants from which cotton is obtained: 1. K. Gossipium herbaceum of botanists, of which there are several varieties, some of which have spread north, and also into the south of Europe, and into Africa. 2. Gossi- 216 COVENANTS pium arboreum, or cotton-tree, -which is little cul- tivated on account of its small produce, but which yields a fine kind of cotton. This must not be confounded, as it often is, with the silk- cotton tree, or Bombyx keptaphyllum, which does not yield a cotton fit for spinning. Cotton is now chiefly cultivated in Central India, from whence it is carried to and exported from Broach. It is also largely cultivated in the districts of the Bombay Presidency, as also in that of Madras, but less in Bengal, except for home manufacture, which of course requires a large supply, where so large a population are all clothed in cotton. The supplies of cotton which we derive from America are obtained from two entirely distinct species Gossipium Barbadense, of which dif- ferent varieties yield the Sea Island, Upland, Georgian, and the New Orleans cottons ; while G. Peruviunum yields the Brazil, Pernambuco, and other South American cottons. These species are original natives of America. It is probable that cotton was imported into Egypt and known to the Hebrews, but it is extremely diffi- cult to prove the fact : the subject has been ex- tensively investigated, but the point is still unde- termined. COUCH. [BED.] COVENANTS. Among other instances of anthropomorphic forms of speech employed in Scripture is the use of the term covenant, to de- signate the divine dealings with mankind, or with individuals of the race. In all such cases, the proper idea of a covenant or mutual contract between parties, each of which is bound to render certain benefits to the other, is obviously ex- cluded, and one of a merely analogical nature substituted in its place. Where God is one of the parties, and man the other, in a covenant, all the benefits conferred must be on the part of the former, and all the obligations sustained on the part of the latter. Such a definition, therefore, of a divine covenant as would imply that both parties are under conditions to each other is ob- viously incorrect, and incompatible with the relative position of the parties. We should pre- fer defining God's covenant with man as a gracious engagement on the part of God to com- municate certain unmerited favours to men, in connection with a particular constitution or sys- tem, through means of which these favours are to be enjoyed. Hence in Scripture the covenant of God is called his ' counsel,' his ' oath,' his ' pro- mise' (Ps. Ixxxix. 3, 4 : cv. 8-1 1 ; Heb. vi. 13-20 ; Luke i. 68-75; Gal. iii. 15-18, &c.); and it is described as consisting wholly in the gracious bestowal of blessing on men (Isa. lix. 21 ; Jer. xxxi. 33, 34). Hence also the application of the term covenant to designate such fixed arrange- ments, or laws of nature, as the regular succession of day and night (Jer. xxxiii. 20), and such re- ligious institutions as the Sabbath (Exod. xxxi. 10); circumcision (Gen. xvii. 9, 10); the Levi- tical institute (Lev. xxvi. 15); and in general any precept or ordinance of God (Jer. xxxiv. 13, 14) ; all such appointments forming part of that system or arrangement in connection with which the blessings of God's grace were to be enjoyed. The divine covenants were ratified with the sacrifice of a piacular victim, the design of which was to show that without an atonement there could be no communication of blessing from COVENANTS God to man. Thus when God made a covenant with Abraham certain victims were slain and divided into halves, between which a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, the symbols of the divine presence, passed, to indicate the ratifica- tion of the promises conveyed in that covenant to Abraham ; and here it is deserving of notice, as illustrating the definition of a divine covenant above given, that the divine glory alone passed be- tween the pieces ; whereas had the covenant been one of mutual stipulation, Abraham also would have performed the same ceremony (Gen. xv.- 1-18). In like manner, the Levitical covenant was ratified by sacrifice (Exod. xxiv. C-8) ; and the Apostle expressly affirms, on this ground, the necessity of the death of Christ, as the mediator of the new covenant ; declaring that where a covenant is, there also of necessity must be the death of the appointed victim (Heb. ix. 16). Of the divine covenants mentioned in Scripture the first place is due to that which is emphatically styled by Jehovah ' MIJ covenant.' This is God s gracious engagement to confer salvation and eternal glory on all who come to him through Jesus Christ. It is called sometimes ' the ever- lasting covenan't ' (Isa. Iv. 3 ; Heb. xiii. 20), to distinguish it from those more temporary arrange- ments which were confined to particular indivi- duals or classes ; and the second, or new, or (tetter covenant, to distinguish it from the Levitical covenant, which was Jirst in order of time, be- cause first ratified by sacrifice, and became old, and was shown to be inferior, because on the ap- pearance of the Christian dispensation it was superseded, and passed away (Jer. xxxi. 31 ; Gal. iv. 24; Heb. vii. 22; viii. 6-13; ix. 15-23: xii. 24). Though this covenant was not, strictly speaking, ratified before the death of Christ, the great sacrificial victim (Heb. xiii. 20), yet it was revealed to the saints who lived before his advent, and who enjoyed salvation through the retro- spective power of his death (Rom. iii. 25; Heb. ix. 15). To the more highly favoured of these, God gave specific assurances of his gracious pur- pose, and on such occasions he was said to esta- blish or make his covenant with them. Thus he established his covenant with Noah (Gen. ix. 8, fi) ; with Abraham (Gen. xvii. 4, 5) ; and with David (Ps. Ixxxix. 3, 4). These were not dis- tinct covenants, so much as renewals of the pro- mises of the everlasting covenant, coupled with certain temporal favours, as types and pledges of the fulfilment of these promises. The old or Sinaitic covenant was that given by God to the Israelites through Moses. It respected especially the inheritance of the land of Canaan, and the temporal blessings therewith connected ; but it stood related to the new covenant, as em- bodying a typical representation of those great truths and blessings which the Christian dispen- sation unfolds and conveys. In the system of a certain class of theologians great importance is attached to what they have technically called 'the covenant of Avorks.' By this they intend the constitution established by God with Adam, during the period of his inno- cence. So far as this phraseology is not under- stood to imply that man, even in his sinless state, was competent to I ind Jehovah by any conditions, it cannot be objected to. It seems also to have the sanction of one passage of Scrip- CRANE tare, viz. Hos. vi. 7, which almost all the best interpreters agree in rendering thus : ' But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant.' Theologians have also spoken of ' the covenant of redemption,' by which they mean an engage- ment entered into between God the Father and God the Sou from all eternity, whereby the former secured to the latter a certain number of ran- somed sinners, as his church or elect body, and the latter engaged to become their surety and substitute. By many the propriety of this doc- trine has been doubted ; but the references to it in Scripture are of such a kind that it seems un- reasonable to refuse to admit it. With it stand connected the subjects of election, predestination, the special love of Christ to his people, and the certain salvation of all that the Father hath given him. Sometimes a mere human contract is called God's covenant, in the sense of involving an ap- peal to the Almighty, who, as the Judge of the whole earth, will hold both parties bound to fulfil their engagment. Compare 1 Sam. xx. 8; Jer. xxxiv. 18, 19; Ezek. xvii. 18, 19. CRANE (Isa. xxxviii. 14 ; Jer. viii. 7). The correctness of the translation in these passages has however been called in question, for if the ' crane ' of Europe had been meant by either de- nomination, the clamorous habits of the species would not have been expressed as ' chattering ;' and it is most probable that the striking charac- teristics of that bird, which are so elegantly and forcibly displayed in Hesiod and Aristophanes, would have supplied the lofty diction of pro- phetical inspiration with associations of a cha- racter still more exalted. It is supposed, there- fore, that the ' Ardea virgo ' of Lirm. the ' Grus virgo ' of later writers, and ' Anthropoides virgo' CRISPUS 217 132. [Numidian Crane : Grus Virgo.] of some, is the bird really meant, though not coming from the north, but from Central Africa, down tbe Nile, and in the spring arriving in Palestine, while troops of them proceed to Asia Minor, and some as far north as the Caspian. They are frequently found portrayed on Egyp- tian monuments, and Hasselquist, who saw them on the Nile, afterwards shot one near Smyrna: they visit the swamp above that city, and the lake of Tiberias, and depart in the fall, but do not utter the danger of the crano, nor adopt its flight in two columns, forming an acute angle, the better to cleave the air. This bird is not more than three feet in length ; it is of a beau- tiful bluisli grey, with the cheeks, throat, breast, and tips of the long hinder feathers and quills black, and a tuft of delicate white plumes behind each eye. It has a peculiar dancing walk, which gave rise to its French denomination of ' demoiselle.' CRES'CENS, an assistant of St. Paul, and ge- nerally supposed to have been one of the seventy disciples of Christ. It is alleged in the Aposto- lical Constitutions (vii. 4(i), and by the fathers of the church, that he preached the Gospel in Galatia, a fact probably deduced oonjecturally from the only text (2 Tim. iv. 10) in which his name occurs. CRETE, one of the largest islands in the Me- diterranean, now called Candia, and by the Turks, Kirid. It is 160 miles long, but of very unequal width varying from thirty-five to six miles. It is situated at the entrance of the Archi- pelago, having the coast of the Morea to the south-west, that of Asia Minor to the north-east, and that of Libya to the south. Great antiquity was affected by the inhabitants, and it has been supposed by some that the island was originally peopled from Egypt; but this is founded on the conclusion that Crete was the Caphtor of Deut. ii. 23, &c., and the country of the Philistines, which seems more than doubtful. Surrounded on all sides by the sea, the Cretans were excel- lent sailors, and their vessels visited all the neighbouring coasts. The island was highly prosperous and full of people in very ancient times. The chief glory of the island, however. lay in its having produced the legislator Minos, whose institutions had such important influence in softening the manners of a barbarous age, not in Crete only, but also in Greece, where these institutions were imitated. The natives were celebrated as archers. Their character was not of the most favourable description ; the Cretans or Kretans being, in fact, one of the three K's against whose unfaithfulness the Greek proverb was intended as a caution Kappadokia, Krete, and Kilikia. In short, the ancient notices of their character fully agree with the quotation which St. Paul produces from * one of their own poets,' in his Epistle to Titus (i. 12), who had been left in charge of the Christian church i: the island: 'The Cretans are always liars (eternal liars), evil beasts (literally " brutes "), slow bel- lies ' (gorbellies, bellies which take long to fill). Crete is named in 1 Mace. x. 67. But it de- rives its strongest Scriptural interest from the circumstances connected with St. Paul's voyage to Italy. The vessel in which he sailed, being forced out of her course by contrary winds, was driven round the island, instead of keeping the direct course to the north of it. In doing this, the ship first made the promontory of Salmone on the eastern siie of the island, which they passed with difficulty, and took shelter at a place called Fair-Havens, near to which was the city Lasea. But after spending some time at this place, and not finding it, as they supposed, suf- ficiently secure to winter in, they resolved, con- trary to the advice of St. Paul (the season beinc far advanced), to make for Phoenice, a more commodious harbour on the western part of the island ; in attempting which they were driven far out of their course by a furious east wind called Euroclydon, and wrecked on the island of Me- lita (Acts xxvii.). CRIMSON. [PUKPLE.] CRIS'PUS) chief, of the Jewish Synagogue at 218 CROCODILE Corinth (Acts xviii. 8), converted by St Paul (1 Cor. i. 14). According to tradition be was afterwards bishop of JEgina. CROCODILE. We shall in this place con- fine ourselves to some notice of crocodiles strictly so called, and shall point out some leading cha- racters in the animal coinciding with allusions to it in the Scriptures, which could not be properly noticed elsewhere. 138. The crocodiles which we have to notice at present consist of three varieties, or perhaps spe- cies, all natives of the Nile, distinguishable by the different arrangement of the scutae or bony studs on the neck, and the number of rows of the same processes along the back. Their general lizard form is too well known to need particular description ; but it may be remarked that of the whole family of crocodiles, comprehending the sharp-beaked gavials of India, the alligators of the west, and the crocodiles properly so called, the last are supplied with the most vigorous in- struments for swimming, both from the strength and vertical breadth of their tails, and from the fingers of their paws having deeper webs. Al- though all have from thirty to forty teeth in each jaw, shaped like spikes, without breadth so as to cut, or surface so as to admit of grinding, the true crocodile alone has one or more teeth on each side in both jaws, exserted, that is, not closing within but outside the jaw- They have no external ear beyond a follicle of skin, and the eyes have a position above the plane of the head, the pupils being contractile, like those of a cat, and in some having a luminous greenish tinge, which may have suggested the allusion to 'the lids of the morning' (Job xli. 18). The upper jaw is not movable, but, as well as the forehead, is extremely dense and bony ; the rest of the upper surface being covered with several rows of bosses, or plated ridges, which on the tail are at last reduced from two to one, each scale having a high horny crest, which acts as part of a great fin. Although destitute of a real voice, crocodiles when angry produce a snorting sound, something like a deep growl ; and occa- sionally they open the mouth very wide, remain for a time thus exposed facing the breeze, and, closing the jaws with a sudden snap, cause a re- port like the fall of a trap-door. The gullet of the crocodile is very wide, the tongue being com- pletely tied to the lower jaw ; and beneath it are CROSS glands exuding a musky substance. On land the crocodile, next to the gavial, is the most active, and in the water it is also the species that most readily frequents the open sea. Of the immense number of genera which we have seen or exa- mined, none reached to 25 feet in length, and we believe the specimen in the vaults of the British Museum to be one of the largest. Sheep are observed to be unmolested by these animals ; but where they abound, no pigs can be kept, per- haps from their frequenting the muddy shores ; for we have known only one instance of croco- diles being encountered in woods not immediately close to the water's side : usually they bask on sandy islands. As their teeth are long, but not fitted for cutting, they seize their prey, which they cannot masticate, and swallow it nearly en- tire, or bury it beneath the waves to macerate. Having very small excretory organs, their diges- tion requires, and accordingly they are found to possess, an immense apparatus. They are ovi parous, burying their eggs in the sand ; and the female remains in the vicinity to dig them out on the day the young have broken the shell. Crocodiles are caught with hooks, and they sel- dom succeed in cutting the rope when properly prepared. Though a ball fired point blank will penetrate between the scales which cover the body, they may be regarded as furnishing an all but unfailing protection against such injuries and wounds as occasion death to other animals. That crocodiles and alligators take the sea, and are found on islands many leagues distant from other land, we have ourselves witnessed ; and the fact is particularly notorious at the Grand Caymanas in the sea of Mexico, which is almost destitute of fresh water. It is indeed owing to this circumstance that the same species may frequent all the rivers of a great extent of coast, as is the case with some found in Africa, whence they spread to India and the Malayan islands. CROSS. In its simplest form, consisting of two pieces of wood, one standing erect, the other crossing it at right angles, the cross was known at an early age in the history of the world. Its use as an instrument of punishment was probably suggested by the shape so often taken by branches of trees, which seem to have been the first crosses that were employed. Trees are known to have been used as crosses, and to every kind of hang- ing which bore a resemblance to crucifixion, such as that of Prometheus, Andromeda, &c., the name was commonly applied. Among the Scythians, Persians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, and the ancient Germans, traces are found of the cross as an instrument of punishment. The sign of the cross is found as a holy symbol among several ancient nations. Among the Indians and Egyptians the cross often appears in their cere- monies, sometimes in the shape of the letter T, at others in this shape -f- At Susa, Ker Porter saw a stone cut with hieroglyphics and cuneiform inscriptions, on which in one corner was a figure of a cross, thus >Ji. The cross, he says, is gene- rally understood to be symbolical of the divinity or eternal life ; and certainly a cross was to be seen in the temple of Serapis as the Egyptian emblem of the future life. Porter also states that the Egyptian priests urged its being found on the walls of their temple of Serapis, as an CROSS argument with tht victorious army of Theodosius to save it from destruction. According to Lipsius, there were in general two kinds of crosses ; 1 , the simple cross ; 2, the compound cross. The first consisted of a stake on which the criminal was fastened or by which he was impaled. For the first kind of punish- ment a tree or a specially prepared stake was used, on which the criminal was bound, and either left to perish, or immediately put to death. For impaling a long and sharpened piece of wood (pale) was employed, on which the criminal was put as on a spit. This cruel mode of execution was formerly very customary in Russia, China, Turkey, and other countries, and is not yet uni- versally abolished by law. Of the compound cross there were three sorts : 1, one shaped like the letter X, also called An- drew's cross, because tradition reports that on a cross of this kind the Apostle Andrew suffered death. 2. Another sort was formed by putting a cross piece of wood on a perpendicular one, so that no part of the latter may stand above the former. This form is found in the figure T~. 3. The third sort is described as ' a cross in which the longer piece of wood or pale stands above the shorter piece which runs across it near the top." It is distinguished from the preceding by the part of the longer beam which is above the shorter or transverse, thus i. This form is found in paintings more frequently than any other, and on a cross of this kind our Saviour is believed to have suffered death. According to the statement of certain eccle- siastical historians, the cross on which our Lord was crucified was found in the year 326 by the Empress Helena, mother of Constantino the Great. Having built a church over the sacred spot where it was discovered, Helena deposited within it the chief part of the real cross. The remainder she conveyed to Constantinople, a part of which Constantine inserted in the head of a statue of himself, and the other part was sent to Rome, and placed in the church of Sta. Croee in Gerusalemme, which was built expressly to receive the precious relic. When subsequently a festival to commemorate the discovery had been established, the Bishop of Jerusalem, on Easter Sunday, exhibited to the grateful eyes of eager pilgrims the object to see which they had tra- velled so far and endured so much. Those who were persons of substance were further gratified !>y obtaining, at their full price, small pieces of the cross set in gold and gems ; and that wonder might not pass into incredulity, the proper autho- rities gave the world an assurance that the holy wood possessed the power of self-multiplication, and, notwithstanding the innumerable pieces which had been taken from it for the pleasure and service of the faithful, remained intact and entire as at the first. The capture of Jerusalem by the Persians, A.D. 614, placed the remains of the cross in the hands of Chosroes II., who mockingly conveyed (hem to his capital. Fourteen years afterwards, Heraclius recovered them, and had them carried first to Constantinople, and then to Jerusalem, in such pomp, that on his arrival before the latter city, he found the gate barred, and entrance for- bidden. Instructed as to the cause of this hin- CROWNS 219 derance, the Emperor laid aside the trappings of his greatness, and, barefooted, bore on his own shoulders the sacred relic up to the gate, which then opened of itself, and allowed him to enter, and thus place his charge beneath the dome of the sepulchre. From this time no more is heard of the true cross, which may have been destroyed by the Saracens on their conquest of Jerusalem, A.D. 637. CROWNS are often mentioned in Scripture, and in such a manner as in most cases to indi- cate the circumstances under which, and the per- sons by whom, they were worn ; for crowns were less exclusively worn by sovereigns than among modern nations. Perhaps it would be better to say that the term 'crowns' was applied to other ornaments for the head than those exclusively worn by royal personages, and to which modern usage would give such distinctive names as coro- net, band, mitre, tiara, garland, &c. The royal crown originated in the diadem, which was a simple fillet fastened round the head, and tied behind. This obviously took its rise among a people who wore long hair, and used a band to prevent it from falling over the face. The idea occurred of distinguishing kings by a fillet of different colour from that usually worn ; and being thus established as a regal distinction, it continued to be used as such even among na- tions who did not wear the hair long, or was employed to confine the head-dress. We sorne- 134. [Ancient Asiatic Crowns.] times see this diadem as a simple fillet, about two inches broad, fastened round the otherwise bare head; we then find it as a hand of gold (No. 134, figs. 2, 5). In this shape it sometimes forms the basis of raised ornamental work (figs. 6, 7, 8, 10), in which case it becomes what we should consider a crown ; and indeed the original diadem may be traced in most ancient crowns. Fig. 10 is curious, not only from the simplicity of its form, but on account of the metallic loop to be passed under the chin a mode of securing the crown probably adopted in war or in the chace. Then we find the diadem surrounding the head-dress or cap (figs. 3, 9, 13), and when this also is ornamented, the diadem may be con- 220 CROWNS sidered as having become a crown. The word nezer is supposed to denote a diadem. It is ap- plied to the inscribed plate of gold in front of the high- priest's mitre, which was tied behind by a ribbon (Exod. xxix. 6 ; xxxix. 30), and which was doubtless something of the same kind that we see in figs. 8, 1 1 . This word is also employed to denote the diadem which Saul wore in battle, and which was brought to David (2 Sam. i. 10), and also that which was used at the coronation of the young Joash (2 Kings xi. 12): and, as another word is applied elsewhere to the crown used in this ceremonial, the probability is that the Hebrew kings wore sometimes a diadem and sometimes a crown, and that the diadem only was accessible to the high-priest, by whom Joash was crowned, the crown itself being most likely in the possession of Athaliah. As Psalm Ixxxix. was certainly composed by David, the regal use of the diadem is further indicated in verse 39. The more general word for a crown is atarah ; and it is applied to crowns and head ornaments of different sorts, including those used by the kings. When applied to their crowns, it appears to denote the state crown as distinguished from the diadem. This, the Rabbins allege, was of gold set with jewels ; such was the crown which David took from the king of the Amorites (2 Sam. xii. 30), and afterwards wore himself, as did pro- bably his successors. Of its shape it is impos- sible to form any notion, unless by reference to the examples of ancient crowns contained in the preceding cut These figures, however, being taken mostly from coins, are not of that very re- mote antiquity which we should desire to illus- trate matters pertaining to the period of the Hebrew monarchies. In Egypt and Persia there are sculptures of earlier date, representing royal crowns in the shape of a distinguishing tiara, cap, or helmet, of metal, and of cloth, or partly cloth and partly metal. Sach are the Egyptian 135. [Ancient Egyptian Crowns.] orowns as represented in the above engraving (No. 135). Fig. 1 is the crown of Lower, and fig. 2 that of Upper Egypt ; and when both king- doms were under one sovereign, the two crowns were united, as in fig. 3. Such union of the crowns of different countries upon one head is matter of historical record. Thus when Ptolemy Philometer entered Antioch as a conqueror, he placed on his head the crowns of Egypt and of Asia. This would, in fact, form three crowns, as his previous one was doubtless the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt The diadem of CROWNS two or three fillets (figs. 3, 4, No. 134) may have been similarly significant of dominion over two or three countries. There are allusions to this custom in Scripture (Rev. xii. 3 ; xix. 12). These Egyptian tiaras were worn in war, and on occa- sions of state ; but on ordinary occasions a fillet or diadem was used, affording corroboratiou of a previous remark. 135. [Modern Asiatic Crowns.] It is important to observe that the mitre of the high-priest, which is also called a crown (Exod. xxxix. 30), was of similar construction, if not shape, with the addition of the golden fillet or diadem. Similar also in construction and mate- rial, though not in form, was the ancient Persian crown. From the descriptions given of it, this seems to have been a somewhat conical cap, sur- rounded by a wreath or fold ; and this would suggest a resemblance to fig. 12, No. 134; which is in fact copied from a Parthian or later Persian coin. This one is worthy of very particular attention, because it forms a connecting link be- tween the ancient and modern Oriental crowns. the latter consisting either of a cap, with a fold or turban, variously enriched with aigrettes, as this is ; or of a stiff cap of cloth, studded with precious stones. It must often occur to the stu- dent of Biblical antiquities that the modern usages of the East have more resemblance to the most ancient, than have those which pre- vailed during that intermediate or classical period in which its peculiar manners and insti- tutions were subject to much extraneous inflnenee from the domination of the Greeks and Romans. So, in the present instance, we are strongly of opinion that such head tires and caps as those represented in Nos. 135 and 136, more correctly represent the regal ' crowns ' of the Old Testa- ment, than those figured in No. 134 (with the CRUCIFIXION exception of fig. 12, and the simple diadems') ; which however may be taken to represent the style of the crowns which prevailed in and be- fore the time of the New Testament. Crowns were so often used symbolically to express honour and power, that it is not always safe to infer national usages from the passages in which they occur. Hence we would scarcely conclude from Ezek. xxiii. 42, that crowns were worn by Jewish females, although that they wore some ornament which might be so called is pro- bable from other sources. Mr. Lane (Arabian Nights, i. 424) mentions that, until about two centuries ago, a kind of crown was worn by Arabian females of wealth and distinction. It was generally a circle of jewelled gold (the lower edge of which was straight, and the upper fan- cifully heightened to a mere point), surmounting the lower part of a dome-shaped cap, with a jewel or some other ornament at the summit. It is certain that ' crowns ' of this or some similar kind were worn at marriages (Cant. iii. 11 ; Isa. Ixi. 10); and it would appear that at feasts and public festivals ' crowns of rejoicing ' were customary. These were probably garlands (Wisd. ii. 8 ; iv. 2 ; Ecclus. i. 11). The 'crowns' or garlands which were given to the victors in the public games are more than once alluded to in the Epistles (l Cor. ix. 25 ; 2 Tim. ii. 5 ; iv. 8 ; 1 Pet. v. 4). CROWN OF THORNS. [THORNS.] CRUCIFIXION. Crucifixion was a most cruel and disgraceful punishment; the terms applied to it by ancient writers are, ' the most cruel and disgraceful,' 'the worst possible punish- ment,' ' the worst punishment in the world.' It was the punishment chiefly of slaves; accord- ingly the word ' cross-bearer' was a term of re- proach for slaves, and the punishment is termed ' a slave's punishment.' Free-born persons also suffered crucifixion, but only those of low con- dition and provincials. Citizens could not be crucified. This punishment was reserved for the greatest crimes, as robbery, piracy, assassination, perjury, sedition, treason, and (in the case of soldiers) desertion. Its origin is ancient. In Thucydides we read of Inarus, an African king, who was crucified by the Egyptians. The simi- lar fate of Polycrates, who suffered under the Persians, is detailed by Herodotus, who adds, in the same book, that no less than 300 persons were condemned to the cross by Darius, after his successful siege of Babylon. Valerius Maximus makes crucifixion the common military punish- ment of the Carthaginians. That the Greeks adopted it is plain from the cruel executions which Alexander ordered after the capture of Tyre, when 2000 captives were nailed to crosses along the sea-shore. With the Romans it was used under their early monarchical government, and was the death to which Horatius was ad- judged for the stern and savage murder of his sister, where the terms employed show that the punishment was not at that time limited to any rank or condition. It appears also from the passage that scourging then preceded crucifixion, as undoubtedly was customary in later times. The column to which Jesus was fastened during this cruel infliction is stated by Jerome to have existed in his time in the portico of the holy sepulchre, and to have retained marks of his CRUCIFIXION 221 blood. The Jews received the punishment of crucifixion from the Romans. Though it has been a matter of debate, yet it appears clear that crucifixion, properly so called, was not originally a Hebrew punishment. The condemned, after having been scourged, had to bear their cross, or at least the transverse beam, to the place of execution, which was generally in some fre- quented place without the city. The cross itself, or the upright beam, was fixed in the ground. Arrived at the spot the delinquent was supplied with an intoxicating drink, made of myrrh and other bitter herbs, and having been stripped of his clothing, was raised and affixed to the cross, by nails driven into his hands, and more rarely into his feet ; sometimes the feet were fastened by one nail driven through both. The feet were occasionally bound to the cross by cords, and Xenophon asserts that it was usual among the Egyptians to bind in this manner not only the feet but the hands. A small tablet, declaring the crime, was placed on the top of the cross. The body of the crucified person rested on a sort of seat. The criminal died under the most frightful sufferings so great that even amid the raging passions of war, pity was sometimes ex- cited. Sometimes the suffering was shortened and abated by breaking the legs of the criminal. After death, among the heathens, the bodies com- monly remained on the cross till they wasted away, or were devoured by birds of prey. A military guard was set near the cross, to prevent the corpse from being taken away for burial ; but among the Jews the dead body was cus- tomarily taken down and buried. The execution took place at the hands of the hangman, attended by a band of soldiers, and in Rome, under the supervision of the Triumviri Capitales. The accounts given in the Gospels of the execution of Jesus Christ are in entire agreement with the customs and practices of the Romans in this par- ticular. The punishment continued in the Roman empire till the time of Constantine, when it was abolished through the influence of the Christian religion. Examples of it are found in the early part of the emperor's reign, but the reverence which, at a later period, he was led to feel for the cross, induced him to put an end to the inhu- man practice. Death by crucifixion (physically considered) is to be attributed to the sympathetic fever which is excited by the wounds, and aggravated by ex- posure to the weather, privation of water, and the painfully constrained position of the body. Traumatic fever corresponds, in intensity and ra character, to the local inflammation of the wound. In the first stage, while the inflamma- tion of the wound is characterized by heat, swelling, and great pain, the fever is highly in- flammatory ; and the sufferer complains of heat, throbbing headache, intense thirst, restlessness, and anxiety. As soon as suppuration sets in. the fever somewhat abates, and gradually ceases as suppuration diminishes and the stage of cica- trisation approaches. But if the wound be pre- vented from healing, and suppuration continue, the fever assumes a hectic character, and will sooner or later exhaust the powers of life. When, however, the inflammation of the wound is so intense as to produce mortification, nervous depression is the immediate consequence; and 222 CRUCIFIXION if the cause of this excessive inflammation of the wound still continues, as is the case in cruci- fixion, the sufferer rapidly sinks. He is no longer sensible of pain, but his anxiety and sense of prostration are excessive ; hiccup supervenes, his skin is moistened with a cold clammy sweat, and death ensues. It is in this manner that death on the cross must have taken place, in an ordi- narily healthy constitution. The wounds in themselves were not fatal ; but, as long as the nails remained in them, the inflammation must have increased in intensity until it produced gangrene. De la Condamiue witnessed the cru- cifixion of two women of those fanatic Jansenists called Convulsionuaires. One of them, who had been crucified thrice before, remained on the cross for three hours. They suffered most pain from the operation of extracting the nails ; and it was not until then that they lost more than a few drops of blood from their wounds. After they were taken down, they seemed to suffer . little, and speedily recovered. The probabilities of recovery after crucifixion would of course de- pend on the degree of constitutional irritation that had been already excited. Joscphus relates that of three of his friends, for whom he had ob- tained a release from the cross, only one survived. The period at which death occurred was very variable, as it depended on the constitution of the sufferer, as well as on the degree of exposure and the state of the weather. It may, however, be asserted that death would not take place until the local inflammation had run its course ; and though this process may be much hastened by fatigue and the alternate exposure to the rays of the sun and the cold night air, it is not com- pleted before forty-eight hours, under ordinary circumstances, and in healthy constitutions ; so that we may consider thirty-six hours to be the earliest period at which crucifixion would occa- sion death in a healthy adult. Many of the wounded at Waterloo were brought into the hos- pitals after having lain three days on the field, and even then sometimes recovered from severe operations. It cannot be objected that the heat of an Eastern climate may not have been duly considered in the above estimate ; for many cases are recorded of persons having survived a much longer time than is here mentioned, even as long as eight or nine days. Eusebius says that many of the martyrs in Egypt, who were crucified with their heads downwards, perished by hunger. This assertion, however, must not be misunderstood. It was very natural to sup- pose that hunger was the cause of death, when it was known that no food had been taken, and when, as must have happened in lingering cases of crucifixion, the body was seen to be emaciated. But it has been shown above that the nails in the hands and feet must inevitably have given rise to such a degree of inflammation as to pro- duce mortification, and ultimately death ; and it is equally certain that food would not, under such circumstances, have contributed to support life. Moreover, it may be added that after the first few hours, as soon as fever had been fully excited, the sufferer would lose all desire for food. The want of water was a much more im- portant privation. It must have caused the suf- ferer inexpressible anguish, and have contributed in no slight degree to hasten death. As-Sujuti, CUBIT a celebrated Arabic writer, gives an interesting account of a young Turk who was crucified ai Damascus A.D. 1247. It is particularly men- tioned that his hands and feet were nailed, and even his arms (but not as if it was in any way remarkable). He complained of intense thirst on the first day, and his sufferings were greatly increased by his continually seeing before him the waters of the Barada, on the banks ol which he was crucified. He survived two days, from the noon of Friday to the noon of Sun- day. CRUSE (1 Sam. xxvi. 11; 1 Kings xiv. 3; 2 Kings ii. 20). This now obsolete English word denotes a small vessel for holding water or other liquids. Such are noticed under BOTTLE, DISH, PITCHER. CRYSTAL. There seems to be no doubt that crystal is intended by the Greek word in Rev. xxi. 1 1, as indeed the phrase of comparison ' clear as crystal ' would seem naturally to suggest. In Ezek. i. 22 the Hebrew word kerach, which lite- rally denotes ice, is employed with a similar sig- nification. This is the more apparent when we recollect that crystal was anciently held to be only pure water, congealed by great length of time into ice harder than the common, and hence the Greek word for it, in its more proper signi- fication, also signifies ice. From this it neces- sarily followed that crystal could only be pro- duced in the regions of perpetual ice : and this was accordingly the ancient belief; but we now know that it is found in the warmest regions. Theophrastus (54) reckons crystal among the pel- lucid stones used for engraved seals. In common parlance we apply the term crystal (as the ancients apparently did) to a glass-like transparent stone, commonly of a hexagonal form, which, from being found in rocks, is called by mineralogists rock-crystal. It is a stone of the flint family, the most refined kind of quartz. CUBIT is a word derived immediately from the Latin cubitus, the lower arm. The length of the cubit has varied in different nations, and at different times. Derived as the measure is from a part of the human body, and as the human stature has been of very dissimilar length, the cubit must of necessity have been various. That the cubit among the Hebrews was derived as a measure from the human body is clear from Deut. iii. 11 ' after the cubit of a man.' But it is dif- ficult to determine whether this cubit was under- stood as extending to the wrist or the end of the third finger. As, however, the latter seems most natural, since men, when ignorant of anatomy, and seeking in their own frames standards of measure, were likely to take both the entire foot and the entire fore-arm, the probability is that the longer was the original cubit, namely, the length from the elbow to the extremity of the longest finger. The hand-breadth is found as a measure in 1 Kings vii. 26, comp. Jer. liL 21. In the latter passage the finger-breadth is another measure. The span also occurs Exod. xxviii. 16. So that, it appears, measures of length were, for the most part, borrowed by the Hebrews from members of the human body. Still no absolute and invariable standard presents itself. If the question, What is a hand or a finger-breadth ? be asked, the answer j can be only an approximation to fact. If, how- CUMMIN ever, the palm or hand-breadth is taken at 3J '.nches, then the cubit will amount to 21 inches. In addition to the common cubit, the Egyp- tians had a longer one of 6 palms 4 inches. The Hebrews also have been thought to have had a longer cubit ; for, in Ezek. xl. 5, we read of a cubit which seems to be an ordinary ' cubit and an hand- breadth ;' see also Ezek. xliii. 13, where it is expressly said ' the cubit is a cubit and an hand-breadth.' The prophet has been supposed to refer here to the then current Babylonian cubit a measure which it is thought the Jews bor- rowed during the period of their captivity. In the New Testament our Lord characteristically employs the term cubit (Matt, xxvii. 6 ; Luke xii. 25) for the enforcement of a moral and spi- ritual lesson. The term also occurs in John xxi. 8, and in Rev. xxi. 17. In Lev. xix. 35 justice in measures, as well as in weights, is strictly enjoined. CUCKOW occurs only in Lev. xi. 16, among birds of prey not clearly identified, but declared to be unclean. The accuracy of the translation has been called in question, but great obscurity hangs over the subject, and in the present state of our knowledge it is impossible to ascertain what kind of bird was really meant. CUCUMBER first occurs in Num. xi. 5, in the verse where the Israelites, when in the desert, express their longings for the melons and the cucumbers of Egypt. All travellers in the East notice the extensive cultivation and consumption of cucumbers and other herbs of the same tribe, especially where there is any moisture of soil, or the possibility of irrigation. Thus even in the driest parts, the neighbourhood of a well is often occupied by a field of cucurbitaceous plants, generally with a man or boy set to guard it from plunder, perched up on a temporary scaffolding, with a slight protection from the sun, where he may himself be safe from the attacks of the more powerful wild animals. That such plants appear to have been similarly cultivated among the He- brews is evident from Isa. i. 8, ' The daughter of Zion is left like a cottage in a vineyard, like a lodge in a garden of cucumbers ;' as well as from Baruch vi. 70, ' As a scarecrow in a garden of cucumbers keepeth nothing, so are their gods ol wood.' CUMMIN, or KAMMON, is an umbelliferous plant, mentioned both in the Old and New Testa- ments, and which, like the dill and the coriander, continues to be cultivated in modern, as it was in ancient times, in Eastern countries. These are similar to, and used for many of the same pur- poses as the anise and caraway, which supply their place, and are more common in Europe All these plants produce fruits, commonly callec seeds, which abound in essential oil of a more or less grateful flavour, and warm stimulating na ture ; hence they were employed in ancient as ir modern times, both as condiments and as medi cines. Cummin is first mentioned in Isaiah (xxviii 25) : ' When he (the ploughman) hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches and scatter the cummin ?' showing that it wa extensively cultivated, as it is in the present day in Eastern countries, as far even as India. In the south of Europe it is also cultivated to som extent. England is chiefly supplied from Malta CUMMIN 223 and Sicily ; 53 cwt. having been imported in the fear 1839 from these islands. In the above ihapter of Isaiah (ver. 27) cummin is again men- ioned : ' For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart-wheel :urned about upon the cummin ; but the fitches ire beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with rod.' This is most applicable to the fruit of he common cummin, which, when ripe, may be eparated from the stalk with the slightest stroke, ind would be completely destroyed by the turn- ng round of a wheel, which, bruising the seed, r ould press out the oil on which its virtues de- pend. In the New Testament cummin is mentioned in Matt, xxiii. 23, where our Saviour denounces the scribes and Pharisees, who paid their ' tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin,' but neglected the weightier matters of the law. CUSH, the eldest son of Ham (Gen. x. 6 ; 1 Chron. i. 8), from whom seems to have been de- rived the name of the land of Cush. The locality of the land of Cush is a question upon which eminent authorities have been di- vided ; for while Bochart maintained that it was exclusively in Arabia, Gesenius held with no less pertinacity that it is to be sought for nowhere bul in Africa. Others again, such as Michaelis and Rosenmiiller, have supposed that the name Cush was applied to tracts of country both in Arabia and Africa a circumstance which would easily be accounted for, on the very probable supposi tion that the descendants of the primitive Cushite tribes, who had settled in the former country, emigrated across the Red Sea to the latter regior of the earth, carrying with them the name o Cush, their remote progenitor. The existence of an African Cush cannot rea sonably be questioned, though the term is em ployed in Scripture with great latitude, sometimes denoting an extensive but undefined couutn (Ethiopia), and at other times one particular kingdom (Meroe). It is expressly described \>i Ezekiel as lying to the south of Egypt beyoni Syene (xxix. 10 ; comp. xxx. 4-6). Hence w find Mizraim and Cush (i. e. Egypt and Ethiopia so often classed together by the prophets, e. g. Ps Ixviii. 31 ; Isa. xi. 11 ; xx. 4 ; xliii. 3 ; xlv. 14 224 CUTTINGS IN THE FLESH Nahum iii. 9. The inhabitants are elsewhere spoken of in connection with the Lubim and Sukkiim (2 Chron. xii. 3 ; xvi. 8 ; Jer. xlvi. 7 ; Dan. xi. 43), supposed to be the Libyans and Ethiopic Troglodytes, and certainly nations oJ Africa, for they belonged to the vast army with which Shishak, king of Egypt, 'came out' ol that country, against Rehoboam, king of Judah. In these, and indeed in most other passages where ' Cush ' occurs, Arabia is not to be thought of; the Ethiopia of Africa is beyond all doubt exclu- sively intended, and to the article ETHIOPIA we refer the reader for the Scriptural notices re- garding it. Though there is a great lack of evidence to show that the name of Cush was ever applied to any part of Arabia, there seems no reason to doubt that a portion of the Cushite race did early settle there. By referring to the relative geogra- phical positions of the south-west coast of Arabia and the east coast of Africa, it will be seen that nothing separates them but the Red Sea, and it is not unlikely that while a part of the Cushite population immigrated to Africa, others remained behind, and were occasionally called by the same name. Thus in 2 Chron. xxi. 16, among those who were stirred up against the Hebrews are mentioned the Philistines, and ' the Arabs that were near the Cushites,' and the expression ' near ' in this connection can scarcely apply to any but dwellers in the Arabian peninsula. CUTH'AH, a district in 'Asia, whence Shal- maneser transplanted certain colonists into the land of Israel, which he had desolated (2 Kings xvii. 24-30). From the intermixture of these colonists with the remaining natives sprung the Samaritans. The situation of the Cuthah from which these colonists came is altogether unknown. Josephus places it in central Persia, and finds there a river of the same name. Rosenmiiller and others incline to seek it in the Arabian Irak, where Abulfeda and other Arabic and Persian writers place a town of this name, in the tract near the Nahr-Malca, or royal canal, which con- nected the Euphrates and Tigris to the south of the present Bagdad. Winer seems to prefer the conjecture of Stephen Morin and Le Clerc, which identifies the Cuthites with the Cosssei in Susiana. All these conjectures refer essentially to the same quarter, and any of them is preferable to the one suggested by Michaelis, that the Cuthites were Phoenicians from the neighbourhood of Sidon. CUTTINGS IN THE FLESH. Amongst the prohibitory laws which God gave the Israelites there was one that expressly forbad the practice embraced in those words, viz. ' Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead' (Lev. xix. 28). It is evident from this law that such a species of self-inflicted torture obtained amongst the nations of Canaan ; and it was, doubtless, to guard His people against the adoption of so bar- barous a habit, in its idolatrous form, that God led Moses to reiterate the prohibition : ' They shall not make baldness upon their heads, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beards, nor make any cuttings in their flesh' (Lev. xxi. 5 ; Deut. xiv. 1). Investing his imaginary deities with the attri- butes of cruelty, man has, at all times and in all countries, instituted a form of religion consisting in cruel rites and bloody ceremonies. If then we CUTTINGS IN THE FLESH look to the practices of the heathen world, whe- ther of ancient or modern times, we shall find that almost the entire of their religion consisted of rites of deprecation. Fear of the Divine dis- pleasure would seem to have been the leading feature in their religious impressions. The uni- versal prevalence of human sacrifices throughout the Gentile world is, in itself, a decisive proof of the light in which the human mind, unaided by revelation, is disposed to view the Divinity. It was doubtless such mistaken views of the character of God that led the prophets of Baal (1 Kings xviii. 28) to cut their bodies with lancets, supposing that, by mingling their own blood with that of the offered sacrifice, their god must be- come more attentive to the voice of entreaty. In fact it was a current opinion amongst the ancient heathen that the gods \rerejealous of human hap- piness ; and in no part of the heathen world did this opinion more prevail, according to Sanchoni- athon's account, than amongst the inhabitants of those very countries which surrounded that land where God designed to place his people Israel. Hence we see why God would lay them under the wholesome influence of such a prohibitory law as that under consideration : ' Ye shall not make any cutting in your flesh for the dead.' The ancients were very violent in their expression of sorrow. Virgil represents the sister of Dido as tearing her face with her nails, and beating her breasts with her fists. The present writer has seen in India the same wild exhibition of grief for the departed rela- tive or friend. Some of the learned think that that law of Solon's, which was transferred by the Romans into the Twelve Tables, that women in mourning should not scratch their cheeks, derived its origin from this- law of Moses (Lev. xix. 28). But, however this opinion may be questioned, it would appear that the simple tearing of their flesh out of grief and anguish of spirit is taken, in other parts of Scripture, as a mark of affection : thus (Jer. xlviii. 37), ' Every head shall be bald, every beard clipped, and upon all cuttings.' Again (ch. xvi. 6) : 'Both the great and the small shall die in the land : they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves.' So (ch. xli. 5) : ' There came from Samaria four- score men having their heads shaven and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with offerings to the house of the Lord.' The spirit of Islam is less favourable than that of heathenism to displays of this kind : yet ex- amples of them are not of rare occurrence even in the Moslem countries of Western Asia, includ- ing Palestine itself. The annexed figure is copied CYPRUS from one which is represented in many of the books of travel in Egypt and Palestine which were printed in the seventeenth century. It is described by the missionary Eugene Roger as representing ' one of those calenders or devotees whom the Arabs name Balhoaua,' and whom the simple people honour as holy martyrs. He ap- peal's in public with a scimitar stuck through the fleshy part of his side, with three heavy iron spikes thrust through the muscles of his arm, and with a feather inserted into a cut in his forehead. He moves about with great composure, and en- dures all these sufferings, hoping for recompense in the Paradise of Mohammed. From the examples which have been produced, we may very safely conclude that the expression ' cuttings in the jleshj in these passages of Scrip- ture, was designed, as already intimated, to declare the feeling of strong affection ; as though the living would say, ' See how little we regard the pleasures of life, since now the object of our affection is removed from us !' We must there- fore come back to our former position, that it was against those self-inflicted tortures, by which the unhappy devotees vainly thought to deprecate the wrath of their angry gods towards their deceased relatives and friends, this law of Moses was espe- cially aimed.' CYMBALS. [Music.] CY PRUS, the modern Kelris, one of the largest islands in the Mediterranean, and next to Sicily in importance. It is about 140 miles in length, and varies in breadth from 50 to Smiles. From its numerous headlands and promontories, it was called Kerastis, or t/ie Horned ; and from its exuberant fertility, Macaria, or the blessed. Its proximity to Asia Minor, Phoenicia, and Egypt, and its numerous havens, made it a general rendezvous for merchants. ' Corn, wine, and oil.' which are so often mentioned in the Old Testa- ment as the choicest productions of Palestine (Deut. xii. 17; 1 Chron. ix. 29; Neb., x. 39; Jer. xxxi. 12), were found here in the highest perfection. The forests also furnished large sup- plies of timber for ship-building, which rendered the conquest of the island a favourite project of the Egyptian kings. It was the boast of the Cyprians that they could build and complete their vessels without any aid from foreign countries. Among the mineral products were diamonds, emeralds, and other precious stones, alum, and asbestos ; besides iron, lead, zinc, with a portion of silver, and, above all, copper. Cyprus was originally peopled from Phoenicia [CHITTIM], Amasis I., king of Egypt, subdued the whole island. In the time of Herodotus the population consisted of Athenians, Arcadians, Phoenicians, and Ethiopians. Under the Persians and Macedonians the whole island was divided into nine petty sovereignties. After the death of Alexander the Great it fell to the share of Pto- lemy, the son of Lagus. It was brought under the Roman dominion by Cato. Under the Em- peror Augustus it was at first an imperial pro- vince, and afterwards, with Gallia Narbonensis, made over to the senate. When the empire was divided it fell to the share of the Byzantine empe- rors. Richard I. of England conquered it in 1191, and gave it to Guy Lusignan, by whose family it was retained for nearly three centuries. In 1473 the republic of Venice obtained possession CYRENIUS 223 of it; but in 1571 it was taken by Selim II., and ever since has been under the dominion of the Turks. The majority of the population belong to the Greek church; the archbishop resides at Leikosia. Cyprus was one of the first places out of Palestine in which Christianity was promul- gated, though at first to Jews only (Acts xi. 19J, by ' those who were scattered abroad ' after Ste- phen's martyrdom. It was visited by Barnabas and Paul on their first missionary tour (Acts xiii. 4), and subsequently by Barnabas and John Mark (Acts xv. 39). Paul sailed to the south of the island on his voyage to Rome (Acts xxvii. 4). [ELYMAS ; PAPHOS ; SERGIUS PAULUS ; SALAMIS.] CYRE'NE, a city in Upper Libya, founded about the year B.C. 632, by a colony of Greeks from Thera (Santorini), a small island in the .ZEgean sea. Its name is generally supposed to be derived from a fountain called Gyre, near its site. It was built on a table-land, 1800 feet above the level of the sea, in a region of extraordinary fertility and beauty. It was the capital of a dis- trict, called from it Cyrenaica (Barca), which extended from the Gulf of Platea (Bomba) to the Great Syrtis (Gulf of Sidra). With its port Apollonia (Musa Soosa), about 10 miles distant, and the cities Barca, Teuchira, and Hesperis, which at a later period were named Ptolemais, Arsinoe, and Berenice, it formed the Cyrenaic Pentapolis. For above 180 years the form of government was monarchical ; it then became republican ; and at last, the country became tri- butary to Egypt, under Ptolemy Soter. It wa bequeathed to the Romans by Apion, the natural son of Ptolemy Physcon, about 97 B.C., and was then formed into a province with Crete. Strabo says, that in Cyrene there were four classes of persons, namely citizens, husbandmen, foreign- ers, and Jews, and that the latter enjoyed their own customs and laws. At the commencement of the Christian era, the Jews of Cyrene were so numerous in Jerusalem that they had a synagogue of their own (Acts ii. 10; vi. 9). Some of the first Christian teachers were natives of Cyrene (Acts xi. 20; xiii. 1). Simeon, who was com- pelled to assist in bearing the cross of the Saviour, was a Cyrenian (Matt, xxvii. 32; Mark xv. 21 ; Luke xxiii. 26). CYRE'NIUS, or, according to his Latin ap- pellation, P. SULPITIUS QUIRINPS, governor of Syria (Lukeii. 1, 2). The mention of his name in connection with the census which was in pro- gress at the time of our Lord's birth, presents very serious difficulties, of which, from the want of adequate data, historical and critical inquiry- has not yet attained a satisfactory solution. The passage is thus translated in the Authorized Ver- sion : ' Now this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.' Instead of ' taxing ' it is now agreed that the rendering should be ' enrolment,' or ' registration,' as it is clear from Josephus that no taxing did take place till many years after this period. The whole passage, as it now stands, may be properly read, ' This enrolment was the first while Cyrenius was governor of Syria.' This appears very plain, and would suggest no difficulty, were it not for the knowledge which we obtain from other quarters, which is to the effect, 1. that there is no historical notice of any enrol- 226 CYRENIUS merit at or near the time of our Lord's birth ; ;md, 2. that the enrolment which actually did take place under Cyrenius was not until ten years after that event. With regard to the extent of the enrolment, there can be little douht that the words ' the whole world ' iu our common version should be ren- dered ' the whole land,' as it is clear Judiea only is meant. As for the difficulties just mentioned, various attempts have been made to remove them, but perhaps the most satisfactory solution is that which is sanctioned by the names of Calvin, Va- lesius, Wetstein, Hales, and others, who render the passage thus : In those days there went forth a decree from Augustus, that the whole land should be enrolled ; but the enrolment itself was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.' The supposition here is, that the census was commenced under Saturninus, but was not com pleted till two years after, under Quirinus. In support of this view Hales reminds us that a little before the binh of Christ, Herod had marched an army into Arabia to redress certain wrongs which he had received ; and this proceed- ing had been so misrepresented to Augustus that he wrote a very harsh letter to Herod, the sub- stance of which was, that 'having hitherto treated him as a friend, he would now treat him as a sub- ject.' And when Herod sent an embassy to clear himself, the emperor repeatedly refused to hear them, and so Herod was forced to submit to all the injuries offered to him. Now it may be col- lected that the chief of these injuries was the per- formance of his threat of treating him as a subject, by the degradation of his kingdom to a Roman province. For soon after Josephus incidentally mentions that ' the whole nation of the Jews took an oath of fidelity to Cajsar and the king jointly, except 6000 of the Pharisees, who, through their hostility to the regal government, refused to take it.' The date of this transaction is determined by its having been shortly before the death of Phe- roras, and coincides with the time of this decree of enrolment and of the birth of Christ. The oath which Josephus mentions would be adminis- tered at the same time, according to the usage of the Roman census, in which a return of persons, ages, and properties, was required to be made upon oath, under penalty of confiscation of goods, as we learn from Ulpian. That Cyrenius, a Roman senator and procurator, was employed to make this enrolment, we learn not only from St. Luke, but by the joint testimony of Justin Martyr, Julian the Apostate, and Eusebius ; and it was made while Saturninus was president of Syria (to whom it was attributed by Tertullian) in the thirty-third year of Herod's reign, corresponding to the date of Christ's birth. Cyrenius, who is described by Tacitus as ' an active soldier and rigid commissioner,' was well qualified for an employment so odious to Herod and his subjects ; and probably came to execute the decree with an armed force. The enrolment of the inhabitants, each in his own city,' was in conformity with the wary policy of the Roman jurisprudence, to prevent insurrections and to expedite the busi- ness; and if this precaution was judged prudent even in Italy, much more must it have appeared necessary in turbulent provinces like Judaea and Galilee. CYRUS At the present juncture, however, it appears that the census proceeded no further than the first act, namely, of the enrolment of persons in the Roman register. For Herod sent his trusty mi- nister, Nicolas of Damascus, to Koine ; who, by his address and presents, found means to mollify and undeceive the emperor, so that he proceeded no further in the design which he had entertained. The census was consequently at this time sus- pended ; but it was afterwards carried into effect upon the deposal and banishment of Archelaus, and the settlement of Judaea as a Roman pro- vince. On this occasion the trusty Cyrenius was sent again, as president of Syria, with an armed force, to confiscate the property of Archelaus, and to complete the census for the purposes of taxa- tion. This taxation was a poll-tax of two drachmae a-head upon males from fourteen, and females from twelve to sixty-five years of age equal to about fifteen pence of our money. This was the 'tribute-money ' mentioned in Matt. xvii. 24-27. The payment of it became very obnoxious to the Jews, and the imposition of it occasioned the in- surrection under Judas of Galilee, which Luke himself describes as having occurred ' in the days of the taxing ' (Acts v. 37). By this statement Hales considers that ' the Evangelist is critically reconciled with the vary- ing accounts of Josephus, Justin Martyr, and Tertullian ; and an historical difficulty satisfac- torily solved, which has hitherto set criticism at defiance.' This is perhaps saying too much ; but the explanation is undoubtedly one of the best that has yet been given. CY'RUS, the celebrated Persian conqueror of Babylon, who promulgated the first edict for the restoration of the Jews to their own land (Ezra i. 1, &c.). We are informed by Strabo tha*t his original name was Ag'radates; but he assumed that of Kouros, or Khouresh (which means the Sun\ doubtless on ascending the throne. Herodotus and Xenophon agree that Cyrus was son of Cambyses prince of Persia, and of Mandane daughter of Astyages, king of the Median empire. Ctesias denies that there was any relationship at all between Cyrus and Astyages. According tj him, when Cyrus had defeated and captured Astyages, he adopted him as a grandfather, and invested Amytis, or Amyntis, the daughter of Astyages (whose name is in all probability only another form of Mandane), with all the honours of queen dowager. His object in so doing was to facilitate the submission of the more distant parts of the empire, which were not yet conquered ; and he reaped excellent fruit of his policy in winning the homage of the ancient, rich, and re- mote province of Bactria. Ctesias adds, that Cyrus afterwards married Amytis. It is easy to see that the latter account is by far the more his- torical, and that the story followed by Herodotus and Xenophon is that which the courtiers pub- lished in aid of the Persian prince's designs. Yet there is no reason for doubting that, on the father's side, Cyrus belonged to the Achsemenidae, the royal clan of the military tribe of the Per- sians. It was the frequent practice of the Persian monarchs, and probably therefore of the Medes before them, to choose the provincial viceroys from the royal families of the subject nations, and thereby to leave ti the vanquished much both of CYRUS the semblance and of the reality of freedom. This will be sufficient to account for the first steps of Cyrus towards eminence. But as the Persian armies were at that time composed of ruder and braver men than the Medes (indeed, to this day, the men of Shiraz are proverbially braver than those of Isfahan) the account of Xenophon is cre- dible, that in the general wars of the empire, Cyrus won the attachment of the whole army by his bravery; while, as Herodotus tells, the atrocious cruelties of Astyages may have revolted the hearts of the Median nobility. Xenophon's romance omits the fact that the transference of the empire was effected by a civil war; nevertheless, the same writer in his Anabasis confesses it. Herodotus, Ctesias, Iso- crates, Strabo, and, in fact, all who allude to the matter at all, agree that it was so. In Xenophon we find the Upper Tigris to have been the seat of one campaign, where the cities of Larissa and Mespila were besieged and taken by Cyrus. From Strabo we learn that the decisive battle was fought on the spot where Cyrus afterwards built Pasargadae, in Persis, for his native capital. Yet Ctesias represents Astyages as finally captured in the palace of Ecbataua. Cyrus (says Herodotus) did Astyages no harm, but kept him by his side to the end of his life. This is like the generosity of the Persian kings to vanquished foreigners, but very unlike the conduct of fortunate usurpers, east or west, towards a fallen superior. The tale in Ctesias is more like the current imperial craft. There we read that Cyrus at first made Astyages ruler of the Barcanians, and afterwards sent for him by the eunuch Petisacas to visit his daughter and son-in-law, who were longing to see him. The eunuch, however, put him to death on the road ; and Cyrus, indignant at the deed, gave up the murderer to the cruel vengeance of the queen. Astyages had certainly lived long enough for the policy of Cyrus ; who, by the Roman Cassius's test of ' Who gained by it ? ' cannot be accounted innocent. The Medes were by no means made subject to the Persians at first. It is highly probable that, as Herodotus and Xenophon represent, many of the noblest Medes sided with Cyrus, and during his reign the most trusted generals of the armies were Medes. Yet even this hardly explains the phenomenon of a Darius the Mede, who, in the book of Daniel, for two years holds the govern- ment in Babylon, after the capture of the city by the Medes and Persians. Indeed, the language used concerning the kingdom of Darius might be explained as Oriental hyperbole, and Darius be supposed a mere satrap of Babylon, only that Cyrus is clearly put forward as a successor to Darius the Mede. Many have been the attempts to reconcile this with the current Grecian ac- counts ; but there is one only that has the least plausibility, viz., that which, with Xenophon, teaches that Astyages had a son still living (whom Xenophon calls Cyaxares). and that this son is no other than Darius the Mede ; to whom Cyrus, by a sort of nephew's piety, conceded a nominal supremacy at Babylon. Objections to this likewise are evident, but they must be dis- cussed under DARIUS THE MEDE, or the book of DANIEL. In the reign of the son of Cyrus the depression of the Medes probably commenced. At his death CYKUS 227 the Magian conspiracy took place , after the de- ! feat of which the Medes doubtless sunk lower ; still. At a later time they made a general insur- ' rection against the Persian power, and its sup- pression seems to have brought them to a level i with Hyrcanians, Bactrians, and other vassal na- ! tions, which spoke the tongue of Persia. The descriptions given us in Ctesias, and in | Plutarch's Artaxerxes, concerning the Persian mode of fighting, are quite Homeric in their cha- racter. No skill seems to be needed by the gene-- ral ; no tactics are thought of: he does his duty best by behaving as the bravest of common sol- diers, and by acting the part of champion, like a knight in the days of chivalry. We cannot sup- pose that there was any greater advance of the military art in the days of Cyrus. It is agreed by all that he subdued the Lydians, the Greeks of Asia Minor, and the Babylonians : we may doubt- less add Susiana, which must have been incorpo- rated with his empire before he commence! his war with Babylon; where also he fixed his mili- tary capital ^Susa, or Shushan), as more central for the necessities of his administration than Pasargadae. Yet the latter city continued to be the more sacred and beloved home of the Persian court, the place of coronation and of sepulture. All Syria and Phoenicia appear to have come over to Cyrus peaceably. In regard to the Persian wars, the few facts from Ctesias, which the epitomator has extractod as differing from Herodotus, carry with them high probability. He states that, after receiving the submission of the Bactrians, Cyrus made war on the Sacians, a Scythian (i. e. a Sclavonic) people, who seem to have dwelt, or perhaps rather roved, along the Oxus, from Bokhara to Khiva ; and, that, after alternate successes in battle, he attached the whole nation to himself in faithful allegiance. Their king is called Amorges by Ctesias. They are undoubtedly the same people that Herodotus calls Amyrgian Satuans ; and it is highly probable that they gave to the district of Margiana its name. Their women fought in ranks, as systematically as the men. Strabo has cursorily told us of a tradition that Cyrus escaped with but seven men through the deserts of Getrosia, fleeing from the ' Indians' which might denote an unsuccessful war against Candahar, &c., a country which certainly was not reduced to the Persian empire until the reign of Darius Hystaspis. The closing scene of the career of Cyrus was in battle with a people living on one or both banks of the river laxartes, now the Syr-deria. Two battles were fought on successive days, in the former of which Cyrus was mortally wounded, but was carried off by his people. In the next, the Sacian cavalry and the faithful Amorges came to support him, and the enemy sustained a total and bloody defeat. Cyrus died the third day after his wound : his body was conveyed to Pasargadce, and buried in the celebrated monu- ment, which was broken open by the Macedonians two centuries afterwards. The inscription, re- ported by Aristobulus, an eye-witness, is this : O ma.i, I am Cyrus, who acquired the empire for the Persians, and was king of Asia. Grudge me not then this monument.' The kings of Assyria and Babylon had carried the Jews into captivity, both to remove a disaf- I :!28 DAGON ; fected nation from the frontier, and to people 1 their new cities. By wwdoing this work. Cyrus j attached the Jews to himself as a garrison at an important post But we may believe that a nobler motive conspired with this. The Persian religion was primitively monotheistic, and strik- ingly free from idolatry ; so little Pagan in its spirit, that, whatever of the mystical and obscure it may contain, not a single impure, cruel, or otherwise immoral practice was united to any of its ceremonies. It is credible, therefore, that a sincere admiration of the Jewish faith actuated the noble Persian when he exclaimed, in the words of the book of Ezra, ' Go ye up, and build in Jerusalem the house of Jehovah, God of Israel ; He is God!' and forced the Babylonian temples to disgorge their ill-gotten spoil. It is the more remarkable, since the Persians disapproved the confinement of temples. Nevertheless, impedi- ments to the fortification of Jerusalem afterwards arose, even during the reign of Cyrus (Ezra iv. 5). Perhaps no great conqueror ever left behind him a fairer fame than Cyrus the Great. His mighty achievements have been borne down to us on the voice of the nation which he elevated ; his evil deed* had no historian to record them. What is more, it was> his singular honour and privilege to be the first Gentile friend to the people of Jehovah in the time of their sorest trouble, and to restore them to the land whence light was to break forth for the illumination of all nations. To this high duty he is called by the prophet (Isa. xliv. 28; xlv. 1), and for performing it he seems to be entitled 'The righteous man' (xli. 2; xlr. 13). D. DAB'ERATH, a town in the tribe of Issachar, assigned to the Levites (Josh. xix. 12 ; xxi. 28 ; 1 Chron. vi. 72). It is recognised in the present Deburieh, a small village lying on the side of a ledge of rocks, just at the base of Taboon on the uorth-west DA'GON is the name of a national god of the Philistines at Gaza and Ashdod (Judg. xvi. 21, i3 ; 1 Sam. v. 1 sq. ; 1 Chron. x. 10). As to the meaning of the name, it is probably derived from a word signifying Jish, and there is every reason to believe that it had the body of a fish with the head and hands of a man. That such was the figure of the idol is asserted by Kimchi, and is admitted by most modern scholars. It is also supported by the analogies of other fish deities among the Syro-Arabians. Besides the ATER- GATIS of the Syrians, the Babylonians had a tra- dition, according to Berosus, that at the very be- ginning of their history an extraordinary being, called Cannes, having the entire body of a fish, but the head, hands, feet, and voice of a man, ! emerged from the Erythraean sea, appeared in ! Babylonia, and taught the rude inhabitants the I use of letters, arts, religion, law, and ag iculture ; that, after long intervals between, other similar beings appeared and communicated the same pre- cious lore in detail, and that the last of these was DAMASCUS called Odakon. Selden is persuaded that this Odakon is the Philistine god Dagon. The temple of Dagon at Ashdod was destroyed by Jonathan the brother of Judas the Maccabee, about the year B.C. 148 (1 Mac. x. 84). DALMANU'THA, a village near Magdala ' (Mark viii. 10; comp. Matt. xv. 39); probably ! on the western shore of the lake of Genuesareth, I a little to the north of Tiberias. DALMA'TIA, a province of Europe on the : east of the Adriatic Sea, forming part of lllyri- cum, and contiguous to Macedonia. Titus v.-;i< | sent into this region by Paul to spread the know- '. ledge of the Gospel. DAM'ARIS, a woman of Athens, who was led | to embrace Christianity by the preaching of St. | Paul (Acts xvii. 34). Some suppose she was th,- i wife of Dionysius the Areopagite, who is men- j tioned before her ; but the construction in the Greek will not sanction this conclusion. DAMAS'CUS, called by the natives Es-Sham, I a city of Syria, capital of an important pashalio , of the same name, and indeed the chief or capital city of Syria, lies in a plain at the eastern foot of i Anti-Libauus. The plain is about 400 stadia from the Mediterranean, and from six to eight days' journey from Jerusalem. _ Damascus by some held to be the most an- 1 cient city in the world is called by the Orientals ; ' a pearl surrounded by emeralds.' Nothing can ; be more beautiful than its position, whether ap 1 proached from the side of Mount Lebanon, from ; the Desert to the east, or by the high-road from i the north from Aleppo and Hamah. For many ' miles the city is girdled by fertile fields, or gar- i dens, as they are called, which, being watered by rivers and sparkling streams, give to the vege- tation, consisting principally of olive-trees, a remarkable freshness and beauty. The plain of Damascus owes its fertility and loveliness to the river Barrada, which is supposed to be either the Abana or Pharpar of 2 Kings v. [ABANA]. The view of Damascus, when the traveller emerges from Anti-Libanus, is of the most en- chanting kind, and the surrounding country pre- sents the appearance of a vast superficies of rich luxuriant foliage. But the interior of the city does not correspond with the exquisite beauty of its environs. In the Armenian quarter the houses are built with mud, and pierced towards the street by a very few small grated windows with red painted shutters. They are low, and the t!at arched doors resemble those of stables. A filthy dunghill and a pool of stinking water are aluost invariably before the doors. In some of these dwellings, belonging to the principal Armenian merchants, there is great internal richness and elegance. There is a fine wide street, formed by the palaces of the agas of Damascus, who are the nobility of the land. The fronts of these pa- laces, however, towards the street, are like loug prison or hospital walls, mere grey mud walls, with few or no windows, whilst at intervals is a great gate opening on a court. But the interior is magnificent; the saloons being ornamented in the costliest style of Eastern art. The bazaars are very striking. The great bazaar is about half a league long. They are long streets covered in with high wood-work, and lined with shops, stalls, magazines, and cafes. The shops, as in other Eastern towns, ire narrow, and go only a short DAMASCUS way liack. The magazines are stored with mer- chandise of all sorts, and particularly with Indian manufactures, which are brought in great profu- sion by the' caravans from Bagdad. In the midst of the bazaars stands the finest khan in the East, that of Hassan Pasha, built about fifty years since. It is an immense cupola, whose bold springing arch recalls that of St. Peter at Rome ; it is in like manner borne on granite pillars. Not far distant is the principal mosque, formerly a church consecrated to St John, whose skull and sepulchre, found in this holy place, give it such a sanctity that it is death for even a Mohammedan to enter the room where the relics are kept. Situated at the edge of the desert, at the mouth of the plains of Coele-Syria and the valleys of Galilee, of Idumam, and of the coasts of the Sea of Syria, Damascus was needed as a resting-place for the caravans to India. It is essentially a com- mercial town. Two hundred merchants are per- DAMASCUS S29 manently settled in i f . Foreign trade is carried on by the Great Mecca caravan, the Bagdad cara- van, the Aleppo, and by several small ones to Beirout (its sea-port), Tripoli, Acre, &c. La- martine makes its population to be some 300,000, j | of whom 30,000 are Christians. Another esti- ' ' mate gives only from 120,000 to 150,000 in- habitants, comprising 12,000 Christians, and as many Jews; and our own information leads us to suspect that -even this estimate is too high. Political changes and social influences have lessened and mitigated the proverbial bigotry of the Damascenes. The lower classes, indeed, are still fanatical, but a better feeling on religion prevails in the higher. Mr. Addison was conducted to the spot where, according to tradition among the Christians, Saul saw the light from heaven. Winding round the ' walls on the outskirts of the city, he and his com- ; pauions came to a point where they were broken a I the top, at which Paul is said to have been let down in a basket, to escape the indignation of the Jews, when (Acts ix.) ' the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.' From hence, passing on through some pretty lanes, they came to an open green spot, surrounded by trees, over the tops of which were seen the distant summits of Mount Hermon. At this place they were ' informed Saul had arrived when (Acts IK. 3) as he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a great light from heaven.' These localities are I pointed out with the greatest confidence by the | Damascene Christians of all sects, and are held i in great veneration ; nor is it difficult to suppose that the true spots have been handed down by ] tradition among the followers of the cross. ' The ' street which is called Straight ' ( Acts ix. 1 1 ) is still found in Damascus, or at any rate a street bear- ing that name. Addison says it is ' a mi!e in length,' and ' so called because it leads direct from the gate to the castle or palace of the Pasha.' The house of Judas, also, to which Ananias went, is still pointed out, as well as that of Ananias himself. How much credulity may have had to do in fixing on and perpetuating the recollection of these localities, it is probably easier to suspect than to ascertain. Of the origin of Damascus nothing certain is known. That the city existed as early as the days of Abraham is clear from Gen. xiv. 15; xv. 2 ; but the way in which it is spoken of in these passages shows that even at the time to which they refer it was not a new nor an un- known place ; for Abraham's steward is charac- terized as being of Damascus, and the locality of another town (Hobah) is fixed by stating that it lay ' on the left hand of Damascus.' How long it may have retained its independence cannot be determined ; but it appears (2 Sam. viii. 5, 6 : i&O DAMASCUS 1 Chron. xix 4) that its monarch having unad- visedly attacked the victorious David, the Hebrew sovereign defeated the Syrians, making a great slaughter of them, and, in his turn, subdued Da- mascus, and exacted tribute from its inhabitants. This subjection was not of long duration, for under his successor (1 Kings xi. 24) one Rezon, a servant of Hadadezer, king of Zobah, made himself master of Damascus, and, ruling over Syria, ' was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon.' After Uezon, Hezion occupied the throne ; he was succeeded by his son Tabrimon (I Kings xv. 18, 19), who was in alliance with Asa, king of Judah. Preserving the same direct line, the crown then fell to Benhadad, who, having been in a league with Baasha, king of Israel, was bribed by Asa to desert his ally, and join himself in attacking Baasha, on whom the united forces inflicted great injury (1 Kings xv. 19, 20). In the time of Benhadad, son of the preceding monarch, Damascus was the head of a very powerful empire, since it appears (1 Kings xx. 1) that 'thirty and two kings' (doubtless petty princes or pashas, governors of provinces) accompanied him in a campaign which he un- dertook against Samaria. The insolent demands of the Syrian king having roused the spirit of Ahab, who was at first disposed to succumb to the great power which he saw arrayed against him, a battle took place, in which the Syrians were defeated, and their king effected his retreat with difficulty. The subsequent operations of the Damascenes, under their king, hav<- already been stated [BENHADAD]. Hazael, the successor of Benhadad, unwilling to give up hope of being master of Ramoth-Gilead, was attacked by the united forces of Judah and Israel, whom he van- quished, wounding Joram (2 Kings viii. 28) ; and, at a later period, under Jehu (2 Kings x, 32), laid waste a large portion of the Israelitish kingdom, and ' threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron ' (Amos i. 3). Determined on revenge (2, Kings xii. 17), Hazael marched to Jerusalem, and was bought off by king Jehoash by a most costly sacrifice. He, however, took the kingdom of Israel (2 Kings xiii. 3), and, though he treated the people oppressively, he was able to hand them over in subjection to his son, Benhadad III., who was thrice beaten (2 Kings xiii. 24) by the Israel- itish king Jehoash, and deprived of all his con- quests. Jeroboam II. (2 Kings xiv. 28) pursued these advantages, and captured Damascus itself. Subsequently a junction took place between Israel and Damascus, when (2 Kings xv. 37) Rezin, king of the latter, and Pekah, king of the former, en- tered into a confederacy, and undertook an expe- dition against Ahaz, king of Judah (Isa. vii. 1). They succeeded in ' recovering Elath to Syria,' but could not prevail against Jerusalem (2 Kings xvi. 6). Ahaz, however, urged by necessity, ap- plied for aid to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, who, being bribed by a munificent present, fell on Damascus, took it, carried the people of it captive to Kir (on the river Kur), slew Rezin, and united the Damascene territory with his own kingdom (2 Kings xvi. 9 ; Isa. viii. 4 ; x. 9 ; xvii. 1). Damascus after this fell under the power of the Babylonians and Persians, from whom it was taken by Alexander the Great, as cue consequence of his victory at Issus. Then it made a part of the kingdom of the Seleucidse, DAN from whom it passed into the hands of the Ro- mans. In the time of the Apostle Paul it be- longed to the dependent kingdom of the Arabian prince Aretas. At a later period it was reckoned among the cities of Decapclis ; then it was added to the province of Phcenice ; and at last made a part of the province of Phoenicia Libanesia. From the time of Hadrian it bore the honorary title of Metropolis, without enjoying the rights of a metropolis. Under the Greek emperors of Con- stantinople Damascus was the most celebrated city of the East, remarkable for its wealth, luxury, magnificence, and its numerous Christian popu- lation. A great era in its history is its conquest by the Saracens. The war was begun about A.D. 633, by the celebrated Abubekr, the successor of Mohammed ; and ended in the capture of the city, and the substitution of Islamism for Christianity. It then became the capital of the whole Mussul- man world, till the Caliphate was removed from it to Bagdad. The city continued under the sway of the caliphs of Bagdad, till it came into the hands of the Turks, and was held and rendered famous by Noureddin and Saladin. -In 1301 Timour the Tartar captured the city and barbarously treated its inhabitants. From Josephus it appears that its population contained great numbers of Jews. Damascus is famous in the first age of Chris- tianity for the conversion and first preaching of the Apostle Paul (Acts ix. 3, 20; Gal. i. la). The consequences might have been fatal to the Apostle, for his life was endangered in this fana- tical city. ' In Damascus the governor under Aretas, the king, kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me ; and through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands' (2 Cor. xi. 32-3). DAN, son of Jacob by the concubine Bilhah (Gen. xxx. 3 ; xxxv. 25), and founder of one of the tribes of Israel. Dan had but one son, called Hushim (Gen. xlvi. 23) : notwithstanding which, when the Israelites came out of Egypt, this tribe contained 62,700 adult males (Num. i. 39), which made it the second of the tribes in number, Ju- dah only being above it. Its numbers were less affected in the desert than those of many other tribes ; for at the census, before entering Canaan, it mustered G4,400 (Num. xxvi. 43), being an in- crease of 1 700, which gave it still the second rank in population. But there is nothing in the history of the tribe corresponding to this eminence in population : the most remarkable circumstance in its history, however, is connected with this fact. The original settlement assigned to the tribe in south-western Palestine being too small for its large population, a body of them went forth to seek c settlement in the remote north, and seized and remained in permanent occupation of the town and district of Lai^h, the inhabitants of which dwelt iu greater security and were more easily conquered than the neighbours of the tribe in its own proper territory (Josh. xix. 47 ; Judg. i. 34 ; xviii.). The district regularly allotted to the tribe, although contracted, was very fertile. It had the country of the Philistines on the west, part of Judah with Benjamin on the east, Ephraim on the north, and Simeon on the south. The ter- ritory proved inadequate chiefly from the inability of the Danites to expel the Philistines and Amor- ites, -who occupied parts of the laud assigned to DANCE them. There is no doubt that the territory as allotted, but not possessed, extended to the Medi- terranean through the country of the Philistines. Samson was of this tribe, and its proximity to the Philistines explains many circumstances in the history of that hero. It appears from that history that there was an under-current of private and social intercourse between the Philistines and the Dauites, notwithstanding the public enmity be- tween Israel ar-d the former (Judg. xiii. xvi.). DAN, the town, anciently called LAISH, or LESHEM, mentioned in the preceding article as having been conquered by a warlike colony of Danites, who named it after their tribe. The terms in which the condition of Laish is de- scribed, previously to the conquest, indicate that the place belonged to the Sidonians, and that the inhabitants lived quiet and secure, 'after the manner of the Sidonians,' enjoying abundance of all things (Judg. xviii, 7). They seem to have derived their security from the absence of any adverse powers in their neighbourhood, and from confidence in the protection of Sidon, which was, however, too far off to render aid in the case of such a sudden assault as that by which they were overpowered. This distance of Siclon was Care- fully noted by the Danite spies as a circumstance favourable to the enterprise ; and it does not ap- pear that Sidon ever made any effort to dispossess the intruders. Dan afterwards became a chief seat of Jeroboam's idolatry, and one of the golden calves was set up there (1 Kings xii. 28, 29). It was conquered, along with other towns, by the Syrians ( 1 Kings xv. 20) ; and the name is fami- liar from the recurrence of the proverbial expres- sion, ' from Dan to Beersheba,' to denote the ex- tent of the Promised Land (Judg. xx. 1 ; 1 Sam. iii. 20 ; xvii. 1 1). [BEERSHEBA.J In the days of Eusebius, Dan was still a small village, which is placed by him four miles from Paneas, towards Tyre. As this distance corresponds to the posi- tion of the fountain at Tel el-Kadi, which forms one of the sources of the Jordan, and is doubtless that which is called Dan by Josephus (Antiq. i. 10. 2), the situation of the city of Dan could not therefore have been that of Paneas itself, with which it has been in later times confounded. [CjESAREA PHILIPPI.] There are no longer any ruins near the spring at Tel el -Kadi, bat at about a quarter of an hour north, Burckhardt noticed ruins of ancient habitations ; and the hill which overhangs the fountains appears to have been built upon, though nothing is now visible. DANCE. The character of the ancient dance was very different from that of ours, as appears from the conduct of Miriam, who ' took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.' Precisely similar is the Oriental dance of the present day, which, accompanied of course with music, is led by the principal person of the company, the rest imitating the steps. The evolutions, as well as the songs, are extemporaneous not confined to a fixed rule, but varied at the pleasure of the lead- ing dancer ; and yet they are generally executed with so much grace, and the time so well kept with the simple notes of the music, that the group of attendants show wonderful address and pro- priety in following the variations of the leader's feet. At a very early period dancing was enlisted DANCE 231 into the service of religion among the heathen ; the dance, enlivened by vocal and instrumental music, was a usual accompaniment in all the pro- cessions and festivals of the gods ; and, indeed, so indispensable was this species of violent merri- ment, that no ceremonial was considered duly ac- complished no triumph rightly celebrated, with- out the aid of dancing. The Hebrews, in common with other nations, had their sacred dances, which were performed on their solemn anniversaries, and other occasions of commemorating some special | token of the divine goodness arid favour, as means of drawing forth, in the liveliest manner, their expressions of joy and thanksgiving. The per- formers were usually a band of females, who, in cases of public rejoicing, volunteered their ser- vices (Exod. xv. 20 ; Sam. xviii. 6), and who, in the case of religious observances, composed the ! regular chorus of the temple (Ps. cxlix. 3 ; cl. 4), j although there are not wanting instances of men 1 also joining in the dance on these seasons of re- I ligious festivity. Thus David deemed it no way j derogatory to his royal dignity to dunce on the auspicious occasion of the ark being brought up ' to Jerusalem. His conduct was imitated by the i later Jews, and the dance incorporated among their favourite usages as an appropriate close of the joyous occasion of the Feast of Tabernacles. From being exclusively, or at least principally, reserved for occasions of religious worship and festivity, dancing came gradually to be practised in common life on any remarkable seasons of mirth and rejoicing (Jer. xxxi. 4 ; Ps. xxx. 11). In early times, indeed, those who perverted the exercise from a sacred use to purposes of amuse- ment were considered profane and infamous ; and hence Job introduces it as a distinguishing feature in the character of the ungodly rich, that they encouraged a taste for dancing in their fa- milies (Job xxi. 11). During the clastic ages of Greece and Rome society underwent a complete revolution of sentiment on this subject ; insomuch that not only at Home, but through all the pro- vinces of the empire, it was a favourite pastime, resorted to not only to enliven feasts, but in the celebration of domestic joy (Luke xv. 25; Matt, xiv. 6). Notwithstanding, however, the strong partiality cherished for this inspiriting amuse- ment, it was considered beneath the dignity of persons of rank and character to practise it. The well-known words of Cicero, that ' no one dances unless he is either drunk or mad,' express the prevailing sense as to the impropriety of re- spectable individuals taking part in it ; and hence the gay circles of Rome and its provinces derived all their entertainment, as is done in the East to this day, from the exhibitions of professional dancers. Amateur dancing in high life was by no means uncommon in the voluptuous times of the later emperors. But in the age of Herod it was ex- ceedingly rare and almost unheard of; and there- fore the condescension of Salome, who volun- teered, in honour of the anniversary of that monarch's birthday, to exhibit her handsome person as she led the mazy dance in the saloons of Machserus for though she was a child at this time, as some suppose, she was still a princess was felt to be a compliment that merited the highest reward. The folly and rashness of Herod in giving her an unlimited promise, great 232 DANIEL as they were, have been equalled and even sur- passed by the munificence "which many other Eastern monarchs have lavished upon favourite dancers. It remains to notice further that the Jewish dance was performed by the sexes separately. There is no evidence from sacred history that the diversion was promiscuously enjoyed, except it might be at the erection of the deified calf, when, in imitation of the Egyptian festival of Apis, all classes of the Hebrews intermingled in the frantic revelry. In the sacred dances, although both sexes seem to have frequently borne a part in the procession or chorus, they remained in distinct and separate companies (Ps. Ixviii. 25 ; Jerem. xxxi. 13). DAN'J EL (judge of God), a celebrated prophet in the Chaldscau and Persian period. There are in the Bible two other persons of the same name : a son of David (1 Chron. iii. 1), and a Levite of the race of Ithamar (Ezra viii. 2 ; Neh. x. 6). Daniel was descended from one of the highest families in Judah, if not even of royal blood (Dan. i. 3). Jerusalem was thus probably his birth-place. We find him at the age of twelve or sixteen years, already in Babylon, whither he had been carried together with three other Hebrew youths of rank, Ananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, at the first deportation of the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. He and his com- panions were obliged to enter the service of the royal court of Babylon, on which occasion he received the Chaldaean name of Behhatzar, ac- cording to Eastern custom when a change takes place in one's condition of lil'e, and more espe- cially if his personal liberty is thereby affected (comp. 2 Kings xxiii. 34 ; xxiv. 17 ; Esth. ii. 7 ; Ezra v. 14). In this his new career, Daniel received that thorough polish of education which Oriental eti- quette renders indispensable in a courtier, and was more especially instructed ' in the writing and speaking Chaldaean' (Dan. i. 4). Already at an early period he had acquired renown for high wisdom, piety, and strict observance of the Mosaic law (comp. Ezek. xiv. 14, 20 ; xxviii. 3; Dan. i. 8-16). A proper opportunity of evincing both the acuteness of his mind, and his religious notions, soon presented itself in the custom of the Eastern courts to entertain the officers attached to them from the royal table. Daniel was thus exposed to the temptation of partaking of unclean food, and of participating in the idolatrous cere- monies attendant on heathen banquets. His ; prudent proceedings, wise bearing, and absolute l refusal to comply with such customs, were crowned with the Divine blessing, and had the most splendid results. After the lapse cf the three years fixed for his education, Daniel v/as attached to the court of Nebuchadnezzar, where, by the Divine aid, he succeeded in interpreting a dream of that prince to his satisfaction, by which means as Joseph of old in Egypt he rose into high favour with the king, and was entrusted with two important offices the governorship of the province of Ba- - liylon, and the head-inspectorship of the sacer- dotal caste (Dan. ii.). Considerably later, in the reign of Nebuchad- nezzar, we find Daniel interpreting another DANIEL dream of the king's, to the effect that, in pnnish ment of his pride, he was to lose, for a time, his throne, but to be again restored to it after his humiliation had been completed (Dan. iv.). Here he displays not only the most touching anxiety, love, loyalty, and concern for his princely bene- factor, but also the energy and solemnity becom- ing his position, pointing out with vigour and power the only course left for the monarch to pursue for his peace and welfare. Under the unworthy successors of Nebuchad- nezzar, Daniel and his deservings seem to have been forgotten, and he was removed from his high posts. His situation at court appears to have been confined to a very inferior office (comp. Dan. viii. -27); neither is it likely that he should have retained his rank as head inspector of the order of the Mayians in a country where these were the principal actors in effecting changes in the administration whenever a new succession to the throne took place. We thus lose sight of Daniel until the first and third year of king Belshazzar (Dan. v. 7, 8), generally understood to have been the last king of Babylon (called by profane writers Nebon- nedus), but who to judge from Dan. v. 11, 1:5, 18, 22 was, more probably, the son and suo- cessor of Nebuchadnezzar, usually called Kvil- Merodach, though passing in Daniel by his Chalda?an title and rank. After a reign of two years, this monarch was assassinated by his brother-in-law Neriglissar. Shortly before this event Daniel was again restored to the royal favour, and became moral preacher to the king, who overwhelmed him with honours and titles in consequence of his being able to read and solve the meaning of a sentence miraculously dis- played, which tended to rouse the conscience of the wicked prince. Under the same king we see Daniel both alarmed and comforted by two remarkable vi- sions (Dan. vii. viii.), which disclosed to him the future course of events, and the ultimate fate of the most powerful empires of the world, but in particular their relations to the kingdom of God, and its development to the great consum- mation. After the conquest of Babylon by the united powers of Media and Persia, Daniel seriously- busied himself under the short reign (two years) of Darius the Mede or Cyaxares II. with the affairs of his people and their possible return from exile, the term of which was fast approach- ing, according to the prophecies of Jeremiah. In deep humility and prostration of spirit, he then prayed to the Almighty, in the name of his peo- ple, for forgiveness of their sins, and for the Divine mercy in their behalf: and the answer- ing promises he received far exceeded the tenor of his prayer, for the visions of the Seer were extended to the end of time (Dan. ix.). In a practical point of view also Daniel ap- peared at that time a highly-favoured instrument of Jehovah. Occupying, as he did, one of the highest posts of honour in the state, the strict- ness and scrupulousness with which he fulfilled his official duties could not fail to rouse envy and jealousy in the breasts of bis colleagues, who well knew how to win the weak monarch, whom they at last induced to issue a decree imposing certain acts, the performance of which, they well DANIEL, BOOK OF knew, was altogether at variance with the creed of which Daniel was a zealous professor. For his disobedience" the prophet suffered the penalty specified in the decree : he was thrown into a den of lions, but was miraculously saved by the mercy of God a circumstance which enhanced his reputation, and again raised him to the highest posts of honour under Darius aud Cyrus (Dan. vi.). He had. at last, the happiness to see his most ardent wishes accomplished to behold his peo- ple restored to their own land. Though his ad- ranced age would not allow him to be among those who returned to Palestine, yet did he never for a moment cease to occupy his mind and heart with his people and their concerns (Dan. x. 12). In the third year of Cyrus, he had a series of visions, in which he was informed of the mi- nutest details respecting the future history and sufferings of his nation, to the period of their true redemption through Christ, as also a conso- latory notice to himself to proceed calmly and peaceably to the end of his days, and then await patiently the resurrection of the dead at the end of time. From that period the accounts respecting him are vague, sometimes confused, and even strange; and we hardly need mention the various fables which report his death to have taken place in Palestine, Babylon, or Susa. DANIEL, BOOK OF. This important and in many respects remarkahle book takes its name not o*.ly from the principal person in it, but also and chiefly from him as its real author : there being no doubt whatever that, as the book itself testifies, it was composed by Daniel (comp. vii. I, 28; viii. 2; be. /). The lx>ok of Daniel divides itself into two parts, historical (ch. i.-vi.) and prophetic (ch. vii.-xiL), arranged respectively in chronological order. Its object is by no means to give a sum- mary historical account of the period of the exile, or of the life of Daniel himself, since it contains only a few isolated points both as to historical facts and prophetic revelations. But the plan or tendency which so consistently runs through the whole book, is of a far different cha- racter ; it is to show the extraordinary and won- derful means which the Lord made use of, in a period of the deepest misery, when the theocracy seemed dissolved and fast approaching its extinc- tion, to afford assistance to his people, proving to them that he had not entirely forsaken them, and making them sensible of the fact, that His merciful presence still continued to dwell with them, even without the Temple" and beyond the Land of Promise. The wonders related in Daniel (ch. i.-vi.) are thus mostly of a peculiar, prominent, and strik- ing character, and resemble iu many respects those performed of old time in Egypt. Their divine tendency was, on the one hand, to lead the heathen power, which proudly fancied itself to be the conqueror of the theocracy, to the ac- knowledgment that there was an essential dif- ference between the world and the kingdom of God ; and, on the other, to impress degenerate tnd callous Israel with the full conviction, that the power of God was still the same as it was of old in Egypt. DANIEL, BOOK OF '.'83 The following are the essential features of the prophetic tenor of the book of Daniel, while the visions in ch. ii and vii., together with their dif- ferent symbols, may be considered as embodying the leading notion of the whole. The develop- ment of the whole of the heathen power, until the completion and glorification of the kingdom of God, appeared to the prophet in the shape of four powers of the world, each successive power always surpassing the preceding in might and strength, namely, the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek, and Roman. The kingdom of God proves itself conqueror of them all : a power which alone is everlasting, and showing itself iu its utmost glorification in the appearance of the Messiah, as Judge and Lord of the world. Until the coming of the Messiah, the people of God have yet to go through a period of heavy trials. That period is particularly described, ch. viii. and xi., in the struggles of the Maccabacan time, illustrative of the last and heaviest combats which the kingdom of God would have to endure. The period until the appearance of the Messiah is a fixed and sacred number : seventy weeks of years (ch. ix .). After the lapse of that period ensues the death of the Messiah ; the expiation of the people is realised ; true justice is revealed, but Jerusalem and the Temple are in punish- ment given up to destruction. The true rise from this fall and corruption ensues only at the end of time, in the general resurrection (ch. xii.). The authenticity of the book has frequently been called in question. The oldest known op- ponent of it is the heathen philosopher Porphyry, in the third century of the Christian era. He found no successor in his views until the time of the English Deists, when Collins attempted to attack the authenticity of Daniel, as was done by Semler in Germany. In later times its authen- ticity has been disputed by a number of German critics, who have made the most elaborate attacks against it. The objections of these writers have been fully met and confuted. They rest, to a great extent, partly on historical errors, partly on the want of a sound exegesis, and, lastly, on the perversion of a few passages in the text. Thus it has turned out that several of the arguments have led to a far different and even opposite result from what was originally meant, namely, to the difence of the authenticity of the book. The existence, ex. gr., of a king Darius of the Medians, men- tioned iu ch. vi., is a thorough historical fact ; and the very circumstance that such an insigni- ficant prince, eclipsed as his name was by the splendour of Cyrus, and therefore unnoticed in the fabulous and historical chronicles of Persia, should be known and mentioned in this book, is in itself a proof of the high historical authority of Daniel. The following are the more important of the arguments which evidence the genuineness of the book. 1. The existence and authority of the book ar most decidedly testified by the New Testament. Christ himself refers to it (Matt. xxiv. 15), and gives himself (in virtue of the expression in Dan. vii. 13) the name of Son of Man ; while the Apostles repeatedly appeal to it as an authority (ex. gr., 1 Cor. vi. 2 ; 2 Thess. ii. 3 ; Heb. xi. 33, sq.). 234 DANIEL, ADDENDA TO 2. The period of the exile would be altogether incomprehensible without the existence of a man like Daniel, exercising great influence upon his own people, and whose return to Palestine was effected by means of his high station in the state, ! as well as through the peculiar assistance of God with which he was favoured. Without this as- sumption, it is impossible to explain the con- tinued state of independence of the people of God during that period, or to account for the interest which Cyrus took in their affairs. The exile and its termination are indicative of uncommon acts of God towards highly-gifted and favoured men; and the appearance^ of such a man as Daniel is described in that book to have been, is an indispensable requisite for the right under- standing of this portion of the Jewish history. 3. An important hint of the existence of the book in the time of Alexander is found in Jose- phus, Ant>q., xi. 8, 4, according to which the prophecies of Daniel had been pointed out to that king on his entrance into Jerusalem. 4. The first book of the Maccabees, which is almost contemporary with the events related in it. not only pre-supposes the existence of the book of Daniel, but actually betrays acquaintance with the Alexandrian version of the same (1 Mace. i. 54; comp. Dan. ix. 27 ; ii. 59 ; comp. Dan. iii.) a proof that the book must have been written long before that period. 5. The reception of the book into the canon is also an evidence of its authenticity. In the Maccabsean age the canon had long been com- pleted and closed ; but even doubting that point, it is not likely that, at a time when so much scrupulous adherence was shown towards all that was hallowed by time and old usage, and when Scriptural literature was already flourishing it is not probable, we say, that a production then recent should have been raised to the rank of a canonical book. 6. We have an important testimony for the authenticity of the book in Ezekiel xiv. 14, 20; xxviii. 3. Daniel is there represented as an unusual character, as a model of justice and wisdom, to whom had been allotted superior divine insight and revelation. This sketch per- fectly agrees with that contained in our book. 7. The book betrays such an intimate acquaint- ance with Chaldicu manners, customs, history, and religion, as none but a contemporary writer could fairly be supposed to possess. Thus, ex. gr~, the description of the Chaldaean Magians and their regulations perfectly agrees with the accounts of the classics respecting them. The account of the illness and insanity of Nebuchadnezzar is con- firmed by Berosus. The edict of Darius the Mede (Dan. v.) may be satisfactorily explained from the notions peculiar to the Medo-Persian religion, and the importance attached in it to the king, who was considered as a sort of incarnate deity. 8. The religious views, the ardent belief in the Messiah, the purity of that belief, the absence of all the notions and ceremonial practices of later Judaism, &c., the agreement of the book in these respects with the genuine prophetic books, and more especially with the prophets in and after the exile, all this testifies to the genuineness of Daniel. DANIEL, Apocryphal Addenda to. In the DANIEL, ADDENDA TO version of the Seventy, and that of Theodotio are found some considerable additions to the book of Daniel which are wanting in the Hebrew canon. These are, 1. The Prayer of Azarias, &c. (Dan. iii. 24- 51). 2. The Song of the Three Children (Dan. iii. 52-90). 3. The History of Susanna (Dan. xiii.). 4. The Narrative of Bel and the Dragon (Dan. xiv.). St. Jerome, who translated these together with the canonical parts of the book of Daniel from the Greek version of Theodotion, observes : ' Daniel, as received among the Hebrews, contains neither the History of Susanna, nor the Hymn of the Three Children, nor the Fables of Bel and the Dragon, all of which, as they are dispersed throughout the world, we have added, lest to the ignorant we should seem to have cut oft' a con- siderable part of the book, transfixing them at the same time with a dagger.' Jerome further observes that the history of Susanna is considered by nearly all the Hebrews as a fable ; and that it is not read in the syna- gogues : for who, say they, could believe that captives had the power of starving their princes and judges ? The subject of the Prayer of Azarias, and of the Song of the three youths, Azarias, Ananias, and Misael (the Hebrew names of Shadrach. Meshach, and Abed-nego), consists in a petition for deliverance from, the furnace, and a hymn of thanksgiving, on the part of the young men, for their preservation in the midst of the flames. De Wette conceives that the Prayer and the Hymn betray marks of two different authors, and that the latter has the appearance of being written with a liturgical object. Certain it is that, from a very early period, it formed part of the church service, and it is one of the canticles still sung on all festivals in the Roman, and retained in the daily service of the Anglican church. The History of Susanna is probably a moral parable, founded perhaps on some fact, and af- fording a beautiful lesson of chastity. The object of the Jewish author of the history of the destruction of Bel and the Dragon was, according to J aim, ' to warn against the sin of idolatry some of his brethren, who had embraced Egyptian superstitions. The book was, there- fore, well adapted to the time, and shows that philosophy was not sufficient to keep men from apostatising into the most absurd and degrading superstitions.' The time of the writing Jahu ascribes to the age of the Ptolemies, when ser- pents were still worshipped at Thebes. Bel and the Dragon is read in the Roman office on Ash- Wednesday, and in the church of Eng- land on the 23rd of November. Susanna is read in the Anglican Church on the 22nd of November, and in the Roman on the vigil of the fourth Sun- day in Lent. We shall conclude with the following observa- tion of Erasmus. ' It is astonishing that what Jerome stabbed with his dagger is now every- where read and sung in the churches ; nay, we read, without any mark of distinction, what Je- rome did not fear to call a fable, the history of Bel and the Dragon, and which he would not have added, had he not been apprehensive of DARKNESS seeming to have cut off a considerable portion of the sacred volume. But to whom did he tear to seem to do so ? To the ignorant, as he himself observes. Of so much more weight to the ignorant multitude is custom, than the judgment of the learned !' DARIUS, or rather DARJAVESH, is the name under which three Medo-Persian kings are men- tioned in the Old Testament. The first Darius is ' Darjavesh, the son of Achashverosh, of the seed of the Medes,' in th^ book of Daniel (ix. 1). Much difference of opi- nion has prevailed as to the person here intended ; but there is good reason to believe that it is Cyaxares the Second, the son and successor of Astyages [AHASUERUS], and the immediate pre- decessor of Cyrus. The second Darjavesh king of Persia ' is mentioned in the book of Ezra (iv.-vii.), in Haggai, and in Zechariah, as the king who, in the second year of his reign, effected the execu- tion of those decrees of Cyrus which granted the Jews the liberty to rebuild the temple, the fulfil- ment of which had been obstructed by the ma- iicious representations which their enemies had made to the immediate successors of Cyrus. It is agreed that this prince was Darius Hystaspis, who succeeded the usurper Smerdis B.C. 521, and reigned thirty-six years. The third ' Darjavesh the Persian,' occurs in Neh. xii, 22, in a passage which merely states that the succession of priests was registered up to his reign. It is commonly believed that this king was Darius Nothus, who came to the throne (B.C. 423), and reigned nineteen years. Darius Codomannus is evidently the Persian king alluded to iu 1 Mace. i. 1. DARKNESS. In the Gospels of Matthew (xxvii. 45) and Luke (xxiii. 44) we read that, while Jesus hung upon the cross, ' from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the laud unto the ninth hour." That this darkness could not have proceeded from an eclipse of the sun is placed beyond all doubt by the fact that, it being then the time of the Passover, the moon was at the full. This darkness may therefore be ascribed to an extraordinary and preternatural obscura- tion of the solar light, which might precede and accompany the earthquake which took place on the same occasion. For it has been noticed that often before an earthquake such a mist arises from sulphureous vapours as lo occasion a dark- ness almost nocturnal. Such a darkness might extend over Judsea, or that division of Palestine in which Jerusalem stood, to which the best authorities agree that here, as in some other places, it is necessary to limit the phrase rendered all the land.' Darkness is often used symbolically in the Scriptures as opposed to light, which is the symbol of joy and safety, to express misery and adversity (Job xviii. 6; Pe. cvii. 10; cxliii. 3; Isa. viii. 22; ix. 1 ; lix. 9, 10; Ezek. xxx. 18; xxxii. 7, 8; xxxiv. 12). Darkness of the sun, moon, and stars is used figuratively to denote a general darkness or deficiency in the government or body politic (Isa. xiii. 10; Ezek. xxxii. 7; Joel ii. 10-31). In Eph. v. ll, the expression ' works of darkness ' is applied to the heathen mysteries, on account of the impure actions which the initiated performed in them. ' Outer DAVID 235 darkness' in Matt. viii. 12, and elsewhere, refers to the darkness outside, in the streets or open ' country, as contrasted with the blaze of cheerful light in the house, especially when a convivial ! party is held in the night time. And it may be observed that the streets in the East are utterly ! dark after nightfall, there being no shops with ! lighted windows, nor even public or private lamps to impart to them the light and cheerful- j ness to which we are accustomed. This gives \ the more force to the contrast of the ' outer dark- ' ness' with the inner light. Darkness is used to represent the state of the dead (Job x. 21 ; xvii. 13). It is also employed as the proper and significant emblem of ignorance (Isa. ix. 2; Ix. 2; Matt. vi. 23; John iii. 9; 2 Cor. iv. 1-G). DATES. [PALM TREE.] DA'THAN, one of the chiefs of Reuben \?ho joined Korah in the revolt against the authority of Moses and Aaron (Num. xvi. 1) [AARON]. DAUGHTER. In the Scriptures the word daughter is used in a variety of senses, some of which are unknown to our own language, or have only become known through familiarity with Scriptural forms of speech. Besides its usual and proper sense of 1. A daughter sent or adopted, we find it used to designate 2. A uterine sister, niece, or any female descendant (Gen. xx. 12 ; xxiv. 48 ; xxviii. 6 ; xxxvi. 2 ; Num. xxv. 1 ; Deut. xxiii. 17). 3. Women, as natives, re- sidents, or professing the religion of certain places, as 'the daughter of Zion ' (Isa. iii. l(i); 'daughters of the Philistines' (2 Sain. i. 20); 'daughter of a strange God' (Mai. ii. 11). 4. Metaphorically, small towns are called daughters of neighbouring large cities, to which they belonged, or from which they were derived, as ' Heshbon and all the daughters [Auth. Vers. villages] thereof (Num. xxi. 25); so Tyre is called the daughter of Sidon (Isa. xxii. 12), as having been originally a colony from thence ; and hence also the town of Abel is called ' a mother in Israel' (2 Sam. xx. 19); and Gath is in one place (comp. 2 Sam. vii. 1 ; 1 Chron. xviii. 1) called Gath-Ammah, or Gath the mother town, to distinguish it from its own dependencies, or from another place called Gath. See other instances in Num. xxi. 32; Judg. xi. 2f> ; Josh, xv. 45, &c. 5. The people collectively of any place, the name of which is given ; as ' the daughter (t. e. the people) of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee' (Isa. xxxvii. 22 ; see also Ps. xlv. 13; cxxxvii. 8; Isa. x. 30; Jer. xlvi. 19 ; Lam. iv. 22 ; Zech. ix. 9). Respecting the condition of daughters in fa- milies, see art. WOMEN and MARRIAGE. DA'VID. The word probably means beloved. The reign of David is the great critical era in the history of the Hebrews. It decided that they vere to have for nearly five centuries a national monarchy, a fixed line of priesthood, and a solemn religious worship by music and psalms of exquisite beauty ; it finally separated Israel from the surrounding heathen, and gave room for producing those noble monuments of sacred writ, to the influence of which over the whole world no end can be seen. His predecessor, Saul, had many successes against the Philistines, but it is clear that he made little impression on their real power ; for he died fighting against them, not on 236 DAVID their own border, but on the opposite side of his kingdom, in Mount Gilboa. As for all the other 4 enemies on every side ' Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, and the kings of Zobah, however much he may have ' vexed them ' ( 1 Sam. xiv. 47), they, as well as the AmalekiU-s, remained unsubdued, if weakened. The real work of establishing Israel as lord over the whole soil of Canaan was left for David. The life of David naturally divides itself into three portions : I The time which he lived under Saul. II. His reign over Judah in Hebron. 111. His reign over all Israel. 1. In the first period we may trace the origin of all his greatness. His susceptible tempera- ment, joined to his devotional tendencies, must, at a very early age, have made him a favourite pupil of the prophets, whose peculiar mark was the harp and thy psalm (1 Sam. x. 1-12 and xix. 20-24 ; see also 2 Kings iii. 15). His hospitable reception, when in distress, by Ahimelech the priest and the atrocious massacre innocently brought by him on Nob, the city of the priests (I Sam. xxi. and xxii. 9-19), must have deeply affected his generous nature, and laid the founda- tion of his cordial affection for the whole priestly order, whose ministrations he himself helped to elevate by his devotional melodies. At an early period he attracted the notice of Samuel ; and if we are to arrange events acccording to their pro- bable connection, we may believe that after David had been driven away from Saul and his HL- several times attempted, Samuel ventured on the solemn step of anointing him king. When- ever this took place, it must have produced on David a profound impression, and prepared him to do that in which Saul had so eminently failed, viz. to reconcile his own military government with a filial respect for the prophets and an honourable patronage of the priesthood. Besides this, he became knit into a bond of brotherhood with his heroic comrades, to whom he was emi- nently endeared by his personal self-denial and liberality (1 Sam. xxx. 21-31 ; 1 Chron. xi. 18). This, indeed, drew after it one most painful re- sult, viz. the necessity of enduring the turbulence of his violent but able nephew Joab ; nor could we expsct that of a band of freebooters many should be like David. Again, during his outlawry David became acquainted in turn not only with all the wild country in the land, but with the strongholds of the enemy all round. By his re- sidence among the Philistines he must have learned all their arts and weapons of war, in which it is reasonable to believe the Israelites previously inferior (I Sam. xiii. 19-23). With Nahash the Ammonite he was in intimate friend- ship (2 Sam. x. 2) ; to the king of Moab he en- trusted the care of his parents ( 1 Sam. xxii. 3) ; from Achish of Gath he received the important present of the town of Ziklag (1 Sam. xxvii. 6). That Ziklag was a strong place may be inferred from 1 Chron. xii. 1, 20. The celebrity acquired in successful guerilla warfare, even in modern days, turns the eyes of whole nations on a chief- tain; and in an age which regarded personal heroism as the first qualification of a general (\ Chron. xi. G) and of a king, to triumph over the persecutions of Saul gave David the fairest prospects of a kingdom. The account transmitted to us of David's dan- DAVID gers and escapes in the first period is too frag- mentary to work up into a history : nevertheless, it seems to be divisible into two parts, differing in character. During the former he is a fugitive and outlaw in the land of Saul, hiding in caves, pitching in the wilderness, or occasionally with great risk entering walled cities (1 Sam xxiii. 7): in the latter he abandons his native soil entirely, and lives among the Philistines as one of the'ir chieftains (xxvii. 1). While a rover in the land of Judah, his position (to our eyes) is anything but honourable; being a focus to which ' all who were in distress, in debt, or discontented, gathered themselves ' (xxii. 2). Yet as the number of his followers became large (six hundred, we ivad. xxiii. 13), and David knew how to conciliate the neighbouring sheep-masters by his urbanity and kind services, he gradually felt himself to be their protector and to have a right of maintenance and tribute for them. Hence he resents the refusal of Nabal to supply his demands, as a clear in- j justice ; and, after David's anger has been tamed away by the prudent policy of Abigail, in bless- ing her for saving him from shying Nabal and every male of his family, the thought seems not to have entered his mind that the intention of such a massacre was more guilty than Nabal's refusal to pay him tribute (xxv 34). This whole narrative is characteristic and instructive. By his marriage with Abigail he afterwards pro- bably became rich (for she seems to have been a widow at her own disposal), and on passing im- mediately after into the land of the Philistines, he was enabled to assume a more dignified place. Becoming possessed of the stronghold of Zikfag, he now appeared like a legitimate chieftain with fixed possessions, and no longer a mere vagabond and freebooter. This was accordingly a transi- tion-state in which David was prepared for assuming the kingdom over Judah. In Ziklag he was joined, not, as before, by mere outcasts from Israelitish life, but by men of consideration and tried warriors (1 Chron. xii. 1-22 \ not only of the tribe of Judah, but from Gad. Manasseh, ami even 'from Saul's brethren of Benjamin.' II. Immediately upon the death of Saul the ' tribe of Judah invited David to become their prince. His first step, after his election, was to fix on Hebron as the centre of his administration an ancient city, honourable by its association with ; the name of Abraham, ami in the middle of his own tribe. He then strengthened himself by a ' marriage with Maacah, daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur (2 Sam. iii. 3) ; u petty monarch whose dominions were near the sources of the Jordan, ' and whose influence at the opposite end of the land must have added a great weight into David's scale. From Abigail, widow of the churlish Nabal, David, as we have already observed, seems to have received a large private fortune. Concerning his other wives we know nothing in particular ; only it is mentioned that he had sis sons by six different mothers in Hebron. The chief jealousy was between the two tribes of Ben- jamin and Judah, as Saul had belonged to the former ; and a tournament was turned by mutual ill-will into a battle, in which Aimer unwillingly slew young Asahel, brother of Joab. ' Long war,' after this, was carried on between ' the house of Saul and the house of David.' We may DAVID infer that the rest of Israel took little part in the contest; and although the nominal possession of thy kingdom enabled the little tribe of Benjamin to straggle for some time against Judah, the skill md ago of Abner could not prevail against the vigour and popular fame of David. A quarrel between A bner and Ishbosheth decided the former to bring the kingdom over to David. The latter refused to treat unless, as a preliminary proof of Abner's sincerity, Michat, daughter of Saul, was restored to David. The possession of such a wife was valuable to one who was aspiring to the kingdom. His demand was immediately com- plied with. After giving her back, Aimer pro- ceeded to win the elders of Israel over to David ; but Joab discerned that if this should be so brought about, Abner of necessity would displace him from his post of chief captain. He, there- fore, seized the opportunity of murdering him when he was come on a peaceful embassy, and covered the atrocity by pleading the duty of re- venging his brother's blood. This deed was per- haps David's first taste of the miseries of royal power. He dared not proceed actively against his ruthless nephew, but he vented his abhorrence in a solemn curse on Joab and his posterity, and followed Abner to the grave with weeping. Anxious to purge himself of the guilt, he ordered a public wearing of sackcloth, and refused to touch food all the day. The feeble Ishbosheth, left alone, was unequal to the government, and shortly suffered the same fate of assassination. David, following the universal policy of sove- reigns, and his own profound sense of the sacred- ness of royalty, took vengeance on the murderers, and buried Ishbosheth in Abner's tomb at Hebron. III. The death of Ishbosheth gave to David su- premacy over all Israel. The kingdom was not at first a despotic, but a constitutional one; for it is stated, ' David made a league with the elders of Israel in Hebron before Jehovah ; and they anointed David king over Israel ' (2 Sam. v. 3). This is marked out as the era which determined the Philistines to hostility (ver. 17), and may confirm our idea, that their policy was to hinder Israel from becoming united under a single king. Two victories of David over them follow, both near the valley of Kephaim ; and these were pro- bably the first battles fought by David after becoming king of all Israel. Perceiving that Hebron was no longer a suit- able capital, he resolved to fix his residence far- ther to the north. On the very border of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin lay the town of Jebus, which with its neighbourhood was occupied by Jebusites, a remnant of the old Canaanitish nation so called. In spite of the great strength of the fort of Zion, it was captured, and the Jebu- sites were entirely expelled or subdued ; after which David adopted the city as his new capital, greatly enlarged the fortifications, and gave or restored the name of Jerusalem [JERUSALKM]. After becoming master of Jerusalem, David made a league with Hiram, king of Tyre, who supplied him with skilful artificers to build a splendid palace at the new capital. That the mechanical arts should have been in a very low state among the Israelites, was to be expected ; since, before the reign of Saul even smiths' forges were not allowed among them by the Philistines. Nothing, however, could have been more profitable for the DAVID 237 Phoenicians than the security of cultivation en- joyed by the Israelites in the reigns of David and Solomon. The trade between Tyre and Israel became at once extremely lucrative to both, aim , the league between the two states was quickly very intimate. Once settled in Jerusalem, David proceeded to increase the number of his wives, perhaps in part from the same political motive that actuates other Oriental monarchs, viz. in order to take hostaces . from the chieftains round in the least offensive mode. We know nothing further concerning his family relations, than the names of eleven sons born in Jerusalem (2 Sam. v. 14, 15), of whom four were children of Baihsheba (1 Chron. iii. 5), and therefore much younger than the elder sons. Jerusalem, now become the civil metropolis of the nation, was next to be made its religious centre ; and the king applied himself to elevate the priestly order, to swell the ranks of attending Levites and singers, ar.d to bring the ark to Jeru- salem. The bringing of ihe ark from Kirjath- : jearim to Jerusalem established the line of high- priests in direct service before it ; and from this time we may presume that the ceremonies of the great day of Atonement began to be observed. When the ark entered Jerusalem in triumph, David put on a priest's ephod and danced before , it. This proved the occasion of the rupture be- I tween him and his royal spouse, Michal (2 Sam. j vi. 21). After this event, the king, contrasting : his cedar palace with the curtains of the taber- nacle, was desirous of building a temple for the ark ; such a step, moreover, was likely to prevent any future change of its abode. The prophet Nathan, however, forbade it, on pious and intel- ligible grounds. David's further victories are narrated in the following order Philistines, Moab, Zobah, Edom, Northern League stirred up by the Am- monites, Ammon. 1. The short notice concern- ing the Philistines just gives us to understand that this is the era of their decisive, though not final, subjugation. Their towns were despoiled of their wealth (2 Sam. viii. 12), and doubtless all their arms and munitions of war passed over into the service of the conqueror. 2. The Moabites were a pastoral people, whose general relations with Israel appear to have been peaceful. The slight notice of Saul's hostilities with them (1 Sam. xiv. 47) is the only breach recorded since the time of Eglon and Ehud. In the book of Ruth we sec them as friendly neighbours, and much more re- cently (1 Sam. xxii. 3, 4) David committed his parents to the care of the king of Moab. We know no cause, except David's strength, which now drew his arms upon them. A people long accustomed to peace, in conflict with a veteran army, was struck down at once, but the fierceness of his triumph may surprise us. Two-thirds of the population (if we rightly interpret the words, 2 Sam. viii. 2) were put to the sword ; the rest became tributary. 3. Who are meant by the Syrians of Zobah, is still a problem [ZOBAH J. We here follow the belief that it was a power of northern Syria, then aiming at extensive empire, which had not only defeated and humbled the king of Hamath, but had obtained homage beyond the Euphrates. The trans-Jordanic tribes in the time of Saul had founded a little empire for them- selves by conquering their eastern neighbours, 238 DAVID the Hagarenes ; and, perhaps, occasionally over- ran the district on the side of the Euphrates, which Hadadezer, king of Zobah, considered as his own. His efforts ' to recover his border at the river Euphrates ' first brought him into collision with David, perhaps by an attack which he made on the roaming Eastern tribes. David defeated not merely his army, but tnat of Damascus too, which came, too late, with succour; and put Israelite garrisons into the towns of the Damas- cenes. 4. Another victory, gained ' in the valley of salt,' ought, perhaps, to be read, as in 1 Chron. xviii. 12, and in the superscription of Ps. lx., ' over the Edomites,' not ' over the Syrians.' 5. After David had become master of all Israel, of the Philistine towns, of Edom, and of Moab, while the Eastern tribes, having conquered the Hagareues, threatened the Ammonites on the Bo.th, as did Moab on the south, the Ammonites were naturally alarmed, and called in the powers of Syria to their help against a foe who was growing dangerous even to them. The coalition against David is described as consisting of the Syrians of Bethrehob and of Maacah, of Zobah and ot Tob. The last country appears to have been, in the district of Trachonitis, the two first immediately on the north of Israel. In this war, we may believe that David enjoyed the important alliance of Toi, king of Hamath, who, having suffered from Hadadezer's hostility, courted the friendship of the Israelitish monarch (2 Sam. viii. 9, 10). We are barely informed that one division of the Israelites under Abishai was posted against the Ammonites; a second under Joab met the confederates from the north, 30,000 strong, and prevented their junction with the Ammonites. In both places the enemy was repelled, though, it would seem, with no decisive result. A second campaign took place. The king of Zobah brought in an army of Mesopotamians, in addition to his former troops, and David found it necessary to make a levy of all Israel to meet the pressing danger. A pitched battle on a great scale was then fought at Helam far beyond the limits of the twelve tribes in which David was victorious. The Syrians henceforth left the Ammonites to their fate, and the petty chiefs who had been in allegiance to Hadadezer hastened to do homage lo David. 6. Early in the next season Joab was sent to take vengeance on the Ammonites in their own home, by attacking their chief city, or Kabbah of Ammon. The natural strength of their border could not keep out veterau troops and an experi- enced leader ; and though the siege of the city occupied many months (if, indeed, it was not prolonged into the next year), it was at last taken, it is characteristic oj Oriental despotism, that Joab, when the city was nearly reduced, sent to invite David to command the final assault in person. David gathered a large force, easily cap- tured the royal town, and despoiled it of all its wealth. His vengeance was as much more dread- ful on the unfortunate inhabitants than formerly on the Moabites, as the danger in which the Am- monites had involved Israel had been more im- minent (2 Sam. xii. 31 ; 1 Chron. xx. 3). During the campaign against Kabbah of Am- mon the painful and never-to-be-forgotten outrage of David against Bathsheba and her husband Uriah the Hittite took place. It is principally through this narrative that we know the tedious- DAVID ness of that siege ; since the adultery with Bath- sheba and the birth of at least one child took place during the course of it. The latter years of David's reign were afflicted by the inevitable results of polygamy and despot- ism, viz. the quarrels of the sons of different mo- thers, and their eagerness to seize the kingdom before their father's death. Of all his sons, Absa- lom had naturally the greatest pretensions, being, by his mother's side, grandson of Talmai, king of Geshur; while through his personal beauty and winning manners he was high in popular favour. It is evident, moreover, that he was the darling son of his father. When his own sister Tamar had been dishonoured by her half-brother Amnon, the eldest son of David, Absalom slew him in vengeance, but, in fear of his father, then fled to his grandfather at Geshur. Joab, discerning David's longings for his son, effected his return after three years ; but the conflict in the king's mind is strikingly shown by his allowing Absalom to dwell two full years in Jerusalem before he would see his face. The insurrection of Absalom against the king was the next important event ; in the course of which there was shown the general tendency of men to look favourably on young and untried princes, rather than ou those whom they know for better and for worse. Absalom erected his royal standard at Hebron first, and was fully prepared to slay his father outright, which might probably have been done, if the energetic advice of Ahitho- phel had been followed. While they delayed, David escaped beyond the Jordan, and with all his troop met a most friendly reception, not only from Barzillai and Machir, wealthy chiefs of pas- toral Gilead, but from Shobi, the son of the Am- monite king Nahash, whose power he had de- stroyed, and whose people he had hewed in pieces. We likewise learn on this occasion that the for- tunes of David had been all along attended by 600 men of Gath, who now, under the command of Ittai the Gittite, crossed the Jordan with all their households, in spite of David's generous advice that they would return to their own coun- try. Strengthened by the warlike eastern tribes, and surrounded by his experienced captains, the king no longer hesitated to meet Absalom in the field. A decisive victory was won at the wood of Ephraim, and Absalom was slain by Joab in the retreat. The old king was heart-stricken at this result, and, ignorant of his own weakness, super- seded Joab in the command of the host by Amasa, Absalom's captain. Perhaps Joab on the former occasion, when he murdered Abner, had blinded the king by pleading revenge for the blood of Asahel ; but no such pretence could here avail. The king was now probably brought to his deter- mination, partly by his disgust at Joab, partly by his desire to give the insurgents confidence iii his amnesty. If Amasa is the same as Amasai, David may likewise have retained a grateful remem- brance of the cordial greeting with which he had led a strong band to his assistance at the critical period of his abode in Ziklag (1 Chron. xii. 18) ; moreover, Amasa, equally with Joab, was David's nephew, their two mothers, Abigail and Zeruiah, being sisters to David by at least one parent (2 Sam. xvii. 25; 1 Chron. ii. 13, 16). The un- scrupulous Joab, however, was not so to be set aside. Before long, catching an opportunity, he DAVID assassinated his unsuspecting cousin with his own hand; and David, who had used the instrumenta- lity of Joab to murder Uriah, did not dare to resent the deed. A quarrel which took place between the men of Judah and those of the other tribes in bringing the' king back, had encouraged a Benjamite named Sheba to raise a new insurrection, which spread with wonderful rapidity. Amasa was collecting troops as David's general at the time when he was treacherously assassinated by his cousin, who then, with his usual energy, pursued Sheba, and blockaded him iu Bethmaachah before he could collect his partisans. Sheba's head was cut off, and thrown over the wall ; and so ended the new rising. Yet this was not the end of trouble ; for the intestine war seems to have inspired the Phi- listines with the hope of throwing off the yoke. Four successive battles are recorded (2 Sam. xxi. 15-22), in the first of which the aged David was nigh to being slain. His faithful officers kept him away from all future risks, and Philistia was once more, and finally, subdued. The last commotion recorded took place when David's end seemed nigh, and Adonijah, one of his elder sons, feared that the influence of Bath- sheba might gain the kingdom for her own son Solomon. Adonijah's conspiracy was joined by Abiathar, one of the two chief priests, and by the redoubted Joab; upon which David took the de- cisive measure of raising Solomon at once to the throne. Of two young monarchs, the younger and the less known was easily preferred, when the sanction of the existing government was thrown into his scale; and the cause of Adonijah imme- diately fell to the ground. Amnesty was pro- mised to the conspirators, yet it was not very faithfully observed [SOLOMON]. Numerous indications remain to us that, how- ever eminently David was embued with faith in Jehovah as the national God of Israel, and how- ever he strove to unite all Israel in common worship, he still had no sympathy with the later spirit which repelled all foreigners from co-ope- ration with Jews. In his early years necessity made him intimate with Philistines, Moabites, and Ammonites : policy led him into league with the Tyrians. He himself took in marriage a daughter of the king of Geshur : it is the less wonderful that we find Uriah the Hittite (2 Sam. xi.), Gether the Ishmaelite (1 Chron. ii. 17), and others, married to Israelitish wives. The fidelity of Ittai the Gittite, and his six hundred men, has been already alluded to. It would appear, on the whole, that in tolerating foreigners Solomon did not go beyond the principles established by his father, though circumstances gave them a fuller development. No attempt seems to have been made in David's reign to maintain horses or chariots for military purposes. Even chieftains in battle, as Absalom on his fatal day, appear mounted only on mules. Yet horses were already used in state equipages, apparently as a symbol of royalty (2 Sam. xv. I). That in the opening of Saul's reign the Philis- tines had deprived the Israelites of all the most formidable arms, is well known. It is probable that this may have led to a more careful practice of the sling and of the bow, especially among the southern tribes, who were more immediately pressed by the power of the Philistines. Such DAY 239 weapons cannot be kept out of the hands of the rustics, and must have been essential against wild beasts. But, from causes unknown, the Benja- mites were peculiarly celebrated as archers and slingers (Judg. xx. 16 ; 1 Chron. viii. 40 ; xii. 2 ; 2 Chron. xiv. 8; xvii. 17), while the pastoral tribes beyond the Jordan were naturally able to escape all attempts of the Philistines to deprive them of shield, spear, and sword. Hence the Gadites, who came to David at Ziklag, are de- scribed as formidable and full-armed warriors, ' with faces like lions, and swift as mountain roes' (1 Chron. xii. 8). The standing army which Saul had begun to maintain was greatly enlarged by David. An account of this is given in 1 Chron. xxvii. ; from which it would seem that 24,000 men were con- stantly maintained on service, though there was a relieving of guard every month. Hence, twelve times this number, or 288,000, were under a per- manent military organization, with a general for each division in his month. Besides this host, the register proceeds to recount twelve princes over the tribes of Israel, who may perhaps be compared to the lord-lieutenants of English counties. The cabinet of David (if we may use a mo'dern name) is thus given (1 Chron. xxvii. 32-34) with reference to a time which preceded Absalom's re- volt: 1, Jonathan, David's uncle, a counsellor, wise man, and scribe; 2, Jehiel, son of Hach- moni, tutor (?) to the king's sons; 3, Ahithophel, the king's counsellor ; 4, Hushai, the king's com- panion ; 5, after Ahithopel, Jehoiada, the son of Benaiah ; 6, Abiathar the priest. It is added, ' and the general of the king's army was Joab,' Twelve royal bailiffs are recited as a part of David's establishment (I Chron. xxvii. 25, 31), having the following departments under their charge: 1, The treasures of gold, silver, &c. ; 2, the magazines; 3, the tillage (wheat, &c.?); 4, the vineyards ; 5, the wine-cellars; 6, the olive and sycamore trees; 7, the oil-cellars; 8, the herds in Sharon ; 9, the herds in the valleys ; 10, the camels; 11, the asses; 12, the flocks. The eminently prosperous state in which David left his kingdom to Solomon appears to prove that he was on the whole faithfully served, and that his own excellent intentions, patriotic spirit, and devout piety (measured, as it must be mea- sured, by the standard of those ages), made his reign beneficial to his subjects. DAY. The earliest measure of time on record is the day : ' The evening and the morning were the first day ' (Gen. i. 5). Here the word day ' denotes the civil or calendar day of twenty-four hours, including ' the evening,' or natural night, and the ' morning,' or natural day. It is re- markable that in this account ' the evening,' or natural night, precedes ' the morning,' or natural day. Hence the Hebrew compound ' evening- morning,' which is used by Daniel (viii. 14) to denote a civil day. In fact, the Jewish civil day began, as it still does, not with the morning, but the evening thus the Sabbath commences with the sunset of Friday, and ends with the sunset of Saturday. The inconveniences resulting from a variable commencement of the civil day, earlier or later, according to the different seasons of the year, as well as the equally varying duration of the na- 240 DAY tural day and night, must have been very con- siderable, and aro sensibly felt by Europeans when travelling in the East, where the ancient custom in this matter is still observed. These inconveniences must be less obvious to the people themselves, who know no better system ; yet they were apparent to several ancient nations the Egyptians, the Ausonians, and others and in- duced them to reckon their civil day from mid- night to midnight, as from a fixed invariable point ; and this usage has been adopted by most of the modern nations of Europe. We thus realize the advantage of having our divisions of the day, the hours, of equal duration, day and night, at all times of the year ; whereas among the Orientals the hours, and all other divisions of the natural day and night, are of constantly varying duration, and the divisions of the day vary from those of the night, excepting at the equinoxes. The natural day was at first divided into three parts, morning, noon, and evening, which are mentioned by David as hours or times of prayer (Ps. Iv. 17). The natural night was also originally divided into three parts, or watches (Ps. Ixiii. 6 : xc. 4). The Jirst , or beginning of the watches, is men- tioned in Lam. ii. 19 ; the middle watch, in Judg. vii. 19 ; and the morning watch, in Exod. xiv. 24. Afterwards the strictness of military discipline among the Greeks and Romans introduced an additional night-watch. The second and third watches vf the night are mentioned in Luke xii. 38, and the fourth in Matt. xiv. 25. The four are mentioned together by our Lord, in Mark xiii. 35, and described by the terms ' tlie late watch ;' ' the midnight ;' ' the cock-crowing ;' and ' the morning.' The precise beginning and ending of each of the four watches is thus determined : 1. ' Tlie late' began at sunset and ended with the third hour of the night, including the evening dawn, or twilight It was also called 'even- tide ' (Mark xi. 1 1), or simply ' evening ' (John xx. 19). 2. ' The midnight ' lasted from the third hour till midnight. 3. ' The cock-crowing' lasted from midnight till the third hour after, or to the ninth hour of the night. It included the two cock-crowings, with the second of which it ended. 4. ' Early' lasted from the ninth to the twelfth hour of the night, or sunrise, including the morn- ing dawn, or twilight. It was also called ' morn- ing,' or ' morning-tide ' (John xviii. 28). The division of the day into twelve hours was common among the Jews after the captivity in Babylon. The word hour first occurs in the book of Daniel (iv. 19); and it is admitted by the Jewish writers that this division of the day was borrowed by them from the Babylonians. Our Lord appeals to this ancient, and then long- established, division, as a matter of public noto- riety : ' Are there not twelve hours in the day ?' (John xi. 9). This, however, was the division of the natural day into twelve hours, which were therefore vari- able according to the seasons of the year, at all places except the equator ; and equal, or of the mean length, only at the vernal and autumnal equinoxes ; being longer in the summer half-year, j and shorter in the winter. The inconvenience of this has already been intimated. DEACON The first hour of the day began at sunrise ; the sixth hour ended at mid-day, or noon ; the seventh hour began at noon ; and the twelfth hour ended at sunset The days of the week had no proper names among the Hebrews, but were distinguished only by their numeral order [WEEK]. DEACON. This word in its more extended sense is used, both in Scripture and in ecclesi- astical writers, to designate any person who mi- nisters in Gofl's service. In 2 Cor. vi. 4, the Apostle says, ' But in all things approving our- selves as the ministers (deacons) of God.' Again, Eph. iii. 7, ' Whereof I was made a minister' (deacon) ; and in Col. i. 23, he employs the same epithet to express the character of his office. In Horn. xv. 8, St. Paul calls our Lord ' minister of the circumcision,' literally deacon of the circum- cision ; and, in his Epistle to the Philippians. he addresses himself to the bishops and deacons (Phil, i. 1). But it is in its more confined sense, as it ex- presses the third order of the ministry of the pri- mitive Church, that we are to examine the mean- ing of the word Deacon. In Acts vi. we have an account of the election of seven persons to the office of deaconship for the purpose of superintending the distribution of the church's bounty. That their duties, however, were not of an exclusively secular character is clear from the fact that both Philip and Stephen preached, and that one of them also baptized. Ignatius, a martyr-disciple of St. John, and bishop of Antioch, A.D. 68, styles them at once ' ministers of the mysteries of Christ ;' adding, that they are not ministers of meats and drinks, but of the Church of God. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, A.D. 250 (whilst referring their origin to Acts vi.), styles them ministers of episcopacy and of the church : at th- 1 same time he asserts that they were called to the ministry of the altar. Tertullian, a celebrated Father of the second century, classes them with bishops and presbyters as guides and leaders to the laity. The fourth Council of Carthage expressly for- bids the deacon to assume any one function pe- culiar to the priesthood, by declaring the deacon as consecrated not to the priesthood but to the ministry. His ordination, moreover, differed from that of presbyter both in its form and in the powers which it conferred. For in the ordination of a presbyter, the presbyters who were present were required to join in the imposition of hands with the bishop : but the ordination of a deacon might be performed by the bishop alone, because, as the 4th Can. of the 4th Council of Carthage declares, he was ordained not to the priesthood, but to the inferior services of the Church. \Ve now proceed to notice what these services specifically were. 1. The deacon's more ordinary duty was to as- sist the bishop and presbyter in the service of the sanctuary ; especially was he charged with the care of the utensils and ornaments appertaining to the holy table. 2. In the administration of the Eucharist, it was theirs to hand the consecrated elements to the people. 3. Deacons had power to administer the sacra- ment of baptism. DEACON 4. The office of the deacon was not to preach, so much as to instruct and catechise the cate- chumens. His part was, when the bishop or presbyter did not preach, to read a homily from one of the Fathers. St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, A.D. 380, says expressly that deacons, in his time, did not preach, though he thinks that they were all originally Evangelists, as were Philip and Stephen. 5. It was the deacon's business to receive the offerings of the people; and having presented them to the bishop or presbyter, to give expression in a loud voice to the names of the offerers. (i. Deacons were sometimes authorised, as the bishops' special delegates, to give to penitents the solemn imposition of hands, which was the sign of reconciliation. 7. Deacons had power to suspend the inferior clergy ; this, however, was done only wnen the bishop and presbyter were absent, and the case urgent. 8. The ordinary duty of deacons, with regard to general Councils, was to act as scribes and dis- putants according as they, were directed by their bishops. In some instances they voted as proxies for bishops who could not attend in person ; but in no instance do we find them voting in a general Council by virtue of their office. But in provincial synods the deacons were sometimes allowed to give their voice, as well as the pres- byters, in their own name. 9. But, besides the above, there were some other offices which the deacon was called upon to fill abroad. One of these was to take care of the necessitous, orphans, widows, martyrs in prison, and all the poor and sick who had any claim upon the public resources of the church. It was also his especial duty to notice the spiritual, as well as the bodily, wants of the people ; and wherever he detected evils which he could not by his own power and authority cure, it was for him to refer them for redress to the bishop. In general the number of deacons varied with the wants of a particular church. Sozomen (vii. 19, p. 100) informs us that the church of Rome, after the apostolic model, never had more than seven deacons. It was not till the close of the third century that deacons were forbidden to marry. The Council of Ancyra, A.D. 344, in its 10th Can., ordains that if a deacon declared at the time of his ordination that he would marry, he should not be deprived of his function if he did marry ; but that if he married without having made such a declaration, 'he must fall into the rank of laicks !' The qualifications required in deacons by the primitive church were the same that were re- quired in bishops and presbyters ; and the cha- racteristics of a deacon, given by St. Paul in his Second Epistle*" to Timothy, were the rule by xhich a candidate was judged fit for such an office. The second Council of Carthage, 4th Can., forbids the ordination of a deacon before the age of twenty-five ; and both the Civil and Canon Law fixed his age to the same period. The primitive church had its archdeacon, though when the office was first instituted is a matter of dispute with learned men. He was not in priests' orders ; but was selected from the deacons by the bishop, and had considerable DEATH 241 authority over the other deacons and inferior orders. DEACONESS. That the order of Deaconess existed in the Christian church, even in apostolic days, is evident from Rom. xvi. 1 : ' I commend unto you Phebe, our sister, which is a servant (a deaconess) of the church which is at Cenchrea.' The earliest Fathers of the church, moreover, speak of the same order of persons. Certain qualifications were necessary in those who were taken into tnis order. 1. It was necessary that she should be a widow. 2. No widow, unless she had borne children, could become a deaconess. This rule arose out of a belief that no person but a mother can possess those sympathizing and tender feelings which ought to animate the deaconess in the discharge of her peculiar duties. 3. The early church was very strict in exact- ing the rule which prohibits the election of any to be deaconesses who had been twice married, though lawfully, and successively to two hus- bands, one after the other. It is a disputed point with some learned men whether deaconesses were ordained by imposition of hands. However, the. fifteenth Can. of the Council of Chalcedon expressly declares that deaconesses were so ordained, and this is fully confirmed by the author of the Apost. Constitu- tions, viii. 19. Still, deaconesses were not con- secrated to anypriestly function. Some heretics, indeed, allowed women to teach, exorcise, and to administer baptism ; but all this he sharply re- bukes as being contrary to the apostolic rule. 5. One of the peculiar duties of the deaconesses was to assist at the baptism of women. 6. Another duty the deaconesses had to perform was to instruct and prepare the catechumens for baptism. 7. In times of danger and persecution it was the duty of the deaconesses to visit the martyrs in prison, because they could more easily gain access to them, and with less suspicion and hazard than the deacons. 8. The deaconesses stood at the entrance of the church in order to direct the women as to the place each one should occupy during divine ser- vice. How long this order continued in the Christian church is not quite certain. It was not however discontinued everywhere at once, and it was not till the tenth century that it was wholly abro- gated. DEAD SEA. [SEA.] DEATH. Since death can be regarded in various points of view, the descriptions of it must necessarily vary. If we consider the state of a dead man, as it strikes the senses, death is the cessation of natural life. If we consider the cause of death, we may place it in that permanent and entire cessation of the feeling and motion of the body which results from the destruction of the body. Among theologians, death is com- monly said to consist in the separation of soul and body, implying that the soul still exists when the body perishes. Death does not con- sist in this separation, but this separation is the consequence of death. As soon as the body loses feeling and motion, it is henceforth useless to the soul, which is therefore separated from it. 242 DEBIR Scriptural representations, names, and modes of speech respecting death: (a.) One of the most common in the Old Tes- tament is, to return to the dust, or to the earth. Henc, 1 the phrase, the dust of death. It is founded on the description Gen. 11. 7, and iii. 19, and denotes the dissolution and destruction of the body. Hence the sentiment in Eccles. xii. 7, ' The dust shall return to the earth as it was, the spirit unto God who gave it' (b.) A withdrawing, exhalation, or removal of the breath of life (Ps. civ. 29). (c.) A removal from the body, a being absent from the body, a departure from it, &c. This description is founded on the comparison of the body with a tent or lodgment in which the soul dwells during this life. Death destroys this tent or house, and commands us to travel on (Job iv. 21; Isa. xxxviii. 12; Ps. liii. 7; 2 Cor. v. 1; 2 Peter i. 13, 14). (d.) Paul likewise uses the term to be un- clothed, in reference to death (2 Cor. v. 3, 4); because the body is represented as the garment of the soul, as Plato calls it. The soul, there- fore, as long as it is in the body, is clothed ; and as soon as it is disembodied, is naked. (e.) The terms which denote sleep are applied frequently in the Bible, as everywhere else, to death (Ps. Ixxvi. 5; Jer. li. 39; John xi. 13, sqq.). (f.) Death is frequently compared with and named from a departure, a going away (Job x. 21 ; Ps. xxxix. 4; Matt. xxvi. 24 ; Phil. i. 23 ; 2 Tim. iv. 6). Death, when personified, is described as a ruler and tyrant, having vast power and a great king- dom, over which he reigns. But the ancients also represented it under some figures which are not common among us. We represent it as a man with a scythe, or as a skeleton, &c. ; but the Jews, before the exile, frequently represented death as a hunter, who lays .snares for men (Ps. xviii. 5, 6 ; xci. 3). After the exile, they re- presented him as a man, or sometimes as an angel (the angel of Death), with a cup of poison, which he reaches to men. From this represen- tation appears to have arisen the phrase, which occurs in the New Testament, to taste death (Matt. xvi. 28 ; Heb. ii. 9), which, however, in common speech, signifies merely to die, without reminding one of the origin of the phrase. The case is the same with the phrase to see death (Ps. Ixxxix. 48 ; Luke ii. 26). DE'BI R, a city in the tribe of Judah, about thirty miles south-west from Jerusalem, and ten miles west of Hebron. It was also called Kirjath- sepber (Josh. xv. 15), and Kirjath-sannah (xv. 4U). The name Debir means ' a word' or ' oracle,' and is applied to'that most secret and separated part of the Temple, or of the most holy place, in which the ark of the covenant was placed, and in which responses were given from above the cherubim. From this, coupled with the fact that Kirjath-sepher means ' book-city,' it has been conjectured that Debir was some particularly sacred place or seat of learning among the Ca- naanites, and a repository of their records. ' It is not indeed probable,' as Professor Bush remarks, ' that writing and books, in our sense of the words, were very common among the Canaanites ; but some method of recording events, and a sort of DEBORAH learning, was doubtless cultivated in those re- gions.' Debir was taken by Joshua (xi. 38") ; but it being afterwards retaken by the Canaanites, Caleb, to whom it was assigned, gave his daughter Achsah in marriage to his nephew Othniel for his bravery in carrying it by storm (Josh. xv. 16). The town was afterwards given to the priests (xxi. 15). No trace of it is to be found at the present time. There were two other places called Debir : one belonging to Gad, beyond Jordan (Josh. xiii. 2C) ; the other to Benjamin, though originally in Judah. DEB'ORAH (a bee), a prophetess, wife of La- pidoth. She dwelt, probably, in a tent, under a well-known palm-tree between Ramah and Bethel, where she judged Israel (Judg. iv. 4, 5). This in all likelihood means that she was the organ of communication between God and his people, and probably, on account of the influence and autho- rity of her character, was accounted in some sort as the head of the nation, to whom questions of doubt and difficulty were referred for decision. In her triumphal song she says ' In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, In the days of Jael, the ways lay desert, And high-way travellers went in winding by- paths. Leaders failed in Israel, they failed, Until that I Deborah arose, That I arose, a mother in Israel.' From the further intimations which that song contains, and from other circumstances, the peo- ple would appear to have sunk into a state of total discouragement under the oppression of the Canaanites ; so that it was difficult to rouse them from their despondency and to induce them to make any exertion to burst the fetters of their bondage. From the gratitude which Deborah expresses towards the people for the effort which they finally made, we are warranted in drawing the conclusion that she had long endeavoured to instigate them to this step in vain. At length she summoned Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kedesh, a city of Naphtali, on a mountain not far from Hazor, and made known to him the will of God that he should undertake an enterprise for the deliverance of his country. But such was his disheartened state of feeling, and at the same time such his confidence in the superior character and authority of Deborah, that he assented to go only on the condition that she would accompany him. To this she at length consented. They then repaired together "to Kedesh, and collected there in the immediate vicinity of Hazor, the capital of the dominant power ten thousand men, with whom they marched southward, and en- camped on Mount Tabor. Sisera, the general of Jabin, king of Hazor, who was at the head of the Canaanitish confederacy, immediately collected an army, pursued them, and encamped in face of them in the great plain of Esdraelon. Encou- raged by Deborah, Barak boldly descended from Tabor into the plain with his ten thousand men to give battle to the far superior host of Sisera, which was rendered the more formidable to the Israelites by nine hundred chariots of iron. The Canaanites were beaten ; and Barak pursued them northward to Harosheth. Sisera himsi-lf, being hotly pursued, alighted from his chariot and escaped on foot to the tent of Heber the Kenite, DECALOGUE by whose wife he was slain. This great victory (dated aboul B.C. 1290), which seems to have been followed up, broke the power of the native princes, aud secu r ed to tha Israelites a repose of forty years' duration. During parl of this time Dfborah probably continued to exercise her for- mer authority ; but nothing more of her history is known. The song of triumph, which was composed in consequence of the great victory over Sisera, is said to have been ' sung by Deborah aud Barak.' It is usually regarded as the composition of Deborah ; and was probably indited by her to be sung on the return of Barak and his warriors from the pursuit. It is a peculiarly fine specimen of the earlier poetry of the Hebrews. 2. DEBORAH. The nurse of Kebekah.whom she accompanied to the land of Canaan ; she died near Beth-el, and was buried under an oak, which for that reason was thenceforth called Allon-bachuth ' the oak of weeping' (Gen. xxxv. DECALOGUE, the ten words (Exod. xxxiv. 28; Dent. iv. 13; x. 4). This is the name most usually given by the Greek Fathers to the law of the two tables, given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. The Decalogue was written on two stone slabs (Exod. xxxi. 18), which, having been broken by Moses (xxxii. 19), were renewed by God (xxxiv. 1, &c.). They are said (Deut. ix. 10) to have been written by the finger of God, an expression which always implies an imme- diate act of the Deity. The decalogue is five times alluded to in the New Testament, there called commandments, but only ihe latter precepts are specifically cited, which refer to our duties to each other (Mall. xvii. 18, 19, &c. ; Mark x. 19; Luke xviii. 20 ; Rom. xiii. 9 ; vii. 7, 8 ; Matt. v. ; I Tim. i. 9, 10). |LAW.] The circumstance of these precepts being called the ten words has doubtless led to the belief that the two tables contained len distinct precepts, five in each lable; while some have supposed that they were called by this name to denote their perfection) ten being considered the most per- fect of numbers. Philo-Judacus divides them into two pentads, the first pentad ending with Exod. xx. 12, ' Honour thy father and thy mother,' &c., or the Jijth commandment of the Greek, Reformed, and Anglican churches; while the more general opinion among Christians is that the first table contained our duty to God, ending with the law to keep the sabbath holy, and the second, our duty to our neighbour. As they are not numerically divided in the Scrip- tures, so that we cannot positively say which is the first, which the second, &c., it may not prove uninteresting to the student in Biblical literature, if we here give a brief account of the different modes of dividing them which have prevailed among Jews and Christians. These may be classed as the Talmudical, the Origenian, and the Iwo Masorelic divisions. According to the division contained in the Tal- mud, the first commandment consists of the words ' I am ihe Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" (Exod. xx. 2 ; Deut. v. 6) ; the second (Exod. iii. 4), 'Thou shalt have none other gods beside me ; thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image,' &c. to ver. 6 ; the third, ' Thou shalt not take DECALOGUE 243 God's namo in vain,' &c. ; the fourth, ' Remem- ber to keep holy the sabbath day,' c. ; the fifth, ' Honour thy father and thy mother,' &c. ; the sixth, ' Thou shalt not kill ;' the seventh, ' Thou shalt not commit adultery ;' the eighth, ' Thou shalt not steal ;' the ninth, ' Thou shalt not bear false witness,' &c. ; and the tenth, ' Thou shalt not covet," &c. to the end. The next division is that approved by Origen, and is the one in use in the Greek and in all the Reformed Churches, except the Lutheran. Although Origen was acquainted with the dif- fering opinions which existed in his time in regard to this subject, it is evident from his own words that he knew nothing of that division by which the number ten is completed by making the pro- hibition against coveting either the house or the wife a distinct commandment. In his eighth Homily on Geixsis, after citing the words, ' I ara the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt,* he adds, ' this is not a part of the commandment.' The first commandment is, ' Thou shalt have no other gods but me,' and then follows, 'Thou shalt not make an idol.' These together are thought by some to make one commandment ; but in this case the number ten will not be complete where then will be the truth of the decalogue ? But if it be divided as we have done in the last sentence, the full num- ber will be evident. The tirst commandment therefore is, ' Thou shalt have no other gods but me,' and the second, ' Thou shalt not make to thyself an idol, nor a likeness,' &c. Gregory Naziauzen and Jerome take the same view with Origen. It is also supported by the learned Jews Philo and Josephus, who speak of it as the re- ceived division of the Jewish Church. It appears to have been forgotten in the Western Church, but was revived by Calvin in 1 536, and is also received by that section of the Lutherans who followed Bucer, called the Tetrapolitans. It is adopted by Calmet, and is that followed in the present 1'ussian Church, as well as by the Greeks in general. It appeared in the Bishops' Book in 1537, and was adopted by the Anglican Church at the Reformation (1546), substituting seventh for sabbath-day in her formularies. The same division was published with approbation by Bon- ner in his Homilies in 1555. We shall next proceed to describe the two Masoretic divisions. The first is that in Exodus. According to this arrangement, the two first com- mandments (according to the Origenian or Greek division), that is, the commandment concerning the worship of one God, and that concerning images, make but one ; the second is, * Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,' and so on until we arrive at the two last, the for- mer of which is, ' Thou shalt not covet thy neigh- bour's house,' and the last or tenth, ' Thou shall not covet Ihy neighbour's wife, nor his servant,' &c,, lo the end. This was the division approved by Luther, and it has been ever since his time received by the Lutheran Church. This division is also followed in the Trent catechism, and may therefore be called the Roman Catholic divi- sion. Those who follow this division have been ac- customed to give the decalogue very generally in an abridged form : thus the h'rst commandment in the Lutheran shorter catechism is simply, ' Thou E2 244 DEDAN shalt have no other gods but me ;' the second, ' Thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain ;' the third, ' Thou shalt sanctify the sabbath- day.' A similar practice is followed by the Roman Catholics, although they, as well as the Lutherans, in their larger catechisms (as the Douay) gite them at full length. This practice has given/rise to the charge made against those denominations of leaving out the second com- mandment, whereas it would have been more cor- rect to say that they had mutilated the first, or at least that the form in vrhich they give it has the effect of concealing a most important part of it from such as had only access to their shorter catechisms. The last division is the second Masoretic, or that of Deuteronomy, sometimes called the Au- gustinian. This division differs from the former simply in placing the precept ' Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife' before ' Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house,' &c. ; and for this transposition it has the authority of Deut. v. 21. The authority of the Masoretes cannot, however, be of sufficient force to supersede the earlier tra- ditions of Philo and Josephus. DECAP'OLIS. This appears to denote not, as is frequently stated, a particular province or district, but certain Ten Cities, including the ad- jacent villages, which resembled each other in being inhabited mostly by Gentiles, and in their civic institutions and privileges. In Matt. iv. 25, it is said, ' Multitudes followed Jesus from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.' This must be considered as a popular mode of expres- sion, just as, in describing a public meeting in this country, it might be said ' numbers attended it from Kent and Sussex, and from the Cinque Ports.' We, therefore, cannot agree with Dr. Lightfoot in thinking it ' absurd to reckon the most famed cities of Galilee for cities of Deca- polis, when, both in sacred and profane authors, Galilee is plainly distinguished from Decapolis.' One at least of the Decapolitan towns (Scytho- polis, formerly Bethshan) was in Galilee, and several, if not all the rest, were in the country beyond Jordan. Pliny gives the following list, but allows that a difference of opinion existed as to its correctness. 1. Damascus; 2. Philadelphia; 3. Raphana ; 4. Scythopolis ; 5. Gadara ; 6. Hippos; 7. Dion; 8. Pella; 9. Galasa; 10. Cauatha. Josephus speaks of Gadara and Hippos as Grecian cities, and calls Scythopolis the greatest city of the Decapolis, from which it may be inferred that he excluded Damascus from the number. For Damascus and Raphana, Cellarius substitutes Cacsarea Philippi and Gergesa, and Ptolemy Capitolias. The name Decapolis was in course of time applied to more than ten towns, a circumstance which may in part account for the discrepancies in the lists given by various writers. The Decapolitan towns referred to in the Gospels were evidently situated not far from the sea of Galilee (Mark v. 20; vii. 31). DE'DAN. Two persons of this name are men- tioned in Scripture ; one the son of Cush (Gen. x. 7), and the other the second son of Jokshan, Abraham's son by Keturah (Gen. xxv. 3). Both were founders of tribes, afterwards repeatedly named in Scripture. Of the descendants of the Cushite Dedan, very DEGREES, PSALMS OF little is known. It is supposed that they settled in southern Arabia, near the Persian Gulf; but the existence in this quarter of a place called Dadan or Dadena. is the chief ground for this conclusion. The descendants of the Abrahamite Jokshan seem to have lived in the neighbourhood of Idu- msea; for the prophet Jeremiah (xlix. 8) calls on them to consult their safety, because the calamity of the sons of Esau, f. e. the Idumaeans, was at hand. The same prophet (xxv. 23) connects them with Thema and Buz, two other tribes of Arabia Petraea, or Arabia Deserta, as does Ezekiel (xxv. 13) with Theman, a district of Edom. It is not always clear when the name occurs which of the two Dedans is intended ; but it is probably the Cushite tribe, which is described as addicted to commerce, or .rather, perhaps, engaged in the carrying-trade. Its 'travelling companies,' or caravans, are mentioned by Isaiah (xxi. 13); in Ezekiel (xxvii. 20), the Dedanites are described as supplying the markets of Tyre with flowing riding-cloths: and elsewhere (xxxviii. )3) the same prophet names them along with the mer- chants of Tarshish. DEDICATION, a religious ceremony, where- by anything is dedicated or consecrated to the service of God ; and it appears to have originated in the desire to commence, with peculiar solemnity, the practical use and application of whatever had been set apart to the divine service. Thus Moses dedicated the Tabernacle in the Wilderness (Exod. xl. ; Num. vii.); Solomon his temple (1 Kings viii.); the returned exiles theirs (Ezra vi. 16, 17); Herod his. The Maccabees, having cleansed the temple from its pollutions under Antiochus Epiphanes, again dedicated the altar (1 Mace. iv. 52-9), and an annual festival was established in commemoration of the event This feast was celebrated not only at Jerusalem, but everywhere throughout the country ; in which respect it differed from the feasts of the Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, which could only be observed at Jerusalem. In John x. 22, 23, we are told that Jesus was at Jerusalem, walking in Solomon's porch at the time of ' the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.' This is usually supposed to have been the feast commemorating the dedication by Judas Maccabams, which was celebrated in the month Cislev, about the winter solstice (answering to the 15th of December). There seems no reason to disturb this conclusion ; for the dedication of Solomon's temple was in the seventh month, or autumn ; that of Zerub babel's temple in the month Adar, in the spring ; and, although that of Herod's temple was in the winter, we know not that it was celebrated by an annual feast, while the Maccabaean dedication was a festival much observed in the time of Christ. Not only were sacred places thus dedicated ; but some kind of dedicatory solemnity was ob- served with respect to cities, walls, gates, and even private houses (Deut. xx. 5; Ps. xxx. title: Neh. xii. 27). We may trace the continuance of these usages in the custom of consecrating or dedicating churches and chapels ; and in the ceremonies connected with the ' opening ' of roads, markets, bridges, &c., and with the launching of ships. DEGREES, PSALMS OF. [PSALMS.] DELUGE DEL'TLAH, the woman whom .Samson loved, and who betrayed him to his enemies (Judg. xvi.) [SAMSON]. DKLUGE. The narrative of a flood, given in tha book of Genesis (vii. and viii.), by which, according to the literal sense of the description, the whole world was overwhelmed and every ter- restrial creature destroyed, with the exception of one human family and the representatives of each species of animal, supernaturally preserved in an ark, constructed by divine appointment for the purpose, need not here be followed in detail. The account furnished by the sacred historian is cir- cumstantially distinct; and the whole is expressly ascribed to divine agency : but, in several of the lesser particulars, secondary causes, as rain, ' the opening of the windows of Heaven ' (vii. 11), and the ' breaking up of the fountains of the great deep,' are mentioned, and again the effect of wind in drying up the waters (viii. 1). It is chiefly to be remarked that the whole event is represented as both commencing and terminating in the most gradual and quiet manner, without anything at all resembling the catastrophes and convulsions often pictured in vulgar imagination as accompa- nying it. When the waters subsided, so little was die surface of the earth changed that the vegeta- tion continued uninjured ; the olive-trees remained from which the dove brought its token. We allude particularly to these circumstances in the narrative as being those which bear most upon the probable nature and extent of the event, which it is our main object in the present article to examine, according to the tenor of what little evidence can g be collected on the subject, whether from the terms of the narrative or from other sources of information which may be opened to us by the researches of science. Much, indeed, might be said on the subject in other points of view ; and especially in a more properly theological sense, it may be dwelt upon as a part of the great series of divine interpositions and dispensations which the sacred history dis- closes. But our present object, as well as limits, will restrict us from enlarging on these topics ; or, again, upon the various ideas which have pre- vailed on the subject apart from Scripture on the one hand, or science on the other. Thus, we need merely allude to the fact that in almost all nations, from the remotest periods, there have prevailed certain mythological narratives and legendary tales of similar catastrophes. Such narratives have formed a part of the rude belief of the Egyptians, Chaldamns, Greeks, Scythians, and Celtic tribes. They have also been discovered among the Peruvians and Mexicans, and the South Sea Islanders. For details on these points we refer our readers to the work of Bryant (Ancient Mythology), and more especially to the treatise of the Rev. L. V. Harcourt on the Deluge, who appears to have collected everything of this kind bearing on the subject. With reference to our present design the most material question is that of the existence of those traces which it might be supposed would be dis- covered of the action of such a deluge on the existing surface of the globe; and the consequent views which we must adopt according to the de- gree of accordance or discordance which such evidences may offer, as compared with the written narrative. DELUGE 245 The evidence which geology may disclose and which can in any degree bear on our present sub- ject must, from the nature of the case, be confined to indications of superficial action attributable to the agency of water, subsequent to the latest period of the regular geological formations, and, corresponding in character to a temporary inun- dation of a quiet and tranquil nature, of a depth sufficient to cover the highest mountains, and, lastly (as indeed this condition implies), extend- ing over the whole globe ; or, if these conditions should not be fulfilled, then, indications of at least something approaching to this, or with which the terms of the description may be fairly under- stood and interpreted to correspond. The general result of the geological researches into this subject is briefly this : the traces of cur- rents, and the like, which the surface of the earth does exhibit, and which miyht be ascribed to dilu- vial action of some kind, are certainly not the results of one universal simultaneous submergence, but of many distinct, local, aqueous forces, for the most part continued in action for long periods, and of a kind precisely analogous to such agency as is now at work. While, further, many parts of the existing surface show no traces of such operations ; and the phenomena of the volcanic districts prove distinctly that during the enor- mous periods which have elapsed since the craters were active, no deluge could possibly have passed over them without removing all those lighter portions of their exuviae which have evidently remained wholly untouched since they were ejected. Upon the whole it is thus apparent, that we have no evidence whatever of any great aqueous revolution at any comparatively recent period having affected the earth's surface over any con- siderable tract: changes, doubtless, may have been produced on a small scale in isolated dis- j tricts. The phenomena presented by caves con- taining bones, as at Kirkdale and other localities, are not of a kind forming any breach in the con- tinuity of the analogies by which all the changes in the surface are more and more seen to have been carried on. But a recent simultaneous in- flux of water covering the globe, and ascending above the level of the mountains, must have left indisputable traces of its influence, which not only is not the case, but against which we have positive facts standing out. Apart from the tes- timonies of geology there are other sciences which must be interrogated on such a subject. These are, chiefly, terrestrial physics, to assign the pos- sibility of a supply of water to stand all over the globe five miles in depth above the level of the ordinary sea; natural history, to count the my- j riads of species of living creatures to be preserved j and continued in the ark; mechanics, to con- struct such a vessel ; with some others not less necessary to the case. But we have no dispo- sition to enter more minutely on such points : the reader will find them most clearly and candidly stated in Dr. Pye Smith's Geology and Scripture, &c. p. 130, 2nd edit. Let us now glance at the nature and possible j solutions of the difficulty thus presented. We i believe only two main solutions have been at- tempted. One is that proposed by Dr. Pye Smith (ib. p. 294), who expressly contends that there is no real contradiction between these facts and the 246 DELUGE description in the Mosaic record, when the latter is correctly interpreted. This more correct inter- | pretation then refers, in the first instance, to the : proper import of the Scripture terms commonly taken to imply the unive/sality of the deluge. These the author shows, by a large comparison of similar passages, are only to be understood as expressing a yreat extent ; often, indeed, the very same phrase is applied to a very limited region or country, as in Gen. xli. 56; Deut. ii. '25; Acts ii. f>, &c. Thus, so far as these expressions are concerned, the description may apply to a local deluge. Next, the destruction of the whole existing human race does not by any means imply this universality, since, by ingenious considerations as to the multiplication of mankind at the alleged i era of the deluge, the author has shown that they probably had not extended beyond a compara- tively limited district of the East. A local destruction of animal life would also allow of such a reduction of the numbers to be included in the ark, as might obviate objections on that score ; and here again the Oriental idiom may save the necessity of the literal supposition of every actual species being included. Again, certain peculiar difficulties connected with the resting of the ark on Mount Ararat are combated by supposing the name incorrectly ap- plied to the mountain now so designated, and really to belong to one of much lower elevation. Lastly, this author suggests considerations tending to fix the region which may have been the scene of the actual inundation described by Moses, in about that part of Western Asia where there is a large district now considerably de- pressed below the level of the sea: this might have been submerged by the joint action of rain, and an elevation of the bed of the Persian and Indian Seas. And, finally, he quotes the opinions of several approved divines in confirmation of such a view, especially as bearing upon all the essential religious instruction which the narrative is calculated to convey. Other attempts have been made with more or less probability to assign particular localities as the scene of the Mosaic deluge, if understood to have been partial. Some diluvial beds posterior to the tertiary formations have been occasionally pointed out as offering some probability of such an origin. Thus, e. g. Mr. W. J. Hamilton, secretary to the Geological Society, in his Tour in Asia Minor (vol. ii. p. 386), found in the plains of Armenia, especially in some localities near Khorassan and on the banks of the Arpachai or Araxes, a remarkable thin bed of marl con- taining shells of tertiary (qu. recent?) species: these he attributes to a local deluge occurring (as the position of the bed indicates) after the cessa- tion of the volcanic action which has taken place in that district. He expressly adds that he regards this deluge as probably coincident with the Mosaic ; understanding the latter in a restricted or partial sense, and imagining it explained by physical causes which might have followed the volcanic action. The only other mode of viewing the subject is that which, accepting the letter of the Scriptural narrative, makes the deluge strictly universal ; and allowing (as they must be allowed) all the difficulties, not to say contradictions, in a natural DEMETRIUS SOTER sense, involved in it, accounts for them all by n- pernalnral agency. In fact, the terms of the narrative, strictly taken, may perhaps be under- stood throughout as representing the whole event, from beginning to end, as entirely of a miracu- lous nature. If so, it may be said, there is an end to all difficulties or question, since there are no limits to omnipo'ence ; and one miracle is not greater than another. Thus, Mr. Lyell (Princi- ples ofGeol. 5v. 219. 4th ed.), after ably recapitu- lating the main points of evidence, as far as phy- sical causes are concerned, remarks, ' If we believe the flood to have been a temporary suspension of the ordinary laws of the natural world, requiring a miraculous intervention of the divine power, then it is evident that the credibility of such an event cannot be enhanced by any series of inun- dations, however analogous, of which the geologist may imagine he has discovered the proofs. For my own part, I have always considered the flood, when its universality, in the strictest sense of the term, is insisted on, as a preternatural event far beyond the reach of philosophical inquiry, whe- ther as to the causes employed to produce it, or the effects most likely to result from it.' In a word, if we suppose the flood to have been miraculously produced, and all the difficulties thus overcome, we must also suppose that it was not only miraculously terminated also, but every trace and mark of it supernaturally effaced and destroyed. Now, considering the immense amount of su- pernatural agency thus rendered necessary, this hypothesis has appeared to some quite untenable. L)r. Pye Smith, in particular (whom no one will suspect of any leaning to scepticism), enlarges on the difficulty (p. 157, and note), and offers some excellent remarks on the general question of mi- racles (p. 84-89) ; and there can be no doubt that, however plausible may be the assertion that all miracles are alike, yet the idea of supernatural agency to so enormous an amount as in the pre- sent instance is, to many minds at least, very staggering, if not wholly inadmissible. In fact, in stretching the argument to such an extent, it must be borne in mind, that we may be trenching upon difficulties in another quarter, and not suffi- ciently regarding the force of the evidence on which any miracles are supported [MIRACLE]. In any point of view, it must be admitted that the subject involves difficulties of no inconsider- able amount ; and if, after due consideration of the suggestions offered for their solution, we should still feel it necessary to retain a cautious suspense of judgment on the subject, it may be also borne in mind that such hesitation will not involve the dereliction of any material religious doctrine. DE'MAS, a Thessalonian Christian who was for a time associated with St. Paul, but who after- wards abandoned him at Home, either from being discouraged by the hardships and perils of the service, or in pursuit of temporal advantages (Col. iv. 14 ; Philem. 24 ; 2 Tim. iv. 10). DEMETRIUS, a man's name, denoting a votary of Ceres, and very common among the Greeks. The persons of this name mentioned in the history of the Maccabees, and in the New Testament, are 1. DEMETRIUS SOTER, king of Syria, He was son of Seleucus IV., sur named Philopa- DEMETRIUS tor ; but, being an hostage at Rome at the time of his father's death, his uncle, the notorious Antiochus Epiphanes, assumed the crown of Syria, and retained it eleven years. After him it was held two years by his son Antiochus Eupator, who was put to death in B.C. 162 by Demetrius, who then arrived in Syria and secured the royal heritage from which he had so long been ex- cluded. He reigned twelve years, B.C. 1G2-I50. The points in which his history connects him with the Jews are alone of interest in this work, and these points belong to the history of the Maccabees [see art. MACCABEES]. To his time belong the latter end of the government of Judas in Israel and the beginning of that of Jonathan. He acted oppressively and unjustly towards them ; but, when a rival arose in the person of Alex- ander Balas, he bade so high for the support of Jonathan as to create a doubt of his sincerity ; for which cause, as well as from resentment at the injuries he had inflicted on them, the Jews espoused the cause of Balas, to whose success they in no slight degree contributed [ALEXANDER BALAS]. 2. DEMETRIUS NICATOR, or NICA- NOR, son of the preceding, but who was ex- cluded from the throne till B.C. 14C, by the suc- cess of Alexander Balas, and then recovered it chiefly by the assistance of his father-in-law Ptolemy Philometor. He at first treated the Jews well, but eventually gave them so much cause for dissatisfaction that they readily espoused the cause of Antiochus Theos, son of Alexander Balas. Demetrius underwent many vicissitudes. and passed several years (B.C. 141-135) in cap- tirity among the Parthians, from which he even- tually returned and recovered his throne, which he continued to occupy till B.C. 126, when he was defeated in battle by the pretender Alexander Zebina, and afterwards slain at Tyre, whither he had fled [MACCABEES]. 3. DEMETRIUS, a silversmith at Ephesus, who, being alarmed at the progress of the Gospel under the preaching of Paul, assembled his fellow-craftsmen, and excited a tumult by ha- ranguing them on the danger that threatened the worship of the great goddess Diana, and conse- quently their own craft as silversmiths. Their employment was to make ' silver shrines for Diana ' (Acts xix. 24) ; and it is now generally agreed that these ' shrines ' were silver models of the temple, or of its adytum or chapel, in which perhaps a little image of the goddess was placed. These, it seems, were purchased by foreigners, who either could not perform their devotions at the temple itself, or who, after having done so, carried them away as memorials or for purposes of worship. The continual resort of foreigners to Ephesus from all parts, on account of the singular veneration in which the image of the goddess was held, must have rendered this manu- facture very profitable, and sufficiently explains the anxiety of Demetrius and his fellow-craftsmen. 4. DEMETRIUS, a Christian, mentioned with commendation in 3 John 12. From the con- nexion of St. John with Ephesus at the time the Epistle was written, some have supposed that this Demetrius is the same as the preceding, and that he had been converted to Christianity. But this is a mere conjecture, rendered the more uncertain by the commonness of the name. DEMON 247 DEMON. This word is used by heathen writers with great latitude, being applied by them, 1. to every order 'of beings superior to man, in- cluding even the Highest ; 2. it is applied to any particular divinity ; 3. to the inferior divinities ; 4. to a class of beings between gods and men. Of these latter some were habitually benevolent, and others malignant. To the former class be- long the tutelary genii of cities, and the guar- dian spirits of individuals, as the demon of Socrates. 5. By an easy metonymy it is used to denote fortune, chance, fate. Since no distinct ideas of the ancient Jewish doctrines concerning demons can be obtained from the Septuagint, we next have recourse to the heathens, and from their writings, owing to the universal prevalence of belief in demons, ample information may be ob- tained. The following is offered as a summary of their opinions. 1. Demons, in the theology of the Gentiles, are middle beings, between gods and mortals. This is the judgment of Plato, which will be considered decisive : ' Every demon is a middle being be- tween God and mortal.' 2 Demons were of two kinds ; the one were the souls of good men, which upon their de- parture from the body were called heroes, were afterwards raised to the dignity of demons, and subsequently to that of gods. It was also be- lieved that the souls of bad men became evil demons. The other kind of demons were of more noble origin than the human race, having never inhabited human bodies. 3. Those demons who had once been souls of men were the objects of immediate worship among the heathens (Deut. xxvi. 14; Ps. cvi. 28; Isa. viii. 19), and it is in contradistinction to these that Jehovah is so frequently called ' the living God' (Deut. v. 6, &c. &c.). 4. The heathens held that some demons were malignant by nature, and not merely so when provoked and offended. Plutarch says, ' It is a very ancient opinion that there are certain wicked and malignant demons, who envy good men, and endeavour to hinder them in the pursuit of virtue, lest they should be partakers of greater happiness than they enjoy.' Pythagoras held that certain demons sent diseases to men and cattle. In later times Josephus uses the word demon always in a bad sense, as do the writers of the New Testament, when using it as from them- selves, and in their own sense of it. ' Demons are no other than the spirits of the wicked, that enter into men and kill them, unless they can obtain some help against them.' It is frequently supposed that the demons oi the New Testament are fallen angels; on the contrary it is maintained by Farmer, that the word is never applied to the Devil and his angels, and that there is no sufficient reason for restricting the term to spirits of a higher order than man- kind. They who uphold the former opinion urge that our Lord, when accused of casting out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, re- plies, How can Satan cast out Satan (Mark iii. 23, &c.) ? It is further urged, that it is but fair and natural to suppose that the writers of the New Testament use the word demons in the same sense in which it was understood by their con- temporaries, which, as it appears from Josephus and other authorities, was, that of the spirits of 248 DEMONIACS the wicked ; and that if these writers had meant anything else they would have given notice of so wide a deviation from popular usage. DEMONIACS, demonized persons, in the New Testament, are those who were supposed to have a demon or demons occupying them, sus- pending the faculties of their minds, and govern- ing the members of their bodies, so that what was said and done by the demoniacs was ascribed to the in-dwelling demon. The correctness of the opinion respecting those who are called demoniacs in the New Testament which prevailed among the Jews and other nations in the time of our Lord and his Apostles, has been called in question. On the one hand it is urged that the details of the evangelical his- tory afford decisive evidence of the truth and reality of demoniacal possessions in the sense already explained, at least during the commence- ment of Christianity ; on the other hand it is contended that the accounts in question may all be understood as the phenomena of certain dis- eases, particularly hypochondria, insanity, and epilepsy ; that the sacred writers used the popular language in reference to the subject, but that they themselves understood no more than that the persons were the subjects of ordinary diseases. Here issue is joined and it is to the evidence in this cause that our attention will now be directed. Those who contend that the demoniacs- were really possessed by an evil spirit, urge the fol- lowing considerations : 1. The demoniacs express themselves in a way unusual for hypochondriacal, insane, or epileptic persons (Matt. viii. 29 ; Mark i. 24) ; they pos- sessed supernatural strength (Mark v. 4) ; they adjure Jesus not to torment them ; they answer the questions proposed to them in a rational manner ; they are distinctly said to have ' come out of men and to have ' entered into swine,' and that consequently the whole herd, amounting to about two thousand, ran violently down a pre- cipice into the sea (Matt. viii. 32: Mark v. 13). The supposition which has been maintained by I^ardner among others, that the swine were driven into the sea by the demoniacs, is irreconcilable with the language of the narrative, being also highly improbable in itself: madmen do not act in con- cert, and rarely pursue the same train of maniacal reasoning. 2. No mental diseases are predicated of the dumb (Matt. ix. 32), or of the blind and dumb (Matt xii. 22). Do such diseases ever produce blindness ? 3. It is admitted that the symptoms of the youth described Matt. xvii. 15; Mark ix. 17; Luke ix. 39, coincide precisely with those of epilepsy, but they are attributed to the agency of the demon in that very account. 4. The damsel at Philippi is said to have been possessed with a spirit of divination, which was the means of obtaining much gain to her masters, and to have understood the divine commission of Paul and his companions (Actsxvi. 17). Is this to be ascribed merely to an aberration of mind? 5. The demoniacs themselves confess that they were possessed with demons (Mark v. 9) : the same is asserted of them by their relatives (Matt. xv. 22). The Apostles and Evangelists assert that persons possessed with demons were brought DEMONIACS unto Jesus (Matt. iv. 24 ; Mark i. 32), or met him (Luke viii. 27). Jesus commands them not to make him known as the Messiah (Mark i. 34, margin); rebuked them (Matt. xvii. 18). The Evangelists declare that the demons departed from their victims at his command (Matt. xvii. 18; Mark ix. 25, 26 ; Luke iv. 35 ; xi. 14) ; and Jesus himself asserts it (Luke xiii. 32). 6. The writers of the New Testament make distinctions between the diseased and the de- moniacs (Mark i. 32; Luke vi. 17, 18); and Jesus himself does so (Matt x. 8, &c.). 7. The demoniacs knew Jesus to be the son of God (Matt viii. 29 ; Mark i. 24 ; v. 7), and the Christ (Luke iv. 41). 8. Jesus addresses the demons (Matt. viii. 32 ; Mark v. 18 ; ix. 25 ; Luke iv. 35) : so does Paul (Acts xvi. 18). Jesus bids them be silent (Mark i. 25); to depart, and enter no more into the person (Mark ix. 25). 9. In Luke x. the seventy are related to have returned to Jesus, saying, * Lord, even the demons are subject to us through thy name ;' and Jesus replies, ver. 18, 'I beheld Satan, as lightning, fall from heaven.' 10. When Jesus was accused by the Pharisees of casting out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of the demons, he argued that there could be no discord among demoniacal beings (Matt. xii. 25, &c.). 11. Jesus makes certain gratuitous observations respecting demons (see Matt. xii. 43, 44) ; which seem like facts in their natural history. In re- gard to the demon cast out of the youth, which the disciples could not cast out, he says, ' this kind (i. e. demons) goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.' Can these words be understood otherwise than as revealing a real and particular fact respecting the nature of demons (Matt. xvii. 21)? 12. The woman which had a spirit of infir- mity, and was bowed together (Luke xiii. 11), is, by our Lord himself, said to have been bound by Satan (v. 16). In the same way St. Peter speaks of all the persons who were healed by Jesus, as being ' oppressed of the devil ' ( Acts x. 38). 13. It is further pleaded, that it sinks the importance and dignity of our Saviour's miracles, to suppose that when he is said to have cast out devils, all that is meant is, that he healed dis- eases. To these arguments the opponents of the theory of real demoniacal possessions reply, generally, that there can be no doubt that it was the general belief of the Jewish nation, with the exception of the Saddncees, and of most other nations, that the spirits of dead men, especially of those who had lived evil lives, and died by vio- lent deaths, were permitted to enter the bodies of men, and to produce the effects, ascribed to them in the popular creed ; but the fact and real state of the case was, that those who were considered to be possessed were afflicted with some peculiar diseases of mind or body, which, their true causes not being generally understood, were, as is usual in such cases, ascribed to supernatural powers ; and that Jesus and his apostles, wishing of course to be understood by th;ir contempora- ries, and owing to other reasons which can be pointed out, were under the necessity of express- ing themselves in popular language, and of DEMONIACS seeming to admit, or at least of not denying, its correctness. They further plead that the fact, admitted on all hands, that the demon so actu- ated the possessed, as that whatever the;/ did, was not to be distinguished from his agency, reduces the question, so far as phenomena are concerned, to one simple inquiry, namely, whether these phenomena are such as can be accounted for with- out resorting to supernatural agency. They assert that the symptoms predicated of demoniacs cor- respond with the ordinary symptoms of disease, and especially of hypochondria, insanity, and epilepsy ; that the sacred writers themselves give intimations, as plain as could be expected under their circumstances, that they employed popular language; that consequently they are 'not to be considered as teaching doctrines or asserting facts wh.-u thoy use such language ; and that the doctrine of the agency of departed spirits on the bodies of men is inconsistent with certain pe- culiar and express doctrines of Christ and his apostles. With regard to the symptoms related of the demoniacs, it is urged that such persons as \vere called demoniacs in other countries, and who seem to have laboured under precisely the same symptoms, are reourued to have been cured by the use of medicines. Josephus and the Jewish phy- sicians speuh. of medicines composed of stones, roots, and herbs, being useful to demoniacs. The cure of diseases by such methods is intelligible; but is it rational to believe that the spirits of dead men were dislodged from human bodies by medical prescriptions? 1. With regard to the two demoniacs at Ga- dara (or one, according to Mark and Luke), it is. concluded that they were madmen, who fancied that there were within them innumerable spirits of dead men. Accordingly they dwelt among the tombs, about which the souls of the dead were be- lieved to hover, went naked, were ungovernable, cried aloud, attacked passengers, beat themselves, and had in their phrensy broken every chain by which they had been bound. Strength almost superhuman is a common attendant on insanity. Their question, 'Artthou come to torment us?' refers to the cruel treatment of the insane in those times, and which they had no doubt shared, in the endeavours of men to ' tame ' them. Both Mark and Luke the physician describe the demo- niac as in ' his right mind,' when healed, which implies previous insanity (see also Matt. xii. 22 ; xv. 28; xvii. 18; Luke vii. 21 ; viii. 2; ix. 42). It is true that these demoniacs address Jesus as the Son of God, but they might have heard in their lucid intervals that Jesus, whose fame was already diffused throughout Syria, was regarded by the" people as the Messiah. They show their insanity, 'their shaping fancies,' by imagining they were demons without number, and by re- questing permission to enter the swine. Would actual demons choose such an habitation ? They speak and answer, indeed, in a rational manner, but agreeably to Locke's definition of madmen, they reason right on false principles, and, taking fancies for realities, make right deductions from them. Thus you shall find a distracted man fancying himself a 'king, and with a right infer- ence require suitable attendance. Others, who have thought themselves glass, take the needful care; to preserve such brittle bodies. It is true DEMONIACS 2-19 that Jesus commands the unclean spirit (so called because believed to be the spirit of a dead man), but he does this merely to excite the attention of the people, and to give them full opportunity to observe the miracle. It is not necessary to sup- pose that the madmen drove the swine, but merely that, t keeping with all the circumstances, the insanity of the demoniacs was transferred to them, as the leprosy of Naaman was transferred to Gehazi, for the purpose of illustrating the miraculous power of Christ ; and though this was a punitive miracle, it might serve the good pur- pose of discouraging the expectation of temporal benefits from him. If the demoniac is represented as worshipping Jesus, it should be remembered that the insane often show great respect to parti- cular persons. 2. The men who were dumb, and both blind and dumb, are not said to have been disordered in their intellects, any more than the blind man in John v. The disease in their organs was popu- larly ascribed to the influence of demons. It is observable that in the parallel passage (Matt. ix. 32), the evangelist says the man was dumb. 3. The symptoms of epilepsy in the youth de- scribed Matt. xvii. 15, are too evident not to be acknowledged. If the opinion of relatives is to be pressed, it should be noticed that in this case the father says his 'son is lunatic.' It was most probably a case of combined epilepsy and lunacy, which has been common in all ages. Epilepsy was ascribed to the influence of the moon in those times. The literal interpretation of popu- lar language would therefore require us to be- lieve that he was ' moonstruck,' as well as a demoniac. 4. The damsel at Philippi is said by Luke to have been possessed with a spirit of Apollo. It was her fixed idea. The gift of divination is said by Cicero to have been ascribed to Apollo. In- sane persons, pretending to prophesy under the influence of Apollo, would be likely to gain money from the credulous. A belief among th common people that the ravings of insanity were sacred, was not confined to Egypt. The apostle, who taught that an ' idol is nothing in the world,' did not believe in the reality of her soothsaying. Many demoniacs are mentioned, the peculiar symptoms of whose diseases are not stated, as Mary Magdalene (Mark xvi. 9), out of whom Jesus cast seven demons, i. e. restored from an inveterate insanity (seven being the Jewish number of perfection), supposed to be caused by the united agency of seven spirits of the dead. Yet she is said to have been healed (Luke viii. 2). 5. If Jesus forbade the demoniacs to say he was the Christ, it was because the declaration of such persons on the subject would do more harm than good. If he rebuked them he also rebuked the wind (Matt viii. 26), and the fever (Luke iv. 39). If it be said of them, they departed, so it is also said of the leprosy (Mark i. 42). 6. It may be questioned whether the writers of the New Testament ake a distinction between the diseased and those possessed of demons, or whether they specify the demoniacs by them- selves, as they specify the lunatics (Matt. iv. 24), merely as a distinct and peculiar class of the sick. It is, however, most important to observe that St. Peter includes 'all' who were healed by Jesus, under the phrase them that were oppressed of the 250 DEMONIACS devil, many of whom were not described by the Evangelists as subjects of demoniacal possession. Sometimes the specification of the demoniacs is omitted in the general recitals of miraculous cures (Matt. xi. 5), and this, too, on the important occasion of our Lord sending to John the Baptist an account of the miraculous evidence attending his preaching (Matt. xi. 5). Does not this IOOK as if they were considered as included under the sick ? 7. It cannot be proved that all the demoniacs knew Jesus to be the Messiah. 8. It is admitted that Jesus addresses the de- mons, but then it mny be said that his doing so has reference partly to the persons themselves in whom demons were supposed to be, and partly to the bystanders ; for the same reason that he rebuked the winds in an audible voice, as also the fever. 9. With regard to our Lord's reply to the seventy, it will not be urged that it was intended of a local fall of Satan from heaven, unless it may be supposed to allude to his primeval expul- sion ; but this sense is scarcely relevant to the occasion. If, then, the literal sense be neces- sarily departed from, a choice must be made ont of the various figurative interpretations of which the words admit; and taking the word Satan here in its generic sense, of whatever is inimical or opposed to the Gospel, Jesus may be understood to say, I foresaw the glorious results of your mission in the triumphs which would attend it over the most formidable obstacles. Heaven is often used in the sense of political horizon (Isa. xiv. 12, 13; Matt. xxiv. 29). To be cast from heaven to hell is a phrase for total downfall (Luke x. 15 ; Rev. xii. 7-9). Cicero says to Mark Antony, You have hurled your colleagues down from heaven. Satan is here used tropically. Our Lord does not, therefore, assert the real operation of demons. 10. In the refutation of the charge that he cast out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of the de- mons, he simply argues with the Pharisees upon their own ptinciples, and 'judges them out of *heir own mouth,' without assuming the truth of those principles. 11. The facts he seems to assert respecting the wandering of demons through dry places (Matt, xii. 45), were already admitted in the popular creed of the Jews. They believed that demons wandered in desolate places (Baruch iv. 35). Upon these ideas he founds a parable or simili- tude, without involving an opinion of their ac- curacy, to describe ' the end of this generation.' The observations respecting prayer and fasting seem to have relation to that faith in God which he exhorts his apostles to obtain. Prayer and fasting would serve to enable them to perceive the divine suggestion which accompanied every miracle, and which the apostles had not perceived upon this occasion, though given them, because their animal nature had not been sufficiently sub- dued. 12. The application of the term Satan to the case of the woman who had a spirit of infirmity, is plainly an arguing with the Jews on their own principles. It is intended to heighten the an- tithesis between the loosing of an ox from his stall, and loosing the daughter of Abraham whom Satan, as they believed, had bound eighteen years. DENARIUS 13. The objection taken from the supposed consequence of explaining the casting out of de- mons to signify no more than the cure of diseases, that it tends to lower the dignity of the Saviour's miracles, depends upon the reader's complexion of mind, our prior knowledge of the relative dignity of miracles, and some other things, per- haps, of which we are not competent judges. It has further been observed, that the theory of demoniacal possessions is opposed to the known and express doctrines of Christ and his Apostles. They teach us that the spirits of the dead enter a state corresponding to their character, no more to return to this world (Luke xvi. 22, &c. ; xxiii. 43; 2 Cor. v. 1 ; Phil. 5. 21). With regard to the fallen angels, the representations of their confinement are totally opposed to the notion of their wandering about the world and tormenting its inhabitants (2 Pet. ii. 4 ; Jude, ver. 6). If it be said that Jesus did not correct the popular opinion, still he nowhere denies that the pheno- mena in question arose from diseases only. He took no side ; it was not his province. It was not necessary to attack the misconception in a formal manner ; it would be supplanted whenever his doctrine respecting the state of the dead was embraced. To have done so would have engaged our Lord in prolix arguments with a people in whom the notion was so deeply rooted, and have led him away too much from the purposes of his ministry. ' It was one of the many things he had to say, but they could not then bear them.' It is finally urged that the antidemoniacal theory does not detract from the divine authority of the Saviour, the reality of his miracles, or the inte- grity of the historians. DENA'RIUS, the principal silver coin of the Romans, which took its name from having been originally equal to ten ases. It was in later times (after B.C. 21") current also among the Jews, and is the coin which is called ' a penny ' in the Auth. Vers. The denarii were first coined in B.C. 2G9, or four years after the first Punic war, and the more ancient specimens are much heavier than those of later date. Those coined in the early period of the commonwealth have the ave- rage weight of 60 grains, and those coined under the empire of 52-5 grains. With some allow- ance for alloy, the former would be worth 8^J., and the latter 7%d. It has been supposed, how- ever, that the reduction of weight did not take place till the time of Nero ; and in that case the denarii mentioned in the Gospels must have been of the former weight and value, although 7^d. is the usual computation. A denarius was the day- wages of a labourer in Palestine (Matt. xx. 2, 9, 13); and the daily pay of a Roman soldier was less. In the time of Christ the denarius bore the image of the emperor (Matt. xxii. 19 ; Mark xii. DEUTERONOMY 16), but formerly it was impressed with the sym- bols of the republic. DER'BE, a small town of Lycaonia, in Asia Minor, at the foot of the Taurian mountains, 60 miles south by east from Iconium, and 18 miles east of Lystra. It was the birthplace of Gaius, the friend and fdllow-traveller of Paul (Acts xx. 4) ; and it was to this place that Paul and Bar- i abas fled when expelled from Iconium, A.D. 41 (Acts xiv. 6). DESERTS. In the East, wide, extended plains are usually liable to drought, and consequently to barrenness. Hence the Hebrew language de- scribes a plain, a desert, and an unfruitful waste, by the same word. The term which is in general rendered ' wilderness,' means, properly, a grazing tract, uncultivated and destitute of wood, but fit for pasture a heath or steppe. The pastures of the wilderness are mentioned in Ps. Ixv. 13; Joel i. 19; Luke xv. 4; and may be very well ex- plained by reference to the fact, that even the Desert of Arabia, which is utterly burnt up with excessive drought in summer, is in winter and spring covered with rich and tender herbage. Whence it is that the Arabian tribes retreat into their deserts on the approach of the autumnal rains, and when spring has ended and the droughts commence, return to the lands of rivers and mountains, in search of the pastures which the deserts no longer afford. The same word may therefore denote 'a region which is desert, and also one which, at stated seasons, contains rich and abundant pastures. But in fact the word translated in our Bibles by 'desert' or ' wilderness' often means no more than the com- mon, uncultivated grounds in the neighbourhood of towns on which the inhabitants grazed their domestic cattle. The term a great desert or wilderness is espe- cially applied to that desert of Stony Arabia in which the Israelites sojourned under Moses (Num. xxi. 20; xxiii. 28; Ps. Ixviii. 7 ; Ixxviii. 40, &c.). This was the most terrible of the de- serts with which the Israelites were acquainted, and the only real desert in their immediate neighbourhood. It is described under ARABIA ; as is also that Eastern desert extending from the eastern border of the country beyond Judaea to the Euphrates. It is emphatically called ' the Desert,' without any proper name, in Exod. xxiii. 31 ; Deut. xi. 24. The several deserts or wildernesses mentioned io Scripture are the following, which will be found under their respective names : the deserts of Edom, Etham, Ju.dah, Kadesh, Maon, Paran, Shur, Sin, Sinai. DEVIL. [DEMON; SATAN.] DEUTERON'OMY, the Greek name given by the Alexandrian Jews to the fifth book of Moses. It comprises that series of addresses which the Lawgiver delivered (orally and by writing, i. 5 ; xxviii. 58, &c.) to assembled Israel in the second month of the fortieth year of their wandering through the desert, when the second generation was about to cross the Jordan, and when the parting hour of Moses had nearly arrived. The speeches begin with the enumeration of the wonderful dealings of God with the chosen people in the early period of their existence. Moses clearly proves to them the punishment of unbelief, the obduracy of Israel, and the faithful- DEUTERONOMY 251 ness of Jehovah with regard to his promises, which were now on the point of being accom- plished. Fully aware of the tendencies of the people, and foreseeing their alienations, Moses conjures them most impressively to hold fast the commands of the Lord, and not to forget his re- velations, lest curses should befall them instead of blessings (ch. i.-iv.). The Lawgiver then ex- patiates on the spirit of the law, and its reception into the hearts of men, both in a positive and negative way. Fear, he says, is the primary effect of the law, as also its aim. As Israel had once listened to the announcement of the funda- mental laws of the theocracy with a sacred fear, in like manner should man also receive, through the whole system of the law, a lively and awful impression of the holiness and majesty of God (ch. v.). But as the essence and sum of the law is love to Jehovah, the only and true God, man shall by the law be reminded of the Divine mercy, so variously manifested in deeds; and this reflection is calculated to rouse in man's heart love for God. This love is the only and true source from which proper respect and obe- dience to the law can proceed (ch. vi.). There were, however, two tempting deviations, in following which the people were sure to be led astray. The law, in its strict rigour, was but too apt to tempt them to desert Jehovah, and to yield to idolatry (the very approval of which even in thought polluted the heart), by discontinuing to bear the heavy yoke of the law. Hence the most impressive warnings against Canaan's inhabitants and idols ; and hence the declarations that Israel, in placing themselves on a par with the heathens, should have to endure an equal fate with them, and be repulsed from the presence of Jehovah (ch. vii. viii.). The other, not less dangerous, deviation is that of self-righteousness the proud fancy that all the favours Jehovah had shown to his people were merely in consequence of their own deservings. Therefore Jehovah tells them that it was rot through their own worthiness and purity of heart that they inherited the land of the heathens. It was only through his free favour ; for their sins bore too strong and constant testimony how little they ought to take credit to themselves for it (ch. ix.). The history of the people, before and after the exile, shows these two deviations in their fullest bearings. Idolatry we find to have been the besetting sin before that period, and presumptuous pride of heart after it; a proof how intimately acquainted the Lawgiver was with the character and disposition of his people, and how necessary therefore those warnings had been. Therefore, adds Moses, turn to that which Jo- hovah, in giving you the tables of the law, and establishing the Tabernacle and priesthood, has intimated as a significant symbol, 'to circumcise the foreskin of your heart,' and to cherish love in your inward soul. Think of Jehovah, the just and merciful, whose blessings and curses shall be set before your eyes as a lasting monument upon the mounts Ebal and Gerizim (ch. x. xi.). The mention of that fact leads the Lawgiver to the domestic and practical life of the people when domesticated in their true home, the Land of Promise ; which he further regulates by a fixed aiid solid rule, by new laws, which for this, 252 DEUTERONOMY their new design and purport, form a sort of complement to the laws already given. There, in the land of their forefathers, Jehovah will ap- point one fixed place for his lasting sanctuary, when every other place dedicated to the worship of idols is to be destroyed. At that chosen spot aloue are the sacrifices to be killed, while cattle in general, which are not destined for sacred purposes, but merely for food, may be slaughtered at all pi-ices according to convenience ;i regula- tion which still leaves in full force the previous laws concerning the eating of blood, and the share of Jehovah in slaughtered cattle. This sanctuary was to be considered as the central point for all sacred objects. The whole land was, by means of the sanctuary established in the midst of it, consecrated and dedicated to Je- hovah. This consecration was incompatible with any defilement whatsoever. On that account the Caiiaanites must be exterminated, and all idolatrous abominations destroyed, since nothing ought to be abided to or taken from the laws of God (ch. xii.). For the same reason (. e. for the sake of the holiness of the land, diffused from the sacred centre), no false prophets or sooth- sayers are to he tolerated, as they may turn the minds of ;he people from the law, by establish- ing a different one, and therefore even a whole town given to the worship of idols must be de- molished by force of arms (ch. xiii.). Neither, in like manner, must the heathen customs of mourning be imitated, or unclean beasts eaten ; but the people must always remain true to the previous laws concerning food, &c., and show their real attachment to Jehovah and his religion by willingly paying the tithe as ordained by the law (ch. xiv.). To the same end likewise shall the regulations concerning the years of release and the festivals of Jehovah (to be solemnized in the place of the new-chosen Sanctuary) be most scrupulously observed (ch. xv. xvi.). Only un- blemished sacrifices shall be offered, for all idol- worshippers must irrevocably be put to death by stoning. For the execution of due punishment, honest judges must govern the nation, while the highest tribunal shall exist in the place chosen for the Sanctuary, consisting of the priests and judges of the land. If a king be given by God to the people, he shall first of all accommodate himself to the laws of God, and not lead a heathen life. Next to the regal and judicial dignities, the ecclesiastical power shall exist in its full right; and again, next to it, the prophetic order (ch. xvii. xviii.). Of all these institutions, the duties of the judicial power are most clearly defined ; for Jehovah does as little suffer that in his land the right of the innocent shall be turned aside, as that indulgence shall be shown to the evil-doer (ch. xix.). The exposition of the civil law is followed by that of the martial law, which has some bearing upon the then impending war with Canaan, as the most important war and representing that with ihe heathen nations in general (ch. xx.). These are again followed by a series of laws in reference to the preceding, and referring chiefly to hard cases in the judicial courts, by which Moses obviously designed to exhibit the whole of the civil life of his people in its strict application to the theocratic system of law and right. Therefore the form of prayer to be spoken at the offering up of the firstlings and DEUTERONOMY tithe the theocratic confession of faith by which every Israelite acknowledges in person that he is what God has enjoined and called him to be, forms a beautiful conclusion of the whole legis- lation (ch. xxi -xxvi.). The blessings and curses of Jehovah, the two opposite extremes which were to be impressed upon the minds of the people at their entrance into Canaan, and which have hitherto been spoken of only in general terms, are now set forth in their fullest detail, picturing in the most lively colours the delightful abundance of rich blessings on the one hand, and the awful visitations of Heaven's wrath on the other. The prophetic speeches visibly and gradually increase in energy and enthusiasm, until the perspective of the remotest future of the people of God lies open to the eye of the inspired Lawgiver in all its chequered details, when his words resolve themselves into a flight of poetical extacy, into the strains of a splendid triumphal song in which the tone of grief and lamentation is as heart-rending as the announcement of divine salvation therein is jubi- lant (ch. xxvii. xxviii.). The history of the law concludes with a supplement concerning him who was deemed worthy by the Lord to transmit his law to Israel (ch. xxxiv.). Thus much regarding the contents and connec- tion of the book of Deuteronomy. The date, however, of the composition of the book, as well as its authenticity, has given rise to a great variety of opinion, more especially among those who are opposed to the authorship of Moses. The older critics considered Deuteronomy as the latest production of all the books of the Penta- teuch ; while the more recent critics have come to just the contrary opinion, and declare it to be the earliest of the Mosaic writings. A very strong proof of the genuineness of the book lies in its relation to the later writings of the prophets. Of all the books of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy has been made most use of by the prophets, simply because it is best calculated to serve as a model for prophetic declarations, as also because of the inward harmony that exists be- tween the prophecies and the laws upon which they are based. Among the arguments advanced against Ihe authenticity of Deuteronomy, are : 1 . The contradictions said to exist between this and the other books of Moses ; 2. Certain anachronisms committed by the author. These contradictions are more especially al- leged to exist in the festival laws, where but arbitrary and unwarranted views are mostly entertained by such critics with regard to the nature ami original meaning of the festivals, which they identify altogether with natural or season festivals, and without lending to them a more spiritual character and signification. 3. That the Sinai of the other books is always called Horeb in Deuteronomy. They forget, how- ever, that Horeb is the general name of the whole mountain, while Sinai is the special name of a particular part of it. This distinction is, indeed, most scrupulously observed everywhere in the Pentateuch. 4. That in Deuteronomy i. 44 are mentioned the Amorites, instead of the Amalekites, as in Num. xiv. 45. Here also they have forgotten to notice DEUTERONOMY that, in the sequel of the very passage alluded to in Deuteronomy, both the Amorites and Amalek- ites are mentioned. 5. That the cause of the punishment of Moses is differently stated in Num. xxvii. 14, and Deuteronomy iii. 26. To this objection we reply, that both the guilt and punishment of Moses are described iu both books as ' originating with the people; comp. also Deut. xxxii. 51, etc. Among the anachronisms in Deuteronomy are reckoned the allusions made in it to the Temple (xii. xvi. 1, sqq.), to the royal and prophetic powers (xiii. xvii. xviii.), to the different modes of idol-worship (iv. 19 ; xvii. 3), and to the exile (xxviii. sq.). In suggesting these critical points, however, they do not consider that all these sub- jects are most closely and intimately connected with the spirit and principles of the law itself, and that all these regulations and prophecies appear here in Deuteronomy, as necessary finish- ing-points to the Law, so indispensable for the better consolidation of the subsequent and later relations of the theocracy. More anachronisms are said to be, 1. The sixty dwelling-places of Jair mentioned Deut. iii. 14, sq. (comp. Judg. x. 3, sq.). We consider, however, that the men mentioned in the two passages are evidently different persons, though of the same name. Nor is it difficult to prove from other sources, that there really existed at the time of Moses a man by name Jair. 2. The notice (iii. 11) concerning king Og, which looks more like a note of a subsequent writer in corroboration of the story told in the chapter. But this hypothesis falis to .the ground when we consider that Moses did not write for his contemporaries merely, but also for late posterity. The book contains, moreover, not a small num- ber of plain, though indirect traces, indicative of its Mosaic origin. We thus find in it : 1. Numerous notices concerning nations with whom the Israelites had then come in contact, but who, after the Mosaic period, entirely dis- appeared from the pages of history : such are the accounts of the residences of the kings of Bashan (i. 4). 2. The appellation of ' mountain of the Amo- rites,' used throughout the whole book (i. 7, 19, 20, 44), while even in the book of Joshua, soon after the conquest of the land, the name is already exchanged for ' mountains of Judah ' (Josh. xi. 16, 21). 3. The observation (ii. 10), that the Emim had formerly dwelt in the plain of Moab : they were a great people, equal to the Anahim. This ob- servation quite accords with Genesis xiv. 5. 4. A detailed account (ii. 11) concerning the Horim and their relations to the Edomites. 5; An account of the Zamzummim (ii. 20, 21), one of the earliest races of Canaan, though men- tioned nowhere else. 6. A very circumstantial account of the Re- phaim (iii. 3, sq.), with whose concerns the author seems to have been well acquainted. The standing-point also of the author of Deute- ronomy is altogether in the Mosaic time, and had it been assumed and fictitious, there must neces- sarily have been moments when the spurious author would have been off his guard, and un- mindful of the part he had to play. But no dis- crepancies of this kind can be traced ; and this DEUTERONOMY 253 is in itself an evidence of the genuineness of the book. A great number of other passages force us likewise to the conclusion, that the whole of Deuteronomy originated in the time of Moses. Such are the passages where 1. A comparison is drawn between Canaan and Egypt (xi. 10, sq.), with the latter of -which the author seems thoroughly acquainted. 2. Detailed descriptions are given of the fer- tility and productions of Egypt (viii. 7, sq.). 3. Regulations are gfven relating to the con- quest of Canaan (xii. 1, sq. ; xx. J, sq.). which cannot be understood otherwise than by assuming that they had been framed in the Mosaic time, since they could be of no use after that period. Besides, whole pieces and chapters in Deutero- nomy, such as xxxii., xxxiii., betray in form, lan- guage, and tenor, a very early period in Hebrew literature. Nor are the laws and regulations in Deuteronomy less decisive of the authenticity of the book. We are struck with the most remark- able phenomenon, that many laws from the pre- vious books are here partly repeated and im- pressed with more energy, partly modified, and partly altogether abolished, according to the con- tingencies of the time, or as the new aspect of circumstances among the Jews rendered such steps necessary (comp. e. g. Deut. xv. 17 with Exod. xxi. 7 ; Deut. xii. with Lev. xvii.). Such pretensions to raise, or even to oppose his own private opinions to the authority of divine law, are found in no author of the subsequent periods, since the whole of the sacred literature of the later times is, on the contrary, rather the echo than otherwise of the Pentateuch, and is alto- gether founded on it. Add to this the fact, that the law itself forbids most impressively to add to, or take anything from it, a prohibition which is repeated even in Deuteronomy (comp. iv. 2 ; xiii. 1); and it is but too evident, that, if the opinion of the critics be correct, that this book contains nothing more than a gradual development of the law it clashes too often with its own principles, and pronounces thus its own sentence of con- demnation. The part of Deuteronomy (xxxiv.) respecting the death of Moses requires a particular explana- tion. That the whole of this section is to be regarded as a piece altogether apart from what precedes it, or as a supplement from another writer, has already been maintained by the elder theologians; and this opinion is confirmed not only by the contents of the chapter, but also by the express declaration of the book itself on that event and its relations ; for chapter xxxi. contains the conclusion of the work, where Moses describes himself as the author of the previous contents, as also of the Song (ch. xxxii.), and the blessings (ch. xxxiii.) belonging to it. All that follows is, consequently, not from Moses, the work being completed and concluded with chapter xxxiii. There is another circumstance which favours this opinion, namely, the close connection that exists between the last section of Deuteronomy and the beginning of Joshua (comp. Deut. xxxiv. 9 with Josh. i. 1 ), plainly shows that chapter xxxiv. of Deuteronomy is intended to serve as a point of transition to the book of Joshua, and that it was written by the same author as the latter. The correct view of this chapter, therefore, is to con' 254 DIAL gider it as a real supplement, but by no means as an interpolation. On the literature of Deuteronomy, compare the article PENTATEUCH. DKW. The various passages of Scripture in which dew is mentioned, as well as the statements i of travellers, might, unless carefully considered, ' convey the impression that in Palestine the dews I fall copiously at night during the height of summer, and supply in some degree the lack of rain. But we find that , those who mention dews travelled in spring and autumn, while those who travelled in summer make no mention of them, lu fact, scarcely any dew does fall during the summer months from the middle of May to the middle of August ; but as it continues to fall for so:ue time after the rains of spring have ceased, and begins to fall before the rains of autumn commence, we may from this gather the sense in which the Scriptural references to dew are to be understood. Without the dews continuing to fall after the rains have ceased, and commencing he- fore the rains return, the season of actual drought, and the parched appearance of the country, would be of much longer duration than they really are. The partial refreshment thus afforded to the ground at the end of a summer without dews or rains, is of great value in Western Asia, and would alone explain all the Oriental references to the effects of dew. This explanation is of further interest as indicating the times of the year to hich the Scriptural notices of dew refer; for as it does not, in any perceptible degree, fall in summer, and as few would think of mentioning it in the season of rain, we may take all such notices to refer to the months of April, May, part of August, and September. DIADEM. [CROWN.] DIAL. The invention of the sun-dial belongs most probably to the Babylonians. The first mention in Scripture of the ' hour,' is made by Daniel, at Babylon (ch. iii. 6). The circum- stances connected with the dial of Ahaz (2 Kings xx. 1 1 ; Isa. xxxviii. 8), which is perhaps the earliest of which we have any clear mention, en- tirely concur with the derivation of gnomonics ; from the Babylonians. Alias had formed an alliance with Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria (2 j Kings xvi. 7, 9), and that he was ready to adopt foreign improvements, appears from his admira- tion of the altar at Damascus, and his introduc- tion of a copy of it into Jerusalem (2 Kings xvi. I 10). ' The prince of Babylon sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land (2 Ciiron. xxxii. 3 1 ). Hence the dial also, which was called after his name, was probably an im- portation from Babylon. Different conjectures have been formed respecting the construction of this instrument. On the whole it seems to have been a distinct contrivance, rather th:tn any part of a house. It would also seem probable, from the circumstances, that it was of such a size, and so placed, that Huzekiah, now convalescent (Isa. xxxviii. 21, 22), but not perfectly recovered, could witness the miracle from his chamber or pavilion. May it not have been situate ' in the middle court' mentioned 2 Kings xx. 4? The cut given below (No. 141) presents a dial dis- covered in Hindostan. near Delhi, the ancient capital of the Mogul empire, whose construction would well suit the circumstances recorded of the DIAL j dial of Ahaz. It seems to have answered the double purpose of an observatory and a dial a rectangled hexangle, whose hypothenuse is a staircase, apparently parallel to the axis of the earth, and bisects a zone or coping of a wall, which wall connects the two terminating towers right and left. The coping itself is of a circular form, and accurately graduated to mark, by the shadow of the gnomon above, the sun's progress before and after noon ; for when the sun is in the zenith, he shines directly on the staircase, and the shadow falls beyond the coping. A. fat surface j on the top of the staircase, and a gnomon, fittea the building for the purpose of an observatory. Ac- ' cording to the known laws of refraction, a cloud or | body of air of different density from the common i atmosphere, interposed between the gnomon and the coping of the dial plate bjlow, would, if the cloud were denser than the atnosphere, caus? the shadow to recede from the perpendicular height of the staircase, and of cou;-ss to re-ascend the steps on the coping, by which it had before noon gone down ; and if the cloui were rarer, a con- trary effect would take place. The phenomenon on the dial of Ahaz, however, was doubtless of a miraculous uature, even should such a medium of the miracle be admitted : nothing less than a divine communication could have enabled Isaiah to predict its occurrence at th.U time and place : besides, he gave the king his own choice whether the shadow should advance or retire ten degrees. There seems, howevor, to be no neces>ity for seeking any medium for this miracle, and cer- tainly no necessity for supposing any actual inter- ference with the revolution of the earth, or the position of the sun. The miracle, from all the accounts of it, might consist only of the retro- gression of the shadow ten degrees, by a simple act of Almighty power, without any medium, or, at most, by that of refracting those rays only which fell upon the dial. It is not said that any time was lost to the inhabitants of the world at large : it was not even observed by the astronomers of Babylon, for the deputation came to inquire concerning the wonder that was done in the land It was temporary, local, and confined to the ob- servation of Hezekiah and his cour, being de- signed chiefly for the satisfaction of that mouorch. It is remarkable that no instrument for keeping time is mentioned in the Scripture before the dial of Ahaz, B.C. TOO ; nor does it appear that the Jews generally, even after this period, divided their day iiita hours. The dial of Ahaz was pro- DIANA bably an object only of curious recreation, or served at most to regulate the occupations of the palace. DIAMOND. The diamond is named in the Authorized Version as one of the stones in the breastplate of the high priest (Exod. xxviii. 18 ; xxxix. 11). But as these stones were engraved, it is by no means likely that the original word (yahalom) really denotes the diamond; and it is generally understood that the onyx is intended. The diamond agaiu occurs in the Authorized Version of Jer. xvii .1 ; Kzek. iii- 9 ; Zech. vii. 12 ; and in these places the word (sliamir) is different from the above, and its signification, 'a sharp point,' countenances this interpretation, the dia- mond being for its hardness used in perforating and cutting other minerals. Indeed, this use of the shamir is distinctly alluded to in Jer. xvii. 1, where the sfy/rts pointed with it is distinguished from one of iron (comp. Plin. Hist. Nat. xxxvii. 15). The two other passages also favour this view by using it figuratively to express the hardness and obduracy of the Israelites. Our Authorized Version has ' diamond ' in Jer. xvii. 1, and 'adamant' in the other texts: but in the original the word is the same in all. DIANA (Acts xix. 24). Artemis, the Diana of the liomans, is a goddess known under various D1KLAH 255 modifications, and with almost incompatible attributes. As the tutelary divinity of Ephesus, in which character alone she concerns us here, she was undoubtedly a representative of the same power presiding over conception and birth which was adored in Palestine under the name of ASH- TORETH. Her earliest image, which was said to have fallen from heaven, was probably very rude, and, to judge from its representation on ancient coins, little more than a head with a shapeless trunk, supported by a staff on each side. There is some dispute as to the material of which her image 143. was made. Most authorities say it was of ebony. The later image with the full development of attributes, of which we give a representation, is a Pantheon of Asiatic and Egyptian deities. Even in it, however, we see how little influence Greek art had in modifying its antique rudeness. It is still more like a mummy than a Greek statue. Her priests were called Megabyzi, and were eunuchs. DI'BON, or DIMON (Isa. xv. 9), called also Dibon-Gad, from its having been rebuilt by the tribe of that name (Num. xxxii. 34), a city on the northern bank of the Arnon, at the point where the Israelites crossed that river on their journey to the Jordan, and where their first en- campment was made after having passed it. In later times we find it, with other towns in this quarter, in the hands of the Moabites (Jer. xlviii. 22). The site has been recognised by Seetzen, Burckhardt, and Irby and Mangles, at a place which bears the name of Diban, in a low tract of the district called the Koura, about three miles north of the Arnon (Modjeb). The ruins are here extensive, but offer nothing of interest. There was another place called Dibon in the tribe of Judah (Neh. xi. 25), perhaps the same that is called Dimonah in Josh. xiii. 26. DI'DHACHMON (a double drachma}, a silver coin equal to two Attic drachmae, and also to the Jewish half shekel (Joseph. Antiq. iii. 8. 2). It was therefore equivalent to about Is. 4d. of our money. By the law every Jew was required to pay half a shekel to the Temple (Exod. xxx. 13, sq.), and this amount is represented by the didrachma in Matt. xvii. 24, where it is used for the ' tribute-money ' demanded of Christ. DID'YMUS (a <{), a surname of the Apostle Thomas, denoting that he was a twin ; and if translated, he would be called ' Thomas the Twin ' (John xi. 16). [THOMAS.] DI'KE, the heathen Goddess of Justice; de- scribed as the daughter of Zeus and Themis. The punishment of murderers is particularly ascribed to her ; and therefore, besides being the goddess of punishment in a general sense, she is often to be considered the same as Nemesis or Vengeance. The word occurs in Acts xxviii. 4, and is there rendered ' vengeance,' appellatively. DIK LAH, a tribe descended from Joktun (Gen. x. 27). As the name in Aramaic and Arabic means a palm-tree, it has been judged necessary to seek the seat of the tribe in some 256 DIOTREPHES territory rich in palm-trees. Bochart finds it in Southern Arabia, Michaelis in the region of the Tigris (from the analogy of the name Diglath) ; but where the ground of search is so uncertain, it is impossible to obtain any satisfactory result. Dl'NAH, a daughter of Jacob by Leah (Gen. xxx. 21), and therefore full sister of Simeon and I/evi. While Jacob's camp was in the neigh- bourhood of Shechem, Dinah was seduced by >hechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite chief or head-man of the town. Partly from dread of the consequences of his misconduct, and partly, it would seem, out of love for the damsel, he solicited a marriage with her, leaving the ' mar- riage price ' (see MARRIAGE) to be fixed by her family. To this Dinah's brothers would only consent on the further condition that all the in- habitants of the place should be circumcised. Even this was yielded ; and Simeon and Levi took a most barbarous advantage of the com- pliance by falling upon the town on the third day. when the people were disabled by the effects of the operation, and slew them all (Gen. xxxiv.). For this act of truly Oriental vindictiveness no i-xcuse can be offered, and Jacob himself re- peatedly alludes to it with abhorrence and regret (Gen. xxxiv. 30; xlix. 5-7). To understand the act at all, however, it is necessary to remember, that any stain upon the honour of a sister, and especially of an only sister, is even at this day considered as an insupportable disgrace and in- expiable offence among all the nomade tribes of Western Asia. If the woman be single, her brothers more than her father, if she be married, her brothers more than her husband, are ag- grieved, and are considered bound to avenge the wrong. Hence the active vengeance of Dinah's full brothers, and the comparative passiveness of her father in these transactions. Of Dinah's sub- sequent lot nothing is known. DIONYS'lUS THE AREOPAGITE. The name of ' Dionysins the Areopagite ' enlivens the scanty account of success which attended the visit of Paul to Athens (Acts xvii. 34). Nothing farther is related of him in the New Testament ; but ecclesiastical historians record some parti- culars concerning his career, both before and after his conversion. Suidas recounts that he was an Athenian by birth, and eminent for his literary attainments; that he studied first at Athens and afterwards at Heliopolis in Egypt ; and that, while in the latter city, he beheld that remarkable eclipse of the sun, as he terms it, which took place at the death of Christ, and ex- claimed to his friend Apollophanes, ' Either the Divinity suffers, or sympathises with some sufferer.' He futher details, that after Dionysius returned to Athens, he was admitted into the Areopagus; and, having embraced Christianity about A.D. 50, was constituted Bishop of Athens by the Apostle Paul himself. Syncellus and Nicephorus both record the last particular. Aris- tides, an Athenian philosopher, asserts that he suffered martyrdom a fact generally admitted by historians ; but the precise period of his death, whether under Trajan or Adrian, or, which is most likely, under Domitian, they do not de- termine. It is impossible now to determine what credit is to be given to these traditions. DIOT'REPHES (Jove-nourished), a person who seems to have been one of the false teachers DISEASES condemned by St John in his third epistle. He appears to have been a presbyter or deacon probably the former. He refused to receive the letter sent by John, thereby declining to submit to his directions or acknowledge his authority (3 John 9). DISCERNING OF SPIRITS. This is now usually understood to mean a high faculty, en- joyed by certain persbns in the apostolic age, of diving into the heart and discerning the secret dispositions of men. It appears to have been one of the gifts peculiar to that age, and was especially necessary at a time when the standards of doctrine were not well established or generally understood, and when many deceivers were abroad (2 John ii. 7). This faculty seems to have been exercised chiefly upon those who came forward as teachers of others, and with whose real character and designs it was important that the infant churches should be acquainted. DISCIPLE, a scholar or follower of any teacher, in the general sense. It is hence applied in the Gospels not only to the followers of Christ, but to those of John the Baptist (Matt ix. 14, &c.), and of the Pharisees (Matt. xxii. 16). Al- though used of the followers of Christ generally, it is applied in a special manner to the twelve apostles (Matt. x. 1 ; xi. 1 ; xx. 17 ; Luke ix. 1). After the death of Christ the word took the wider sense of a believer, or Christian ; f . e. a follower of Jesus Christ. DISEASES OF THE JEWS. The most prevalent diseases of the East are cutaneous dis- eases, malignant fevers, dysentery, and ophthal- mia. Of the first of these the most remarkable are leprosy and elephantiasis [LEPROSY]. To the same class also belongs the singular disease called the mal d'Aleppo, which is confined to Aleppo, Bagdad, Aintab, and the villages on the Segour and Kowick. It consists in an eruption of one or more small red tubercles, which give no uneasiness at first, but, after a few weeks, become prurient, discharge a little moisture, and sometimes ulcerate. Its duration is from a few months to a year. It does not affect the general health at all, and is only dreaded on account of the scars it leaves. Foreigners who have visited Aleppo have sometimes been affected by it several years after their return to their own country. It is a remarkable fact that dogs and cats are likewise attacked by it. The Egyptians are subject to an eruption of red spots and pimples, which cause a troublesome smarting. The eruption returns every year towards the end of June or beginning of July, and is on that account attributed to the rising of the Nile. Malignant fevers are very frequent, and of this class is the great scourge of the East, the plague, which surpasses all others in virulence and con- tagiousness [PESTILENCE]. The Egyptian oph- thalmia is prevalent throughout Egypt and Syria, and is the cause of blindness being so frequent in those countries [BLINDNESS], Of inflammatory diseases in general, Dr. Russell says that at Aleppo he has not found them more frequent, nor more rapid in their course, than in Great Britain. Epilepsy and diseases of the mind are commonly met with. Melancholy monomaniacs are re- garded as sacred persons in Egypt, and are held in the highest veneration by all Mahometans. Diseases are not uufrequently alluded to in the DISH Old Testament ; but, as no description is given of them, except in one or two instances, it is for the most part impossible even to hazard a con- jecture concerning their nature. Hezekiah suffered, according to ouv version, from a boil. The term here used means literally inflammation ; but we have no means of identi- fying it with what we call boil. The same may be said of the plague of boils and blains [BLAINS], and of the names of diseases mentioned in the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy, such as pestilence, consumption, fever, botch of Egypt, itch, scab. The case of Job, in which the term translated boil also occurs, demands a separate notice [Jos]. Nebuchadnezzar's disease was a species of me- lancholy monomania, called by authors zoan- thropia, or more commonly lycanthropia, be- cause the transformation into a wolf was the most ordinary illusion. Esquirol considers it to have originated in the ancient custom of sacrificing animals. But, whatever effect this practice might have had at the time, the cases recorded are in- dependent of any such influence ; and it really does not seem necessary to trace this particular hallucination to a remote historical cause, when we remember that the imaginary transformations into inanimate objects, such as glass, butter, &c., which are of every-day occurrence, are equally irreconcilable with the natural instincts of the mind. The same author relates that a nobleman of the court of Louis XIV. was in the habit of frequently putting his head out of a window, in order to satisfy the urgent desire he had to bark. Calmet informs us that the nuns of a German convent were transformed into cats, and went mewing over the whole house at a fixed hour of the day. Antiochus and Herod died, like Sylla, from phthiriasis, a disease which was well known to the ancients. Nothing is known respecting the immediate causes of this malady ; but there is no doubt that it depends on the general state of the constitution, and must not be attributed to un- cleanliness. Alibert mentions the case of a per- son who, as soon as these animals had been destroyed, fell into a typhoid state, and shortly after died. The question of alleged demoniacal possession, so often mentioned in the New Testa- ment, has been considered under another head [DEMONIACS], and need not be re-opened in this place. DISH. Various kinds of dishes are mentioned in Scripture ; but it is impossible to form any other idea of their particular forms than may be suggested by those of ancient Egypt and of the DIVINATION 257 144. modern East, which have much resemblance to each other. The sites of such ancient towns as were built of sun-dried bricks are usually covered with broken potsherds, some of them large enough to indicate the form of the entire vessel. These are remarkably similar to those in modern use, and are for the most part made of a rather coarse earthenware, covered with a compact and strong glaze, with bright colours, mostly green, blue, or yellow. Dishes and other vessels of copper, coarsely but thickly tinned, are now much used in the East; but how far this may have been anciently the case we have not the means of knowing. The cut (No. 144) re- presents a slave bringing dishes to table; the dishes have covers, and the manner in which they are carried on the reverted hand is the mode still used by Eastern servants. DIVINATION is a general term descriptive of the various illusory arts anciently practised for the discovery of things secret or future. The human mind has always shown a strong curiosity to ascertain the course of fortune, and the issue of present or contemplated schemes ; and in those countries and ages where ignorance of physical laws has combined with superstition to debase it, it has sought to gratify this innate disposition to pry into futurity, by looking for presages in things between which and the object of its anxiety no connection existed but in the diviner's imagina- tion. Scarcely a single department of nature but was appealed to, as furnishing, on certain con- ditions, good or bad omens of human destiny ; and the aspect of things, which, perhaps by the most casual coincidence, marked some event or crisis in the life of one or two individuals, came to be regarded, by blind credulity, as the fixed and invariable precursor of a similar result in the affairs of mankind in general. By such childish and irrational notions was the conduct of the heathen guided in the most important, no less than in the most ordinary occurrences of life ; and hence arose the profession of augurs, soothsayers, et hoc genus omne of impostors, who, ingrafting vulgar traditions on a small stock of natural knowledge, established their claims to the posses- sion of an occult science, the importance and in- fluence of which they dexterously increased by associating it with all that was pompous and im- posing in the ceremonies of their religion. This science, if that can be called science which was the product of ignorance and fraud united, was divided into various branches, each of which had its separate professors. In a general view, divination may be considered as either na- tural or artificial : the first being founded on the notion that the soul possesses, from its spiritual nature, some prescience of futurity, which it ex- emplifies particularly in dreams, and at the ap- proach of death : the second, resting on a peculiar interpretation of the course of nature, as well as on such arbitrary observations and experiments as superstition introduced. The different systems and methods that were anciently in vogue are almost incredible : as, for instance, Aeromancy, divining by the air ; Arithmomancy, by means of numbers ; Capnomancy, by the smoke of sacri- fices ; Chiromancy, by the lines on the palms of the hands ; Hydromancy, by water ; Pyromancy, by fire, &c. But without attempting an enumera- tion and explanation of all the arts of divination that were anciently practised, let us confine our- selves to the mention of those which occur in sacred history. 1. Wise men (Exod. vii. 11; Isa. xliv. 25 ; Jer. 1. 35 ; Dan. ii. 12, &c.), a term 258 DIVINATION ipplied generally to magicians, or men who were skilled in natural science. 2. 'Wizards' or wise men, and ' a witch,' from an Arabic verb signifying ' to reveal,' both practising divination by the same arts, f. e. pretending to reveal secrets, to discover things lost, find hidden treasure, and interpret dreams. 3. One who foretold what was to happen by the flight of birds, or the use of lots [LOTS]. 4. One who, though rendered by our translators ' an observer of times,' foretold political or physical changes by the motion of the clouds, along with whom Isaiah conjoins those who made the same predictions from eclipses, and the conjunction of the stars (xlvii. 13). 5. 'An enchanter' was probably one who practised Ophiomancy, or the art of charming serpents, which was, and still is, a favourite trick of jug- glery in the East 6. 'A charmer,' one who placed words and things in a certain arrange- ment, or muttered them, as a kind of spell. 7. ' A oonsulter with familiar spirits,' or ' a ventrilo- quist,' was a wizard who asked counsel of his familiar, and gave the responses received from him to others the name being applied in refer- ence to the spirit or demon that animated the person, and inflated the belly, so that it protu- berated like the side of a bottle (see Levit. xx. 27 ; 1 Sam. xxviii. 8 ; also Acts xvi. 16). 8. ' A necromancer,' one who, by frequenting tombs, by inspecting corpses, &c., like the witch of Endor, pretended to evoke the dead, and bring secrets from the invisible world (Gen. xli. 8 ; Exod. vii. 1 1 ; Lev. xix. 26 ; Dent, xviii. 10-12X 9. Be- lonaancy, as it is called, a form of divination by means of arrows (Ezek. xxi. 21 ; see also 2 Kings xiii. 14-19), a notable example of which occurs in the history of Nebuchadnezzar, who, being un- decided whether to march first against Jerusalem or Kabbah, allowed neither his policy nor re- sentment to decide the course of his expedition, but was determined wholly by the result of super- stitious rites. The way of divining by arrows was, having first made them bright ' in order the better to follow them with the eye,' to shoot them, and to prosecute the march according to the direc- tion in which the greatest number of arrows fell ; or, having ' mixed together ' some arrows with the names of the devoted cities marked on them, to attack that first which was first drawn out ; or to put in a bag three arrows, as is the practice of the Arabs, one of which is inscribed with the words ' Command me, Lord,' the second with ' Forbid me, Lord,' while the third is left blank ; so that if the first is taken out, he was to go ; if the second, he was to desist ; if the third is drawn, no decision being given, the experiment is to be repeated. 10. Rhabdomancy, or divination by rods (Hos. iv. 12). This has been confounded with the preceding. But the instruments of di- vination which Hosea alludes to are entirely different from those described by Ezekiel, arrows being used by the latter, whereas the former speaks of ' staff.' The form of divination by the staff was, after placing it upright, to let it fall, and decide by the direction in which it fell, or, according to others, by measuring the staff with the finger, saying at each span, ' I will go,' or ' I will not go,' and determining the course, accord- ing as it happened to be the one or the other at the last measurement. Both of these, as Jerome informs us, were frequently practised by the DIVINATION Assyrians and Babylonians. Herodotus (vi.) de- scribes the Alani women as gathering and search- ing anxiously for very smooth and straight wands to be used in this superstitious manner. 11. Another way of divining was by ' images' (Ezek. xxi. 21), which are generally considered talismans, but which vne Persian and other ver- sions render astrological instruments or tables. 12. Another form of divination was, ' by looking into the liver ' of a newly killed sacrifice, and by observing its state and colour according to certain rules, to draw a favourable or unfavourable omen. The last form which it is of consequence to notice as alluded to in Scripture was by ' the cup.' But in what manner it was practised; whether it was by observing the appearance of some magical ingredients that were infused into the vessel ; or whether allusion is made to a famous cup which the immemorial tradition of the East says has been in the possession of some great personages, and represents the whole world ; or, finally, whether the original word rendered ' divineth,' should be rendered by ' searching' or ' inquiring earnestly,' as many learned writers, anxious to save the character of Joseph from the imputation of sorcery (Gen. xliv. 5), have laboured to prove, it is absolutely impossible, and we shall not at- tempt, to determine. Egypt, the cradle of arts and sciences, if she did not give it birth, seem to have encouraged the practice of divination at an early age, and whether any of its forms had become objects of popular superstition, or were resorted to for the purposes of gain in the days of Joseph, it is well known that at the time of the Hebrew Exodus there were magicians in that country whose know- ledge of the arcana of nature, and whose dexterity in the practice of their art, enabled them, to a cer- tain extent, to equal the miracles of Moses. By what extraordinary powers they achieved those feats, how they changed their rods into serpents, the river water into blood, and introduced frogs in unprecedented numbers, is an inquiry that has occasioned great perplexity to many men of learn- ing and piety. Some have imagined that the only way of accounting for the phenomena is to ascribe them to jugglery and legerdemain ; the serpents, the frogs, and the other materials re- quisite having been secretly provided and dex- terously produced at the moment their perform- ances were to be exhibited. Others contend that these conjurors were aided by familiar spirits or infernal agents, with the Divine permission, in the performance of their wonderful feats. ' Earth, air, and ocean,' says a sensible writer, ' may con- tain many things of which our philosophy has never dreamt. If this consideration tend to humble the pride of learning, it may remind the Christian that secret things belong not to him, but to a higher power.' It is reasonable to suppose that as Moses never had been in any other civilized country, all the allusions contained in his writings to the various I forms of divination were those which were prac- I tised in Egypt ; and, indeed, so strong a taste had his countrymen imbibed there for this species of superstition, that throughout the whole course of their history it seems to have infected the na- tional character and habits. The diviners, who abounded both amongst the aborigines of Canaan , and their Philistine neighbours (Isa. ii. 6), proved DOD'ANIM. a great snare to the Israelites after their settle- ment in the promised land ; and yet, notwith- standing the stern prohibitions of the law, no vigorous efforts were made to put an end to the crime by extirpating the practitioners of the un- hallowed art, until the days of Saul, who himself, however, violated the statute on the night pre- vious to his disastrous fall (1 Sam. xxviii.). But it was Chaldaca to which the distinction belongs of being the mother country of diviners. Such a degree of power and influence had they attained in that country, that they formed the highest caste and enjoyed a place at court ; nay, so indis- pensable were they in Chaldamn society that no step could be taken, not a relation could be formed, a house built, a journey undertaken, a campaign begun, until the diviners had ascer- tained the lucky day and promised a happy issue. A great influx of these impostors had, at various times, poured from Chaldsea and Arabia into the land of Israel to pursue their gainful occupation, more especially during the reign of the later kings (Isa. viii. 19), and we find Manasseh not only their liberal patron, but zealous to appear as one of their most expert accomplices (2 Kings xxi. 6 ; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 6). The long captivities in Babylon spread more widely than ever among the Jews a devoted attachment to this supersti- tion ; for after their return to their own country, having entirely renounced idolatry, and, at the same time, no longer enjoying the gift of pro- phecy or access to the sacred oracles, they gra- dually abandoned themselves, as Lightfoot has satisfactorily shown, before the advent of Christ, to all the prevailing forms of divination (Com- ment, on Matt.). Against every species and degree of this super- stition the sternest denunciations of the Mosaic law were directed (Exod. xxii. 18 ; Lev. xix. 26, 31 ; xx. 27; Deut. xviii. 10, 11), as fostering a love for unlawful knowledge and withdrawing the mind from God only wise ; while, at the same time, repeated and distinct promises were given that, in place of diviners and all who usod en- chantments, God would send them prophets, mes- sengers of truth, who would declare the divine will, reveal futurity, and affordtthem all the use- ful knowledge which was vainly sought for from those pretended oracles of wisdom. Much dis- cussion, however, has been carried on by learned men to determine the question whether the an- cient tribe of diviners merely pretended to the powers they exercised, or were actually assisted by demoniacal agency. The latter opinion is embraced by almost all the fathers of the primi- tive church. On the other hand, it has been, with great ability and erudition, maintained that the whole arts of divination were a system of im- posture, and that Scripture itself frequently ridi- cules those who practised them as utterly helpless and incapable of accomplishing anything beyond the ordinary powers of nature (Isa. xliv. 25 ; xlvii. 11-13; Jer. xiv. 14; Jonah ii. 8). DIVORCE. [MARRIAGE.] DOD'ANIM, the descendants of the fourth son of Javan (Gen. x. 4). Bochart and other com- mentators on the ethnographical sketch in Gen. x. suppose that the first settlements of the Doda- nim were in the south-west part of Asia Minor ; and that settlers of this family may be traced in Thessaly and Epirus, where the name is traced DOG. >. in the city of Dodona and in the country of Doris. But there seems much of uncertainty in all these speculations. DO'EG, an Edomite, and chief overseer of king Saul's flocks, which is an important trust in Oriental courts. At Nob he was witness of the assistance which the high-priest AhimeK-ch seemed to afford to the fugitive David, by fur- nishing him with the sword of Goliath, and bv supplying him with bread even from the sacrec! table (1 Sam. xxi. 7). Of this he failed not to inform the king, who, regardless of the explana- tion offered by Ahimelech, and finding that the chiefs censured him, and hesitated to lay their hands upon a person so sacred, commanded Doeg to slay him and his priests a task which was executed with equal readiness and cruelty by the Edomite (1 Sam. xxii. 18, sqq.). DOG occurs in many places of Scripture (Exod. xxii. 31; 1 Sam. xvii. 43; xxiv. 14; 2 Sam. ix. 8 ; 2 Kings viii. 13; Ps. lix. 6, '14. 15; Prov. xxvi. 11, 17,&c.). An animal so well known, whose numerous varieties come under daily observation, requires no detailed description. There is. however, in Asia still extant one, per- haps more than one. species, that never have been the companions of man, and there are races of uncertain origin, that may have been formerly domesticated, but which are now feral, and as fierce as wolves ; while, from the particular opinions of Oriental nations, there are others, exceedingly numerous, neither wild nor domesti- cated, but existing in all the cities and towns of the Levant, without owners ; feeding on carrion and offals, and still having the true instinct of protecting property, guarding the inhabitants of the district or quarter where they are tolerated ; and so far cherished, that water and some food are not unusually placed within their reach. The true wild species of Upper and Eastern Asia is a low, sharp-nosed, reddish cur-dog, not unlike a fox, but with less tail. In Persia and Turkey there exists a larger dog resembling a wolf, exceedingly savage. Both are gregarious, hunt in packs, hut are occasionally seen alone. They are readily distinguished from a wolf by their shorter unfurnished tails. In the time of the sojourning of Israel in Egypt, there were already in existence domestic dogs of the prin- cipal races now extant the cur-dog or fox-do", the hound, the greyhound, and even a kind" of low-legged turnspit. All the above, both wild and reclaimed, there is every reason to believe, were known to the Hebrews, and, notwithstand- ing the presumed Mosaic prohibition, anterior habits, and, in some measure, the necessity of their condition, must have caused cattle-dogs to VI 260 DOVE be retained as property (Deut. xxiii. 18); for we find one of that race, or a house-dog, actually at- tending on travellers (Tobit v. 16; xi. 4). It is to be presumed that practically the street-dogs alone were considered as absolutely unclean; though all, as is the case among Mohammedans, were excluded from familiarity. Beside the cattle-dog, the Egyptian hound and one or two varieties of greyhound were most likely used for hunting a pastime, however, which the Hebrews mostly pursued on foot. The street-dog, without master, apparently de- rived from the rufous cur, and in Egypt partaking of the mongrel greyhound, often more or less bare, with a mangy unctuous skin, frequently with several teeth wanting, was, as it now is, con- sidered a defiling animal. It is to animals of this class, which no doubt followed the camp of Israel, and hung on its skirts, that allusion is more particularly made in Exod. xxii. 31 ; for the same custom exists at this day, and the race of street-dogs still retains their ancient habits. But with regard to the dogs that devoured Jeze- bel, and licked up Ahab's blood (1 Kings xxi. 23), they may have been of the wild races, a species of which is reported to have particularly infested the banks of the Kishon and the district of Jezreel. The cities of the East are still greatly disturbed in the night by the bowlings of street-Klogs, who, it seems, were similarly noisy in ancient times, the fact being noticed in Ps. lix. 6, 14; and dumb or silent dogs are not unfrequently seen, such as Isaiah alludes to (Ivi. 10). DOORS. [GATES.] DOPH'KAH, an encampment of the Israelites in the Wilderness [WANDERING, THE]. DOR, a town on the border of the Mediterra- nean, which Jerome places nine Roman miles north of Coesarea. It was one of the royal towns of the Cauaanites (Josh. xi. 2 ; xii. 23), and was included in the heritage of Manasseh (Josh. xvii. 1 1 ). The place, or rather the region to which it gave name, occurs again in 1 Kings iv. 11. A place still exists, at the distance indicated by Je- rome, under the name of Tortura, which Buck- ingham describes as a small village with about forty or fifty houses and five hundred inhabitants. It has a small port, formed by a narrow range of rocky islets, at a short distance from the sandy beach. DO'THAN or DOTHAIM, the place where Joseph found his brethren, who had wandered thither with their flocks from Shechem, and where he was treacherously sold by them to the Ish- maelites (Gen. xxxvii. 17). It was here also that the Syrians were smitten with blindness at the word of Elisha (2 Kings vi. 13). Dothan is placed by Eusebius and Jerome twelve Roman miles north of Sebaste or Samaria, and it was ob- viously on the caravan track from Syria to Egypt. The well into which Joseph was cast by his brothers, and consequently the site of Dothan, has, however, been placed by tradition in a very distant quarter, namely, about three miles south- east from Safed, where there is a khan called Khan Jubb Yusuf, the Khan of Joseph's Pit, be- cause the well connected with it has long passed among Christians and Moslems for the well in question. DOVE. There are probably several species of DOVES' DUNG doves or pigeons included in the Hebrew name joneh. It may contain all those that inhabit Pa- lestine, exclusive of the turtle-doves properly so called. Thns generalized, the dove is, figura- tively, next to man, the most exalted of animals, symbolizing the Holy Spirit, the meekness, purity, and splendour of righteousness. By the Hebrew law doves and turtle-doves were the only birds that could be offered in sacrifice, and they were usually selected for that purpose by the less wealthy (Gen. xv. 9 ; Lev. v. 7 ; xii. 6 ; Luke ii. 24) ; and to supply the demand for them, dealers in these birds sat about the precincts of the Temple (Matt. xxi. 12, &c.). 146. All pigeons in their true wild plumage have iridescent colours about the neck, and often re- flected flashes of the same colours on the shoul- ders, which are the source of the silver and gold feathers ascribed to them in poetical diction ; and thence the epithet of purple bestowed upon them all, though most applicable to the vinous and slaty-coloured species. The coasts and territory of Syria are noted for the great number of doves frequenting them, though they are not so abundant there as in the Coh-i Suleiman chain near the Indus. Syria possesses several species of pigeon; the stock-dove, ring-dove, the common pigeon in several varieties, such as the Barbary, Turkish or Persian carrier, crisp, and shaker. These are still watched in their flight in the same manner as anciently their number, gyrations, and other manoeuvres were observed by soothsayers. The wild species, as well as the turtle-doves, migrate from Palestine to the south ; but stock and ring doves are not long absent. The figure we give is that of the more rare species of white and pink carrier, and the Phoe- nician sacred ensign of the dove. DOVES' DUNG. This expression is by many considered to signify literally the dung of pigeoi:s, as in the passage of 2 Kings vi. 2f>. Diffe rent opinions, however, have been entertained respect- ing the meaning of the words which are the sub- ject of this article, namely, whether they should j be taken literally, or as a figurative name of some vegetable substance. The strongest point in fa- vour of the former view is that all ancient Jewish I writers' have understood the term literally. I Taking it, however, in this sense, various expla- ! nations have been given of the use to which the j doves' dung was applied. Some of the rabbins were of opinion, that the doves' dung was used ! for fuel, and Josephus that it was purchased for its salt. Mr. Harrner has suggested that it might DRAGON have been a valuable article, as being of great use for quickening the growth of esculent plants, particularly melons. Mr. Edwards k disposed to understand it as meaning the offals or refuse of all sorts of grain, which was wont to be given to pigeons, &c. Dr. Harris, however, observes that the stress of the famine might have been so great as to have compelled the' poor among the besieged in Samaria to devour either the intestines of the doves, after the more wealthy had eaten the bodies, or, as it might perhaps be rendered, the crops. Bochart, however, has shown that the term 'pigeons' dung' was applied by the Arabs to different vegetable substances, and supposes that it was one of the pulses used in ancient times, as at the present day, as an article of diet. With reference to this grain it has been observed that ' large quantities of it are parched and dried, and stored in magazines at Cairo and Damascus. It is much used during journeys, and particularly by the great pilgrim-caravan to Mecca ; and if this conjecture be correct it may be supposed to have been among the provisions stored up in the besieged city, and sold at the extravagant price mentioned in the text* (Pict. Bible). The late Lady Callcott, in her Scripture Herbal, 1842, adduces the common Star of Bethlehem as the ' doves' dung ' of Scripture, and assigns this, as well as ' birds' milk,' as two of its vernacular names. It is a native of this country, and also of Taurus, Caucasus, and Northern Africa. Dioscorides states that its bulbs were sometimes cooked with bread, in the same way as the me- lanthium, and also that it was eaten both raw and roasted. The roots were also commonly eaten in Italy and other southern countries at an early period. DRACH'MA, a coin of silver, the most com- mon among the Greeks, and which after the Exile became also current among the Jews (2 Mace. iv. 19; x. 20; xji. 43; Luke xv. 8, 9). The earlier Attic drachmae were of the average weight of 66-5 grains, and in a comparison with the shilling would be equal to 9|rf. But the specimens of later times are of the average weight of only 61 grains, and some of less. In this state the drachma was counted equal to the denarius, which was at first worth 8M., and afterwards only 7$d. The value of the drachma of the New Testament may therefore have been about 8d. The woman's ' ten pieces of silver ' (drachma;) in Luke xv. 8, would hence be equal to 6s. 8d. of our money that is, in nominal value, for the real value of money was far greater in the time of Christ than at present. DRAGON occurs principally in the plural form (Job xxx. 29 ; Ps. xliv. 19, 20; Isa. xiii. 22; xxxiv. 13; xxxv. 7; Jer. ix. 11: xiv. 6: xlix. 33 ; and Micah i. 8). These texts, in general, present pictures of ruined cities and of desolation in the wilderness. Where dragons are associated with birds of the desert, they clearly indicate serpents of various species, both small and large, as already noticed in the article ADDER. In Jer. xiv. 6, where wild asses snuff- ing up the wind are compared to dragons, the image will appear iu its full strength, if we understand by dragons, great boas and python- serpents, such as are figured in the Pramestine mosaics. They were common in ancient times, DREAMS 261 and are still far from rare in the tropics of both continents. Several of the species grow to an enormous size, and, during their periods of activity, are in the habit of raising a considerable portion of their length into a vertical position, like pillars, 10 or 12 feet high, in order to survey the vicinity above the surrounding bushes, while with open jaws they drink in a quantity of the current air. The same character exists in smaller serpents ; but it is not obvious, unless when, threatening to strike, they stand on end nearly three-fourths of their length. Most, if not all, of these species are mute, or can utter only a hissing sound ; and although the malli- pambu, the great rock-snake of Southern Asia, is said to wail in the night, we have never wit- nessed such a phenomenon, nor heard it asserted that any other boa, python, or erpeton had a real voice; but they hiss, and, like crocodiles, may utter sounds somewhat akin to howling. DRAM. Gesenius and most others are of opinion that the word which occurs in I Chron. xxix. 7 ; Ezra viii. 27 ; ii. 69 ; Neh. vii. 70-72 ; denotes the Persian Daric, a gold coin, which must have been in circulation among the Jews during their subjection to the Persians. This coin is of interest, not only as the most ancient gold coin of which any specimens have been preserved to the present day, but as the earliest coined money which, we can be sure, was known to and used by the Jews. The distinguishing mark of the coin was a crowned archer, who appears with some slight variations on different specimens. His garb is the same which i s*?n in the sculptures at Persepoli, and the figure on the coin is called, in numismatics, Sagit- tarius. The specimens weighed by Dr. Bernard were fifteen grains heavier than an English guinea, and their intrinsic value may, therefore, be reckoned at twenty-five shillings. DREAMS. Of all the subjects upon which the mind of man has speculated, there is per- haps none which has more perplexed than that of dreaming. Whatever may be the difficulties attending th. subject, still we know that it has formed a chan nel through which Jehovah was pleased ii former times to reveal his character and dis- pensations to his people. In regard to the immediate cause of dreaming, j the opinions of the ancients were very various. We believe that dreams are ordinarily the re- ' embodiment of thoughts which have before, in some shape or other, occupied our minds. They are broken fragments of our former conceptions revived, and heterogeneously brought together, j If they break off from their connecting chain, and ! become loosely associated, they exhibit ofttimes ; absurd combinations, but the elements still sub- 262 DREAMS. tsimt. If, for instance, any irritation, such as ' pain, fever, &c., should excite the perceptive . organs, while the reflective ones are under the : influence of sleep, we have a consciousness of. objects, colours, or sounds being presented to us, just as if thy former organs were actually stimu- lated by having such impressions communicated to them by the external senses ; whilst, in couse- ; quence of the repose of the reflecting power, we are unable to rectify the illusion, and conceive ; that the scenes passing before us, or the sounds that we hear, have a real existence. This want of mutual co-operation between the different fa- i culties of the mind may account for the disjointed ' character of dreams. This position might be ! fully substantiated by an appeal to the evidence ; of fact. Dr. Beattie speaks of a man who could be made to dream anything by whispering in his ear. Dr. Gregory relates of himself that, having : once had occasion to apply a bottle of hot water I to his own feet when he retired to bed, he dreamed i that he was ascending the side of Mount .'Etna, and that he found the heat of the ground almost insufferable. Persons who have had a blister i applied to their head have l>een known to dream 1 of being scalped by a party of North American ! Indians. Sleeping in a smoky room, we may j dream of a house or city being in flames. The ' smell of a flower applied to the nostrils may call forth the idea of walking in a garden ; and the sound of a flute may excite in us the most plea- surable associations. The only one of our mental powers which is not suspended while dreaming is fancy, or ima- gination. We often find memory and judgment alternately suspended and exercised. Sometimes we fancy ourselves contemporaneous with persons who have lived ages before : here memory is at work, but judgment is set aside. We dream of carrying on a very connected discourse with a deceased friend, and are not conscious that he is no more : here judgment is awake, but memory suspended. These irregularities, or want of mu- tual co-operation in the different faculties of the mind may form, for aught we know, the plan by which God gives health and vigour to the whole soul. How God revealed himself by dreams, and raised up persons to interpret them, the Scriptures abundantly testify. Under the three successive dispensations we find this channel of communi- cation with man adopted. It was doubtless in this way that God appeared to the father of the faithful, ordering him to forsake country, kindred, and his father's house, and to go into the land that he would show him. To this divine com- mand, Abraham paid a ready obedience. It was i by a similar prompt obedience to the admonition conveyed to him in a dream, that Abimelech (Gen. xx. 3) himself and Abraham, too, -were saved from the evil consequences of his meditated j act. To Jacob, also, God appeared frequently in | a dream (Gen. xxviii. 19; xxxi. 10); and his j son Joseph, while yet a child, had dreams predic- ' live of his future advancement (Gen. xxxvii. 6-11). Such were some of the dreams by which God revealed himself under the patriarchal dispensa- j tion, and that the same divine mode of commu- ! eating with man was continued under that of Moses is evident from an express word of pro- DREAMS. mise (Num. xii. 6). That dreams were one ) the ways whereby God was wont to signify his pleasure, and from the complaint of Saul to the spirit of Samuel (whom the witch pretended to raise up), when he asked him, ' Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up ?' Saul answered, 'I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answers me no more ; neither by prophets, nor by dreams : therefore I have called thee that thou mayest make known to me what I shall do.' And, in order to guard against imposition, Moses pronounced a penalty against dreams which ' were invented and wickedly made use of, for the promotion of idolatry (Deut. xiii. 1-5). Thus Zechariah (x. 2) complains: 'The idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have spoken a lie, and have told false dreams ; they comfort in vain." And so Jeremiah (xxiii. 25), ' I have heard what the prophets said that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed,' &c. Yet this abu?e did not alter God's plan in the right use of them ; for in the 28th verse of the same chapter, it is said, ' the prophet that hath a dream, and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat ? saith the Lord.' When Gideon warred with the Amalekites, and was alarmed at their vast multitudes, he was encouraged to do God's will by overhearing one of them relate his dream, and another giving the interpretation (Judg. vii.). Again, it was in a dream that God was pleased to grant Solomon a promise of wisdom and understanding (I Kings iii. 5, &c.). Here we may perceive what converse the Lord was pleased to hold with Solomon in a dream; and the sacred record informs us how punctually everything herein promised was ful- filled. The knowledge of visions and dreams is reck- oned amongst the principal gifts and graces sometimes bestowed by God upon them that fear him ; so it is said of Daniel and his companion, that ' God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom : and Daniel had under- standing in all visions and dreams (Dan. i. 17). And the God who had imparted this spirit unto his servant Daniel soon, in the arrangement of his providence, gave the signal occasion for its exercise recorded in the second chapter of his book. In the dream of Nebuchadnezzar a great variety of ends were attained in reference to Babylon, Israel, and indeed the world all of which were worthy of God's miraculons inter- ference. That this method of God's revealing himself was not confined to the legal dispensation, but was to be extended to the Christian, is evident from Joel (ii. 28), 'And afterwards (saith the Lord) I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy ; your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams' In Acts ii. 17, we find the Apostle Peter applying this to the illu- mination of the Holy Ghost. Accordingly, we read that when Joseph designed to put Mary away, because he perceived her to be with child, , he was turned from his purpose by a dream, in i -which an angel made the truth of the matter ! known to him (Matt. i. 20). And in the follow- i ing chapter it is stated, that God, in a dream. DRESS warned the wise men not to return to Herod. Moreover, in verses 13 and 19, Joseph is in- structed to tlee into and return from Egypt with the child Jesus. We inquire not how far God may have revealed himself to man beyond what Holy Scripture records. Some of the dreams both of ancient and modern times, which lay claim to a divine character, are certainly striking, and may, for aught we know, have had, and may still have, a collateral bearing on the development of God's purposes. DRESS. The subject of the costume of the ancient Hebrews is involved in much obscurity and doubt. The allusions to dress in the Scrip- tures form the only source of our positive in- formation. They are often, indeed, obscure, and of uncertain interpretation ; but they are invalu- able in so far as they enable us to compare and verify the information derivable from other sources. These sources are 1. The costume of neighbouring ancient nations, as represented in their monuments. 2. The alleged costume of Jews as represented in the same monuments. 3. The present costumes (which are known to be ancient) of Syria and Arabia. 4. Tradition, 1. The range of inquiry into monumental costume is very limited. Syria, Arabia, and Egypt, are the only countries where monuments would be likely to afford any useful information : but Arabia has left no monumental figures, and Syria none of sufficiently ancient date ; and it is left for Egypt to supply all the information likely to be of use. The extent and value of this in- formation, for the particular purpose, we believe to be far less than is usually represented. That we are not disposed to undervalue the informa- tion derivable from the Egyptian monuments for the purpose of illustrating Biblical history and antiquities, the pages of the present work will sufficiently evince ; and its editor may indeed claim to have been the first in this country to work this mine of materials for Biblical illustra- tion. But the rage for this kind of illustration has been carried to such preposterous lengths, that it may not be an unwholesome caution to remind our readers that the Egyptians and the Hebrews were an exceedingly different people as different in every respect as can well be con- ceived ; and that the climates which they inha- bited were so very different as to necessitate a greater difference of food and dress than might be pre-supposed of countries so near to each other. It is true that the Jewish nation was cradled in Egypt: and this circumstance may have had some influence on ceremonial dresses, and the ornaments of women ; but we do not find that nations circumstanced as the Jews were ready to adopt the costumes of other nations, es- pecially when their residence in Egypt was always regarded by them as temporary, and when their raiment was of home manufacture spun and woven by the women from the produce of their flocks (Exod. xxxv. 25). We find also that, immediately after leaving Egypt, the principal article of dress among the Hebrews was some ample woollen garment, fit to sleep in (Exod. xxii. 27), to which nothing similar is to be seen among the costumes of Egypt. DRESS 263 2. With respect to the supposed representation of Jews in ancient monuments, if any authentic examples could he found, even of a single figure, in the ancient costume, it would afford much sa- tisfaction as tending to elucidate many passages of Scripture which cannot at present be with cer- tainty explained. The sculptures and paintings supposed to represent ancient Hebrews are con- tained in (a) A painting at Beni Hassan, representing the arrival of some foreigners in Egypt, and supposed to figure the arrival of Joseph's brethren in that country. The accessories of the scene, the phy- siognomies of the persons, and the time to jvhieh the picture relates, are certainly in unison with that event; and, though we must speak with hesitation on the subject, the conjecture is pro- bably correct. The annexed cut shows the variety of costume which this scene displays. All the men wear sandals. Some of them are clad only in a short tunic or shirt, with close sleeves (fig. 3) ; others wear over this a kind of sleeveless plaid or mantle, thrown over the left I shoulder, and passing under the right arm (fig. 2). It is of a striped and curiously figured pattern, and looks exceedingly like the fine grass woven cloth of the South Sea. Others have, in- stead of this, a fringed skirt of the same material (fig. 1). All the figures are bare-headed, and wear beards, which are circumstances favourable to the identification. The fringed skirt of fig. 1 is certainly a remarkable circumstance. Moses directed that the people should wear a fringe at the hem of their garments (Num. xv. 38) ; and the probability is that this command merely per- petuated a more ancient usage. (6) This fringe re-appears, much enlarged, in the other Egyptian sculpture in which Jews are supposed to be represented. These are in a tomb discovered by Belzoui, in the valley of Bab-el Melook, near Thebes. There are captives of different nations, and among them four figures, supposed to represent Jews. The scene is ima- 264 DRESS gined to commemorate the triumphs of Pharaoh- Necho in that war iu which the Jews were de- feated at Megiddo, and their king JosiaL slain (2 Chron. xxxv. xxxvi.). It will be seen that the dress of these figures differs little, excepting in the length of the fringe, from that of the skirted figure iu the earlier painting; and so far this is a corroborative circumstance in favour of both. There is no reason to think that the dress of the Jews was in any important respect dif- ferent from that of the other inhabitants of the same and immediately bordering countries. It is therefore fortunate that the Egyptian monu- ments offer such representations of the Canaan- itish and neighbouring nations, as enable us to see that the prevailing style of dress was a close tunic under a loose outer robe, the place of the latter being sometimes supplied by a large cape, as shown in the annexed engraving (No. 150), which appears to represent inhabitants of Syria and Lebanon. The evidence for the latter (fig. 2) is as conclusive as can be obtained, for not only is there the name Lemanon, but the persons thus attired are represented as inhabiting a mountainous country, and felling fir-trees to impede the chariots of the Egyptian invaders. The dresses are similar to each other, and this similarity strengthens the probability that the dress of the Jews was not very different. The figures are bearded, and the cap, or head-dress, is bound round with a fillet. The figures are arrayed in a long gown reaching to the ankles, and confined around the waist by a girdle and the shoulders are covered by the cape which appears to have been common to several nations, 141. DRESS perhaps as an occasional or a summer substitute for the loose mantle which some other figures exhibit. The dresses are often of brilliant co- lours, sometimes in variegated patterns; and the outer mantle is seen to be sometimes lined, by the inside and outside being of different co- lours, such as yellov luied with blue, etc. The military dress was more compact than that in civil use; and among the accoutrements we readily recognise the helmet, and the military girdle so often mentioned in the Sacred Book. Such is the amount of the information to be derived from ancient monuments. 152. That to be obtained from tradition is embodied 1 . In the dresses of monks and pilgrims, which may be traced to an ancient date, and which are an intended imitation of the dresses supposed to have been worn by the first disciples and apostles of Christ. 2. The garb conventionally assigned by painters to Scriptural characters, which were equally intended to embody the dress of the apostolical period, and is corrected in some degree by the notions of Oriental costume which were collected during the Crusades. Let us now consider the modern sources of illustration. With the exceptions of the foreign Turkish costume, and the modifications thereof, and with certain local exceptions, chiefly iu mountainous regions, it may be said that there is one prevailing costume in all the countries of Asia between the Tigris and Mediterranean, and throughout Northern Africa, from the Nile to Morocco and the banks of the Senegal. This costume is substantially Arabian, and owes its extension to the wide conquests of the Arabians under the first caliphs ; and it is through the Arabians the least changed of ancient nations, and almost the only one which has remained as a nation from ancient times that the antiquity of this costume may be proved. This is undoubtedly the most ancient costume of Western Asia, and while one set of proofs would carry it up to Scrip- tural times, another set of strong probabilities and satisfactory analogies will take it back to the most remote periods of Scriptural history, and will suggest that the dress of the Jews themselves was very similar, without being strictly identical. It is to be observed, however, that there are two very different sorts of dresses among the Arabians. One is that of the Bedouin tribes, and the other that of the inhabitants of towns. The DRESS distinction between these is seldom clearly un- derstood, or correctly stated ; but it is of the utmost importance foF the purpose of the present notice. Instead therefore of speaking of the Arabian costume as one thing, we must regard it as two things the desert costume, and the town costume. If, then, our views of Hebrew costume were based on the actual costume of the Arabians, we should be led to conclude that the desert costume represented that which was worn during the patriarchal period, and until the Israelites had been some time settled in Canaan ; and the town costume that which was adopted from their neigh- bours when they became a settled people. This is a subject which, more than any other, requires the aid of pictorial illustration to render the details intelligible. Having provided our- selves with these, our further observations will most advantageously take the form of explana- tions of them, and of comments upon them. Under the notion that the desert costume be- longs to the patriarchal period, the precedence is here given to it. Only the outer articles of dress are distinctive, those which are worn underneath being similar to other articles worn by the town and peasant classes, and which as such will be hereafter noticed. The annexed cut (No. 153) represents, in fig. 2, a Bedouin, or desert Arab, in the dress usually DRESS 265 153. worn in Asia ; and in fig. 1 represents a towns- man in a cloak of the same kind, adopted from the Arabs, and worn very extensively as an outer- most covering in all the countries from the Oxus (for even the Persians use it) to the Mediterra- nean. The distinctive head-dress of the Bedouin, and which has not been adopted by any other nation, or even by the Arabian townsmen, is a kerchief folded triangularly, and thrown over the head so as to fall down over the neck and shoul- ders, and bound to the head by a band of twisted wool or camel's hair. We forbear at the moment from inquiring whether this was or was not in use among the ancient Hebrews. The cloak is called an ablia. It is made of wool and hair, and of various degrees of fineness. It is sometimes entirely black, or entirely white, but is more usually marked with broad stripes, the colours of which (never more than two, one of which is always white) are distinctive of the tribe by which it is worn. The cloak is altogether shapeless, being like a square sack, -with an opening in front, and with slits at the sides to let out the arms. The Arab who wears it by day. sleeps in it by night, as does often the peasant by whom it has been adopted; and in all probability this was the garment similarly u^ed by the ancient Hebrews, and which a benevolent law, delivered while Israel was still in the desert, forbade to be kept in pledge beyond the day, that the poor might not be without a covering at night (Exod. xxii. 27). This article of dress appears to have been little known to Biblical illustrators, although it is the principal and most common outermost gar- ment in Western Asia, This singular neglect has arisen from their information being chiefly derived from Shaw and others, who describe the costume of the Arab tribes or Moors of Northern Africa, where the outer garment is more generally the bournoos (No. 153, fig. 3), a woollen cloak, not unlike the abba, but furnished with a hood, and which is sometimes strangely confounded even by well-informed persons with a totally dif- ferent outer garment worn in the same regions, usually called the liyhe, but which is also, accord- ing to its materials, quality, or colour, distin- guished by various other names. Regardless of these minute distinctions, this part of dress may be described as a large woollen blanket, either white or brown, and in summer a cotton sheet (usually blue or white, or both colours together). Putting one corner before over the left shoulder, the wearer brings it behind, and then under the right arm, and so over the body, throwing it be- hind over the left shoulder, and leaving the right arm free for action. This very picturesque mode of wearing the ht/ke is shown in fig. 2 (No. 154). 154. Another mode of wearing it is shown in fig. 3. It is sometimes thrown over the head as a pro- tection from the sun or wind (fig. 1 ), and calls to mind the various passages of Scripture in which persons are described as cover.ng their heads with their mantles (2 Sam.xv. 30; 1 Kings xix. 13; Esther vi. 12). This article of dress, originally borrowed from the nomades, is known in Arabia, and extends westward to the shores of the Atlantic, being most extensively used by all classes of the j. jpulation. The seat of this dress, and of the abba respectively, is indicated by the direction of their importation into Egypt. The hykes are imported from the west (i.e. from 2G6 DRESS DRESS North Africa), and the abbas from Syria. The close resemblance of the above group of real costume to those in which the traditionary eccle- siastical and traditionary artistical costumes are displayed, must be obvious to the most cursory observer. It may also be noticed that the hyke is not without some resemblance, as to the man- ner in which it was worn, to the outer garment of one of the figures in the Egyptian family, supposed to represent the arrival of Joseph's brethren in Egypt (No. 148, fig. 1). We now turn to the costumes which are seen in the towns and villages of south-western Asia. In the Scriptures drawers are only mentioned in the injunction that the high-priest should wear them (Exod. xxviii. 42), which seems to show that they were not generally in use; nor have we any evidence that they ever became common. Drawers descending to the middle of the thighs were worn by the ancient Egyptians, and work- men often laid aside all the rest of their dress when occupied in their labours. As far as this part of dress was used at all by the Hebrews, it was doubtless either like this, or similar to those which are now worn in Western Asia by all, ex- cept some among the poorer peasantry, and by many of the Bedouin Arabs. They are of linen or cotton, of ample breadth, tied around the body by a running string, or band, and always worn next the skin, not over the shirt as in Europe. It will be asked, when the poor Israelite had pawned his outer garment 'wherein he slept,' what dress was left to him? The answer is pro- bably supplied by the annexed engraving (No. 155), which represents slightly different garments of cotton, or woollen frocks or shirts, which often, in warm weather, form the sole dress of the Be- douin peasants, and the lower class of towns- people. To this the abba or hyke is the proper outer robe (as in fig. 1, No. 154), but is usually, in summer, dispensed with in the day-time, and in the ordinary pursuits and occupations of life. It is sometimes (as in No. 135, fig. 2) worn with- 155. out, but more usually with, a girdle ; and it will be seen that the shorter specimens are not unlike the dress of one of the figures (fig. 3, No. 148) in the earliest of the Egyptian subjects which have been produced. The shirt worn by the superior classes is of the same shape, but of finer mate- rials. This is shown in the following figure 154. (No. 156), which represents a gentleman as just risen from bed. If we call this a shirt, the He- brews doubtless had it the sole dress (excepting the cloak) of the poor, and the inner robe of the rich. Such, probably, were the ' sheets ' (trans- lated ' shirts ' in some versions), of which Sam- son despoiled thirty Philistines to pay the forfeit of his riddle (Judg. iv. 13, 19). It is shown from the Talmud, indeed, that the Hebrews of later days had a shirt called chaluk, which it would appear was often of wool, and which is described as the ordinary inner garment, the outer being the cloak or mantle. This shows that the shirt or frock was, as in modern usage, the ordinary dress of the Jews, to which a mantle (abba, hyke, or bournoos) was the outer covering. In all the annexed figures (No. 157), represent- ing persons of the superior class, we observe the 157. shirt covered by a striped (sometimes figured) gown or caftan, of mingled silk and cotton. It descends to the ankles, with long sleeves, ex- tending a few inches beyond the fingers' ends, but divided from a point a little above the wrist, so that the hand is generally exposed, though it may be concealed by the sleeve when necessary*; for it is customary to cover the hands in the pre- sence of a person of high rank. It is very com- mon, especially in winter, for persons to sleep without removing this gown, but only unloosing DRESS the girdle by which it is bound. It is not un- usual within doors to see persons without any article of dress outside this ; but it is considered decidedly as an undress, and no respectable per- son is beheld out of doors, or receives or pays visits, without an outer covering. Hence persons clad in this alone are said to be ' naked ' in Scrip- ture that is, not in the usual complete dress ; for there can be no manner of doubt that this, or something like this, is referred to in Exod. xxviii. 40; Job xxx, 18; Isa. xxii. 21, &c. A similar robe is worn by the women, as was also the case among the Israelites (2 Sam. xiii. 18, 19; Cant. v. 3). It is in the bosom of this robe that various articles are carried, and hence the Scriptural ex- pression of giving things ' into the bosom.' The girdle worn over this, around the waist, is usually a coloured shawl, or long piece of figured white muslin. The girdle of the poorer classes is of coarse stuff, and often of leather, with clasps. This leathern girdle is also much used by the Arabs, and by persons of condition when equipped for a journey. It is sometimes ornamented with workings in coloured worsted, or silk, or with metal studs, shells, beads, &c. Both kinds of girdles were certainly in use among the Hebrews (2 Kings i. 8; Matt. iii. 4; Mark i. 6; comp. Jer. xiii. 1), It is known to all readers of Scrip- ture how often the ' girdle ' and the act of ' gird- ing the loins ' is mentioned. It seems from 2 Sain. KX. 8 (comp. also the Syrian figure, No. 151, fig, 1), that it was usual to wear a knife or poniard in the girdle. This custom is still gene- ral, and denotes not any deadly disposition, but the want of clasp-knives. Men of literary voca- tions replace it by an inkhorn, as was also the case among the Israelites (Ezek. ix. 2), Over the gown is worn either the short-sleeved gibbeh (fig. 3), which is a long coat of woollen cloth ; or the long-sleeved benisk (fig. 2), which is also of woollen cloth, and may be worn either over or instead of the other. The beuish is, by reason of its long sleeves (with which the hands may be covered), the robe of ceremony, and is worn in the presence of superiors and persons of ranks. Over one or both of these robes may be worn the abba, bournoos, or hyke, in any of the modes already indicated. Aged persons often wrap up the head and shoulders with the latter, in the manner shown in fig. 4. This hyke or wrapper is usually taken by per- sons going on a journey, for the purpose of being used in the same manner as a protection from the sun or wind. This is shown in the annexed cut, representing a group of persons equipped for travel. The robe is here more succinct and com- pact, and the firm manner in which the whole dress is girded up about the loins calls to mind the passages of Scripture in which the action of ' gird- ing up the loins ' for a journey is mentioned. From this it is also seen that travellers usually wear a sword, and the manner in which it is worn is correctly shown. It would also appear that the Jews had swords for such occasional uses (Matt. xx vi. 51 ; Luke xxii. 36). The necessity of baring the arm for any kind of exertion, must be evident from the manner in which it is encumbered in all the dresses we have produced. This action is often mentioned in Scripture, which alone proves that the arm was in ordinary circumstances similarly encumbered DRINK, STRONG 267 by the dress. For ordinary purposes a hasty tucking up of the sleeve of the right arm suffices ; but for a continued action special contrivances are necessary. These are curious, as will be seen by the cut (No. 159). The full sleeves of the shirt are sometimes drawn up by means of cords, which pass round each shoulder, and cross behind, where they are tied in a knot. This custom is particu- larly affected by servants and workmen, who have constant occasion for baring the arm ; but others, whose occasions are more incidental, and who are, therefore, unprovided with the necessary cords, draw up the sleeves and tie them together behind between the shoulders (fig. 2). 159. For the dress of females we must refer to the article WOMEN. See also the article SANDAL. DRINK, STRONG. The Hebrew thus ren- dered seems to demand a more particular elucida- tion than it has yet received, inasmuch as it had in all probability a much wider signification than is now conveyed by the phrase 'strong drink.' We shall class the various senses of the word under three heads, in the order in which we conceive them to have been developed. 1. Shechar, luscious, saccharine drink, or SWEET SYRUP, especially sugar or honey of dates, or of the 268 DRINK, STRONG palm-tree ; also, by accommodation, occasionally the sweet fruit itself. By sugar or honey the Jews understood not only honey of bees, but also syrups made from the fruit or juice of the palm and other trees. ' In Solomon's time, and afterwards,' says Dr. Harris, ' the wine and sweet cordials seem generally to have been used separately.' It seems more probable, however, that the palm syrup or honey was used both as a sweetmeat or article of food, and ts a drink, diluted with water, as with the modern grape and honey syrups or sherbets (Prov. ix. 2, 5). The derivatives of shechar, ex- pressive of its first signification, are numerous. Eastward and southward, following the Arabian channel and the Saracenic conquests, we meet with the most obvious forms of the Hebrew words still expressive of sugar. Thus we have the Arabic sakar ; Persic and Bengali, skukkur (whence our word for sugar-candy, shukur-kund, ' rock-sugar ') ; common Indian, jaggree or zhaggery ; Moresque, sekltour ; Spanish, azucar ; and Portuguese, as- 3'icar (molasses being mel-de-assucar, ' honey of sugar,' abbreviated). The wave of population has also carried the original sense and form north- wards, embodying tne word in the Grecian and Teutonic languages. Hence Greek, sakhar ; Latin, saccharum ; Italian, zucchero ; German, suclier and juderig ; Dutch, striker; Russian, sachar; Danish, stikker ; Swedish, socker ; Welsh. siwyicr ; French, sucre ; and our own common words snkltar (sweetmeat), sugar, and saccharine. 2. Date or PALM WINE in its fresh and un fer- mented state. Bishop Lowth translates Isa. xxiv. 9 thus: ' With songs they shall no more drink wine [i. e. of grapes] ; The palm wine shall be bitter to them that drink it.' Herodotus, in his account of Assyria, remarks that 'the palm is very common in this country,' and that ' it produces them bread, wine, and honey,' The Mohammedan traveller (A.D. 850) says that ' palm wine, if drunk fresh, is sweet like honey ; but if kept, it turns to vinegar.' Mandelslo (1640), speaking of the village of Damre near Surat, records thus: ' Terry or Palm Wine. In this village we found some terry, which is a liquor drawn out of the palm-trees, and drank of it in cups made of the leaves of the same tree. To get out the juice, they go up to the top of the tree, where they make an incision in the bark, and fasten under it an earthen pot, which they leave there all night, in which time it is fill'd with a certain sweet liquor very pleasant to the taste. They get out some also in the day-time, but that [owing to the great heat] corrupts imme- diately, and is good only for vinegar, which is all the use they make of it.' Adam Fabroni, an Italian writer of celebrity, informs us that 'the palm-trees, which particu- larly abounded in the vicinity of Jericho and Engaddi, also served to make a very sweet wine, which is made all over the East, being called palm wine by the Latins, and syra in India, from the Persian shir, which means luscious liquor or drink.' Dr. Shaw thus describes the unfermented palm wine : ' This liquor, which has a more luscious sweetness than honey, is of the consistence of a thin syrup, but quickly grows tart and ropy, ac- DUMAH quiring an intoxicating quality.' Sir G. T. Temple says, ' We were daily supplied with the s>ap of the date-tree, which is a delicious and wholesome beveraze when drunk quite fresh ; but if allowed to remain for some hours, it acquires a sharp taste not nnlike cider. The Landers in- form ns that ' Palm wine is the common and favourite drink of the natives 'of Africa that 'thejttice is called wine,' and that ' it is either used in this state, or preserved till it acquires rather a BITTER flavour.' With these facts before us, the language employed by the prophet in the sublime chapter from which we quoted above, be- comes beautifully apposite. His prediction is that ' the land shall be utterly spoiled,' that the light of joy shall be turned into the gloom of sorrow, even as the sweet drink which corrupts, grows sour and bitter to those who drink it. The passage clearly indicates the nature of the drink to have been sweet in what the Jews esteemed its most valuable condition, but bitter in its fermented state. Hence the drunkard is represented in ch. v. 20-22, as one who ' puts bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.' This palm wine, like the honey of dates and sugar, was much valued as a medi- cine and cordial. 3. SAKAR, in its third sense as a noun, denotes both in the Hebrew and the Arabic, fermented or INTOXICATING PALM WINE. Various forms of the noun in process of time became applied to other kinds of intoxicating drink, whether made from fruit or from grain. Arrack has been commonly, but erroneously, derived from sakar, and some have confounded the arrack with the palm wine, forgetting that the original wine existed long prior to the discovery of arrack distillation. The true palm wine, also, is exclusively the juice of the palm-tree or fruit, whereas arrack is applied to the spirit obtained from fermented rice and oilier things, and is, as Dr. Shaw remarks, 'the general name for all hot liquors extracted by the alembick.' The palm wine of the East, as we have ex- plained, is made intoxicating either by allowing it to corrupt and ferment, thereby losing the sweet luscious character for which the Orientals esteem it, and becoming ropy, tart, and bitter; or, in its fresh or boiled state, by an admixture of stimu- lating or stupefying ingredients, of which there is an abundance. Such a practice seems to have existed amongst the ancient Jews, and to have called down severe reprobation (comp. Prov. xxiii. 30; Isa. i. 22; v. 11. 22). DROMEDARY. [CAMEL.] DRUSIL'LA, youngest daughter of Herod Agrippa I. She was much celebrated for her beauty, and was betrothed to Epiphanes, prince of Commagene ; but was afterwards married to Azizas, king of Emesa, whom the procurator Felix induced her to abandon, in order to live with him. She is mentioned in Acts xxiv. 24. DULCIMER, [Music.] DU'MAH, a tribe and country of the Ishmael- ites in Arabia (Gen. xxv. 14; Isa. xxi. 11). It is doubtless the same that is still called by the ^Prabs Duma the Stony, and the Syrian Duma, situated on the confines of the Arabian and Syrian deserts, with a fortress. DUMAH was also the name of a town in the tribe of Judah (Josh. xv. 52), which Eusebius and Jerome place seventeen R. miles from Eleuthero- polis, in Daroma. EAGLE DUNG. Among the Israelites, as -with the modern Orientals, dung was used both for manure and for fuel. In a district where wood is scarce, dung is so valuable for the latter purpose, that little of it is spared for the former. The use of dung for manure is indicated in Isa. xxv. 10, from which we also learn that its bulk was increased by the addition of straw, which was of course, as with us, left to rot in the dunghill. Some of the regulations connected with this use of dung we learn from the Talmud. The heaping up of a dunghill in a public place exposed the owner to the repair of any damage it might occa- sion, and any one was at liberty to take it away. Another regulation forbade the accumulation of the dunghill to be removed, in the seventh or sab- batic year, to the vicinity of any ground under culture, which was equivalent to an interdiction of the use of manure in that year ; and this must have occasioned some increase of labour in the year ensuing. The use of cow-dung for fuel is known to our own villagers, who, at least in the west of Eng- land, prefer it in baking their bread ' under the crock,' on account of the long-continued and equable heat which it maintains. It is there also not unusual in a summer evening to see aged people traversing the green lanes with baskets to collect the cakes of cow-dung which have dried upon the road. This helps out the ordinary fire of wood, and makes it burn longer. In many thinly-wooded parts of south-western Asia the dung of cows, camels, horses, asses, whichever may happen to be the most common, is collected with great zeal and diligence from the streets and highways, chiefly by young girls. They also hover on the skirts of the encampments of travel- lers, and there are often amusing scrambles among them for the droppings of the cattle. The dung is mixed up with chopped straw, and made into cakes, which are stuck up by their own adhesive- ness against the walls of the cottages, or are laid upon the declivity of a hill, until sufficiently dried. It is not unusual to see a whole village with its walls thus garnished, which has a singular and not very agreeable appearance to a European tra- veller. Towards the end of autumn, the result of the summer collection of fuel for winter is shown in large conical heaps or stacks of dried dung upon the top of every cottage. The usages of the Jews in this matter were probably similar in kind, although the extent to which they prevailed can- not now be estimated. DU'RA, the plain in which Nebuchadnezzar set up his golden image (Dan. iii. 1 ). It is clear from the context that ' the plain of Dura ' could be no other than that plain (or some part of it) in which Babylon itself was situated. DUST. For storms of dust, &c., see STORM ; for throwing dust on the head, see MOURNING. E. EAGLE (Exod. six. 4; Lev. xi. 13, &c). The Eagle, in zoology, forms a family of several genera of birds of prey, mostly distinguished for their size, courage, powers of flight, and arms for attack. The bill is strong and bent into a plain EAGLE 269 pointed hook, without the notch in the inner curve which characterizes falcons ; the nostrils are co- vered with a naked cere or skin, of a yellow or a blue colour ; the eyes are lateral, sunken, or placed beneath an overhanging brow ; the head and neck covered with abundance of longish, narrow- pointed feathers ; the chest broad, the legs and thighs exceedingly stout and sinewy, and fea- thered down to the toes; the feathers in general are brownish and rust-coloured, and the tail is black, grey, or deep brown. Sea-eagles have the legs half bare and covered with horny scales; not unusually the head, back, and tail more or less white. The larger species of both measure, from head to tip of tail, 3 feet 6 inches or more, and spread their wings above 7 feet 6 inches. The claws of the fore and hind toe are particularly strong and sharp ; in the sea-eagles they form more than half a circle, and in length measure from l-i to If of an inch. These majestic birds have their abode in Europe, on the shores of the Mediterranean, in Syria and Arabia, wherever there are vast woody mountains and lofty cliffs : they occupy each a single district, always by pairs, except'jig on the coasts, where the sea- eagle and the osprey may be found not remote from the region pos- sessed by the rough-legged eagles. It is in this last genus, most generally represented by the golden eagle, that the most powerful and largest birds are found. That species in its more juve- nile plumage, known as the ring-tailed eagle, the Imperial eagle, and the booted eagle, is found in Syria; and at least one species of the sea-eagles frequents the coasts, and is even of stronger wing 160. [Aquila heliaca.] than the others. These build usually in the cliffs of Phoenicia, while the others are more com- monly domiciliated within the mountains. Ac- cording to their strength and habits the former subsist on antelopes, hares, hyrax, bustard, stork, tortoises, and serpents ; and the latter usually on fish ; both pursue the catta, partridge, and lizard. The ospre/ alone being migratory retires to Southern Arabia in winter. None, excepting the last-mentioned, are so exclusively averse to car- rion as is commonly asserted: from choice or 270 EAR-RINGS necessity they ull, but in particular the sea-eagles, occasionally feed upon carcases of horses, &c. ; and it is well known in the East that they follow armies for that purpose. Hence the allusions in Job and Matt. xxiv. 28, though vultures may be included, are perfectly correct. So again are those which refer to the eagle's eyrie, fixed in the most elevated cliffs. The swiftness of this bird, stooping among a flock of wild geese, with the rushing sound of a whirlwind, we have wit- nessed; and all know its towering flight, sus- pended on its broad wings among the clouds with little motion or effort. Thus the predictions, in which terrible nations coming from afar are assi- milated to eagles, have a poetical and absolute truth, since there are species like the golden, which really inhabit the whole circumference of the earth, and the nations alluded to bore eagles' wings for standards, and for ornaments on their shields, helmets, and shoulders. The species here figured is the one most common in Syria, and is distinguished from the others by a spot of white feathers on each shoulder. EARING. This word, which occurs in the Authorized Version (Gen. xlv. 6), is very often supposed to mean ' collecting the ears of corn," which would confound it with harvest, from which it is distinguished in this very passage. But the word is radically the same with harrow, and denotes ploughing, from the Anglo-Saxon crian, ' to plough.' EARNEST, a pledge, given and received, to assure the fulfilment of an engageme&t. Hesy- chius explains it as somewhat given beforehand. This idea attaches to all the particular applica- tions of the word, as anything given by way of warrant or security for the performance of a promise ; part of a debt paid as an assurance of paying the remainder ; part of the price of any- thing paid beforehand to confirm the bargain between buyer and seller; part of a servant's wages paid at the time of hiring, for the purpose of ratifying the engagement on both sides. The idea that the earnest is either to be returned upon the fulfilment of the engagement, or to be considered as part of the stipulation, is also in- cluded. The word is used three times in the New Testament, but always in a figurative sense : in the first (2 Cor. i. 22), it is applied to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which God bestowed upon the apostles, and by which he might be said to have hired them to be the servants of his son ; and which were the earnest, assurance, and com- mencement of those far superior blessings which He would bestow on them in the life to come, as the wages of their faithful services : in the two latter (2 Cor. v. 5 ; Eph. i. 13, 14), it is applied to the gifts bestowed on Christians generally upon whom, after baptism, the Apostles had laid their hands, and which were to them an earnest of ob- taining an heavenly habitation and inheritance, upon the supposition of their fidelity. This use of the term finely illustrates the augmented powers and additional capacities promised in a future state. EAR-RINGS. No custom is more ancient or universal than that of wearing ear-rings, from which it would appear to be a very natural idea to attach such an ornament to the pendulous lobe of the ear. Of the two words in Hebrew de- noting ear-rings, one (Num. xxxi. 50 ; Ezek. xvi. EARTHQUAKE 12) implies roundness, and it is a fact that nearly all the ancient ear-rings exhibited in the sculp- tures of Egypt and Persepolis are of a circular shape. The other word is also applied to a nose- jewel, from which we may suppose that it was a kind of ear-ring, diiferent from the other and more similar to the nose-jewel. Ear-rings of certain kinds were anciently, and are still, in the East, instruments or appendages of idolatry and superstition, being regarded as talismans and amulets. Such probably were the ear-rings of Jacob's family, which he buried with the strange gods at Beth-el (Gen. xxxv. 4). No conclusion can be formed as to the shape of the Hebrew ear-rings except from the signifi- cation of the words employed, and from the ana- logy of similar ornaments in ancient sculpture. Those worn by the Egyptian ladies were large, round, single hoops of gold, from one inch and a half to two inches and one-third in diameter, and frequently of still greater size, or made of six single rings soldered together. Such probably was the round ' agil ' of the Hebrews. Among persons of high or royal rank the ornament was sometimes in the shape of an asp, whose body was of gold set with precious stones [AMULETS]. Silver ear-rings have also been found at Thebes, either plain hoops like the ear-rings of gold, or simple studs. The modern Oriental ear-rings are more usually jewelled drops or pendants than circlets of gold. But the writer has seen a small round plate of silver or gold suspended from a small ring inserted into the ear. This circular plate (about the size of a halfpenny) is either marked with fanciful figures or set with small stones. It is the same kind of thing which, in that country (Mesopotamia), is worn as a nose- jewel, and in it we perhaps find the Hebrew car- ring which is denoted by the same word that describes a nose-jewel. The use of ear-rings appears to have been con- fined to the women among the Hebrews. That they were not worn by men is implied in Judg. xiv. 24, where gold ear-rings are mentioned as distinctive of the Ishmaelite tribes. EARTH. Besides the ordinary senses of the word or words rendered ' earth ' in our translation namely, as denoting mould, the surface of the earth, and the terrestrial globe there are others in Scripture which require to be discriminated. 1. 'The earth' denotes 'the inhabitants of the earth' (Gen. vi. 11 ; xi. 1). 2. Heathen countries, as distinguished from the land of Israel, especially during the theocracy, f . e. all the rest of the world excepting Israel (2 Kings xviii. 25 ; 2 Chron. xiii. 9, &c.). 3. In the New Testament espe- cially, the earth ' appears in our translation as applied to the land of Judaea. As in many of these passages it might seem as if the habitable- globe were intended, the use of so ambiguous a term as ' the earth ' should have been avoided, and the original rendered by ' the land,' as in Lev. xxv. 23 ; Isa. x. 23 ; and elsewhere. This is the sense which the original bears in Matt. xxiii. 35 ; xxvii. 45 ; Mark xv. 33 ; Luke iv. 25 ; xxi. 23; Rom. ix. 28; James v. 17. For the cosmological uses of the term, see GEOGRAPHY. EARTHENWARE. [POTTER.] EARTHQUAKE. The proximate cause of earthquakes, though by no means accurately de- fined, seems referable to the action of internal EARTHQUAKE heat or fire. That the earth was once subject to the 'action of a vast internal power springing probably from the development of subterranean or central heat, the elevations and depressions, and the generally scarred and torn character of its exterior, make sufficiently evident A power similar in kind, but more restricted in degree, is still at work in the bowels of the earth, and oc- casionally breaks down all barriers and devastates certain parts of the world. The manifestation of these awful phenomena is restricted in its range. Accordingly geologists have laid down certain volcanic regions or bands within which this manifestation takes place. Over these regions various traces of volcanic agency are found, such as either gaseous vapours or hot springs, or bituminous substances, and in some instances (occasionally) active volcanoes. Several sources of bitumen are found on the Tigris, in the Persian mountains, near the Kharoon, and at Bushire, as well as along the Euphrates. At Hit, especially, on the last-mentioned river, it exists on a very large scale, and, having been much used from the earliest times, seems inex- haustible. Abundant traces of it are also to be sc'en amid the ruins and over the entire vicinity of Hillah the ancient Babylon. Syria and Pa- lestine abound in volcanic appearances. Between the river Jordan and Damascus lies a volcanic tract The entire country about the Dead Sea presents indubitable tokens of volcanic agency. Accordingly Lhese places come within one of the volcanic regions. The chief of these are 1 . that -which extends from the Caspian Sea to the Azores; 2. from the Aleutian Isles to the Moluccas; 3. that of the Andes; 4. the African; 5. the Icelandic. Syria and Palestine are em- braced within the first band ; and these countries have not uufrequently been subject to earth- quakes. The first visitation of the kind, recorded to have happened to Palestine, was in the reign of Ahab (B.C. 918-897 ; 1 Kings xix. 11, 12). A terrible earthquake took place ' in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah' (B.C. 811-759). Its awful character may be learnt from the fact that Zechariah (xiv. 5) thus speaks respecting it ' Ye shall flee as ye fled from before the earth- quake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah :' and also that it appears from Amos (i. 1) that the event was so striking, and left such deep im- pressions on men's minds, that it became a sort of epoch from which to date and reckon ; the prophet's words are, ' two years before the earth- quake.' That earthquakes were among the extraordi- nary phenomena of Palestine in ancient times is shown in their being an element in the poetical imagery- of the Hebrews, and a source of religious admonition and devout emotion (see Ps. xviii. 7 ; Hab. iii. 6 ; Nab., i.. 5 ; Isa. v. 25). The only earthquake mentioned in the New Testament is that which happened at the crucifixion of the Saviour of mankind (Matt, xxvii. 50-1 ; Luke xxiii. 44-5 ; Mark xv. 33). This darkness has been misunderstood, and then turned to the pre- judice of Christianity [DARKNESS]. The obscura- tion was obviously an attendant on the earth- quake. Earthquakes are not seldom attended by accompaniments which obscure the light of day during (as in this case, from the sixth to the liinth hour, that is, from 12 o'clock at noon to 3 EBAL AND GER'IZIM 271 o'clock P.M.) several hours. If this is the fact, then the record is consistent with natural pheno- mena, and the darkness which sceptics have pleaded against speaks actually in favour of the credibility of the Gospel. Now it is well known to naturalists that such obscurations are by no means uncommon. An earthquake devastated Judtca some years (31) before the birth of our Lord, at the time of the battle of Actium, which Josephus reports was such ' as had not happened at any other time, which brought great destruction upon the cattle in that country. About ten thousand men also perished by the fall of houses.' Jerome writes of an earthquake which, in the time of his child- hood (about A.D. 315), destroyed Rabbath Moab. The writers of the middle ages also speak of earthquakes in Palestine, stating that they were not only formidable, but frequent. In 1834 an earthquake shook Jerusalem, and injured the chapel of the nativity at Bethlehem. As late as the year 1836 (Jan. 1) Jerusalem and its vicinity were visited by severe shocks of earthquake, yet the city remains without serious injury from these subterranean causes. EAST. This word, which is used by English writers in only two senses, viz. to denote either the quarter of the heavens where the sun rises, or the regions in the eastern part of the world, has frequently three senses in the Authorized Version of the Bible. Thus, it is sometimes used to mean the sim-rising (Ps. ciii. 12), ' as far as the east is from the west;' and very frequently it corresponds to kedem, the name given by the ancient Hebrews to a certain region, without any regard to its relation to the eastern part of the heavens, comprehending not only Arabia Deserta and the lands of Moab and Ammon, which really lay to the east of Palestine, but also Armenia, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and Chaldsca, which were situated rather to the north than the east of Juda?a. Its geographical boundaries in- clude Syria, the countries beyond the Tigris and Euphrates, the shores of the Indian ocean and of the Arabian gulf. The name given to this entire region by the Hebrews was the land of Kedem or East, and its miscellaneous population were called by them Sons of the East, or Orientals. It seems that the inhabitants of this region were distinguished for their proficiency in the arts and sciences (comp. 1 Kings i. 4, 30), and were ad- dicted in the time of Isaiah to superstition (Isa. xxvi.). The wise men, who came from the East to Jerusalem at the birth of the Saviour, no doubt belonged to this tract of country, ' saying, We have seen his star in the East.' Campbell re- marks that ' to see either star or meteor in the east,' means, in English, to see it in the East- quarter of the heavens, or looking eastward. But this cannot be the Evangelist's meaning. The meaning manifestly is, that when the magians themselves were in the East, they saw the star. So far were they from seeing the star in the East, according to the English acceptation of the phrase, that they must have seen it in the West, as thi-y were by its guidance brought out of the East country westwards to Jerusalem. EAST WIND. [WIND.] E'BAL and GER'IZIM, two mountains of Samaria, forming the opposite sides of the valley which contained the aucieut town of Shechem, 272 EBONY EBONY the preseut Nabulus. From this connection it is best to notice them together. The valley which these mountains enclose is about 200 or 300 paces wide, by above 3 miles in length ; and Mount Ebal rises on the right hand and Gerizim on the left hand of the valley (which extends west- north-west) as a person approaches Shechem from Jerusalem. It was on Mount Ebal that God commanded to be reared up an altar, and a pillar inscribed with the law ; and the tribes were to be assembled, half on Ebal and half on Gerizim, to hear the fearful maledictions pronounced by the Levites upon all who should violate the obliga- tions of the sacred code, and the blessings pro- mised to those who should observe them. The tribes which responded with simultaneous ' Amens' to the curses were to be stationed on Morint Ebal, and those who answered to the blessings, on Mount Gerizim. This grand ceremony per- haps the most grand in the history of nations could not have found a more fitting scene ; and it was duly performed by Joshua as soon as he gained possession of the Promised Land (Dent. xxvii.; Josh. viii. 30-35). Dr. Robinson (Bib. Researches, iii. 9S) says ' Mounts Gerizim and Ebal rise in steep, rocky precipices, immediately from the valley on each side, apparently some 800 feet in height. The sides of both these moun- tains as here seen (f. e. from Nabulus) were, to our eyes, equally naked and sterile, although some travellers have chosen to describe Gerizim as fertile, and confine the sterility to Ebal. The only exception in favour of the former, as far as we could perceive, is a small ravine coming down opposite to the west end of the town, which indeed is full of fountains and trees ; in other respects both mountains, as here seen, are deso- late, except that a few olive-trees are scattered upon them. The side of the northern mountain, Eba!, along the foot, is full of ancient excavated sepulchres. The southern mountain is now called by the inhabitants Jebel-et-Tur, though the name Gerizim is known, at least, to the Samaritans. The modern appellation of Ebal we did not learn.' EBEN-E'ZEL (stone of departure}, an old stone of testimonial, mentioned in 1 Sam. xx. 1 9. The circumstance which it commemorated is not known. EBEN-E'ZER (stone of help), the name given to a stone which Samuel set up between Mizpeh and Shen, in witness of the divine assistance btained against the Philistines (1 Sam. vii. 12). EBONY occurs only in one passage of Scrip- ture, where the prophet Ezekiel (xxvii. 1 5), refer- ring to the commerce of Tyre, says, ' The men of Dedan were thy merchants ; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony.' 1 Ebony wood was highly esteemed by the an- cients, and employed by them for a variety of purposes. It is very appropriately placed in juxtaposition with ivory, because both were obtained from the same countries Ethiopia and India ; and, among the comparatively few arti- cles of ancient commerce, must, from this cause, always have been associated together, while their contrast of colour and joint employment in inlaid work, would contribute as additional reasons for their being adduced as articles characteristic of a distinct commerce. 161. [Diospyros Ebennm.] But it is not in Ezekiel only that ebony and ivory are mentioned together. For Diodorus, as quoted by Bochart, tells us that an ancient king of Egypt imposed on the Ethiopians the payment of a tribute of ebony, gold, and elephants' teeth. So Herodotus (iii. 97), as translated by Bochart, says, ' jEthiopes Persis pro triennali tributo ve- hunt duos choenices auri apyri (id est, iynem nondum cxperti), et ducentas ebeni phalangas, et magnos elephant! denies viginti.' Pliny, refer- ring to this passage, remarks, ' But Herodotus assigneth it rather to Ethiopia, and saith, that every three years the Ethiopians were wont to pay, by way of tribute, unto the kings of Persia, 100 billets of the timber of that tree (that is Ebene), together with gold and yvorie ;' and, again, ' From Syene (which confineth and boundeth the lands of our empire and dominion) as farre as to the island Meroe, for the space of 990 miles, there is little ebene found : and that in all those parts betweene there be few other trees to be found but date-trees, which peradven ture may be a cause that Ebene was counted a rich tribute, and deserved the third place, after gold and ivorie' (Holland's Pliny, xii. 4). This however is a mistake, for several of the ancients mention both Indian and Ethiopian ebony. If we look to the modern history of ebony, we shall find that it is still derived from more than one source. Thus, Mr. Holtzappfel, in his recent work on Turning, describes three kinds of ebony. 1. One from the Mauritius, in round sticks like scaffold poles, seldom exceeding fourteen inches in diameter, the blackest and finest in the grain, the hardest and most beautiful. 2. The East Indian, which is grown in Ceylon and the Penin- sula of India, and exported from Madras and Bombay in logs from six to twenty, and some- times even twenty-eight inches in diameter, and also in planks. This is less wasteful, but of an inferior grain and colour to the above. 3. The African, shipped from the Cape of Good Hope in billets, the general size of which is from three to six feet long, three to six inches broad, and two ECCLESIASTES to four inches thick. This is the least wasteful, as all the refuse is left behind ; but it is the most porous, and the worst in point of colour. No Abyssinian ebony is at present imported : this, however, is more likely to be owing to the dif- ferent routes which commerce has taken, but which is again returning to its ancient channels, than to the want of ebony in the ancient Ethiopia. From the nature of the climate, and the existence of forests in which the elephant abounds, there can be no doubt of its being well suited to the group of plants which have been found to yield the ebony of Mauritius, Ceylon, and India, namely, the genus Diospyros of botanists. E'BER. [HEBER.] ECBAT'ANA. [ACHMETHA.] ECCLESIASTES. This book has obtained its Hebrew name Koheleth . from the designation of the principal person mentioned in it, who is thus styled in several passages. Some have supposed that Koheleth means a body or academy of sages, whose dicta are contained in this book ; but this opinion is contradicted by the heading of the book itself, which thus commences : Words of Koheleth, (he son of David, the king in Jerusalem. Hence it appears that Koheleth is intended for an epithet of Solomon. Various interpretations have been given of its meaning, but in all probability it means assembler, preacher, or teacher. The circumstance that Solomon is introduced as the speaker in this book has induced most of the ancient interpreters to consider him as its author. Others, however, are of opinion that words are used in it which show that it must have been written at a later period than the time of Solomon. The diversity of sentiment as to the authorship has of course led also to a difference of opinion as to the date of the book. But one thing is clear, that whoever may have been the author, the book cannot have been written after the times of Ezra and Nehemiah, under whom the canon was com- pleted. Those who maintain that Ecclesiastes was not written by Solomon are of opinion that it was not composed during the latter period of the first, but rather during the time of the second temple, since idolatry does not occur amongst the deviations combated by the author. The whole book seems to presuppose that the people were externally devoted to the Lord. The admonitions of the author to a serene enjoyment of life, and against murmuring; exhortations to be contented with Divine Providence, and the attacks upon a selfish righteousness of works, may best be explained by supposing the author to have lived in a period like that of Malachi, in which there prevailed a Pharisaical self-righteousness, and melan- choly murmurings because God would not recog- nise the alleged rights which they produced before him, and refused to acknowledge the claims they made upon him. The author places the fundamental idea of the nothingness of all earthly things both at the be- ginning and at the end of his book, and during its course repeatedly returns to the same. This has induced many interpreters to suppose that the purpose of the author was to demonstrate this one idea ; an opinion which, down to the most recent times, has been unfavourable to the true interpretation of the book, because every thing, ECCLESIASTES 273 however reluctant, has been forced into an ima- ginary connection. The following is the correct view. The object of the author is not to teach an especial tendency of wisdom, but wisdom in general. Consequently it is not at all surprising if the connection suddenly ceases, and a new sub- ject commences. That the idea of the nothing- ness of earthly matters should strongly predomi- nate may easily be explained, since according to our author it forms a very important part of wis- dom. He never, however, intended to confine himself to this one idea, although he likes fre- quently to point it out in passing, even when he is considering a matter from another point of view. ' The plan of this book,' says Herder, ' has been the subject of much investigation. It is best to consider this plan as free as possible, and to employ its separate parts for its support. The commencement and the conclusion show the unity of the whole. The greater part consists of isolated observations concerning the course of the world, and the experience of his life. These are con- nected with general sentences ; and, finally, a very simple conclusion is deduced from the whole. It seems to me that a more artificial texture ought not to be sought for.' With regard to the contents and objects of the book, we have to consider only the fundamental idea, omitting isolated sentences of wisdom, and rules for the conduct of life. Nobody can enter- tain any doubt concerning this fundamental idea. It is contained in the sentence : ' Vanity of vanities ; all is vanity.' It is, however, very im- portant that this should be rightly understood. The question is, What is that ALL which is. vanity ? The author does not mean ALL in general, but only ALL of a certain genus. He himself explains this, by defining this ALL in numerous passages ; as, ' all that is under the sun ;' that is, earthly things in their separation from the heavenly. To this leads also the enumeration of the ALL, in which occur only those things which belong to the earth riches, sensual pleasure, honour, sphere of activity, human wisdom apart from God, self- righteousness. From many passages it appears that the author was far from comprehending the fear of God and active obedience to his laws among that ALL which was vanity. This appears most strikingly from the conclusion, which, as such, is of the highest importance, and furnishes the undoubted measure for the correctness of the whole interpretation. ' Let us hear the conclu- sion of the whole matter : Fear God and keep his commandments : for this is the whole duty of man [i. e. in this consists all that is incumbent upon him ; and his whole salvation depends upon it]. For God shall bring every work into judg- ment, with every secret thing, whether good, or whether evil.' (Compare ch. xii. 1 : ' Remem- ber now thy Creator in the days of thy youth ;' ch. v. 5-7, 'Fear thou God;' ch. vii. 18, and many other passages.) A deep religious sense pervades the whole book. In reference to the prevailing idea, Ewald strikingly remarks, p. 1 82, 'There blows throughout this book a piercing chill against every earthly aim, and every vain endeavour ; a contempt which changes into a bitter sneer against every thing which in the usual proceedings of men is onesided and per- verse ; an indefatigable penetration in the dis- covery of all human vanities and fooleries. In 274 EGLON no earlier writing has all cause of pride and vain imagination so decidedly and so comprehensively been taken from man ; and no book is pervaded by such an outcry of noble indignation against all that is vain in this world.' From the contents of the book results its ob- ject. The author had received the mission to treat professedly and in a concentrated manner the highly important sentence, ' Vanity of vani- ties; all is vanity,' which pervades the whole of Holy Writ ; but he is not content with the mere theoretical demonstration, so as to leave to another teacher its practical application, but places before us these practical results themselves: What is incumbent upon man, since every thing else is nought ? What real good remains for us, after the appearance in every seeming good has been destroyed ? The answer is, Man shail not gain by cunning and grasping; shall not consume himself in vain meditations, nor in a hurried activity; he shall not murmur about the loss of that which is naught; he shall not by means of a self-made righteousness constrain God to grant him salva- tion; but he shall instead fear God (ch. xii. 13; v. 6, 7), and be mindful of his Creator (ch. xii. 1); he shall do good as much as he is able (ch. iii. 12); and in other passages. And all this, as it is constantly inculcated by the author, with a contented and grateful heart, freed from care and avarice ; living for the present moment, joyfully Liking from the hand of the Lord what he offers in a friendly manner. Man shall not be of a sorrowful countenance, but in quiet serenity enjoy the gifts of God. What would avail him all his cares and all his avarice ? By them he cannot turn any thing aside from him, or obtain any thing, since everv thing happens as it shall happen. ECCLESIAS'TICUS. I WISDOM OF SIBACH.] ECDIPTA. [ACHZIB.] E'DEN. [PARADISE.] E'DOM. [ESAU.] E'DOMITES. [iDtm-asA.] ED'REI, one of the metropolitan towns (Ash- taroth being the other) of the kingdom of Bashan, beyond the Jordan. It was here that Og, the gigantic king of Bashan, was defeated by the Israelites, and lost his kingdom (Num. xxi. 33-35 : Deut. i. 4 ; iii. 1-3). Edrei afterwards belonged 'o eastern Manasseh (Josh, xiii. 81). It was the seat of a bishop in the early ages of Christianity. The place now bears the name of Draa, and has been visited in the present century by most of the travellers who feave explored the country beyond the Jordan. It is situated in a det-p valley, two hours south-east from Mezareib; and the ruins cover an extent of about two miles in circumfer- ence, the principal being an immense rectangular building, with a double covered colonnade all around, and a cistern in the middle. This seems to have been originally a Christian church, and afterwards a mosque. Near the town, in the hol- low of the mountains, is a large reservoir cased with stone, near which are the ruins of a large building, with a cupola of light materials. EG'LON, a king of Moab, who, assisted by the Ammonites and Amalekites, subdued the Israelites beyond the Jos dan, and the sonhern tribes on this side the river, and made Jericho the seat, or one of the seats, of his government. This subjection to a power always present must have been more galling to the Israelites than any they EGYPT had previously suffered. It lasted eighteen years, when (B.C. 1428) they were delivered, through the instrumentality of Ehud, who slew the Moab- itish king (Judg. iii. 12-33). E'GYPT, the land of Ham, a son of Noah, from whom was derived the ancient native appel- lation of the country, Chemi. From Mizraim, the second son of Ham, comes the ordinary Biblical name, Mizraim, a word which properly denotes Lower Egypt, as being that part of the country with which the Israelites were nearest and best, if not (in the earlier periods of their history) solely, acquainted. This designation, however, is sometimes used for Egypt indis- criminately, and was by the later Arabs extended to the entire country. Egypt is the land of the Nile, the country through which that river flows from the Island of Philse, situated just above the Cataracts of Syene, in lat. 24 1' 36", to Damietta, in 31 35' N., where its pi'incipal stream pours itself into the Mediterranean Sea. On the east it is bounded by Palestine, Idumoca, Arabia Petrcea, and the Ara- bian Gulf. On the west, the moving sands of the wide Libyan desert obliterate the traces of all political or physical limits. Inhabited Ejy|>t. however, is restricted to the valley of the Nile. which, having a breadth of from two to three miles, is enclosed on both sides by a range of hills : the chain on the eastern side disappears at Mocattam ; that on the west extends to the sea. In lat. 30 l r /, the Nile divides into two principal streams, which, in conjunction with a third that springs somewhat higher up, forms the Delta, so called from its resemblance to the Greek letter A. These mountains are interesting, if for no other reason than that they served as the bed whence the materials were obtained out of which were constructed the wonderful buildings for which Egypt is justly distinguished. The superficial extent of Egypt has been estimated at about 1 1,000 square miles. The soil, which is produc- tive, consists almost exclusively of mud brought down and deposited by the river, whose waters are indispensable every year for the purposes of agriculture to such an extent that the limits of their flow are the limits of vegetation. The Delta owes its very existence to the deposits of the Nile, and but for the waters of this stream, carried over its surface by natural or artificial means, would soon be a desert : it was therefore with propriety, as indeed was the entire country, termed ' the gift of the Nile.' The agency of the stream is the more necessary becatise rain very seldom falls in Ix>wer Egypt. The land, placed as it is on the confines of Africa and Asia, yet so adjacent and accessible to Europe, in itself a gar- den and a store-house, may well have held an important position in the ancient world, and can hardly fail, unless political influences are very adverse, to rise to a commanding attitude in modern times. As to the number of its inhabit- ants, nothing very definite is known. Its fertility would doubtless give birth to, and support, a teeming population. In 'very remote times as many as 8,000,OUO of souls are said to have lived on its soil. In the days of Diodorus Siculns they were estimated at 3,000.000. Volney made the number 2,300,000. The present government esti- mate is 3/200,000, which seems to be somewhat beyond the fact. EGYPT Egypt naturally divides itself into two great sections at the apex of the Delta, the country lying south of t^at point being designa;^ Upper Egypt, that north of it Lower Egypt. Lnder the Ptolemies, and probably at a very early period, the whole country was divided into thirty-six cantons or provinces, which division was maintained till the invasion of the Saracens. It is now com- posed of 24 departments, which, according to the French system of geographical arrangement, are sulxlivided into arrondissements and cantons. The Nile is never mentioned by name in our translation of the Old Testament; it is always called the river of Egypt, although the word Nile occurs in the original (Isa. xxvii. 12; Josh. xv. 4; 2 Kings xxiv. 7). Till within a few years the sources of the Nile and the termination of the Niger were hid in alike mysterious obscurity. The latter has been discovered, but the former, notwithstanding many strenuous efforts and some pretence, remain to reward the enterprise of some more fortunate tra- veller. The various branches of the Nile have their rise in the highlands north of the equator. The three principal branches of the Nile are 1, the Bahr el Abiad, or White River, to the west, which is now known to be the largest and longest ; 2, the Bahr el Azrek, or Blue River, in the centre ; 3, the Tacazze, or Abara, which is the eastern branch. The Nile, from its confluence with the Tacazze (17 45' north lat.) down to its entrance into the Mediterranean (1200 geogra- phical miles), receives no permanent streams : but in the rainy season it receives wadys, or tor- rents, from the mountains. The annual overflow of the river, on which the ancients wrote so ob- scurely, is known to arise from the periodical rains which fall within the tropics. The rich alluvial deposits which the Nile spreads over Nubia and Egypt are mainly derived through the Blue River ; the White River, or longest stream, bringing nothing of the kind. Owing to the yearly deposit of alluvial matter, both the bed of the Nile and the land of Egypt are being gra- dually raised. The river proceeds in its current uniformly and quietly at the rate of two and a half or three miles an hour, always deep enough for navigation. Its water is usually blue, but it becomes of a deep brick-red during the period of its overflow. It is salubrious when drunk, me- riting the encomiums which it has so abundantly received. On the river the land is wholly de- pendent. K the Nile does not rise a sufficient height, sterility and dearth, if not famine, ensue. An elevation of sixteen cubits is essential to secure the prosperity of the country. Such, however, is the regularity of nature, and such the faithfulness of God, that for thousands of years, with but few and partial exceptions, these inundations have in essential particulars been the same. The waters of the stream are conveyed over the surface of the country by canals when natural channels fail. During the overflow the land is naturally inun- dated, and has the appearance of a sea dotted with islands. Wherever the waters reach, abun- dance springs forth. The cultivator has scarcely more to do than to scatter the seed. No wonder that a river whose waters are so grateful, salu- brious, and beneficial, should in days of ignorance have been regarded as an object of worship, and that it is still revered and beloved. EGYPT 275 Well may Egypt have been visited as a granary by the needy in ancient times (Gen. xii. 10 ; Exod. xvi. 3). Besides corn, the country pro- duced onions, garlic, beans, pumpkins, cucumbers, melons, flax, cotton, and wine. The acacia, syca- more, palm, and fig-tree adorned the land ; but there was a want of timber. The Nile produced the useful papyrus, and abounded in fish. On its banks lurked the crocodile and hippopotamus. The Egyptian oxen were celebrated in the ancient world. Horses abounded (1 Kings x. 28); hence the use of war-chariots in fight (Isa. xxxi. 1 ; Diod. Sic. i. 45), and the celebrity of Egyptian charioteers (Jer. xlvi. 4; Ezek. xvii. 15). The land was not destitute of mineral treasures. Gold mines were wrought in Upper Egypt. The climate is very regular and exceedingly hot; the atmosphere clear and shining: a shade is not easily found. Though rain falls even in the winter months very rarely, it is not altogether wanting, as was once believed. Thunder and lightning are still more unfreqnent, and are so completely divested of their terrific qualities that the Egyptians never associate with them the idea of destructive force. Showers of hail descending from the hills of Syria are sometimes known to reach the confines of Egypt : the formation of ice is very uncommon. Dew is produced in grat abundance. The wind blows from the north from May to September, when it veers round to the east, assumes a southerly direction, and fluctuates till the close of April. The southerly vernal winds, traversing the arid sands of Africa, are most changeable as well as most unhealthy : they form the simoom or samiel,and have proved fatal to caravans and even to armies. Musquitos, locusts, frogs, together with the plague, the small pox, and leprosy, are the great evils of the country. 162. 1. Egypto-Ethiopian (the Tirhakah of Scripture); 2, 4. Ethiopian ; 3. Egyptian. The most recent inquiries have shown that the extreme limit at Philce was only of a political nature ; for the natives of the country below it were of the same race as those who lived above that spot a tribe which passed down into the fertile valley of the Nile from ifc> original abode T 2 276 EGYPT I in the south. These Ethiopians and the Egyp- | tians were not negroes, but a branch of the great Caucasian family. Their colour at least the colour of the higher castes was brown ; their frame slender, but of great strength. The women were very fruitful. The mode of life of the Egyptians was influ- enced by their locality : those who dwelt on high lands on the east, as well as those who dwelt on the marshy flat country in the Delta, were shep- herds, as their land did not admit cultivation. The people who lived along the Nile became fishermen and sailors. The cultivated part of the natives who lived on the plains and over the surface of the country diligently and most successfully practised all the arts of life, and have left ever- during memorials of their proficiency and skill. On this natural diversity of pursuits, as well as on a diversity of blood, was founded the institu- tion of castes, which Egypt had in common with India, and which pervaded the entire life of the nation. These, according to Herodotus, were seven in number : the priestly caste was the most honoured and influential: it had in every large city a temple dedicated to the deity of the place, together with a high-priest, who stood next to the king and restricted his power. The priesthood possessed the finest portions of the country : they were the judges, physicians, astrologers, archi- tects, in a word, they united in themselves all the highest culture and most distinguished offices of the land, while with them alone lay tradition, literature, and the sacred writings. This class exerted the most decided and extensive influence on the culture not only of their own country, but of the world ; for during the brightest periods of Grecian history the love of knowledge carried into Egypt men who have done much to form the character of after-ages, such as Solon, Pytha- goras, Archytas, Thales, Herodotus, Plato, and others (comp. Gen. xli. 8 ; Exod. vii. 1 1 ; viii. 1 1 ; xiii. 7). The peculiarities of the ancient Egyptians of the lower castes seem to have survived best, and to be represented, at least in some particulars, by the Fellahs of the present day. These Fellahs discharge all the duties of tilling the country and gathering its rich abundance : their attachment to it is very strong, and their love to the Nile almost a passion. They are a quiet, contented, submissive race, always living, through an unjust government, on the edge of starvation, yet always happy, with no thought for the morrow, no care for, no interest in, political change. The only other tribe we have room to notice is that of the Copts, equally with the preceding, in- digenous. They are Christians by hereditary transmission, and have suffered centuries of cruel persecutions and humiliations, though now they seem to be rising in importance, and promise to fill an important page in the future history of Egypt. In character they are amiable, pacific, and intelligent, having of course the faults and vices of dissimulation, falsehood, and meanness, which slavery never fails to engender. In office they are the scribes, the arithmeticians, the mea- surers, the clerks in a word, the learned men of the country. The Copts have been under-esti- mated at 150,000 souls, divided into twelve epis- copal districts, the bishops of which unite to elect a patriarch. EGYPT ' The wisdom of Egypt ' was a phrase which, at an eariy period, passed into a proverb, so high was the opinion entertained by antiquity of the knowledge and skill of the ancient Egyptians (1 Kings iv. 30 ; Herod, ii. 160 ; Joseph. Antiq. viii. 25 ; Acts vii. 22). It was long thought that the hieroglyphical inscriptions on the monumental remains of Egypt contained treasures of wisdom no less boundless than hidden ; and, indeed, hieroglyphics were, in the opinion of some, in- vented by the priests of the laud, if not expressly to conceal their knowledge from the profane vulgar, yet as a safe receptacle and convenient storehouse for their mysterious but invaluable doctrines. Great, consequently, was the expecta- tion of the public when it was announced that a key had been discovered which opened the portal to these long-concealed treasures. Men of pro- found learning, great acuteness of mind, and dis- tinguished reputation, have engaged and per- severed in the inquiry ; but, after all, the con- clusions and positions which have been drawn and set forth are only in a few cases (compara- tively) definite and unimpeachable. The difficulties that oppose the formation of a satisfactory Egyptian chronology are great and numerous. The most distinguished writers differ egregiously in their statements. Various efforts, however, have been made to remove difficulties, reconcile contradictions, and harmonize dissonances ; but the success has been far from distinguished. What, however, we know to be definite, and believe to be accurate in its disclosures, and what we judge to be far more important in an historical relation, is to be found in the paintings and sculptures with which the Egyptians left the walls of their tombs and temples decorated in forms and colours which have not yet faded from the sight. It is true that these instances of real picture-writing may do little for fixing the epoch of the accession of a king or the termination of a dynasty. Yet in this they are not entirely mute. 163. Interior of Pictured Tomb. Among the innumerable mural sculptures in the temple at Karnak, Champollion discovered one in which a king, Sheshonk (Shishak), is present- ing captives of various nations to his God as tro- phies of victory. One of these, distinguished by a long beard and Jewish physiognomy, bears the hieroglyphical title Youdah Mali-it, king of Judah. But for any piactical purpose, the de- termination of a date, or the identification of an event, is of small comparative moment ; and far too much importance has been attached to mere chronological details. To learn when an Egyptian or Chinese king ascended the throne, or departed this life, may gratify the antiquary, or even re- ward much learned toil, but the world at large EGYPT has an interest in history in the main, if not ex- clusively, so far as it discloses what men thought, felt, did ; what they hoped, feared, and achieved in the days of old ; thereby affording to posterity warnings, encouragement, light, and impulse. Now for these highly important purposes the most abundant materials are presented in Egypt, and may be found described in the works of ChampolKon, Wilkinson, and others. Let any one visit the Egyptian gallery in the British Museum, and he will be surprised and delighted to find Egypt almost resuscitated. The tombs have given up their dead. Buried treasures, over whose silence centuries had rolled before our era began, crowd on the sight and gratify the mind. And paintings, too, strike the eye, which may not indeed conform very exactly to the laws of per- spective, but which lay open, and set before the spectator, the Egyptian, as he was in the days of his glory and pride. Indeed, from the paintings and sculptures which have been discovered and described, we are enabled to follow this most sin- gular and deeply interesting people through all the classes of society, through all the operations of science and husbandry, into the transactions of public life, the details of house-keeping, the achievements of war, the amusements of hunting, fishing, feasting, and the solemn rites of a most august and imposing religious ceremonial. Amid the various profane authors who have written more or less in detail on Egypt, the Bible remains our best and fullest authority for the early history of the country. This history, it is true, is not presented in a chronological series of events, nor supplied respecting any period with nice exactitude and minute details. The dis- closures made by inscriptions on public build- ings, of kings, wars, and conquests, may, when verified as to age, and placed in their probable order by the aid of learning and criticism, reveal more as to the dynasties and individual sove- reigns ; but on such information, even when free from doubt, and most accurate, little real value can be set; while the Bible supplies, either by express statement or obvious implication, facts and principles which constitute genuine history, and go far to give the past all the value which it can possess for the men of these times. And what makes these disclosures the more valuable is not only that they wear the character of genuine and uncorrupted history free from the false, deep, and unnatural colourings of myth- ology ; but that they relate to the earliest forms of civilized life, and to ages over which profane historians have left the thickest darkness. Nar- rations and implications, such as the Bible affords in regard to the early history of Egypt, want no corroboration ; they wear in their naturalness, simplicity, and correspondence with what would be expected in the ages to which they refer, evi- dence that they represent actual realities, which none can resist who have studied either human nature or human society. Still it may not be supererogatory to remark that the little which learning and industry have succeeded in extract- ing from the monumental inscriptions, and the very great deal which funereal and religious paintings have of late made known ; and indeed all, from whatever source gathered, that we known of the country and its institutions and usages, are in entire harmony with what the EGYPT 277 Scriptures directly or indirectly teach respecting Egypt. And it is certainly a very great point to have ascertained beyond doubt that the Egypt of the Bible is Egypt indeed, not a fiction, nor an imposture, nor a blunder as writers of the Vol- taire school would persuade the world but a reality, so far as it goes, a picture copied from actual life. We learn from the Old Testament that while the Jews, the earliest nation that has handed down to us the history of its rise and civilization, were yet a tribe of wandering shepherds, under Abraham, depending solely upon the unbought gifts of nature, who, when they had exhausted one district, instead of cultivating it, drove off their flocks in search of a new pasture-ground, after the manner of the American Indians ; the Egyptians were acquainted with agriculture and all those arts of civilization and government which indicate a social existence, extending backwards for at least several ages. This is confirmed in a striking manner by architectural remains that have survived the ravages of above thirty centuries ; for while the Israelites, under the immediate successors of Joshua, were still warring with the Canaanites for the possession of the land of promise, or yet earlier, while they were yet slaves in Egypt, that most interesting- land was distinguished for palaces, temples, por- ticos, obelisks, statues, and canals, which declare that they had been preceded by a long period of civilization, and which still remain the admira- tion of the world. The pyramids of Lower Egypt, requiring for their erection the least quantity of architectural knowledge, no elegance of design, no taste in detail, might possibly have been the work of men driven by task-masters to their daily labour ; but that the palaces, tombs, and temples of Upper Egypt, which present to us the earliest known instances of architecture, sculp- ture, and painting ; the colossal statues of Ame- noph and Rameses, requiring considerable ana- tomical knowledge for the original design, and a mechanical skill in the execution, exceeding perhaps even that of the Greeks themselves ; the vast works for irrigation ; and the correct divi- sion of the calendar, implying great knowledge of mathematics that these should have been the works of a people suffering under political dis- advantages, and not far advanced in all the arts and refinements of social life, would contradict all that observation or history has made known. Some considerable degree therefore of political freedom, as well as a high cultivation, must at an early period have been enjoyed by the Egyptians. In Gen. x. we find the colonization of Egypt traced up to the immediate children of Noah, for it is there stated that Mizraim was the second son of Ham, who was himself the second son of Noah. Immediately after these genealogical statements the sacred narrative (Gen. xii.) in- forms us that the patriarch Abraham, pressed by famine, went down (about B.C. 1920) into Egypt, where it appears he found a monarch, a court, princes and servants, and where he found also those supplies of food which the well-known fer- tility of the country had led him to seek" there ; for it is expressly stated that the favour which his wife had won in the reigning Pharaoh's eyes procured him sheep and oxen, as well as he-asses, and men-servants, and maid-servants, and she- 278 EGYPT asses and camels. In Gen. xxi. 9, mention is made in the case of Ishmacl, the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whose mother took him a wife out of the laud of Egypt, of a mixed race between the Egyptians and the Chaldaeans, a race which in after times became a great nation. In Gen. xxxix. begins the interesting story of Joseph's being carried down to Egypt, with all its im- portant consequences for the great-grandchildren of Abraham. The productiveness of the country is the allurement, famine the impulse. Attendant circumstances show that Egypt was then famous also for its commercial pursuits ; and the entire r.arrative gives the idea of a complex system of society (about B.C. 1720), and a well-constituted yet arbitrary form of government. As in eastern courts at later periods of history, elevation to high offices was marked and sudden. The slave Joseph is taken from prison and from impending death, and raised to the dignity of prime vizier, and is entrusted with making provision for an approaching dearth of food, which he had him- self foretold, during which he effects iu favoui of the ruling sovereign one of the greatest revolu- tions of property which history has recorded. The high consideration in which the priestly caste was held is apparent. Joseph himself marries a daughter of the priest of On. Out of respect towards, as well as by the direct influence of, Joseph, the Hebrews were well treated. The Scriptural record, however, distinctly states (xlvi. 34) that before the descent of Israel and his sons every shepherd ' was ' an abomination unto the Egyptians.' The Hebrews, whose ' trade had been about cattle,' must have been odious in the eyes of the Egyptians, yet are they expressly permitted to dwell ' in the best of the land ' (xlvii. 6), which is identified with the land of Goshen, the place which the Israelites had prayed might be assigned to them, and which they obviously desired on account of the adapt- ation of its soil to their way of life as herdsmen. Having settled his father and family satisfactorily in the land, Joseph proceeded to supply the urgent wants of a hungry nation, and at the same time converted the tenure of all property from freehold into tenancy-at-will, with a rent-charge of one-fifth of the produce, leaving their lands, however, in the hands of the priests ; and thus he gave another evidence of the greatness of their power. The richness of Goshen was favourable, and the Israelites ' grew and multiplied exceedingly,' so that the land was filled with them. But Joseph was now dead ; time had passed on, and there rose up a new king (probably one of a new dynasty) which knew (Exod. i. 8) not Joseph, having no personal knowledge, and it may be no definite information of his services: who, be- coming jealous of the increase of the Hebrews, set about persecuting them with the avowed intention of diminishing thi-ir numbers and crip- pling their power. Severe task-masters are therefore set over them; heavy tasks are im- posed : the Hebrews are compelled to build ' trea- sure cities, Pithom and Kaam'-es.' It is found, however, that they only increase the more. In consequence, their burdens are doubled and their lives made bitter with hard bondage (Exod. i. 14), ' in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field.' Their first-born males, EGYPT moreover, are doomed to destruction the moment they come into being. The deepest heart-burn- ings ensue ; hatred arises between the oppressor and the oppressed ; the Israelites seek revenge in private and by stealth (Exod. ii. 12). At last a higher power interferes, and the afflicted race is permitted to quit Egypt. At this time Egypt appears to have been a well-peopled and well- cultivated country, with numerous cities, under a despotic monarch, surrounded by officers of his court and a life-guard. There was a ceremonial at audience, a distinction of ranks, a state-prison, and a prime minister. Great buildings were carried on. There was set apart from the rest of the people an order of priests who probably filled offices in the civil government; the priest of Midian and the priest of On seem to have ruled over the cities so named. There was in the general class of priests an order wise men, sor- cerers, and magicians who had charge of a certain secret knowledge : there were physicians or embalmers of the dead ; the royal army con- tained choser captains and horsemen and chariots. The attention which the people at large paid to agriculture, and the fixed notions of property which they in consequence had, made them hold the shepherd or noinade tribes in abhorrence, as freebooters only less dangerous than hunting tribes. The ill feelings which the peculiar circum- stances connected with the exode from Egypt had occasioned served to keep the Israelites and the Egyptians strangers, if not enemies, one to another during the lapse of centuries, till the days of David and Solomon, when (1 Kings iii., vii., ix., xi.) friendly relations again spring up between the two countries. Solomon marries the daughter of a Pharaoh, who burns the city of Gezer, and who in consequence must have been master of Lower Egypt. ' And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn :' six hundred shekels of silver was the price of a chariot, and one hundred and fifty the price of a horse. Jeroboam, however, who ' had lifted up his hand against the king," and become subse- quently monarch of the revolted ten tribes, found refuge and protection in Egypt, which was then (about B.C. 975) governed by Shishak. From 2 Chron. xii. it appears that in the fifth year of Solomon's successor, Rehoboam, this same Shi- shak ' came against Jerusalem ' with a very large army, consisting of chariots, horse and foot sol- diers, besides auxiliary foreigners; and having captured the fortified cities which lay on his march, he entered and plundered the metropolis. The language which is employed in Joel (iii. 1 9) shows that, in the ninth century before Christ, Egypt had, in conjunction with Edom, -displayed both its power and its cruelty towards the king- dom of Judah. The rise and oppressiveness of the Assyrian power soon, however, inclined the Egyptians and the Israelites, from a sense of common danger, to cultivate friendly relations with one another. In 2 Kings xvii. we find that in the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah (B.C. 730) Hoshea king of Israel desisted from paying his usual tribute to the king of Assyria, anil courted the alliance of So, king of Egypt, who must have been a very powerful monarch to have been thought able to give assistance in opposition to Assyria. Against this mere human resource EGYPT the prophet Isaiah (xxxi.) warmly protested, de- claring its utter inefficiency, and striving to lead his countrymen to the practice of that righteous- ness and piety by neglecting which they had been forsaken of God. Upon this act of king Hoshea, however, the Assyrians overran Samaria and carried (2 Kings xvii. 6) Israel away into Assyria. In the reign of Hezekiah (B.C. 726) it appears (2 Kings xviii. 21) that the kingdom of Judah still ' trusted upon the staff of this bruised reed, even Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will. go into his hand and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.' In the last year of the reign of Josiah (B.C. 609) Egypt seems to have attempted to increase its influence in Palestine, when Pharaoh Nechoh (2 Kings xxiii. 2'J) ' went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates,' and Josiah going against him was slain in battle. His successor, Jehoahaz, was dethroned after a brief reign of three months, and imprisoned at Kiblah by the Egyptian monarch, who imposed on the country a heavy tribute. Pharaoh-Nechoh then made his elder brother Eliakim king, having changed his name to Jehoiakim. Jehoahaz afterwards died in Egypt. But the Egyptian influence over Judah soon ended ; for in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (B.C. 604) Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against (Jer. xlvi. ; 2 Kings xxiv.) Judaea and its allies, defeated Pharaoh- Nechoh, and retook from the Egyptians Arabia Petrsca and all that belonged to them between the Euphrates ind the Nile. Zedekiah, the next king of Judah, rebe'Hng against Nebuchadnezzar, made an alliance with Pharaoh-Hophra (Jer. xliv.) ; and when Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jeru- salem, on the march of the Egyptian army, the Chaldees raised the siege (Jer. xxxvii. 5) and withdrew the army. But this was the last time that the Egyptian power was able to serve the Jews. The Assyrian party in the state, indeed, was in the minority, though assisted by the in- fluence of Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Ezek. xxix. ; Jer. xxv.) ; yet it predominated : the Jews were carried captive to Babylon, and in less than a century afterwards Egypt was made a province of the same empire. After the time of the exile the Egyptian Ptolemies were for a long while (from B.C. 301 to about 180) masters of Palestine, and during this period Egypt became as of old a place of refuge to the Jews, to whom many favours and privileges were conceded. This shelter seems not to have been for ages withdrawn (Matt. ii. 1 3). Yet it cannot be said that the Jews were held in esteem by the Egyptians. Indeed it was from an Egyptian, Manetho (B.C. 300), that the most defamatory misrepresentations of Jewish history were given to the world ; and, in the days of Augustus, ChjEremon took special pains to make the Jewish people appear despicable. In the reign of Ptolemy Philometor, Onias, whose father, the third high-priest of that name, had been murdered, fled into Egypt, and rose into high favour with the king and Cleopatra his queen. The high-priesthood of the temple of Jerusalem, which belonged of right to his family, having passed from it to the family of the Mac- cabees, by the nomination of Jonathan to this office (B.C. 153), Onias u.sed his influence with the court to procure the establishment of a temple EGYPT 279 and ritual in Egypt which should detach the Jews who lived there from their connectioa with the temple at Jerusalem. The king complied with the request. To reconcile the Egyptian Jews to a second temple, Onias alleged Isa. xix. 18, 19. He chose for the purpose a ruined temple of Bubastis, at Loontopolis, in the Helio- politan nome, one hundred and fifty stadia from Memphis, which place he converted into a sort of miniature Jerusalem, erecting an altar in imi- tation of that in the temple, and constituting himself high-priest. The king granted a tract of land around the temple for the maintenance of the worship, and it remained in existence till de- stroyed by Vespasian. The district in which this temple stood appears to have been, after Alexandria, the chief seat of the Jews in Egypt. The most brilliant periods of Egyptian art were the reigns of the second and third Kameses. Most of the obelisks and colossal statues were wrought before or during the reign of Kameses II., the Sesostris of the Greek writers. Under this enterprising monarch, the ancient Theban empire attained its highest pinnacle of prosperity and power. Rameses III. undertook distant mili- tary expeditions, roused the energies of the country, encouraged art, and erected the splendid temple of Medinet Abu. At a later age the sceptre of Egypt was swayed by powerful monarchs, who built on a grand scale; but the seat of the government was then in the Delta, and there remain only a few obelisks. The valley of the Nile is all along at intervals strewed with wrecks of ancient monumental grandeur ; at Thebes, however, they are found on both sides of the river in greatest profusion. Next to the pyramids, the most wonderful relic of Egyptian art is the great hall of the temple of Karnak, on the east bank of the Nile. Its super- ficial area is 314 feet by 1C4. The massive stooe roof is supported by 134 columns ranged in six- teen rows, most of which are 9 feet in diameter, and nearly 43 feet high : those of the central avenue are not less than 1 1 feet 6 inches in dia- meter, and 72 feet high; the diameter of their capitals at their widest spread is 22 feet. The walls, columns, architraves, ceilings, every sur- face exposed to the eye, is overspread with in- taglio sculptures gods, heroes, and hieroglyphics, painted in once vivid colours. But the hall of columns was but a part of this wonderful fabric. Immense pylons, half-buried quadrangles and halls, granite obelisks, and tremendous piles of fallen masonry, once formed a range of buildings upwards of 1200 feet in length. An avenue of colossal sphinxes led from the temple to Luxor, forming a vista which extended nearly a mile and a half, and was admirably adapted for the pageantry of religious processions. All these buildings formed parts of one magnificent whole; all were constructed of gigantic blocks, and-most were covered with sculpture. ' Such was the imperial palace of the Pharaohs when Europe was yet in primaeval barbarism, ages before Romulus took his omen on the Palatine hill.' Now the ruins are strewn in chaotic confusion over a sandy plain, broken into shapeless mounds. Among the most remarkable works of the Egyptians must be ranked the vast sepulchres excavated in the seclusion of the Theban moun- tains to receive their dead monarchs. ' It was,' 280 EGYPT says Wathen, ' about an hour before sunset one evening that I set out to visit this Necropolis, intending to pass the night in one of the royal sepulchres. On approaching the gorge, the first thing that struck me was the quantity of bones, fragments of mummies, rolls of mummy cloth, and other relics of rifled (Egyptian) tombs that strewed the ground. Princes, priests, and war- riors, after reposing thousands of years, are now dragged forth by poor peasants, and their bo'nes lie scattered before the doors of their sepulchres. Candles were lighted: I passed the threshold, and looked round with silent wonder on the scene within. A large corridor or gallery ran back hundreds of feet into the heart of the moun- tain, divided by lateral projections into lengthen- ing vistas of apartments. The walls were ele- gantly adorned with columns of blue hierogly- phics on a white ground, 3000 years old, yet re- taining almost the freshness of yesterday. In a large chamber at the end of the gallery was a massive sarcophagus. Here once lay the royal mummy, but it had long been open, and was empty. There are -eight or nine of these large painted tombs in a group, besides others of less interest. They vary in length from 100 to up- wards of 400 feet In most, you find on entering a long descending corridor or gallery, running off in a straight line into the heart of the mountain. At its farther end the corridor expands into one or more large apartments, whose roofs are sup- ported by massive piers of the living rock. The walls and piers throughout are generally deco- rated with paintings still wonderfully retaining their freshness : the subjects are chiefly proces- sions, religious rites, and allegoric and enigma- tical devices.' The object seems to have been to enshrine the corpse deep within the earth in a mass of masonry, far from the stir of the living world. For these royal sepulchres of Thebes they first selected the loneliest ravine ; for each tomb they carried a gallery deep into the hill, and then placed the corpse in the remotest part. But the tombs of the kings form only a part of this great city of the dead. The sides of the hills overlook- ing the plain and the ravines intersecting them, contain innumerable sepulchral excavations. One valley was appropriated to the queens, and in a remote corner the apes had a cemetery. The priests seized the best spots. The purpose for which the pyramids were erected was once as little known as were most other things connected with Egypt It now ap- pears satisfactorily ascertained that they were I designed to be mausoleums; and what an idea does it give us of the grandeur of conception, the splendour in every respect of the monarchs to whom they owe their origin, that they should have devised and executed tombs so stupendous ! ' On leaving the village of Gizeh, on the river bank opposite old Cairo (Memphis), the pyramids rise before you glittering white against the blue sky ; but the flatness of the plain and the purity of the atmosphere effectually deceive the eye as to their distance and consequently their size : you almost appear at their base while several miles really intervene. As you advance gradually they unfold their gigantic dimensions ; but you must have been some time on the spot, your eye must have repeatedly travelled along the great pyra- mid's 740 feet of base, and up its steep towering EGYPT angles, before you can fully understand its im- mensity, and the actual amount of labour involved in its erection ' (Wathen). According to Pliny 164. [Pyramid of Cheops.] 366,000 men were employed for 20 years in erect- ing the great pyramid, and Herodotus reports from an inscription which it bore, that the ex- pense of providing the workmen with onions and other roots amounted to 1600 talents. Whole mosques have probably been built out of spoils from it alone. Yet the integrity of its form remains substantially unimpaired, and from a distance scarcely a trace of violence or decay can be seen. The existing masonry has been esti- mated at above six millions of tons, which was raised over an area of thirteen English acres and a half; and, supposing the cost of the structure to have been one shilling a cubic foot, including carriage, materials, and workmanship, the erection required an outlay of nearly five millions sterling. The original perpendicular height was 480 feet, exceeding that of St Peter's by 43 feet, and that of St. Paul's by 110. The relation in which the religion of Egypt stands to that of Moses is one of very consider- able interest and importance, and one which has not yet received the kind and degree of attention which it merits. Michaelis, and others of the same school, have given valuable aid, but they wrote with, compared with what is now known, insufficient knowledge, if not with somewhat too much of a foregone conclusion. Other learned men, influenced by their philosophical notions, or prejudiced against the Hebrew religion, have made Moses a mere copyist of institutions and retailer of ideas which he found in Egypt As a basis for such a view it was necessarily assumed that a purer system of religion was found in Egypt in the days of Moses than existed in any other part of the world. In particular, the Egyptian mysteries were set forth as the depositories of high and valuable religious doctrines Scripture and history (the Acts of the Apostles ; Josephus, Philo) were adduced to show that Mcses had been instructed in this priceless lore, and initiated into these mysteries; whence he was declared to have drawn his system of Monotheism. These views, however, rest on no solid foundation what- ever, if, indeed, they may not be to some extent considered as the illusory and ahncst posthumous offspring of the old and exploded notion which ascribed boundless knowledge to the ancient Egyptians. Nor can they for a moment be held ELAH in these days after the light thrown on early Egypt by the monumental disclosures. The brief notion given above of the general characteristics of the earliest religion of the country, shows how utterly baseless such a theory is. In truth, the inhabitants of Palestine, so far back as we have been able to learn anything of them, seem to have possessed far better and purer religious opinions than those of the valley of the Nile, and in all probability did something to improve and elevate the religious system of the latter. E'HUD, of the tribe of Benjamin, one of the ' Judges ' of Israel, or i-ather of that part of Israel which he delivered from the dominion of the Moabites by the assasination of their king Eglon. These were the tribes beyond the Jordan, and the southern tribes on this side the river. Ehud ob- tained access to Eglon as the bearer of tribute from the subjugated tribes, and being left-handed, or rather ambidextrous, he was enabled to use with a sure and fatal aim a dagger concealed under a part of his dress, where it was unsus- pected, because it would there have been useless to a person employing his right hand. The Israelites continued to enjoy for eighty years the independence obtained through this deed of Ehud (Judg. iii. 15-30). EK'RON, the chief of the five Philistine states (Josh. xiii. 3), and the northernmost of the five. In the general distribution of territory (uncon- quered as well as conquered) Ekron was assigned to Judah, as being upon its border (Josh. xiii. 3 ; xv. 11, 45) : but was afterwards apparently given to Dan, although conquered by Judah (Josh. xv. 1*1, 45 ; xix. 43 ; Judg. i. 18). In Scripture Ekron is chiefly remarkable from the ark having been sent home from thence, upon a new cart drawn by two milch kine (1 Sam. v. 10; vi. 1-8). In later days it is named with the other cities of the Philistines in the denunciations of the prophets against that people (Jer. xxv. 20 ; Amos i. 8 ; Zeph. ii. 4 ; Zech. ix. 5). The name of Ekron, or rather Accaron, occurs incidentally in the his- tories of the Crusades; and it has lately been re- cognised by Dr. Robinson in that of Akri, in a situation corresponding to all we know of Ekron. Akri is a small Moslem village, five miles south of Ramleh. It is built of uuburnt bricks, and, as there are no apparent ruins, the ancient town was probably of the same materials. It is alleged, however, that cisterns and the stones of hand- mills are often found at Akri and in the adjacent fields. E'LAH, son of Baasha king of Israel. After a reign of two years (B.C. 930-929) he was assas- sinated while drunk, and all his kinsfolk and friends cut off, by Zimri, ' the captain of half his chariots.' He was the last king of Baasha's line, and by this catastrophe the predictions of the pro- phet Jehu were, accomplished (1 Kings xvi. 6-14). E'LAH, a valley in which the Israelites were encamped when David fought Goliath (1 Sam. xvii, 1 9). It doubtless received this name from the terebinth trees, or from some remarkable terebinth tree, growing in it Ecclesiastical tra- ditions identify it with the present valley of Beit Hanina, about eight miles north-west from Jeru- salem. In this valley olive trees and carob trees now prevail, and terebinth trees are few ; but the brook is still indicated whence the youthful champion selected the 'smooth stones' where- ELATH 281 with he smote the Philistine. The brook is dry in summer, but in winter it becomes a mighty torrent, which inundates the vale. Dr. Robin- son, however, disputes this ancient tradition, and finds that the conditions of the history require him to identify the valley of Elah with the Wady es-Sumt (acacia valley), which he crossed on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, about eleven miles south-west from the former city. His reasons are given in Biblical Researches, iii. 350 ; and he remarks that the largest specimen of the tere- binth tree which he saw in Palestine still stands in the vicinity. E'LAM, which is mentioned in Gen. x. 22, as a tribe descended from Shem, is, in ch. xiv. 1, introduced along with the kingdom of Shinar in Babylon, and in Isa. xxi. 2, and Jer. xxv. 25, is connected with Media. In Ezra iv. 9, the Elam- ites are described among the nations of the Per- sian empire ; and in Dan. viii. 2, Susa is said to lie on the river Ulai (Eulseus or Choaspes) in the province of Elam. These accounts lead to the conclusion that Elam was the same land which was designated by the Greeks and Romans by the name of Elymais, and which formed a part of the ancient Susiana, the modern Khu- sistan. Elam was inhabited by various tribes of people. The Elymsci or Elamai, together with the Kissi, seem to have been the oldest inha- bitants not only of Susiana Proper but also of Persia ; whence the sacred writers, under the name of Elam, comprehended the country of the Persians in general. They were celebrated for their skill in archery ; hence the historical pro- priety of the Scriptural allusion to the quiver and the bow of the Elamites (Isa. xxii. 6 ; Jer. xlix. 34). It would seem that Elam was very early a separate state with its own kings: for in the time of Abraham we find that Chedorlaomer king of Elam extended his conquests west of the Euphrates as far as the Jordan and the Dead Sea (Gen. xiv.) ; but whether he acted for him- self, or only as the viceroy or general of the Assyrians, must remain a matter of doubt. Ezekiel (xxxii. 24) mentions Elam among the mighty uncircumcised nations which had been the terror of the world ; and about the same period (B.C. 590) Jeremiah threatened it with conquest and destruction by the Chaldeans (Jer. xlix. 30, 34, sqq.). This was accomplished pro- bably by Nebuchadnezzar, who subjected Western Asia to his dominion ; for we find his successor Belshazzar residing at Susa, the capital of Elam, a province then subject to that monarch (Dan. viii. 1, 2). With this the Scriptural notices of Elam end, unless we add that Elamites are found among those who were at Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost (Acts ii. 9) ; which implies that Jews descended from the exiles were settled in that country. E'LATH, now called AILAH. It was a city of Idumsea, having a port on the eastern arm or gulf of the Red Sea, which thence received the name of Sinus Elaniticus (Gulf of Akaba). Ac- cording to Eusebius, it was ten miles east from Petra. It lies at the extremity of the valley of Elghor, which runs at the bottom of two parallel ranges of hills, north and south, through Arabia Petrsea, from the Dead Sea to the northern parts of the Elanitic Gulf. 282 ELATH The first time that it is mentioned in the Scriptures is in Deut. ii. 8, where, in speaking of the journey of the Israelites towards the Promised Land, these words occur ' When we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Eziongeber.' These two places are mentioned together again in 1 Kings ix. 26, in such a manner as to show that Elath was more ancient than Eziongeber, and was of so much repute as to be used for indicating the locality of other places : the passage also fixes the spot where Elath itself was to be found : ' and King Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Elath, on the shore (Num. xxxiii. 35) of the lied Sea, in the land of Edom.' The use which David made of the vicinity of Elath shows that the country was at that time in his possession. Accordingly, in 2 Sam. viii. 14, we learn that he had previously made himself master of Iduma?a, and garrisoned its strong-holds with his own troops. Under his successor, Joram (2 Kings viii. 20), the Idumceans revolted from Judah, and elected a king over themselves. Joram thereupon assembled his forces, 'and all the chariots with him,' and, falling on the Idumicans by night, succeeded in defeating and scattering their army. The Hebrews, however, could not prevail, but ' Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day ;' thus exemplifying the striking language employed (Gen. xxvii. 40) by Isaac ' by thy sword shalt thou live, and shall serve thy brother: and it shall come to pass, when thou shalt have .the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.' From 2 Kings xiv. 22, however, it appears that Uzziah recovered Elath, and, having so repaired and adorned the city as to be said to have built, that is rebuilt, it, he made it a part of his dominions. This connection was not of long continuance ; for in ch. xvi. ver. 6 of the same book, we find the Syrian king Reziu interposing, who captured Elath, drove out the Jews, and annexed the place to his Syrian kingdom, and ' the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day.' At a later period it fell under the power of the Romans, and was for a time guarded by the tenth legion, forming part of Paltcstina Tertia. It subsequently became the residence of a Chris- tian bishop. In the days of its prosperity it was much distinguished for commerce, which con- tinued to flourish under the auspices of Chris- tianity. In the sixth century it is spoken of by Procopius as being inhabited by Jews subject to the Roman dominion. In A.D. 630, the Christian communities of Arabia Petnca found it expedient to submit to Mohammed, when John, the Chris- tian governor of Ailah, became bound to pay an annual tribute of 300 gold-pieces. Henceforward, till the present century, Ailah lay in the dark- ness of Islamism. Mounds of rubbish alone mark the site of the town, while a fortress, occupied by a governor and a small garrison under the Pasha of Egypt, serves to keep the neighbouring tribes of the desert in awe, and to minister to the wants and protection of the annual Egyptian Haj, or pilgrim caravan. This place has always been an important station upon the route of the Egyptian Haj. Such is the importance of this caravan of pilgrims from Cairo to Mecca, both ELDER in a religions and political point of view, that the rulers of Egypt from the earliest period have given it convoy and protection. For this purpose a line of fortresses similar to that of Akaba has been established at intervals along the route, with wells of water and supplies of provisions. EL'DAD and ME'DAD, two of the seventy elders appointed by Moses to assist him in the government of the people. Although not present with the others at the door of the tabernacle, they were equally filled with the divine spirit, and began to ' prophesy* in the camp. Joshua, thinking this irregular, requested Moses to forbid them, and received an answer eminently cha- racteristic of the great lawgiver : ' Enviest thou for my sake? Would to God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them' (Num. xi. 24-29). ELDER, literally, one of the older men, and because, in ancient times, older persons would naturally be selected to hold public offices, out of regard to their presumed superiority in know- ledge and experience, the term came to be used as the designation for the office itself, borne by an individual, of whatever age. Bat the term 'elder' appears to be also expressive of respect and reverence in general. The word occurs in this sense in Gen. 1. 7, ' Joseph went up to bury bis father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt.' These elders of Egypt were, probably, the various state- officers. The elders of Israel, of whom such frequi-nt mention is made, may have been, in early times, the lineal descendants of the patriarchs (Exod. xii. 21). To the elders Moses was directed to open his commission (Exod. iii. 16). They ac- companied Moses in his first interview with Pharaoh, as the representatives of the Hebrew nation (ver. 18) ; through them Moses issued his communications and commands to the whole people (Exod. xix. 7 ; Deut. xxxi. 9) ; they were his immediate attendants in all the great trans- actions in the wilderness (Exod. xvii. b) ; seventy of their number were selected to attend Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, at the giving of the law (Exod. xxiv. 1), on which occasion they are called the nobles of the children of Israel, who did eat and drink before God, in ratification of the covenant, as representatives of the nation. In Num. xi. 10, 17, we meet with the appoint- ment of seventy elders to bear the burden of the people along with Moses ; these were selected by Moses out of the whole number of the elders, and are described as being, already, officers over the children of Israel. It is the opinion of Michaelis, that this council, chosen to assist Moses, should not be confounded with the Sanhedrim, which, he thinks, was not instituted till after the return from the Babylonish captivity ..[SANHEDRIM]. After the settlement in Canaan the elders seem to have been the administrators of the laws in all the cities (Deut xix. 12; xxi. 3, 6, 19 ; xxii. 15, 25). The continuance of the office may be traced during the time of the judges (Judg. ii. 7) ; during that of Samuel (1 Sam. xvi. 4) ; under Saul (1 Sam. xxx. 20); and David (1 Chrou. xxi. lb). The elders of Israel are men- tioned during the captivity (Ezra x. 14), consist- ing either of those who had sustained that office in their own land, or were permitted by the liaby- ELEAZAR lonians to exercise it still among their country- men. We meet with them again at the resto- ration (Ezra v. 5), and by them the temple was rebuilt (vi. 14). After the restoration and during the time of the Maccabees, the Sanhedrim, ac- cording to Michaelis, was instituted, being first mentioned under Hyrcanus II.; but elders are still referred to in 1 Mace. vii. 33. Among the members of the Sanhedrim were the 'elders.' Like the scribes, they obtained their seat in the Sanhedrim by election, or nomination from the executive authority. The word elder, with many other Jewish terms, was introduced into the Christian church. In the latter it is the title of inferior ministers, who were appointed overseers amony not over the flock (Acts xx. 17, 28; Tit i. 5, 7; 1 Pet. v. 1-5). The term is applied even to the apostles (2 John; 3 John). So also ' the Presbytery' certainly includes even St. Paul himself (comp. 1 Tim. iv. 14 and 2 Tim. i. 6). Still the apostles are distinguished from the elders elsewhere (Acts xv. 6). The elcer was constituted by an apostle or some one in- vested with apostolic authority (Acts xiv. 23 ; see also the epistles to Timothy and John). The elders preached, confuted gainsayers (Tit. i. 9), and visited the sick (James v. 14). The word elders is sometimes used in the sense of ancients, ancestors, predecessors (Matt. V. 21 ; Heb. xi. 2). ELEA'LEH, a town of the Reubenites east of the Jordan (Num. xxxii. 3, 37); but which is named by the prophets as a city of the Moabites (Isa. xv. 4; xvi. 9 ; Jer. xlviii. 34). It is usually- mentioned along with Heshbon ; and accordingly travellers find in the neighbourhood of that city a rained place, tearing the name of El Aal, which doubtless represents Elealeh. It stands upon the summit of a hill, and takes its name from its situation, Aal meaning high.' It commands the whole plain, and the view from it is very exten- sive. It is about a mile and a quarter north-east of Heshbon. ELVA'ZkR (God-helped). This was an ex- ceedingly common name among the Hebrews, being borne by a considerable number of persons in Scripture (as well as in the Apocrypha and Josephus), of whom, the principal are the fol- lowing. 1. KLEAZAR, eldest son of Aaron (Exod. vi. 23, 25), who acted in his father's lifetime as chief of the tribe of Levi (Num. iii. 32), and at his death succeeded him in the high-priesthood (Num. xx. 35, sq.). His pontificate was contem- porary with the military government of Joshua, whom he appears to have survived. -A perfectly good understanding seems at all times to have subsisted between Eleazar and Joshua, as we con- stantly trace that co-operation and mutual sup- port which the circumstances of the time and of the nation rendered so necessary. Eleazar is supposed to have lived twenty five years after the passage of the Jordan, and the book of Joshua concludes with a notice of his death and burial. 2. ELEAZAR, who was set apart to attend upon tlm ark while it remained under the roof of his father Ahinadab (1 Sam. vii. 1). 3. ELEAZAR, one of the three most eminent of David's heroes, who ' fought till his hand was weary ' in maintaining with David and the other two a Blaring stand against the Philistines after ELEPHANT 283 ' the men of Israel had gone away.' He was also one of the same three when they l>roke through the Philistine host, to gratify David's longing lor ; a drink of water from the well of his native Beth- iehem (2 Sam. xxiii. 9, 10, 13). 4. ELEAZAR, the fourth of the Maccaba?an brothers, sons of ihe priest Mattathias (1 Mace. : ii. 5). He was crushed to death by the fall of an elephant which he stabbed under the belly in the belief that it bore the king, Antiochus Eu- pator (1 Mace. vi. 43-40). 5. ELEAZAR, an aged and venerable scribe who, ' as became his age, and the excellency of his ancient years, and the honour of his grey head,' chose rather to submit to the most cruel torments than conform to the polluting enact- ments of Antiochus Epiphanes (2 Mace. vii. 18- 31). ELEPHANT occurs only in 1 Mace, vi 34. The animals of this genus consist at present of two very distinct species, one a native of Southern 165. [Asiatic Elephant.] Asia, once spread considerably to the westward of the Upper Indus, and the other occupying southern and middle Africa to the edge of the great Sahara. In a fossil state there are besides six more species clearly distinguished. The ele- phant is the largest of all terrestrial animals, sometimes reaching to above eleven feet of ver- tical height at the shoulders, and weighing from five to seven thousand pounds : he is of a black or slaty-ash colour, and almost destitute of hair. The head, which is proportiouably large, is pro- vided with two broad pendulous ears, particularly in those of the African species, which are occa- sionally six feet in length. The eyes are com- paratively small, with a malevolent expression, and on the temples are pores which exude a vis- cous humour ; the tail is long, hanging nearly to the heels, and distichous at the end. But the most remarkable organ of the elephant, that which equally enables the animal to reach the ground and to grasp branches of trees at a con- siderable height, is the proboscis or trunk ; a cylindrical elastic instrument, in ordinary condi- tion reaching nearly down to the ground, but contractile to two-thirds of its usual length, and | extensile to one-third beyond it ; provided with nearly 4000 muscles crossing each other in buch a manner that the proboscis is flexible in every 284 ELEUTHEROPOLIS direction, and so abundantly supplied with nerves as to render the organ one of the most delicate in nature. Within is the double canal of the nos- trils, and at the terminal opening a finger-like process, with which the animal can take up very niinute objects and grasp others, even to a writing pen, and mark paper with it. By means of the proboscis the elephant has a power of suction capable of raising nearly 200 pounds weight; and with this instrument he gathers food from trees and from the earth, draws up drink to squirt it down his throat, draws corks, unties small knots, and performs numberless other minute operations ; and, if necessary, tears down branches of trees more than five inches in diameter with no less dexterity than strength. The gait of an elephant is an enormous stride, performed with his high and ponderous legs, and sufficiently rapid to require smart galloping on horseback to out- strip him. Elephants are peaceable towards all inoffensive animals ; sociable among themselves, and ready to help each other ; gregarious in grassy plains, but more inclined to frequent densely-wooded mountain glens : at times not unwilling to visit the more arid wastes, but fond of rivers and pools, where they wallow in mud and water among reeds and under the shade of trees. The Asiatic species, carrying the head higher, has more dignity of appearance, and is believed 10 have more sagacity and courage than the African ; which, however, is "not inferior in weight or bulk, and has never been in the hands of such experienced managers as the Indian mo- hauts are, who have acquired such deep know- ledge of the character of these beasts that they make them submit to almost incredible opera- tions ; such, for example, as suffering patiently the extraction of a decayed part of a tooth, a kind of chisel and mallet being the instruments used for the purpose. Elephants walk under water as long as the end of the proboscis can re- main above the surface; but when in greater depth, they float with the head and back only about a foot beneath it. They are steady, assi- duous workmen in many laborious tasks, often using discretion when they require some dexterity and attention in the performance. Good will is all man can trust to in directing them, for cor- rection cannot be enforced beyond their patience ; but flattery, good treatment, kind words, pro- mises, and rewards, even to the wear of finery, have the desired effect. In history they appear most conspicuous as formidable elements of battle. From the remotest ages they were trained for war by the nations of India, and by their aid they no doubt acquired and long held possession of several regions of High Asia westward of the Indus. ELEUTHEROFOLIS, a place not named in Scripture, but which was an episcopal city of such importance in the time of Eusebius and Jerome, that they assumed it as the point whence to estimate the distances and positions of other cities in Southern Palestine. It continued to be a great city until the sixth century : but after that all traces of it were lost. In recent times, however, Professor Robinson has identified it with Beit-Jibriu, a village of moderate size, the capital of a district in the province of Gaza. In and around this village are ruins of different ages, ELI more extensive and massy than any which had been seen in Palestine, excepting the substruc- tions of the ancient temple at Jerusalem and the Haram at Hebron. These ruins consist princi- pally of the remains of a fortress of immense strength, in the midst of an irregular rounded enclosure, encompassed by a very ancient and strong wall. This outer wall is built of large squared stones, uncemented. Along this wall on the inside, towards the west and north-west, is a row of ancient massive vaults with fine round arches, apparently of the same age as the wall itself, and both undoubtedly of Roman origin. In the midst of the area stands an irregular castle, the lower parts of which seem to be as ancient as the exterior wall, but it has obviously been built up again in modern times. An inscription over the gate shows that it was last repaired by the Turks A.H. 958 (A.D. 1551), nearly two years after the present walls of Jerusalem were built. Remains of ancient walls and dwellings extend up the valley; and at the distance of twenty minutes from the present village are the ruins of an ancient church, bearing the name of Santa Hanneh (St. Anne). Only the eastern end is now standing, including the niche of the great altar and that of a side chapel, built of large hewn stones of strong and beautiful masonry. Beit-Jibrin is twenty miles east of Askelon, and thirteen miles east-north-east from Hebron. E'LI (the highest}, high-priest of the Jews when the ark was in Shiloh (1 Sam. i. 3, 9). He was the first high-priest of the line of Ithamar, Aaron's youngest son. This is deduced from 1 Chron. xxjv. 3, 6. It also appears from the omission of the names of Eli and his immediate successors in the enumeration of the high-priests of Eleazar's line in 1 Chron. vi. 4-6. What occasioned this remarkable transfer is not known most probably the incapacity or minority of the then sole representative of the elder line; for it is very evident that it was no unauthorized usurpation on the part of Eli (1 Sam. ii. 27, 28). Eli also acted as regent or civil judge of Israel after the death of Samson. This function, in- deed, seems to have been intended, by the theo- cratical constitution, to devolve upon the high- priest, by virtue of his office, in the absence of any person specially appointed by the Divine King, to deliver and govern Israel. He is said to have judged Israel forty years (1 Sam. iv. 18 . As Eli died at the age of ninety-eight (1 Sam. iv. 15), the forty years must have commenced when he was fifty-eight years old. Eli seems to have been a religious man ; aud the only fault recorded of him was an excessive easiness of temper, most unbefitting the high re- sponsibilities of his official character. His sons, Hophni and Phinehas, whom he invested with authority, misconducted themselves so outrage- ously as to excite deep disgust among the people, and render the services of the tabernacle odious in their eyes. Of this misconduct Eli was aware, but contented himself with mild and ineffectual remonstrances, where his station required severe and vigorous action. For this neglect the judg- ment of God was at length denounced upon his house, through the young Samuel, who, under peculiar circumstances [SAMUEL], had been at- tached from childhood to his person (1 Sam. ii. 29 ; iii. 18). Some years passed without any ELIEZER apparent fulfilment of this denunciation but it came at length in one terrible crash, by which the old man's heart was broken. The Philistines had gained the upper hand over Israel, and the ark of God was taken to the field, in the confi- dence of victory and safety from its presence. But in the battle which followed, the ark itself was taken by the Philistines, and the two sons of Eli, who were in attendance upon it, were slain. The high-priest, then blind with age, sat by the way-side at Shiloh, awaiting tidings from the war, ' for his heart trembled for the ark of God.' A man of Benjamin, with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head, brought the fatal news : and Eli heard that Israel was defeated that his sons were slain that the ark of God was taken at which last word he fell heavily from his seat, and died (1 Sam. iv). The ultimate doom upon Eli's house was ac- complished when Solomon removed Abiathar (the last high-priest of this line) from his office, and restored the line of Eleazar in the person of Za- dok [ABIATHAR]. ELI'AKIM. [JEHOIAKIM.] ELI'AS. [ELIJAH.] ELIE'ZER. This is the same name as Elea- zar whence came the abbreviated Lazar or La- zarus of the New Testament. Mention is made (Gen. xv. 2, 3) of Eliezer, whom before the birth of Ishmael and Isaac Abraham regarded as his heir. Abraham, being promised a son, says : ' I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus Behold, to me thou hast given no seed : and, lo, one born in mine house is mine heir' (Gen. xv. 2, 3). The common notion is that Eliezer was Abraham's house-born slave, adopted as his heir, and mean- while his chief and confidential servant, and the same who was afterwards sent into Mesopotamia to seek a wife for Isaac. This last point we may dismiss with the remark, that there is not the least evidence that ' the elder servant of his house' (Gen. xxiv. 2), whom Abraham charged with this mission, was the same as Eliezer : and our attention may therefore be confined to the verses which have been quoted. It is obvious that the third verse is not pro- perly a sequel to the second, but a repetition of the statement contained in the second ; and, being thus regarded as parallel passages, the two may be used to explain each other. ' Eliezer of Damascus,' or ' Damascene-Eliezer,' is the subject of both verses. The obvious mean- ing is, that Eliezer was born in Damascus : and how is this compatible with the notion of his being Abraham's house-born slave, seeing that Abraham's household never was at Damascus ? The expression, ' the steward of mine house,' in ver. 2, will explain the sense of ' one born in mine house is mine heir,' in ver. 3. The first phrase, literally translated, is ' the son of posses- sion of my house,' i. e. one who shall possess my house, iny property, after my death; and is therefore exactly the same as the phrase in the next verse, ' the son of my house (paraphrased by ' one born in mine house') is mine heir.' This removes the whole difficulty ; for it is no longer necessary to suppose that Eliezer was a house- born slave, or a servant at all ; and leaves it more probable that he was some near relative whom Abraham regarded as his heir-at-law. In this ELIJAH 285 cose Abraham obviously means to say, 'Behold, to me thou hast given no children, and not the son of my loins, but the son of my house (i. e. of my family the son whom my house gives me the heir-at-law) is mine heir.' It is by no means certain that ' this Eliezer' was present in Abraham's camp at all : and we, of course, can- not know in what degree he stood related to Abraham, or under what circumstances he was born at, or belonged to Damascus. It is possible that he lived there at the very time when Abra- ham thus spoke of him, and that he is hence called ' Eliezer of Damascus.' 2. ELIEZER. The second of the two sons born to Moses while an exile in the land of Midian (Exod. xviii. 4). Eliezer had a sou called Rebadiah (1 Chron. viii. 17). ELI'HU (Jehovah is God). One of Job's friends, described as ' the son of Barachel, a Buzite, of the kindred of Ram' (Job xxxii. 2). This is usually understood to imply that he was descended from Buz, the son of Abraham's bro- ther Nahor, from whose family the city called Buz (Jer. xxv. 23) also took its name. Elihu's name does not appear among those of the friends who came in the first instance to condole with Job, nor is his presence indicated till the debate between the afflicted man and his three friends had been brought to a conclusion. Then, finding there was no answer to Job's last speech, he comes forward with considerable modesty, which he loses as he proceeds, to remark on the debate, and to deliver his own opinion on the points at issue. The character and scope of his orations are described elsewhere [Jon, BOOK OF]. It ap- pears, from the manner in which Elihu introduces himself, that he was by much the youngest of the party; and it is evident that he had been present from the commencement of the discussion, to which he had paid very close attention. This would suggest that the debate between Job and his friends was carried on in the presence of a deeply-interested auditory, among which was this Elihu, who could not forbear from interfering when the controversy appeared to have reached an unsatisfactory conclusion. ELl'JAH (Jehovah is God). This wonder- working prophet is introduced to our notice like another Melchizedek (Gen. xiv. 18; Heb. vii. 3), without any mention of his father or mother, or of the beginning of his days. From this silence of Scripture as to his parentage and birth, much vain speculation has arisen. Some suppose that Elijah is called a Tishbite from Tishbeh, a city beyond the Jordan. The very first sentence that the prophet utters is a direful denunciation against Ahab ; and this he supports by a solemn oath : ' As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew or rain these years (t. e. three and a half years, Luke iv. 25 ; James v. 17), but according to my word' (1 Kings xvii. 1). Before, however, he spoke thus, it would seem that he had been warning this most wicked king as to the fatal consequences which must result both to himself and his people, from the iniquitous course he was then pursuing : and this may account for the apparent abruptness with which he opens his commission. We can imagine Ahab and Jezebel being greatly incensed against Elijah for having foretold and prayed that such calamities might befall them. 286 ELIJAH For some time they might attribute the drought tfnder which the nation suffered to natural causes, and not to the interposition of the prophet. When, however, they saw the denunciation of Elijah taking effect far more extensively than had been anticipated, they would naturally seek to wreak their vengeance upon him as the cause of their sufferings. But we do not find him taking one step for his own preservation, till the God whom he served said, ' Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan : and it shall be that tbou shalt drink of the brook ; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there' (1 Kings xvii. 3, 4). Other and better means of protection from the impending danger might seem open to him ; but, regardless of these, he hastened to obey the divine mandate, and ' went and dwelt by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan' (1 Kings xvii. 5). A fresh trial DOW awaits this servant of God (B.C. 909), and in the manner in which he bears it, we see the strength of his faith. For one year, as some suppose, God had miraculously provided for his bodily wants at Cherith ; but the brook which, heretofore, had afforded him the needful refreshment there, became dried up. Encouraged by past experience of his heavenly Father's care of him, the prophet still waited patiently till He said, ' Arise (1 Kings xvii. 9), get thee to Zare- phath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there : behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.' He then, at once, set out on the journey, and now arrived at Zarephath, he, in the arrangement of God's providence, met, as he entered its gate, the very woman who was de- puted to give him immediate support But his faith is again put to a sore test, for he found her engaged in a way which was well calculated to discourage all his hopes; she was gathering sticks for the purpose, as she assured him, of cooking her last meal, and now that the famine prevailed there, as it did in Israel, she saw nothing before her and her only son but starvation and death. How then could the prophet ask for, and how could she think of giving, a part of her last morsel ? The same Divine Spirit inspired him to assure her that she and her child should be even miraculously provided for during the con- tinuance of the famine : and also influenced her heart to receive, without doubting, the assurance ! The kindness of this widow in baking the first cake for Elijah was well requited with a pro- phet's reward (Mattx. 41, 42); she afforded one meal to him, and God afforded many to her (see 1 Kings xv. 16). While residing here God ac- cordingly saw fit to visit the family with a tem- porary calamity. ' And it came to pass that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick : and his sickness was so sore that there was no life left in him' (1 Kings xvii. 17). Verse 18 contains the expostulation with the prophet of this bereaved widow; she rashly imputes the death to his presence. Elijah retaliates not, but calmly takes the dead child out of the mother's bosom, and lays it on his own bed (verse 19), that there he may, in private, pray the more fervently for its restoration. His prayer was heard, and answered by the restoration of life to the child, and of gladness to the widow's heart. Siuco now, however, the long-protracted ELIJAH famine, with all its attendant horrors, failed to detach Ahab and his puilty people from their abominable idolatries, God mercifully gave them another opportunity of repenting and turning to Himself. For three years and six months (James v. 17) the destructive famine had spread its deadly influence over the whole nation of Israel. The prophet was then called by the word of the Lord to return to Israel. Winning not to tempt God by going unnecessarily into danger, he- first presented himself to good Obadiah (1 Kings xviii. 7). This principal servant of Ahab was also a true servant of God ; and on recognising the prophet he treated him with honour and re- spect. Elijah requested him to announce to Ahab that he had returned. Obadiah, appa- rently stung by the unkindness of this request, replied, ' What have I sinned, that *,hou shouldest thus expose me to Ahab's rage, who will certainly slay me for not apprehending thee, for whom he has so long and so anxiously sought in all lands and in confederate countries, that they should not harbour a traitor whom he looks upon as the author of the famine,' &e. Moreover, he would delicately intimate to Elijah how he had actually jeoparded his own life in securing that of one hundred of the Lord's prophets, and whom he had fed at his own expense. Satisfied with Eli- jah's reply to this touching appeal, wherein he removed all his fears about the Spirit's carrying himself away (as 2 Kings ii. 11-16 ; Ezek. viii. 3 ; Acts viii. 39), he resolves to be the prophet's messenger to Ahab. Intending to be revenged on him, or to inquire when rain might be expected, Ahab now came forth to meet Elijah. He at once charged him with being the main cause of all the calamities which he and the nation had suffered. But Elijah flung back the charge upon himself, assigning the real cause to be his own sin of idolatry. Regarding, however, his ma- gisterial position, while he reproved his sin, he requests him to exercise his authority in sum- moning an assembly to Mount Carmel, that the controversy between them might be decided, whether the king or the prophet was the trouhler of Israel. Whatever were the secret motives which induced Ahab to comply with this pro- posal, God directed the result. Elijah offered to decide this controversy between God and Baal by a miracle from Meaven. As fire was the element over which Baal was supposed to preside, the prophet proposes (wishing to give them every advantage) that, two bullocks being slain, and laid each upon a distinct altar, the one for Baal, the other for Jehovah, whichever should lie con- sumed by fire must proclaim whose the people of Israel were, and whom it was their duty to serve. The people consent to this prrposal. Elijah will have summoned not only all the elders of Israel, but also the four hundred priests of Baal belonging to Jezebel's court, and the four hundred and fifty who were dispersed over the kingdom. Confident of success, because doubt- less God had revealed the whole matter to him, he enters the lists of contest with the four hun- dred and fifty priests of Baal. Having recon- structed an altar which had once belonged to God, with twelve stones as if to declare that the twelve tribes of Israel should again be united in the service of Jehovah and having laid thereon his bullock, and filled the trench by which it was ELIJAH surrounded with large quantities of water, lest any suspicion of deceit might occur to any mind, the prophet gives place to the Baalites allows them to make trial first. In vain did these de- ceived and deceiving men call, from morning till evening, upon Baal iu vain did they now mingle their own blood with that of the sacrifice : no answer was given no fire descended. Elijah having rebuked their folly and wicked- ness with the sharpest irony, and it being at last evident to all that their efforts to obtain the wished-for fire were vain, now, at the time of the evening sacrifice, offered up his prayer. The prayer of the Baalites was long, that of the prophet was short charging God with the care of His covenant, of His truth, and of His glory when, behold, ' the fire came down, licked up the water, aud consumed not only the bullock, but the very stones of the altar also.' The effect of this on the mind of the people was what the prophet desired : acknowledging the awful presence of the God- head, they exclaim, as with one voice, ' Jehovah He is the God! Jehovah He is the God!' Seizing the opportunity whilst the people's hearts were warm with the fresh conviction of this miracle, he bade them take those juggling priests and destroy them; and this he might lawfully do at God's direction, and under the sanction of His law (Di-ut. xiii. 5 ; xviii. 20). Ahab having now publicly vindicated God's violated law by {living his royal sanction to the execution of Baal's priests, Elijah informed him that he may go up to his tent on Carmel to take refreshment, for God will send the desired rain. In the meantime he prayed earnestly (James v. 17, 18) for this blessing : God heard and answered : a little cloud arose cut of the Mediterranean sea, in sight of which the prophet now was, diffused itself gra- dually over the entire face of the heavens, and then emptied its refreshing waters upon the whole land of Israel. Here was another proof of the Divine mission of the prophet, from which, we should imagine, the whole nation must have pro- fit, d ; but subsequent events would seem to prove that the impression produced by these dealings of God was of a very partial and temporary cha- racter. Impressed with the hope that the report of God's miraculous actings at Carmel might not only reach the ear, but also penetrate and soften the hard heart of Jezebel ; and anxious that the reformation of his country should spread in and about Jezreel also, Elijah, strengthened, as we are told, from on high, now accompanies Ahab thither on foot. How ill-founded the prophet's expecta- tion was, subsequent events too painfully proved. Jezebel, instead of receiving Elijah obviously as the messenger of God for good to her nation, now secretly conceived and openly declared her fixed purpose to put him to death. Dreading the vile woman's design, and probably thinking that there was no hope of producing any reformation among the people, he fled into the wilderness, and there longed for death. But God is still gracious to him, and at once touches his heart and corrects his petulancy by the ministration of His angel, and by an awful exhibition of His Divine power. And having done this, revealing Himself in the gentle accents of a still voice, He announces to him that he must go and anoint Hazael king over Syria, Jehu king over Israel, and Elisha prophet in his own place, ere death can put a period to ELIJAH 287 his labours When God had comforted His pro- phet by telling him of these three instruments he had in store to vindicate his own insulted honour, then he convinced him of his mistake in saying ' I only am left alone,' &c., by the assurance that I there were seven thousand in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal. Leaving the cave of Horeb (B c. 906), Elijah now proceeded to the field where he found Elisha in the act of ploughing, and he cast his prophet's mantle over him, as a symbol of his being clothed with God's spirit. The Divine impression pro- j duced upon the mind of Elisha by this act of ! Elijah made him willing to leave all things and < follow him. For about six years from this calling of Elisha ! we find no notice in the sacred history of Elijah, till God sent him once again to pronounce sore judgments upon Ahab and Jezebel for the murder of unoffending Naboth (1 Kings xxi. 17, &c.). How he and his associate in the prophetic office employed themselves during this time we are r.ot told. We need not dwell upon the complicated character of Ahab's wickedness (1 Kinps xxi.), in I winking at the murderous means whereby Jezebel procured for him the inalienable property of j Naboth [AHAB ; NABOTH]. When he seemed to be triumphing in the possession of his ill-obtained gain, Elijah stood before him, and threatened him, in the name of the Lord (2 Kings ix. 21-26 inclusive), that God would retaliate blood for blood, and that not on himself only ' his seventy sons shall die, and (2 Kings x. 6) Jezebel shall become meat for dogs.' Fearing that these pre- dictions would prove true, as those about the rain and fire had done, Ahab now assumed the manner of a penitent ; and, though subsequent acts proved that his repentance was not permanent, yet God rewards his temporary abasement by a temporary arrest of judgment. We see, however, in after parts of this sacred history, how the judgments denounced against him, his abandoned consort, and children, took effect to the very letter. Elijah again retired from the history till an act of blasphemy on the part of Ahaziah, the son and successor of Ahab, causes God to call him forth. Ahaziah met with an injury, and, fearing that it might be unto death, he, as if to prove himself worthy of being the son of idolatrous Ahab and Jezebel, sent to consult Baalzebub, the idol-god of Ekron ; but the angel of the Lord told Elijah to go forth and meet the messengers of the king (2 Kings i. 3, 4), and assure them that he should not recover. Suddenly reappear- ing before their master, he said unto them, ' Why are ye now turned back ?' when they answered, 'There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord : Is it r.ot because there is no God in Israel that thou sendest to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron? Wherefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.' Conscience seems to have at once whispered to him that the man who dared to arrest his messengers with such a communi- cation must be Elijah, the bold but unsuccessful reprover of his parents. Determined to chastise him for such an insult, h'.; sent a captain and fifty armed men to bring him into his presence ; but at Elijah's word fire descended from Heaven and 283 ELIPHAZ consumed the whole band. Attributing this de- struction of his men to some natural cause, he sent forth another company, on whom though the same judgment fell, this impious king is not satisfied till another and a similar effort is made to capture the prophet. The captain of the third band implored and found mercy at the hands of the prophet, who at once descended from Carmel and accompanied him to Ahaziah. Fearless of his wrath, Elijah now repeats to the king himself what he had before said to his messengers, and agreeably thereto, the sacred narrative informs us that Ahaziah died. The above was the last more public effort which the prophet made to reform Israel. His warfare being now accomplished on earth, God, whom he had so long and so faithfully served, will translate him in a chariot of fire to Heaven. Conscious of this, he determines to spend his last moments in imparting divine instruction to, and pronouncing his last benediction upon, the stu- dents in the colleges of Beth-el and Jericho ; accordingly, he made a circuit from Gilgal, near the Jordan, to Beth-el, and from thence to Jeri- cho. Wishing either to be alone at the moment of being caught up to Heaven ; or, what is more probable, anxious to test the affection of Elisha (as Christ did that of Peter), he delicately inti- mates to him not to accompany him in this tour. But the faithful Elisha, to whom, as also to the schools of the prophets, God had revealed his purpose to remove Elijah, declares his fixed de- termination not to forsake his master now at the close of his earthly pilgrimage. Ere yet, how- ever, the chariot of God descended for him, he asks what he should do for Elisha. The latter, conscious of the complicated and difficult duties which now awaited him, asks for a double por- tion of Elijah's spirit Elijah, acknowledging the magnitude of the request, yet promises to grant it on the contingency of Elisha seeing him at the moment of his rapture. Possibly this con- tingency was placed before him in order to make him more on the watch, that the glorious depar- ture of Elijah should not take place without his actually seeing it. Whilst standing on the other side of the Jordan, whose waters were miracu- lously parted for them to pass over on dry ground, angels descended, as in a fiery chariot, and, in the sight of fifty of the sons of the prophets and Elisha, carried Elijah into Heaven. Elisha, at this wonderful sight, cried out, like a bereaved child, ' My Father, my Father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof;' as if he had said, Alas ! the strength and saviour of Israel is now departed ! But it was not so ; for God de- signed that the mantle which fell from Elijah as he ascended should now remain with Elisha as a pledge that the office and spirit of the former had now fallen upon himself. E'LIM, one of the stations of the Israelites in the route to Mount Sinai [SiXAi]. ELIM'ELECH (God the king*), a native of Bethlehem, husband of Naomi, and father by her of two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. In a time of scarcity he withdrew with his family into the land of Moab, where he died (Ruth i. 1-3). [NAOMI; RUTH.] 1. ELI'PHAZ (God the strong}, a son of Esau and Adah (Gen. xxxvi. 10). 2. ELI'PHAZ, one of the three friends who ELISHA came to condole with Job in his affliction, and who took part in that remarkable discussion which occupies the book of Job. He was of Teman in Idumaea; and as Eliphaz the son of Esau had a son called Teman, from whom the place took its name, there is reason to conclude that this Eliphaz was a descendant of the former Eliphaz. Some, indeed, even go so far as to sup- pose that the Eliphaz of Job was no other than the son of Esau. This view is of course confined to those who refer the age of Job to the time of the patriarchs. Eliphaz is the first of the friends to take up the debate, in reply to Job's passionate complaints. The scope of his argument and the character of his oratory are described under another head [Jon, BOOK OF]. He appears to have been the oldest of the speakers, from which circumstance, or from natural disposition, his language is more mild and sedate than that of any of the other speakers. He begins his orations with delicacy, and conducts his part of the argument with con- siderable address. His share in the controversy occupies chapters iv. v. xv. xxii. ELIS'ABETH, wife of Zacharias, and mother of John the Baptist (Luke i. 5). The name in this precise shape does not occur in the Old Tes- tament, where the names of few females are given. But it is a Hebrew name, the same in fact as Elisheba, which see. ELI'SHA (God the deliverer). The man- ner, and the circumstances in which Elisha was called to the prophetic office have been noticed in the article ELIJAH. Anxious to enter at once upon the duties of his sacred office, Elisha determined to visit the schools of the prophets which were on the other side of the Jordan. Accordingly, returning to this river, and wishing that sensible evidence should be afforded, both to himself and others, of the spirit and power of his departed master rest- ing upon him, he struck its waters with Elijah's mantle, when they parted asunder and opened a way for him to pass over on dry land. Witness- ing this miraculous transaction, the fifty sons of the prophets, who had seen from the opposite side Elijah's ascension, and who were awaiting Eli- sha's return, now, with becoming reverence, ac- knowledged him their spiritual head. The divine authority by which Elisha became the successor of Elijah received further confirma- tion from the miracle whereby the bitter waters of Jericho were made sweet, and the place thereby rendered fit for the habitation of man (2 Kings ii. 19-22). As the general visitor of the schools of the pro- phets, Elisha now passes on from Jericho to the college which was at Beth-el. Ere, however, he entered Beth-el, there met him from thence (2 Kings ii. 23, 24) little children, who, no doubt instigated by their idolatrous parents, tauntingly told him to ascend into heaven, as did his master, Elijah. There was in their expressions an ad- mixture of rudeness, infidelity, and impiety. But the inhabitants of Beth-el were to know, from bitter experience, that to dishonour God's pro- phets was to dishonour Himself; for Elislia was at the moment inspired to pronounce the judg- ment which at once took effect : God, who never wants for instruments to accomplish his purposes, caused two she-bears to emerge from a neigh- ELISIIA bouring wood, and destroy the young delin- quents. Jehoram, who reigned over Israel at this time, though not a Baalite, was yet addicted to the sin of Jeroboam : still he inherits the friendship of Jehoshaphat, the good King of Judaea, whose counsel, possibly, under God, had detached him from the more gross idolatry of his father Ahab. Wishing to see the now (B.C. 895) revolted king of Moab reduced to his wonted allegiance to Israel, .Jehoshaphat determined to go up to battle against him, together with Jehoram, and his own tribu- tary the king of Edom. These combined armies met together on the plains of Edom. Confident in their own powers they press onward against the enemy; but, not meeting him, another of a more formidable character started up before them. In the midst of the arid plains of Arabia Petraca they could find no water. Jehoram deplored the cala- mity into which they had fallen, but Jehoshaphat inquired for a prophet. On this, one of his cour- tiers said to Jehoram, ' Here is Elisha, the son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Eli- jah.' No sooner were they made acquainted with the fact that Elisha was at hand than the three Icings waited upon him. Elisha, feeling that it was nought but superstitious fear, joined to the influence of Jehoshaphat, which led Jehoram thus to consult him, now indignantly and tauntingly advised him to go for succour to the gods of his father Ahab and of his mother Jezebel. The re- proved monarch was then led to acknowledge the impotency of those gods'in whom he had trusted, and the power of that God whom he had neglected. Still the man of God, seeing the hollowness of Jehoram's humiliation, continues : ' As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, surely were it not that 1 regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would not look toward th.ee/ Having thus addressed Jehoram, Elisha desired a minstrel to be brought before him; and now when his spirit was calmed by, perhaps, one of the songs of Zion, ' The hand of the Lord came upon him.' The minstrel ceased, and P^lisha made known the joyful intelligence that not only should water be miraculously supplied, but also that Moab should be overcome. Accordingly the next morning they realized the truth of this pre- diction. But the same water which preserves their lives becomes the source of destruction to their enemies. The Moabites, who had received intelligence of the advance of the allied army, were now assembled upon their frontiers. When the sun was up, and its rosy light first fell upon the water, their van-guard, beholding it at a distance, supposed it to be blood. Thus the notion was rapidly spread from one end to another that the kings were surely slain, having fallen out amongst themselves. Hence there was a universal shout, ' Moab, to the spoil ! ' and they went forward confident of victory. But behold- ing the Israelitish squadrons advancing to meet them, they fled in the utmost panic and confusion (2 Kings iii. ?.0, &c.). The war having terminated in the signal over- throw of the revolters, Elisha, who had returned home, is again employed in ministering blessings. The widow of a pious prophet presented herself before him (2 Kings iv.), informed him that her husband having died in debt, his creditors were about to sell her two only sons, which, by an ex- BLISHA 28> tension of the law (Exod. xxi. 7, and Lev. xxv. 39), and by virtue of another (Exod. xxii. 3), they had the power to do ; and against this hard- hearted act she implores the prophet's assistance. Elisha then inquired how far she herself had the power to avert the threatened calamity. She re- plied- that the only thing of which she was pos- sessed was one pot of oil. By multiplying this, as did his predecessor Elijah in the case of the "v^idow of Zarephath, he enabled her at once to pay oiF her debts and thereby to preserve the liberty of her children (2 Kings iv. 1-7). It is next related that in his visitations to the schools of the prophets his journey lay through the city of Shunem, where lived a rich and godly woman. Wishing that he should take up, more than occasionally, his abode under her roof, she proposed to her husband to construct a chamber for his reception. The husband at once consented, and, the apartment being completed and fitted up in a way that showed their proper conception of his feeling, the prophet becomes its occupant. The woman was childless ; and the gratitude of the prophet for her disinterested kindness was evinced by the gift of a son, which the Lord, at his prayer, bestowed upon her. This new pledge of their affection grows up till he is able to visit his fond father in the harvest-field, when all the hopes they had built up in him were overthrown by his being suddenly laid prostrate in death. The bereaved mother, out of tenderness towards the feelings of the father, concealed the fact that the child was no more till she should see if it might please God, through Elisha, to restore him to life. She therefore hastened to Carmel, where she found the prophet, and informed him what had taken place. Conceiving probably that it was a case of mere suspended animation or a swoon, the prophet sent Gehazi, his servant, to place his staff on the face of the child, in the hope that it might act as a stimulus to excite the ani- mal motions. But the mother, conscious that he was actually departed, continued to entreat that he himself would come to the chamber of the dead. He did so, and found that the soul of the child had indeed fled from the earthly tenement. Natural means belong to man ; those that are supernatural belong to God : we should do our part, and beg of God to do his. On this prin- ciple the prophet on this occasion acted. God blessed the means used, and answered the prayer presented by Elisha. The child is raised up and restored to the fond embrace of its grateful and rejoicing parents. The next remarkable event in the history of Elisha was the miraculous healing of the incurable leprosy of the Syrian general, Naaman, whereby the neighbouring nation had the opportunity of learning the beneficence of that God of Israel, whose judgments had often brought them very low. The particulars are given under another head [NAAMAN]. Soon after this transaction we find this man of God in Gilgal, miraculously neutralizing the poison which had, by mistake, been mixed with the food of the prophets, and also feeding one hundred of them with twenty small loaves which- had been sent for his own consumption (2 Kings iv. 38, &c.). Notwithstanding the general profligacy of Is- rael, the schools of the prophets increased, B.CJ 290 ELISHA 890. This was, doubtless, owing to the influence of Elisha. Accompanied by their master, a party of these young prophets, or theological students, came to the Jordan, and whilst one of them was ' felling a beam (for the purpose of constructing there a house) the axe-head fell into the water." This accident was the more distressing because the axe was borrowed property. Elisha, how- ever, soon relieved him by causing it miraculously to rise to the surface of the river. , The sacred record again leads us to contemplate the prophet's usefulness, in reference to his country at large. Does the king of Syria devise well-concerted schemes for the destruction of Israel ? God inspires Elisha to detect and lay them open to Jehoram. Benhadad, on hearing that it was he that thus caused his hostile move- ments to be frustrated, sent an armed band to Dothan in order to bring him bound to Damascus. The prophet's servant, on seeing the host of the enemy which invested Dothan, was much alarmed, but by the prayer of Elisha, God reveals to him the mighty company of angels which were set for their defence. Regardless of consequences, the prophet went forth to meet the hostile band : and having again prayed, God so blinded them that they could not recognize the object of their search. The prophet then promised to lead them to where they might see him with the natural eye. Trust- ing to his guidance, they followed on till they reached the centre of Samaria, when, the optical illusion being removed, Elisha stood in his recog- nized form before them. The king was for put- ting them all to death ; but, through the interpo- sition of him whom they had just before sought to destroy, they were honourably dismissed to their own country (B.C. 892). But a year had scarcely elapsed from this time when Benhadad, unmindful of Israel's kindness and forbearance, invested Samaria and reduced its inhabitants to a state of the most cruel famine. Yet the king of Israel plunged still deeper into sin, for he ordered Elisha to be put to death, conceiving that it was his prayer which brought these sufferings upon himself and nation. But God forewarned the prophet of his danger, and inspired him to pre- dict to the wicked king that by to-morrow ' a measure of fine flour should be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.' This assurance was not more comfortable than incredible ; but when the lord on whose hand the king leaned expressed his dis- belief, he was awfully rebuked by the assurance that he should see but not enjoy the benefit. The next night God caused the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and horses ; and conceiving that Jehoram had hired against them the kings of the Hittites and the king of Egypt, they fled from before the walls of Samaria leaving their tents filled with gold and provisions in the utmost panic and confusion. In this way did God, ac- cording to the word of Elisha, miraculously de- liver the inhabitants of Samaria from a deadly enemy without, and from sore famine within, its walls : another prediction, moreover, was accom- plished ; for the distrustful lord was trampled to death by the famished people in rushing through the gate of the city to the forsaken tents of the Syrians (2 Kings vii.). We next find the prophet in Damascus, but are not told what led him thither (B.C. 885). ELKOSH Benhadad, tho king, whose counsels he had so often frustrated, rejoiced to hear of his presence ; and now, as if he had forgotten the attempt he once made upon his life, dispatches a noble mes- senger with a costly present, to consult him con- cerning his sickness and recovery. The prophet replied that he should then die, though his in- disposition w,as not of a deadly character. Seeing moreover, in prophetic vision, that the man Hazael, who now stood before him, should be king in Benhadad's stead ; and that, as snch, he would commit unheard-of cruelties upon his country, the prophet was moved to tears. How these painful anticipations of Elisha were realized the subsequent history of this man proved. For a considerable time after Elisha had sent to anoint Jehu king over Israel we find no men- tion of him in the sacred record. We have reason to suppose that he was utterly neglected by Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Joash, who reigned in succession. Neither the sanctity of his life nor the stupendous miracles he wrought had the effect of reforming the nation at large : much of the time of his latter years was, doubtless, spent in the schools of the prophets. At length, worn out by his public and private labours, and at the age of 90 during 60 of which he is supposed to have prophesied he is called into eternity. Nor was the manner of his death inglorious ; though he did not enter into rest as did Elijah (2 Kings xiii. 14, &c.). Amongst his weeping attendants was Joash, the king of Israel. He was probably stung with remorse for having so neglected to acknowledge his national worth ; yet, though late, God does not suffer this public recognition of his aged and faithful servant to go unrequited. The spirit of prophecy again entering the dying Elisha, he informed Joash that he should prevail against the Syrians. Even after death God would put honour upon Elisha : a dead body having touched his bones came to life again. (2 Kings xiii. 21.) Elisha was not less eminent than his predeces- sor Elijah. His miracles are various and stu- pendous, and, like those which were wrought by Christ, were on the whole of a merciful character. In this they were remarkably distinguished, in many instances, from the miracles of Elijah. ELIS'HAH, a son of Javan (Gen. x. 4), who seems to have given name to 'the isles of Elishah,' which are described as exporting fabrics of pur- ple and scarlet to the markets of Tyre (Ezek. xxvii. 7). If the descendants of Javan peopled Greece, we may expect to find Elishah in some province of that country ; but no certainty can be arrived at on the subject. ELISH'EBA, covenant-God: wife of Aaron, and hence the mother of the priestly family (Exod. vi. 23). EL'KANAH, God the Creator. Several persons of this name are mentioned in Scripture, as a son of Korah (Exod. vi. 24 ; 1 Chron. vi. 23) ; the father of Samuel (1 Sam. i. 1, seq. ; ii. 11-20; 1 Chron. vi. 27) ; a friend of king Ahab (2 Chron. xxviii. 7); one of David's heroes (1 Chron. xii. 6) ; Levites (1 Chron. vi. 23, 25, 26, 27 ; xv. 23). EL'KOSH. The prophet Nahum is called an Elkoshite, that is a native of some place culled Elkosh (Nahum i. 1). There was a village of this name in Galilee in the time of Jerome ; but the prophet was more probably born of Jewish exiles at Elkosh or Alkush in Assyria, near ENDOR 291 Mosul. The Jews themselves believe that he was born and buried there ; and Jewish pilgrims from all parts still visit his alleged tomb. Al- kosh is thirty-four miles north of Mosul (Nine- veh), and is situated a little way up the side of a mountain, in the range to which it gives its name. j It is entirely inhabited by Chaldee Christians, who have a convent higher up the mountains. ELLA'SAR, a territory in Asia, whose king, Arioch, was one of the four who invaded Canaan in the time of Abraham (Gen. xiv. 1). The as- sociation of this king with those of Elam and Shinar, indicates the region in which the king- dom should be sought; but nothing further is known of it, unless it be the same as Thelassar mentioned in 2 Kings xix. 12 [THELASSAR]. E'LON, of the tribe of Zebulon, who judged Israel ten years. He was preceded by Ibzan of Bethlehem, and succeeded by Abdon of Ephraim. The whole period covered by their administration was twenty-five years (from B.C. 1190 to 1174); but it is probable that they were for a part of this time contemporary, each exer- cising authority over a few of the tribes. They appear to have overawed the enemies of Israel by their judicious administration ; for no war is mentioned in their time (Judg. xii. 8-1 5). E'LUL, Neh. vi. 15, is the name of that month which was the sixth of the ecclesias- tical, and twelfth of the civil, year of the Jews, and which began with the new moon of our September. According to the Megillat Taanith, the 1 7th day of this month was a public fast for the death of the spies who brought back a bad report of the land (Num. xiv. 37). EL'YMAS, an appellative supposed to mean a wise man, applied to a Jew named Bar-Jesus, mentioned in Acts xiii. 6-11. Chrysostom ob- serves, in reference to the blindness inflicted by the Apostle on Bar-Jesus, that the limiting clause '/or a season,' shows that it was not intended so much for the punishment of the sorcerer as for the conversion of the deputy. EMBALMING. [BURIAL.] EMERALD, Nophech, a precious stone, named in Exod. xxviii. 18 ; xxxix. 11 ; Ezek. xxvii. 16 ; xxviii. 13 ; in all of which places it is rendered Emerald in the Authorized Version. The Sept. and Josephus render it by Carbuncle. This name, denoting a live coal, the ancients gave to several glowing red stones resembling live coals, particularly rubies and garnets. The most valued of the carbuncles seems, however, to have been the Oriental garnet, a transparent red stone, with a violet shade, and strong vitreous lustre. It was engraved upon and was probably not so hard as the ruby, which, indeed, is the most beautiful and costly of the precious stones of a red colour, but is so hard that it cannot easily be subjected to the graving-tool. The Hebrew nopheck, in the breastplate of the high-priest, was certainly an engraved stone ; and there is no evidence that the ancients could engrave the ruby, although this has in modern times been accomplished. Upon the whole, the particular kind of stone denoted by the Hebrew word must be regarded as uncertain. EMERODS, a painful disease with which the Philistines were afflicted (1 Sam. v. 6). E'MIM, a numerous and gigantic race of people who, in the time of Abraham, occupied the country beyond the Jordan, afterwards possessed by the Moabites (Gen. xiv. 5; Deut: ii. 10). EMMA'US (hot baths'), a village 60 stadia, or ?i miles, from Jerusalem, noted for our Lord's interview with two disciples on the day of his resurrection (Luke xxiv. 13). The same place is mentioned by Josephus (De Bell. Jt/d. vii. G. 6), and placed at the same distance from Jerusa- lem, in stating that Vespasian left 800 soldiers in Judaea, to whom he gave the village of Emmaus. The site is not now known. The other Emmaus, also called Nicopolis, is identified with Luisun, about midway between Jerusalem and Ramleh. There was another Emmaus, near Tiberias, on the lake of the same name, where the hot baths which gave name to it are still frequented, and have a temperature of 130 Fahrenheit. Neither of these places is named in Scripture. EN, properly AIN, a word signifying ' foun- tain ;' and hence entering into the composition of sundry local names, which are explained under AIN. ENCAMPMENTS. Of the Jewish system of encampment the Mosaic books have left a detailed description. From the period of the sojourn in the wilderness to the crossing of the Jordan the twelve tribes were formed into four great armies, encamping in as many fronts, or forming a square, with a great space in the rear, where the taber- nacle of the Lord was placed, surrounded by the tribe of Levi and the bodies of carriers, &c., by the stalls of the cattle and the baggage : the four fronts faced the cardinal points while the march was eastward, but as Judah continued to lead the van, it follows that when the Jordan was to be crossed the direction became westward, and there- fore the general arrangement, so far as the car- dinal points were concerned, was reversed. It does not appear that, during this time, Israel ever had lines of defence thrown up; but in after ages, when only single armies came into the field, it is probable that the castral disposition was not in- variably quadrangular ; and, from the many positions indicated on the crests of steep moun- tains, the fronts were clearly adapted to the ground and to the space which it was necessary to occupy. The rear of such positions, or the square camps in the plain, appear from the mar- ginal reading of 1 Sam. xvii. 20, and xxvi. 5, to have been enclosed with a line of carts or chaiiots, which, from the remotest period, was a practice among all the nomade nations of the north. The book of Numbers is so explicit on the subject of encampment, and the march of the Israelites, that no particular explanation seems to be necessary. ENCHANTMENTS. [DIVINATION.] EN'DOR (house-fountain) ; a town of Galilee, assigned to Manasseh, although lying beyond the limits of that tribe (Josh. xvii. 11). It is men- tioned in connection with the victory of Deborah and Barak (Ps. Ixxxiii. 10) ; but is chiefly me- morable as the abode of the sorceress whom Saul consulted on the eve of the battle in which he perished (1 Sam. xxviii. 7, sq.). The name is not found in the New Testament; but in the time of Eusebius and Jerome the place still ex- isted as a large village, four miles south of Mount Tabor. At this distance, on the northern slope of the lower ridge of Hermon, a village with this name still exists. U2 292 ENGINES OF WAR EN-EGLA'IM (calves' fountain); a town of Moab (Ezek*xlvii. 10), which Jerome places at the northern end of the Dead Sea, at the influx of the Jordan. EN-GAN'NIM (garden? fountain}. 1. A town of Judah (Josh. xv. 34), which Jerome places near Beth-el. 2. A Levitical city in Issachar (Josh. xix. 21 ; xxi. 29), probably the same as the Ginaen of Josephus (Antiq. xx. 6, 1), and which Biddulph (in Purchas, vol. ii. p. 135) iden- tifies with the present Jenin, a town 15 miles south of Mount Tabor, and which he and others describe as still a place of gardens and abundant water. 3. Jerome mentions another place, called En-gannim, beyond the Jordan, near Geraza ; ' and the name seems, indeed, to have been very ! common for places where water, and consequently , gardens, abounded. EN-GE'DI (kids' fountain}, a city of Judah, which gave its name to a part of the desert to which David withdrew for fear of Saul (Josh. xv. 62 ; 1 Sam. xxiv. 1-4). Its more ancient Hebrew name was Hazezon-tamar ; and by that name it is mentioned before the destruction of Sodom, as being inhabited by the Amorites, and near the cities of the plain (Gen. xiv. 7). In 2 Chron. xx. 1, 2, bands of the Moabites and Ammonites are described as coming up against king Jehoshapbat, apparently round the south end of the Dead Sea, as far as En-gedi. And this, as we learn from Dr. Robinson, is the route i taken by the Arabs in their marauding expedi- , tions at the present day. It has been identified _ with the Ain-jidy of the Arabs, situated at a f point of the western shore, nearly equidistant from both extremities of the lake. The site lies among the mountains which here confine the lake, a considerable way down the descent to its shore. Here is the beautiful fountain of Ain- '. jidy, bursting forth at once in a fine stream upon a sort of narrow terrace or shelf of the mountain, above 400 feet above the level of the lake. The whole of the descent below appears to have been once terraced for tillage and gardens; and near the foot are the ruins of a town, exhibiting nothing of particular interest, and built mostly of unhewn stones. This we may conclude to i have been the town which took its name from I the fountain. THE WILDERNESS OF EN-GEDI is doubtless | the immediately neighbouring part of the wild \ region, west of the Dead Sea, which must be tra- \ versed to reach its shores. It was here that i David and his men lived among the ' rocks of 1 the wild goats,' and where the former cut off the skirts of Saul's robe in a cave (1 Sam. xxi. 1-4). ' On all sides,' says Dr. Robinson, ' the country is full of caverns, which might then serve as lurking-places for David and his men, as they do for outlaws at the present day.' ENGINES OF WAR were certainly, known much earlier than the Greek writers appear to admit, since figures of them occur in Egyptian monuments, where two kinds of the testudo, or pent-house, used as shelters for the besiegers, are represented, and a colossal lance, worked by men who, under the cover of a testudo, drive the point between the stones of a city wall. The chief projectiles were the catapulta for throwing darts, and the balista for throwing stones. Both these kinds of instruments were prepared by ENOCH Uzziah for the defence of Jerusalem (2 Chroo. xxvi. 15), and battering the wall is mentioned in the reign of king David (2 Sam. xx. 15): but the instrument itself for throwing it down may have been that above-noticed, and not the bat- tering-ram. The ram was, however, a simple- machine, and capable of demolishing the strongest walls, provided access to the foot was practicable : for the mass of cast metal which formed the head could be fixed to a beam lengthened sufficiently to require between one and two hundred men to lift and impel it ; and when it was still heavier, and hung in the lower floor of a moveable tower, it became a most formidable engine of war one 166. [Battering Ram.] used in all great sieges from the time of Deme- trius, about B.C. 306, till long after the invention of gunpowder. Towers of this kind were largely used at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. Of the balistee and catapultaj it may be proper to add that they were of various powers. For battering walls there were some that threw stones of fifty, others of one hundred, and some of three hundred weight ; in the field of battle they were of much inferior strength. Darts varied similarly from small beams to large arrows, and the range they had, exceeded a quarter of a mile, or about 450 yards. All these engines were constructed upon the principle of the sling, the bow, or the spring, the last being an elastic bar, bent back by a screw or a cable of 167. [Balista.] sinews, with a trigger to set it free, and con- trived either to impel darts by its stroke, or to throw stones from a kind of spoon formed towards the summit of the spang. E'NOCH (initiated). Four persons bearing this name are mentioned in the Old Testament. the most distinguished of whom was the son of Jared and father of Methuselah. According to ENOCH, BOOK OP the Old Testament, he walked with God ; and, after 365 years, he was not, for God took him 'Gen. v. 24). The inspired writer of the Epistle :o the Hebrews says, ' By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him' (xi. 5). Walking with God implies the closest fellowship with Jehovah which it is possible for a human being to enjoy on earth. As a reward, therefore, of his extraordinary sanctity, he was transported into heaven without the experience of death. Elijah was in like manner translated ; and thus was the doctrine of immortality palpably taught under the ancient dispensation. ENOCH, BOOK OF. The interest that once attached to the apocryphal book of Enoch has now partly subsided. Yet a document quoted, as is generally believed, by an inspired apostle, can never be wholly devoid of importance or utility in sacred literature. With regard to the author of the book and the time when it was written, various conflicting opinions have been promulgated. Without entering into the controversy, we may state that it seems to us to have been composed a little before Christ's appearance, by a Jew who had studied well the book of Daniel. Several cir- cumstances render it apparent that it was ori- ginally composed in the Hebrew or Chaldee language. The Greek translation, in which it was known to the fathers, appears to be irrecoverably lost. There is no trace of it after the eighth century. The leading object of the writer, who was manifestly imbued with deep piety, was to com- fort and strengthen his contemporaries. He lived in times of distress and persecution, when the enemies of religion oppressed the righteous. The outward circumstances of the godly were such as to excite doubts of the divine equity in their minds, or at least to prevent it from having that hold on their faith which was necessary to sustain them in the hour of trial. In accordance with this, the writer exhibits the reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked. To give greater authority to his affirmations, he puts them into the mouth of Enoch. Thus they have all the weight belonging to the character of an eminent prophet and saint. Various digressions are not without their bearing on the author's main purpose. The narrative of the fallen angels and their punishment, as also of the flood, exemplifies the retributive justice of Jehovah ; while the Jewish history, continued down to the Maccabees, exhibits the final triumph of His people, notwithstanding all their vicissitudes. Doubtless the author lived amid fiery trial ; and, looking abroad over the desolation, sought to cheer the sufferers by the consideration that they should be recompensed in another life. As for their wicked oppressors, they were to experience terrible judgments. The writer seems to delight in uttering dire anathemas against the wicked. It is plain that the book grew out of the time when the author lived, and the circumstances by which he was surrounded. It gives us a glimpse not only of the religious opinions, but also of the general features that characterized the period. The question, Did Jude really quote the book of Enoch ? has given rise to a good deal of dis- ENOCH, BOOK OF 293 cussion. Some are most unwilling to believe I that an inspired writer could cite an Apocryphal production. Such an opinion destroys, in their j ; view, the character of the writing said to be in- j spired, and reduces it to the level of an ordinary composition. But this is preposterous. The Apostle Paul quotes several of the heathen poets ; ' yet who ever supposed that by such references ' he sanctions the productions from which his cita- ! tions are made, or renders them of greater value ? All that can be reasonably inferred from such a i fact is, that if the inspired writer cites a parti- cular sentiment with approbation, it must be re- ' garded as just and right, irrespective of the ; , remainder of the book in which it is found. The ; i Apostle's sanction extends no farther than the passage to which he alludes. Other portions of \ , the original document may exhibit the most absurd and superstitious notions. Others suppose that Jude quoted a traditional prophecy or saying of Enoch, and we see no-im- probability in the assumption. Others, again, believe that the words apparently cited by Jude were suggested to him by the' Holy Spirit. But surely this hypothesis is unnecessary. Until it can be shown that the book of Enoch did not exist in the time of Jude, or that his quoting it is unworthy of an Apostle, or that such know- ledge was not handed down traditionally within the Apostle's reach, we abide by the opinion that Jude really quoted the book of Enoch. While there are probable grounds for believing that Jude might have become acquainted with the circumstance independently of inspiration, we ought not to have recourse to the hypothesis of immediate suggestion. On the whole, it is most likely that the book of Enoch existed before the time of Jade, and that the latter really quoted it in accordance with the current tradition. If so, the prophecy ascribed to Enoch was truly as- cribed to him, because it is scarcely credible that Jude writing by inspiration would have sanctioned a false statement. Presuming that it was written by a Jew, the book before us is an important document in the history of Jewish opinions. It indicates an essential portion of the Jewish creed before the appearance of Christ ; and assists us in comparing the theological views of the later with those of the earlier Jews. It also serves to establish the fact that some doctrines of great importance in the eyes of evangelical Christians ought not to be regarded as the growth of an age in which Christianity had been corrupted by the inventions of men. We would not appeal to it as possessing authority. The place of authority can be as- signed to the Bible alone. But apart, from all ideas of authority, it may be fairly regarded as an index of the state of opinion at the time wlieu it was written. Hence it subserves the con- firmation of certain opinions, provided they can be shown to have a good foundation in the word of God. If it be conceded that certain doctrines are contained by express declaration or fair inference in the volume of inspiration, it is i surely some attestation of their truth that they ; lie on the surface of this ancient book. Let us briefly allude to several representations which occur in its pages : 1. Respecting the nature of the Deity. There are distinct allusions to a plurality in the God- \ 294 EPAPHEODITUS head. The doctrine of the Trinity seems to have been received by the writer and his con- temporaries. lu accordance with this view Christ is repre- sented as existing from eternity : as the object of invocation and worship; and as the supreme Judge of men and angels. 2. The doctrine of a future state of retribution is implied in many passages, and the eternity of future punishment is also distinctly contained in it Whatever value may be attached to tke theo- logical opinions expressed in the book of Enoch, it is apparent from these statements that certain sentiments to which evangelical Christians assign a high importance, because, in their view, they are contained in Scripture, appear to have pre- vailed at the commencement of the Christian era. To the serious inquirer they can never be of trifling interest. E'NON. [^ENON.] EN-RO'GEL. The name means Foot-fountain, and is construed by the Targum into ' Fuller's Fountain,' because the fullers trod the clothes there with their feet. It was near Jerusalem, on the boundary-line between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (Josh. xv. 7; xviii. 6; 2 Sam. xvii. 17; 1 Kings i. 9). It has been usually supposed the same as the Fountain of ; Siloam. But Dr. Robinson is more inclined to find it in what is called by Frank Christians the Well of Nehemiah, but by the native inhabitants the Well of Job. There are only three sources, or rather receptacles of living water, now acces- sible at Jerusalem, and this is one of them. It is situated just below the junction of the Valley of Hinnom with that of Jehoshaphat It is a very deep well, measuring 125 feet in depth; 50 feet of which were, at the time of Dr. Robinson's visit (in the middle of April), nearly full of water. The water is sweet, but not very cold, and at the present day is drawn up by the hand. ENSIGNS. [STANDARDS.] EPENE'TUS, a Christian resident at Rome when Paul wrote his Epistle to the Church in that city, and one of the persons to whom he sent special salutations (Rom. xvi. 5). In the re- ceived text he is spoken of as being 'the first fruits of Achaia ;' but ' the first fruits of Asia ' is the reading of the best MSS. EP'APHRAS, an eminent teacher in the church at Colossac, denominated by Paul 'his dear fellow-servant,' and ' a faithful minister of : Christ' (Coloss. i. 7; iv. 12). From Paul's Epistle to Philemon it appears that he suffered imprisonment with the Apostle at Rome. It has been inferred from Coloss. i. 7, that he was the founder of the Colossian Church, and most pro- bably he was one of its earliest and most zealous , instructors. EPAPHRODI'TUS, a messenger of the church at Philippi to the Apostle Paul during his im- prisonment at Rome, who was entrusted with their contributions for his support (Phil. ii. 25 ; iv. 18). Paul's high estimate of his character is shown by an accumulation of honourable epithets, and by fervent expressions of gratitude for his recovery from a dangerous illness brought on in part by a generous disregard of his personal welfare in ministering to the Apostle (Phil. ii. 30;. Epaphroditus, on his return to Philippi, EPHESIANS was the bearer of the epistle which forms part of the canon. EPHAH, a dry measure of capacity, equi- valent to the bath for liquids. It contained three pecks and three pints. [WEIGHTS AND MEA- SURES.] EPHE'SIANS, EPISTLE TO THE. This Epistle expressly claims to be the production of the Apostle Paul (i. 1; iii. 1); and this claim the writer in the latter of these passages follows up by speaking of himself in language such as that Apostle is accustomed to use in describing his own position as an ambassador of Christ (iii. 1, 3, 8, 9). Th3 justice of this claim seems to have been universally admitted by the early Christians, and it is expressly sanctioned by se- veral of the fathers of the second and third cen- turies. The question to whom was this Epistle ad- dressed has received different answers. Grotius, reviving the opinion of the ancient heretic Mar- cion, maintains that the party addressed in this Epistle was the church at Laodicea, and that we have in this the Epistle to that church which is commonly supposed to have been lost ; whilst others contend that this was addressed to no church in particular, but was a sort of circular letter, intended for the use of several churches, of which Ephesus may have been the first or centre. Without entering into a minute consideration of these theories, which our limits will not permit, we may remark that both are unsupported by satisfactory evidence, and that we fully concur in the common opinion that the party to whom this Epistle was sent was the church at Ephesus. The Epistle is so much the utterance of a mind overflowing with thought and feeling that it does not present any precisely marked divi- sions under which its different parts may be ranked. After the usual apostolic salutation Paul breaks forth into an expression of thanks- giving to God and Christ for the scheme of re- demption (i. 3-10), from which he passes to speak of the privileges actually enjoyed by him- self and those to whom he was writing, through Christ (i. 11-23). He then reminds the Ephe- sians of their former condition when they were without Christ, and of the great change which, through divine grace, they had experienced (ii. 1-22). An allusion to himself as enjoying by divine revelation the knowledge of the mystery of Christ leads the Apostle to enlarge upon the dignity of his office and the blessed results that were destined to flow from the exercise of it to others (iii. 1-12). On this he grounds an ex- hortation to his brethren not to faint on account of his sufferings for the Gospel, and affectionately invokes on their behalf the divine blessing, con- cluding this, which may be called the more doctrinal part of his Epistle, with a doxology to God (iii. 13-21). What follows is chiefly horta- tory, and is directed partly to the inculcation of general consistency, stedfastness in the faith, and propriety of deportment (iv. 1 ; v. 21), and partly to the enforcement of relative duties (v. 22 ; vi. 9). The Epistle concludes with an animated exhortation to fortitude, watchfulness and prayer, followed by a reference to Tychicus as the bearer of the Epistle, and by the usual apostolic benediction (vi. 10-24). EPHESUS This Epistle was written during the earlier part of the Apostle's imprisonment at Rome, at the same time with that to the Colossians [CoLOS- SIANS, EPISTLE TO THE]. EPH'ESUS, an old and celebrated city, capital of Ionia, one of the twelve Ionian cities in Asia Minor in the Mythic times. It lay on the river Cayster, not far from the coast of the Icarian sea, between Smyrna and Miletus. It was also one of the most considerable of the Greek cities in Asia Minor ; but while, about the epoch of the introduction of Christianity, the other cities de- clined, Ephesus rose more and more. It owed its prosperity in part to the favour of its go- vernors, for Lysimachus named the city Arsinoe, in honour of his second wife, and Attalus Phila- delphus furnished it with splendid wharfs and docks ; in part to the favourable position of the place, which naturally made it the emporium of Asia on this side the Taurus. Under the Romans Ephesus was the capital not only of Ionia, but of the entire province of Asia, and bore the honourable title of the first and greatest metropolis of Asia. In the days of Paul Jews were found settled in the city in no inconsiderable number, and from them the Apostle collected a Christian community (Acts xviii. 19 ; xix. J ; xx, 16), which, being fostered and extended by the hand of Paul himself, became the centre of Christianity in Asia Minor. On leaving the city the Apostle left Timothy there (1 Tim. i. 3) : at a later period, according to a tradition which prevailed extensively in ancient times, we find the Apostle John in Ephesus, where he employed himself most diligently for the spread of the Gospel, and where he not only died, at a very old age, but was buried, with Mary the mother of the Lord. In the book of Revelations (ii. 1) a favourable testimony is borne to the Christian churches at Ephesus. The classic celebrity of this city is chiefly owing to its famous temple, and the goddess in whose honour it was built, namely, ' Diana of the Ephesians.' This goddess has been already noticed, and a figure given of her famous image at Ephesus [ DIANA]. Around the image of the goddess was after- wards erected, according to Callimachus, a large and splendid temple. This temple was burnt down on the night in which Alexander was born, by an obscure person of the name of Eratostratus, who thus sought to transmit his name to pos- terity ; and, as it seemed somewhat unaccountable that the goddess should permit a place which re- dounded so much to her honour to be thus reck- lessly destroyed, it was given out that Diana was so engaged with Olympias, in aiding to bring Alexander into the world, that she had no time nor thought for any other concern. At a subse- quent period, Alexander made an offer to re- build the temple, provided he was allowed to inscribe his name on the front, which the Ephe- sians refused. Aided, however, by the whole of Asia Minor, they succeeded in erecting a still more magnificent temple, which the ancients have lavishly praised and placed among the seven wonders of the world. It took two hundred and twenty years to complete. It was built of cedar, cypress, white marble, and even gold, ivith which it glittered. Costly and magnificent offerings of various kinds were made to the EPHESUS 295 goddess, and treasured in the temple ; such as paintings, statues, &c., the value of which almost exceeded computation. The fame of the temple, of the goddess, and of the city itself, was spread not only through Asia but the world, a celebrity which was enhanced and diffused the more readily because sacred games were practised there, which called competitors and spectators from every country. Among his other enormities Nero is said to have despoiled the temple of Diana of much of its treasure. It continued to conciliate no small portion of respect, till it was finally burnt by the Goths in the reign of Gal- lienus. The 'silver shrines' of the Ephesian Artemis, mentioned in Acts xix. 24, have been already noticed [DEMETRIUS, 3]. Ephesus was celebrated for the constant use of those arts which pretend to lay open the secrets ' of nature, and arm the hand of man with super- natural powers, no less than for the refinements of a voluptuous and artificial civilization. In- j deed, in the age of Jesus and his Apostles, adepts in the occult sciences were numerous : they travelled from country to country, and were found in great numbers in Asia, deceiving the credulous multi- tude and profiting by their expectations. They were sometimes Jews, who referred their skill and even their forms of proceeding to Solomon, : who is still regarded in the East as head or j prince of magicians (Acts viii. 9 ; xiii. 6, 8). Tn ! Asia Minor Ephesus had a high reputation for j magical arts. The books mentioned Acts xix. 19, were doubtless books of magic. How extensively they were in use may be learnt from the fact that ' the price of them ' was ' fifty thousand pieces of silver.' Very celebrated were the Ephesian letters, which appear to have been a sort of magical formula; written on paper or parchment, designed to be fixed as amulets on different parts of the body, such as the hands and the head. Erasmus says that they were certain signs or marks which rendered their possessor victorious in everything. The ruins of Ephesus lie two short days' journey from Smyrna, in proceeding from which towards the south-east the traveller passes the pretty village of Sedekuy ; and two hours and a half onwards he comes to the ruined village of Danizzi, on a wide, solitary, uncultivated plain, beyond which several burial-grounds may be observed; near one of these, on an eminence, are the supposed ruins of Ephesus, consisting of j shattered walls, in which some pillars, archi- traves, and fragments of marble have been built. The soil of the plain appears rich. It is covered with a rank, burnt-up vegetation, and is every- where deserted and solitary, though bordered by picturesque mountains. A few corn-fields are scattered along the site of the ancient city, which is marked by some large masses of shapeless ruins and stone walls. Towards the sea extends the ancient port, a pestilential marsh. Along the slope of the mountain and over the plain are scattered fragments of masonry and detached ruins, but nothing can now be fixed upon as the great temple of Diana. There are some broken columns and capitals of the Corinthian order of white marble : there are also ruins of a theatre, consisting of some circular seats and numerous arches, supposed to be the one in which Paul was 296 EPHESUS 168. [Ephesus.] preaching when interrupted by shouts of, ' Great is Diana of the Ephesians.' A splendid circus or stadium remains tolerably entire, and there are numerous piles of buildings seen alike at Pergamus and Troy as well as here, by some called gymnasia, by others temples ; by others again, with more propriety, palaces. They all came with the Koman conquest. No one but a Roman emperor could have conceived such structures. In Italy they have parallels in Adrian's villa near Tivoli, and perhaps in the pile upon the Palatine. Many other walls re- main to show the extent of the buildings of the city, but no inscription or ornament is to be found, cities having been built out of this quarry of worked marble. The ruins of the adjoining town, which rose about four hundred years ago, are entirely composed of materials from Ephesus. There are a few huts within these ruins (about a mile and a half from Ephesus), which still retain the name of the parent city, Asalook a Turkish word, which is associated with the same idea as Ephesus, meaning the City of the Moon. A church dedicated to St. John is thought to have stood near, if not on the site of, the present mosque. The tomb of St. John was in or under his church. Though Ephesus presents few traces of human life, and little but scattered and mutilated remains of its ancient grandeur, yet the environs, diver- sified as they are with hill and dale, and not scantily supplied with wood and water, present many features of great beauty. When Dr. Chandler visited Ephesus in 1764, ' Its population consisted of a few Greek pea- sants, living in extreme wretchedness, dependence, and insensibility, the representatives of an illus- trious people, and inhabiting the wreck of their greatness some the substructure of the glorious edifices which they raised ; some beneath the vaults of the stadium, once the crowded scene of their diversions ; and some in the abrupt pre- cipice, in the sepulchres which received their ashes. Such are the present citizens of Ephesus, and such is the condition to which that renowned city has been reduced. However much the Church at Ephesus may (Rev. ii. 2), in its ear- liest days, have merited praise for its ' works, labour, and patience,' yet it appears soon to have ' left its first love,' and to have received in vain the admonition ' Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works ; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.' If any repentance was produced by this solemn warning, its effects were not durable, and the place has long since afforded an evidence of the truth of prophecy, and the certainty of the divine threatenings, as well as a melancholy subject for thought to the contem- plative Christian. Its fate is that of the once- flourishing seven churches of Asia : its fate is that of the entire country a garden has become a desert. Busy centres of civilization, spots where the refinements and delights of the age were collected, are now a prey to silence, de- struction, and death. Consecrated first of all to the purposes of idolatry, Ephesus next "had Christian temples almost rivalling the pagan in splendour, wherein the image of the great Diana lay prostrate before the cross; and, after the lapse of some centuries, Jesus gives place to Mahomed, and the crescent glittered on the dome of the recently Christian church. A few more scores of years, and Ephesus has neither temple, cross, crescent, nor city, but is ' a desolation, a EPHRAIM dry land, and a wilderness.' Even the sea has retired from the scene of devastation, and a pes- tilential morass, covered with mud and rushes, has succeeded to the waters which brought up ships laden with merchandise from every part of the known world. E'PHOD, an article of dress worn by the He- brew priests. [PRIESTS.] E'PHRAIM (fruitfulness), the younger son of Joseph, but who received precedence over the elder in and from the blessing of Jacob (Gen. xli. 52 ; xlviii. 1). That blessing was an adop- tive act, whereby Ephraim and his brother Ma- nasseh were counted as sons of Jacob in the place of their father ; the object being to give to Joseph, through his sons, a double portion in the brilliant prospects of his house. Thus the descendants of Joseph formed two of the tribes of Israel, whereas every other of Jacob's sons counted but as one. There were thus, in fact, thirteen tribes of Israel ; but the number twelve is usually preserved, either by excluding that of Levi (which had no territory), when Ephraim and Manasseh are se- parately named, or by counting these two toge- ther as the tribe of Joseph, when Levi is included in the account. The intentions of Jacob were fulfilled, and Ephraim and Manasseh were counted as tribes of Israel at the departure from Egypt, and as such shared in the territorial dis- tribution of the Promised Land (Num. i. 33 ; Josh. xvii. 14 ; 1 Chron. vii. 20). At the departure from Egypt the population of the two tribes of Ephraim and Mauasseh toge- ther amounted to 72,700 men capable of bearing arms, greatly exceeding that of any single tribe, except Judah, which had somewhat more. During the wandering their number increased to 95,200, which placed the two tribes much higher than even Judah. At the Exode, Ephraim singly had 40,500, and Manasseh only 32,200 ; but a great change took place in their relative numbers during the wandering. Ephraim lost 8000, and Manasseh gained 20,500 ; so that just before entering Canaan, Ephraim stood at 32,500, and Manasseh at 52,700. One of the finest and most fruitful parts of Palestine, occupying the very centre of the land, was assigned to this tribe. It extended from the borders of the Mediterranean on the west to the Jordan on the east : on the north it had the half- tribe of Manasseh, and on the south Benjamin and Dan (Josh. xvi. 5, sq. ; xvii. 7, sq.). This , fine country included most of what was after- wards called Samaria, as distinguished from ; Judaa on the one hand, and from Galilee on the ! other. The tabernacle and the ark were depo- i sited within its limits, at Shiloh; and the pos- ' session of the sacerdotal establishment, which was a central object of attraction to all the other tribes, must in no small degree have enhanced ' its importance, and increased its wealth and po- i pulation. The domineering and haughty spirit ! of the Ephraimites is more than once indicated (Josh. xvii. 14; Judg. viii. 1-3; xii. 1) before | the establishment of the regal government; but the particular enmity of Ephraim against the other great tribe of Judah, and the rivalry be- tween them, do not come out distinctly until the establishment of the monarchy. In the election i of Saul from the least considerable tribe in Israel, there was nothing to excite the jealousy of EPISTLES 297 Ephraim ; and, after his heroic qualities had con- ciliated respect, it rendered the new king true allegiance and support. But when the great tribe of Judah produced a king in the person of David, the pride and jealousy of Ephraim were thoroughly awakened, and it was doubtless chiefly through their means that Abner was enabled to uphold for a time the house of Saul ; for there are manifest indications that by this time Ephraim influenced the views and feelings of all the other tribes. They were at length driven by the force of circumstances to acknowledge David upon con- ditions ; and were probably not without hope that, as the king of the nation at large, he would esta- blish his capital in their central portion of the land. But when he not only established his court at Jerusalem, but proceeded to remove the ark thither, making his native Judah the seat Loth of the theocratical and civil government, the Ephraimites became thoroughly alienated, and longed to establish their own ascendancy. The building of the temple at Jerusalem, and other measures of Solomon, strengthened this desire : and although the minute organization and vigour of his government prevented any overt acts of rebellion, the train was then laid, which, upon his death, rent the ten tribes from the house of David, and gave to them a king, a capital, and a religion suitable to the separate views and in- terests of the tribe. Thenceforth the rivalry of Ephraim and Judah was merged in that between the two kingdoms ; although still the predomi- nance of Ephraim in the kingdom of Israel was so conspicuous as to occasion the whole realm to be called by its name, especially when that rivalry- is mentioned. 2. EPHRAIM, a city in the wilderness of Judaea, to which Jesus withdrew from the per- secution which followed the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead (John xi. 54). It is placed by Eusebius eight Roman miles north of Jerusalem. This indication would seem to make it the same with the Ephrain which is men- tioned in 2 Chron. xiii. 19, along with Bethel and Jeshanah, as towns taken from Jeroboam by Abijah. 3. EPHRAIM, a mountain or group of moun- tains in central Palestine, in the tribe of the same name, on or towards the borders of Benjamin (Josh. xvii. 15; xix. 50; xx. 7; Judg. vii. 24; xvii. 1 ; 1 Sam. ix. 4 ; 1 Kings iv. 8). From a comparison of these passages it may be collected that the name of ' Mount Ephraim ' was applied to the whole of the ranges and groups of hills which occupy the central part of the southern- most border of this tribe, and which are prolonged southward into the tribe of Benjamin. In the time of Joshua these hills were densely covered with trees (Josh. xvii. 18), which is by no means the case at present. 4. EPHRAIM, THE FOREST OF, in which Absalom lost his life (2 Sam. xviii. 6-8), was in the country east of the Jordan, not far from Ma- hanaim. How it came to bear the name of a tribe on the other side the river is not known. EPH'RATAH, otherwise BETHLEHEM, which see. E'PHRON, a Hittite residing in Hebron, who sold to Abraham the cave and field of Machpelah as a family sepulchre (Gen. xxiii. 6). EPISTLES. In directing our inquiry first of 298 EPISTLES all towards the relation in -which the Epistles stand to the other component parts of the New Testament, we find that both the Old and New Testament have been arranged by divine wisdom after one and the same plan. All the revelations of God to mankind rest upon history. Therefore in the Old, as well as in the New Testament, the history of the deeds of God stands FIRST, as being the basis of Holy Writ ; thereupon follow the books which exhibit the doctrines and internal life of the men of God in the Old Testament the Psalms, the writings of Solomon, &c., and in the New Testament the Epistles of the Apostles ; finally, there follow in the Old Testament the writings of the prophets, whose vision extends into the times of the New Testament ; and at the conclusion of the New Testament stands its only prophetic book, the Revelation of John. In this also we must thankfully adore divine wisdom, that the Epistles, which lay down the doctrines of the Christian religion, originate, not from one Apostle alone, but from all the four prin- cipal Apostles ; so that one and the same divine truth is presented to our eyes in various forms as it were in various mirrors, by which its richness and manifold character ar^ the better displayed. The Epistles of the New Testament divide themselves into two parts the PAULINE and the so-called CATHOLIC. The PAULINE Epistles are thirteen in number ; or fourteen, if we add to them the Epistle to tbc Hebrews. The very peculiar character of the Pauline Epistles is so striking as to leave not the least doubt of their genuineness. Depth of thought, fire of speech, firmness of character these manly features, joined withal to the in- dulgence of feelings of the most devoted love and affection, characterize these Epistles. The amiable personal character of the Apostle may be most beautifully traced in his Epistles to the Philip- pians and to Philemon. All the Epistles, except the one to the Romans, were called forth by circumstances and particular occasions in the affairs of the communities to which they were addressed. Not all, however, were preserved ; it is, at least, evident, from 1 Cor. v. 9, that a letter to the Corinthians has been lost ; from Col. iv. 16, it has also been concluded though probably erroneously, since there per- haps the letter to the Ephesians is referred to that another letter to the community of Laodicea has likewise been lost. Press of business usually compelled Paul what was, besides, not uncom- mon in those times to use his companions as amanuenses. He mentions (Gal. vi. 1 1 ), as some- thing peculiar, that he had written this letter with his own hand. Paul himself exhorted the com- munities mutually to impart to each other his letters to them, and read them aloud in their as- semblies (Col. iv. 16). It is therefore probable that copies of these letters had been early made by the several communities, and deposited in the form of collections. The letters of Paul may be chronologically arranged into those written before his Roman im- prisonment, and those written during and after it ; thus beginning with his first letter to the Thessa- lonians, and concluding with his second to Timo- thy, embracing an interval of about ten years (A.D. 54-64). In our Bibles, however, the letters are arranged according to the pre-eminent parts ESAU and stations of the communities to whom they were addressed, and conclude with the Epistles to the two bishops and a private letter to Phile- mon. THE CATHOLIC EPISTLES. There is, in the first instance, a diversity of opinion respecting their name : some refer it to their WRITERS (let- 1 ters from all the other Apostles who had entered ! the stage of authorship along with Paul) ; some, ] again, to their CONTENTS (letters of no special but ' general Christian tenor) ; others, again, to the ] RECEIVERS (letters addressed to no community in ! particular). This last opinion is most decidedly' justified by passages from the ancient writers. The Pauline Epistles had all their particular directions, while the letters of Peter, James, 1 John, and Jude were circular epistles. The Epistles 2 and 3 John were subsequently added, and included on account of their shortness, and to this collection was given the name CATHOLIC LETTERS, in contradistinction to the PAULINE. ERAS'TUS, a Corinthian, and one of Paul's disciples, whose salutations he sends from Corinth to the Church at Rome as those of ' the chamber- lain of the city ' ( Rom. xvi. 23). The words so rendered denote the city treasurer or steward, an ' officer of great dignity in ancient times. We find this Erastus with Paul at Ephesus, whence he was sent along with Timothy into Macedonia (Acts xix. 22). They were both with the Apostle at Corinth when he wrote, as above, from that city to the Romans: at a subsequent period Erastus was still at Corinth (2 Tim. iv. 20), which would seem to have been the usual place of his abode. E'RECH, one of the cities which formed the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom in the plain of Shinar (Gen. x. 10). It is not said that he built these cities, but that he established his power over them; from which we may conclude that they previously existed. Bochart seeks the name in the Aracca or Ai^icha of the old geographers, which was on the Tigris, upon the borders of Babylonia and Susiana. Rosenmiiller happily conjectures that Erech probably lay nearer to Babylon than Aracca ; and this has been lately confirmed by Col. Taylor, the British resident at Bagdad, who is disposed to find the site of the ancient Erech in the great mounds of primitive ruins, indifferently called Irak, Irka, and Sen- kerah, by the nomade Arabs : and sometimes El Asayiah, ' the place of pebbles.' These mounds, which are now surrounded by the almost per- j petual marshes and inundations of the lower Euphrates, lie some miles east of that stream, about midway between the site of Babylon and its junction with the Tigris. E'SAR-HADDON. [ASSYRIA.] E'SAU (hairy, rovgk). The origin and mean- ing of the name are not quite free from ambiguity ; Simon deriving it from a word signifying covered with hair ; and some such reason as this implies, seems involved in the passage Gen. xxv. 25. Cruden, however, explains the name as meaning one who does, an actor or agent. His surname of Edom (red) -was given him, it appears (Gen. xxv. 30), from the red pottage which he asked of Jacob. Esau was the eldest son of 4 Isaac, Abraham's son' (Gen. xxv. 19) by Re- bekab, 'the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan-aram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.' ESAU The marriage remaining for some time (about 19 years: compare xxv. 20, 26) unproductive, Isaac entreated Jehovah, and she became pregnant. Led by peculiar feelings ' to inquire of Jehovah,' Rebekah was informed that she should give birth to twins, whose fate would be as diverse as their character, and, what in those days was stranger still, that the elder should serve the younger. On occasion of her delivery the child that was born first was 'red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.' Immediately afterwards Jacob was born. In process of time the different natural endow- ments of the two boys began to display their effects in dissimilar aptitudes and pursuits. While Jacob was led by his less robust make and quiet disposition to fulfil the duties of a shepherd's life, and pass his days in and around his tent, Esau was impelled by the ardour and lofty spirit which agitated his bosom, to seek in the toils, adventures, and perils of the chace, his occupa- tion and sustenance : and, as is generally the case in natures like his, he gained high repute by his skill and daring. A hunter's life is of necessity one of uncertainty as well as hardship ; days pass in which the greatest vigilance and the most strenuous exer- tions may fail even to find, much less capture, game. Esau had on one occasion experienced such a disappointment, and, wearied with his un- productive efforts, exhausted for want of sus- tenance, and despairing of capturing any prey, he was fain to turn his steps to his father's house for succour in his extremity. On reaching home he found his brother enjoying a carefully pre- pared dish of pottage : attracted by the odour of which he besought Jacob to allow him to share in the meal. His brother saw the exigency in which Esau was, and determined not to let it pass unimproved. Accordingly he puts a price on the required food. Esau was the elder, and had in consequence immunities and privileges which were of high value. The surrender of these to himself Jacob makes the condition of his complying with Esau's petition. Urged by the cravings of hunger, alarmed even by the fear of instant death, Esau sold his birth-right to his younger brother, confirming the contract by the sanction of an oath. Jacob having thus got his price, supplied the famishing Esau with needful refreshments. Arrived now at years of maturity, Esau, when 40 years of age, married two wives, Judith and Bashemath. Some unhappy feelings appear to have previously existed in the family ; for while Esau was a favourite with his father, in conse- quence, it appears, of the presents of venison which the youth gave him, Jacob was regarded with special affection by the mother. These par- tialities, and their natural consequences in un- amiable feelings, were increased and exaggerated by Esau's marriage. Even his father's preference of him may have been injuriously affected. The way was thus in some measure smoothed for the transference of the coveted birthright to the younger son. The time for the fulfilment of the compact between the brothers at length arrived. Isaac is ' sick unto death.' His appetite, as well as his strength, having failed, is only to be gratified by provocatives. He desires some savoury venison, ESAU 299 and gives the requisite instructions to Esau, who accordingly proceeds in quest of it. On this RebeLah begins to feel that the critical time has come. If the hated Hittites are not to enter with her less favoured son into possession of the family property, the sale of the birthright must now in some way be confirmed and consummated. One essential particular remained the father's bless- ing. If this should be given to Esau, all hope was gone ; for this, like our modern wills, would hand the inheritance and the accompanying head- ship of the tribe to Esau and his wives. Isaac, however, had lost his sight indeed, all his senses were dull and feeble. It was therefore not very difficult to pass oft' Jacob upon him as Esau. Rebekah takes her measures, and, not- withstanding Jacob's fears, succeeds. Isaac, in- deed, is not without suspicion, but a falsehood comes to aid Jacob in his otherwise discreditable personation of Esau. The blessing is pronounced, and thus the coveted property and ascendancy are secured. The affectionate endearments which pass between the deceiver and the abused old blind father, stand in painful contrast with the base trickery by which mother and son had accomplished their end. Esau, however, returns from the field, ap- proaches his decrepid and sightless father, de- claring who he is. ' And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who ? where is he that hath taken venison and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou earnest, and have blessed him ? yea, and he shall be blessed.' On this Esau becomes agitated, and entreats a blessing for himself ' Bless me, even me also, my father.' Urging this entreaty again and again, even with tears, Isaac at length said unto him, ' Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; and by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother ; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion that thou shalt break his yoke from oif thy neck ' (Gen. xxvii.). Thus, deprived for ever of his birthright, in virtue of the irrevocable blessing, Esau but too naturally conceived and entertained a hatred of Jacob, and even formed a resolution to seize the opportunity .for slaying him, which the days of mourning consequent on the approaching decease of their father would be likely to afford. Words to this effect, which Esau let drop, were repeated to his mother, who thereupon prevailed on her younger son to flee to his uncle Laban, who lived in Haran, there to remain until time, with it? usual effect, might have mitigated Esau's wrath Meanwhile Esau had grown powerful in Idumaea, and when, after many years, Jacob intended to return within the borders of the Jordan, he feared lest his elder brother might intercept him on his way, to take revenge for former injuries. He accordingly sent messengers to Esau, in order, if possible, to disarm his wrath. Esau appears to have announced in reply, that he would proceed to meet his returning brother. When, therefore, Jacob was informed that Esau was on his way for this purpose with a band of four hundred men, he was greatly distressed, in fear of that hostility which his conscience told him he had done some- thing to deserve. What then must have been his surprise when he saw Esau running with extended 300 ESDRAS, BOOKS OF arms to greet and embrace him ? and Esau ' fell on his neck, and kissed him, and they wept.' Jacob had prepared a present for Esau, hoping thus to conciliate his favour ; but Esau at first courteously refused the gift ' I have enough, my brother, keep that thou hast unto thyself (Gen. xxxiii.). The whole of this rencontre serves to show that if Jacob had acquired riches, Esau had gained power and influence as well as property ; and the homage which is paid to him indirectly, and by implication, on the part of Jacob, and directly, and in the most marked and respectful manner, by the females and children of Jacob's family, leads to the supposition that he had made himself supreme in the surrounding country of Idumaea. Esau from this time appears but very little in the sacred narrative. He was ready to accompany Jacob, or to send with him an escort, probably for protection, but Jacob's fears and suspicions induced him to decline these friendly offers ; and they separated on the same day that they met, afier an interview in which Jacob's bearing is rather that of an inferior to his lord than that of a brother, and Esau's has all the generousness which a high nature feels in forgiving an injury and aiming to do good to the injurer. The latter, we are merely told, ' returned on his way to Seir' (Gen. xxxiii. 16). Jacob and Esau appear together again at the funeral rites which were paid to their deceased father ; but the book of Genesis furnishes no par- ticulars of what took place. Esau is once more presented to us (Gen. xxxvi.) in a genealogical table, in which a long line of illustrious descendants is referred to ' Esau, the father of the Edomites ' (Gen. xxxvi. 43). ESDRAE'LON, PLAIN OF. [PALESTINE.] ES'DRAS, BOOKS OF (APOCRYPHA). In several manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate, as well as in all the printed editions anterior to the decree of the Council of Trent, and in many since that period, there will be found four books follow- ing each other, entitled the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th books of Ezra. The two first are the canonical books of Ezra and Nehemiah, the 3rd and 4th form the subject of the present article. They are the same which are called 1st and 2nd Esdras in the English Authorized Version. The THIRD BOOK OF EZRA is little more than a recapitulation of the history contained in the canonical Ezra, interspersed with some remark- able interpolations, the chief of which are chap, i., taken from 2 Chron. xxxv. xxxvi., part of the last chapter, from Nehem.viii., and the narration of the themes or sentences of Zorobabel and the two other young men of Darius's body-guard (3 Esd. iii. 4). The book is more properly a version than an original work. It was made use of by Josephus, who cites it largely in his Antiquities, but nothing further has been ascertained respect- ing the age either of the original or the transla- tion. This book was regarded as apocryphal by Jerome, Augustine, and others of the Fathers. It does not appear to have been included in the catalogue of any council, nor has any portion of it been read in the offices of the church. It was also rejected as apocryphal by the Council of Trent. ESTHER The FOCRTH BOOK OF EZRA is quite of a dif- ferent character from the former, and it has been even doubted whether it more properly belongs to the Apocrypha of the Old or the New Testa- ment ; but the circumstance of the author's per- sonating the celebrated scribe of that name has been supposed to have led to its obtaining a place ; in the former. It consists of a number of simili- [ tudes or visions, resembling in some passages the j Apocalypse. The descriptions are acknowledged ; to be sometimes most spirited and striking, occa- sionally rising to great sublimity of thought, energy of conception, and elegance of expression. With regard to its author and age, Jahn sup- poses the author to have been a Jew, educated in Chaldea, who borrowed his style from Daniel, and who, having become a Christian, still retained his reverence for Cabalistic traditions. He places him in the first or early in the second century. Archbishop Laurence, on the other hand, con- ceives that the author was a Jew who never changed his creed. Dr. Lee is strongly of opinion that the author of this book was contemporary with the author of the book of Enoch, or rather that both these books were written by one and the same author. It does not appear that Josephus was aware of its existence. ESH'BAAL. [ISHBOSHETH.] 1. ESH'COL (a cluster}, one of the Amoritish chiefs with whom Abraham was in alliance when his camp was near Hebron, and who joined with him in the pursuit of Chedorlaomer and his allies, for the rescue of Lot (Gen. xiv. 13, 24). 2. ESHCOL. The name of the valley in which the Hebrew spies obtained the fine cluster of grapes which they took back with them, borne ' on a staff between two,' as a specimen of the fruits of the Promised Land (Num. xiii. 24). The cluster was doubtless large ; but the fact that it was carried in this manner does not, as usually understood, imply that the bunch was as much as two men could carry, seeing that it was pro- bably so carried to prevent its being bruised in the journey. The valley of Eshcol probably took its name from the distinguished Amorite already mentioned, and is hence to be sought in the neighbourhood of Hebron. Accordingly the valley through which lies the commencement of the road from Hebron to Jerusalem is indicated as that of Eshcol. This valley is now full of vineyards and olive-yards ; the former chiefly in the valley itself, the latter up the sides of the en- closing hills. 'These vineyards are still very fine, and produce the finest and largest grapes in all the country.' ESTHER (a star), a damsel of the tribe of Benjamin, born during the Exile, and whose family did not avail itself of the permission to return to Palestine, under the edict of Cyrus. Her parents being dead, Esther was brought up by her uncle Mordecai. The reigning king of Persia, Ahasuerus, having divorced his queen, Vashti, on account of the becoming spirit with which she refused to submit to the indignity which a compliance with his drunken commands in- volved, search was made throughout the empire for the most beautiful maiden to be her successor. Those whom the officers of the harem deemed the most beautiful were removed thither, the eventual choice among them remaining with the king him ESTHER, BOOK OF self. That choice fell on Esther, who found favour in the eyes of Ahasuerns, and was advanced to a station enviable only by comparison with that of the less favoured inmates of the royal harem. Her Jewish origin was at the time un- known ; and hence, when she avowed it to the king, she seemed to be included in the doom of extirpation which a royal edict had pronounced against all the Jews in the empire. This circum- stance enabled her to turn the royal indignation upon Haman, the chief minister of the king, whose resentment against Mordecai had led him to ob- tain from the king this monstrous edict. The laws of the empire would not allow the king to recal a decree once uttered ; but the Jews were authorized to stand on their defence ; and this, with the known change in the intentions of the court, averted the worst consequences of the decree. The Jews established a yearly feast in memory of this deliverance, which is observed among them to this day [PuRiM]. Such is the substance of the history of Esther, as related in the book which bears her name. It should be observed that Esther is the name which the damsel received upon her introduction into the royal harem, her Hebrew name having been HADASSAH, myrtle (Esth. ii. 7). Esther is most probably a Persian word. According to the second Targum on Esther, ' She was called Esther from the name of the star Venus, which in Greek is Aster' The difficulties of the history of the book of Esther, especially as regards the identity of the king, have been examined under AHASCERUS, and are also noticed in the following article. ESTHER, BOOK OF, historical books of Scripture, called by the Jews Megillah Esther. In the Christian Church it has been also called Akasuerus. The Jews hold this book in veneration next to the books of Moses, and there appears to be no authentic foundation for the statement of Richard Baxter (Sainfs Eest, part iv.), that the book of Esther was treated so ignominiously by the Jews that they were in the habit of throwing it on the ground before reading it. As the subject of this book has been treated of under the article AHASUERCS, it will be sufficient to refer to that head ; only we may here observe that the book of Esther has this peculiarity among the historical books, that although the author, a Persian Jew, records a remarkable preservation from destruction of that portion of his country- men which remained in Persia after the exile, he does not refer their deliverance to the act of God, whose name is not even once mentioned. This has been explained by supposing that the author wished to avoid giving offence to the Persians, or that the whole was taken from the Persian annals, which are appealed to, ch. x. 2. The age and authorship of Esther is a question involved in much difficulty. Of the author no- thing is known, nor have we any data on which to form a reasonable conjecture. Some doubts have been thrown on the canonical authority of this book, but whatever hesitation may have been felt by some of the Christian fathers as to its authenticity, it does not appear that it was ever doubted by the Jews or by the Christian Church in its collective capacity. E'TAM, a town in the tribe of Judah, which ETHIOPIA 301 was decorated by Solomon with gardens and streams of water, and fortified by Rehoboam along with Bethlehem and Tekoa (1 Chron. iv. 3, 32 ; 2 Chron. xi. 6). From this place, accord- ing to the Rabbins, water was carried by an aqueduct to Jerusalem. Dr. Robinson inclines to find Etam at a place about a mile and a half south of Bethlehem, where there is a ruined vil- lage called Urtas, at the bottom of a pleasant valley of the same name. Here there are traces of ancient ruins, and also a fountain, sending forth a copious supply of fine water, which forms a beautiful purling rill along the bottom of the valley. It is usually supposed that ' the rock Etam,' to which Samson withdrew (Judg. xv. 8, 11), was near the town of the same name. Urtas seems too far inland for this ; there is, however, a little to the east, the Frank mountain, which (this consideration apart) would have furnished just such a retreat as the hero seems to have found. E'THAM, the third station of the Israelites when they quitted Egypt [Exoocs]. 1. ETHAN (Jirni), one of four persons (' Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol ') who were so re- nowned for their sagacity that it is mentioned to the honour of Solomon that his wisdom ex- celled theirs. In 1 Kings iv. 31, Ethan is dis- tinguished as 'the Ezrahite,' from the others, who are called ' sons of Mahol ' unless, indeed, this word Mahol be taken not as a proper name, but appellatively, for 'sons of music, dancing,' &c., in which case it would apply to Ethan as well as to the others. This interpretation is strengthened by our finding the other names as- sociated with that of Ethan in 1 Chron. ii. 6, as ' sons of Zerah,' t. e. of Ezra, the same as Ez- rahites. The evidence of identity afforded by this collocation of names is too strong to be resisted ; and we must therefore conclude that Ethan and the others, the tradition of whose wisdom had descended to the time of Solomon, are the same who, in 1 Chron. ii. 6, appear as sons of Zerah, who was himself the son of the . patriarch Judah. With this agrees the Jewish chronology, which counts them as prophets during the sojourn in Egypt. 2. ETHAN, a Levite, the son of Kishi, and one of the masters of ihe Temple music (1 Chron. vi. 44 ; xv. 17), to whom the 89th Psalm is as- cribed, and whom some interpreters suppose to be the Ethan of 1 Kings iv. 31, to whose wisdom that of Solomon is compared. ETH'ANIM. [TISRI.] ETHIO'PIA is the name by which the Eng- lish and most other versions render the Hebrew CUSH. As used among the Greeks and Romans, the word was employed, in all the latitude of its etymological meaning, to denote any of the countries where the people are of a sable, sun- burnt complexion. But we have shown in the article CCSH (to which we refer the reader) that its use in the language of Scripture is much more restricted, and that while it may sometimes include part of Southern Arabia, it for the most part exclusively designates the 'Ethiopia of Africa,' which is the subject of the present article. By Ethiopia, or African Cush, in the widest acceptation of the name, the Hebrews understood 302 ETHIOPIA the whole of the region lying south of Egypt above Syene, the modern Assouan (Ezek. xxix. 10 ; xxx. C). Its limits on the west and south were Undefined ; but they probably regarded it as extending eastward as far as the Red Sea, if not as including some of the islands in that sea, such as the famous Topaz Isle (Job xxviii. 19). It thus corresponded, though only in a vague and general sense, to the countries known to us as Nubia and Abyssinia, so famous for the Nile and other great rivers. But that part of the vast region of Cush which seems chiefly intended in these and most other passages of Scripture is the tract of country in Upper Nubia, which became famous in anti- quity as the kingdom of Ethiopia, or the state of Meroe. The Ethiopian nations generally ranked low in the scale of civilization; never- theless (to use the language of Heeren), there did exist a better cultivated, and, to a certain degree, a civilized Ethiopian people ; who dwelt in cities ; who erected temples and other edifices ; who, though without letters, had hieroglyphics ; who had government and laws; and the fame of whose progress in knowledge and the social arts spread in the earliest ages over a considerable part of the earth.' Meroe Proper lay between the river Astaboras (now the Atbara or Tacazze) on the east, and the Nile on the west. Though not com- pletely enclosed with rivers, it was called an island, because, as Pliny observes, the various streams which flowed around it were all con- sidered as branches of the Nile. Its surface ex- ceeded that of Sicily more than a half, and it corresponded pretty nearly to the present pro- vince of Atbara> between 13 and 18* N. lat In modern times it formed a great part of the kingdom of Sennaar, and the southern portion belongs to Abyssinia. Upon the island of Meroe lay a city of the same name, the metropolis of the kingdom, the site of which has been dis- covered near a place called Assur, about twenty miles N. of the town of Shendy, under 1 7 N lat. The splendid ruins of temples, pyramids, and other edifices found here and throughout the district attest the high degree of civilization and art among the ancient Ethiopians. According to Josephus, the ancient name of Meroe was Seha. Now in the Scriptures this country of African Seba is classed with the Arabian Sheba as a rich but far-distant land (Ps. Ixxii. 10). In Isa. xliii. 3, God says to Israel, ' I have given Egypt for thy ransom ; Cush and Seba in thy stead:' and in Isa. xlv. 14, 'The wealth of Egypt, and the merchandise of Cush and of the Sebai'm, men of stature, shall pass over to thee and shall be thine.' In the age of Herodotus, the countries known to us as Nubia and Sennaar were occupied by two different races, one of whom he includes under the general appellation of Ethiopians, the other an immigratory Arabian race leading, for the most part, a nomadic life. This distinction has continued down to the present day. Among the aboriginal inhabitants the first place is due to the Nubians, who are well-formed, strong, and muscular, and with nothing whatever of the negro physiognomy. They go armed with spear, sword, and a shield of the skin of the hippopo- tamus. South of Dongola is the country of the Scheygias, whose warriors are horsemen, also ETHIOPIA armed with a double-pointed spear, a sword, and a large shield (comp. Jer. xlvi. 9, the ' Cushites who handle the shield '). They were completely independent till subdued by Mehemet Ali, pacha of Egypt. It is in their country that the pyra- midal monuments which adorned the ancient Meroe are first met with. Next comes the ter- ritory of the Berbers, strictly so called, who, though speaking Arabic, evidently belong to the Nubian race. Above these regions beyond the Tacazze and along the Nile the great mass of the inhabitants, though sometimes with a mixture of other blood, may be regarded as of Arab origin. But between the valley of the Nile and the Red Sea there is still, as of old, a variety of scattered aboriginal tribes, among whom the Arabic is much less common. Some of them spread them- selves over the plains of the Astaboras, or Ta- cazze', being compelled to remove their encamp- ments, sometimes by the inundations of the river, at other times by the attacks of the dreaded zimb, or gad-fly, described by Bruce, and which he supposes to be the ' fly which is in the utmost part of the rivers of Egypt' (Isa. vii. 18). Another remarkable Ethiopic race in ancient times was the Macrobians, so called from their supposed longevity. They were represented by the ambassadors of Cambyses as a very tall race, who elected the highest in stature as king : gold was so abundant that they bound their prisoners with golden fetters circumstances which again remind us of Isaiah's description of Ethiopia and Seba in ch. xlv. 14. With regard to the ancient civilization of Ethiopia Proper, or the kingdom of Meroe, it was closely connected with the religion of the country, which was the worship of Ammon and his kindred deities, and the ' Oracles of Ammon ' were its main support. The government was in the hands of a race or caste of priests, who chose from among themselves a king ; and this form continued down to the reign in Egypt of the second Ptolemy, when Ergamenes, at that time king, massacred the priests in their sanctuary, and became absolute monarch. Of the history of Ethiopia, previous to that last revolution, only scanty information has been preserved, but it is enough to evince its high antiquity and its early aggrandizement. In the Persian period it was certainly an independent i and important state, which Cambyses in vain endeavoured to subdue. But its most flourishing era was between the years B.C. 800 and 700, when arose three potent kings, Sabaco, Sevechus, and Tarhako, or Tirhakah, who extended their con- quests over a great part of Egypt. Sevechus is supposed to have been the So or Sua king of Egypt, to whom an embassy was sent by Hoshea, king of Israel (2 Kings xvii. 4), whose reign ended B.C. 722. He was thus the contemporary of Salmanassar, king of Assyria, as was Tirhakah of the next Assyrian monarch, Sennacherib, who (about the year B.C. 714) was deterred from the invasion of Egypt merely by the rumour that Tirhakah was advancing against him (2 Kings xix. 9). There seems no reason to doubt that the remarkable prophecy in the 18th chapter of Isaiah was addressed to Tirhakah and his people, to announce to them the sudden overthrow of the Assyrian host before Jerusalem. In verse 7 almost verbatim, it is intimated that, struck at ETHIOPIA the mighty deeds of the God of Judah, this distant people should send gifts to his dwelling- place at Zion. They were, no doubt, among the ' many' who are described in 2 Chr. xxxii. 23, as having ' brought gifts unto JeTiovah. at Jeru- salem, and presents to king Hezekiah, so that he was magnified in the sight of all the nations.' But it is remarked by Gesenius that the expec- tation of the entire conversion of the Ethiopians is frequently expressed by the Hebrew prophets (Isa. xlv. 14; Zeph. iii. 10; Ps. Ixviii. 32; Ixxxvii. 4) ; and he adds, ' Those who take pleasure in tracing the fulfilment of such pre- dictions in subsequent history may find it in Acts viii. 27 (the conversion both to Judaism and Christianity of the treasurer of Queen Candace), and still more in the circumstance that Abyssinia is to this day the only great Christian state in the eastern world.' If we go back about two centuries, to the reign of Asa, king of Judah (B.C. 950), we read of Zerah, or rather Zerach, an Ethiopian going out against him with a host of a thousand thousand men and three hundred chariots (2 Chron. xiv. 9). It is doubtful whether this was an Ethiopian monarch or commander, or only a mere Cushite adventurer ; but that his army was mainly of African and not Arabian original is evident from the fact of its having included Libyans as well as Cushites (2 Chron. xvi. 8), and from the mention of war-chariots, which never were in use in Arabia. Farther back than this the records of history are silent. The state of Meroe appears to have resembled the larger states in the interior of Africa at the present day, comprising a number of different races or tribes united together by no strong poli- tical bond, but by a common form of worship, which placed the rule in the hands of the priest- hood, the dominant caste of the country. There is every reason to conclude that the separate colonies of the priest-caste spread from Meroe into Egypt; and the primaeval monuments in Ethiopia strongly confirm the native traditions reported by Diodorus Siculus, that the worship of Ammon and Osiris originated in Meroe, and thus render highly probable the opinion that commerce and civilization, science and art, de- scended into Egypt from Nubia and the upper regions of the Nile. One great cause of the early prosperity and grandeur of Ethiopia was the carry ing- trade, of which it was the centre, between India and Arabia on the one hand, and the interior of Africa, and especially Egypt, on the other. Queen Candace, who is mentioned in Acts viii. 27, was doubtless the reigning sovereign of Meroe [CANDACE], where it is likely a form of Judaism was at that period professed by a portion of the inhabitants, as seems to have been the case in the adjacent region of Abyssinia. The prophets (e.g. Isa. xi. 11) sometimes allude to the Jews who were scattered throughout Cush. Ebed- melech, the benevolent eunuch of King Zede- kiah, who showed such kindness to the prophet Jeremiah, was an Ethiopian (Jer. xxxviii. 7; comp. Acts viii. 27). Josephus calls the queen of Sheba, who visited Solomon, a queen of Egypt and Ethiopia, and with this agrees the tradition of the Abyssinians. But Sheba was undoubtedly in Arabia Felix, though it is possible that, in EUNUCH 303 remote antiquity, the sovereignty of its monarchs extended across the Red Sea to the coast of Ethiopia. EVANGELISTS. This term is applied in the New Testament to a certain class of Chris- tian teachers who were not fixed to any parti- cular spot, but travelled either independently, or under the direction of one or other of the Apos- tles, for the purpose of propagating the Gospel. Philip, one of the seven deacons, is termed the Evangelist (Acts xxi. 8). St. Paul exhorts Timothy ' to do the work of an Evangelist ' (2 Tim. iv. 5) ; and though this name is not given to Titus, the injunctions addressed to him, and the services he rendered, are so similar as to render the propriety of applying 'it to him un- questionable. In the Epistle to the Ephesians (iv. 11) the Evangelists are expressly distin- guished from the pastors and teachers. The chief points of difference appear to be that the former were itinerant, the latter stationary ; the former were employed in introducing the Gospel where it was before unknown; the business of the latter was to confirm and instruct the con- verts statedly and permanently. EVE (living), the name of the first woman. Her history is contained in that of ADAM, which see. EVENING. [DAY.] EVIL-MERO'DACH, son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who, on his accession to the throne (B.C. 562), released the captive king of Judah, Jehoiachin, from prison, treated him with kindness and distinction, and set his throne above the thrones of the other con- quered kings who were detained at Babylon (2 Kings xxv. 27 ; Jer. Iii. 31-34) [CHALDEANS]. A Jewish tradition (noticed by Jerome on Isa. xiv. 29) ascribes this kindness to a personal friendship which Evil-merodach had contracted with the Jewish king, when he was himself con- signed to prison by Nebuchadnezzar, who, on recovering from his seven years' monomania, took offence at some part of the conduct of his son, by whom the government had in the mean- time been administered. But this story was pro- bably invented to account for the fact. EUNI'CE, the mother of Timothy, a Jewess, although married to a Greek and bearing a Greek name, which signifies good victory. She was a believer in Christ, and even her mother Lois lived in the faith of the expected Messiah, if she did not live to know that he had come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth (2 Tim. i. 5 ; Acts xvi. 1). EUNUCH. This word, which we have adopted from the Greek, has, in its literal sense, the harmless meaning of ' bed-keeper,' i. e. one who has the charge of beds and bed-chambers ; but as only persons deprived of their virility have, from the most ancient times, been em- ployed in Oriental harems, and as such persons are employed almost exclusively in this kind of service, the word 'bed-keeper' became sy- nonymous with 'castratus.' In fact there are few eastern languages in which the condition of those persons is more directly expressed than by the name of some post or station in which they are usually found. The admission to the re- cesses of the harem, which is in fact the domestic establishment of the prince, gives the eunuchs .*M EUPHRATES such peculiar advantages of access to the royal ear and person, as often enables them to exer- cise an important influence, and to rise to stations of great trust and power in Eastern courts. Hence it would seem that, in Egypt, for instance, the word which indicated an eunuch was applied to any court officer, whether a cas- tratus or not (Gen. xxxvii. 36 ; xxxix. 1). Authority would be superfluous in proof of a matter of such common knowledge as the em- ployment of eunuchs, and especially of black eunuchs, in the courts and harems of the ancient and modern East A noble law, which, how- ever, evinces the prevalence of the custom prior to Moses, made castration illegal among the Jews (Lev. xxi. 20 ; Deut. xxiii. 1). But the Hebrew princes did not choose to understand this law as interdicting the use of those who had been made eunuchs by others ; for that they had them, and that they were sometimes, if not generally, blacks, and that the chief of them was regarded as holding an important and influential post, appears from 1 Kings xxii. 9 4 2 Kings viii. 6; ix. 32, 33; xx. 18; xxiii. 11; Jer. xxxviii. 7; xxxix. 16; xli. 16. Samuel was aware that eunuchs would not fail to be em- ployed in a regal court; for he thus forewarns the people, ' He (the king) will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyard, and give to his eunuchs [A. V. ' officers 'J and to his servants' (1 Sam. viii. 15). Under these circumstances, the eunuchs were probably obtained from a great distance, and at an expense which must have limited their em- ployment to the royal establishment : and this is very much the case even at present In Matt. xix. 12, the term 'eunuch ' is applied figuratively to persons naturally impotent In the same verse mention is also made of persons ' who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake ;' which is a manifestly hyperbolical description of such as lived in ; voluntary abstinence (comp. Matt. v. 29, 30) ; although painful examples have occurred (as in the case of Origen) of a disposition to interpret the phrase too literally. EUO'DIAS, a female member of the church at Philippi, who seems to have been at variance with another female member named Syntyche. Paul describes them as women who had ' la- boured much with him in the Gospel,' and im- plores them to be of one mind (Philip, iv. 2, 3). EUPHRATES, termed in Deut. i. 7, 'the great river,' where it is mentioned as the eastern boundary of the land which (ver. 8) God gave to the descendants of Abraham. In Gen. ii. 14, the Euphrates is stated to be the fourth of the rivers which flowed from a common stream in the garden of Eden. Divines and geographers have taken much trouble in order to learn the position of Eden from the geographical parti- culars given in the Bible, without remembering that probably nothing more than a popular de- scription was intended. In consequence of its magnitude and import- ance, the Euphrates was designated and known as ' the river," being by far the most considerable stream in Western Asia. Thus in Exod. xxiii. 31, we read, 'from the desert unto the river' (comp. Isa. viii. 7). It has two sources and two arms a western EUPHRATES and an eastern which rise in the mountains of Armenia. Of these streams the western is the shorter, and is called Kara Sou or Melas; the eastern is itself made up of several streams, the longest of which bears the name of Murad, or Phrat The two arms unite about three days' journey from Erzeroom, near which rise two or the tributaries that concur in forming the Phrat. Thus uniting, they give rise to the Euphrates strictly so called, which, flowing to the south, divides Armenia from Cappadocia; but, being driven westward by the Anti-Taurus and Taurus mountains, it works its circuitous way through narrow passes and over cataracts, until, breaking through a defile formed by the eastern extremity of Mons Amanus (Alma Dagh), and the north- western extremity of Mons Taurus, it reaches the plain country not far from Samosata (Schemisat), then winds south and south-east, passing the north of Syria, and the north-east of Arabia Deserta, and at length, after many windings, unites with the Tigris, and thus united finds its termination in the Persian Gulf. In conjunction with the Tigris, it forms the rich alluvial lands of Meso- potamia, over which it flows or is carried by canals, and thus diffuses abroad fertility and beauty. At Bagdad and Hillah (Babylon), the Euphrates and Tigris approach comparatively near to each other, but separate again, forming a kind of ample basin, till they finally become one at Koorma. Under the Caesars the Euphrates was the eastern boundary of the Roman empire, as under David it was the natural limit of the Hebrew monarchy. Although occasionally much more, the breadth of the Euphrates varies between 200 and 400 yards ; but for a distance of 60 miles through the Lemlun marshes the main stream narrows to about 80 yards. The general depth of the Upper Euphrates exceeds 8 feet, but is shallow enough in some places for laden camels to pass in autumn, the water rising to their bellies, or about 4J feet. In point of current it is for the most part a slug- gish stream; for, except in the height of the flooded season, when it approaches 5 miles an hour, it varies from 2j to 3, with a much larger portion of its course under 3 than above. The length of the navigable part of the river, reck- oning from Bir to Bussora, is 143 miles; the length of the entire stream, 1400 miles. It is very abundant in fish. The water is somewhat turbid ; but, when purified, is pleasant and salubrious. The river begins to rise in March, and con- tinues rising till the latter end of May. The consequent increase of its volume and rapidity is attributable to the early rains, which, falling in the Armenian mountains, swell its mountain tri- butaries ; and also in the main to the melting of the winter snows in these lofty regions. About the middle of November the Euphrates has reached its lowest ebb, and ceasing to decrease, becomes tranquil and sluggish. In ancient as -well as in modern times the Eu- phrates was used for navigation. Herodotus states that boats either coracles or rafts, floated by inflated skins brought the produce of Arme- nia down to Babylon. The trade thus carried on was considerable. A great deal of navigation is still carried on from Bagdad to Hillah, the ancient Babylon ; but the disturbed state of the country prevents any above the latter place. EXECRATION The prophets made use of the Euphrates as a figurative description of the Assyrian power, as the Nile with them represented the power of Egypt ; thus in Isa. viii. 7, ' The Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria ' (Jer. ii. 18). EUROC'LYDON. [WINDS.] EU'TYCHUS, a young man of Troas, who sat in the open window of the third floor while St. Paul was preaching late in the night, and who, being overcome by sleep, fell out into the court below. He was ' taken up dead ;' but the Apostle, going down, extended himself upon the body and embraced it, like the prophets of old '1 Kings xvii. 21 ; 2 Kings iv. 34); and when he ielt the signs of returning life, restored him to his friends, witli the assurance that ' his life was in him.' Before Paul departed in the morning the youth was brought to him alive and well. It is disputed whether Eutychus was really dead, or only in a swoon ; and hence, whether a miracle was performed or not. It is admitted that the circumstances, and the words of Paul himself, sanction the notion that the young man was not actually dead ; but, on the other hand, it is con- tended that the words of the narrator, ' taken up dead,' are too plain to justify us in receiving them in the modified sense of ' taken up for dead,' which that interpretation requires (Acts xx. 5-12). EXECRATION. The Greek word so ren- dered occurs in Num. xxiii. 8 ; xxiv. 9 ; Josh, vi. 26 ; 1 Sam. xvii. 43. It is used also in pro- fane authors to denote the imprecations which it was customary among ancient nations to pro- nounce upon their enemies for the purpose of calling down the divine wrath, branding them with infamy, and exciting against them the pas- sions of the multitude. These imprecations were chiefly pronounced by priests, enchanters, or prophets [BALAAM]. The Athenians made use of them against Philip of Macedon. They con- vened an assembly, in which it was decreed that all statues, inscriptions, or festivals among them, in any way relating to him or his ancestors, should be destroyed, and every other possible re- miniscence of him profaned ; and that the priests, as often as they prayed for the success of the Athenian affairs, should pray for the ruin of Philip. It was also customary, both among the Greeks and Romans, after having destroyed cities in war, the revival of whose strength they dreaded, to pronounce execrations upon those who should rebuild them. The Romans pub- lished a decree full of execrations against those who should rebuild Carthage. An incident some- what analogous is .related (Josh. vi. 26) after the taking of Jericho. From the words ' and Joshua adjured them at that time,' it is likely that he acted under a divine intimation that Jericho should continue in ruins, as a monument of the divine displeasure and a warning to posterity. The words ' cursed be the man (the individual) before the Lord that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho,' although transformed into an ex- ecration by the word supplied by the translators, amount to no more than a prediction that ' he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it,' that is, he shall meet with so many impe- diments to his undertaking that he shall out-live all his children, dying in the course of nature be- EXODUS 305 fore ho shall complete it. Execrations were also pronounced upon cities and their inhabitants be- fore undertaking a siege, and before engaging with enemies in war. The execrations in" the 83rd Psalm, probably written on the occasion of the confederacy against Jehoshaphat, and otlu-r instances of a like nature, partake of the execra- tions of the heathen in nothing but form, being the inspired predictions or denunciations of divine vengeance against the avowed enemies of the God of Israel, notwithstanding the proofs they had witnessed of his supremacy ; and the object of these imprecations, as in many other instances, is charitable, namely, their conversion to the true religion (ver. 18 ; see also Ps. lix. 12). EXO'DUS. The intention of Jehovah to de- liver the Israelites from Egyptian bondage was made known to Moses from the burning bush at Mount Horeb, while he kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law. Under the divine direction Moses, in conjunction with Aaron, assembled the elders of the nation, and acquainted them with the gracious design of Heaven. After this they had an interview with Pharaoh, and requested permission for the people to go, in order to hold a feast unto God in the wilderness. The result was, not only refusal, but the doubling of all the burdens which the Israelites had previously had to bear. Moses hereupon, suffering reproach from his people, consults Jehovah, who assures him that he would compel Pharaoh ' to drive them out of his land.' ' I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched- out arm and with great judgments ' (Exod. iii.-vi. 6). Then ensue a series of miracles, commonly called the plagues of Egypt (Exod. vi.-xii.) [PLAGUE]. At last, overcome by the calamities sent upon him, Pharaoh yielded all that was de- manded, saying, ' Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel ; and go serve the Lord as ye have said ; also take your flocks and your herds, and be gone.' Thus driven out, the Israelites, to the number of about 600,000 adults, besides children, left the land, attended by a mixed multitude, with their flocks and herds, even very much cattle (Exod. xii. 31, sq.). Being ' thrust out' of the country, they had not time to prepare for themselves suitable provisions, and therefore they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt. On the night of the self-same day which ter- minated a period of 430 years, during which they had been in Egypt, were they led forth from Ba- rneses, or Goshen [GOSHEN]. They are not said to have crossed the river Nile, whence we may infer that Goshen lay on the eastern side of the river. Their first station was at Succoth (Exod xii. 37). The nearest way into the Land of Pro- mise was through the land of the Philistines. This route would have required them to keep on in a north-east direction. It pleased their divine- conductor, however, not to take this path, lest, being opposed by the Philistines, the Israelites should turn back at the sight of war into- Egypt. If, then, Philistia was to be avoided, the course would lie nearly direct east, or south-east. Pur- suing this route, 'the armies' come to Etham, their next station, 'in the edge of the wilderness' (Exod. xiii. 17, sq.). Here they encamped. Dis- patch, however, was desirable. They journey 306 EXODUS day and night, not without divine guidance, for ' the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way ; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light ; to go by day and night' This special guidance could not well have been meant merely to show the way through the desert ; for it can hardly be supposed that in so great a multitude no persons knew the road over a country lying near to that in which they and their ancestors had dwelt, and which did not extend more than some forty miles across. The divine guides were doubtless intended to conduct the Israelites in that way and to that spot where the hand of God would be most signally displayed in their rescue and in the destruction of Pharaoh. 4 1 will be honoured upon Pharaoh and upon all his host, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.' For this purpose Moses is directed of God to ' speak unto the children of Israel that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, be- tween Migdol and the sea, over against Baal- zephon ; before it shall ye encamp by the sea . and they did so' (Exod. xiv. 2-4). We have already seen reason to think that the direction of the Israelites was to the east or south-east ; tnis turning must have been in the latter diieCtion, else they would Jiave been carried down towards the land of the Philistines, which they were to avoid. Let the word ' turn ' be marked ; it is a strong term, and seems to imply that the line of the march was bent considerably towards the south, or the interior of the land. The children of Israel then are now encamped before Pi-hahi- roth, between Migdol and the sea, also ' by the sea.' Their position was such that they were ' entangled in the land, the wilderness had shut them in.' A new scene is now laid open. News is carried to Pharaoh which leads him to see that the reason assigned (namely, a sacrifice in the wilderness) is but a pretext ; that the Israelites had really fled from his yoke ; and also that, through some (to him) unaccountable error, they had gone to- wards the south-east, had reached the sea, and were hemmed in on all sides. He summons his troops and sets out in pursuit all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen and his army ;' and he ' overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon ' (Exod. xiv. 9). The Israelites see their pursuing enemy approach, and are alarmed. Moses as- sures them of divine aid. A promise was given as of God that the Israelites should go on dry ground through the midst of the sea ; and that the Egyptians, attempting the same path, should be destroyed : ' and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh and all his host, upon his chariots and his horsemen' (ver. 17). Here a very extraor- dinary event takes place : ' The angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them ; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face and stood be- hind them ; and it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel ; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these ; so that the one came not near the other all the night' (ver. 19, 20). Then comes the division of the waters, which we give in the words of the sacred historian : ' And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and tlie Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong EXODUS east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pha- raoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.' Delays are now occasioned to the Egyptians ; their chariot-wheels are supernaturally taken off, so that ' in the morning-watch they drave them heavily.' The Egyptians -are troubled ; they urge each other to fly from the face of Israel. ' Then Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared ; and the Egyptians fled againtt it ; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not as much as one of them. But the .children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore: and the people feared the Lord, and believeo the Lord and his servant Moses' (ver. 28-31). Such is the bearing and import of the sacred narrative. If any intelligent reader, knowing nothing of the theories of learned men,, were to peruse the account given in Exodus with a map before him, he would, we doubt not, be led to conclude that the route of the Israelites lay to- wards the south-east, up the Red Sea, and that the spot where they crossed was at a place encir- cled by mountains on the side of the desert, and fronted by deep and impassable waters ; he would equally conclude that the writer in Exodus in- tended to represent the rescue as from first to last the work of God. Had the Israelites been at a place which was fordable under any natural influences, Pharaoh's undertaking was absurd. He knew that they were entangled, mountains behind and on either hand, while the deep sea was before them. Therefore he felt sure of his prey, and set out in pursuit. Nothing but the divine interposition foiled and punished him, at the same time redeeming the Israelites. And this view, which the unlearned but intelligent reader would be led to take, involves, in fact, all that is important in the case. But a dislike of the miraculous has had an influence, and erudi- tion has tried to fix the precise spot: whence have arisen views and theories which are more or less discordant with the Scripture, or are con- cerned with comparative trifles. So far as aver- sion to miracle has had an influence in the hypo- theses which have been given, all we shall remark is, that in a case which is so evidently repre- sented as the sphere of miracle, there is but one alternative, they who do not admit the miracle must reject the narrative ; and far better would it be to do so frankly than to construct hypotheses which are for the most part, if not altogether, purely arbitrary. A narrative obviously mira- culous (in the intention of the writer) can be explained satisfactorily on no rationalistic prin- ciples : this is not to expound but to ' wrest ' the Scriptures ; a position which, in our opinion, has been fully established, in relation to the Gospels, EXODUS against the whole of the rationalistic school of interpretation. The account now given must, as being derived immediately from the Scripture, be in the main correct. If the authority is denied, this can be done effectually by no other means than by dis- proving in general the authority of the books whence it is derived ; and it may with truth be affirmed, that no view opposed to that given can possess greater claims on our credit, while any mere sceptical opinion must rest on its own in- trinsic probability, contested, so far as it opposes the Scripture, by scriptural authority. When, however, we descend from generals to particulars, and attempt to ascertain precise loca- lities and determine details, diversity of opinion may easily arise, and varying degrees of pro- bability only are likely to attend the investiga- tion. For instance, the immediate spot which Moses proposed to reach was, we know, on the Red Sea ; but the precise line which he took de- pended of course on the place whence he set out. With difference of opinion as to the spot where the Hebrews had their rendezvous, there cannot be agreement as to the route they followed. The position of Goshen, where the Israelites were settled, we shall endeavour to fix in another article. It is enough here to say, that it was on the eastern side of the Nile, probably in the pro- vince of Esh-Shurkiyeh. Rameses was the place of rendezvous. The direct route thence to the Red Sea was along the valley of the ancient canal. By this way the distance was about thirty-five miles. From the vicinity of Cairo, however, there runs a range of hills eastward to the Red Sea, the western extremity of which, not far from Cairo, is named Jebel-Mokattem ; the eastern extremity is termed Jebel-Attaka, which, with its promon- tory Ras Attaka, runs into the Red Sea. Between the two extremes, somewhere about the middle of the range, is an opening which affords a road for caravans. Two routes offered themselves here. Supposing that the actual starting-point lay nearer Cairo, the Israelites might strike in from the north of the range of hills, at the opening just mentioned, and pursue the ordinary caravan road which leads from Cairo to Suez ; or they might go southward from Mokattem, through the Wady el Tih, that is, the Valley of Wandering, through which also a road, though less used, runs to Suez. According to Niebuhr, they took the first ; according to ancient tradition, they took the last. Sicard found traces of the Israelites in the valley. He held Rameses to be the starting- point, and Rameses he placed about six miles from ancient Cairo, where Bezaiin is now found. Here is a capacious sandy plain, on which Sicard thinks the Israelites assembled on the morning when they began their journey. In this vicinity plain is still found, which the Arabs call the Jews' Cemetery, and where, from an indefinite period, the Jews have buried their dead. In the Mokattem chain is a hill, a part of which is called Mejanat Musa, ' Moses' Station.' On another hill in the vicinity ruins are found, which the Arabs name Meravad Musa, ' Moses' Delight.' Thus several things seem to carry the mind back to the time of the Hebrew legislator. Through the valley which leads from Bezatin (the Valley of Wandering) to the Red Sea, Sicard travelled in three days. He reckons the length to be twenty' EXODUS 307 six hours, which, if we give two miles to each hour, would make the distance fifty-two miles. The valley running pretty much in a plain surface would afford a convenient passage to the mixed bands of Israelites. About eighteen miles from Bezatin you meet with Gendelhy, a plain with a fountain. The name signifies a military station, and in this Sicard finds the Suc- coth (tents) of Exodus, the first station of Moses. The haste with which they left (were driven out) would enable them to reach this place at night- fall of their first day's march. Sicard places their second station, Etham, in the plain Ramliyeh, eighteen miles from Gendelhy and sixteen from the sea. From this plain is a pass, four miles in length, so narrow that not more than twenty men can go abreast. To avoid this, which would have caused dangerous delay, the order was given to turn (Exod. xiv. 2). Etham is said (Exod. xiii. 20) to be on the edge of the wilderness. Jablonski says the word means terminus maris, the termina- tion or boundary of the sea. Now, in the plain where Sicard fixes Etham (not to be confounded with the Eastern Etham, through which after- wards the Israelites travelled three days (Num. xxxiii. 8), is the spot where the waters divide which run to the Nile and to the Gulf of Suez, and Etham is therefore truly the boundary of the sea. Here the Israelites received command to turn and encamp (Exod. xiv. 2) before Pi- bahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon. Pi-hahiroth (the mouth of the hiding-places) Sicard identifies with Thuarek (small caves), which is the name still given to three or four salt springs of the plain Baideah, on the south side of mount Attaka, which last Sicard identifies with Baal-zephon, and which is the northern boundary of the plain Baideah, while Kuiabeh (Migdol) is its southern limit. The pass which leads to Suez, between Attaka and the sea, is very narrow, and could be easily stopped by the Egyptians. In this plain of Baideah, Pharaoh had the Israelites hemmed, in on all sides. This then, according to all appearance, is the spot where the passage through the sea was effected. Such is the judgment of Sicard and of Raumer. It cannot be denied that this route satisfies all the conditions of the case. Equally does the spot correspond with the miraculous narrative fur- nished by holy writ. It is no small corroboration of the view now given from Sicard and Raumer, that in substance it has the support of Josephus, of whose account we shall, from its importance, give an abridg- ment. The Hebrews, he says (Antiq. ii. 15), took their journey by Latopolis, where Babylon was built afterwards when Cambyses laid Egypt waste. As they went in haste, on the third day they came to a place called Baal-zephon, on the Red Sea. Moses led them this way in order that the Egyptians might be punished should they ven- ture in pursuit, and also because the Hebrews had a quarrel with the Philistines. When the Egyp- tians had overtaken the Hebrews they prepared to fight them, and by their multitude drove them into a narrow place ; for the number that went in pursuit was 600 chariots, 50,000 horsemen, ana 200,000 infantry, all armed. They also seize;! the passages, shutting the Hebrews up between inaccessible precipices and the sea ; for there was on each side a tidge of mountains that terminated XI 508 EXODUS at the sea, which were impassable, and obstructed their flight. Moses, however, prayed to God, and smote the sea with his rod, when the waters parted, and gave the Israelites free passage. The Egyptians at first supposed them distracted ; but when they saw the Israelites proceed in safety, they followed. As soon as the entire Egyptian army was in the channel the sea closed, and the pursuers perished amid torrents of rain and the most terrific thunder and lightning. The opposition to the scriptural account has been of two kinds. Some writers (Wolfenb. Fragm. p. 64, sq.) have at once declared the whole fabulous ; a course which appears to have been taken as early as the time of Josephus (Antiq. ii. 16* 5). Others have striven to explain the facts by the aid of mere natural causes ; for which see Winer, Handworterbnch, in Meer Rothes. A third mode of explanation is pursued by those who do not deny miracles as such, and yet, with no small inconsistency, seek to reduce this particular miracle to the smallest dimen- sions. Writers who see in the deliverance of the Hebrews the hand of God and the fulfilment of the divine purposes, follow the account in Scrip- ture implicitly, placing the passage at Ras Attaka, at the termination of the Valley of Wandering ; others, who go on rationalistic principles, find the sea here too wide and too deep for their pur- pose, and endeavour to fix the passage a little to the south or the north of Suez. In answer to this opinion, we shall content ourselves with quoting the testimony of one or two travellers who have visited and carefully examined the spot. The following are the remarks of Mr. Blum- hardt, who passed through Suez (October, 1836), in his missionary visit to Abyssinia, ' The Red Sea at Suez is exceedingly narrow, and in my opinion it cannot be that the Israelites here ex- perienced the power and love of God in their passage through the Red Sea. The breadth of the sea is at present scarcely a quarter of an hour by Suez. Now if this be the part which they crossed, how is it possible that all the army of Pharaoh, with his chariots, could have been drowned? I am rather inclined to believe that the Israelites experienced that wonderful deli- verance about thirty miles lower down. This opinion is also strengthened by most of the Eastern churches, and the Arabs, who believe that the Israelites reached the opposite shore at a place called Gebel Pharaon, which on that ac- count has received this name. If we accept this opinion, it agrees very well with the Scripture.' | Still more important is the evidence of Dr. Olin (Travels in the East, New York, 1S43). He agrees with Robinson in fixing Etham ' on the border of the wilderness which stretches along the eastern shore of the arm of the sea which runs up above Suez.' At this point he says the Hebrews were commanded to turn. They turned directly southward and marched to an exposed position, hemmed in completely by the sea, the desert, and Mount Attaka. A false confidence was thus excited in Pharaoh, and the deliverance was made the more signal and the more impres- sive alike to the Israelites and to Egypt. Ad- mitting the possibility that the sea at Suez may have been wider and deeper than it is now, Olin n marks, ' it must still have been very difficult, if not impossible, for the army of Israel, encum- EXODUS bered with infants and aged people, as well as with flocks, to pass over (near Suez) in face of their enemies.' Besides, the peculiarities of the place must have had a tendency to disguise the character and impair the effect of the miracle. The passage made at the intervention of Moses was kept open all night. The Egyptians followed the Hebrews to the midst of the sea, when the sea engulfed them. ' The entire night seems to have been consumed in the passage. It is hardly credible that so much time should have been consumed in crossing near Suez, to accomplish which one or two hours would have been suf- ficient.' ' Nor is it conceivable that the large army of the Egyptians should have been at once within the banks of so narrow a channel. The more advanced troops would have reached the opposite shore before the rear had entered the sea ; and yet we know that all Pharaoh's chariote and horsemen followed to the midst of the sea, and, together with all the host that came in after them, were covered with the returning waves ' (i. 348). Preferring the position at Ras Attaka, Olin states that the gulf is here ten or twelve miles wide. ' The valley expands into a con- ' siderable plain, bounded by lofty precipitous ' mountains on the right and left, and by the sea \ in front, and is sufficiently ample to accommodate ! the vast number of human beings who composed ! the two armies.' ' An east wind would act almost directly across the gulf. It would be unable to co-operate with an ebb tide in removing the waters no objection certainly if we admit the exercise of God's miraculous agency ;' but a very great impediment in the way of any ra- tionalistic hypothesis. ' The channel is wide enough to allow of the movements described by Moses, and the time, which embraced an entire night, was sufficient for the convenient march of 1 a large army over such a distance.' ' The opinion ' which fixes the point of transit in the valley or wady south of Mount Attaka derives confirma- tion from the names still attached to the prin- cipal objects in this locality. Jebel Attaka means in the language of the Arabs " The Mount of Deliverance." Baideah or Bedeah, the name of this part of the valley, means " the Miraculous," while Wady el Tih means " the Valley of Wan- derings." Pi-hahiroth, where Moses was com- manded to encamp, is rendered by scholars " the mouth of Hahiroth," which answers well 15. In the year B.C. 457 Ezra was sent by ' Arta- xerxes Longimanus and his counsellors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of his God which was in his hand ; ai:d to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counsellors freely offered unto the God of Israel." Permission was also granted to him to take with him all the silver and the gold which he could find in all the province of Babylon, to- gether with the free-will offerings which the people and priests offered for the house of God at Jerusalem. Of this treasure he was directed to employ as much as was requisite in the purchase of offerings according to the law of Moses, and the surplus he was to lay out according to his discretion for the maintenance of the externals of religion. Ezra was also charged to convey vessels for the house of God in Jerusalem ; and, lest these gifts should be insufficient, he was empowered to take from the king's treasure-house as much as should be wanted to supply everything needful for the house of the Lord. At the same time tbat this commission was given to Ezra, Artaxerxes Longimanus issued a decree to the keepers of the king's treasure beyond the rirer, to assist Ezra iu everything in which he needed help, and to supply him liberally with money, corn, wine, oil, and salt. It was further enacted that it should not be lawful to impose tribute upon any priest, Levite, or other person concerned in the ministration in the house of God. Ezra was commissioned to appoint 'according to the wisdom of God which was in his hand,' magistrates and judges to judge all the people beyond the river, that knew the laws of his God ; and was enjoined to teach them to those who knew them not. The reason of the interest for the worship of God at this time evinced by Artaxerxes, appears to have been a fear of the divine displeasure, for we read in the conclusion of the decree to the treasurers beyond the river, ' Whatsoever is commanded by the God of Heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of Heaven ; FOB WHY SHOULD THERE BE WRATH AGAINST THE REALM OF THE KING AND HIS SONS?' We are also told (Ezra vii. 6) that the king granted Ezra all his request ; and Josephus informs us that Ezra, being desirous of going to Jerusalem, requested the king to grant him recommendatory letters to the governor of 314 EZRA Syria. We may therefore suppose that the dread which Artaxerxes entertained of the divine judg- ments was the consequence of the exposition to him by Ezra of the history of the Jewish people. Ezra assembled the Jews who accompanied him on the banks of the river Ahava, where they halted three days in tents. Here Ezra proclaimed a fast, as an act of humiliation before God and a season of prayer for divine direction and safe conduct ; for, on setting out, he ' was ashamed to require a band of soldiers and horsemen to help them against the enemy by the way,' because he had asserted to the king that the hand of his God is upon all them that seek him for good. Ezra next committed the care of the treasures which he carried with him to twelve of the chief priests, assisted by ten of their brethren, appointing these to take charge of the treasures by the way, and deliver them safely in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem. On the twelfth day from their first setting out, Ezra and his companions left the river Ahava, and arrived safely at Jerusalem in the fifth month, having been delivered from the hand of the enemy and of such as lay in wait by the way. Three days after their arrival the treasures were weighed and delivered into the custody of some Levites. The returning exiles offered burnt-offerings to the Lord. They de- livered also the king's commissions to the vice- roys and governors, and gave needful help to the people and the ministers of the Temple. When Ezra had discharged the various trusts com- mitted to him, the princes of the Jews came to him and complained that the Jewish people generally who had returned from the captivity, and also the priests and Levites, but especially the rulers and princes, had not kept themselves separate from the people of the land, but had done according to the abominations of the rem- nant of the nations whom their forefathers had driven out, and married their daughters, and allowed their children to intermarry with them. On hearing this Ezra was deeply afflicted ; and, according to the Jewish custom, he rent his mantle and tore the hair of his head and beard. There gathered round him all those who still feared God, and dreaded his wrath for the trans- gression of those whom he had brought back from captivity. Having waited till the time of the evening sacrifice, E?ra rose up, and, having again rent his hair and his garments, made pub- lic prayer and confession of sin. The assembled people wept bitterly, and Shecaniah, one of the sons of Elam, came forward to propose a general covenant to put away the foreign wives and their children. Ezra then arose and administered an oath to the people that they would do accord- ingly. Proclamation was also made that all those who had returned from captivity should within three days gather themselves together unto Jerusalem, under pain of excommunication and forfeiture of their goods. The people as- sembled at the time appointed, trembling on account of their sin and of the heavy rain that fell. Ezra addressed them, declaring to them their sin, and exhorting them to amend their lives by dissolving their illegal connections. The people acknowledged the justice of his rebukes, and promised obedience. They then requested that, as the rain fell heavily, and the number of transgressors was great, he would HZHA appoint times at which they might severally come to be examined respecting this matter, accompanied by the judges and elders of every city. A commission was therefore formed, con- sisting of Ezra and some others, to investigate the extent of the evil. This investigation occu- pied three months. In Neh. viii. we read that, on the occasion of the celebration of the feast of the seventh month, subsequently to Nehemiah's numbering the peo- ple, Ezra was requested to bring the book of the law of Moses ; and that he read therein standing upon a pulpit of wood, which raised him above all the people. Contradictory accounts are given by the Jewish writers as to the time and place of Ezra's death. The Talmudic statement is that he died at Zam- zuinu, a town on the Tigris, while on his road from Jerusalem to Susa, whither he was going to converse with Artaxerxes about the affairs of the Jews. A tomb said to be his, represented in the present engraving, is shown on the Tigris, about twenty miles above its junction with the Euphrates. 170. [Tomb of Ezra. Ezra is commonly regarded as the author of the books of Chronicles. But as the reasons for ascribing the books of Chronicles to the author- ship of Ezra have already been investigated in the Article CHRONICLES, we confine ourselves here to the book of Ezra. Some authors have ascribed the books of Nehemiah and Esther like- wise to Ezra, although they differ in style. [ESTHER; NEHEMIAH.] EZRA, BOOK OF. The book of Ezra contains records of events occurring about the termination of the Babylonian exile. It comprises accounts of the favours bestowed upon the Jews by Per- sian kings ; of the rebuilding of the temple ; of the mission of Ezra to Jerusalem, and his regulations and reforms. Such records forming the subject of the book of Ezra, we must not be surprised that its parts are not so intimately con- nected with each other as we might have ex- pected if the author had set forth his intention to furnish a complete history of his times. The events narrated in the book of Ezra are spread over a period of about 79 years, under the reigns of Cyrus, Cambyses, Magus, or Pseudo- Smerdis, Darius Hystaspis, Xerxes, Artaxerxes FACK (in the eighth year of whose reign the records of Ezra cease). The beginning of the book of Ezra agrees ver- batim with the conclusion of the second book of Chronicles, and terminates abruptly with the statement of the divorces effected by his authority, by which the marriages of Israelites with foreign women were dissolved. Since the book of Ezra has no marked conclu- sion, it was, even in early times, considered to form part of the book of Nehemiah, the contents of which are of a similar description. As, how- ever, the book of Ezra is a collection of detached records of remarkable events occurring at the conclusion of the exile and in the times imme- diately following it, attempting no display of the art of book-making, the mere want of an artificial conclusion cannot be considered a sufficient reason for regarding it as the first portion of Nehemiah. It is, however, likely that the similarity of the contents of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah was the cause of their being placed together in the Hebrew Bible. The arrangement of the facts in the book of Ezra is chronological. The book may be divided into two portions. The first consists of chapters i.-vi., and contains the history of the returning exiles and of their rebuilding of the temple, and comprises the period from the first year of Cyrus, B.C. 536, to the sixth year of Darius Hystaspis, B.C. 515. The second portion contains the personal history of the migration of Ezra to Palestine, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes. This latter portion, embracing chapters vii.-x., is an auto- biography of Ezra during about twelve or thirteen months, in the seventh and eighth years of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus. We have spoken thus far of the canonical book of Ezra ; there are, however, four books that have received this name, viz. the book noticed above, the only one which was received into the Hebrew canon under that name, the book of Nehemiah, and the two apocryphal books of Esdras, concerning which see ESDRAS. F. FACE, in Scripture, is often used to denote presence in the general sense, and, when applied to the Almighty, denotes such a complete mani- festation of the divine presence, by sound or sight, as was equivalent, hi the vividness of the impression, to the seeing of a fellow-creature 'face to face.' The 'face of God' therefore denotes in Scripture any thing or manner by which God is wont to manifest himself to man. It was a very ancient and common opinion that our mortal frame could not survive the more sensible manifestations of the divine pre- sence, or ' see God face to face and live ' (Gen. xxxii. 30). Hence, in this passage, the gratitude and astonishment of Jacob, that he still lived after God had manifested himself to him more sensibly than by dreams and visions. This im- pression was confirmed to Moses, who was told, ' Thou canst not see my face : no man can see my face and live ' (Exod. xxxiii. 20) ; which clearly signifies that no one can, in this present FALLOW-DEER 315 state of being, endure the view of that glory which belongs to Him (1 Cor. xiii. 12 ; 1 John iii. 2 ; Rev. xxii. 4). It is to be borne in mind that God is usually represented to us in Scripture under a human form; and it is indeed difficult for even more spiritualized minds than those of the Hebrews to conceive of Him apart from the form and attri- butes of the highest nature actually known to us. The Scripture sanctions this concession to the weakness of our intellect, and hence arise the anthropomorphous phrases which speak ot the face, the eyes, the arm of God. The appear- ances of the angels in the Old Testament times were generally in the human form (Judg. xiii. 6, &c.) ; and from this cause alone it would have been natural, in the imagination, to transfer the form of the messengers to Him by whom they were sent. FAIR HAVENS, a harbour or roadstead of Crete, the unsafeness of which to winter in, occasioned that attempt to make for Phenice, on the other side of the island, which led to the eventual loss of the vessel in which Paul sailed for Rome (Acts xxvii. 8). As the name is still preserved, there is no difficulty in fixing the situation to a small bay a little to the north-east of Cape Leon, the present Cape Matala. FALLOW-DEER. The original terms Ajal and Ajalah are rendered in our common version by the names hart and hind (Deut. xii. 1 5 ; Ps. xiii. 1 ; Isa. xxxv. 6 ; Gen. xlix. 21 ; 2 Sam. xxii. 34 ; Job xxxix. 1 ; Ps. xviii. 31 ; Prov. v. 19 ; Cant. ii. 7 ; Jer. xiv. 5 ; Habak. iii. 19). 171. [Cervus barbarus.] Sir J. G. Wilkinson believes Ajal to be the Ethiopian oryx, with nearly straight horns. But an Ethiopian species could not well be meant where the clean animals fit for the food of Hebrews are pointed out, nor where allusion is made to suffering from thirst, and to high and rocky places as the refuge of females, or of both, since all the species of oryx inhabit the open plains, and are not remarkable for the desire of drinking ; nor can either of these propensities be properly ascribed to the true antelopes, or gazellse, of Arabia and Syria, all being residents of the plain and the desert ; like the oryges, often seen at immense distances from water, and unwilling 316 FASTS to venture into forests, where their velocity of i flight and delicacy of structure impede and ; destroy them. Animals of the stag kind prefer { the security of forests, are always most robust in rocky mountain covers, and seek water with considerable anxiety ; for of all the lightfooted ruminants, they alone protrude the tongue when hard pressed in the chace. Now, comparing these qualities with several texts, we find them perfectly appropriate to the species of these genera alone. The first species here referred to is now knowii by the name of Cervus Barbarus, or Barbary stag, in size between our red and fallow deer, distinguished by the want of a bisantler, or second branch on the horns, reckoning from below, and a spotted livery, which is effaced only in the third or fourth year. This species is figured on Egyptian monuments, is still occa- sionally seen about the Natron lakes west of the Nile, and, it seems, was observed by a reverend friend in the desert east of the Dead Sea on his route from Cairo towards Damascus. We take this to be the Igial or A jal of the Arabs, the same which they accuse of eating fish that is, the neps, lizards, and snakes, a propensity common to other species, and similarly ascribed to the Vir- ginian and Mexican deer. The other is the Persian stag, or Maral of the Tahtar nations, and Gewazen of Armenia, larger than the stag of Europe, clothed with a heavy mane, and likewise destitute of bisantlers. We believe this species to be the Soegur of Asiatic Turkey, and many of the Arabs, therefore, resi- ding on the borders of the mountain forests of Syria and Palestine. One or both of these species were dedicated to the local bona dea on Mount Libanus a kind of proof that deer were found in the vicinity. Of the hind it is unnecessary to say more than that she is the female of stag, or hart, and that in the manners of these animals the males always are the last to hurry into cover. FASTS. The observance of religious fasts established itself in the world at a very early period, and is found to have prevailed in most of the nations of antiquity. In such a religion as Moses was commissioned by the creator of the world to offer to the chosen people, it was not likely that an observance which, such as fasts, seems to have had its origin in false and heathen conceptions, should hold a very prominent posi- tion, or be invested with much importance. There is but one fast enjoined by the great Hebrew law- giver. And this injunction we are disposed to place among those things which Mcses allowed rather than originated, bore with rather than approved, in consideration of the force of esta- blished custom, and from a wise fear of defeating his own good ends by attempting too much. The manner in which this observance is spoken of in Scripture (Lev. xvi. 29; xxiii. 27) seems to im- ply that it was no new institution that the law- giver was establishing, but merely an old and well known practice, to which he gave a modified sanction. Had it been otherwise, had the law been a new one, details would have been both needed and given, as is customary with Moses in his injunctions. Instead of that, the children of Israel are required in general terms to 'afflict their souls.' But this language is not only vague, it is figurative, and could have no definite mean- FASTS ing unless to persons with whom afflicting the soul was in general use. There seems, however, no reason to doubt that ' to afflict the soul,' bore with it the meaning of fasting. To a mere Eug- | lish reader the phrase seems to comprise all kinds ; of voluntary mortifications, but ' soul ' in Hebrew not seldom denotes the 'appetite' (Prov. xxvii. 7). Accordingly the words regard immediately abstinence from food, and most probably (so far as they go) nothing more. The sole fast required by Moses was on the great day of annual atonement. This observance seems always to have retained some prominence as 'the fast' (Acts xxvii. 9). But what the ob- servance of the enjoined duty involved we are nowhere expressly informed. Other general fasts, however, were in course of ages introduced, which were celebrated at fixed times every suc- cessive year. In the reign of Zedekiah, Nebu- chadnezzar besieged and captured Jerusalem, which calamity led to the establishment of a fast on the seventeenth day of the fourth month (Thammuz, July), (Jer. lii. 6, 7; Zech. viii. 19). In the last passage other fasts are enumerated, namely, ' the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth.' That of the fifth month (Ab, August) was held on the ninth day, in mournful commemoration of the burning of the city by ' Nebuzar-adan, a servant of the king of Babylon,' who ' burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house ' (2 Kings xxv. 8, sq. ; Jer. lii. 12; Zech. vii. 3-5; viii. 19). The fast of the seventh month (Tishri, October) was established to bewail the murder of Gedaliah at Mizpah (Jer. xli. 1, sq. ; 2 Kings xxv. 25). That of the tenth month (Tebeth, January) was held on the tenth day to comme- morate the commencement of the siege of Jerusa- lem on the part of Nebuchadnezzar (-2 Kings xxv. 1 ; Zech. viii. 19). On particular and signal occasions extraordi- nary fasts were appointed (Judges xx. 26 ; 1 Sam. xxxi. 11-13 ; Baruch i. 5 ; 1 Kings xxi. 9 ; comp. Jer. xxxvi. 9 ; 2 Chron. xx. 3). In Joel i. ii. a fast is enjoined with a view to turn away the wrath of God as displayed in the terrible consequences of the invasion of the land of Judaea by an army of de- vastating locusts. The notion also prevailed that a special fast might have the effect of averting the divine displeasure and securing the divine co-ope- ration in any great undertaking (Jonah iii. 5 ; 1 Sam. vii. 5, 6, 8, 10, 12; 1 Mace. iii. 47; 2 Mace. xiii. 12 ; Judith iv. 11 ; vi. 19). Local fasts were at a later period sometimes held in order to avert calamity or procure a favour from heaven ; and the Sanhedrim ordered general fasts when the nation was threatened with any great evil, such as drought or famine. There were also private fasts, though the Mo- saic law did not require them. They were held in connection with individual or family incidents, and agreed in aim and tendency with fasts of a general and public nature. Examples may be found in 1 Sam. i. 7 ; xx. 34; 1 Kings xxi. 9 ; Ez. x. 6 ; Neh. i. 4. After the exile private fasts became very frequent, awaiting the call of no special occasion, but entering as a regular part of the current religious worship. The parable of the Pharisee and Publican (Luke xviii. 9 ; comp. Matt. ix. 14) shows how much the Pharisees FASTS were given to voluntary and private fasts ' I fast twice in the week.' The first was on the fifth day of the week, on which Moses ascended to the top of Mount Sinai ; the second was on the se- cond day, on which he came down. The Essenes and the Therapeutae also were much given to such observances. Fasts were considered as a useful exercise in preparing the mind for special religious impressions. Thus Dan. x. 2, sq., ' In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth. Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold a certain man,' &c. (see also Acts xiii. 3 ; xiv. 23). From Matt. xvii. 21, ' Howbeit this kind (of demons) goeth not out but by prayer and fasting,' it would ap- pear that the practice under consideration was considered in the days of Christ to act in certain special cases as an exorcism. Fasting was ac- companied by the ordinary signs of grief among the Israelites, as may be seen in 1 Mace. iii. 47, ' Then they fasted that day and put on sackcloth, and cast ashes upon their heads and rent their clothes.' The fast ordinarily lasted from evening to evening, but was not observed on the sabbath or' on festival days. The abstinence was either partial or total. In the case of the latter food was entirely foregone, but this ordinarily took place only in fasts of short duration ; and absti- nence from food in eastern climes is more easy and less detrimental (if not in some cases posi- tively useful) than keeping from food would be with us in these cold, damp, northern regions (Esther iv. 16). In the case of partial abstinence the time was longer, the denial in degree less. When Daniel (x. 2) was 'mourning three full weeks,' he ate no 'pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth.' There does not appear to have been any fixed and recognized periods during which these fasts endured. From one day to forty days fasts were observed. The latter period appears to have been regarded with feelings of peculiar sanctity, owing doubtless to certain events in Jewish history. Thus Moses ' was with the Lord on Mount Sinai forty days and forty nights, he did neither eat bread nor drink water' (Exod. xxxiv. 28). So Elijah (1 Kings xix. 8) ' arose and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.' The same was the number of days that our Lord fasted in the desert in connection with his temptation (Matt. iv. 1-11 ; Marki. 12, 13; Luke iv. 1-13). We have already seen how qualified the sanc- tion was which Moses gave to the observance of fasting as a religious duty. In the same spirit which actuated him, the prophets bore testimony against the lamentable abuses to which the prac- tice was turned in the lapse of time and with the increase of social corruption (Isa. Iviii. 4, sq. ; Jer. xiv. 12 ; Zech. vii. 5). Continuing the same species of influence and perfecting that spirit- uality in religion which Moses began, our Lord rebuked the Pharisees sternly for their outward and hypocritical pretences in the fasts which they observed (Matt. vi. 16, sq.), and actually ab- stained from appointing any fast whatever as a part of his own religion (Matt. ix. 14). From the passage referred to this at least is clear, that Jesus ascribed to fasts no essential worth, cor required any such observance from his fol- FAT 31 ; lowers. Whether and how far he allowed fast- ing as a means of religious improvement, is a question which our space does not permit ns to discuss. That the early Christians observed the ordinary fasts which the public practice of their day sanctioned, is clear from more than one pas- sage in the New Testament Scriptures (Acts xiii. 2 ; xiv. 23 ; 2 Cor. vi. 5) ; but in this they pro- bably did nothing more than yield obedience, as in general they thought themselves bound to do, to the law of their fathers so long as the Mosaic institutions remained entire. And though the great body of the Christian Church held them- selves free from all ritual and ceremonial observ- ances when God in his providence had brought Judaism to a termination in the rasure of the holy city and the closing of the temple, yet the practice of fasting thus originated might have easily and unobservedly been transmitted from year to year and from age to age, and that the rather because so large a portion of the disciples being Jews (to say nothing of the influence of the Ebionites in the primitive church), thousands must have been accustomed to fasting from the earliest days of their existence, either in their own practice or the practice of their fathers, re- latives, and associates. FAT. In Lev. iii. there are minute details of the parts of victims which were to be spe- cially appropriated to the altar. Among these all the internal/af is minutely specified, particularly the xat of the kidneys ; and of external parts the tail of the sheep, which, in the common species of Western Asia, is a mass of fat (iii. 4, 9, 10, 15) : and the whole concludes with ' All the fat is the Lord's; ye shall eat neither fat nor blood' (iii. 17). The reason assigned, namely, that the fat was consecrated to the altar, could only upply with respect to that of animals used in sacrifice, which were also usually employed for food. One point seems to have been very generally overlooked, which is, that not fat absolutely, but particular fat parts only are interdicted. They might eat the fat involved in the muscular tissue in short, fat meat ; and we know that animals were actually fattened for food (1 Kings iv. 23 ; Jer. xlvi. 21 ; Luke xv. 23). This was, however, not a usual practice ; and even at this day iii the East, domestic cattle seldom undergo any pre- paratory feeding or fattening before being killed. Hence there is little fat in the carcass, except that belonging to the parts specified in the prohibition, which is all more or less of the nature of suet. .Various reasons have been assigned for this somewhat remarkable restriction. The secondary cause, that the fat was consecrated to the altar, and therefore was to be abstained from, is not all ; for it is usually considered that it was thus conse- crated to give a religious sanction to a prohibition expedient on other grounds. The true reason probably is, that this suet or suet-like fat is not particularly wholesome or digestible in warm climates, if anywhere, and is particularly unsuit- able for persons subject to cutaneous diseases, as the Israelites appear to have been at the time of their leaving Egypt. ' Fatness,' in Scripture, expresses plumpness or exuberance, whether in men, animals, or vege- tables ; and is hence often applied metaphorically to any kind of abundance, as to large possessions, or to excessive fertility in the earth. 318 FATHER FATHER. This word, besides its obTious and primary sense, bears, in Scripture, a number of other applications, most of which have, through the use of the Bible, become more or less common in all Christian countries. 1. The term Father is very often applied to God himself (Exod. iv. 22 ; Dent, xxxii. 6 ; 2 Sam. vii. 14; Ps. Ixxxix. 27, 28 ; Isa. Ixiii. 16 ; Ixiv. 8). In some of these passages he is set be- fore us as the Father of all men, in the general sense of creator and preserver of all men, but more especially of believers, -whether Jews or Christians. Without doubt, however, God is in a more especial and intimate manner, even as by cove- nant, the Father of the Jews (Jer. xxxi. 9 ; Isa. Ixiii. 16 ; Ixiv. 8 ; John viii. 41 ; v. 45 ; 2 Cor. vi. 1 8) ; and also of Christians, or rather of all pious and believing persons, who are called ' sons of God' (John i. 12 ; Rom. viii. 16, etc.). Thus Jesus, in speaking to his disciples, calls God their Father (Matt. vi. 4, 8, 15, 18; x. 20, 29; xiii. 43, etc.). The Apostles, also, for themselves and other Christians, call him ' Father ' (Rom. i. 7 ; 1 Cor. i. 3 ; 2 Cor. i. 2 ; Gal. i. 4 ; and many other places). 2. father is applied to any ancestor near or remote, or to ancestors ('fathers') in general. The progenitor, or founder, or patriarch of a tribe or nation, was also pre-eminently its father, as Abraham of the Jews. Examples of this abound. See, for instance, Deut. i. 1 1 ; 1 Kings viii. 2 1 ; Matt. iii. 9 ; xxiii. 30 ; Mark xi. 10 ; Luke i. 32, 73 ; vL 23, 26 ; John vii. 22, &c. 3. Father is also applied as a title of respect to any head, chief, ruler, or elder, and especially to kings, prophets, and priests (Judg. xvii. 10 ; xviii. 19 ; 1 Sam. x. 12 ; 2 Kings ii. 12 ; v. 13 ; vi. 21 ; xiii. 14 ; Prov. iv. 1 ; Matt, xxiii. 9 ; Acts vii, 2 ; xxii. 1 ; 1 Cor. iv. 15, etc.). 4. The author, source, or beginner of anything is also called the Father of the same, or of those who follow him. Thus Jabal is called ' the father of those who dwell in tents, and have cattle;' and Jubal, 'the father of all such as handle the harp and the organ' (Gen. iv. 20, 21 ; comp. Job xxxviii. 28; John viii. 44; Rom. iv. 12). The authority of a father was rery great in patriarchal times ; and although the power of life and death was virtually taken from the parent by the law of Moses, which required him to bring his cause of complaint to the public tribunals (Deut xxi. 18-21), all the more real powers of the pa- ternal character were not only left unimpaired, but were made in a great degree the basis of the judicial polity which that law established. The children and even the grandchildren continued under the roof of the father and grandfather ; they laboured on his account, and were the most submissive of his servants. The property of the soil, the power of judgment, the civil rights, be- longed to him only, and his sons were merely his instruments and assistants. Filial duty and obedience were, indeed, in the eyes of the Jewish legislator, of such high im- portance, that great care was taken that the pa- ternal authority should not be weakened by the withdrawal of a power so liable to fatal and bar- barous abuse as that of capital punishment. Any outrage against a parent a blow, a curse, or FEASTS incorrigible profligacy was made a capital crime (Exod. xxi. 15, 17 ; Lev. xx. 9). If the offence was public, it was taken up by the witnesses as a crime against Jehovah, and the culprit was brought before the magistrates whether the parent consented or not ; and if the offence was hidden within the paternal walls, it devolved on the parents to denounce him and to require his punish- ment. It is a beautiful circumstance in the law of Moses that this filial respect is exacted for the mother as well as for the father. The threats and promises of the legislator distinguish not the one from the other ; and the fifth commandment asso- ciates the father and mother in a precisely equal claim to honour from their children. The de- velopment of this interesting feature of the Mo- saical law belongs, however, to another head [WOMEN]. FEASTS. The root-idea of the word is to be found in what we should term the pleasures of the table, the exercise of hospitality. To what an early date the practices of hospi- tality are referable may be seen in Gen. xix. 3. It was usual not only to receive persons with choice viands, but also to dismiss them in a simi- lar manner; accordingly Laban, when he had overtaken the fleeing Jacob, complains (Gen. xxxi. 27), ' Wherefore didst thou steal away from me and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, and with tabret, and with harp?' See also 2 Sam. iii. 20 ; 2 Kings vi. 23; Job. viii. 20 ; 1 Mace. xvi. 15. This practice explains the reason why the prodi- gal, on his return, was welcomed by a feast (Luke xv. 23). Occasions of domestic joy were hailed with feasting ; thus, in Gen. xxi. 8, Abraham ' made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.' Birth-days were thus celebrated (Gen. xl. 20), ' Pharaoh, on his birth-day made a feast unto all his servants ' (Job. i. 4 ; Matt. xiv. 6 ; comp. Herod, i. 133). Marriage-feasts were also common. Samson (Judg. xiv. 10) on such an occasion ' made a feast,' and it is added, ' for so used the young men to do.' So Laban, when he gave his daughter Leah to Jacob (Gen. xxix. 22), ' gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast' These festive occasions seem originally to have answered the important pur- pose of serving as evidence and attestation of the events which they celebrated, on which account relatives and neighbours were invited to be pre- sent (Ruth iv. 10; John ii. 1). Those processes in rural occupations by which the Divine bounties are gathered into the hands of man, have in all ages been made seasons of festivity ; accordingly in 2 Sam. xiii. 23, Absalom invites all the king's sons, and even David himself, to a sheep-shearing feast, on which occasion the guests became ' merry with wine,' (1 Sam. xxv. 2, sq.). The vintage was also celebrated with festive eating and drink- ing (Judg. ix. 27). Feasting at funerals existed among the Jews (2 Sam. iii. 33). In Jer. xvi. 7, among other funeral customs mention is made of ' the cup of consolation, to drink for their father or their mother,' which brings to mind the indul- gence in spirituous liquors to which our ancestors were given, at interments, and which lias not yet entirely disappeared. To what an extent ex- pense was sometimes carried on these occasions, may be learned from Josephus, who, having re- FELIX marked that Archelaus ' mourned for his father seven days, and had given a very expensive fu- neral feast to the multitude,' states, ' which cus- tom is the occasion of poverty to many of the Jews,' adding, ' because they are forced to feast the multitude, for if any one omits it he is not esteemed a holy person.' As among heathen nations, so also among the Hebrews, feasting made a part of the observances which took place on occasion of animal sacrifices (Deut. xii. 6, 7 ; 1 Sam. ix. 19 ; xvi. 3, 5 ; 2 Sam. vi. 19). These sacrificial meals were enjoyed in connection with peace-offerings, whether eucha- ristic or votive. To the feast at the second tithe of the produce of the land, which was to be made every year and eaten at the annual festivals be- fore Jehovah, not only friends, but strangers, widows, orphans, and Levites, were to be invited, as well as the slaves. If the tabernacles were so distant as to make it inconvenient to carry thither the tithe, it was to be turned into money, which was to be spent at the place at which the fes- tivals were held in providing feasts (Deut. xiv. 22-27; xii. 14; Tobit i. C). Charitable enter- tainments -were also provided, at the end of three years, from the tithe of the increase. The Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, were to be present (Deut. xii. 17-19; xiv. 28, 29; xxvi. 12-15). At the feast of Pentecost the com- mand is very express (Deut. xvi. 11), 'Thoushalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you.' The Israel- ites were forbidden to partake of food offered in sacrifice to idols (Exod. xxxiv. 15), lest they should be thereby enticed into idolatry or appear to give a sanction to idolatrous observances (1 Cor. x. 28). FE'LIX, a Roman procurator of Judaea, before whom Paul so ' reasoned of righteousness, tem- perance, and judgment to come,' that the judge trembled, saying, ' Go thy way for this time ; when I have a convenient season I will call for thee ' (Acts xxiv. 25). The context states that Felix had expected a bribe from Paul ; and, in order to procure this bribe, he appears to have had several interviews with the Apostle. The depravity which such an expectation implies is in agreement with the idea which the historical fragments preserved respecting Felix would lead the student to form of the man. The year in which Felix entered on his office cannot be strictly determined. From the words of Josephus it appears that his appointment took place before the twelfth year of the Emperor Claudius. Felix was a remarkable instance of the elevation to distinguished station of persons born and bred in the lowest condition. Originally a slave, he rose to little less than kingly power. For some unknown, but probably not very creditable ser- vices, he was manumitted by Claudius Caesar (Sueton. Claud. 28 ; Tacit. Hist . v. 9) ; on which account he is said to have taken the prsenomen of Claudius. The character which the ancients have left of Felix is of a very dark complexion. Suetonius speaks of the military honours which the emperor loaded him with, and specifies his appointment as FELIX 319 governor of the province of Judaea ; adding an inuendo, which loses iiothing by its brevity, namely, that he was the husband of three queens or royal ladies. Tacitus, in his History (v. 9), declares that, during his governorship in Judsea, he indulged in all kinds of cruelty and lust, ex- ercising regal power with the disposition of a slave ; and, in his Annals (xii. 54) he represents Felix as considering himself licensed to commit any crime, relying on the influence which he possessed at court. The country was ready for rebellion, and the unsuitable remedies which Felix applied served only to inflame the passions and to incite to crime. Under his sway the affairs of the country grew worse and worse. The land was filled with robbers and impostors who de- luded the multitude. Felix used his power to repress these disorders to little purpose, since his own example gave no sanction to justice. Having a grudge against Jonathan, the high-priest, who had expostulated with him on his misrule, he made use of Doras, an intimate friend of Jonathan, in order to get him assassinated by a gang of vil- lains, who joined the crowds that were going up to the temple to worship, a crime which led sub- sequently to countless evils, by the encourage- ment which it gave to the Sicarii, or leagued assassins of the day, to whose excesses Josephus ascribes, under Providence, the overthrow of the Jewish state. Among other crimes,some of these villains misled the people under the promise of performing miracles, and were punished by Felix. An Egyptian impostor, who escaped himself, was the occasion of the loss of life to four hundred followers, and of the loss of liberty to two hundred more, thus severely dealt with by Felix. While in his office, being inflamed by a passion for the beautiful Drusilla, a daughter of King Herod Agrippa, who was married to Arizus-, king of Emesa, he employed one Simon, a magician, to use his arts in order to persuade her to forsake her husband and marry him, promising that if she would comply with his suit he would make her a happy woman. Drusilla, partly impelled by a desire to avoid the envy of her sister, Bere- nice, was prevailed on to transgress the laws of her forefathers, and consented to a union with Felix. In this marriage a son was born, who was named Agrippa : both mother and son pe- rished in an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which took place in the days of Titus Caesar. With this adulteress was Felix seated when Paul rea- soned before the judge, as already stated (Acts xxjv. 24). Paul, being apprehended in Jerusalem, was sent by a letter from Claudius Lysias to Felix at Caesarea, where he was at first confined in Herod's judgment-hall till his accusers came. They ar- rived. Tertullus appeared as their spokesman, and had the audacity, in order to conciliate the good will of Felix, to express gratitude on the part of the Jews, ' seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence ' (Acts xxiii. xxiv.). Paul pleaded his cause in a worthy speech ; and Felix, consigning the Apostle to the custody of a centurion, ordered that he should have such liberty as the circumstances admitted, with permission that his acquaintance might see him and minister to his wants. This imprison- 320 FESTIVALS ment the Apostle suffered for a period of two years, being left bound when Felix gave place to Festus, as that unjust judge ' was willing,' not to do what was right, but ' to show the Jews a pleasure.' FERRET. [LIZARD.] FESTIVALS. The Hebrew festivals were occasions of public religious observances, re- curring at certain set and somewhat distant in- tervals. In general they may be divided into two kinds: 1. Those of divine institution; 2. Those of human origin. Those which owe their existence to the authority of God are, the seventh day of the week, or the Sabbath ; the Passover ; Pentecost ; the Feast of Trumpets ; the Day of Atonement ; the Feast of Tabernacles ; the New Moon . Festivals which arose under purely hu- man influences are, the Feast of Lots or Purim ; the death of Holofernes; the Dedication; the Sacred Fire ; the death of Nicanor. Reserving details for separate articles on such of these as shall seem to require and justify a dis- tinct treatment, we confine ourselves here to a general outline, with some remarks on the origin and tendency of the chief festivals. We have inserted the Sabbath for the sake of completeness, and, with the same view, we pro- ceed to set down a few brief particulars respect- ing the daily service, so that we may at once present a general outline of the temple worship. At the daily service two lambs of the first year were to be offered at the door of the tabernacle ; one in the morning, the other in the evening, a continual burnt-offering. With each lamb was to be offered one-tenth of an ephah of flour, min- gled with one-fourth of a hin of fresh oil, for a meat-offering, and one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink-offering. Frankincense was to be placed on the meat-offering, a handful of which, with the frankincense, was to be burnt, and the re- mainder was to be eaten by the priest in the holy place, without leaven. The priests were to offer daily the tenth of an ephah of fine flour, half in the morning and half in the evening, for them- selves. The high-priest was to dress the lamps in the tabernacle every morning, and light them every evening; and at the same time burn in- cense on the altar of incense. The people pro- vided oil for the lamps which were to burn from evening to morning: the ashes were removed by a priest, dressed in his linen garment and his linen drawers, and then carried by him out of the camp, in his common dress. Great stress was laid on the regular observance of these re- quirements (Num. xxviii. 1-8 ; Exod. xxix. 38 42 ; Lev. vi. 8-23 ; Exod. xxx. 7-9 ; xxvii. 20 ; Lev. xxiv. 1-4: Nam. viii. 2). Labour was to last not longer than six days. The seventh was a Sabbath, a day of rest, of holy- convocation, on which no one, not even strangers or cattle, was allowed to do any servile work. The offender was liable to stoning. On the Sabbath two lambs of the first year, without blemish, were to be offered for a burnt- offering, morning and evening, with two-tenths of an ephah of flour, mingled with oil, for a meat- | offering, and one-half of a hin of wine for a drink- ! offering, thus doubling the offering for ordinary days. Twelve cakes of fine flour were to be placed every Sabbath upon the table in the tabernacle, in two piles, and pure frankincense laid on the FESTIVALS uppermost of each pile. These were to be fur- nished by the people ; two were offered to Jehovah, the rest were eaten by the priests in the holy place (Exod. xxxi. 12; Lev. xxiii. 1 ; xxvi. 2; Exod. xix. 3, 30; xx. 8-11; xxiii. 12; Deut. v. 12- 15; Lev. xxiii. 3; xxiv. 5-9; Num. xv. 35; xxviii. 9). At the New Moon festival, in the beginning of the month, in addition to the daily sacrifice, two heifers, one ram, and seven lambs of the 'first year, were to be offered as burnt-offerings, with three-tenths of an ephah of flour, mingled with oil, for each heifer ; two-tenths of an ephah of flour, mingled with oil, for the ram ; and one- tenth of an ephah of flour, mingled with oil, for every lamb ; and a drink-offering of half a hin of wine for a heifer, one-third of a hin for the ram, and one-fourth of a hin for every lamb. One kid of the goats was also to be offered as a sin-offering. The first day of the seventh month was to be a Sabbath, a holy convocation, accompanied by the blowing of trumpets. In addition to the daily and monthly sacrifices, one ram and seven lambs were to be offered as burnt-offerings, with their respective meat-offerings, as at the usual New Moon festival (Num. xxviii. 11-15; xxix. 1-6; Lev. xxiii. 23-25). Three times in the year at the Feast of Un- leavened Bread, in the month Abib ; at the Feast of Harvest, or of Weeks ; and at the Feast of Ingathering, or of Tabernacles all the males were to appear before Jehovah, at the place which he should choose. None were to come empty- handed, but every one was to give according as Jehovah had blessed him ; and there before Je- hovah was every one to rejoice with his family, the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow (Exod. xxiii. 14-17 ; xxxiv. 22-24 ; Deut. xvi. 16, 17). The first of these three great festivals, that of Unleavened Bread, called also the Passover, was kept in the Month Abib, in commemoration of the rescue of the Israelites by Jehovah out of Egypt, which took place in that month. The ceremonies that were also connected with it will be detailed un- der the head PASSOVER. In order to make the sea- son more remarkable, it was ordained that hence- forward the month in which it took place should be reckoned the first of the national religious year (Exod. xii. 2). From this time, accordingly, the year began in the month Abib, or Nisan (March April), while the civil year continued to be reckoned from Tishri (September October) (Exod. xii. 3, 14, 27, 43-49 ; Lev. xxiii. 5 ; Num. xxviii. 16; Deut. xvi. 1-7). The Passover lasted one week, including two Sabbaths. The first day and the last were holy, that is, devoted to the observances in the public temple, and to rest from all labour (Exod. xii. 1 6 ; Lev. xxiii. 6 Num. xxviii. 18 ; Deut. xvi. 8). On the day after the Sabbath, on the Feast of Passover, a sheaf of the first-fruits of the barley- harvest was to be brought to the priest to be waved before Jehovah, accompanied by a burnt- offering. Till this sheaf was presented, neither bread nor parched corn, nor full ripe ears of the harvest, could be eaten (Exod. xii. 1 5-20 ; xiii. 6-10 ; Lev. xxiii. 6-8 ; Deut xvi. 2-8 ; Num. xxviii. 17-25). The Feast of Pentecost or of Weeks was kept FESTIVALS to Jehovah at the end of seven woeks from the day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, on which the sheaf was presented. On the morrow after the seventh complete week, or on the fiftieth day, two wave loaves were presented as first fruits of the wheat harvest, together with a burnt- offering, a sin-offering, and a peace-offering, &c. The day was a holy convocation, in which no servile work was done. The festival lasted but one day. It is said to have been designed to commemorate the giving of the law on Mount Smai (Deut. xvi. 9-11; Lev. xiii. 15-21 ; Num. xxviii. 26-31 ; xv. 17-21). The Feast of In-gathering or of Tabernacles began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and continued eight days, the first and last being Sabbaths. During the feast all native Israelites dwelt in booths made of the shoots of beautiful trees, palm-branches, boughs of thick-leaved trees, and of the willows of the brook, when they re- joiced with their families, with the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, before Jehovah. Various offerings M'ere made. At the end of every seven years, in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, the law was required to be read by the priests in the hearing of all the Israelites (Deut. xvi. 13-15; xxxi. 10-13; Lev. xxiii. 39-43; 33-36; Num. xxix. 12-38, 40). The Feast of Tabernacles was appointed partly to be an occasion of annual thanksgiving after the in-gathering of the harvest (Exod. xxxiv. 22 ; Lev. xxiii. 39; Deut. xvi. 13), and partly to remind the Israelites that their fathers had lived in tents in the wilderness (Lev. xxiii. 40-43). This feast took place in the end of the year, September or October. The tenth day of the seventh month was the Day of Atonement a day of abstinence, a day of holy convocation, in which all were to afflict themselves. Special offerings were made [ATONE- MENT] (Lev. xxiii. 26-32 ; xvi. 1, 34 ; Num. xxix. 7-11 ; Exod. xxx. 10). Brown, in his Antiquities (vol. i. p. 520), re- marks that the time of the year in which the three great festivals were observed was during the dry season of Judaea. The latter rains fell before the Passover, the former rains after the Feast of Tabernacles; so that the country was in the best state for travelling at the time of these festivals. On these solemn occasions food came partly from hospitality (a splendid instance of which may be found in 2 Chron. xxxv. 7-9), partly from the feasts which accompanied the sacrifices in the temple, and partly also from provision expressly made by the travellers themselves. Lodging, too, was afforded by friends, or found in tents erected for the purpose in and around Jerusalem. The three great festivals have corresponding events (but of far greater importance) in the new dispensation. The Feast of Tabernacles was the time wheu our Saviour was born ; he was cru- cified at the Passover; while at Pentecost the effusion of the Holy Spirit took place. The rest and recreation enjoyed during these festivals would be the more pleasant, salutary, and beneficial, because of the joyous nature of the religious services in which they were, for the greater part, engaged. These solemn festi- vals were not only commemorations of great FESTIVALS 321 national events, but they were occasions for the reunion of friends, for the enjoyment of hospi- tality, and for the interchange of kindness. The feasts which accompanied the sacrifices opened the heart of the entire family to joy, and gave a welcome which bore a religious sanction even tt the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. How much, too, would these gatherings tend to foster and sustain a spirit of nationality ! By intercourse the feelings of tribe and clan would be worn away ; men from different parts became acquainted with and attached to each other ; par- tial interests were found to be more imaginary than real ; while the predominant idea of a com- mon faith and a common rallying-place at Jeru- salem could not fail to fuse into one strong and overpowering emotion of national and brotherly love, all the higher, nay, even the lower feelings, of each Hebrew heart. Another effect of these festivals Michaelis has found in the furtherance of internal commerce. They would give rise to something resembling our modern fairs. Among the Mahometans similar festivals have had this effect. These festivals, in their origin, had an obvious connection with agriculture. Passover saw the harvest upon the soil ; at Pentecost it was ripe ; and Tabernacles was the festival of gratitude for the fruitage and vintage (Michaelis, art. 197). The first was a natural pause after the labours of the field were completed ; the second, after the first-fruits were gathered ; and the third, a time of rejoicing in the feeling that the Divine bounty had crowned the year with its goodness. Spring, summer, and autumn, which have moved all nations of men with peculiar and characteristic emotions, had each its natural language and symbols in the great Israelitish festivals, a re- gard to which may well be supposed to have had an influence in the mind of the legislator, as well as in The consuetudinary practices of the people. The Feast of Purim or of Lots originated in the gratitude of the Jews in escaping the plot of Human, designed for their destruction. It took its name from the lots which were cast before Haman by the astrologers, who knew his hatred against Mordecai arid his wish to destroy his family and nation (Esther iii. 7 : ix. 2, 5). The feast was suggested by Esther and Mordecai, and was celebrated on the 13th, 14th, and 15th days of the twelfth month (Adar). The 13th was a fast, being the day on which the Jews were to have been destroyed ; and the 14th and 15th were a feast held in commemoration of their deliver- ance. The fast is called the Fast of Esther, and the feast still holds the name of Purim. The slaughter of Holofernes by the hand of Judith, the consequent defeat of the Assyrians, and the liberation of the Jews, were commemorated by the institution of a festival (Judith xiv. xv). The Feast of Dedication was appointed by Judas Maccabaeus, on occasion of the purification of the temple, and reconstruction of the altar, after they had been polluted by Antiochus Epiphanes. The new dedication took place on the 25th day of the ninth month, called Chisleu, in the year before Christ 170. This would be in December. The day was chosen as being that on which An- tiochus, three years before, had polluted the altar by heathen sacrifices. 322 FESTUS The joy of the Israelites must have been great on the occasion, and well may they have pro- longed the observance of it for eight dajs. A general illumination formed a part of the fes- tival, whence it obtained the name of the Feast of Lights. In John x. 22 this festival is alluded to when our Lord is said to have been present at the Feast of Dedication. The historian marks the time by stating ' it was winter.' The festival ' of the Fire ' was instituted by Nehemiah to commemorate the miraculous re- kindling of the altar-fire. The circumstances are narrated in 2 Mace. i. 18. The defeat by Judas Maccabseus of the Greeks, when the Jews ' smote off Nicanor's head and his right hand which he stretched out so proudly,' caused the people to ' rejoice greatly, and they kept that day a day of great gladness ; moreover, they ordained to keep yearly this day, being the thirteenth day of Adar 'February or March (1 Mace. vii. 47). FESTUS. Porcius Festus was the successor of Felix as the Roman governor of Judaea, to the duties of which office he was appointed by the Emperor Nero in the first year of his reign. One of his first official acts was hearing the case of the Apostle Paul, who had been left in prison by his predecessor. He was at least not a thoroughly corrupt judge ; for when the Jewish hierarchy begged him to send for Paul to Jerusalem, and thus afford an opportunity for his being assassin- ated on the road, he gave a refusal, promising to investigate the facts at Caesarea, where Paul was in custody, alleging to them, ' it is not the man- ner of the Romans to deliver any man to die before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have licence to answer for him- self concerning the crime laid against him ' (Acts xxv. 16). On reaching Caesarea he sent for Paul, heard what he had to say, and, finding that the matters which ' his accusers had against him ' were ' questions of their own superstition, and of one Jesus which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive,' he asked the Apostle whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem, and there be tried, since Festus did not feel himself skilled in such an affair. Paul, doubtless because he was un- willing to put himself into the hands of his im- placable enemies, requested ' to be reserved unto the hearing of Augustus,' and was in consequence kept in custody till Festus had an opportunity to send him to Caesar. Agrippa, however, with his wife Bernice, having come to salute Festus on his new appointment, expressed a desire to see and ' hear the man.' Accordingly Paul was brought before Festus, Agrippa, and Bernice, made a famous speech, and was declared inno- cent But having appealed to Caesar, he was sent to Rome. Festus on coming into Judsea, found the country infested with robbers, who plundered the villages and set them on fire; the Sicarii also were numerous. Many of both classes were captured, and put to death by Festus. He also sent forces, both of horse and foot, to fall upon those that had been seduced by a certain impos- tor, who promised them deliverance and freedom from the miseries they were under if they would but follow him as far as the wilderness. These troops destroyed both the impostor and his dupes FIG-TREE King Agrippa had built himself a splendid dining-room, which was so placed, that, as he reclined at his meals, he commanded a view of what was done in the Temple. The priests, being displeased, erected a wall so as to exclude the monarch's eye. On which Festus took part with Agrippa against the priests, and ordered the wall to be pulled down. The priests appealed to Nero, who suffered the wall to remain, being in- fluenced by his wife Poppaea, ' who was a reli- gious woman.' Festus died shortly afterwards. The manner in which Josephus speaks is favour- able to his character as a governor. FIGS. [FRUITS.] FIG-TREE. The fig-tree has frdm the earliest times been a highly esteemed fruit in the East, and its present, as well as ancient Arabic name, is teen. Though now successfully cultivated in a great part of Europe, even as far north as the southern parts of England, it is yet a native of the East, and probably of the Persian region, where it is most extensively cultivated. The climate there is such that the tree must neces- sarily be able to bear some degree of cold, and thus be fitted to travel northwards, and ripen its fruit where there is a sufficient amount and con- tinuance of summer heat. The fig is still exten- sively cultivated in the East, and in a dried state, strung upon cords, it forms an extensive article of commerce from Persia to India. The fig is mentioned in so many passages of Scripture, that our space will not allow us to enumerate them. The first notice of it, however, occurs in Gen. iii. 7, where Adam and Eve are described as sewing fig-leaves together to make themselves aprons. The common fig-leaf is not 172. [Ficus carioa.] so well suited, from its lobed nature, for this purpose ; but the practice of sewing or pinning leaves together is very common in the East even in the present day, and baskets, dishes, and um- brellas, are made" of leaves so pinned or sewn together. The fig-tree is enumerated (Deut. viii. 8) as one of the valuable products of Pales- tine, ' a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and FIR fig-trees, and pomegranates.' The spies, who were sent from the wilderness of Paran, brought back from the brook of Eshcol, clusters of grapes, pomegranates, and figs. The fig-tree is referred to as one of the signs of prosperity (1 Kings iv. 25), ' And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man -under his vine and under his fig-tree.' And its failure is noted as a sign of affliction (Ps. cv. 33), ' He smote their fig-trees, and broke the trees of their coasts.' The very frequent refer- ences which are made in the Old Testament to the fig and other fruit trees, are in consequence of fruits forming a much more important article of diet in the warm and dry countries of the East, than they can ever do in the cold and moist regions of the north. Figs are also used medi- cinally, and we have a notice in 2 Kings xx. 7, of their employment as a poultice. FIGURES. [TYPES.] FIR occurs in several passages of Scripture, as in 2 Sam. vi. 5 ; 1 Kings v. 8 ; vi. 15 and 34; ix. 11; 2 Kings ix. 23; 2 Chron. ii. 8; iii. 5; Ps. civ. 17; Isa. xiv. 8; xxxvii. 24; xli. 19; Iv. 13 ; Ix. 13 ; Ezek. xxvii. 5 ; xxxi. 8 ; Hos. xiv. 8 ; Nah. ii. 3 ; Zech. xi. 2. There is great difference of opinion as to the precise tree referred to in these passages. Some suppose it to be the cedar of Lebanon, others the box, ash, juniper, &c. In Scripture the terms Eres and Berosh, the one rendered ' cedar ' and the other ' fir,' are very frequently associated together, and it is probable that the former may indicate the cedar with the wild pine-tree, while the latter may comprehend the juniper and cypress tribe. FIRE 323 173. [Cypress. Cupressus sempervirens.] The different species of juniper have by some botanists been ranked under Cedar. Of juniper there are several species in Syria. Of these the only species which could have been the Berosh of Scripture are the prickly or brown-berried juni- per, an evergreen shrub from 10 to 12 feet high, and the Phoenician juniper, a native of the south of Europe, Russia, and Syria. Some are of opinion that the wood of the prickly juniper, rather than that of the so-called cedar of Leba- non, is the cedar-wood so famed in ancient times for its durability, and which was therefore em- ployed in making statues. It is to the wood of certain species of juniper that the name of cedar- wood is now specially applied. The evergreen cypress of botanists is a tree well known as being tapering in form, in conse- quence of its branches growing upright and close to the stem. In its general appearance it re- sembles the Lombardy poplar, so that the one is often mistaken for the other when seen in Ori- ental drawings. In southern latitudes it usual ly grows to a height of 50 or 60 feet. Its branch- lets are closely covered with very small imbri- cated leaves, which remain on the tree for five or six years. Du Hamel states that he has observed on the bark of young cypresses small particles of a substance resembling gum tragacanth, and that he has seen bees taking great pains to detach these particles, probably to supply some of the matter required for forming their combs. This cypress is a native of the Grecian Archipelago, particularly of Candia (the ancient Crete) and Cyprus, and also of Asia Minor, Syria, . and Persia. It may be seen on the coast of Palestine as well as in the interior, as the Mahomedans plant it in their cemeteries. It is also found on the mountains of Syria. ' The wood of the cypress is hard, fragrant, and of a remarkably fine close grain, very durable, and of a beautiful reddish hue, which Pliny says it never loses.' As to the opinion respecting the durability of the cypress-wood entertained by the ancients, it may be sufficient to adduce the authority of Pliny, who says ' that the statue of Jupiter in the Capi- tol, which was formed of cypress, had existed above 600 years without showing the slightest , symptom of decay, and that the doors of the i Temple of Diana at Ephesus, which were also of > cypress, and were 400 years old, had the appear- ance of being quite new.' This wood was used for a variety of purposes, as for wine-presses, poles, rafters, and joists. In all the passages of Scripture, therefore, the cypress will be found to answer completely to the descriptions and uses of the Berosh ; for it is well adapted for building, is not subject to destruction, and was therefore very likely to be employed in the erection of the Temple, and also for its gates and flooring ; for the decks of ships, and even for musical instru- ments and lances. FIRE. Besides the ordinary senses of the word ' fire,' which need no explanation, there are other uses of it in Scripture which require to be discriminated. The destructive energies of this element and the torment which it inflicts, rendered it a fit symbol of 1. Whatever docs damage and consumes (Prov. xvi. 27 ; Isa. ix. 18); 2. Of severe trials, vexations, and misfor- tunes (Zech. xii. 9 ; 1 Cor. iii. 13, 1 5 ; 1 Pet. i. 7) ; 3. Of the punishments beyond the grave (Matt. v. 22 ; Mark ix. 44 ; Rev. xiv. 10 ; xxi. 8) [HELL] . ' Fire from heaven,' ' fire of the Lord,' usually denotes lightning in the Old Testament; but, when connected with sacrifices, the ' fire of the Lord ' is often to be understood as the fire of the altar, and sometimes the holocaust itself (Exod. xxix. 18; Lev. i. 9; ii. 3; iii. 5, 9; Num. xxviii. 6 ; 1 Sam. ii. 28 ; Isa. xx. 16 ; Mai. i. 10). The uses of fire among the Hebrews were various : 1. The domestic use, for cooking, roasting, and baking [BREAD ; FOOD]. VI 324 FIRE 2. In winter they warmed themselves and their apartments by ' a fire of coals ' (Jer. xxxvi. 22, 23 ; Luke xxii. 30). 3. The religious use of fire was for consuming the victims on the altar of bumt-oflFerings, and in burning the incense on the golden altar; hence the remarkable phrase in Isa. xxxi. 9, ' the Lord, j whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jeru- salem.' 4. In time of war torches were often carried by the soldiers, which explains the use of torches in the attack of Gideon upon the camp of the Midianites (Judg. vii. 6). 5. Burning criminals alive does not appear to have been known to the Hebrews ; but as an additional disgrace the bodies were in particular cases burnt after death had been inflicted (Josh, vii. 25 ; compare verse 1 5) ; and it is in this sense that the allusions to burning as a punish- ment are to be undei-stood, except when the reference is to a foreign usage, as in Dan. iii. 22, 24, sq. 6. In time of war towns were often destroyed by fire. This, as a war usage, belongs to all times and nations ; but among the Hebrews there were some particular notions connected with it, as an act of strong abhorrence, or of devotement to abiding desolation. The principal instances historically commemorated are the destruction by fire of Jericho (Josh. vi. 24); Ai (Josh. viii. 19); Hazor (Josh. xi. 11); Laish (Judg. xviii. 27); the towns of the Benjamites (Judg. xx. 48) ; Zik- lag, by the Amalekites (1 Sam. xxx. 1); Jazer, by Pharaoh (1 Kings ix. 16); and the temple and palaces of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings xxv. 9). Even the war-chariots of the Canaanites were burnt by the Israelites, probably on the principle of precluding the possibility of recovery, by the enemy, of instruments of strength for which they had themselves no use. The fre- quency with which towns were fired in ancient warfare is shown by the very numerous threats by the prophets that the towns of Israel should be burned by their foreign enemies. Some great towns, not of Israel, are particularly named ; and it would be an interesting task to trace, so far as the materials exist, the fulfilment of these pro- phecies in those more marked examples. Among the places thus threatened we find Damascus (Isa. xliii. 12, 13), Gaza, Tyre, Teman (Amos i. 7, 10, 11). The temples and idols of a conquered town or people were very often burned by the victors, and this was enjoined as a duty to the Israelites (Deut. vii. 5, 25 ; xii. 13 ; xiii. G ; Isa. liii. 12, 13). There were some special regulations respecting the use of fire among the Israelites. The most remarkable of these was the prohibition to light a fire on the Sabbath (Exod. xxxiii. 3). As the primary design of this law appears to have been to prevent the proper privileges of the Sabbath- day from being lost to any one through the care and time required in cooking victuals (Exod. xvi. 23), it is doubted whether the use of fire for warmth on the Sabbath-day was included in this interdiction. In practice, it would appear that the fire was never lighted or kept up for cooking on the Sabbath-day, and that consequently there were no. fires in the houses during the Sabbaths of the greater part of the year; hut it may be collected that, in winter, fires for warming apart- ments were kept up from the previous day. FIRST-FRUITS Another law rpquired the damage done by a conflagration in the fields to be made good by the party through whose incaution it had been kindled (Exod. xxii. 6). This was a most useful and necessary law in a country where the warmth and drought of summer soon render the herbage and underwood highly combustible, so that a fire once kindled often spreads most extensively, and produces disastrous consequences (Judg. ix. 15: xv. 5). In the sacerdotal services no fire but that of the altar of burnt-offerings could lawfully be used. That fire was originally kindled supernaturally, and was ever after kept up. From it the fire used in the censers for burning incense was al- ways taken ; and for neglecting this and using common fire, Nadab and Abihu were strnck dead by ' fire from heaven ' (Lev. x. 8, sq. ; Num. iii. 4, 26, 61). Respecting ' passing through the fire,' see MO- LOCH ; and for the ' pillar of fire,' see EXODUS. FIRMAMENT (Gen. i. 6, 14, 15, 17), that which is distended, expanded the expanse of heaven, i. e. the visible arch or vault of heaven resting on the earth. With some old astronomers the firmament is the orb of the fixed stars, or the highest of all the heavens. But in Scripture and in common lan- guage it is used for the middle regions, the space or expanse appearing like an arch immediately above us in the heavens. Many of the ancients, and of the moderns also, account the firmament a fluid substance; but those who gave it the name of ' firmament' must have regarded it as solid, and so we would infer from Gen. i. 6, where it forms the division between water and water. The Hebrews seem to have considered the firmament as transparent, like a crystal or sap- phire (Ezek. i. 22 ; Dan. xii. 3 ; Exod. xxiv. 10 ; Rev. iv. 6). FIRST-BORN. The privileges of the first- born son, among the Hebrews, are indicated under BIRTHRIGHT. FIRST-FRUITS. There are various regula- tions in the law of Moses respecting first- fruits, which would be of much interest to us, could we in every case discern the precise object in view. No doubt the leading object, as far as regards the offering of the first-fruits to God, was, that all the after-fruits and after-gatherings might be conse- crated in and through them ; and it was not less the dictate of a natural impulse that the first- fruits should be offered to God in testimony of thankfulness for his bounties. Hence we find some analogous custom among most nations in which material offerings were used. There are, however, some particulars in the Mosaical regu- lations which these considerations do not ade- quately explain. 1. FIRST-FRUITS OF FRUIT-TREES. It was directed that the first-fruits of every tree whose fruit was used for food, should, for the first three years of bearing, be counted ' uncircumcised,' and regarded as unclean (Lev. xix. 23, 24). It was unlawful to sell them, to eat them, or to make any benefit of them. It was only in the fourth year of bearing that they were accounted ' holy, and the fruit of that year was made an offering of first-fruits, and was either given to the priests (Num. xviii. 12, 13), or, as the Jews themselves understand, was eaten by the owners of it FISH before the Lord, at Jerusalem/ as was the case with second tithe. After the fourth year all fruits of trees were available for use by the owner. As the general principle of the law was, that only that which was perfect should be used in offerings, it is an obvious inference that the fruits of trees were considered imperfect until the fourth year ; and if so, the law may have had the ulterior object of excluding from use crude, im- mature, and therefore unwholesome fruits. Mi- chaelis (iii. 267-8), indeed, finds a benefit to the trees themselves in this regulation. 2. FIKST-FRUITS OF THE YEARLY INCREASE. Of these there were two kinds 1. The first-fruits in the sheaf (Lev. xxiii. 10). 2. The first-fruits in the two wave-loaves (Lev. xxiii. 17). These two bounded the harvest, that in the sheaf being offered at the beginning of the harvest, upon the 1 5th of the month Nisan ; the other at the end of the harvest, on the Feast of Pentecost. 3. The first of the dough, being the twenty-fourth part thereof, which was given to the priests (Num. xv. 20) ; and this kind of offering was not neglected even after the return from Babylon (Neh. x. 37). 4. The first-fruits of the threshing-floor. The oblation of the first-fruits of the threshing- floor was distinguished by the Jewish writers into two sorts. The fast of th^se was the first- fruits of seven things only, namely, wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives> and dates. The second sort consisted of corn, wine, oil, and whatever other produce was fit for the support of human life. Under this class of first-fruits was included the first of the fleece, by which , the priests were provided with clothes, as by the other offerings with food. The hair of goats, which are shorn in the East, was included under this denomination. FISH (Gen. ix. 2 ; Num. xi. 22; Jonah ii. 1, 10; Matt. vii. 10; xiv. 17; xv. 34; Luke v. 6; John xxi. 6, 8, 11). Fishes, strictly so called, that is, oviparous, vertebrated, cold-blooded ani- mals, breathing water by means of gills or branchife, and generally provided with fins, are not unfrequently mentioned in the Bible, but never specifically. In the Mosaic law (Lev. xi. 9-12), the species proper for food are distin- guished by having scales and fins, while those without scales are held to be unclean, and there- fore rejected. The law may have given rise to some casuistry, as many fishec have scales, which, though imperceptible when first caught, are very apparent after the skin is in the least dried. The species which were known to the Hebrews, or at least to those who dwelt on the coast, may have bec-n very numerous, because the usual current of the Mediterranean sets in, with a great depth of water, at the Straits of Gibraltar, and passes eastward on the African side until the shoals of the Delta of the Nile begin to turn it towards the north ; it continues in that direction along the Syrian shores, and falls into a broken course only when turning westward on the Cyprian and Cretan coasts. Every spring, with the sun's re- turn towards the north, innumerable troops of littoral species, having passed the winter in the ofSngs of Western Africa, return northward for spawning, or are impelled in that direction by other unknown laws. A small part only ascends along the Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal toward the British Channel, while the main bodies FISH 325 pass chiefly into the Mediterranean, follow the general current, and do not break into more scat- tered families until they have swept round the shores of Palestine. The Pelagian, or truly deep sea fishes, in common with the indigenous species, remain the whole year, or come about midsummer, and follow an uncertain course more in the centre and towards the deepest waters. Off Nice alone Risso found and described 315 species ; and there is every reason to believe that the coasts of Tyre and Sidon would produce at least as great a number. The name of the latter place, indeed, is derived from the Phoenician word fish, and it is the oldest fishing establishment for commercial purposes known in history. Industry and secu- rity alone are wanting to make the same locality again a flourishing place in this respect. The Hebrews had a more imperfect acquaintance with the species found in the Red Sea, whither, to a certain extent, the majority of fishes found in the Indian Ocean resort. Beside these, in Egypt they had anciently eaten those of the Nile ; sub- sequently those of the lake of Tiberias and of the rivers falling into the Jordan ; and they may have been acquainted with species of other lakes, of the Orontes, and even of the Euphrates. The supply, however, of this article of food, which the Jewish people appear to have consumed largely, came chiefly from the Mediterranean ; and AVC have the authority of Neh. xiii. 16, for the fact, that Phosnicians of Tyre actually resided in Jerusalem as dealers in fish, which must have led to an exchange of that commodity for corn and cattle. Those which might be eaten, because they had scales and fins, were among the most nutritious and common, probably such as still abound on the coast. It is difficult to select the most interesting of these, and to point them out with other names than are absolutely scientific, because many are unknown on our coasts, and others have names indeed, but nearly all repeti- tions of such as occur in England, without being of the same species. Though the Egyptian priesthood abstained from their use, all the other castes dwelling in the valley of the Nile chiefly subsisted on the fish of the river, while they capriciously abhorred those of the sea. There was a caste of fishermen ; and allusion to the artificial reservoirs and fish- ponds of Egypt occurs in the Prophets (Isa. xix. 8-10). But the Hebrews could draw only a small supply from the lake of Tiberias and the affluents of the Jordan. On the coast the great sea- fisheries were in the slack waters, within the dominion of the Phoenicians, who must have sent the supply into the interior in a cured or salted state ; although the fact involves the question how far in that condition, coming out of pagan hands, consumption by a Hebrew was strictly lawful : perhaps it may be presumed that national wants had sufficient influence to modify the law. The art of curing fish was well understood in Egypt, and unquestionably in Phoenicia, since that industrious nation had early establishments for the purpose at the Golden Horn or Byzan- tium, at Portus Symbolorum in Tauric Cherso- nesus, and even at Calpe (Bisepharat ?), in the present bay of Gibraltar. With regard to the controversy respecting the prophet Jonah having been swallowed by a huge sea-monster [WHALE], f> FLAG it may be observed that great cetaceans occur in the Mediterranean, as well as great sharks, and that, in a case where the miraculous intervention of Almighty power is manifest, learned trifling about the presence of a mysticete, or the dimen- sions of its gullet, is out of place. FITCHES. This word occurs only in Isa. xxviii. 25, 27. It is no doubt from the difficulty of proving the precise meaning of the original term ketzach, that different plants have been assigned as its representative. But if we refer to the context, we learn some particulars which at least restrict it to a certain group, namely, to such as are cultivated. Thus, ver. 25, ' When he (the ploughman) hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches'!' And again, ver. 27, For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart- wheel turned about upon the cummin ; but fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cum- min with a rod.' From which we learn that this grain was easily separated from its capsule, and therefore beaten out with a stick. Interpreters have had great difficulty in deter- mining the particular kind of seed intended, some translating it peas, others, as Luther and the English Version, vetches, but without any proof. Meibomius considers it to be the white poppy, and others, a black seed. This last inter- pretation has the most numerous, as well as the oldest, authorities in its support. Of these a few are in favour of the black poppy-seed, but the majority, of a very black-coloured and aromatic seed, still cultivated and in daily employment as a condiment in the East. The plant is called Nigella by botanists, and continues in the pre- sent day, as in the most ancient times, to be used both as a condiment and as a medicine. The various species of nigella are herbaceous (several of them being indigenous in Europe, others cultivated in most parts of Asia), with their leaves deeply cut and linear, their flowers terminal, most of them having under the calyx leafy in- volucres which often half surround the flower. The fruit is composed of five or six capsules, which are compressed, oblong, pointed, sometimes said to be hornlike, united below, and divided into several cells, and enclosing numerous, angu- lar, scabrous, black-coloured seeds. From the nature of the capsules, it is evident, that when they are ripe, the seeds might easily be shaken out by moderate blows of a stick, as is related to have been the case with the ketzach of the text. FLAG. This word (in the original achu') occurs in Job viii. 11, where it is said, 'Can the rush grow up without mire ? can the FLAG grow without water ? ' Achu occurs also twice in Gen. xli. 2, 18 : ' And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well-favoured kine and fat-fleshed, and they fed in a meadow :' here it is rendered meadow, and must, therefore, have been considered by our translators as a general, and not a specific term. From the context of the few passages in which achu occurs, it is evident that it indicates a plant or plants which grew in or in the neighbourhood of water, and also that it or they were suitable as pasturage for cattle. Now it is generally well known that most of the plants which grow in water, as well as many of those which grow in its vici- nity, are not well suited as food for cattle ; some FLAX being very watery, others very coarse in texture, and some possessed of acrid and even poisonous properties. Some species of scirpus, or club-rush, however, serve as food for cattle : S. cespitosus, for instance, is the principal food of cattle and sheep in the highlands of Scotland, from the beginning of March till the end of May. Varieties of S. mari- timiis, found in different countries, and a few of the numerous kinds of Cyperacea? common in Indian pastures, as Cyperus dubius and hexa- stachyus, are also eaten by cattle. Therefore, if any specific plant is intended, as seems implied in what goes before, it is perhaps one of the edible species of scirpus or cyperus, perhaps C. esculentits, which, however, has distinct Arabic names : or it may be a true grass; some species of panicum, for instance, which form excellent pasture in warm countries, and several of which grow lux- uriantly in the neighbourhood of water. 174. [Cyperns esculentus.] But it is well known to all acquainted with warm countries subject to excessive drought, that the only pasturage to which cattle can resort is a green strip of different grasses, with some sedges, which runs along the banks of rivers or of pieces of water, varying more or less in breadth according to the height of the bank, that is, the distance of water from the surface. Cattle emerg- ing from rivers, which they may often be seen doing in hot countries, as has been well re- marked in the ' Pictorial Bible ' on Gen. xli. 2, would naturally go to such green herbage as in- timated in this passage of Genesis, and which, as indicated in Job xviii. 2, could not grow without water in a warm dry country and climate. FLAGON. The word thus rendered in the English Bibles (2 Sam. vi. 19 ; 1 Chron. xvi. 3; Hos. iii. 1 ; Cant. ii. 5) means rather a cake, especially of dried figs or raisins, pressed into a particular form [FRUITS]. FLAX. From the numerous references to flax and linen, there is no doubt that the plant was extensively cultivated, not only in Egypt, but also in Palestine. As to Egypt we have proof in the mummy cloth being made of linen, and also in the representations of the flax cultivation in the paintings of the Grotto of el Kab, which represent the whole process with the utmost clearness; and numerous testimonies might be adduced from ancient authors, of the esteem in which the linen of FLESH Egypt was held. Flax continues to be exten- sively cultivated in the present day. That it was also much cultivated in Palestine, and "well known to the Hebrews, we have proofs in the number of times it is mentioned ; as in Josh. xi. 6, where Eahab is described as concealing the two Hebrew spies with the stalks of flax which she had laid in order upon the roof. In several passages, as Lev. xiii. 47, 48, 52, 59 ; Deut. xxii. 11; Jer. xiii. 1; Ezek. xL 3; xliv. 17, 18, we find it mentioned as forming different articles of clothing, as girdles, cords, and bands. In Prov. xxxi. 13, the careful housewife ' seeketh wool and flax, and worketh it willingly with her hands.' FLEA occurs only 1 Sam. xxiv. 14 ; xxvi. 20, where David thus addresses his persecutor Saul at the cave of Adullam: 'After whom is the king of Israel come out ? after whom dost thou pursue ? after a flea ;' ' The king of Israel j is come out to seek a flea !' In both these ] passages the Hebrew means to pursue after, to | seek one or a single flea. David's allusion to the flea displays great address. It is an appeal founded upon the immense disparity between Saul as the king of Israel, and himself as the poor contemptible object of the monarch's la- borious pursuit. Hunting a flea is a comparison, in other ancient writings, for much labour ex- pended to secure a worthless result. Although this insect has been used as a. popular emblem for insignificance, yet, when considered by itself, it has high claims upon the attention of the naturalist. Even to the naked eye there is something pleasing in its appearance, and elegant in its postures ; but it is indebted to the micro- scope for our acquaintance with the flexible, j highly polished, and ever clean suit of armour [ in which it is encased cap-a-pie, its finely-arched neck, large beautiful eye, antennae, muscular jointed legs, its piercer and sucker forming one most complicated instrument the two long, hooked, sharp claws, in which its legs severally terminate. The agility of the flea places it at the head of all the leaping insects, when its strength is considered in relation to its size, it being able to leap, unaided by wings, 200 times its own length. Owing to the habits of the lower orders, fleas abound so profusely in Syria, especially during the spring, in the streets and dusty bazaars, that persons of condition always change their long dresses upon returning home. There is a popular saying in Palestine that ' the king of the fleas keeps his court at Tiberias ;' though many other places in that region might dispute the distinction with that town (Kitto's Physical History of Palestine, p. 421). FLESH. This word bears a variety of signi- fications in Scripture : 1. It is applied, generally, to the whole ani- mated creation, Whether man or beast ; or, to all beings whose material substance is flesh (Gen. vi. 13, 17, 19; vii. 15, &c.). 2. But it is more particularly applied to ' man- kind;' and is, in fact, the only Hebrew word which answers to that term (Gen. vi. 12; Ps. xlv. 3 ; cxlv. 21 ; Isa. xl. 5, 6). In this sense it is used somewhat figuratively to denote that evil principle which is opposed to the spirit, and to God, and which it is necessary to correct and subdue (Gen. vi. 5 ; Job x. 4 ; Isa. xxxi. 3 ; Matt. xvi. 17; Gal.i. 16, &c.). FOOD 327 3. The word ' flesh ' is opposed to ' soul,' or ' spirit,' just as we oppose body and soul (Job xiv. 22; Prov. xiv. 30; Isa. x. 18). 4. The ordinary senses of the word, namely, the flesh of men or beasts (Gen. xli. 2, 19 ; Job xxxi. 23-25), and flesh as used for food (Exod. xvi. 12 ; Lev. viii. 19), are both sufficiently ob- vious ; and with respect to the latter sc-e FOOD. 5. The word 'flesh' is also used as a modest general term for the secret parts, in such passages as Gen. xvii. 1 1 ; Exod. xxviii. 42 ; Lev. xx. 2 ; Ezek. xxiii. 20; 2 Pet. ii. 7, 8, 10; Jude 7. In Prov. v. 11, the 'flesh of the intemperate' is de- scribed as being consumed by infamous diseases. FLOCKS. [PASTURAGE.] FLOOD. [DELUGE.] FLOUR. [BREAD; MILL; OFFERINGS.] FLUTE. [Music.] FLY. This word occurs Exod. viii. 21, 22, 24, 29, 31 ; Ps. lxxviii.45, and cv. 21 ; all which passages relate to the plague of flies inflicted upon Pharaoh and his people. Some suppose that the dog-fly is meant. Philo, in his Life of Moses, expressly describes this insect as a biting insidious creature, which comes like a dart, with great noise, ar.d rushing with great impetuosity on the skin, sticks to it most tenaciously. All the ancient translators understand by the original word a mixture of noxious creatures. More mo- dern writers are of opinion that a single species only is intended, and have proposed several dif- ferent insects. Thus, one of the meanings of the original word is ' to darken,' and Mouffet ob- serves that the name agrees with no kind of flies better than with those black, large, compressed flics, which boldly beset cattle, and not only ob- tain ichor, as other flies, but also suck out blood from beneath, and occasion great pain. He ob- serves that they have no proboscis, but, instead of it, have double sets of teeth, like wasps, which they infix deeply in the skin ; and adds that they greatly infest the ears of days. Others have pro- posed the blatta Orientalis or ^Egyptia of Lin- naeus, as answering considerably to the charac- teristics of voracity, intrusion into houses, &c. &c. The miracle involved in the plague of flies con- sisted, partly at least, in the creature being brought against the Egyptians in so great an abundance during winter. The particular species is, however, at present undetermined. FOLD. [PASTURAGE.] FOOD. The productions of a country, at an early period of the world, necessarily determined its food. Palestine abounded with grain and various kinds of vegetables, as well as with ani- mals of different species. Such, accordingly, in general, was the sustenance which its inhabitants took. The use of fire, and the state of the arts of life in a country, must also have important influence on its cookery ; in other words, will go far to de- termine the state in which the natural productions of the earth will be eaten. If the grain is to be- come bread, a long and by no means easy pro- cess has to be gone through. Skill in preparing food is therefore held in high repute. Bread formed ' the staff of life ' to the ancient Hebrews even more than to ourselves ; but the modes of preparing it have been noticed under other heads [BREAD : MILL]. On a remarkable occasion a calf, tender and 328 FOOD good, is taken, slain, dressed (roasted, most pro- bably, Judg. vi. 19; Gen. xxvii. 7; 1 Sam. ii. 13 ; Exod. xii. 8, 9 ; boiling was not known till long afterwards), and set before the guests, while the entertainer (Abraham) respectfully stood at their side, doubtless to render any desirable ser- vice The sauce or accompaniments on this occasion were butter and milk. From ch. xix. 3, it may be inferred that the bread was unlea- vened. The cases, however, to which reference has been made were of a special nature ; and from them, as well as from what is recorded touching Isaac and Esau and Jacob, it appears that flesh meat was reserved as food for guests, or as a dainty for the sick ; lentils, pulse, onions, grain, honey, and milk being the ordinary fare. The agreeable, and perhaps in part the salu- brious qualities of salt, were very early known and recognised : in Lev. ii. 1 3, it is expressly enjoined, ' Every oblation of thy meat-offering shall thou season with salt ; with all thine offer- kigs shall thou offer salt.' Locusts were a permitted (Lev. xi. 22) and a very common food. At the present day the}' are gathered by the Bedouins at the beginning of April, and being roasted on plates of iron, or dried in the sun, are kept in large bags, and, when needed, eaten strewed with salt by handfuls. Of four-footed animals and birds, the favourite food were sheep, goats, oxen, and doves. There are few traces of the eating of fish, at least in Palestine (Num. xi. 5 ; Lev. xi. 9-22). In the last passage a distinction is made between certain fish which mighl be eaten, and others which were forbidden. ' These shall ye eat of all lhat are in the waters : whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat ; and all that have not fins and scales, they shall be an abomination unto you.' The distinction of clean and unclean animals, and of animals which might and those which might not be eaten, is found to have existed to a great extent in ancient Egypt. Among fish the oxyriuchus, the phagrus, and the lepidotus, were sacred, arid might not even be touched. The in- habitants of Oxyrinchus objected to cat any fish caught by a hook, lest it should have been defiled by the blood of one they held so sacred. The phagrns was the eel ; and the reason of its sanctity, like that of the oxyrinchus, was probably owing to its unwholesome qualities ; the most effectual method of forbidding its use being to assign it a place among the sacred animals of the country. Neither the hippopotamus nor the crocodile appears to have been eaten by the ancient Egyp- tians. Some of the Egyptians considered the crocodile sacred, while others made war upon it ( Herod, ii. 69). In some places it was treated with the most marked respect, fed, attended, adorned, and after death embalmed. But *he people of Apollinopolis, Tenlyris, Heracleopolis, and other places, held the animal in abhorrence. Cats as well as dogs were held in high esteem by the ancient Egyptians. The former especially were objects of superstitious regard. When a cat died in a house a natural death, a general mourn- ing throughout the family ensued ; and to kill one of these revered animals was a capital offence. Though it appears thai swine frequently formed part of the stock of an Egyptian farm-yard, yet FOOD was the avimal unclean and an abomination in the estimation of the Egyptians. The Mosaic laws which regulated the nse of animal food may be found in Lev. xi. and Deut. xiv. The grounds of many of these regulations may be ascertained with a greater or less degree of probability, provided the student is well ac- quainted with the mind and spirit of Hebrew antiquity. Considerations drawn from idolatrous usages, regard to health, the furtherance of agri- culture, and established customs and tastes, had in each case an influence in the promulgation of these laws. In the earliest times water was the common drink. That wine of an intoxicating tendenc\ was drunk at a very early period appears from what happened to Noah (Gen. ix. 20), who seems to have made as well as drunk wine. Bread and wine are spoken of in Gen. xiv. 18, as offered for refreshment to Abraham by Melchizcdek, king of Salem. Water was sometimes put to the wine; at others a strong drink was made by mix- ing with the wine aromatic herbs (Ps. Ixxv. 9; Isa. v. 22), or a decoction derived from them ; myrrh was used for this purpose. Date-wine was in use, and probably the Egyptian or malt- wine. 'The common people' (Mark xii. 37) drank an acrid sort of wine, which is rendered vinegar in our English Version (Ruth ii. 14; Matt, xxvii. 48). The Orientals frequently used wine in excess, so as to occasion intoxication, whence are drawn many striking figures in Holy Writ (Isa. v. 11 ; xxviii. 1 ; xlix. 26; Jer. viii. 14; ix. 14; xvi. 48; Deut. xxxii. 42; Ps. Ixxviii. 65). That indulgence in wine was prac- tised in very ancient days is manifest from there being in the court of Pharaoh, at the time of Jo- seph, state-officers, who had charge of the wine. and served the monarch with it when he drank (Gen. xl. 1, 11; comp. Neb., i. 1 1 ; \ Kings x. 5 ; 2 Chron. ix. 4). For drinking-vessels there were used the cup and the bowl (Jer. xxxv. 5 ; Amos vi. 6 ; Exod. xxv. 33 ; Num. vii. 1 3, 84). The cup was gene- rally of brass covered with tin, in form resem- bling a lily, sometimes circular. It is still used by Iravellers, and may be seen in both shapes in the ruins of Persepolis (1 Kings vii. 26). The bowl (Exod. xxv. 33) assumed a variety of shapes, and bears many names. Some of these ' chargers' appear, from the presents made by the princes of Israel (Num. vii.), to have been of large size and great splendour ; some were silver, some gold (1 Kings x. 21). In eastern climes the chief meal, or what we 175. [Egyptian Table with Dishes.] term dinner, is, in consequence of the heat of the middle period of the day, deferred till towards FOOD evening, a. slight repast being taken before noon. But from Gen. xliii. 16, 25, it appears to have been the custom to dine at noon in the days of the patriarchs. The same seems to have been the case in Palestine at a later period ( 1 Kings xx. 1 6 ; comp. Acts x. 10 ; Luke xi. 37). Con- vivialities, however, were postponed till evening, and sometimes protracted to the following morn- ing (Isa. v. 11; Mark vi. 21; Luke xiv. 24). The meal was preceded by washing of hands (Luke xi. 38; Mark vii. 2), which the mode of eating rendered necessary ; and by an invocation of the divine blessing (1 Sam. ix. 13; Luke ix, 16; John vi. 11). FOOT 329 176. [Modern Syrians at Meat.] The Hebrews, like the Greeks and Romans in their earlier history, ate sitting (Gen. xxvii. 19 ; Judg. xix. 6 ; 1 Sam. xx. 25). A carpet was spread, on which the meal was partaken. At a later period, however, particularly when Pales- tine came under the influence of Roman manners, the Jews reclined on cushions or couches (Esth. i. 6 ; Amos vi. 4 ; Luke vii. 37 ; not ' sat,' as in the common translation, but 'reclined'). The custom of giving preference in point of seat or position to guests of high consideration appears from 1 Sam. ix. 22, to have been of ancient date (Amos iii. 12). In the time of Christ (Luke xiv. 8) the Pharisees, always eager for distinc- tion, coveted the place of honour at meals and feasts. Women were not admitted to eat with the men, but had their meals supplied in their own private apartment (Esth. i. 6-9). In Babylon and Persia, however, females mingled with males on festive occasions (Dan. v. 2). In general the manner of eating was similar to what it is in the East at the present day. Special care was taken of favoured persons (Gen. xliii. 34 ; 1 Sam. i. 4 ; ix. 22 ; John xiii. 26). Neither knives, forks, nor spoons were employed for eating. The food was conveyed from the dish to the mouth by the right hand. The parties sat with their legs bent under them round a dish placed in the centre, and either took the flesh meat with their fingers from the dish, or dipped bits of their bread into the savoury mess, and conveyed them to their mouths. In Ruth ii. 14, Boaz says to Ruth, ' Dip thy morsel in the vinegar ;' which explains the language of our Lord, John xiii. 26, ' He it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it.' This presenting of food to a person is still customary, and was designed originally as a mark of distinction, the choice morsels being selected by the head of the family for the pur- pose. Drink was handed to each one of the guests in cups or goblets, and, at a very ancient period, in a separate cup to each person. Hence the word cup is used as equivalent to what we term a man's lot or destiny (Ps. xi. 6 ; Ixxv. 8 ; Isa. li. 22 ; Matt. xxvi. 39). FOOL. The fool of Scripture is not an idiot, but an afesurd person ; not one who does not reason at all, but one who reasons wrong; al>o any one whose conduct is not regulated by the dictates of reason and religion. Foolishness, therefore, is not a private condition, but a con- dition of wrong action in the intellectual or sen- tient being, or in both (2 Sam. xiii. 12, 13 ; Ps. xxxviii. 5). In the Proverbs, however, ' foolish- ness' appears to be sometimes used for lack of understanding, although more generally for per- verseness of will. FOOT. Of the various senses in which the word 'foot' is used in Scripture, the following are the most remarkable. Such phrases as the ' slip- ping' of the foot, the 'stumbling' of the foot, ' from head to foot ' (to express the entire body), and ' foot-steps ' (to express tendencies, as when we say of one that he walks in another's foot- steps), require no explanation, being common to most languages. The extreme modesty of the Hebrew language, which has perhaps seldom been sufficiently appreciated, dictated the use of the word 'feet.' to express the parts and the acts which it is not allowed to name. Hence such phrases as the ' hair of the feet,' the ' water of the feet,' ' between the feet,' ' to open the feet,' ' to cover the feet,' all of which are sufficiently intelligible, except perhaps the last, which cer- tainly does not mean 'going to sleep' as some interpreters suggest, but ' to dismiss the refuse of nature.' ' To be under any one's feet' denotes the sub- jection of a subject to his sovereign, or of a ser- vant to his master (Ps. viii. 6 ; comp. Heb. ii. 8 ; 1 Cor. xv. 25) ; and was, doubtless, derived from the symbolical action of conquerors, who set their feet upon the neck or body of the chiefs whom they had vanquished, in token of their triumph. This custom is expressly mentioned in Scripture (Josh. x. 24), and is figured on the monuments of Egypt, Persia, and Rome. In like manner, ' to be at any one's feet,' is used for being at the service of any one, follow- ing him, or willingly receiving his instructions (Judg. iv. 10). The passage (Acts xxii. 3) where Paul is described as being brought up ' at the feet of Gamaliel,' will appear still clearer, if we understand that, as the Jewish writers allege, pupils actually did sit on the floor before, and therefore at the feet of, the doctors of the law, who themselves were raised on an elevated seat. ' Lameness of feet ' generally denotes affliction or calamity, as in Ps. xxxv. 15; xxxviii. 18; Jer. xx. 10 ; Micah iv. 6, 7 ; Zech. iii. 9. ' To set one's foot ' in a place signifies to take possession of it, as in Deut. i. 36 ; xi. 34, and elsewhere. ' To water with the feet' (Deut. xi. 10) implies that the soil was watered with as much ease as a garden, in which the small channels for irriga- tion may be turned, &c. with the foot [GARDEN]. 330 FOREST An elegant phrase, borrowed from the feet, occurs in Gal. ii. 14, -where St. Paul says, When I saw that they walked not uprightly ' literally, 'not with a straight foot,' or 'did not foot it straightly.' Nakedness of feet expressed mourning (Ezek. xxiv. 17). This must mean appearing abroad with naked feet; for there is reason to think that the Jews never used their sandals or shoes within doors. The modern Orientals consider it dis- respectful to enter a room without taking off the outer covering of their feet. It is with them equivalent to uncovering the head among Eu- ropeans. The practice of feet-washing implies a similar usage among the Hebrews [WASHING OF FEET]. Uncovering the feet was also a mark of adoration. Moses put off his sandals to approach the burning where the presence of God was mani- fested (Kxod. iii. 5). Among the modern Orientals it would be regarded the heigfit of profanation to enter a place of worship with covered feet. The Egyptian priests officiated barefoot; and most commentators are of opinion that the Aaronite priests served with bare feet in the tabernacle, as, according to all the Jewish writers, they did afterwards in the temple, and as the frequent washings of their feet enjoined by the law seem to imply [SANDALS]. Respecting the ' washing of feet,' see ABLU- TION and WASHING. FOREHEAD. Marks upon the forehead, for the purpose of distinguishing the holy from the profane, are mentioned in Ezek. ix. 4, and again in Rev. vii. 3. The classical idolaters used to consecrate them- selves to particular deities on the same principle. The marks used on these occasions were various. Sometimes they contained the name of the god - t sometimes his particular ensign, or else they marked themselves with some mystical number whereby the god was described. If this analogy be admitted, the mark on the forehead may be taken to be derived from the analogous custom among the heathen of bearing on their forehead the mark of the gods whose votaries they were. Some, however, would rather understand the allusion to refer to the custom of marking cattle, and even slaves, with the sign of ownership [STIGMATA]. FORESKIN, the prepuce, which was taken off in circumcision [CIRCUMCISION]. FOREST. Tracts of wood-land are men- tioned by travellers in Palestine, but rarely what we should call a forest. The word trans- lated by ' forest' does not necessarily mean more than ' wood-land.' There are, however, abund- ant intimations in Scripture that the country was in ancient times much more wooded than at present, and in parts densely so. The localities more particularly mentioned as woods or forests are 1. The forest of cedars on Mount Lebanon (I Kings vii. 2 ; 2 Kings xix. 23 ; Hos. xiv. 5, 6), which must have been much more extensive for- merly than at present The name of ' House of the Forest of Lebanon' is given in Scripture (1 Kings vii. 2 ; x. 27) to a palace which was built by Solomon in, or not far from, Jerusalem, and which is supposed to have been so called on account of the quantity of cedar-trees employed in its construction ; or, per- FORT1FICATIONS haps, because the numerous pillars of cedar- woott suggested the idea of a forest of cedar-trees. 2. . The forest of oaks, ou the mountains of Bashan. The trees of this region have been al- ready noticed under BASHAN. 3. The forest or tcood of JSphraim, already noticed under EPHRAIM, 4. 4. The forest of Hareth, in the south of Judah, to which David withdrew to avoid the fury of Saul ( 1 Sam. xxii. 5). The precise situation is unknown. FOREST is used symbolically to denote a city, kingdom, polity, or the like (Ezek. xiv. 26). Devoted kingdoms are also represented under the image of a forest, which God threatens to burn or cut down. See Isa. x. 17, 18, 19, 34, where the briers and thorns denote the common people; ' the glory of the forest' are the nobles and those of highest rank and importance. See also Isa. xxxii. 19; xxxvii. 24; Jer. xxi. 14; xxii. 7 ; xlvi. 23 ; Zech. xi. 2. FORNICATION. In Scripture this word occurs more frequently in its symbolical than in its ordinary sense. In the Prophets woman is often made the sym- bol of the church or nation of the Jews, which is regarded as affianced to Jehovah by the covenant on Mount Sinai. Therefore when the Israelites acted contrary to that covenant, by forsaking God and following idols, they were very pro- perly represented by the symbol of a harlot or adulteress, offering herself to all comers (Isa. i. 21 ; Jer. ii. 20; Ezek. xvi. ; Hos. i. 2; iii. 11). And thus fornication, or adultery (which is forni- cation in a married state), became, and is used as, the symbol of idolatry itself (Jer. iii. 8, 9 ; Ezek. xvi. 26,29 ; xxiii. 37). FORTIFICATIONS. ' FENCED CITIES.' Inventions for the defence of men in social life are older than history. The walls, towers, and gates represented on Egyptian monuments, though dating back to a period of fifteen centuries before the Christian era, bear evidence of an advanced state of fortifications of walls built of squared stones, or of squared timber judiciously placed on the summit of scarped rocks, or within the circumference of one or two wet ditches, and fur- nished on the summit with regular battlements to protect the defenders. All these are of later invention than the accumulation of unhewn or rudely chipped uncemented stones, piled on each other in the form of walls, in the so-called Cyclo- pean, Pelasgian, Etruscan, and Celtic styles, where there are no ditches, or towers, or other gateways than mere openings occasionally left between the enormous blocks employed in the work. As the three first styles occur in Etruria they show the progressive advance of military architecture, and may be considered as more pri- mitive, though perhaps posterior to the era when the progress of Israel, under the guidance of Joshua, expelled several Canaanitish tribes, whose system of civilization, in common with that of the rest of Western Asia, bore an Egyptian type, and whose towers and battlements were re- markably high, or rather were erected in very elevated situations. When, therefore, the Israelites entered Palestine, we may assume that the ' fenced cities 'they had to attack were, according to their degree of antiquity, fortified with more or less of art, but all with huge stones in the lower walls. FORTIFICATIONS like the Etruscan. Indeed, Asia Minor, Armenia, Syria, and even Jerusalem, still bear marks of this most ancient system. Stones from six -to fifty feet in length, with suitable proportions, can still be detected in many walls of the cities of those regions, wherever quarries existed, from FOUNTAIN 331 177. Nineveh, where beneath the surface there still remain ruins and walls of huge stones, sculptured with bas-reliefs, originally painted, to Babylon, and Bassorah, where bricks, sun-dried or baked, and stamped with letters, are yet found, as well as in all the plains of the rivers where that ma- terial alone could be easily procured. The wall was sometimes double or triple (2 Chron. xxxii. 5), successively girding a rocky elevation ; and ' building a city ' originally meant the construc- tion of the wall. Before wall-towers were introduced, the gate of a city, originally single, formed a kind of citadel, and was the strongest part of all the defences : it was the armoury of the community, and the council-house of the authorities. ' Sitting in the gate ' was, and still is, synonymous with the pos- session of power, and even now there is com- monly in the fortified gate of a royal palace in the Ea^t, on the floor above the door-way, a council-room with a kind of balcony, whence the sovereign sometimes sees his people, and where he may sit in judgment. The tower was another fortification of the earliest date, being often the citadel or last retreat when a city was taken ; or, standing alone in some naturally strong position, was intended to protect a frontier, command a pass, or to be a place of refuge and deposit of 178. treasure in the mountains, when the plain should be no longer defensible. Watch-towers used by shepherds all over Asia, and even now built on eminences above some city in the plain, in order to keep a look-cut upon the distant country, were already in use and occasionally converted into places of defence (2 Chron. xxvi. 10; xxvii. 4). The gateways were closed by ponderous folding doors, the valves or folds being secured by wooden bars : both the doors and bars were in after times plated with metal. A ditch, where the nature of the locality required it, was dug in front of the rampart, and sometimes there was an inner wall, with a second ditch before it. As the experience of ages increased, huge ' counter forts,' double buttresses, or masses of solid stoue and masonry were built in particular parts to sustain the outer wall, and afford space on the summit to place military engines (2 Chron. xxvi. 15). In the cut, No. 179, taken from another Egyptian work, we have a series of towers, that in the middle being evidently the citadel or keep, and a gateway indicating that the wall is omitted, or is intended by the lines of the oval surround- ing the whole. Here also we see a regular laba- rum, the most ancient example extant of this form of ensign, and the towers are manned with armed soldiers. No. 177 is taken from a seal, and is a symbol of Babylon, where the city, sus- tained by two lions, is shown standing on both sides of the Euphrates, having an outer wall ; the inner rampart is flanked by numerous elevated and embattled towers. There is another, but less antique representation of Babylon, with its lions and towers, &c. ; but the battlements are squared, not pointed, as in the first. The towers are here crowded with soldiers, some of whom, from the form of their shields, are obviously Egyptians. These are sufficient to give a general idea of cities fenced entirely by art. FORTUNA'TUS, a disciple of Corinth, of Roman birth or origin, as his name indicates, who visited Paul at Ephesus, and returned, along with Stephanus and Achaicus, in charge of that Apostle's first Epistle to the Corinthian church, B.C. 59 (1 Cor. xvi. 17). FOUNTAIN, a stream of ' living ' or con- stantly running water, in opposition to standing or stagnant pools, whether it issues immediately from the ground or from the bottom of a well. From the value of such supplies of water in arid countries, fountains figure much in the poetry of the East as the natural images of peren- nial blessings of various kinds. In the Scriptures fountains are made the symbols of refreshment to the weary, and also denote the perpetuity and inexhaustible nature of the spiritual comforts which God imparts to his people, whether by the influences of the Spirit, or through the ordinances of public worship. There are also various texts in which children, or an extended posterity, are, by a beautifully apt image, described as a foun- 332 FOX tain, and the father or progenitor as the source or spring from which that fountain flows (Deut. xxxiii. 28; Ps. Ixviii. 2G ; Prov. v. 16, 18; xiii. 14, &c.). FOWL. [BIRD; COCK.] FOX. Two distinct terms are in our version rendered by the word ' fox,' although that deno- mination is not uniformly employed in different texts ( Judg. xv. 4 ; Neh. iv. 3 ; xi. 27 ; Ps. Ixiii. 10; Cant. ii. 15; Lam. v. 18; Ezek. xiii. 4). Fox is thus applied to two or more species, though only strictly applicable in a systematic view to Taaleb, which is the Arabic name of a wild canine, probably the Syrian fox, Vulpes Tlialeb or Taaleb of modern zoologists, and the only genuine species indigenous in Palestine. There is in the language of the ancients, how- 180. [Svrian Fox.] ever, a vague and often an indiscriminathig use of zoological names : the name may therefore be employed as a general denomination; for, of vulpine animals, though the taaleb alone is con- sidered indigenous, there is the so-called Turkish fox of Asia Minor, not unknown to the south as far as the Orontes, and therefore likely to be an occasional visitant at least of the woods of Liba- nus. There is, besides, one of a third group, namely, Thoits anthus, or deeb of the Arabs, occasionally held to be the wolf of Scripture, be- cause it resembles the species in general appear- ance, though so far inferior in weight, size, and powers, as not to be in the least dangerous, or likely to be the wolf of the Bible. The two first do not howl, and the third is solitary and howls seldom ; but there is a fourth ( Canis Syriacus} which howls, is lower and smaller than a fox, has a long ill-furnished tail, small ears, and a rufous-grey livery. This may be the jackal of Palestine. The German naturalists seem not to have considered it identical with the common jackal, which is sufficiently common along the coast, is eminently gregarious, offensive in smell ; howls intolerably in complete concert with all others within hearing ; burrows ; is crepuscular and nocturnal, impudent, thievish ; penetrates into outhouses ; ravages poultry - yards more ruinously than the fox ; feeds on game, lizards, locusts, insects, garbage, grapes ; and leaves not even the graves of man himself undisturbed. It may ultimately turn out that Canis Syriacus is not a jackal, but a chryseus, or wild-dog, belong- ing to the group of Dholes, well known in India, and, though closely allied to, distinct from the jackal. Vulpes Taaleb, or Taleb, the Syrian fox, is of the size of an English cur fox, and similarly formed ; but the ears are wider and longer, the fur in general ochry-rufous above, and whitish beneath ; there is a faint black ring towards the FRANKINCENSE tip of the tail, and the back of the ears arescoty, with bright fulvous edges. The species burrows, is silent and solitary, extends eastward into Southern Persia, and is said to be found in Na- ; tolia. It is reputed to be very destructive in the vineyards, or rather a plunderer of ripe grapes ; but he is certainly less so than the jackal, whose ravages are carried on in troops and with less fear of man. None of the explanations which we have seen of the controverted passage in Judg, xv. 4, 5, re- ; lative to the foxes, jackals, or other canines, which Samson employed to set fire to the corn of the Philistines, is altogether satisfactory to our mind. Commentators, following the reading of the Sept., have with common consent adopted the in- terpretation, that two foxes were tied together by their tails with a firebrand between them. We | consider this highly improbable, and therefore understand the text to mean that each fox had a separate brand; and most naturally so, for it may be questioned whether two united would run in the same direction. They would assuredly pull counter to each other, and ultimately fight most fiercely ; whereas there can be no doubt that every canine would run, with fire attached to its tail, not from choice but necessity, through standing corn, if the field lay in the direction of the animal's burrow ; for foxes and jackals, when chased, run direct to their holes, and sportsmen well know the necessity of stopping up those of the fox while the animal is abroad, or there is no chance of a chace. We therefore submit that by the words rendered ' tail to tail ' we should un- derstand the end of the firebrand attached to the extremity of the tail. Finally, as the operation of tying 300 brands to as many fierce and iras- cible animals could not be effected in one day by a single man, nor produce the result intended if done in one place, it seems more probable that the name of Samson, as the chief director of the act, is employed to represent the whole party who effected his intentions in different places at the same time, and thereby insured that general conflagration of the harvest which was the signal of open resistance on the part of Israel to the long-endured oppression of the Philistine people. FRANKINCENSE. The original word is lebonah, which first occurs here, and is afterwards constantly mentioned among the ingredients of the perfume to be consumed upon the incense altar (Lev. ii. 1, 2, 15, 16 ; v. 11 ; vi. 1 5 ; xxiv. 7 ; Num. v. 15; 1 Chron. ix. 29 ; Neh. xiii. 5). In j some other passages it is used in a figurative sense (Sol. Song, iii. 6 ; iv. 6 ; Isa. xliii. 23 ; Ixvi. 3). In other passages, as an article of dis- tant commerce, it is described as being brought by caravans from Sheba, &c. (Isa. Ix. 6 ; Jer. vi. 20). From all which texts we learn that it was an article of foreign and distant commerce, that it was known very early, and that it was pro- bably of a resinous nature, and very fragrant. In the New Testament the same word is em- ployed in the Greek form of libanos. also rendered by ' frankincense.' The original is supposed to be found in the Hebrew laban, ' white ;' but it is equally similar to the Arabic laban, signifying ' milk ;' and, in a secondary sense, a gummy or resinous exudation from a tree, especially frank- FROG incense. There are other -words in the Arabic which have a similar meaning, and which it is most probable were all originally derived from the same root as the Hebrew lebonah, and the Arabic laban, applied in both languages to the same substance. This was called by the Greeks libanos, and by the Romans thus, and now com- monly as olibanum, from. the addition of the letter o to the original name. Several kinds of resinous substances have at different times been confounded together under the names of ' in- cense' and 'frankincense,' as well as under the Latin thus, which is derived from thuo, ' to sa- crifice.' The ancient writers seem to state that there were two sorts of frankincense, one from the coasts of Arabia, and the other from India, but they more generally speak of it as derived from the former quarter, specially indicating the region of Saba or Sheba, from whence the Scrip- ture also describes it as being brought. The Periplus, however, refers it to Africa. There is, however, no direct evidence for the existence of the tree or shrub producing frankincense in the southern coasts of Arabia. Wellsted could not see it when travelling in the quarter where it should be sought ; and although Niebuhr affirms that it is cultivated, he adds that it was intro- duced from Abyssinia, a fact which would not have passed Out of memory had it been anciently pro- duced in the country. That it might be described as coming from or produced in Arabia, even though grown in another country, is common to other products which the regions west and north of Arabia received through Arabian merchants. A number of circumstances render it probable that it was obtained by the Arabians from the coast of Africa, to which it was brought from the interior. Mr. Johnson, in his Travels in Southern Abyssinia, states that frankincense, called attar, is exported in large quantities from Berbera, on the Soumalee coast of Africa ; that it is brought thither from the interior, and that a camel load of two hundred and fifty pounds is sold for three dollars. In conformity with this is the statement of Cosmo Indicopleuestes, who describes the land of frankincense as lying ' at the furthest end of Ethiopia, fifty days' journey from Axum, at no great distance from the ocean. The inhabitants of the neighbouring Barbaria. or the country of Sozee, fetch from thence frankincense and other costly spices, which they transport by water to Arabia Felix and India.' The substance thus indicated, called on the Continent African or Arabian olib, is rarely met with in this country. Dr. Pereira states it consists of smaller tears than that of the Indian variety, and is intermixed with crystals of carbonate of lime. Even the country which produces the olibanum being itself uncer- tain, the cautious naturalist will hesitate to indi- cate with decisiveness the species of tree by which it is afforded. More distinct information on the subject is still needed. FROG (Exod. liii. 2). Although the common frog is so well known that no description is needed to satisfy the reader, it may be necessary to mention that the only species recorded as ex- isting in Palestine is the green (Rana esculenta), and that of all the authorities we have been able to consult, Dr. Richardson alone refers the species of Egypt to the green speckled grey frog {Rana FROG 333 punr.lata). But considering the immense extent of the Nile from south to north, and the amazing abundance of these animals which it contains in the state of spawn, tadpole, and complete frog, it is likely that the speckled is not the only species found in its waters, and that different species, if they do not occur in the same locality, are at least to be met with in different latitudes. The speckled species is found westward even to the north of France, but is not common in Europe. It is lively, but no strong swimmer, the webs on the hinder toes extending only half their length ; hence, perhaps, it is more a terrestrial animal than the common green frog, and, like the brown species, is given to roam on land in moist weather. Although it is very hazardous, in transactions of an absolutely miraculous nature, to attempt to point out the instruments that may have served to work out the purposes of the Almighty, we may conjecture that, in the plague of frogs, a species, the one perhaps we have just mentioned, was selected for its agility on land, and that, although the fact is not expressly mentioned, the awful visitation was rendered still more ominous by the presence of dark and rainy weather an atmospheric condition never of long duration on the coast of Egypt, and gradually more and more rare up the course of the river. We have our- selves witnessed, during a storm of rain, frogs crowding into our cabin, in the low lands of Guiana, till they were packed up in the corners of the apartment, and continually falling back in their attempts to ascend above their fellows ; and the door could not be opened without others en- tering more rapidly than those within could be expelled. Now, as the temples, palaces, and cities of Egypt stood, in general, on the edge of the ever dry desert, and always above the level of the highest inundations, to be there visited by a continuation of immense number of frogs was assuredly a most distressing calamity ; and as this phenomenon, in its ordinary occurrence within the tropics, is always accompanied by the storms of the monsoon or of the setting in of the rainy season, the dismay it must have caused may be judged of when we reflect that the plague occurred where rain seldom or never falls, where none of the houses are fitted to lead off the water, and that the animals appeared in localities where they had never before been found, and where, at all other times, the scorching sun would have destroyed them in a few minutes. Nor was the selection of the frog as an instrument of God's displeasure without portentous meaning in the minds of the idolatrous Egyptians, who consi- dered that animal a type of their creative power, and also an indication of man in embryo. The magicians, indeed, appeared to make frogs come up out of the waters ; but we must not understand that to them was given also the power of pro- ducing the animals. The effect which they claimed as their own was a simple result of the continuation of the prodigy effected by Moses and Aaron ; for that they had no real power is evident, not only from their inability to stop the present plague, the control which even Pharaoh discovered to be solely in the hands of Moses, but also the utter failure of their enchantments in that of lice, where their artifices were incom- petent to impose upon the king and his people. 334 FRUITS FRONTLETS. [PHYLACTERIES.] FRUITS. Under this head may perhaps be most appropriately noticed a classification of pro- duce of great importance to a right understanding of the Bible. We propose to show that the He- brews had three generic terms designating three great classes of the fruits of the land, closely- corresponding to what may be expressed in English as, 1. Corn-fruit, or field produce; 2. Vintage fruit ; 3. Orchardfruit. The term ' summer-fruits ' appears to denote those less important species of fruit which Mere adapted only to immediate consumption, or could not be easily or conveniently conserved for winter use (Jer. xl. 10, 12). It would seem to indicate either the existence of some contrasted term, as ' winter-fruits,' or to imply that the products of the class under which it ranked as a species were generally distinguished by their capability of being preserved throughout the year. The three terms spoken of as being so frequently associated in the Scriptures, and expressive of a most com- prehensive triad of blessings, are DAGAN, Ti- KOSH, and YITZHAK. 1. Dagun, ' fruit of the field,' or agricultural produce. Under this term the Hebrews classed almost every object of field culture [AGRICUL- TURE]. Dr. Jahn says, 'the -word is of general signification, and comprehends in itself different kinds of grain and pulse, such as wheat, millet, spelt, wall-barley, barley, beans, lentils, meadow- cumin, pepper-wort, flax, cotton, various species of the cucumber, and perhaps rice.' There is now no doubt among scholars that dagan com- prehends the largest and most valuable species of vegetable produce ; and therefore it will be al- lowed that the rendering of the word in the com- mon version by ' corn,' and sometimes by ' wheat,' instead of ' every species of corn' or field produce, tends to limit our conceptions of the Divine bounty, as well as to impair the beauty of the passages where it occurs. 2. Tirosh, ' the fruit of the vine ' in its natural or its solid state, comprehending grapes, moist or dried, and the fruit in general, whether in the early cluster or the mature and ripened condition (1 Sam. xxv. 18 ; 2 Sam. xvi. 1 ; 1 Chron. xii. 40 ; Hos. iii. 1 ; Isa. Ixv. 8). In the Authorized Version it is usually rendered ' wine,' -which is an improper restriction of its meaning. It is also distinctly referred to as the yielder of wine,' and therefore was not wine itself, but the raw material from which it was expressed or prepared. Dr. Conquest's amended translation of Micah vi. 15, is, ' Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap.' 3. Yitz/tar, 'orchard-fruits,' especially winter or keeping fruits, as dates, figs, olives, pomegra- nates, citrons, nuts, &c. Thus the triad of terms we have been consider- ing would comprehend every vegetable substance of necessity and luxury commonly consumed by the Hebrews, of which first-fruits were presented or tithes paid ; and this view of their meaning will also explain why the injunctions concerning offerings and tithes were sufficiently expressed by these terms alone (Num. xviii. 12 ; Deut. xiv. 23). Had dagan in these texts been restricted to wheat, no obligation would thereby have been imposed to present the first-fruits or the tithes of barley and other grain had tirosh signified GAAL yrape-juict, then this law could have been easily evaded by drying the fruit as raisins, or pre- serving it in other ways ; and had yitzhar signi- fied oil, it would have been difficult at all, and from these texts impossible, to educe the obliga- tion to pay tithes or present first-fruits of a large and most valuable class of products, as dates, citrons, pomegranates, &c. But these texts are the most definite we can find in relation to the subject, and are evidently designed to be very comprehensive ; and, consequently, as tithes were paid of all those fruits, the practice must inter- pret these expressions as including, 1st. Fruits of the field or land ; 2nd. Fruits of the vintage ; and, 3rd. Fruits of the orchard, including both summer and preserving fruits. FULLER. At the transfiguration our Saviour's robes are said to have been white, ' so as no fuller on earth could white them ' (Mark ix. 3). Else- where we read of ' fullers' soap ' (Mai. iii. 2). ' and of 'the fullers' field' (2 Kings xviii. 17). ' Of the processes followed in the art of cleaning cloth and the various kinds of stuff among the Jews we have no direct knowledge. In an early part of the operation they seem to have trod the cloths with their feet, as the Hebrew Ain Rogel, or En-rogel, literally Foot-fountain, has been rendered, on Rabbinical authority, ' Fullers' foun- tain,' on the ground that the fullers trod the cloths there with their feet. A subsequent operation ; was probably that of rubbing the cloth on an inclined plane, in a mode which is figured in the Egyptian paintings, and still preserved in the East. FULLERS' FOUNTAIN. [EN-ROGEL.] FULLERS' SOAP. The word thus rendered occurs in two passages of Scripture first, iu Jerem. ii. 22 ; and again in Malachi iii. 2. From neither of these passages does it distinctly appear whether the substance referred to was obtaine 1 from the mineral or from the vegetable kingdom. But it is evident that it was possessed of cleansing properties. It is probable that the ashes of plants may be alluded to, as there is no proof that soap is intended, though it may have been known to the same people at very early periods. Usually the ashes only of plants growing on the sea-shore have been thought to be intended. All these would yield barilla, or carbonate of soda. Many of them have been burnt, for the soda they yield, on the coasts of India, of the Red Sea, and of the Mediterranean. FUNERALS. [BURIAL; MOURNING.] G. GA'AL (miscarriage), son of Ebed. He went to Shechem with his brothers when the inhabit- ants became discontented with Abimelech, and so engaged their confidence that they placed him at their head. At the festival at which the She- chemites offered the first-fruits of their vintage in the temple of Baal, Gaal, by apparently drunken bravadoes, roused the valour of the people, and strove yet more to kindle their wrath against the absent Abimelech. It would seem as if the natives had been in some way intimately con- nected with, or descended from, the original inhabitants; for Gaal endeavoured to awaken GABRIEL their attachment to the ancient family of Hamor, the father of Shechem, which ruled the place in the time of Abraham (Gen. xxxiv. 2, 6), and which seems to have been at this time represented by Gaal and his brothers. Although deprived of Shechem, the family appears to have maintained itself in some power in the neighbourhood ; which induced the Shechemites . to look to Gaal when they became tired of Abimelech. Whether he succeeded in awakening among them a kind feel- ing towards the descendants of the ancient masters of the place does not appear ; but eventually they went out under his command, and assisted doubt- less by his men, to intercept and give battle to Abimelech, when he appeared before the town. He, however, fled before Abimelech, and his retreat into Shechem being cut off by Zebul, the commandant of that place, he went to his home, and we hear of him no more. The account of this attempt is interesting, chiefly from the slight glimpse it affords of the position, at this period, of what had been one of the reigning families of the land before its invasion by the Israelites (Judg. ix. 26-48) B.C. 1026. GAB'BATHA occurs John xix. 13, where the Evangelist states that Pontius Pilate, alarmed at last in his attempts to save Jesus, by the artful insinuation of the Jews, ' If thou let this man go thou art not Caesar's friend,' went into the prse- torium again, and brought Jesus out to them, and sat down once more upon the tribunal, in a place called in Greek Lithostratos> but in the Hebrew Gabbatha. The Greek word signifies literally stone-paved, and is frequently used to denote a pavement formed of ornamental stones of various colours, commonly called a tesselated or mosaic pavement. The partiality of the Ro- mans for this kind of pavement is well known. From this fact it has been inferred by many eminent writers, that the place where Pilate's tribunal was set on this occasion, was covered by a tesselated pavement, which, as a piece'of Ro- man magnificence, was appended to the prsetorium at Jerusalem. The emphatic manner in which St. John speaks of it agrees with this conjecture. It further appears from his narrative that it was outside the praetorium ; for Pilate is said to have ' come out ' to the Jews, who, for ceremonial reasons, did not go into it, on this as well as on other occasions (John xviii. 28, 29, 38 ; xix. 4, 13). Besides which, the Roman governors, although they tried causes, and conferred with their council (Acts xxv. 12), within the praeto- rium, always pronounced sentence in the open air. May not then this tesselated pavement, on which the tribunal was now placed, have been inlaid on some part of the terrace, &c. running along one side of the praetorium, and overlooking the area where the Jews were assembled, or upon a landing-place of the stairs immediately before the grand entrance ? The word Gabbatha is probably synonymous with Lithostratos. GA'BRIEL (the mighty one [or hero'] of God), the heavenly messenger who was sent to Daniel to explain the vision of the ram and the he-goat (Dan. viii.), and to communicate the prediction of the Seventy Weeks (Dan. ix. 21-27). Under the n*w dispensation he was employed to announce the birth of John the Baptist to his father Zecha- riah (Luke i. 11), and that of the Messiah to the GADARA 335 Virgin Mary (Luke i. 26). Both by Jewish and Christian writers, Gabriel has been denominated an archangel. The Scriptures, however, affirm nothing positively respecting his rank, though the importance of the commissions on which he was employed, and his own words ' I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God' (Luke i. 19), are rather in favour of the notion of his superior dig- nity. But the reserve of the Inspired Volume on such points strikingly distinguishes its angelology from that of the Jews and Mohammedans, and we may add, of the Fathers and some later Christian writers. In all the solemn glimpses of the other world which it gives, a great moral pur- pose is kept in view. Whatever is divulged tends to elevate and refine : nothing is said to gratify a prurient curiosity. GAD (a troop, or fortunate]. 1. A son of Jacob by his concubine Zilpah (Gen. xxx. 10, sq.), and who became the progenitor of one of the twelve tribes. The sons of Gad are enumerated in Gen. xlvi. 15, sq., and Num. xxvi. 15, sq. At the time of the conquest of Canaan, the tribe of Gad counted 45,650 warriors (Num. i. 24, 25) : the position of their camp in the desert is given Num. ii. 1 4, and the names of their chiefs, i. 14 ; ii. 14; vii. 42, sq. As a reward for their having formed the van- guard in war of the army of the tribes collectively, they were allowed to appropriate to their exclu- sive use some pastoral districts beyond the Jordan (Num. xxxii. 17, sq.). The inheritance of this tribe, called the land f Gad (1 Sam. xiii. 7 ; Jer. xlix. 1), was situated beyond the Jordan in Gilead, north of Reuben, and separated on the east from Ammon by the river Jabbok. According to 1 Chron. v. 11, the Gadites had extended their possessions on the east as far as Salcah, though the latter had been allotted by Moses to Manasseh (Deut. iii. 10, 13): a proof how difficult it is to draw a strong line of demarcation between the possessions of pastoral tribes. The territory of Gad forms a part of the present Belka. In Josh. xiii. 25, the land of Gad is called ' half the land of the children of Ammon ;.' not because the latter were then in possession of it, but probably because the part west of the Jabbok had formerly borne that name (comp. Judg. xi. 13). The principal cities of Gad pass by the general appellation of the Cities of Gilead (Josh. xiii. 25). The Gadites were a warlike people, and were compelled to be continually armed and on the alert against the inroads of the surrounding Ara- bian hordes (comp. Gen. xlix. 19; Deut. xxxiii. 20 ; 1 Chron. v. 19, sq.). 2. GAD, a prophet contemporary with David, and probably a pupil of Samuel, who early at- tached himself to the son of Jesse (1 Sam. xxii. 5). Instances of his prophetic intercourse with David occur in 2 Sam. xxiv. 11, sq.; 1 Chron. xxi. 9, sq. ; xxix. 25. Gad wrote a history of the reign of David, to which the author of the 2nd b&ok of Samuel seems to refer for further information respecting that reign (1 Chron. xxix. 29), B.C. 1062-1017. GAD'ARA was the chief city or metropolis of Perara, lying in the district termed Gadaritis some small distance from the southern extremity 33C GALATIA of the sea of Galilee, sixty stadia from Tiberias, to the south of the river Hieromax, and also of the Scheriat-al-Mandhur. It was fortified, and stood on a hill of limestone. Its inhabitants were mostly heathens. After the place had been de- ' stroyed in the domestic quarrels of the Jews, it was rebuilt by Pompey, in order to gratify De- metrius of Gadara, one of his freedmen. Augus- tus added Gadara, with other places, to the king- dom of Herod ; from which, on the death of that prince, it was sundered, and joined to the province of Syria (Joseph. De Bell. Jud. ii. 6. 3). At a later period it was the seat of an episcopal see. Most modern authorities find Gadava in the present village of Om-keis. The hill on which it stood was full of caverns, which were used for tombs. The summit of the hill commands a very fine view. The city formed nearly a square. The upper part of it stood on a level spot, and appears to have been walled all round, the acclivities of the hill being on all sides exceedingly steep. The eastern gate of entrance has its portals still re- maining. Among the ruins Buckingham found a theatre, an Ionic temple, a second theatre, be- sides traces and remnants of streets and houses. The prevalent orders of architecture are the Ionic and the Corinthian. Burckhardt also found near Gadara warm sul- phurous springs. According to Epiphanius, a yearly festival was held at these baths. Gadara is the scene of the miracle recorded in Matt. viii. 28 ; Mark v. 1 ; Luke viii. 26. Buck- ingham's remarks on this event are well worth quoting : ' The accounts given of the habitation of the demoniac from whom the legion of devils was cast out here struck us very forcibly, while we ourselves were wandering among rugged mountains, and surrounded by tombs still used as dwellings by individuals and whole families. A finer subject for a masterly expression of the passions of madness in all their violence, con- trasted with the serenity of virtue and benevo- lence in him who went about doing good, could hardly be chosen for the pencil of an artist ; and a faithful delineation of the rugged and wild majesty of the mountain scenery here on the one hand, with the still calm of the waters of the lake on the other, would give an additional charm to the picture.' One of the ancient tombs was, when our traveller saw it, used as a carpenter's shop, the occupier of it being employed in constructing a rude plough. A perfect sarcophagus remained within, which was used by the family as a pro- vision-chest. G ALA'TIA, a province of Asia Minor, bounded on the north by Bithynia and Paphlagonia, on the south by Lycaonia, oa the east by Pontus and Cappadocia, and on the west by Phrygia and Bithynia. It derived its name from the Gallic or Keltic tribes who, about 280 years B.C., made an irruption into Macedonia and Thrace. At the i invitation of Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, they passed over the Hellespont to assist that prince against his brother Ziboeta. Having accomplished this object, they were unwilling to retrace their steps ; and, strengthened by the accession of fresh hordes from Europe, they overran Bithynia and the neighbouring countries, and supported them- selves by predatory excursions, or by imposts exacted from the native chiefs. After the lapse GALATIANS of forty years, Altai us I., king of Pergamus, sue ceeded in checking their nomadic habits, and confined them to a fixed territory. Of the three principal tribes, the Trocmi settled in the eastern part of Galatia, near the banks of the Halys ; the Tectosages in the country round Ancyra ; and the Tolistobogii in the south-western parts, near Pessinus. They retained their independence till the year B.C. 189, when they were brought under the power of Rome by the consul Cn. Manlius, though still governed by their own princes. In the year B.C. 25 Galatia became a Roman pro- vince. Under the successors of Augustus the boundaries of Galatia were so much enlarged, that it reached from the shores of the Euxine to the Pisidian Taurus. In the time of Constantine a new division was made, which reduced it to its ancient limits ; and by Theodosius I. or Valens it was separated into Galatia Prima, the northern part, occupied by the Trocmi and Tectosages, and Galatia Secunda or Salutaris : Ancyra was the capital of the former, and Pessinus of the latter. From the intermixture of Gauls and Greeks, Galatia was also called Gallo-Gracia, and its inhabitants Gallo-Grseci. But even in Jerome's time they had not lost their native language. The Gospel was introduced into this province by the Apostle Paul. His first visit is recorded in Acts xvi. 6, and his second in Acts xviii. 23. GALA'TIANS, EPISTLE TO THE. The Pauline origin of this epistle is attested not only by the superscription which it bears (i. 1), but also by frequent allusions in the course of it to the great Apostle of the Gentiles (coinp. i. 13-23 ; ii. 1-14), and by the unanimous testimony of the ancient church. It is corroborated also by the style, tone, and contents of the epistle, which are perfectly in keeping with those of the Apostle's other writings. The parties to whom this epistle was addressed are described in the epistle itself as ' the churches of Galatia' (i. 2; comp. iii. 1). Into this district the Gospel was first introduced by Paul himself (Acts xvi. 6; Gal. i. 8 ; iv. 13, 19). Churches were then also probably formed ; for on revisiting this district some time after his first visit, it is ! ; mentioned that he ' strengthened the disciples ' (Acts xviii. 23). These churches seem to have been composed principally of converts directly from heathenism, but partly, also, of Jewish con- verts, both pure Jews and proselytes. Unhappily, the latter, not thoroughly emancipated from early opinions and prepossessions, or probably influ- enced by Judaizing teachers who had visited these churches, had been seized with a zealous desire to incorporate the rites and ceremonies of Judaism with the spiritual truths and simple ordinances of Christianity. So active had this party been in disseminating their views on this head through the churches of Galatia, that the majority at least of the members had been se- duced to adopt them (i. 6 ; iii. 1, &c.). From some passages in this epistle (e. ar. i. 11-24; ii. 1-21) it would appear also that insinuations had been disseminated among the Galatian churches to the efiect that Paul was not a divinely-com- missioned Apostle, but only a messenger of the church at Jerusalem ; that Peter and he were at variance upon the subject of the relation of the Jewish rites to Christianity ; and that Paul him- GALATIANS self was not at all times so strenuously opposed to those rites as he had chosen to be among the Galatians. Of this state of things intelligence having been conveyed to the Apostle, he wrote this epistle for the purpose of vindicating his own pretensions and conduct, of counteracting the in- fluence of these false views, and of recalling the Galatians to the simplicity of the Gospel which they had received. The importance of the case was probably the reason why the Apostle put himself to the great labour of writing this epistle with his own hand (vi. 11). The epistle consists of three parts. In the^/zrsf part (i.-ii.), after his usual salutations, Paul vin- dicates his own Apostolic authority and indepen- dence as a directly-commissioned ambassador of Christ to men, and especially to the Gentile por- tion of the race, asserting that the Gospel which he preached was the only Gospel of Christ, ex- pressing his surprise that the Galatians had allowed themselves to be so soon turned from him who had called them, to a different Gospel, denouncing all who bad thus seduced them as troublers of the church, perverters of the doctrine of Christ, and deserving, even had they been angels from heaven, to be placed under an ana- thema instead of being followed, maintaining the divine origin of his Apostolic commission, which he illustrates by the history of his conver- sion and early conduct in the service of Christ, and declaring that, so far from being inferior to the other Apostles, he had ever treated with them on equal terms, and been welcomed by them as an equal. Having in the close of this part of the epistle been led to refer to his zeal for the great doctrine of salvation by the grace of God through faith in Christ, he enters at large, in the second part (iii.-iv.), upon the illustration and defence of this cardinal truth of Christianity. He appeals to the former experience of the Galatians as to the way in which they had received the Spirit, to the case of Abraham, and to the testimony of Scripture in support of his position that it is by faith and not by the works of the law that men are accepted of God (iii. 1-9). He proceeds to remind them that the law has brought a curse upon men because of sin, a curse which it has no power to remove, and from which the sinner can be redeemed only through the substitutionary work of Christ, by whose means the blessing of Abraham comes upon the Gentiles. And lest any should object that the law being of more recent origin than the covenant must supersede it, he shows that this cannot be the case, but that the covenant must be perpetual, whilst the law is to be regarded only in the light of a temporary and intercalary arrangement, the design of which was to forward the fulfilment of the promise in Christ HO-29). The relation of the Jewish church to the Christian is then illustrated by the case of an heir under tutors and governors as contrasted with the case of the same person when he is of age and has become master of all ; and the Gala- tians are exhorted not willingly to descend from the important and dignified position of sons to that of mere servants in God's house an exhort- ation which is illustrated and enforced by an allegorical comparison of the Jewish church to Ishmael, the son of Hagar, and of the Christian to Isaac, the son of Sarah, and the Child of Pro- mise (iv. 1-31). The third part of the Epistie GALILEE 337 (v.-vi.) is chiefly hortatory and admonitory. It sets forth th i necessity of steadfast adherence to the liberty of the Gospel in connection with obe- dience to the moral law as a rule of duty, the importance of mutual forbearance and love among Christians, and the desirableness of maintaining a firm adherence to the doctrine of Christ and Him crucified. The epistle concludes with bene- dictions and prayers. Kespecting the time when and the place where this epistle was written, great diversity of opinion prevails. But the majority of writers on this subject concur in the opinion that the .Apostle wrote and despatched this epistle not long after he had left Galatia for the second time, and, per- haps, whilst he was residing at Ephesus (comp. Acts xviii. 23; xix. 1, sqq.). GALBANUM is mentioned in Exod. xxx. 34, as one of the substances from which the incense for the sanctuary was to be prepared: ' Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum.' The substance itself is well known, but the plant which yields it is yet to be ascertained. Galbanum is in the present day imported into this country both from the Levant and from In- dia. That from the latter country is exported from Bombay, having been first imported thither, probably from the Persian Gulf. It is therefore probable that it may be produced in the countries at the head of that gulf, that is, in the northern parts of Arabia or in Persia, (portions of which, as is well known, were included in the Syria of the ancients ;) perhaps in Kurdistan, which nearly corresponds with ancient Assyria. Galbanum, then, is either a natural exudation, or obtained by incisions from some umbelliferous plant. It occurs in commerce in the form either of tears or masses, commonly called lump-gal- banum. The latter is of the consistence of wax, tenacious, of a brownish or brownish yellow colour, with white spots in the interior, which are the agglutinated tears. Its odour is strong and balsamic, but disagreeable, and its taste warm and bitter. It is composed of 66 per cent, of resin, and 6 of volatile oil, with gum, &c., and impurities. It was formerly held in high esteem as a stimulant and anti-spasmodic medicine, and is still employed as such, and for external appli- cation to discuss indolent tumours. It was the practice of the ancients to mix galbanum with the most fragrant substances with which they were acquainted. The effect of such mixture must depend upon the proportion in which it or any other strong-smelling substance is intermixed, more than upon what is its peculiar odour when in a concentrated state. We need not, therefore, inquire into the reasons which have been assigned to account for galbanum being intermixed with stacte and onycha as sweet spices. We see it was the custom so to do both in other ancient nations, as the Greeks and the Egyptians. GAL'ILEE, the name given to one of the three principal divisions of Palestine, the other two being Judaea and Samaria. This name of the region was very ancient. It occurs in the Hebrew forms of Galil and Galilah, Josh. xx. 7 ; xxi. 3 ; 1 Kings ix. 11 ; 2 Kings xv. 29 ; and in Isa. viii. 23 we have ' Galilee of the nations ;' 1 Mace. v. 15: Matt. iv. 15. Galilee was the northernmost of the three divi 338 GALL sions, and was divided into Upper and Lower. The former district had Mount Lebanon and the countries of Tyre and Sidon on the north ; the Mediterranean Sea on the west ; Abilene, Ituraea, and the country of Decapol is on the east; and Lower Galilee on the south. This was the por- tion of Galilee which was distinctively called ' Galilee of the nations,' or of the ' Gentiles,' from its having a more mixed population, t. e. less purely Jewish than the others. Caesarea Philippi was its principal city. Lower Galilee had Upper j Galilee on the north, the Mediterranean on the west, the Sea of Galilee or Lake of Gennesareth on the east, and Samaria on the south. Its prin- j cipal towns were Tiberias, Chorazin, Bethsaida, i Nazareth, Cana, Capernaum, Nam, Csesarea of Palestine, and Ptolemais. This is the district I which was of all others the most honoured with j the presence of our Saviour. Here he lived i entirely until he was thirty years of age ; and although, after the commencement of his ministry, he frequently visited the other provinces, it was here that he chiefly resided. Here also he made his first appearance to the Apostles after his resurrection; for they were all of them natives of this region, and had returned hither after the sad events at Jerusalem (Matt, xxviii. 7). Hence the disciples of Christ were called ' Ga- lileans.' They were easily recognised as such ; for the Galileans spoke a dialect of the vernacular Syriac different from that of Judaea, and which was of course accounted rude and impure, as all provincial dialects are considered to be, in com- parison with that of the metropolis. It was this which occasioned the detection of St. Peter as one of Christ's disciples (Mark xiv. 70). The Gali- lean dialect was of a broad and rustic tone, which affected the pronunciation not only of letters but of words. The Galileans are mentioned by Josephus as a turbulent and rebellious people, ready on all oc- casions to rise against the Roman authority. This character of them explains what is said in Luke xiii. 1, with regard to ' the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices." Jose- phus, indeed, does not mention any Galileans slain in the Temple by Pilate ; but the character which he gives that people sufficiently corrobo- rates the statement. The tumults to which he alludes were, as we know, chiefly raised at the great festivals, when sacrifices were slain in great abundance ; and on all such occasions the Gali- leans were much more active than the men of Judaea and Jerusalem, as is proved by the history of Archelaus, which case, indeed, furnishes an answer to those who deny that the Galileans attended the feasts with the rest of the Jews. This seditious character of the Galileans also explains why Pilate, when sitting in judgment upon Jesus, caught at the word Galilee when used by the chief priests, and asked if he were a Gali- lean (Luke xxiii. 6). To be known to belong to that country was of itself sufficient to prejudice Pilate against him, and to give some countenance to the charges, unsupported by impartial evidence, which were preferred against him, and which Pilate himself had, just before, virtually declared to be false. GALILEE, SEA OF. [SEA.] GALL occurs in its primary and proper mean- ing, as denoting the substance secreted in the GALL gall-bladder of animals, commonly called bile, in the following passages ; Job. xvi. 13, ' He poureth out my gall.' The metaphors in this verse are taken from the practice of huntsmen, who first surround the beast, then shoot it, and next take out the entrails. The meaning, as given by Bp. Heath, is, ' he entirely destroyeth me.' Job xx. 14 (describing the remorse of a wicked man), ' the gall of adders ' (which according to the ancients is the seat of their poison). Job xx. 25, where, to describe the certainty of a wicked man's destruction, it is said, 'the glittering sword cometh out of his gall.' In the story of Tobit the gall of a fish is said to have been "used to cure his father's blindness (Tobit vi. 8 ; xi. 10, 13). Pliny refers to the use of the-aine substance for diseases of the eye. Galen and other writers praise the use of the liver of the silurus in cases of dimness of sight GALL is also employed in the Authorized Ver- sion as the meaning of the word Rosh, which is generally considered to signify some plant This we may infer from its being frequently men- tioned along with ' wormwood,' as in Deut xxix. 18, 'lest there should be among you a root that beareth <;a// (ros/t) and wormwood ; so also in Jer. ix. 15; xxiii. 15; and in Lament iii. 19, 'Re- membering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.' That it was a berry- bearing plant has been inferred from Deut. xxxii. 32, ' For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and their grapes are grapes of gall (rosh), their clusters are bitter.' In Jer. viii. 14, 'water of gall ' (rosk), is mentioned ; which may be either the expressed juice of the fruit or of the plant, or a bitter infusion made from it That it was a plant is very evident from Hosea x. 4, where it is said ' their judgment springeth up as hemlock (rosh) in the furrows of the field.' Though rooA is generally acknowledged to indicate some plant, yet a variety of opinions have been entertained respecting its identifica- tion : some, as the Auth. Vers. in Hosea x. 4, and Amos vi. 12, consider cicuta or hemlock to be the plant intended, but there is little or no proof adduced that this is the case. Some have concluded that it must be darnel, which is remarkable among grasses for its poisonous and intoxicating properties. It is, however, rather sweetish in taste, and its seeds being intermixed with corn, are sometimes made into bread. It is well known to grow in corn- fields, and would therefore suit the passage of Hosea; but it has not a berry-like fruit, nor would it yield any juice : the infusion in water, however, might be so understood, though it would not be very bitter or disagreeable in taste. Hiller adduces the centaury as a bitter plant, which cor- responds with much of what is required. Two kinds of centaury, the larger and smaller, and both conspicuous for their bitterness, were known to the ancients. The latter is one of the family of gentians, and still continues to be employed as a medicine on account of its bitter and tonic pro- perties. From the extreme bitterness of taste, from growing in fields, and being a native of warm countries, some plant like centaury, and of the tribe of gentians, might answer all the pas- sages in which rosh is mentioned, with the excep- tion of that (Deut. xxxii. 32) where it is supposed to have a berried fruit. Dr. Harris, quoting GAMALIEL Blaney on Jerem. viii. 14, says, ' In Ps. Ixix. 21, which is justly considered as a prophecy of our Saviour's sufferings, it is said, "they gave me gall to eat." And accordingly it is recorded in the history, Matt, xxvii. 34, " They gave him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall." But in the parallel passage (Mark xv. 23) it is said to be " wine mingled with myrrh," a very bitter in- gredient From whence I am induced to think that perhaps rosh may be used as a general name for whatever is exceedingly bitter ; and conse- quently, when the sense requires, it may be put specially for any bitter herb or plant.' GAL'LIO. Junius Annacus Gallic, elder brother of Seneca the philosopher. His name was originally M. Ann. Novatus, but changed to Jun. Ann. Gallio in consequence of his adoption by Jun. Gallic the rhetorician. Seneca dedicated to him his treatise De Vita Beata, and in the preface to the fourth book of his Naturales Qucestiones describes him as a man universally beloved ; and who, while exempt from all other vices, especially abhorred flattery. According to Eusebius, he committed suicide before the death of Seneca ; but Tacitus speaks of him as alive after that event, and Dion Cassius states that he was put to death by order of Nero. He was Proconsul of Ac\aia (Acts xviii. 12) under the Emperor Claudius, when Paul first visited Corinth, and nobly refused to abet the persecution raised by the Jews against the Apostle. Dr. Lardner has noticed the strict accuracy of Luke in giving him this designation, which is obscured in the Auth. Vers. by the use of the term deputy. GAMA'LIEL (God is my rewarder}, a member of the Sanhedrim in the early times of Chris- tianity, who, by his favourable interference, saved the Apostles from an ignominious death (Acts v. 34). He was the teacher of the Apostle Paul before the conversion of the latter (Acts xxii. 3). He bears in the Talmud the surname of ' the old man,' and is represented as the son of Rabbi Simeon, and grandson of the famous Hillel : he is said to have occupied a seat, if not the presi- dency, in the Sanhedrim during the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius, and to have died eighteen years after the destruction of Jerusalem. There are idle traditions about his having been converted V> Christianity by Peter and John ; but they' are altogether irreconcilable with the esteem and respect in which he was held even in later times by the Jewish Rabbins, by whom his opinions are frequently quoted as an all-silencing authority on points of religious law. Neither does his interference in behalf of the Apostles at all prove as some would have it that he secretly approved their doctrines. He was a dispassionate judge, and reasoned in that affair with the tact of worldly wisdom and experience, urging that religious opinions usually gain strength by opposition and persecution (Acts v. 30, 37), while, if not noticed at all, they are sure not to leave any lasting impression on the minds of the people, if devoid of truth (ver. 38) ; and that it is vain to contend against them, if true (ver. 39). That he was more enlightened and tolerant than his colleagues and contemporaries, is evident from the very fact that he allowed his zealous pupil Saul to turn his mind to Greek literature, which, in a great measure, qualified him afterwards to become the Apostle of the Gentiles ; while by the Jewish GAMES 339 Palestine laws, after the Maccabsean wars, even the Greek language -was prohibited to be taught to the Hebrew youth. Another proof of the high respect in which Gamaliel stood with the Jews long after his death, is afforded by an anecdote told in the Talmud respecting his tomb, to the effect that Onkelos (the celebrated Chaldoean translator of the Old Testament) spent seventy pounds of incense at his grave in honour of his memory. GAMES. If by the word are intended mere secular amusements, which are the natural ex- pression of vigorous health and joyous feeling, fitted, if not designed, to promote health, hilarity, and friendly feeling, as well as to aid in the development of the corporeal frame, we must look to other quarters of the globe, rather than to Palestine, for their origin and encouragement. The Hebrew temperament was too deep, too earnest, too full of religious emotion, to give rise to games having a national and permanent cha- racter. Whatever of amusement, or rather of re- creation, the descendants of Abraham possessed, partook of that religious complexion which was natural to them ; or rather the predominant re- ligiousness of their souls gave its own hue, as to all their engagements, eo to their recreations. The influence of religion pervaded their entire being ; so that whatever of recreation they needed or enjoyed is for the most part found blended with religious exercises. Hence their great national festivals served at once for the devout service of Almighty God, and the recreation and refresh- ment of their own minds and bodies. Games, however, are so natural to man, espe- cially in the period of childhood, that no nation has been or can be entirely without them. Ac- cordingly a few traces are found in the early Hebrew history of at least private and childish diversions. The heat of the climate too in Syria would indispose the mature to more bodily exertion than the duties of life imposed, while the gravity which is characteristic of the Oriental character might seem compromised by anything so light as sports. Dignified ease therefore cor- responds with the idea which we form of Oriental recreation. The father of the family sits at the door of his tent, or reclines on the housetop, or appears at the city gate, and there tranquilly enjoys repose, broken by conversation, under the light and amid the warmth of the bright and breezy heavens, in the cool of the retiring day, or before the sun has assumed his burning ardours (Deut. xvi. 14; Lam. v. 14). Even among the active Egyptians, whose games have been figured on their mural tablets, we find little which sug- gests a comparison with the vigorous contests of the Grecian games. One of the most remarkable is the following (No. 181), showing what appears to be play with the single-stick. Zechariah (viii. 5) alludes to the sportiveness of children in the streets as a sign and conse- quence of that peace and prosperity which are so free from alarm that the young take their usual games, and are allowed entire liberty by their parents: 'and the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof (comp. Jer. xxx. 19). An interesting passage illustrative of these street-amusements is found in Matt. xi. 16: 'This generation is like unto children sitting in the markets and calling z 2 340 GAMES unto their fellows, We have piped unto you and ye have not danced, we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.' That the elegant amusement of playing with tamed and trained birds was not unusual may be learnt from Job xli. 5 : ' Wilt thou play with him (leviathan) as with a bird ? ' Commenting on Zech. xii. 3, Jerome mentions an amusement of the young, which we have seen practised in more than one part of the north of England. ' It is customary,' he says, ' in the cities of Palestine, and has been so from ancient times, to place up and down large stones to serve for exercise for the young, who, according in each case to their degree of strength, lift these stones, some as high as their knees, others to their middle, others above their heads, the hands being kept hori- zontal and joined under the stone.' Music, song, and dancing, were recreations re- served mostly for the young or for festive occa- sions. From Lam. v. 16,' the crown is fallen from our head' (see the entire passage on the subject of games), it might be inferred that, as among the Greeks and Latins, chaplets of flowers were sometimes worn during festivity. To the amusements just mentioned frequent allusions are found in holy writ, among which may be given Ps. xxx. 11; Jer. xxxi. 13; Luke xv. 25. In Isaiah xxx. 29, a passage is found which serves to show hov much of festivity and mirth was mingled with religious observances ; the journey on festival occasions up to Jerusalem was enli- vened by music, if not by dancing : ' Ye shall have a song as in the night when a holy so- ; lemnity is kept ; and gladness of heart, as when ; one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain I of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel.' A | passage occurs in 2 Sam. ii. 14, which may indi- j cate the practice among the ancient Israelites of games somewhat similar to the jousts and tourna- ments of the middle ages. No trace is found in Hebrew antiquity of any of the ordinary games of skill or hazard which are so numerous in the western world. The Grecian influence which made itself felt after the Exile, led to a great chaage in the man- ners and customs of the Hebrew nation. Thvy were soon an almost different people from what we find them in the days of their national inde- pendence and primitive simplicity. In Mace. i. 14, we find evidence that the Grecian games were introduced, and that a gymnasium was built under Antiochus Epiphanes : ' They built a place of exercise at Jerusalem, according to the custom of the heathen.' Compare 2 Mace. iv. 12, GAMES 13, 14, where special mention is made of the pre- valence of ' Greek fashions,' and ' the game of discus ;' though, as appears clearly from the last passage (v. 17), these practices were considered contrary to the Mosaic institutions, and were hateful to pious Israelites. The Herodian princes had theatres and amphitheatres built in Jerusalem and other cities of Palestine, in which were held splendid games, sometimes in honour of their Roman masters. The drama does not appear to have been introduced, but Jews were in foreign countries actors of plays. These facts make it the less surprising that allusions should be found in the New Testament writings to the Grecian games, on which we think it desirable to supply somewhat detailed information, in order to serve as illustrations of Scriptural language. The fact that, as we have seen, the games of the amphitheatre were celebrated even in Jeru- salem, serves to make it very likely that Paul, in 1 Cor. xv. 32 ; iv. 9, alludes to these detestable practices, though it is not probable that tin- Apostle was himself actually exposed to the fury of the raging animals. Contrary to the opinion of some writers, the reference to these combats appears to us very clear, though it was only metaphorically that Paul ' fought with beasts at Ephesus.' The word which the Apostle (1 Cor. xv. 32) uses is emphatic and descriptive. The beast-fight constituted among tl>e Romans a part of the amusements of the circus or amphitheatre. It consisted in the combat of human beings with animals. The persons destined to this barbarous kind of amusement were generally of two classes 1. Voluntary, that is, persons who fought either for amusement or for pay: these were clothed and provided with offensive and defensive weapons. 2. Condemned persons, who were mostly exposed to the fury of the animals un- clothed, unarmed, and sometimes bound. As none but the vilest of men were in general de- voted to these beast-fights, no punishment could be more condign and cruel than what was fre- quently inflicted on the primitive Christians, when they were hurried away ' to the lions' (as the phrase was), merely for their fidelity to conscience and to Christ, its Lord. Ephesus appears to have had some unenviable distinction in these brutal exhibitions, so that there is a peculiar propriety in the language of the Apostle. The New Testament, in several places, con- tains references to the celebrated Grecian Games, though it may be allowed that some commentators bare imagined allusions where none were de- signed. As might, from his heathen learning, be expected, it is Paul who chiefly supplies the GAMES passages in question (see Gal. ii. 2 ; v. 7 ; Phil, ii. 16 ; Heb. xii. 1, 4 ; Phil. iii. 14 ; 2 Tim. ii. 5). The most signal passage, however, is found in 1 Cor. ix. 24-27, ' Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize ? So run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown ; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly ; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air ; but I keep under my body, and bring it ioto subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.' In the Old Testament two passages contain a clear reference to games; Ps. xix. 5; Eccl. ix. 11. Four of these games stood far above the rest, bearing the appellation of ' sacred,' and deriving their support from the great Hellenic family at large, though each one had special honour in its own locality : these four were the Olympic, Py- thian, Nemean, and Isthmian. The first were held in the highest honour. The victors at the Olympic games were accounted the noblest and happiest of moi tals, and every means was taken that could show the respect in which they were held. These games "were celebrated every five years at Olympia, in Elis, on the west side of the Peloponnesus. Hence the epoch called the Olympiads. The gymnastic exercises were laid down in a well-planned systematic series, beginning with the easier, and proceeding on to the more difficult. GAMES 341 183. Some of these were specially fitted to give strength, others agility ; some educated the j hands, others the feet. Among the lighter exer- cises was reckoned running, leaping, quoiting, hurling the javelin. When skill had been ob- tained in these, and the consequent strength, then followed a severer course of discipline. This was two-fold 1, simple ; 2, compound. The simple consisted of wrestling, boxing ; the compound we find in the Pentathlon (the five contests), and the Pankration (or general trial of strength). The Pentathlon was made up of the union of leaping, running, quoiting, wrestling, and hurling the spear ; the Pankration consisted of wrestling and boxing. Racing may be traced back to the earliest periods of Grecian antiquity, and may be re- garded as the first friendly contest in which men engaged. Accordingly the Olympic and Py- thian, probably also the other games, opened with foot-races. Foot-racing, perfected by sys- tematic practice, was divided into different kinds. If you ran merely to the end of the course, it was called stadium ; if you went thither and back, you ran the double course. The long course re- quired extraordinary speed and power of endur- ance. What it involved the ancients have left in no small uncertainty. It is sometimes given as seven times over the stadium ; at others, twelve times; at others again, twenty; and even the number of four and twenty times is mentioned. These lengths will give some idea of the severity of the trial, and serve to illustrate the meaning of the Apostle when he speaks of running with patience (sustained effort} the race set before him (Heb. xii. 1). Indeed, one Ladas, a victor at the Olympic games, in the ' long race,' was so ex- hausted by his efforts, that, immediately on gain- ing the honour and being crowned, he yielded up his breath, a fact which also serves to throw light on Scriptural language, _as showing with what intense eagerness these aspirants strove for perishing chaplets. In the preparatory discipline everything was done which could conduce to swiftness and strength. The exercises were per- formed with the body naked and well oiled. Minute directions were established in order to prevent foul play of any kind, so that all the competitors might start and run on terms of entire equality, illustrating the words of Paul on the necessity of running lawfully (2 Tim. ii. 5). The contest was generally most severe ; to reach the goal sooner by one foot -was enough to decide 3--12 GAMES the victory. How true and graphic then the de- scriptions given by Paul ; it was, as the Apostle states, in the race-course that the contests took | place: every one striving for the victory was i temperate iu all things ; nay more, he kept under ; his body, and brought it into subjection. A j passage is found in the Enchiridion of Epictetus, i which shows with what propriety the terms i which the Apostle employs were chosen by him: ' You wish to conquer at the Olympic games ? so also do I ; for it is honourable ; but bethink yourself what this attempt implies, and then i begin the undertaking. You must subject your- j self to a determinate course ; must submit to ! dietetic discipline ; must pursue the established i exercises at fixed hours hi heat and cold ; must | abstain from all delicacies in meat and drink; i yield yourself unreservedly to the control of the j presiding physician, and even endure flogging.' It may well be supposed that the competitors employed all their ability, and displayed the greatest eagerness to gain the prize. The nearer, too, they approached to the goal, the more did they increase their efforts. Sometimes the vic- tory depended on a final spring ; happy he that retained power enough to leap first to the goal. The spectators also used every encouragement in their power, these favouring one competitor, those another. All these remarks go to show how wisely Paul acted in selecting the figure, and how carefully he has preserved the imagery which belongs to it. A word employed in the Common Version, 1 Cor. ix. 27, ' Lest when I have preached to others I myself should be a castaway ' namely, preached, mars the figure. The original means acted the part of herald,' whose business it was to call the competitors to the contest and proclaim their victory, functions which Paul spent his life in performing. Paul speaks in the same connection of running not as uncertainly, of fighting not as one who beateth the air ; alluding to the preludial exer- cises, trials of individual and of comparative strength, which took place in the course of train- ing. These runnings and boxings had no imme- diate aim nor result, and implied no real com- petitor ; hence the propriety of the terms which the sacred writer employs. In writing to the Christians at Corinth there was a special propriety, on the part of the Apos- tle, in making allusions to the public games. Corinth was the place where one of the four Greek national games was celebrated, namely, the Isth- mian. These games were so called from being held on the isthmus which joins northern with southern Greece, a spot of land most celebrated in Grecian history, alike in martial and commer- cial matters. The Corinthians appear to have been inordinately fond of these amusements. They were held every three years. They com- prised three leading divisions musical, gymnas- tical, and equestrian contests. In the first the tyrant Nero carried off a crown, by destroying his too highly-gifted antagonist. The gymnastic contests were the same as those of which we have already spoken. A few words, however, may here be introduced as to the horse-racing, which has not been hitherto described. Generally the same kinds prevailed as at the Olympic and Pythian games. Chariot-races seem to have been GAMES practised in the earliest heroic times, since cha- j riots were as early as this used in battle, and the ' notices which have come down to us refer this kind of sport to the early period now indicated. It stood pre-eminently before other games. The skill and outlay which it required prevented any but persons of distinction the wealthy, go- vernors, princes, and kings from engaging in its enjoyments. The number of chariots that might appear on the course at once cannot be accurately determined. Pindar praises Arkesilas of Cyrene for having calmly brought off his cha- riot uninjured, in a contest where no fewer than forty took part. The course had to be gone over twelve times. The urgency of the drivers, the speed and exhaustion of the horses, may easily be imagined. The greatest skill was needed in turning the pillar which marked the extremity of the course, especially when the contending cha- riots were numerous. At the Olympic games the prize was simply a chaplet made of wild olive. The crowns were laid on a tripod, and placed in the middle of the course, so as to be seen of all. On the same table there were also exposed to view palm-branches, one of which was given into the hand of each conqueror at the same time with the chaplet. The victors, having been summoned by proclama- tion, were presented with the ensigns of victory, and conducted along the stadium, preceded by a herald, who proclaimed their honours, and an- nounced their name, parentage, and country. The real reward, however, was in the fame which ensued. A chaplet won in the chariot- races at Olympia was the highest of earthly honours. What congratulations from friends ; how was the public eye directed to the fortunate conqueror ; what honour had he conferred on his native city, and for what office was such an one unfit ! What intense and deep delight must his bosom have been filled with when the full acclaim of assembled Greece fell upon his ear, coming in loud salutations and applauses from every part of the crowded course ! Then came the more pri- vate attentions of individual friends. One brought a chaplet of flowers ; another bound his head with ribbons. Afterwards came the triumphal sacri- fice made to the twelve gods, accompanied by sumptuous feasting. The poet now began his office, gaining, in some cases, both for himself and the happy victor, an unexpected immortality. Music also lent her aid, and his name was sung wherever the noble accents of the Greek tongue asserted their supremacy. In order to perpetuate the memory of these great men, their names and achievements were entered into a public register, which was under the care of suitable officers. A GAMES no less privilege was that of having a statue of themselves placed either at tne expense of their country or their friends, in the sacred grove of Jupiter. A perhaps still greater honour awaited the victor on his return home. The conquerors at the Isthmian games were wont to be received in their chariots, superbly attired, amid thronging and jubilant multitudes. One or two other privileges belonged to these victors, such as immunity from public offices, and a certain yearly stipend. If to all this be added the strict scrutiny which competitors were obliged to undergo (in the best ages), so that none could enter the lists but such as were of pure Greek blood, and incorrupt in life, none but such as had undergone the required disciplinary train- ing, and (in the case of the chariot and horse- races) none but those who could afford to possess and train horses in a country in which, as in Greece, horses, particularly in the earlier ages, were very scarce and dear ; it will be seen that the distinction of the prize was not over rated, when it was compared with a Roman triumph. At the Isthmian games the prize was parsley during the mythic periods. In later ages the victor was crowned with a chaplet of pine leaves. Parsley, however, appears to have been also em- ployed. If the conqueror had come off victorious in the three great divisions music, gymnastics, and racing he was in the Pythian, as well as in the other sacred games, presented also with a palm-branch. GARDEN. Several gardens are mentioned in the Scriptures, as the garden of Edeu (Gen*, ii. 8, 9, 10, 15), Ahab's garden of herbs (1 Kings xxi. 2), the royal garden near the fortress of Zion (2 Kings xxi. 18 ; xxv. 4), the royal garden of the Persian kings at Susa (Esther i. 5 ; vii. 7, 8), the garden of Joseph of Arimathea (John xix. 41), and the garden of Gethsemane (John xviii. 1). It is clear, from Josh. v. 2, and Lam. ii. 6, that gardens were generally hedged or walled, as in- deed Josephus expressly states respecting the gardens near Jerusalem. In Neh. ii. 5, and John xx. 15, gardeners and keepers of gardens by occupation are indicated. Gardens were planted not only with fragrant and beautiful plants, but with various fruit- bearing and other trees (Gen. ii. 9 ; Jer. xxix. 5 ; Amos ix. 14). Thus we find mention of nut- gartleus (Cant. vi. 14), pomegranate - gardens (Cant. iv. 13), olive-gardens (Deut. viii. 8; 1 Chron. xxvii. 28), vine-gardens (Cant. iv. 2 ; viii. 8). Here, however, we are not to suppose that the gardens were exclusively occupied by these fruits, but that they were severally pre- dominant in the gardens to which they gave name. The distinction, for instance, between a vine-garden and a vineyard would be, that, in the latter, the vine was cultivated solely for use, whereas in the former it was planted for solace and ornament, to cover walls, and to be trained in arbours and on trellises. Gardens were, when possible, planted near streams, which afforded the means of easy irri- gation. This explains such passages as Gen. ii. 9, sq., and Isa. i. 30. But streams were few in Pa- lestine, at least such as afforded water in summer, when alone water was wanted for irrigation ; hence rain-water, or water from the streams which dried up in summer, was in winter stored GARDEN 343 up in reservoirs, spacious enough to contain all the water likely to be needed during the dry season. In fact many of our own large nurseries are watered in the same manner from reservoirs of rain-water. The water was distributed through the garden in numerous small rills, which tra- versed it in all directions, and which were sup- plied either by a continued stream from the reservoir, or had water poured into them by the gardeners, in the manner shown in the Egyptian monuments. These rills being turned and di- rected by the foot, gave rise to the phrase ' water- ing by the foot,' as indicative of garden irrigation (Deut. xi. 10). The following representation (No. 188) very clearly shows the way in which water was raised, by a balanced lever, from the stream or reservoir, and poured into a trough, whence it flowed into the various canals for irri- gation. This method is still in use. 188. [Watering Garden.] Gardens were dedicated to various uses among the Hebrews, such as we still find prevailing in the East. One most essential difference between them and our own is that they are not attached to or in any way connected with the residence but are situated in the suburbs. We have knowp gardens from half a mile to a mile distant from the houses of the persons to whom they belonged It is manifest that all the gardens mentioned in Scripture were outside the several towns. This is, however, to be understood of regular gardens, for shrubs and flowers were often planted in the open courts of the dwelling-houses. People repair to their suburban gardens to take the air, to walk, and to refresh and solace them- selves in various ways. For their use there is mostly in each garden a kind of summer-house or pavilion, fitted up with much neatness, gaily painted, and furnished with seats, where the visitants may sit and enjoy themselves. Here sometimes banquets were and are still given, attended by singing and music (Isa. Ii. 3 ; Ixv. 3). The custom of burying the dead in gardens is indicated in Gen. xxiii. 19, 20; 2 Kings xxi. 4; 1 Sam. xxv. 1 ; Mark xv. 46 ; and still occurs sometimes in. the East, but is not very prevalent. 344 GARDEN We find it also among the Greeks and the Romans. 189. [Garden-houses.] It is evident that the gardens of the Hebrews were in a very considerable degree devoted to the culture of medicinal herbs, the preparation of which in various ways was a matter of much solicitude with them (Jer. viii. 22). This is still the case in the East, where vegetable simples are as much employed in medicine as they were in this country in the times of Gerarde and Cul- pepper. It would seem that the Jews were much in the habit of performing their devotions in gardens (Gen. xxiv. 63 ; Matt. xvi. 30 ; John ii. 48 ; xviii. 1, 2). This interesting practice, however, was idolatrously abused ; for the worship of idols in these shady seclusions was not of unfrequent occurrence, and is often mentioned iu Scripture (1 Kings xiv. 23; 2 Kings xvi. 4; xvii. 10 2 Chron. xviii. 4 ; Isa. Ixv. 3 ; Ixvi. 17 ; Jer. ii. 20 ; iii. 6 ; Ezek. xx. 28). Such are the principal points of information concerning gardens which may be collected from Scripture, or which may be connected with the Scriptural intimations. There is no reason to suppose that the gardens of the ancient Jews differed in any material re- spect from those which are still found in Pales- tine. Such difference as did exist was doubtless occasioned chiefly by the minute rules which were founded upon the law forbidding the inter- mixture of diverse plants and seeds. The gar- dens of the Holy Land have been mentioned by travellers in terms too vague and general to afford the basis of a satisfactory description. Dr. Olin seems to have paid most attention to them. Of the gardens near Shechem he says, HPOD turning an angle in the steep gorge we found ourselves, as if by enchantment, in the midst of fruitful gardens filled with vegetables, flowers, and fruit-trees, and all in the highest perfection of luxuriance and beauty. Olives, vines, acacias, pomegranates, figs, mulberries, and several species of trees which I did not recognise, GATE are crowded together in small enclosures, forming an impervious shade as well as an impenetrable thicket; and yet the capabilities of the soil seem not to be overburdened. Each separate tree and plant thrives to admiration, and seems rather to profit than suffer from the thick dark canopy of branches and foliage, which entirely excludes the sun's rays from the tangled huddle of trunks and roots. A beautiful mountain stream runs through the midst of this forest of gardens, in a channel mostly artificial and sometimes covered ; but the water often rises into small fountains, and forms several cascades.' The orange and citron trees which abound in these gardens near Shechem were probably those not recognised by Dr. Olin, from their not being in fruit at the time of his visit GARLIC occurs only once in Scripture, and that in the passage (Num. xi. 5) in which the Israelites are described as murmuring, amons other things, for the leeks, the onions, and the garlic (shumim) of Egypt. There can be no doubt of its being correctly so translated, as the corresponding Arabic word still signifies a species of garlic, which is cultivated and esteemed throughout Eastern countiies. Ancient authors mention that garlic was cultivated in Egypt and highly esteemed there. Herodotus enumerates it as one of the substances upon which a large sum (1600 talents) was spent for feeding labourers employed in building the Pyramids. The species considered to have been thus cultivated in Egypt, is Allium Ascalonicum, which is the most com- mon in Eastern countries,, and obtains its specific name from having been brought into Europe from Ascalon. It is now usually known in the kitchen garden by the name of 'eschalot' or ' shallot," and is too common to require a fuller notice. GATE, DOOR, the entrance to enclosed grounds, buildings, dwelling-houses, towns, &c. Thus we find mentioned 1. Gates of cities, as of Jerusalem, its sheep-gate, fish-gate, &c. (Jer. xxxvii. 13 ; Neh. i. 3 ; ii. 3 ; vii. 3) ; of Sodom (Gen. xix. 1); of Gaza (Judg. xvi. 3). 2. Gates of royal palaces (Neh. ii. 8). 3. Gates of the Temple. The temple of Ezekiel had two gates, one towards the north, the other towards the east; the latter closed (Ezek. xliv. 1, 2), the other must have been open. 4. Gates of tombs (Matt. xxvii. 60). 5. Gates of prisons. In Acts xii. 10, mention is made of the iron-gate of Peter's prison (xvi. 27). Prudentius speaks of gatekeepers of prisons. 6. Gates of caverns (1 Kings xix. 13). 7. Gates of camps (Exod. xxxii. 20, 27 ; see Heb. xiii. 12). The camps of the Romans had gene- rally four gates. The camp of the Trojans is also described as having had gates. We do not know of what materials the enclo- sures and gates of the temporary camps of the Hebrews were formed. In Egyptian monuments such enclosures are indicated by lines of upright shields, with gates apparently of wicker, defended by a strong guard. GATES OF TOWNS. As the gates of towns served the ancients as places of security [FoRTT FICATIONS], a durable material was required foi them, and accordingly we find mentioned 1. Gates of iron and brass (Ps. cvii. 1(3; Isa. | xlv. 2 ; Acts xii. 10). It is probable that gates thus described were, in fact, only sheeted witi GATE plates of copper or iron ; and it is probably in this sense we are to interpret the hundred brazen gates ascribed to the ancient Babylon. Thevenot describes the six gates of Jerusalem as covered with iron, which is probably still the case with the four gates now open. Other iron-covered gates are mentioned by travellers, such as some of the town gates of Algiers, and of the towers of the so-called iron-bridge at Antioch. The prin- cipal gates of the great mosque at Damascus are covered with brass. Gates of iron are also men- tioned by Hesiod and by Ovid. GATE 345 190. [Egyptian Camp-gate.] 2. Gates of stone and of pearls are mentioned in Isa. liv. 12, and Rev. xxi. 21, which, it has justly been supposed, refer to such doors, cut out of a single slab, as are occasionally discovered in ancient countries. At Essouan (Syene), in Upper Egypt, there is a granite gateway bearing the name of Alexander, the son of Alexander the Great (Wilkinson, iii. 403). The doors leading to the several chambers of the so-called ' Tombs of the Kings ' near Jerusalem, were each formed of a single stone seven inches thick, sculptured so as to resemble four panels : the styles, muntins, and other parts were cut with great art, and ex- actly resembled those of a door made by a car- penter at the present day, the whole being com- pletely smooth and polished, and most accurate in their proportions. The doors turned on pivots, of the same stone of which the rest of them were composed, which were inserted in corresponding sockets above and below, the lower tenon being of course short. This .is one of the modes in which heavy doors of wood are now hung in the East. One of these doors was still hanging in Maundrell's time, and ' did not touch its lintel by at least three inches.' But all these doors are now thrown down and broken. Similar doors are described by Dr. Clarke in the remarkable excavated sepulchres at Telmessus, on the southern coast of Asia Minor ; and others were noticed by Irby and Mangles in the sepulchres near Beisan (Bethshan). There are stone doors to the houses in the Haonran beyond the Jordan ; and the present writer has repeatedly seen in the north of Persia the street-doors of superior houses composed of a single slab of a kind of slate. 3. Gates of wood. Of this kind were probably the gates of Gaza (Judg. xvi. 3). They had generally two valves, which, according to Faber's description, had sometimes smaller doors, or wickets, to afford a passage when the principal gate was closed, a fact which he applies to the illustration of Matt. vii. 13. Gates were generally protected by some works against the surprises of enemies (Jer. xxxix. 4). Sometimes two gates were constructed, one be- hind another, an outer and inner one ; or there j were turrets on both sides (2 Sam. xviii. 24, 33) j The gates of the ancients were generally secured with strong heavy bolts and locks of brass or iron (Deut. iii. o; I Sam. xxiii. 7; 1 Kings iv. 13;; 2 Chron. viii. 5; Jer. xiv. 2; xlix. 31; Ps. i cxlvii. 13). This was probably done with a view I to the safety of the town, and to prevent hostile inroads. The keys of gates, as well as of doors, i were generally of wood ; and Thevenot observes j that gates might be opened even with the finger pat into the key-hole, from which Harmer eluci- dates the passage in the Song of Solomon, v. 4. The gates of towns were kept open or shut ac- cording to circumstances : in time of war they were closed against the inroads of the enemy (Josh. ii. 5), but they were opened when the enemy had been conquered. On festive occasions they were also thrown wide open, to which Pe. xxiv. 7 alludes. This opening of the gates, as well as closing them, was clone by means of keys. That near the gates towers were often constructed, serving for defence against attacks of the enemy, may be inferred from Deut. iii. 5; 2 Sam. xviii. 24 ; Judg. ix. 35, comp. with 52. Enemies, there- fore, in besieging towns were most anxious to obtain possession of the gates as quickly as pos- sible (Ueut. xxviii. 52; Judg. ix. 40; 2 Sam. x. 8; xi. 23; 1 Kings viii. 37; Job v. 4; Isa. xxii. 7 ; xxviii. C) ; and generally the town was 191. [GateofKouieh.] conquered when its gates were occupied by tht invading troops (Deut. xxviii. 57 ; Judg. v. 8). In or near the gates, therefore, they placed watch- men, and a sufficiently strong guard, to keep an eye on the movements of the enemy, and to de- fend the works in case of need (Judg. xviii. 16 ; 2 Kings vii. 3 ; Neh. xiii. 22). We read that some portions of the law were ti> be written on the gates of towns, as well as on the doors of houses (Deut. vi. 9 ; xi. 20 ); and if this is to be literally understood, it receives illustra- tion from the practice of the Moslems in painting passages of the Koran on their public and private 346 GATE gates. Various artificial figures and inscriptions were engraved on their gates by the Romans. Criminals were punished without the gates (1 Kings xxi. 13; Acts vii. 59), which explains the passage in Heb. xiii. 12. The same custom existed among the Romans. As to the gate through which Christ was led, before his cruci- fixion, opinions differ ; some taking it to have been the dung-gate; others understand it of the gate of judgment. But for all that concerns the gates of Jerusalem, we must refer to the article JERUSALEM. Gates are often mentioned in Scripture as places at which were holden courts of justice, to admi- nister the law and determine points in dispute : hence judges in the gate are spoken of (Gen. xix. 1; xxiii. 10, 18; xxxiv. 20; Deut. xvi. 18; xvii. 8 ; xxi. 19 ; xxv. 6, 7 ; Josh. xx. 4 ; Ruth iv. 1; 1 Sam. iv. 18; 2 Sam. xviii. 24; xix. 8; 1 Kings xxii. 10 ; Job xxix. 7; Prov. xxii. 22 ; xxiv. 7 ; Lament, v. 14 ; Amos v. 12; Zech. viii. 16). The reason of this custom is apparent; for the gates being places of great concourse and re- sort, the courts held at them were of easy access to all the people; witnesses and auditors to all transactions were easily secured (a matter of much importance in the absence or scanty use of written documents) ; and confidence in the integrity of the magistrate was ensured by the publicity of the pro- ceedings. There was within the gate a particular place, where the judges sat on chairs, and this custom must be understood as referred to when we read that courts were held under the gates, as iaay be proved from 1 Kings xxii. 10 ; 2 Chron. x/iii. 9. Apart from the holding of courts of justice, the gate served for reading the law, and for proclaiming ordinances, &c. (2 Chron. xxxii. 6 ; Neh. viii. 1, 3). We see from Prov. xxxi. 23 ; Lam. v. 14, that the inferior magistrates held a court in the gates, as well as the superior judges ( Jer. xxxvi. 1 0) ; and even kings, at least occa- sionally, did the same (1 Kings xxii. 10, comp. with Ps. cxxvii. 5). The gates at Jerusalem served the same purpose ; but for the great num- ber of its inhabitants, many places of justice were required. Thus we find that Nehemiah (iii. 32) calls a particular gate of this city the counsel- gate, or justice-gate ; which seems to have had a preference, though not exclusive, since courts must have been holden in the other gates also. The same custom prevails to the present day among other Oriental nations, as in the kingdom of Marocco, where courts of justice were holden in the gate of the capital town. Respecting the Abyssinians and inhabitants of Hindostan, we are likewise assured that they employed their gates for courts of justice. Homer states of the Trojans that their elders assembled in the gates of the town to determine causes, and Virgil says the same. From Juvenal it appears that with the Romans the Porta Capena was used for this purpose. In Palestine gates were, moreover, the places where, sometimes at least, the priests delivered their sacred addresses and discourses to the people ; and we find that the prophets often pro- claimed their warnings and prophecies hi the gates (Prov. i. 21; viii. 3; Isa. xxix. 21 Jer. xvii. 19, 20; xxvi. 10; xxxvi. 10). Among the heathen gates were connected with sacrifices, which were offered in their immediate ticinity ; in which respect the hills near the gates j GATE are mentioned (2 Kings xxiii. 8). In Acts jciv 1 3, the gates of Lystra are referred to, near which sacrifice was offered. The gate was, further, a public place of meeting and conversation, where the people assembled in large numbers to learn the news of the day, and by various talk to while away the too tedious hours (Ps. Ixix. 12). It was probably with this view that Lot sat under the gate of Sodom (Gen. xix. 1 ) ; which is more probable than the Jewish notion that he sat there as one of the judges of the city. Under the gates they used to sell various mer- chandises, provisions, victuals, e. g. at Samaria (2 Kings vii. 1 ) ; and for this purpose there were generally recesses in the space under them. The same is stated by Aristophanes of the gates of the Greeks. But with respect to the markets at gates, the present writer would note what has often oc- curred to his own notice in different parts of the East, which is, that the commodities sold at the gates are almost exclusively country produce, animal or vegetable, for the supply of the city, and not manufactured goods, which are invariably sold in the bazaars in the heart of the town. The gate-markets also are only held for a few hours early in the morning. On an uproar having broken out at Jerusalem, the heads of the people met under the New-gate (Jer. xxix. 26), where they were sure to find in- surgents. The town-gates -were to the ancient Orientals what the coffee-houses, exchanges, mar- kets, and courts of law, are in our large towns: and such is still the case in a great degree, al- though the introduction of coffee-houses has in this, and other respects, caused some alteration of Eastern manners. 193. Gates are put figuratively for public places of towns and palaces. The gates of a town are also put instead of the town itself (Gen. xii. 1 7 ; xxiv 60; Deut. xii. 12; Ps. Ixxxvii. 2). The gates of death, and of hell, occur in Job xxxviii. 17 ; Ps. ix. 14 ; Micah ii. 13. Doors and gates of hell are chiefly introduced, Prov. v. 5 ; Isa. xxxviii. 10 ; Matt. xvi. 19 ; and the Jews go GATE so far in their writings as to ascribe real gates to hell. The origin of this metaphorical expression is not difficult to explain ; for it was very com- mon to. use the word gates as an image of large empires (Ps. xxiv. 7) ; and in pagan authors the abode of departed souls is represented as the re sklence of Pluto. In the passage, then, Matt. xvi. 19, by ' gates of hell ' must be understood all ag- gressions by the infernal empire upon the Chris- tian church. Among the ancient Egyptians, doors were fre- quently stained so as to imitate foreign wood. They were either of one or two valves, turning on pins of metal, and were secured within by bars and bolts. Some of the bronze pins have been discovered in the tombs of Thebes, and two of them, after Wilkinson, are figured in No. 192, figs. 2, 3. They were fastened to the wood with nails of the same metal. The stone lintels and floor behind the threshold of the tombs and temples still exhibit the holes in which the pins turned, as well as those of the bolts and bars, and the recess for receiving the opening valves. The folding-doors had bolts in the centre, sometimes above as well as below ; a bar was placed across from one wall to the other ; and in many cases they were secured by wooden locks passing over the centre (No. 193, fig. 4) at the junction of the J GATE 347 193. two folds. For greater security they are also occasionally sealed with a mass of clay. This was also a custom of the ancient Egyptians, as appears from Herodotus (ii. 121); from tombs actually so closed at Thebes ; and from the sculp- tures, as in No. 193, fig. 3, where the door is thus closed and sealed. To this custom there is an allusion in Job [CLAY]. At a later period, when iron came into general use, keys were made of that metal, of the shape shown in No. 192, fig. 4. Of the kind thus indicated were probably the lock and key which fastened the summer-parlour of King Eglon (Judg. iii. 23, 25). In this case Ehud locked the door and took away the key ; but when the servants became alarmed, they easily opened it with another key ; which suggests that the lock, as in ancient Egypt or the modern East, was nothing more than a peculiarly con- structed open bolt of wood, which the wooden or metal key was adapted to raise and thrust back. The forms of the Egyptian doors may be seen from the cuts. Fig. 1, No. 192, is from a curious ancient model in the British Museum, of a small ancient Egyptian house, and may serve to show very clearly how the doors of small houses were formed, hung, and secured. The elegant cornice of the door, fig. 2, No. 193, will not escape observ- ation ; fig. 1 is a remarkable instance of a fold- ing-door. 194. A comparison of the ancient Egyptian doors with those now used in the East will probably suggest no incorrect notion of the provision among the ancient Hebrews in this respect. A sort of intermediate idea arising from this comparison will be found to furnish very satisfactory illus- trations of most of the passages of Scripture which relate to the subject. No. 194 is a very usual form of the street-door of a private house. The inscription on the central compartment is usually painted in white or black. It means, ' He (i. c. God) is the Creator, the Everlasting,' and brings strongly to mind the Hebrew custom to which we have more than once alluded. Doors are gene- rally unpainted throughout Western Asia and in Egypt. The other doors shown in the cuts belong to the internal front of the houses, and not to the external frontage or screen. Fig. 2, No. 193, has an open lattice over the door, and the elegant proportion of the whole entrance claims attention. No. 195 shows different forms of common doors, and the whole piece affords an interesting illustration of the basement of an Eastern house, with the stone steps leading to the gallery, into which all the state rooms and family rooms open. In the interior of houses it is not unusual to see curtains instead of doors, especially in summer. This helps to keep the apartment cool, and also 348 GATH enables servants to enter without noise. This custom originated in the use of tents. Accord- ingly we find that all (he entrances of the taber- nacle had curtains, although the framework was of wood (Exod. xxvi. 31-3:5, 36,37); and even in the temple a curtain or ' vail' formed the separa- tion between the Holy and the Most Holy place. GATH, one of the five princely cities of the Philistines, of which mention is made in Josh, xiii. 3. It was one of the cities upon which the ark is said to have brought calamity (1 Sam. v. 8, 9), and which offered in connection therewith a trespass-offering, each one a golden emerod ( 1 Sam. vi. 17). Goliath, of the family of giants which Joshua spared (Josh. xi. 22), of which other members may be found mentioned in Scripture (1 Chron. xxi. 5-S ; 2 Sam. xxi. 19-22), has rendered Gath a word familiar from our childhood ; but it is not certain whether Goliath was a native or merely a resident of Gath (1 Sam. xvii. 4). To Achish, king of Gath, David fled for fear of Saul (1 Sam. xxi. 10; xxvii. 2-7; Ps. Ivi.). At his own entreaty David received from Achish the city of Ziklag. David dwelt in the country of the Philistines 'a full year and four months.' It was conquered by David, and fortified both by him and by Rehoboam (2 Sam. viii. 1 ; 1 Chron. xviii. 1 ; 2 Chron. xi. 8). From 2 Sam. xv. 18, it ap- pears that David had a band (600 men) of Gittites in his service at the time of the rebellion of Absa- lom. Their devotedness to him under Ittai their leader forms a beautiful episode in the history of David's varied fortune (2 Sam. xv. 19, sq.). Shimei's visit to Gath and its fatal consequences to himself may be read in 1 Kings ii. 39-46. In the reign of Solomon mention is made of a king of Gath ( 1 Kings iv. 24), who was doubtless a tributary prince, but powerful enough to cause apprehension to Solomon, as appears from the punishment he inflicted on Shimei. Under Je- hoash, Hazael, king of Syria, took Gath (2 Kings xii. 17); from his successor, Benhadad, the place was recovered (2 Kings xiii. 24). It must, how- ever, have soon revolted; for Uzziah (2 Chron. xxvi. 6), finding it necessary to war against the Philistines, ' broke down the wall of Gath.' Pro- bably the conquest was not of long duration. j This constant withstanding of the power of Jem- i salem shows that Gath was a place of great re- sources and high eminence a conclusion which is confirmed by the language employed by the prophets (Amos vi. 2; Micah i. 10). 'Gath,' says Jerome, (on Micah i.), is one of the five Philistine cities lying near the confines of Judah, on the road from Eleutheropolis to Gaza ; now it is a very large village.' On Jerem. xxv. the same authority declares that Gath was not far from Azotus. Modern travellers give no description of the place. There was a Gath-hepher belonging to the chil- dren of Zebulun (Josh. xix. 10, sq.), the birth- place of the prophet Jonah (2 Kings xiv. 25), lying not far from Sepphoris on the road to Tibe- rias. Another Gath (Gath-rimmon, Josh. xix. 45) lay in the territory of Dan. It was a Levite city (Josh. xxi. 24 ; 1 Chrou. vi. 69). In the time of Eusebius it was a very large village, ' twelve miles from Diospolis, as you go hence to Eleutheropolis.' GAULONITIS. [GOLAN.] GA'ZA lies on the road leading from Akabah GAZA to Hebron, which passes along nearly the whole length of the great Wady-el-Arabah. It is on the sea-coast, in lat. 31 29', long. 34 29' in the country of the Philistines (Josh. xv. 47). It is a very ancient place, as we find it mentioned in ' Gen. x. 19, where it is given as one of the border- cities of the Canaanites. In Deut. ii. 23, it is found as the place unto which the Avim dwelt. Joshua smote the Canaanites as far as Gaza (Josh. x. 41), but spared the Anakim (giants) that dwelt there (Josh. xi. 21, 22). In the division of the land, Gaza fell to the lot of Judah (Josh. xv. 47), and was taken by him with the coast thereof (Judg. i. 18), but its inhabitants were not exterminated (Judg. iii. 3). Gaza was one of the five Philistine cities which gave each a golden emerod as a tres- pass-offering to the Lord ( 1 Sam. vi. 1 7). Solo- mon's kingdom extended as far as Gaza (1 Kings iv. 24). But the place appears always as a Phi- listine city in Scripture (Judg. iii. 3 ; xvi. 1 ; ] Sam. vi. 17; 2 Kings xviii. 8). Hezekiah smote the Philistines as far as Gaza (2 Kings xviii. 8). Gaza fell into the hands of the Egyptians, pro- bably Pharaoh-Necho (Jer. xlvii. 1 ; comp. Herod. ii. 159). The prophets speak in severe terms against it (Jer. xxv. 20 ; xlvii. 5 ; Amos i. 6, 7 ; Zeph. ii. 4 ; Zech. ix. 5). After the destruction of Tyre it sustained a siege of two months against Alexander the Great. Jonathan Maccabscus de- stroyed its suburbs ; Simon Maccabscus took the city itself, though not without extraordinary efforts. Alexander Jannccus spent a year in be- sieging it and punishing its inhabitants. The place was rebuilt by Gabinius. It was among the cities given by Augustus to Herod, after whose death it was united to the province of Syria. Gaza is celebrated for the exploit recorded of Samsci (Judg. xvi. 1-3), who 'took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of a hill that is before Hebron.' The Philistines after- wards took Samson, and put out his eyes, aud brought him to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass, and he did grind in the prison-house : he, however, pulled down the temple of Dagon, god of the Philistines, and slew, together with himself, 'all the lords of the Philistines,' besides men and women (Judg. xvi. 21-30). It was near Ga2a GEDALIAH on the road from Jerusalem to that place that Philip baptized the euuuch ' of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians ' (Acts viii. 26, sq.). Gaza lay some distance from the sea, though it had a port on the sea,' called ' Gaza on the sea,' called also Majuma, which Constantine called Constantia, from the name of his sou, giviug it, it the same time, municipal rights. Julian took away this name and ordered it to be called the port of Gaza. Subsequent emperors restored the name and the privileges of the place. It was after- wards called the sea-coast of Gaza. GE'BA. It is often stated that Geba and Gibeah were names of the same place. The two names are indeed only masculine and feminine forms of the same word, signifying ' hill ;' but that they were two different places is evident from Josh, xviii. 24 ; comp. 28 ; 1 Sam. xiii. 2, comp. "5; Isa. x. 29. Geba belonged to the tribe of Benjamin (Josh, xviii. 24), and was assigned to the priests (Josh. xxi. 17 ; 1 Chron. vii. 40). The Philistines were smitten from Geba unto Gazer by David (2 Sam. v. 25); Asa rebuilt Geba and Mizpeli with the stones of Ramahfl Kings xv. 2-2 ; 2 Chron. xvi. 6). ' From Geba (in the north) to Beersheba' (in the south) (2 Kings xxiii. 8), expressed the whole extent of the separate king- dom of Judah, just as ' from Dan to Beersheba ' expressed the whole length of Palestine. It would seem, from the manner in which Geba (Gaba) aud Ramah are coupled in Neh. vii. 30, that they were very near each other ; but the site of Geba is now unknown. 1. GE'BAL, a district, or perhaps sovereignty, south of Judaea, in the land of Edom. Gebal sig- nifies a mountain, and apparently belongs not to the most ancient times, as it does not occur when the Israelites were actually in this quarter, but is first found in Ps. Ixxxiii. 8, which was probably written iu the time of Jehoshaphat. The country south of the Dead Sea, aud on the east of the Ghor, or great valley, bears the same name (Jebal or Djebal) at the present day, and is doubtless the same as the Gebal of Scripture. We may therefore take Gebal as the name of the northernmost portion of Idumaoa, which was nearest to Palestine. 2. GEBAL. [GIBLITES.] GEDALI'AH ( God-greatened) ; son of Ahi- kam, and appointed by Nebuchadnezzar governor of Judaea after the destruction of Jerusalem. He was probably of the number of those who quitted the city at the instance of the prophet, justly de- spairing of the successful defence of a place which God had abandoned. Gedaliah had inherited his father's respect for Jeremiah (Jer. xl. 5, sq.), and was moreover enjoined by Nebuzaradan to look to his safety and welfare. Gedaliah was in every way worthy of the difficult post he had to fill ; and ta adopted as the principle of his conduct that sub- i mission to existing circumstances which was requi- j site in one who believed that Judah had, according to the declared will of God, been justly doomed and punished for her iniquities, and who yet be- lieved that His loving kindness had not utterly departed from her. He established the seat of his melancholy government at Mizpeh in the tribe of Benjamin : and there the Jews, who had fled at the advance of the Chaldaan armies, or when the troops of Zedekiah were dispersed in the plains of Jericho, quitting their retreats, began to gather GEHAZI 349 around him. Gedaliah wisely counselled them to submission and quietness; and he promised on that condition to ensure them the undisturbed en- joyment of their possessions, and of the produce of the ground. In this hope the labours of the field were resumed, and the extraordinary returns of that season secured as if specially given to repair the recent injuries of war. But this calm was of short duration. Among those who returned was a member of the royal family, named Ishmael, who had taken refuge with Baalis, king o f the Ammonites. He appears to have been irritated at seeing one who was not of the house of David seated upon even the shadow of David's throne ; and some of the friends of Gedaliah believed him to be in a plot with Baalis to take away his life. But the noble-minded governor refused to enter- tain such a suspicion, and rejected with horror the proposal of an over-zealous friend, who offered to assassinate Ishmael. The suspicion which he thus generously repelled was, however, correct. He was murdered in the midst of a repast by this very Ishmael, whom he had received as a friend. This event happened about two months after the destruction of Jerusalem, and by it the present ruin of Judaea seemed to be consummated, u.c. 588 (2 Kings xxv. 22-2G; Jer. xxxix. 14; xl. 5 ; xli. 18). GE'DER. This word signifies a wail, enclo- sure, or fortified place, and must be understood in this sense in the ensuing names. Geder itself was the name of an ancient town of the Canaanites, in the plain country of Judah (Josh. xii. 13), and was perhaps the same as Gederah. GEDE'RAH, a city in the plain of Judah (Josh. xv. 36), probably the same with the preceding Geder, and with Bethgader of 1 Chron. ii. 51. It seems to have belonged to the family of Caleb. GEDE'ROTH, a city in the plain country of Judah (Josh. xv. 41), aud one of those which the Philistines took from king Ahaz (2 Chrou. xxviii. 18). GE'DOR, an ancient city in the mountains of Judah (Josh. xv. 58), some of whose inhabitants joined David at Ziklag (1 Chron. xii. 7). }t is doubtful whether this be the same Gedor in whose fertile valley the Simeonites found good pasture for their flocks (1 Chron. iv. 39). Dr. Robinson, travelling from Jerusalem to Gaza, came in sight of a place called Jedur, with ruins, on the brow of a mountain ridge, which he identifies with Gedor. GE'HAZI (vision valley), a servant of Elisha, whose entire confidence he enjoyed. His history is involved in that of his master [ELISHA]. He personally appears in reminding his master of the best mode of rewarding the kindness of the Shu- namite (2 Kings iv. 14). He was present at the interview in which the Shunamite made known to the prophet that her son was dead, and was sent forward to lay Elisha's staff on the child's face, which he did without effect (2 Kings iv. 31). The most remarkable incident in his career is that which caused his ruin. When Elisha, with a noble disinterestedness, declined the rich gifts pressed upon him by the illustrious leper whom he had healed, Gehazi felt distressed that so favourable an opportunity of profiting by the gratitude of Naaman had been so wilfully thrown away. He therefore ran after the retiring chariots, and requested, iu his master's name, a portion of the gifts which had before been refused, on the ground that visitors had just arrived for whom 350 GENEALOGY he was unable to provide. He asked a talent of silver and two dresses; and the grateful Syrian made him take two talents instead of one. Having deposited this spoil in a place of safety, he again appeared before Elisha, whose honour he had so seriously compromised. His master asked him where he had been ? and on his answering, ' Thy servant went no whither,' the prophet put on the severities of a judge, and having denounced his crime, passed upon him the terrible doom, that the leprosy of which Naaman had been cured, should cleave to him and his for ever. ' And he went forth from his presence a leper as white as snow ' (2 Kings v. 20-27). B.cs 894. ^ We afterwards find Gehazi recounting to king Joram the great deeds of Elisha. and, in the pro- vidence of God, it so happened that when he was relating the restoration to life of the Shunamite's son, the very woman with her son appeared before the king to claim her house and lauds, which had been usurped while she had been absent abroad during the recent famine. Struck by the coinci- dence, the king immediately granted her applica- 1 tion (2 Kings viii. 1-6). GEMARI'AH ( God-perfected\ the sou of Sha- phan, and a scribe of the temple in the time of Jehoiakim. Banlch read aloud the prophecies of Jeremiah to the people at the official chamber of Gemariah, which was attached to the new gate of the temple built by king Jotham (Jer. xxxvi. 10 ; comp.'2 Kings xv. 35). Gemariah's son Michaiah having reported this to his father, Banich was in- vited to repeat the reading at the scribes' chamber in the palace, before Gemariah and other scribes and councillors, who gave an account of the matter to the king (Jer. xxxvi. 10-26). B.C. 607. 2. GEMARIAH, son of Hilkiah, who, with Elasah, son of Shaphan, was sent to Babylon by king Zede- kiah with his tribute-money for Nebuchadnezzar. He also took charge of a letter from Jeremiah to the Jewish captives at Babylon, warning them against the false prophets who deluded them by promises of a speedy return to their own land (Jer. xxix. 3, 4). B.C. 599. GEMS. [STONES, PRECIOUS.] GENEALOGY signifies a list of ancestors set down both in their direct and collateral order. We read of no nation which was more careful to frame and preserve its genealogical tables than Israel. Their sacred writings contain genealogies which extend through a period of more than 3500 years, from the creation of Adam to the captivity of Judah. Indeed, we find from the books of Ezra and Nehemiah that the same carefulness in this GENEALOGY matter was observed after the captivity ; for in Ezra ii. 62 it is expressly stated that some who had come up from Babylon had sought their re- gister among those that were reckoned by gene- alogy, but were not found ; therefore were they, as polluted, removed from the priesthood. The division of the whole Hebrew nation into tribes, and the allotment to each tribe of a specified por- tion of the land of Canaan as an inalienable pos- session, rendered it indispensable that they should keep genealogical tables. God had, however, a still higher object than that of giving stability to property in Israel, in leading successive genera- tions of His people thus to keep an accurate list of their ancestry. That they should do this was especially required from the moment that the voice of prophecy declared that the promised Messiah should be of the seed of Abraham, of the posterity of Isaac, of the sons of Jacob, of the tribe of Judah, and of the family of David. The Rabbins affirm that after the Captivity the Jews were most careful in keeping their pedigrees (Babyl. Gemar. Gloss, fol. xiv. 2). Josephus (De Vita sua, p. 998, D) states that he traced his own descent from the tribe of Levi by public re- gisters. And be informs us that, however dispersed and depressed his nation were, they never neglected to have exact genealogical tables prepared from the authentic documents which were kept at Jeru- salem ; and that in all their sufferings they \\vre particularly careful to preserve those tables, and to have them renewed from time to time. Since, however, the period of their destruction as a nation by the Romans, all their tables of descent seem to be lost, and now they are utterly unable to trace the pedigree of any one Israelite who might lay claim to be their promised, and still expected, Messiah. Hence Christians assert, with a force that no reasonable and candid Jew can resist, that Shiloh must have comt. We find traces of the existence of the public tables of descent, to which Josephus refers, in the New Testament : the taxation spoken of by St. Luke (ii. 2, 3) would clearly indicate this ; for how could each one be able to go to his own city, unless he knew the specific tribe to which he be- longed ? Hence it was, we think, that St. Paul was able with confidence to appeal to the He- brews concerning the lineage of Christ; ' for it is evident,' says he, ' that our Lord sprung out of Judah ' (Heb. vii. 14 ; 2 Tim. ii. 8). To evince this beyond reasonable doubt, it pleased God to give us by his inspired servants, St. Matthew and St. Luke, the following genealogies : MATTHEW i. 2. 1 Abraham. ... 1 Solomon 1 Jechonias, f. e. Jehoiachin. 2 Isaac 2 Koboam ..... 2 Salathiel. 3 Jacob 3 Abia 3 Zorobabel. 4 Judas 4 Asa 4 Abiud. 5 Phares . 6 Esrom 7 Aram. . 8 Aminadab 9 Naasson . 10 Salmon . 11 Booz . . 12 Obed . . 13 Jesse . . 5 Josaphat 5 Eliakim. 6 Joram . . . . 6 Azor. 7 Ozias 7 Sadoc. 8 Joatham ..... 8 Achim. 9 Achaz 9 Eliud. 10 Ezekias 10 Eleazar. 11 Manasses 11 Matthan. 12 Amon 12 Jacob. 13 Josias ..... 13 Joseph, Jehoia-1 14 David .{ U Jechonias { C J t kirn or Eliakim . J j GENEALOGY GENEALOGY 351 GOD. I Adam -2 Seth . 3 Enos . 4 Cainan 5 Maleleel 6 Jared. 7 Enoch 8 Mathusala 9 Lamech 10 Noe . 11 Sera . 12 Arphaxac 13 Camau 14 Sala . 15 Heber 16 Phalec 17 Ragau 18 Saruch 19 Nachor LUKE iii. 23. 1 Thara . 2 Abraham. 3 Isaac . . 4 Jacob 5 Juda . . 6 Phares . 7 Esrom . 8 Aram. . 9 Aminadab 10 Naasson . 11 Salmon . 12 Booz . . 13 Obed . . 14 Jesse . . 15 David . 16 Nathan . 17 Mattatha 18 Menan . 19 Melca We do not find that there was any objection made to these genealogies, either by Jew or Gen- tile, during the first century. Had any difficulty on this head existed, we may reasonably suppose that the Jews, of all others, would have been but too ready to detect, and expose it. We may there- fore fairly conclude that, whatever difficulty meets us now in harmonizing our Lord's pedigree as given by the two Evangelists, it could have had no place in the first age of the Christian church. In subsequent ages, however, objections were and still are made to the genealogies of Matthew and Luke. The chief ground of objection is the alleged inconsistency of the Evangelists with each other. The first solution of their apparent discrepancies is that of Africanus, which, he informs us, he re- ceived from the relatives of our Lord. It is to the effect that Matthan, the third in the list from Joseph, in Matthew's genealogy, and Melchi, the third in Luke's list, married successively the same woman, by whom the former begat Jacob, and the latter Heli. Heli dying without issue, his mater- nal brother took his widow to wife, by whom he had Joseph, who, according to law (Deut. xxv. 6), was registered by Luke as the son of Heli, though naturally the son of Jacob, as Matthew records him. This is the explanation which was generally ad- mitted by Eusebius, Nazianzen, and others./or ages. Grotius, however, availing himself of the tra- dition that Heli and Jacob were both sons of the same mother, but of different fathers (Matthan and Melchi), supposes that Luke traces the natural pedigree of Christ, and Matthew the legal. This he argues on two grounds. First, that Salathiel could not have been the natural son of Jechonias, who was childless according to the declaration of God by Jeremiah (xxii.) and was, therefore, as Luke states, the son, properly so called, of Neri, of Nathan's line ; and, secondly, that the Levirate law imposed no necessity on Jacob to marry Heli's widow, they being only uterine brothers. But both the reasons assigned by Gro- tius for differing from the solution of Africanus would seem to be founded on a petitio principii. It does not appear an ascertained fact that Sala- thiel was not the natural son of Jechouias, nor yet that the law which obliged a man to marry the widow of his deceased brother might be departed from when they were only maternal brethren ; for 1 Eliakim .... 1 Joanna. 2 Jonan .... 2 Juda. 3 Joseph .... 3 Joseph. 4 Juda 4 Semei. 5 Simeon .... 5 Mattathias. 6 Levi 6 Maath. 7 Matthat .... 7 Nagge. 8 Jorim .... 8 Esli. 9 Eliezer .... 9 Naum. 10 Jose 5 .... 10 Amos. 11 Er 11 Mattathias. 12 Elmodan . . . .12 Joseph. 13 Cosam .... 13 Janna. 14 Addi 14 Melchi. 15 Melchi .... 15 Levi. 16 Neri 16 Matthat. 17 Salathiel .... 17 Heli. 18 Zorobabel . . .18 Joseph. 19 Ehesa .... 19 Jesus. even in cases of distant relationship the law seemed obligatory, as we see in the case of Boaz marrying Ruth, the widow of his distant kinsman. Dr. Barrett objects to the above theory as given by Africanus and altered by Grotius, on the ground principally, that it refers entirely to the descent of Joseph from David, without attempting to prove that the son of Mary was the son of David. Dr. Barrett then states his own hypothesis, viz., that Matthew relates the genealogy of Joseph, and Luke that of Mary. He supposes a sufficient reason, that after Matthew had given his genea- logical table another should be added by St. Luke, fully to prove that Christ, according to the flesh, derived his descent from David, not only by his supposed father Joseph, but also by his real mother Mary. In constructing their genealogical tables, it is well known that the Jews reckoned wholly by males, rejecting, where the blood of the grand- father passed to the grandson through a daughter, the name of the daughter herself, and counting that daughter's husband for the son of the mater- nal grandfather (Num. xxvi. 33 ; xxvii. 4-7). On this principle Joseph, begotten by Jacob, marries Mary, the daughter of Heli ; and in the genealo- gical register of his wife's family, is counted for Heli's son. Salathiel, begotten by Jeconiah, mar- ries the daughter of Neri, and, in like manner, is accounted his son : in Zorobabel, the offspring of Salathiel and Neri's daughter, the lines of Solo- mon and Nathan coalesce ; Joseph and Mary are of the same tribe and family ; they are both de- scendants of David in the line of Solomon ; they have in them both the blood of Nathan, David's son. Joseph deduces his descent from Abiud (Matt. i. 13), Mary from Rhesa (Luke iii. 27), sons of Zorobabel. The genealogies of Matthew and Luke are parts of one perfect whole, and each of them is essential to the explanation of the other. By Matthew's table we prove the descent of Mary, as well as Joseph, from Solomon ; by Luke's we see the descent of Joseph, as well as Mary, from Nathan. GENERATION. Considerable obscurity at- tends the use of this word in the English Version, which arises from the translators having merged the various meanings of the same original word, and even of several different words, in one com- mon term ' generation.' The following instances 352 GENESIS seem to require the original words to be under- stood in some or other of their derivative seuses Gen. ii. 4, ' These are the generations," rather ' origin,' ' history,' &c. The same Greek words, Matt i. 1, are rendered 'genealogy,' &c., by recent translators : Campbell has ' lineage.' Gen. v. 1, The book of the generations ' is properly a family register, a history of Adam. The same words, Gen. xxxvii. 2, mean a history of Jacob and his descendants; so also Gen. vi. 9, x. 1, and elsewhere. Gen. vii. 1, ' In this gene- ration' is evidently 'in this age.' Gen. xv. 6, ' In the fourth generation ' is an instance of the word in the sense of a certain assigned period. Ps. xlix. 19, 'The generation of his fathers' Gesenius renders 'the dwelling of his fathers,' i. e. the grave, and adduces Isa. xxxviii. 12. Ps. Ixxiii. 15, ' The generation of thy children ' is ' class,' ' or- der,' 'description;' as in Prov. xxx. 11, 12, 13,14. Isa. liii. 8, ' Who shall declare his generation ?' Lowth renders ' manner of life.' Michaelis renders it ' Where was the providence that cared for his life?' Gesenius and Rosenmiiller, ' Who of his contemporaries reflected ?' Seller, ' Who can describe his length of life ?' In the New Testa- ment, Matt. i. 17, it is a series of persons, a suc- cession from the same stock. Matt. iii. 7, is well rendered by Doddridge and others ' brood of vipers.' Matt. xxiv. 34, means the generation or persons then living contemporary with Christ. Luke xvi. 8, ' in their generations,' c., wiser in regard to their dealings with the men of their generation. 1 Pet. ii. 8, is 'a chosen people.' The ancient Greeks, and, if we may credit Hero- dotus and Diodorus Siculus, the Egyptians also, assigned a certain period to a generation. The Greeks reckoned three generations for every hundred years, i. e. 33 years to each. This is nearly the present computation. The ancient Hebrews also reckoned by the generation, and assigned different spaces of time to it at different periods of their history. In the time of Abra- ham it was one hundred years (comp. Gen. xv. 16, 'in the fourth generation they shall come hither'). This is explained in verse 13, and in Exod. xii. 40, to be four hundred years. Caleb was fourth in descent from Judih, and Moses and Aaron were fourth from Levi. In Deut. i. 35, ii. 14, Moses uses the term for thirty-eight years. In later times it clearly means ten years. In Matt. i. 17, it means a single descent from father to son [GENEALOGY]. GEN'ESIS, the first book of the Pentateuch. This venerable monument, with which the sacred literature of the Hebrews commences, and which forms its real basis, is divided into two main parts ; one universal, and one special. The most ancient history of the whole human race is coii- I tained in chapters i.-xi., and the history of Israel's ancestors, the patriarchs, in chapters xii.-l. These two parts are, however, so intimately connected with each other, that it would be erroneous to ascribe to the first merely the aim of furnishing a universal history. The chief aim which per- vades the whole is to show how the theocratic institution subsequently founded by Moses was rendered possible and necessary. The book, there- fore, takes its starting-point from the original unity of the human race, and their original re- lation to God, and proceeds thence to the inter- ruption of that relation by the appearance of sin, GENESIS which gradually and progressively wrought an external and internal division in the human race for want of the principles of divine life which originally dwelt in man in general, but which bad subsequently been preserved only among a small and separate race a race which in pro- gress of time became more and more isolated from all the other tribes of the earth, and enjoyed for a series of generations the special care, bless- ing, and guidance of the Lord. The mosaical theocracy appears, therefore, by the general tenor of Genesis, partly as a restoration of the original relation to God, of the communion of man with God, and partly as an institution which had been preparing by God himself through a long series of manifestations of his power, justice, and love. Genesis thus furnishes us with the primary view and notion of the whole of the theocracy, and may therefore be considered as the historical founda- tion without which the subsequent history of the covenant people would be incomplete and unin- telligible. The unity and composition of the work, which is a point in dispute among the critics in regard to all the books of the Pentateuch, have been particularly questioned in the case of Genesis. Some suppose that Genesis is founded on two principal original documents, distinguished by the terms Elohim and Jehovah, the names which they respectively give to God. That of Elohim is closely connected in its parts, and forms a whole, while that of Jehovah is a mere comple- mentary document, supplying details at those points where the former is abrupt and deficient, &c. These two documents are said to have been subsequently combined by the hand of an editor, so able as often to render their separation diffi- cult, if not altogether impossible. Others main- tain that Genesis is a book closely connected in all its parts, and composed by only one author, while the use of the two different names of God is not owing to two different sources on which Genesis is founded, but solely to the different significations of these two names. The use of each of the two names, Jehovah and Elohim, is everywhere in Genesis adapted to the sense of the passages in which the writer has purposely inserted the one name or the other. This point of view is the more to be considered, as it is the peculiar object of the author to point out in Genesis the gradual and progressive development of the divine revelations. The opponents have in vain attempted to discover in Genesis a few contradictions indicative of different documents in it; their very admission, that a fixed plan and able compilation visibly pervade the whole of the book, is in itself a refutation of such supposed contradictions, since it is hardly to be conceived, that an editor or compiler who has shown so much skill and anxiety to give unity to the book should have cared so little about the removal of those contradictions. The whole of Genesis is per- vaded by such a freedom in the selection and treatment of the existing traditions, such an ab- sence of all trace of any previous source or docu- ments which nrght in some measure have con- fined the writer within certain limits of views and expressions, as to render it quite impracticable to separate and fix upon them specifically, even if there were portions in Genesis drawn from earlier written documents. GENESIS That first question concerning the unity of the book is closely connected with another question, respecting its authenticity, or whether Moses was the author of Genesis. We confine ourselves here to only a few remarks on the authenticity of Genesis in particular, and refer the reader for further information to the article PENTATEUCH. Some critics have attempted to ascertain the period when Genesis was composed, from a few passages in it, which they say must be anachronisms, if Moses was really the author of the book. Among such passages are, in particular, Gen. xii. 6; xiii. 7; 'And the Canaanite was theu in the land.' This remark, they say, could only have been made by a writer who lived in Palestine after the extirpation of the Canaanites. But the sense of the passage, is not that the Canaanites had not as yet been extirpated, but merely that Abraham, on his arrival in Canaan, had already found there the Cauaanites. This notice was necessary, since the author subsequently describes the intercourse between Abraham and the Ca- naanites, the lords of the country. According to the explanation given to the passage by the op- ponents, such an observation would be quite a superfluous triviality. Also the name Hebron (Gen. xiii. 18 ; xxiii. 2), they say, was not intro- duced till after the time of Moses (Josh. xiv. 1 5 ; xv. 13). This, however, does not prove anything, since Hebron was the original Hebrew name for the place, which was subsequently changed into Arba (by a man of that name), but was restored by the Israelites on their entrance into Canaan. The opponents also maintain that the name of the place Dan (Gen. xiv. 14) was given only in the post-Mosaical period (Josh. xix. 47 ; Judg. xviii. 29). But the two last passages speak of quite a different place. There were two places called Dan; Dun-Jaan (2 Sam. xxiv. 6), and Dan- Laish, or Leshem. In Genesis, they further add. frequently occurs the name Bethel (xii. 8 ; xxviii. 19; xxxv. 15); while even in the time of Joshua the place was as yet called Luz (Josh, xviii. 13). But the name Bethel was not first given to the place by the Israelites in the time of Joshua, there being no occasion for it, since Bethel was the old patriarchal name, which the Israelites restored in the place of Luz, a name given by the Canaanites. Another passage in Genesis (xxxvi. 31), ' Before there reigned any king over the children of Israel,' is likewise sup- posed to have been written at a period when the Jews had already a king over them. But the broachers of these objections forget that this pas- sage refers to those promises contained in the Pentateuch iu general, and in Genesis in par- ticular (comp. Gen. xxxv. 11), that there should hereafter be kings among the Israelites as an in- dependent nation. In comparing Israel with Edom (Gen. xxxvi.), the sacred writer cannot refrain from observing that Edom, though left without divine promises of possessing kings, never- theless possessed them, and obtained the glory of an independent kingdom, long before Israel could think of such an independence ; and a little atten- tion to the sense of the passage will show how admirably the observation suits a writer in the Mosaical period. The passage (Gen. xv. 18) where the land of Israel is described as extending from the river of Egypt (the Nile) to the great river (Euphrates), it is alleged, could only have GENESIS 353 been penned during the splendid period of the Jews, the times of David and Solomon. Lite- rally taken, however, the remark is inapplicable to any period, since the kingdom of the Jews at no period of their history extended so far. That promise, must, therefore, be taken in a rhetorical sense, describing the central point of the proper country as situated between the two rivers. With regard to the historical character of the book, Genesis consists of two contrasting parts : the first part introduces us into the greatest pro- blems of the human mind, such as the Creation and the fall of man ; and the second, into the quiet solitude of a small defined circle of families. In the former, the most sublime and wonderful events are described with childlike simplicity ; while, in the latter, on the contrary, the most simple and common occurrences are interwoven with the sublimest thoughts and reflections, rendering the small family circle a whole world in history, and the principal actors in it prototypes for a whole nation, and for all times. The contents in general are strictly religious. Not the least trace of mythology appears in it. It is true that the narrations are fraught with wonders. But primeval wonders, the marvellous deeds of God, are the very subject of Genesis. None of these wonders, however, bear a fantastical impress, and there is no useless prodigality of them. They are all penetrated and connected by one common leading idea, and are all related to the counsel of God for the salvation of man. This principle sheds its lustrous beams through the whole of Genesis; therefore the wonders therein related are as little to be ascribed to the invention and imagination of man as the whole plan of God for human salvation. The foundation of the divine theocratical institution throws a strong light upon the early patriarchal times ; the reality of the one proves the reality of the other, as described in Genesis. The separate accounts in Genesis also manifest great internal evidence of truth if we closely ex- amine them. They bear on their front the most beautiful impress of truth. The cosmogony in Genesis stands unequalled among all others known in the ancient world. No mythology, no ancient philosophy, has ever come up to the idea of a creation out of nothing. All the ancient systems end in Pantheism, Materialism, emana- tion-theory, &c. But the Biblical cosmogony occupies a place of its own, and therefore must not be ranked among, or confounded with, any of the ancient systems of mythology or philo- sophy. The mythological and philosophical cosmogonies may have been derived from the Biblical, as being later depravations and misrepre- sentations of Biblical truth ; but the contents of Genesis cannot, vice versa, have been derived from mythology or philosophy. The historical delineation also of the Creation and of the fall of man does not bear the least national interest or colouring, but is of a truly universal nature, while every mythns bears the stamp of the national features of the nation and country where it originated and found development. All mythi are subject to continual development and varia tions, but among the Hebrews the accounts in Genesis stand firm and immutable for all times, without the least thing being added or altered in them for the purpose of further development, 2 A S54 GENESIS even by the New Testament. What a solid guarantee must there be in this foundation of all subsequent revelations, since it has been admitted and maintained by all generations with such immovable firmness ! The ancient heathen tradi- tions coincide in many points with the Biblical accounts, and serve to illustrate and confirm them. This is especially the case in the ancient tradi- tions concerning the Deluge (Gen. vi. 9), and in the list of nations in the tenth chapter ; for instance (Gen. x. 4), Tarshish is called the son of Javan. This indicates that the ancient inhabit- ants of Tarshish or Tartessus in Spain were erroneously considered to be a Phoenician colony like those of other towns in its neighbourhood, and that they sprang from Javan, that is, Greece. That they were of Greek origin is clear from the account of Herodotus. Also (ver. 8), Nimrod, the ruler of Babel, is called the son of Cush, which is in remarkable unison with the mytho- logical tales concerning Bel and his Egyptian descent. Sidon alone is mentioned (ver. 15), but not Tyriu (comp. xlix. 13), which arose only in the time of Joshua (Josh. xix. 29) ; and that Sidon was an older town than Tyrus, by which it was afterwards eclipsed, is certified by a num- ber of ancient reports. With the patriarchal history (xii. sqq.) begins an historical sketch of a peculiar character. The circumstantial details in it allow us to examine more closely the historical character of these accounts. The numerous descriptions of the mode of life in those days furnish us with a very vivid picture. We meet everywhere a sublime simplicity quite worthy of patriarchal life, and never to be found again in later history. One cannot suppose that it would have been possible in a later period, estranged from ancient simpli- city, to invent such a picture. The fidelity of the author everywhere exhibits itself. Neither the blemishes in the history of Abraham, nor the gross sins of the sous of Jacob, j among whom even Levi, the progenitor of the sacerdotal race, forms no exception, are con- cealed. The same author, whose moral principles are ! so much blamed by the opponents of Genesis, on | account of the description given of the life of Jacob, produces, in the history of Abraham, a picture of moral greatness which could have | originated only in facts. The faithfulness of the author manifests itself j also especially in the description of the expe- j dition of the kings from Upper to Western Asia ; j in his statements concerning the person of Mel- i chizedek (Gen. xiv.); in the circumstantial de- I tails given of the incidents occurring at the pur- j chase of the hereditary burial-place (ch. xxiii.) ; j in the genealogies of Arabian tribes (ch. xxv.) ; ; in the genealogy of Edom (ch. xxxvi.) ; and in j many remarkable details which are interwoven j with the general accounts. In the history of j Joseph the patriarchal history comes into contact j with Egypt, and here the accounts given by | ancient classical writers, as well as the monu- ments of Egypt, frequently furnish some splendid confirmations. For instance, the account given (xlvii. 13-26) of the manner in which the Pha- raohs became proprietors of all the lands, with the exception of those belonging to the priests, is confirmed by Herodotus, and by Diodorns Sicu- GERASA lus. The manner of embalming described in Gen. 1. entirely agrees with the description of Herodotus, ii. 84, c. For the important commentaries and writings on Genesis, see the article PENTATEUCH. GENNESARETH. [CINXERETH.] GENNESARETH, LAKE OF. [SEA.] GENTILES, a word which means literally, ' the nations.' It was applied by the Hebrews to all individuals or communities not under the law that is, all the nations of the world except- ing the Jews. But in later times some small states, and many individuals, embraced the law : and they were distinguished from the Gentiles, as well as from the Jews, by the name of PROSE- LYTES. In some places our authorized version has the word ' Gentiles ' where the original should properly be rendered ' Greeks.' GE'RAH, the smallest piece of money among the Hebrews. Twenty made a shekel ; one of them would therefore be worth three halfpence, according to the present value of silver (Exod. xxx. 13). GE'RAR, a town and district on the southern- most borders -of Palestine, in the country of the Philistines, and not far from Gaza. It was visited by Abraham after the destruction of Sodom (Gen. xx. 1), and by Isaac when there was a dearth in the rest of Canaan (Gen. xxvi. 1). The incidents of their sojourn show that the district was very fertile. It was the seat of the first Philistine kingdom we read of, and gave name to it. The intercourse, differences, and alliances of the He- brew fathers with the king and people of Gerar form a very curious and interesting portion of patriarchal history. It was still an important place in later times, as we may gather from 1 Chron. xiv. 13, 14. According to the ancient accounts Gerar lay in or near a valley, which ap- pears to be no other than the great Wady Sheriah (or one of the branches of it), that comes down from Beersheba ; besides we know that it was in the land of the Philistines, and that it was not far from Beersheba when Isaac resided there (Gen. xxvi. 1, 20, 23; 26-33 ; comp. xx. 1). The name continued to exist (perhaps as a matter of tradi- tion) for several centuries after the Christian era, but no traces of it can now be found. GER'ASA, not JERASH (not named in the Bible), was in the Decapolis, and formed the eastern boundary of Peram. It lay on elevated ground, according to Ptolemy, in 68 15' = 31 45'. Its inhabitants were mostly heathen. After the Roman conquests in the East, the country in which Gerasa lies became one of their fa- vourite -colonies, and ten principal cities were built on the east of the Jordan, giving the name of Decapolis to the land in which they stood. Gerasa was one, but not the greatest of these. The place was taken by storm by Alexander Janna;us, who was actuated by a desire of gaining a large treasure. Alexander died near it while besieging Regaba. Before the place had time to recover from this calamity, it was included among the number of those cities which were burnt by the enraged Jews in their vengeance on the Syrians, and on the Roman power generally, for the mas- sacre of a number of their nation at Caesarea. A terrible revenge was taken by other cities, but Gerasa is honourably excepted. Annius, gene- ral under Vespasian, took the city ; after which GESHUR he set fire to their houses,' ' and what was remain- ing was all burnt down.' Its ruins were first dis- covered by Seetzen and have often been subse- GIANTS 355 quently visited. They have been pronounced superior *o those of Palmyra. GERGESENES'. [GADARA.] GER'IZIM, MOUNT. [EBAL AND GERI- ZIM.] GE'RSHOM (a stranger here), one of the two sons (the other was Eliezer) who were born to Moses in the land of Midian by Zipporah (Exod. ii. 22 ; xviii. 3). These sons of the great law- giver held no other rank than that of simple Le- vites, while the sons of their uncle Aaron enjoyed all the privileges of the priesthood (1 Chron. xxiii. 14). The glory of being the children of >uch a father doubtless availed them more than the highest dignities ; but we must nevertheless admire the rare disinterestedness of Moses in making no public provision as he might so easily have done for his own children. GER'SHON (same as Gershoni), eldest son of the patriarch Levi, born in Canaan before the going down into Egypt. He is only known from his name having been given to one of the three great branches of the Levitical tribe. The office of the Gershonites, during the marches in the wilderness, was to carry the veils and curtains of the taber- nacle, and their place in the camp was west of the tabernacle (Gen. xlvi. 11 ; Exod. vi. 16 ; Num. iii. 17). GE'SHEM (rain), one of the enemies of the Jews under Nehemiah (Neh. vi. 6). He was pro- bably a Samaritan, although on some account or other designated an Arabian (Neh. ii. 19), and seems to have been a subaltern officer at Jeru- salem. He opposed the designs of the Jewish governor, talking of them as seditious, and turning them into ridicule. Eventually he took part in the plots of Tobiah against the life of Nehemiah (Neh. ii. 19; vi. 2-9), about B.C. 445. GE'SHUR, a district of Syria (2 Sam. xv. 8 ; 1 Chron. ii. 23), which adjoined, on the east side of the Jordan, the northern border of the Hebrew territory, and lay between Mount Hermon, Maa- chah, and Bashan (Deut. iii. 13, 14; Josh. xii. 5). According to the boundaries of the Holy Land, as defined by Moses, Geshur would have formed part of it; but in Josh. xiii. 2, 13, it is stated that the Israelites had expelled neither the Geshurites nor the Maachathites, but dwelt together with them. That the Hebrews did not afterwards permanently subdue Geshur appears from the circumstance that, in David's time, this district had a king of its own, called Talmai, whose daughter, Maacah, was one of the wives of David (2 Sam. iii. 3). She was the mother of Absalom, who took refuge with his grandfather after the murder of Amnon, and remained three years in Geshur (2 Sam. xiii. 37 ; xv. 8). The word Geshur signifies a bridge, and corresponds with the Arabic Jisr ; and in the same region where, according to the above data, we must fix Geshur, between Mount Hermon and the lake of Tiberias, there still exists an ancient stone bridge over the upper Jordan, called Jisr- ^Beni-Jakub, or 'the bridge of the children of Jacob,' i. e. the Israelites. GESH'URITES, GESHURI; 1. The inhabit- ants of the above region [GESHUR]. 2. A people in the south of Palestine, near the Philistines (Josh. xiii. 2 ; 1 Sam. xxvii. 8). GETHSEM'ANE (seemingly from oil-press'), the name of a small field, or garden, just out of Jerusalem, over the brook Kidron, and at the foot of the Mount of Olives. That which is now pointed out as the garden in which our Lord un- derwent his agony, occupies part of a level space between the brook and the foot of the Mount, and corresponds well enough in situation and distance with all the conditions which the narrative re- quires. It is about fifty paces square, and is enclosed by a wall of no great height, formed of rough loose stones. Eight very ancient olive- trees now occupy this enclosure, some of which are of very large size, and all exhibit symptoms of decay clearly denoting their great age. The garden belongs to one of the monastic establish- ments, and much care has been taken to preserve the old trees from destruction. Dr. Robinson admits the probability that this is the site which Eusebius and Jerome had in view ; and, as no other site is suggested as preferable, we may be content to receive the traditional indication. GE'ZER, formerly a royal city of the Canaan- ites, and situated in what became the western part of the tribe of Ephraim. The Canaanites were not expelled from it at the conquest (Josh. x. 33 ; xvi. 5, 10 ; Judg. i. 29). It was, nevertheless, assigned to the Levites (Josh. xxi. 21). In after times, having been, on some occasion, destroyed by the Egyptians, it was rebuilt by Solomon. GIANTS. These beings of unusual height are found in the early history of all nations, some- times of a purely human origin, but more fre- quently supposed to have partaken also, in some way, of the supernatural and the divine. 1. In Gen. vi. 4, we have the first mention cf giants ' There were giants in the earth in those days ; and also after that, when the sons of God came hi unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown/ In our judgment the bearing of this passage obviously favours the common notion of giants, and that the rathe'r because their origin is traced to some un- explained connection with ' the sons of God,' that is, with beings of high endowments, if not of a superior nature. 2. In Gen. xiv. 5, we meet with a race termed Rephaim, as settled on the other side of the Jor- dan, in Ashteroth-Karnaim, whom Chedorlaomer 2 A 2 o5C GIANTS defeated. Of this race was Og, king of Bashan, who alone remained, in the days of Moses (Deut. iii. 10), of the remnant of the Kephaim. This race gave their name to a valley near Jeru- j sal em. 3. The Anakim. In Num. xiii., the spies sent by Moses before his army to survey the promised land, report among other things ' The people be strong that dwell in the land ; and, moreover, we saw the children of Anak ' (vpr. 28). This in- direct mention of the children of Auak shows that they were a well-known gigantic race. In the 32nd and 33rd verses the statement is enhanced, ' It is a land that eateth up the inhabitants ; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak which came of the giants ; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.' However much of exagge- ration fear may have given to the description, the . passage seems beyond a doubt to show the writer's j belief in a race of giants (Deut. ix. 2). From j Deut. ii. 10 it appears that the size of the Anakim became proverbial, and was used as a standard with which to compare others. In the time of Moses they dwelt in the environs of Hebron (Josh. xi. 22). They consisted of three branches or clans ' Ahiman, Sheshai. and Talmai the chil- dren of Anak' (Num. xiii. 22). They were de- stroyed by Joshua (Josh. xi. 21 ; xiv. 12 ; Judg. L 20). 4. From the remnant of the Anakim left in Gath of the Philistines (Judg. i. 20 ; Josh. xiv. 12) proceeded the famous Goliath (1 Sam. xvii. 4). This giant is said to have been in height six cubits and a spcn. Other giants of the Philis- tines are mentioned in the passage before cited, 2 Sam. xxi. 1C, sq., namely : 1. ' Ishbi-benob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David ; but Abishai, the son of Ze- ruiah, succoured him, and smote the Philistine and killed him.' 2. Saph, which was of the sons of the giant who was slain by Sibbechai. 3. A man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number, and he also was born to the giant ; and when he defied Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimeah, the brother of David, slew him.' These four were sons of the giant in Gath, that is, pro- bably of the Goliath of Gath whom David slew (I Kings xx. 8 ; 2 Sam. xx. 22 ; 1 Sam. xvii. 4). 5. Another race is mentioned in Deut. ii. 10, the Emim, who dwelt in the country of the Moabites. They are described as a people ' great and many, and tall as the Anakims, which were also accounted giants ' (Gen. xiv. 5). 6. The Zamzummim also (Deut xxi. 20), whose home was in the land of Ammon ' that also was accounted a land of giants : giants dwelt therein of old time, and the Ammonites called them Zamzummims, a people great and many, and tall as the Anakiins ; but the Lord destroyed them before them, and they (the Israelites) suc- ceeded them, and dwelt in their stead.' From this enumeration it is clear that the Scriptures tell of giants in the olden time, and of races of giants ; and that, though giants are men- tioned as something singular, and consequently as comparatively rare, they appear to have been, GIBEAH relatively to the numbers of the population, of frequent occurrence. That the primitive races of men greatly sur- passed others in stature is an opinion which finds ample support in ancient authors generally ; and at an early period and under favourable circum- stances, individuals and even tribes may have reached an unusual height and been of extraor- dinary strength. But many things concur to show that the size of the race did not differ ma- terially from what it is at present. This is seen in the remains of human beings found in tombs ; especially among the mummies of Egypt. To tbi same effect is the size of ancient armour, as well as architectural dimensions, and the mea- sures of length which have been received from antiquity. Ancient writers who are free from the influence of fable, are found to give a con- current testimony. That great diversity as to height and size pre- vails in the human family, is well known. What the precise limits may be within which nature has worked in the formation of man, it would be difficult to determine. But the inhabitants of northern latitudes are well known to be below the ordinary standard, many of them scarcely exceeding four feet; while in temperate climates the height of the human race averages from four feet and a half to six feet ; and instances are not wanting of persons who measured eight or nine feet. The possibility of a race of giants cannot well be denied. There is a known tendency in the human frame to perpetuate peculiarities which have been once evolved. Why not extraordinary ' procerity* as well as any other? In fact, the propagation of stature, whether high or low, is a phenomnon which we all see presented daily before our own eyes. Tall parents give birth to tall children. The tallness is found to remain in families; and, doubtless, did not circumstances intervene to reduce th stature by intermarriage with short persons, th-' urusual height would be perpetuated in any given line. The inhabitants of Potsdam, descended to a great extent from the famous regiment of tall grenadiers which Fre- derick of Prussia took so much pains to bring together, are said to be still remarkable for ex- ceeding the average height. The family of Sca- ligers appears to have been unusually tall. GIB'BETHON, a city of the Philistines, which was included in the territories of the tribe of Dan (Josh. xix. 44), and was assigned to the Levites (Josh. xxi. 23). It was still in the hands of the Philistines in the time of Nadab, king of Israel, who besieged it, and was slain under its walls by Baasha, one of his own officers (1 Kings xx. 27 ; xvi. 15). Nothing is known of its site. GIB'EAH. There were several places of this name, which, as before remarked [GEBA], is the feminine form of the word Gibeah, and signifies a hill. Without doubt all the places so named were situated upon hills. 1. GIBEAH OF BENJAMIN is historically the most important of the places bearing this name. It is often mentioned in Scripture. It was the scene of that abominable transaction which in- volved in its consequences almost the entire extirpation of the tribe of Benjamin (Judg. xix. 14, sq.). It was the birth-place of Saul, and continued to be his residence after he became G1BEOJN king (1 Sam. x. 26; xi. 4; xv. 33; xxiii. 19; xxvi. 1); and here was the scene of Jonathan's romantic exploit against the Philistines (1 Sam. xiv.). It was doubtless on account of this its intimate connection with Saul, that the Gibeonites hanged up here his seven descendants (2 Sam. xxi. 6). Jerome speaks of Gibeah as, in his time, level with the ground, and since then it does not appear to have been visited by travellers till recently. Dr. Robinson, who made many valu- able observations in this neighbourhood, detected Gibeah in the small and half-ruined village of Jeba, which lies upon a low, conical, or rather round eminence, on the broad ridge which shelves down towards the Jordan valley, and spreads out below the village in a fine sloping plain. The views of the Dead Sea and the Jordan, and of the Eastern mountains, are here very extensive. Among the ruins some large hewn stones, indica- ting antiquity, are occasionally seen. This place is about five miles north by east from Jeru- salem. 2. GIBEAH in the mountains of Judah (Josh. xv. 57), which, under the name of Gabaatha, Euse- bius and Jerome place twelve Roman miles from Eleutheropolis, and state that the grave of the prophet Habakkuk was there to be seen. Dr. Robinson identifies it with the village of Jebah, which stands upon an isolated hill, in the midst of Wady-el-Musurr, about ten miles south-west of Jerusalem. 3. GIBEAH in Mount Ephraim, called Gibeah of Phineas, where the high-priest Eleazar, son of Aaron, was buried by his son Phineas (Josh. xxiv. 33). Dr. Robinson finds it in a narrow valley called Wady-el-Jib, the Geeb of Mauudrell, lying just midway on the road between Jerusa- lem and Shechem. GIB'EON, a town celebrated in the Old Tes- tament, but not mentioned in the New. It was ' a great city,' as one of the royal cities ; and to its jurisdiction originally belonged Beeroth, Chephirah, and Kirjath-jearim (Josh. ix. 17; x. 2). It is first mentioned in connection with the deception practised by the inhabitants upon Joshua, by which, although Canaanites (Hivites), they induced the Jewish leader not only to make a league with them, and to spare their lives and cities, but also, in their defence, to make war upon the five kings by whom they were besieged. It was in the great battle which followed, that ' the sun stood still upon Gibeon' (Josh. x. 12, 1-14). The place afterwards fell to the lot of Benjamin, and became a Levitical city (Josh, xviii. 25; xxi. 17), where the tabernacle was set up for many years under David and Solomon (1 Chron. xvi. 39 ; xxi. 29 ; 2 Chron. i. 3), the ark being at the same time at Jerusalem (2 Chron. i. 4). It was here, as being the place of the altar, that the young Solomon offered a thousand burnt- offerings, and was rewarded by the vision which left him the wisest of men (I Kings iii. 4-15; 2 Chron. i. 3-13). This was the place where Abner's challenge to Joab brought defeat upon himself, and death upon his brother Ashael (2 Sam. ii. 12-32), and where Amasa was afterwards slain by Joab (2 Sam. xx. 8-12). None of these passage's mark the site of Gibeon ; but there are indications of it in Josephus, who places it fifty stadia north-west from Jerusalem ; and in Jerome : which leave little doubt that Gibeon is to be iden- G1DEON 357 lined with the place which still bears the name of El-Jib. El-Jib is a moderately sized village, seated on the summit of a hill, five miles north by west from Jerusalem. The houses stand very irregu- larly and unevenly, sometimes almost above one another. They seem to be chiefly rooms in old massive ruins, which have fallen down in every direction. One large building still remains, pro- bably a former castle or tower of strength. Towards the east the ridge of the hill sinks a ; little, and here, a few rods from the village, just below the top of the ridge towards the north, is a fine fountain of water. It is in a cave, excavated in and under the high rock, so as to form a large j subterranean reservoir. Not far below it, among ; olive-trees, are the remains of an open reservoir, about one hundred and twenty feet in length by one hundred in breadth. It was doubtless designed to receive the superfluous waters of the cavern, and there can be little question but that this was ' the Pool of Gibeon ' mentioned in 2 Sam. ii. 13 ; and, in the whole, we find the ' Great [or many] waters of Gibeon' of Jer. xli. 12. GIB'LITES, the inhabitants of the city and district of Gebal in Phoenicia, 34 7' N. lat., 35 42' E, long., on the shore of the Mediterranean, uiider Mount Lebanon. ' The land of the Gib- lites,' "With ' all Lebanon,' was assigned to the Israelites by the original appointment (Josh. xiii. 5) ; but it does not seem that they ever possessed themselves of it. The Giblites are denoted by the word rendered ' stone-squarers ' in 1 Kings v. ! 18; from which it would seem that they were j then subject to, or in close connection with Tyre. ' It is doubtful whether this Gebal, or the one in i Edom, is that mentioned in Ps. Ixxxiii. 7. But '' in Ezek. xxvij. 9, the Phoenician Giblites are dis- ' tinctly mentioned as such, and preferably em- [ ployed upon the shipping which formed the glory : and strength of Tyre. Gebal was an important place, and celebrated for the birth and worship of Adonis, the Syrian ' Thammuz. The town still subsists under the i name of Jebail. It is seated on a rising ground near the sea, at the foot of Lebanon, which here approaches close to the coast. It is walled on the three sides towards the land, and open on the west towards the sea, being perhaps about half a mile in circuit. Within the wall, which seems of the age of the Crusades, the chief building is an old castle, which has received modern repairs, and is now used as the abode of the agha or com- mandant. There are three or four open and lofty buildings belonging to the chief people of the place, a mosque with a low minaret, and an old Maronite church of good masonry ; but the houses generally are of poor construction, and nearly half the space within the walls is occupied with the gardens of the inhabitants. The popu- lation is estimated at 2000. GID'EON (destroyer}, surnamed JERUBBAAL or JERUBBESHETH, fifth Judge in Israel, and the first of them whose history is circumstantially narrated. He was the son of Joash, of the tribe of Manasseh, and resided at Ophrah in Gilead beyond the Jordan. The Midianites, in conjunction with the Amar lekites and other nomade tribes, invaded the country every year, at the season of produce, in r,58 GIDEON preat numbers, with their flocks and herds. IThey plundered and trampled down the fields, the vineyards, and the gardens ; they seized the cattle, and plundered man and house, rioting in the country, after the manner which the Bedouin Arabs practise at this day. After Israel had been humbled by seven years of this treatment, the Lord raised up a deliverer in the person of Gideon. He was threshing corn by stealth, for fear of its being taken away by the Midianites, when an angel of God appeared before him, and thus saluted him: 'the Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.' Gideon expressed some doubt whether God was still with a people sub- ject to such affliction, and was answered by the most unexpected commission ' Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midiauites : have not I sent thee ?' Gideon still urged, ' Wherewith shall I save Israel ? Be- hold my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.' The 'Where- with' was answered by 'Surely I will be with thee.' He then demurred no more, but pressed his hospitality upon the heavenly stranger, who, however, ate not of what was set before him, but directing Gideon to lay it out upon the rock as upon an altar, it was consumed by a super- natural fire, and the angel disappeared. Assured by this of his commission, Gideon proceeded at once to cast down the local image and altar of Baal ; and, when the people would have avenged this insult to their false god, their anger was averted through the address of his father, who, by dwelling on the inability of Baal to avenge himself, more than insinuated a doubt of his com- petency to protect his followers. This was a favourite argument among the Hebrews against idolatry. It occurs often in the prophets, and was seldom urged upon idolatrous Israelites with- out some effect upon their consciences. Gideon soon found occasion to act upon his high commission. The allied invaders were en- camped in the great plain of Jezreel or Esdraelon, when he blew the trumpet, and thus gathered round him a daily increasing host, the summons to arms which it implied having been transmitted through the northern tribes by special messengers. The inquietude connected with great enterprises is more sensibly felt some days l>efore than at the moment of action ; and hence the two miraculous signs which, on the two nights preceding the march, were required and given as tokens of vic- tory. The first night a fleece was laid out in the middle of an open threshing-floor, and in the morning it was quite wet, while the soil was dry all around. The next night the wonder was re- versed, the soil being wet and the fleece perfectly dry (Judg. vii.). Encouraged by these divine testimonies, Gideon commenced his march, and advanced to the brook Harod, in the valley of Jezreel. He was here at the head of 32,000 men ; but, lest so large a host should assume the glory of the coming deliver- ance, which of right belonged to God only, two operations, remarkable both in motive and pro- cedure, reduced this large host to a mere handful of men. First, by divine direction, proclamation was made that all the faint-hearted might with- draw ; and no fewer than 22,000 availed them- selves of the indulgence. The remaining 10,000 were still declared too numerous : they were GIDEON therefore all taken down to the brook, when only those who lapped the water from their hands, like active men in haste, were reserved for the enterprise, while all those who lay down leisurely to drink were excluded. The former numbered no more than 300, and these were the appointed vanquishers of the huge host which covered the great plain (Judg. vii. 1-8). The overheard relation of a dream, by which Gideon was encouraged (Judg. vii. 9-14), and the remarkable stratagem, with pitchers and torches, by which he overcame (ver. 15-23), are well known. The routed Midianites fled towards the Jordan, but were pursued with great slaughter, the coun- try being now roused in pursuit of the flying oppressor. The Ephraimites rendered good ser- vice by seizing the lower fords of the Jordan, and cutting off all who attempted escape in that direction, while Gideon himself pursued beyond the river those who escaped by the upper fords. Gideon crossed the Jordan a little below where it leaves the lake of Gennesareth, in pursuit of the Midianitish princes Zeba and Zalmunna. On that side the river, however, his victory was not believed or understood, and the people still trem- bled at the very name of the* Midianites. Hence he could obtain no succour from the places which he passed, and town after town refused to supply even victuals to liis fatigued and hungry, but still stout-hearted troop. He denounced ven- geance upon them, but postponed its execution till his return ; and when he did return, with the two princes as his prisoners, he by no means spared those towns which, like Succoth and Penuel, had added insult to injury (Judg. viiL 4-17). In his days captives of distinction taken in war were almost invariably slain. Zeba and Zal- munna had made up their minds to this fate ; and yet it was Gideon's intention to have spared them, till he learned that they had put to death his own brothers under the same circumstances ; upon which, as the avenger of their blood, he slew the captives with his own hand (Judg. viii. 18-21). Among the fugitives taken by the Ephraimites were two distinguished emirs of Midian, named Oreb and Zeeb, whom they put to death. They took their heads over to Gideon, which amounted to an acknowledgment of his leadership ; but still the always haughty and jealous Ephraimites were greatly annoyed that they had not in the first in- stance been summoned to the field ; and serious consequences might have followed, but for the tact of Gideon in speaking in a lowly spirit of his own doings in comparison with theirs (Judg. vii. 14 ; viii. 1, sq.). Gideon having thus delivered Israel from the most afflictive tyranny to which they had been subject since they quitted Egypt, the grateful people, and particularly the northern tribes, made him an offer of the crown for himself and his sons. But the hero was too well acquainted with his true position, and with the principles of the theo- cratical government, to accept this unguarded offer : ' I will not rule over you,' he said, ' neither shall my son rule over you: JEHOVAH, he shall rule over you.' He would only accept the golden ear-rings which the victors had taken from the ears of their slaughtered foes [EAR-RINGS] ; and a GIHON cloth being spread out to receive them, the admir- ing Israelites threw in, not only the ear-rings, but other ornaments of gold, including the chains of the royal camels, and added the purple robes which the slain monarchs had worn, being the first indication of purple as a royal colour. The ear-rings alone weighed 1700 shekels, equal to 74 pounds 4 ounces, and worth, at the present value if gold, about 3300Z. With this ' Gideon made in ephod, and put it in his city, even in Qphrah ; ind all Israel went thither a whoring after it ; which thing became a snare unto Gideon and to his house.' An ephod, at least that of the high- priest, was an outer garment like a sleeveless tunic, to which was attached the oracular breast- plate> composed of twelve precious stones set in gold, and graven with the names of the twelve tribes. Another plainer description of ephod was worn by the common priests. The object of Gideon in making an ephod with his treasure is not very clear. Some suppose that it was merely designed as a trophy of Israel's deliverance : if so, it was a very strange one. It is more pro- bable that as Gideon had, on his being first called to his high mission, been instructed to build an altar and offer sacrifice at this very place, he con- ceived himself authorized, if not required, to have there a sacerdotal establishment for at least the tribes beyond the river ; where sacrifices might be regularly offered. In this case the worship rend#red there was doubtless in honour of Jeho- vah, but was still, however well intended, highly schismatical and irregular. Even in his lifetime it must have had the effect of withdrawing the attention of the people east of the Jordan from the Tabernacle at Shiloh, and thus so far tended to facilitate the step into actual idolatry, which was taken soon after Gideon's death. The proba- bility of this explanation is strengthened when we recollect the schismatical sacerdotal establish- ments which were formed by Micah on Mount Ephraim, and by the Danites at Laish (Judg. xvii. 5-13; xviii. 29-31). The remainder of Gideon's life was peaceable. He had seventy sons by many wives, and died at an advanced age, after he had 'ruled Israel' (principally the northern tribes and those beyond the river) for forty years: B.C. 1249 to 1209. He is mentioned in the discourse of Samuel (1 Sam. xii. 11), and his name occurs in Heb. xi. 32, among those of the heroes of the faith. 1. GI'HON, a fountain near Jerusalem. The place outside the city to which the young Solo- mon was taken to be anointed king, was called Gihon, but its direction is not indicated (1 Kings i. 33, 38). Subsequently king Hezekiah ' stopped the upper water-course [or upper out-flow of the waters] of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David (2 Chron. xxxii. 30 ; xxxiii. 1 4). This was, perhaps, on occasion of the approach of the Assyrian army under Sennacherib, when, to prevent the besiegers from finding water, great numbers of the people laboured with much diligence in stopping the water of the fountains without the city, and in particular of ' the brook that ran through the midst of the land ' (2 Chron. xxxii. 3, 4). The author of the book of Sirach (xlviii. 17) also states, that 'Hezekiah brought water into the midst of the city ; he dug with iron into the rock, and built fountains for the waters.' The foun- GILEAD 359 tain of Gihon is also mentioned by Josephus. From a comparison of these passages the editor of the Pictorial Bible (on 2 Chron. xxxii.) arrived at the conclusion, since confirmed by Dr. Robin- son, that there existed anciently a fountain of Gihon, on the west side of the city, which was ' stopped ' or covered over by Hezekiah, and its waters brought by subterraneous channels into the city. Before that time it would naturally have flowed down through the valley of Gijioii, and probably formed the brook which was stopped at the same time. ' The fountain may have been stopped, and its waters thus secured very easily by digging deep and erecting over.it one or more vaulted subterranean chambers.' 2. GIHON; the name of one of the rivers of Paradise. [PARADISE.] GIL'BOA, a mountain memorable for the de- feat of Saul by the Philistines, where his three sons were slain, and where he himself died by his own hand (1 Sam. xxviii. 4; xxxi. 1-8 ; 2 Sam. i. 6-21). The circumstances of the narrative would alone suffice to direct our attention to the mountains which bound the great plain of Esdra- elon on the south-east, and are interposed between it and the Jordan valley. Here there are a num- ber of ridges with a general direction from north- west to south-east, separated by valleys running in the same direction. The largest of these valleys is the southernmost : it is a broad deep plain about two miles and a half wide, and leading direct into the Jordan valley. This is supposed to be dis- tinctively (for the plain of Esdraelon is some- times so called) the Valley of Jezreel. The mountains which bound it on the north appear to be those of Little Hermon ; and the higher moun- tains which bound it on the south undoubtedly form Mount Gilboa. There is still, indeed, an inhabited village, in whose name of Jelbon that of Gilboa may be recognised. GIL'EAD. 1. A group of mountains connected with Lebanon by means of Mount Hermon. It begins not far from the latter, and extends south- ward to the sources of the brooks Jabbok and Arnon, thus enclosing the whole eastern part of the land beyond the Jordan (Gen. xxxi..21 ; Cant. iv. 1). According to Michaelis, this mountain, which gave its name to the country so called, must be situated beyond the region sketched in our maps, and somewhere about the Euphrates. 2. (a) The name of a large district beyond the Jordan, continually mentioned in the Scriptures in contradistinction to, or apart from, Bashan (Deut. iii. 13; Josh. xii. 5; xiii. 11 ; xvii. 1 ; 2 Kings x. 33; 1 Chron. v. 16; Mic. vii. 14); though, to judge from its geographical position (as given Num. xxxii. 26 ; Deut. iii. 12), it must have comprised the entire possessions of the two tribes of Gad and Keuben, and even the southern part of Manasseh (Deut. iii. 13 ; Num. xxxii. 40; Josh. xvii. 1-6). The cities Ramoth, Jabosh, and Jazer, are usually designated as lying in Gilead. This region was distinguished for its rich pas- tures (Num. xxxii. 1) and aromatic simples ; from which latter different sorts of balsam were prepared facts confirmed by modern travellers, with the addition that the whole region is covered with groups of limestone mountains, intersected by fertile valleys. (6) The name of the whole eastern part of the 360 GIKDLE Jordan (Deut. xxxiv. 1 ; comp. 2 Kings x. 33 ; Jndg. xx. 1). The name Gilead continued to be used, in a general and geographical sense, even after the exile. 1. GIL/GAL, the place where the Israeli-tes formed their first encampment in Palestine, and which continued for some time to be their head- quarters while engaged in the conquest of the land (Josh, iv. 19, 20; ix. 6 : x. 6, 7, &c.). It was here that they set up the twelve stones which they took out of the bed of the Jordan (iv. 19), which another head will bring under consideration [STONES]. Samuel used to visit Gilgal in his annual circuit as a judge ; and here there was a school of the prophets (1 Sam. vii. 16; 2 Kings iv. 38). There is no notice of the place after the Captivity. Indeed, it does not seem that the name belonged at first to a town, although Gilgal eventually became an inhabited place. It appears to have been early abandoned, and Josephus does not seem to mention it as existing in his time. This writer places it on the east border of Jericho, ten stadia from that city, and fifty from the Jordan. From this it would seem to have been in the vicinity of the present village of the pseudo- Jericho, Riha, which is about the assigned distance from the river. No trace of the name or site can now be discovered. 2. GILGAL, a place in the region of Dor, whose king was subdued by Joshua (Josh. xii. 23). The Gilgal of Neb., xii. 29, and 1 Mace. ix. 2, is probably the same as this ; as well as the ancient Galgala, which Eusebius and Jerome place six Roman miles north of Antipatris. In. this neigh- bourhood there is still a village called Jiljuleh, which probably represents the ancient site. GIRDLE. The original word translated 'girdle' 198. literally means a band or bandage, and from the GLASS places in which it occurs it appears to have been made of fine linen, variously wrought and used to bind as a girdle about the body of persons in autho- rity, especially the Jewish priests (Exod. xxix. 9 ; xxviii. 39; xxxix. 29; Lev. viii. 13; Isa. xxii. 21). These girdles may be considered as fairly represented by those which we observe on such persons in the Egyptian paintings. GIR'GASHITES, one of the families of Canaan, who are supposed to have been settled in that part of the country which lay to the east of the Lake of Gennesareth. The Girgashites are conjectured to have been a part of the large family of the Hivites, as they are omitted in nine out of ten places in which the nations or families of Canaan are mentioned, while in the tenth they are mentioned, and the Hivites omitted. Josephus states that nothing but the name of the Girgashites remained in his time. In the Jewish commentaries of R. Nachman, and elsewhere, the Girgashites are described as having retired into Africa, fearing the power of God ; and Procopius, in his History of the Vandals, mentions an pncient inscription in Mauritania Tingitana, stating that the inhabitants had fled thither from the face of Joshua the son of Nun. The fact of such a migration is not unlikely : but we have very serious doubts respecting the in- scription. GIT'TITES, inhabitants or natives of Gath (Josh. xiii. 3). Obed-edom, although a Levite, is called a Gittite (2 Sam. vi. 10), possibly be- cause he had been with David when at Gath, but much more probably from his being a native of Gath-rimmon, which was a city of the Levites. There seems no reason for extending this inter- B 'elation to Ittai (2 Sam. xv. 19), seeing that avid expressly calls him 'a stranger' (fo- reigner), and, what is more, ' an exile.' He was at the head of 600 men, who were also Gittites, for they are called (ver. 22) his ' brethren.' They appear to have formed a foreign troop of experienced warriors, chiefly from Gath, in the pay and service of David ; which they had per- haps entered in the first instance for the sake of sharing in the booty obtainable in his wars. We can conceive that the presence of such a troop must have been useful to the king in giving to the Hebrew army that organization and disci- pline which it did not possess before his time. GIT'TITH, a word which occurs in the title of Ps. viii., Ixxxi., Ixxxiv. [PSALMS.] GLASS, according to Pliny, was discovered by what is termed accident. Some merchants kindled a fire on that part of the coast of Phoe- nicia which lies near Ptolemais, between the foot of Carmel and Tyre, at a spot where the river Belus casts the fine sand which it brings down ; but, as they were without the usual means of suspending their cooking vessels, they employed for that purpose logs of nitre, their vessel being laden with that substance ; the fire fusing the nitre and the sand produced glass. The Si- doniaus, in whose vicinity the discovery was made, took it up, and having in process of time carried the art to a high degree of excellence, gained thereby both wealth and fame. Other nations became their pupils ; the Romans espe- cially attained to very high skill in the art of fusing, blowing, and colouring glass. Even glass mirrors were invented by the Sidouians. GLASS This account of Pliny is in substance corrobo- rated by Strabo and by Josephus. Yet, notwith- standing this explicit statement, it was long de- nied that the ancients were acquainted with glass properly so called ; nor did the denial en- tirely disappear even when Pompeii offered evidences of its want of foundation. Our know- ledge of Egypt has, however, set the matter at rest showing at the same time how careful men should be in setting up mere abstract reasonings in opposition to the direct testimony of history. Wilkinson, in his Ancient Egyptians (iii. 88, sq.), has adduced the fullest evidence that glass was known to and made by that ingenious people at a very early period of their national existence. Upward of 3500 years ago, in the reign of the first Osirtasen, they appear to have practised the an of blowing glass. The process is represented GNAT 361 199. in the paintings of Beni Hassan, executed in the reign of that monarch. In the same age images of glazed pottery were common. Ornaments of glass were made by them about 1500 years B.C.; for a bead of that date has been found, being of the same specific gravity as that of our crown glass. Many glass bottles, &c. have been met with in the tombs, some of very remote antiquity. Glass vases were used for holding wine as early as the Exodus. Such was the skill of the Egyp- tians in this manufacture, that they successfully counterfeited the amethyst, and other precious stones. It was sometimes used by the Egyptians even for coffins. They also employed it, not only for drinking utensils and ornaments of the person, but for mosaic-work, the figures of deities, and sacred emblems, attaining to exquisite workman- ship, and a surprising brilliancy of colour. The art too of cutting glass was known to them at the most remote periods ; for which purpose, as we learn from Pliny, the diamond was used. That the ancients had mirrors of glass is clear from the above-cited words of Pliny ; but the mirrors found in Egypt are made of mixed metal, chiefly copper. So admirably did the skill of the Egyp- tians succeed in the composition of metals, that their mirrors were susceptible of a polish which has been but partially revived at the present day. The mirror was nearly round, having a handle of wood, stone, or metal. The form varied with the taste of the owner. The same kind of metal mirror was used by the Israelites, who, doubtless, brought it from Egypt. In Exod. xxxviii. 8, it is expressly said that Moses ' made the laver of brass of the looking-glasses (brazen mirrors) of the women.' It would be justifiable to suppose that the He- brews brought glass, and a knowledge how to manufacture it, with them out of Egypt, were not the evidence of history so explicit that it was actually discovered and wrought at their own doors. Whether it was used by them for mirrors is another question. That glass, however, was known to the Hebrews appears beyond a doubt. GLEDE (Deut. xiv. 13) is an obsolete name for the common kite. It is a species that rises to a towering height, hangs apparently motionless in the sky, and darts down with immense velo- city ; but the legs and claws being weak, it is cowardly, and feeds upon carrion, fish, insects, mice, and small birds. About Cairo kites are particularly abundant, mixing with the carrion vultures in their wheeling flight, and coming in numbers to the daily distribution of food awarded them. But the question whether the kite of Eu- rope and that of Egypt are the same species, is not decided, though there is no waut of scientific names for both species found in the valley of the Nile ; one of which is certainly distinct from the European, and the other, if not so, is still a strongly marked variety. The bill of this species 200. [Milvus Ater.] is dark ; head and throat whitish, with brown streaks ; body above dark grey brown, pale fer- ruginous below ; tail but slightly forked ; legs yellow. It is found in hieroglyphic paintings coloured with sufficient accuracy not to be mis- taken. The other species, which we figure above as Milvus ater, is the black kite. It has the head, neck, and back dark rusty grey ; scapulars bordered with rusty ; wing-coverts and primaries black, the last mentioned tipped with white ; tail rusty grey above, white beneath ; bill dark ; legs yellow. The manners of both species are much the same : it is likely that they are equally abun- dant at Cairo, and spread into Palestine [HAWK]. GNAT. Our Saviour's allusion to the gnat is a kind of proverb, either in use in his time, or invented by himself, ' Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow down [bolt, as we say] a camel.' He adopts the antithesis of the smallest insect to the largest animal, and applies it to those who are superstitiously anxious in avoiding small faults, yet do not scruple to commit the 362 GOAT greatest sins. The typographical error, ' strain at a gnat,' first found its way into King James's translation, 1611. It is 'strain out' in the pre- vious translations. The custom of filtering wine, among the Jews, for this purpose, was founded on the prohibition of ' all flying, creeping things ' being used for food, excepting the saltatorii (Lev. xi. 23). According to the Talmud, eating a gnat incurred scourging or excommunication. GOAT. The races of this animal either known to or kept by the Hebrew people were 201. [Syrian Goat.] probably 1. The domestic Syrian long-eared breed, with horns rather small and variously bent; the ears longer than the head, and pen- dulous ; hair long, often black ; 2. The Angora, or rather Anadoli breed of Asia Minor, with long hair, more or less fine ; 3. The Egyptian breed, with small spiral horns, long brown hair, very long ears ; 4. A breed from Upper Egypt with- out horns, having the nasal bones singularly elevated, the nose contracted, with the lower jaw protruding the incisors, and the female with udder very low and purse-shaped. This race, the most degraded by climate and treatment of all the domestic varieties, is clad in long coarse hair, commonly of a rufous brown colour, and so early distinct, that the earlier monuments of Egypt represent it with obvious precision. The natural history of the domestic goat re- quires no illustration in this place, and its eco- nomic uses demand only a few words. Not- withstanding the offensive lasciviousness which causes it to be significautly separated from sheep, the goat was employed by the people of Israel in many respects as their representative. It was a pure animal for sacrifice (Exod. xii. 5), and a kid might be substituted as equivalent to a lamb : it formed a principal part of the Hebrew flocks ; and both the milk and the young kids were daily articles of food. Among the poorer and more sober shepherd families, the slaughter of a kid was a token of hospitality to strangers, or of un- usual festivity ; and the prohibition, thrice re- peated in the Mosaic law, ' not to seethe a kid in its mother's milk* (Exod. xxiii. 19; xxxiv. 26; and Deut. xiv. 21), may have originated partly in a desire to recommend abstemiousness, which the legislators and moralists of the East have since invariably enforced with success, and partly with a view to discountenance a practice which was connected with idolatrous festivals, and the rites they involved. It is from goatskins that the leathern bottles to contain wine and other liquids are made in the Levant For this pur- pose, after the head and feet are cut away, the GOAT, SCAPE case or hide is drawn off the carcass over the neck, without opening the belly ; and the ex- tremities being secured, it is dried with the hair in or outside, according to the use it is intended for. The old worn-out skins are liable to burst : hence the obvious propriety of putting new wine into new bottles (Matt. ix. 17). Harmer appears to have rightly referred the allusion in Amos iii 12, to the long-eared race of goats: 'As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of ear, so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria and Damascus.' Beside the domestic goats, Western Asia is possessed of one or more wild species all large and vigorous mountain animals, resembling the ibex or bouquetin of the Alps. Of these, Southern Syria, Arabia, Sinai, and the borders of the Red Sea, contain at least one species, known to the Arabs by the name of Beden or Beddan, and Taytal. We take this animal to be that noticed in 1 Sam. xxiv. 2 ; Job xxxix. 1 ; Ps. civ. 1 8 ; Prov. v. 19. The male is considerably taller and more robust than the larger he-goats, the horns forming regular curves backwards, and with from 15 to 24 transverse elevated cross ridges, being sometimes near three feet long, and exceedingly ponderous : there is a beard under the chin, and the fur is dark brown ; but the limbs are white, with regular black marks down the front of the legs, with rings of the same colour above the knees and on the pasterns. The females are smaller than the males, more slen- derly made, brighter rufous, and with the white 202. [Wild Goat of Sinai.] and black markings on the legs not so distinctly visible. This species live in troops of 15 or 20, and plunge down precipices with the same fear- less impetuosity which distinguishes the ibex. Their horns are sold by the Arabs for knife- handles, &c. ; but the animals themselves are fast diminishing in number. GOAT, SCAPE, The particulars respecting the two goats, one of which was to be offered in sacrifice and the other suffered to escape, are contained in Lev. xvi. 7-10. The two goats were to be brought to the door of the tabernacle and the high-priest was to cast lots upon them, ' one lot for the Lord, and the other/or the scape- goat,' or rather ' for Azazel.' The goat on which the lot of the Lord fell was to be brought and offered up for a sin-offering, but the goat on which the lot of Azazel fell was to be presentee alive before the Lord, to make an atonement GOD with him, to let him go for a scape-goat (or ' for Azazel') into the wilderness. Of the former the blood was to be carried within the veil to be sprinkled upon the mercy-seat, and before the mercy-seat, in order that atonement might be made for the holy place because of the unclean- ness of the children of Israel. When, on the other hand, the live goat was brought, the high- priest was to fay both his hands upon his head to confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel ; after which he was to send it by the hand of ' a fit man ' that it might bear upon it all their iniquities into a land not inhabited. The only difficulty here, and that is a great one, is with respect to the meaning of the word Azazel, which our translators, in common with a large class of modern commentators, regard as applied to the goat itself, and render it by ' scape- goat.' Others produce reasons, not easily an- swered, for showing that the word must be taken as a proper name. Then arises the question, What is the name ? Several of the Rabbinical writers regard it as the name of the place to which the scape-goat was conducted; but this notion has obtained little attention among Bib- lical scholars. Others, taking a hint from the Septuagint, which translates the difficult phrase by ' one lot for the Apopompeus,' or ' the sender away,' or ' the averter,' hold it to denote one of that class of demons or deities called by the Latins Dii Averrunci, or ' the deities who send away or avert evil from their votaries ;' in which case the word would denote here a demon dwell- ing in the wilderness, and placated by victims. It is hard to suppose that a solemn ceremony was framed so as to give some sanction to the notion supposed to be involved in this statement. A step further, however, brings it more within the range of our recognition this is, that Azazel is but a name for Satan, as was the opinion of most of the Jewish writers and of the early Christian church ; and that the meaning of the ceremony is, that while the remission of sin is effected by the sacrificed goat (for without shedding of blood there was BO remission, Heb. ix. 22), the other was laden with the sins already, through the other goat, pardoned, by way of symbolically notifying the fact to Satan, and of triumphing in his discomfiture. That, in any case, the liberated goat is understood to bear away the burden of pardoned sin, so that it shall be seen no more, and stands in the place which the victim goat would have occupied could it have been brought to life again after having been offered, seems to be shown by the somewhat parallel case of the two figures used in the purification of the leprous person (Lev. i. 4), one of which is slain, and the other dipped in its blood, and then suffered to fly away. There is another more common explana- tion, which, if correct, forms a very beautiful in- terpretation of the typical rite. This view recog- nises the substantial typical identity of the two goats, and in the victim goat sees Christ dying for our sins, and in the liberated goat views him as rising again for our justification. But it must be admitted that the whole subject forms one of the greatest difficulties of Scripture. GOD. The two principal Hebrew names of tlie Supreme Being used in the Scriptures are Jehovah and Elohim. Dr. Havernick proposes the reading Jahveh instead of Jehovah, meaning GOD 363 ' the Existing One.' Both names, he admirably proves, are used by Moses discriminately, in strict conformity with the theological idea he wished to i express in the immediate context; and, pursuing the Pentateuch nearly line by line, it is astonish- > ing to see that Moses never uses any of the names i at mere random or arbitrarily, but is throughout ' consistent in the application of the respective terms. Elohim is the abstract expression for ab- solute Deity apart from the special notions of unity, holiness, substance, &c. It is more a phi- ! losophical than devotional term, and corresponds with our term Deity, in the same way as state or government is abstractedly expressive of a king or monarch. Jehovah, however, he considers to be the revealed Elohim, the Manifest, Only, Per- sonal, and Holy Elohim : Elohim is the Creator, Jehovah the Redeemer, &c. To Elohim, in the later writers, we usually find affixed the adjective ' the living' (Jer. x. 11); Dan. vi. 20, 26 ; Acts xiv. 15 ; 2 Cor. vi. 16), pro- bably in contradistinction to idols, which might be confounded in some cases with the true God. The attributes ascribed to God by Moses are systematically enumerated in Exod. xxxiv. C, 7, though we find in isolated passages in the Penta- teuch and elsewhere, additional properties speci- fied, which bear more directly upon the dogmas and principles of religion, such as e. g. that he is not the author of sin (Gen. i. 31), although since the fall, man is born prone to sin (Gen. vi. 5 ; viii. 21, &c.). But as it was the avowed design of Moses to teach the Jews the Unity of God in opposition to the polytheism of the other nations with whom they were to come in contact, he dwelt particularly and most prominently on that point, which he hardly ever omitted when he had an opportunity of bringing forward the attributes of God (Deut. vi. 4 ;. x. 17 ; iv. 39 ; ix:. 16, &c.; Num. xvi. xxii. ; xxxiii. 19, &c. ' r Exod. xv. 11 ; xxxiv. 6, 7, &c.). In the Prophets and other sacred writers of the Old Testament, these attributes are still more fully developed and explained by the declara- tions that God is the first and the last (Isa. xliv. 6), that He changes not (Hab. iii. 6), that the earth and heaven shall perish, but He shall endure (Ps. cii. 26) a distinct allusion to the last doomsday and that He is Omnipresent (Prov. xv. 3 ; Job xxxiv. 22, &c.). In the New Testament also we find the attri- butes of God systematically classified (Rev. v. 12, and vii. 12), while the peculiar tenets of Chris- tianity embrace, if not a farther, still a more developed idea, as presented by the Apostles and the primitive teachers of the church. ' The expression c to see God' (Job xix. 26; xlii. 5; Isa. xxxviii. 11) sometimes signifies merely to experience his help ; but in the Old Testament Scriptures it more usually denotes the approach of death (Gen. xxxii. 30 ; Judg. vi. 23 ; xiii. 22 ; Isa. vi. 5). The term ' son of God ' applies to kings (Ps. ii. 7 ; Ixxxii. 6, 27). The usual notion of the ancients, that the royal dignity was derived from God, may here be traced to its source. This notion, entertained by the Oriental nations with regard to kings, made the latter style themselves gods (Ps. Ixxxii. 6). ' Sons of God,' in the plural, implies inferior gods, angels (Gen. vi. 2 ; Job i. 6) ; as also faith- 364 GOLGOTHA fal adherents, worshippers of God (Deut xiv, 1 ; Ps. Ixxiii. 1 5 ; Prov. xiv. 26). ' Man of God' is sometimes applied to an angel (Judg. xiii. 6, 8) ; as also to a prophet (1 Sam. ii. 27 ; ix. C ; 1 Kings xiii. 1). GOG occurs Ezek. xxxviii. 3, 14, and xxxix. 11, as a proper name that of a prince of Magog, a people that were to come from the North to invade the land of Israel, and be there defeated. In a different sense, but corresponding with the assertions of other Oriental authors, in whose tra- ditions this people occupy an important place, Gog occurs in llev. xx. 8, as the name of a country. Interpreters have given very different explana- tions of the terms Gog and Magog; but they have generally understood them as symbolical expressions for the heathen nations of Asia, or more particularly for the Scythians, a vague knowledge of whom seems to have reached the Jews in Palestine about that period. As a col- lective name, Magog seems also to indicate in the Hebrew the tribes about the Caucasian moun- tains. According to Reinegge, some of the Cau- casian people call their mountains Gog, and the highest northern points Magog. GO'LAN or GAUIJON, a Levitical towu of Bashan, in the tribe of Manasseh (Deut. iv. 43 ; Josh. xx. 8; xxi. 27; 1 Chron. vi. 71), from which the small province of Gaulonitis took its name. The word is recognised in the present Jolan or Djolan, mentioned by Burckhardt as giving name to a district lying east of the lake of Tiberias, and composed of the ancient Gaulonitis, with part of Bashan and Argob. GOLD was known and valued in very early times. Abraham was rich in gold (Gen. xiii. 2 ; xxiv. 35) ; and female ornaments were made of gold (Gen. xxiv. 22). To judge from 1 Chron. xxii. 14; xxix. 4, the Jews must have been, in their prosperous days, in possession of enormous quantities of this metal, considering the many tons of gold that were spent in the building of the temple alone, though the expression, plenteous as stones (2 Chron. i. 15), may be considered as hyperbolical. It is, how- ever, confirmed by the history of the other Asiatic nations, and more especially of the Persians, that the period referred to really abounded in gold, which was imported in vast masses from Africa and the Indies. The queen of Sheba brought with her (from Arabia Felix), among other pre- sents, 1 20 talents of gold (2 Chron. ix. 9). GOL'GOTHA. The original word signifies ' a skull,' as does its Latin representative, Cal- varia, Calvary. Different opinions have pre- vailed as to why the place was so termed. Many have held that Golgotha was the place of public execution, the Tyburn of Jerusalem; and that hence it was termed the * place of a skull.' An- other opinion is that the place took its name from its shape, being a hillock of a form like a human skull. The last is the opinion to which the writer of these remarks inclines. That the place was of some such shape seems to be generally agreed, and the traditional term mount, applied to Cal- vary, appears to confirm this idea. And such a shape, it must be allowed, is in entire agreement with the name that is, ' skull.' To these con- siderations there are added certain difficulties which arise from the second explanation. So far as we know there is no historical evidence to GOLGOTHA show that there was a place of public execution where Golgotha is commonly fixed, nor that any such place, in or near Jerusalem, bore the name Golgotha. In truth, the context seems to show that the Roman guard hurried Jesus away and put him to death at the first convenient spot ; and that the rather because there was no small fear of a popular insurrection, especially as he was attended by a crowd of people. But where was the place ? Not far, we may suppose from what has been said, from the judgment-hall, which was doubtless near the spot (Fort Antonia) where the Roman forces in Jerusalem were concen- trated. From our plan of Jerusalem it will be seen that Fort Antonia lay on the north-west angle of the temple. Was it likely, then, that in the highly excited state of the public mind the soldiers should take Jesus southward, that is, through the whole breadth of the city ? Some- where in the north, it is clear, they would exe- cute him, as thus they would most easily effect their object. But if they chose the north, then the road to Joppa or Damascus would be most convenient ; and no spot in the vicinity would probably be so suitable as the slight rounded ele- vation which bore the name of Calvary. That some hillock would be preferred, it is easy to see, as thus the exposure of the criminal and the alleged cause of his crucifixion would be most effectually secured. But the particulars detailed by the sacred historians show that our Lord was not crucified on the spot, or very near the spot, where he was condemned, but was conducted some distance through the city. If so, this, as appears from our plan, must have beeu towards the west. Two points seem thus determined : the crucifixion was at the north-west of the city. The account, as given in the Evangelists, touching the place of the crucifixion and burial of our Lord, is as follows: Having been deli- vered by Pilate to be crucified, Jesus was led away, followed by a great company of people and women, who bewailed his fate. On the way the soldiers met one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of tie country, who is compelled to bear Jesus' cross. When they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him. This place was nigh to the city ; and, sitting down, they watched him there. They that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads and scoffing. Likewise also the chief priests mocked him, with the scribes and elders ; and the people stood be- holding. The soldiers too mocked him. There stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, and Mary Magdalene. And all his acquaintance and the women that followed him from Galilee stood afar off, beholding these things. In the place where he teas crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulchre, hewn out in the rock ; there laid they Jesus, and rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews adds, that Jesus suffered without the gate, subjoining, ' let us, therefore, go forth to him without the camp (or the city) bearing his reproach ' (Heb. xiii. 12, 13; Matt, xxvii. ; Mark xv. ; Luke xxiii.; John xix.). We thus learn, as a positive fact, that the cru- cifixion and burial took place out of the city, and yet nigh to the city ; and the statement of the writer to the Hebrews is confirmed by the inci- GOLGOTHA dental remark (Mark xv. 21), that the soldiers seized Simon, as he was ' coming out of the country.' It now appears, then, that Calvary lay at the north-west, and at the outside, of the city. The reader, on perusing the abstract just given of the evangelical narrators, combined with previous remarks, will find reason to think that Calvary was only just on the outer side of the second wall. It is also clear that the place was one around Avhich many persons could assemble, near which wayfarers were passing, and the sufferers in which could be seen or addressed by persons who were both near and remote : all which concurs in show- ing that the spot was one of some elevation, and equally proves that ' this thing was not done in a corner,' but at a place and under circumstances likely to make Calvary well known and well re- membered alike by the foes and the friends of our Lord. Other events which took place imme- diately after, in connection with the resurrection, would aid (if aid were needed) in fixing the re- collection of the spot deep and ineffaceably in the minds of the primitive disciples. Was it likely that this recollection would perish ? Surely of all spots Calvary would be- come the most sacred, the most endearing, in the primitive church. The spot where Jesus was crucified, died, was buried, and rose again, must have been bound to the heart of every disciple in the strongest and most grateful bonds. Perhaps no one spot on earth had ever so many to remem- ber it and know its precise locality, as the place where Jesus died and rose again. First in Jeru- salem, and soon in all parts of the earth, were there hearts that held the recollection among their most valued treasures. The traditionary recollection of this remark- able spot must have been greatly strengthened by the erection of the Temple of Venus on the place, after the capture of Jerusalem by the Romans. The temple thus takes up the tradition and transmits it in stone and marble to coming ages. This continuation of the tradition is the more important, because it begins to operate at a time when the Christians were driven from Jerusalem. But the absence of the Christians from the holy city was not of long duration, and even early in the third century we find pilgrimages from distant places to the Holy Land had already begun, for the express purpose of viewing the spots which the presence and sufferings of the Saviour had rendered sacred and memorable. A century later, Eusebius (A.D. 315) informs us that Christians visited Jerusalem from all regions of the earth for the same object. So early and so decided a current towards the holy city presupposes a strong, wide-spread, and long pre-eminent feeling an established tradition in the church touching the most remarkable spots ; a tradition of that nature which readily links itself with the actual record in Hebrews. Early in the fourth century Eusebius and Je- rome write down the tradition and fix the loca- lity of Calvary in their writings. Pilgrims now streamed to Jerusalem from all parts of the world, and that site was fixed for Golgotha which has remained to the present hour. This was done not merely by the testimony of these two learned fathers, but by the acts of the Emperor Constan- tine and his mother Helena. This empress, when very far advanced in life, visited Jerusalem for GOLGOTHA 365 the express purpose of erecting a church on the spot where the Lord Jesus had been crucified. 'On her arrival at Jerusalem she inquired dili- gently of the inhabitants. Yet the search was uncertain and difficult, in consequence of the ob- structions by which the heathen had sought to render the spot unknown. These being all re- moved, the sacred sepulchre was discovered, and by its side three cresses, with the tablet bearing the inscription written by Pilate.' On the site thus ascertained was erected, whether by Con- stantine or Helena, certainly by Roman influence and treasure, a splendid and extensive Christian temple. This church was completed and dedi- cated A.D. 335. It was a great occasion for the Christian world. In order to give it importance and add to its splendour, a council of bishops was convened, by order of the emperor, from all the provinces of the empire, which assembled first at Tyre, and then at Jerusalem. The church of the holy sepulchre was burnt by the Persians in A.D. 614. It was shortly after rebuilt by Modestus with resources supplied by John Eleemor, patriarch of Alexandria. The Basilica or Martyrion erected under Constantino remained as before. The Mo- hammedans next became masters of Jerusalem. At length Harun er Rashid made over to Charle- magne the jurisdiction of the holy sepulchre. Palestine again became the scene of battles and bloodshed. Muez, of the race of the Fatimites, transferred the seat of his empire to Cairo, when Jerusalem fell into the hands of new masters, and the holy sepulchre is said to have been again set on fire. It was fully destroyed at the command of the third of the Fatimite kalifs in Egypt, the building being razed to the foundations. In the reign of his successor it was rebuilt, being com- pleted A.D. 1048 ; but instead of the former magni- ficent Basilica over the place of Golgotha, a small chapel only now graced the spot. The crusades soon began. The crusaders regarded the edifices connected with the sepulchre as too contracted, and erected a stately temple, the walls and general form of which are admitted to remain to the pre- sent day. So recently, however, as A.D. 1808 the church of the holy sepulchre was partly consumed by fire ; but being rebuilt by the Greeks, it now offers no traces of its recent desolation. We have thus traced down to the present day the history, traditional and recorded, of the buildings erected on Golgotha, and connected these edifices with the original events by which they are ren- dered memorable. To affirm that the evidence is irresistible may be going too far ; but few anti- quarian questions rest on an equally solid basis, and few points of history would remain settled were they subject to the same sceptical, not to say unfair, scrutiny which Robinson has here applied. The sole evidence of any weight in the opposite balance is that urged by Robinson, that the place of the crucifixion and the sepulchre are now found in the midst of the modern city. But to render this argument decisive it should be proved that the city occupies now the same ground that it occupied in the days of Christ. It is, at least, as likely that the city should have undergone changes as that the site of the crucifixion should have been mistaken. The identity of such a spot is more likely to be preserved than the site and relative proportions of a city which has undergone more violent changes than probably any other 3G6 GOPHEIi WOOD place on earth. The present walls of Jerusalem were erected so late as AJD. 1542 ; and Robinson himself remarks, en passtmt, that a part of Zion is now left out (p. 67). If. then, the city has been contracted on the south, and if, also, it was after the death of Christ expanded on the UTth, w'nat should we expect but to find Golgotha in the midst of the modern city ? Two or three additional facts in confirmation of the identity of the present place may, finally, be adduced. Buckingham says, ' the present rock called Calvary, and enclosed within the church of the holy sepulchre, bears marks in every part that is naked, of its having been a round nodule of rock standing above the common level of the surface.' Scholz states that he traced the remains of a wall, which ran as the second wall on the plan runs, excluding Golgotha and taking in the pool of Hezekiah. At most, a very few hundred yards only can the original Golgotha have lain from the present site ; and the evidence in favour of its identity, if not decisive, is far stronger than any that has been adduced against it. GO'MER. 1. The eldest son of Japhet, son of Noah, whose descendants Bochart supposes to have settled in Phrygia (Gen. x. 3 ; comp. 1 Chron. i. 5). Most of the interpreters take him to be the ancestor of the Celtse, and more especially of the Cimmerii, who were already known in the time of Homer. To judge from the ancient historians, they had in early times settled to the north of the Black Sea, and gave their name to the Crimea, the ancient Chersonesus Taurica. But the greater part of them were driven from their territories by the Scythians, when they took refuge in Asia Minor, B.C. 7. In the Scriptures, however, the people named Corner imply rather an obscure and but vaguely known nation of the barbarous north. Josephus says expressly, that the ancestor of the Galatians, a Celtic colony, was called Corner. 2." The name of the daughter of Diblaim, wife of the prophet Hosea (Hosea i. 3). GOMORR'AH, one of ' the cities of the plain,' destroyed along with Sodom. An account of that i catastrophe is given under SODOM. GOPHER WOOD is mentioned only once in Scripture, as the material of which Noah was directed to build the ark (Gen. vi. 14), 'Make thee an ark of gopher wood ; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch' (probably 'bitumen'). In endeavouring to ascertain the particular kind of wood which is mentioned in the above passage, we can get assistance only from the name, the country where the wood was supposed to have been procured, or the traditional opinions respect- ing it. That nothing very satisfactory has been ascertained is evident from the various inter- pretations that have been given of this word, so that some have preferred, as in our Authorized Version, to retain the original Hebrew. The greatest number of writers have been of opinion that by the gopher wood we are to understand the cypress. Besides an argument attempted to be drawn from the similarity of the name, it is argued that the wood of the cypress, being almost incorruptible, was likely to be preferred ; that it was frequently employed in later ages in the construction of temples, bridges, and even ships ; and that it was very abundant in the countries GOSHEN where, according to these authors, the ark is sup- posed to have been built, that is, in Assyria, where other woods are scarce. But wherever the ark was built, there would be no deficiency of timber if there was a certain degree of moisture with warmth of climate ; and we know not what change of climate may have taken place at the Deluge. The pine tribe, including the cypress, appears as likely as any other to have been em- ployed, usually growing as they do in extensive forests, and yielding straight and easily worked timber, calculated, from its resinous nature, effectually to resist moisture, especially if covered with pitch and tar, which might easily have been prepared from the refuse branches and timber, and used as well as the natural bitumen. But the whole of these suggestions amount only to con- jectures, and there seems no possibility of arriving at a satisfactory conclusion. GO'SHEN, a province or district of Egypt in which Jacob and his family settled through the instrumentality of his son Joseph, and in which they and their descendants remained for a period of 430 years (Gen. xlv. 10 ; xlvi. 28 ; xlvii. -27 ; 1. 8 ; Exod. viii. 22 ; ix. 26). The Bible does not present any definite information as to the precise locality of Goshen, and of course later authorities possess only an inferior value. There are, however, incidental expressions, allusions, aud implications in the Scriptures, which afford aid in determining the spot. That Goshen lay on the eastern side of the Nile may be justifiably inferred from the fact that Jacob is not reported to have crossed that river; nor does it appear that the Israelites did so in their flight out of Egypt "With this inference all the language employed (see the passages as given above), to say the least, agrees, if it does not afford an in- direct evidence in its favour. By comparing Exod. xiii. 17 and 1 Chron. vii. 21, it appears that Goshen bordered on Arabia as well as Palestine, and the passage of the Israelites out of Egypt shows that the land was not far removed from the Red Sea. It appears probable that we may fix the locality of Goshen in Lower Egypt, on the east side of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, in the district around Heroopolis. This district was suitable for a nomadic people, who would have been misplaced in the narrow limits of the valley of the Nile. Children of the desert, or at least used as they were to wander freely from one fertile plain to another with their flocks and herds, the sons of Jacob required a spot where the advantages of an advanced civi- lization could be united with unrestricted free- dom, and abundance be secured without the for- feiture of early and cherished habits. The several opinions entertained on this point substantially agree in referring Goshen to the country inter- vening between the desert of Arabia and Pales- tine on the one side, and the Pelusiac arm of the Nile on the other, with the Mediterranean at the base. The district assigned to Jacob and his family was chosen for its superiority (Gen. xlvii. 6), ' In the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell, in the land of Goshen let them dwell ;' and the subsequent increase of the Israel- ites themselves, as well as the multiplication of their cattle, shows that the territory was one of extraordinary fertility. Time and circumstances have doubtless had their effect on the fertility of GOSPEL a country in which the desert is ever ready to make encroachments as soon as the repelling hand of man is relaxed or withdrawn. But La- borde represents the vicinity of Heliopolis as still covered with palm-trees, and as having an enclosure, comprehending a considerable space of ground, which is covered every year by the inundation of the Nile to the height of five feet. We are not, however, to expect evidences of luxuriant fertility. The country was chosen for its pre-eminent fitness for shepherds. If a no- madic tribe had wide space and good pasture- grounds, they would have ' the best (for them- selves) of the land,' and these advantages the district in which we hare placed Goshen abund- antly supplied in ancient times, when the waters of the Nile were more liberally dispensed than at present to the eastern side of the country. No- thing is needed but water to make the desert fertile. ' The water of the Nile soaks through the earth for some distance under the sandy tract (the neighbourhood of Heliopolis), and is every- where found on digging wells eighteen or twenty feet deep. Such wells are very frequent in parts which the inundation does not reach. The water is raised from them by wheels turned by oxen and applied to the irrigation of the fields. When- ever this takes place the desert is turned into a fruitful field. In passing to Heliopolis we saw several such fields in the different stages of being reclaimed from the desert; some just laid out, others already fertile. In returning by another way more eastward, we passed a succession of beautiful plantations wholly dependent on this mode of irrigation ' (Robinson's Palestine, vol. i. p. 36). GOSPEL. The Greek word, which literally signifies glad tidings, is translated in the English Version by the word Gospel, viz., God's spell, or the Word of God. The central point of Christian preaching was the joyful intelligence that the Saviour had come into the world (Matt. iv. 23 ; Rom. x. 15) ; and the first Christian preachers, who characterized their account of the person and mission of Christ by the term Gospel. This name was also prefixed to the written accounts of Christ. We possess four such accounts ; the first by Matthew, announcing the Redeemer as the promised King of the Kingdom of God ; the second by Mark, declaring him ' a Prophet mighty in deed and word ' (Luke xxiv. 19) ; the third by Luke, of whom it might be said that he represented Christ in the special character of the Saviour of sinners (Luke rii. 36, sq. ; xv. 18-9, sq.) ; the fourth by John, who represents Christ as the son of God, in whom deity and humanity became one. The ancient church gave to Matthew the symbol of the lion, to Mark that of man, to Luke that of the ox, and to John that of the eagle ; these were the four faces of the cherubim. The cloud in which the Lord revealed himself was borne by the cherubim, and the four Evange- lists were also the bearers of that glory of God which appeared in the form of man. Concerning the order which they occupy in the Scriptures, the oldest Latin and Gothic Versions place Matthew and John first, and after them Mark and Luke, while the other MSS. and the old versions follow the order given to them in our Bibles. As dogmatical reasons render a different order more natural, there is much in favour of GOSPEL 367 the opinion that their usual position arose from regard to the chronological dates of the respective composition of the four gospels : this is the opinion of Origen, Irenteus, and Eusebius. All ancient testimonies agree that Matthew was the earliest, and John the latest Evangelist. The relation of the Gospel of John to the other three Gospels, and the relation of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke to each other, j very remarkable. With the exception of the history of the Baptist, and that of Christ's passion and resurrection, we find in John not only narratives of quite different events, but also different state- ments even in the above sections. On the other hand, the first three Evangelists not only toler- ably harmonize in the substance and order of the events they relate, but correspond even sentence by sentence in their separate narratives (comp. ex. gr. Mark i. 21-28 with Luke iv. 31-37 ; Matt. viii. 31-34; Mark vi. 34 j v. 17; Luke viii. 3-J- 37, etc.). The thought that first suggests itself on considering this surprising harmony is, that they all had mutually drawn their information from one another. Some critics are of opinion that Matthew was the oldest source, and that Mark drew his information both from Matthew and Luke ; again, according to others. Luke was the oldest, and Matthew made use of Luke and Mark; while most critics in Germany have adopted the view that Matthew was the oldest, and was made use of by Luke, and that Mark derived his information both from Matthew and Luke. Some of the most modern critics are, on the other hand, of opinion that Mark was the original evangelist, and that Matthew and Luke derived their information from him. The differ- ence of these opinions leads to the suspicion that none of them are right, more especially when we consider that, notwithstanding the partial har- mony of the three evangelists in the choice of their sentences, there is still a surprising differ- ence in them as regards the words of those sen- tences ; a fact which compelled the critics who suppose that the evangelists made use of each other's writings, to account everywhere for such deviations, and frequently to have recourse to the most trivial and pedantic arguments. To us these differences in word and phrase would appear inconceivable were we disposed to assume that the evangelists had copied one another. As the three Evangelists mutually supply and explain each other, they were early joined to each other, by Tatian, about A.D. 170, and by Ammonius, about A.D. 230,* and the discrepancies among them early led to attempts to reconcile them.-)- And with this view various elaborate treatises have been composed, both in ancient and modern times. But when we consider that one and the same writer, namely, Luke, relates the conversion of Paul (Acts ix. 22, 26), with different incidental circumstances, after three various documents, though it would have been very easy for him to have annulled the discre- pancies, we cannot help being convinced that the Evangelists attached but little weight to minute preciseness in the incidents, since, indeed, the historical truth of a narration consists less in them, in the relation of minute details, than in * Such putting together is called synopsis. f Harmonies. !J,i GOURD the correct conception of the character and spirit of the event. GOURD. The word thus rendered (kikayoii) occurs only in Jonah iv., where it is several times mentioned, as in ver. 6, 7, 9, 10. In the margin of the English Bible, Palm- Christ is given. In the Vulgate it is translated ' ivy.' Neither the gourd nor ivy is considered by modern writers to indicate the plant intended ; which is remark- able for having given rise to some fierce contro- versies in the early ages of the Church. The i difficulties here, however, do not appear to be so ' great as in many other 4 instances. But before considering these, it is desirable to ascertain what i are the characteristics of the plant as required by the text. We are told, ' The Lord God prepared a gourd (kikayoii), and made it to come over i Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head ' i (ver. 6). ' But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered' (ver. 7). And in ver. 10 it is said of the gourd that it ' came up in a night, and perished in a night.' Hence it appears that the growth of the kikayon was miraculous, but that I it was probably a' plant of the country, being named specifically ; also that it was capable of : affording shade, and might be easily destroyed. There does not appear anything in this account to warrant us in considering it to be the ivy, which is a plant of slow growth, cannot support itself, i and is, moreover, not likely to be found in the hot and arid country of ancient Nineveh, though we have ourselves found it in more southern lati- tudes, but only in the temperate climate of the Himalayan Mountains. ' The Christians and Jews of Mosul (Nineveh) say it was not the keroa whose shadow refreshed Jonah, but a sort of gourd, el-kera, which has very large leaves, very large fruit, and lasts but about four months' 203. [Ricinus communis.] (Niebuhr, Arabia, as quoted by Dr. Harris). So Volney : ' Whoever has travelled to C-iro or GOZAN Rosetta knows that the species of gourd called kerra will, in twenty-four hours, send out shoots near four inches long' (Trav. i. 71). The Hebrew name kikayon is so similar to the kiki of Dioscorides, that it was early thought to indicate the same plant. The kiki or croton cor- responds with the castor-oil plant, of which the seeds have some resemblance to the insect com- monly called tick in English, and which is found on dogs and other animals. It has also been called Penta-dactylus and Palma Christi, from the pal- mate division of its leaves. It was known at much earlier times, as Hippocrates employed it in me- dicine ; and Herodotus mentions, when speaking of Egypt : ' The inhabitants of the marshy grounds make use of an oil which they term kihi, expressed from the Sillicyprian plant.' That it has been known there from the earliest times is evident from Cailliaud having found castor-oil seeds in some very ancient sarcophagi. This oil was not only employed by the Greeks, but also by the Jews, being the kik-oil of the Talmudists, pre- pared from the seeds of the ricinus. Lady Calcott states that the modern Jews of London use this oil, by the name of oil of kik, for their Sabbath lamps, it being one of the five kinds of oil which their traditions allow them to employ. Having ascertained that the kiki of the Greeks is what is now called Ricinus cammimis, or castor- oil plant, we shall find that its characters corre- spond with every thing that is required, except the rapidity of growth, which must be granted was miraculous. Dr. Harris indeed states that the passage means, ' Son of the night it was, and as a son of the night it died ;' and that, therefore, we are not compelled to believe that it grew in a single night, but rather, by a strong Oriental figure, that it was of rapid growth. This, there is no doubt, it is highly susceptible of in warm countries where there is some moisture. It attains a considerable size in one season ; and though in Europe it is only known as a herb, in India it frequently may be seen, especially at the margins of fields, the size of a tree. So at Busra Niebuhr saw an el- keroa which had the form and appear- ance of a tree. The stems are erect, round, and hollow; the leaves broad, palmate, 5 to 8 or 10 lobed, peltate, supported on long foot -stalks. From the erect habit, and the breadth of itt foliage, this plant throws an ample shade, especi- ally when young. From the softness and little substance of its stem, it may easily be destroyed by insects, which Ruinphius describes as some- times being the case. It would then necessarily dry up rapidly. As it is well suited to the country, and to the purpose indicated in the text, and as its name kiki is so similar to kikayon, it is doubt- less the plant which the sacred penman had iu view. GO'ZAN, a river of Media, to the country watered by which Tiglathpileser first, and after wards Shalmaneser, transported the captive Israelites (1 Chron. v. 26 ; 2 Kings xvii. 6). It is now almost universally admitted that the Gozan is no other than the present Ozan, or, with the prefix, Kizzil-Ozan (Golden River), which is the principal river of that part of Persia that answers to the ancient Media. This river rises eight or nine miles south-west of Sennah, iu Kurdistan. It runs along the north-west frontier of Irak, and passes under the Kafulan Koh, o>- GREECE Mountain of Tigris, where it is met by the Ka- ranku. These two rivers combined force a pas- sage through the great range of Caucasan, and, during the* course, form a junction with the Sharood. The collective waters, under the de- signation of Sifeed Rood or White River, so named from the foam occasioned by the rapidity of its current, flow in a meandering course through Ghilan to the Caspian Sea. GRAPE. [VINE.] GRASS. The original word which is thus translated in 1 Kings xviii. 5, 2 Kings xix. 26, Job xl. 15, Ps. xxxvii. 2, &c. ; is rendered herb in Job. viii. 12 ; hay, in Prov. xxvii. 25, and Isa. xv. 6 ; and court, in Isa. xxxiv. 13 : but in Num. xi. 5, it is translated leeks. Hebrew scholars state that the word signifies ' greens ' or ' grass ' in general ; and it is no doubt clear, from the con- text of most of the above passages, that this must be its meaning. There is therefore no reason why it should not be so translated in all the passages where it occurs, except in the last. It is evidently incorrect to translate it hay, as in the above pas- sages of Proverbs and Isaiah, because the people of Eastern countries, as it has been observed, do not make hay. In Num. xi, 5, the word is rendered leeks, and the name is supposed to have been applied to them from the resemblance of their leaves to grass, and from their being conspicuous for their green colour. It is probable, however, as sug- gested by Hengstenberg, that the vegetable really meant is a kind of grass called the fenu-grec, an annual plant known in Egypt under the name of Helbeh. It very much resembles clover, except that it has more pointed leaves and whitish blossoms, and is eaten by the common people in Egypt with special relish. ' Although,' says Sonnini, ' horses, oxen, and the buffaloes eat this helbeh with equal relish, it appears not to be destined equally for the sustenance of animals. The Egyptians themselves eat the fenu-grec so much, that it can properly be called the food of men. In the month of November they cry ' Green helbeh for sale' in the streets of the towns. It is tied up in large bunches which the inhabitants eagerly purchase at a low price, and which they eat with incredible greediness, without any species of seasoning. They pretend that this singular diet is an excellent stomachic or specific against worms and dysentery ; in fine, a preservative against a great number of maladies. After so many excellent properties, real or supposed, it is not astonishing that the Egyptians hold this ' grass ' in so great estimation, that, according to one of their proverbs, ' Fortunate are the feet which tread the earth on which grows the hel- beh.' GRASSHOPPER. The creature denoted by this Hebrew word so evidently belongs to the class of l flying creeping things ' (Lev. xi. 21, 22), that the grasshopper, according to the common acceptation of the word, can scarcely be the proper translation. Other reasons render it most probable that a species of locust is intended. It is, therefore, referred to the general English Word [LOCUST]. GRAVE. [BURIAL.] GREECE. The relations of the Hebrews with the Greeks were always of a distant kind, until the Macedonian conquest of the East : hence GREECE 369 in the Old Testament the mention of the Greeks is naturally rare. The few dealings of the Greeks with the Hebrews seem to have been rather unfriendly, to judge by the notice in Zech. ix. 13. In Joel iii. 6, the Tyrians are reproached for selling the children of Judah and Jerusalem to the Grecians : but at what time, and in what circumstances, must depend on the date assigned to the book of Joel [see JOEL]. With the Greeks of Cyprus or Chittim, the Hebrews were naturally better ac- quainted ; and this name, it would seem, might easily have extended itself in their tongue to denote the whole Greek nation. Such at least is the most plausible explanation of its use in 1 Mace. i. 1, and viii. 1. The Greeks were eminent for their appreciation of beauty in all its varieties : indeed their religious creed owed its shape mainly to this peculiarity of their mind ; for their logical acuteness was not exercised on such subjects until quite a later period. The puerile or indecent fables of the old mythology may seem to a modern reader to have been the very soul of their religion ; but to the Greek himself these were a mere accident, or a vehicle for some embodiment of beauty. He thought little whether a legend concerning Ar temis or Apollo was true, but much whether the dance and music celebrating the divinity were solemn, beautiful, and touching. The worship of Apollo, the god of youth and beauty, has been regarded as characterizing the Hellenic in contrast with the older Pelasgian times ; nor is the fact without significance, that the ancient temple and oracle of Jupiter at Dodona fell afterwards into the shade in comparison with that of Apollo at Delphi. Indeed the Dorian Spartans and the Ionian Athenians alike regarded Apollo as their tutelary god. Whatever the other varieties of Greek religious ceremonies, no violent or frenzied exhibitions arose out of the national mind ; but all such orgies (as they were called) were im- ported from the East, and had much difficulty in establishing themselves on Greek soil. Quite at a late period the managers of orgies were evidently regarded as mere jugglers of not a very reputable kind ; nor do the Greek States, as such, appear to have patronized them. On the contrary, the solemn religious processions, the sacred games and dances, formed a serious item in the public expenditure ; and to be permanently exiled from such spectacles would have been a moral death to the Greeks. Wherever they settled they intro- duced their native institutions, and reared temples, gymnasia, baths, porticoes, sepulchres, of charac- teristic simple elegance. The morality and the religion of such a people naturally were alike superficial ; nor did the two stand in any close union. Bloody and cruel rites could find no place in their creed, because faith was not earnest enough to endure much self-abandonment. Reli- gion was with them a sentiment and a taste rather than a deep-seated conviction. On the loss of beloved relatives they felt a tender and natural sorrow, but unclouded with a shade of anxiety concerning a future life. Through the whole of their later history, during Christian times, it is evident that they had littie power of remorse, and little natural firmness of conscientious prin- ciple : and, in fact, at an earlier and critical time, when the intellect of the nation was ripening, an 2B 370 GREECE atrocious civil war, that lasted for twenty-seven years, inflicted a political and social demoraliza- tion, from the effects of which they could never recover. Besides this, their very admiration of beauty, coupled with the degraded state of the female intellect, proved a frightful source of cor- ruption, such as no philosophy could have ade- quately checked. From such a nation then, whatever its intellectual pretensions, no healthful influence over its neighbours could flow, until other and higher inspiration was infused into its sentiment Among the Greeks the arts of war and peace were carried to greater perfection than among any earlier people. In navigation they were little behind the Tyrians and Carthaginians ; in poli- tical foresight they equalled them ; in military science, both by sea and land, they were decidedly their superiors ; while in the power of reconciling subject-foreigners to the conquerors and to their institutions, they perhaps surpassed all nations of the world. Their copious, cultivated, and flexible tongue carried with it no small mental education to all who learned it thoroughly ; and so sagacious were the arrangements of the great Alexander throughout his rapidly acquired Asiatic empire, that in the twenty years of dreadful war between his generals which followed his death, no rising of the natives against Greek influence appears to have been thought of. Without any change of population adequate under other circumstances- to effect it, the Greek tongue and Greek feeling spread far and sank deep through the Macedonian dominions. Half of Asia Minor became a new Greece ; and the cities of Syria, North Palestine, and Egypt, were deeply imbued with the same influence. Yet the purity of the Hellenic stream varied in various places ; and some account of the mixture it underwent will be given in the Article HELLENISTS. When a beginning had been made of preaching Christianity to the Gentiles, Greece immediately became a principal sphere for missionary exertion. The vernacular tongue of the Hellenistic Chris- tians was understood over so large an extent of country, as almost of itself to point out in what direction they should exert themselves. The Grecian cities, whether in Europe or Asia, were the peculiar field for the Apostle Paul ; for whose labours a superintending Providence had long before been providing, in the large number of devout Greeks who attended the Jewish syna- gogues. Greece Proper was divided by the Ro- mans into two provinces, of which the northern was called Macedonia, and the southern Achaia (as in 2 Cor. ix. 2, &c.) ; and we learn inci- dentally from Acts xviii. that the proconsul of the latter resided at Corinth. To determine the exact division between the provinces is difficult ; nor is the question of any importance to a Biblical student. Achaia, however, had probably very nearly the same frontier as the kingdom of mo- dern Greece, which is limited by a line reaching from the gulf of Volo to that of Arta, in great part along the chain of Mount Othrys. Of the cities celebrated in Greek history, none are pro- minent in the early Christian times except Corinth. Laconia, and its chief town Sparta, had ceased to be of any importance : Athens was never eminent as a Christian church. In Macedonia were the HABAKKUK two great cities of Philippi and Thessalonica (formerly called Therme) ; yet of these the former was rather recent, being founded by Philip the Great ; the latter was not distinguished above the other Grecian cities on the same coast. Nicopolis, on the gulf of Ambracia (or Arta), had been built by Augustus, in memory of his victory at Actium, and was, perhaps, the limit of Achaia on the western coast. It had risen into some importance in St. Paul's days, and, as many suppose, it is to this Nicopolis that he alludes in his epistle to Titus. (See further under ACHAIA and NICOPOLIS.) GRINDING. [MILL.] GUEST. [HOSPITALITY.] H. HAB'AKKUK (embrace), one of the most dis- tinguished Jewish prophets, who flourished about 610 B.C., the name denoting as well a ' favourite' as a ' struggler.' Of this prophet's birth-place, parentage, and life we have only apocryphal and conflicting accounts. The Pseudo-Epiphanius states that he was of the tribe of Simeon, and born in a place called Bedzoker ; that he fled to Ostrarine when Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jeru- salem, but afterwards returned home, and died two years before the return of his countrymen. But rabbinical writers assert that he was of the tribe of Levi, and name different birth-places. Eusebius notices that in his time the tomb of Habakkuk was shown in the town of Ceila, in Palestine ; still there are other writers who name different places where, according to common opinion, he had been buried. A full and trustworthy account of the life of Habakkuk would explain his imagery, and many of the events to which he alludes; but since we have no information on which we can depend, nothing remains but to determine from the book itself its historical basis and its age. Now, we find that in chap. i. the prophet sets forth a vision, in which he discerned the injustice, violence, and oppression committed in his country by the rapa- cious and terrible Chaldseans, whose oppressions he announces as a divine retribution for sins com- mitted ; consequently he wrote in the Chaldocan period, shortly before the invasion of Nebuchad- nezzar which rendered Jehoiakim tributary to the king of Babylon (2 Kings xxiv. 1 ). When he wrote the first chapter of his prophecies, the Chaldaeans could not yet have invaded Palestine, otherwise he would not have introduced Jehovah saying (i. 5), ' I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you ;' (ver. 6) ' for I raise up the Chaldaeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling-places that are not theirs.' From ver. 12 it is also evident that the ruin of the Jews had not then been effected ; it says, ' the Lord ordained them for judgment, established them for correction.' Agreeably to the general style of the prophets, who to lamentations and announcements of divine punishment add consolations and cheering hopes for the future, Habakkuk then proceeds in the second chapter to foretell the future humiliation of the conquerors who plundered so many nations. He also there promulgates a vision of events HABAKKUK shortly to be expected ; (ver. 3) ' the vision is" yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it. i because it will surely come ; it will not tarry.' This is succeeded in the third chapter by an ode, in which the prophet celebrates the deliverances i wrought by the Almighty for his people in times past, and prays for a similar interference now to mitigate the coming distresses of the nation ; which he goes on to describe, representing the land as already waste and desolate, and yet giving encouragement to hope for a return of better times. Some interpreters are of opinion that ch. ii. was written in the reign of Jehoiachin, the son of Jehoiakim (2 Kings xxiv. 6), after Jerusalem had been besieged and conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, the king made a prisoner, and, with many thousands of his subjects, carried away to Babylon ; none remaining in Jerusalem, ; save the poorest class of the people (2 Kings xxiv. | 14). But of all this nothing is said in the book , of Habakkuk, nor even so much as hinted at ; and what is stated of the violence and injustice of the Chaldceans does not imply that the Jews had already experienced it. The prophet dis- I tinctly mentions that he sets forth what he had discerned in a vision, and he, therefore, speaks of events to be expected and coming. It .is also a supposition equally gratuitous, according to which some interpreters refer ch. iii. to the period of the last siege of Jerusalem, when Zedekiah was taken, his sons slain, his eyes put out, the walls of the city broken down, and the temple burnt (2 Kings xxv. 1-10). There is not the slightest allusion to any of these incidents in the third chapter of Habakkuk; and from the 16th verse it appears, that the destroyer is only coming, and that the prophet expresses fears, not of the entire destruc- tion, of the city, much less of the downfall of the state, but only of the desolation of the country. It thus appears beyond dispute, that Habakkuk prophesied in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, about the year stated above. Carpzov and Jahn refer our prophet to the reign of Ma- nasseh, thus placing him thirty odd years earlier ; but at that time the Chaldseans had not as yet given just ground for apprehension, and it would have been injudicious in Habakkuk prematurely to fill the minds of the people with fear of them. Some additional support to our statement of the age of this book is derived from the tradition, reported in the apocryphal appendix to Daniel and by the Pseudo-Epiphanius, that Habakkuk lived to see the Babylonian exile ; for if he pro- phesied under Manasseh he could not have reached the exile at an age under 90 years ; but if he held forth early in the reign of Jehoiakim he would have been only 50 odd years old at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the exile. He was, then, a contemporary of Jeremiah, but much younger, as the latter made his first ap- pearance in public as early as B.C. 629, in the thirteenth year of Josiah. The style of this prophet has been always much admired. He equals the most eminent prophets of .the Old Testament Joel, Amos, Nahum, Isaiah ; and the ode in ch. iii. may be placed in competition with Ps. xviii. and Ixviii. for origi- nality and sublimity. His figures are all great, happily chosen, and properly drawn out. His denunciations are terrible, his derision bitter, his HADAD 371 consolation cheering. Instances occur of bor- rowed ideas (ch. iii. 19, comp. Ps. xviii. 34 ; eh. ii. 6, comp. Isa. xiv. 7; ch. ii. 14, comp. Isa. xi. 9) ; but he makes them his own in drawing them out in his peculiar manner. With all the bold- ness and fervour of his imagination, his language | is pure and his verse melodious. The ancient j catalogues of canonical books of the Old Testa- , rnent do not mention Habakkuk by name ; but they must have counted him in the twelve minor prophets, whose number would otherwise not be full. In the New Testament some expressions of his are introduced, but his name is not added (Rom. i. 1 7 ; Gal. iii. 11; Heb. x. 38, comp. Hub. ii. 4; Acts xiii. 40, 41. comp. Hah. i. 5). HABERGEON. [ARMS; ARMOUB.] HA'BOR, or rather CHABOR, a city or country of Media, to which portions of the ten tribes were transported, first by Tiglathpileser, and after- wards by Shalmaneser (2 Kings xvii. 6 ; xviii. 11). It is thought by some to be the same moun- tainous region between Media and Assyria which Ptolemy calls Chaboras. This notion has the name, and nothing but the name, in its favour | Habor was by the river Gozan ; and as we have : accepted Major Rennell's conclusion, that Gozan i was the present Kizzil-Ozan [GOZAN], we are i bound to follow him in fixing the position of Habor at the town of Abbar, which is situated on ! a branch of that river, and has the reputation of , being very ancient. At this place Mr. Morier i found ruins composed of large sun-dried bricks ! compacted with straw, like some of those found i at Babylon. As this kind of construction is au ! infallible sign of remote antiquity, it so far affords j a most important corroboration of Major Rennell's | conjecture. HA'DAD (sharp) is equivalent to Adad, the i name of the chief deity of the Syrians [AUAD], i and borne, with or without additions, as a proper name, or more probably as a title, like ' Pharaoh ' in Egypt, by several of the kings of Southern Syria. 1. HADAD, king of Edom, who defeated the Midianites in the intervening territory of Moab (Gen. xxxvi. 35 ; 1 Chron. i. 46). This is the only one of the ancient kings of Edom whose exploits are recorded by Moses. Another king of Edom of the same name is mentioned & 1 Chron. i. 51. 2. HADAD, king of Syria, who reigned in Da- mascus at the time that David attacked and defeated Hadadezer, king of Zobah, whom he marched to assist, and shared in his defeat. This fact is recorded in 2 Sam.viii. 5, but the name of the king is not given. It is supplied, however, by Josephus, who reports, after Nicolas of Da- mascus, that he carried succours to Hadadezer as far as the Euphrates, where David defeated them both. 3. HADAD, a young prince of the royal race of Edom, who, when his country was conquered by David, contrived, in the heat of the massacre com- mitted by Joab, to escape with some of his father's servants, or rather was carried off by them into the land of Midian. Thence Hadad went into the desert of Paran, and eventually proceeded to Egypt He was there most favourably received by the king, who assigned him an estate and esta- blishment suited to his rank, and even gave him in marriage the sister of his own consort, by whom he had a son, who was brought up in the palace 2B2 3*2 HADES with the sons of Pharaoh. Hadad remained in Egypt till after the death of David and Joab, when he returned to his own country in the hope of recovering his father's throne (1 Kings xi. 14-22). The Scripture does not record the result of this attempt further than by mentioning him as one of the troublers of Solomon's reign, which ! implies some measure of success. HADADE'ZER (Hadad-helped\ or HADAD- BEZER, king of Zobab, a powerful monarch in the time of David, and the only one who seems to have been in a condition seriously to dispute with him the predominancy in south-western Asia. He was defeated by the Israelites in the first cam- paign (B.C. 1032) in the neighbourhood of the Euphrates, with a great loss of men, war-chariots, and horses, and was despoiled of many of his towns (2 Sam. viii. 3 ; 1 Chron. xviii. 3). This check not only impaired, but destroyed his power. A diversion highly serviceable to him was made by a king of Damascene-Syria (whom the Scrip- ture does not name, but who is the same with Hadad 3), who, coming to his succour, compelled David to turn his arms against him, and abstain from reaping all the fruits of his victory (2 Sam. x. 6, sq. ; 1 Chron. xix. 6, sq.). The breathing- time thus afforded Hadadezer was turned by him to such good account that he was able to accept the subsidies of Ilanun, king of the Ammonites, and to take a leading part in the confederacy formed by that monarch against David. The first army brought into the field was beaten and put to flight by Abishai and Joab ; but Hadadezer, not yet discouraged, went into the countries east of the Euphrates, and got together the forces of all his allies and tributaries, which he placed under the command of Shophach, his general. To confront so formidable an adversary, David took the field in person, and in one great victory so completely broke the power of Hadadezer, that all the small tributary princes seized the oppor- tunity of thro wing off his yoke, of abandoning the Ammonites to their fate, and of submitting quietly to David, whose power was thus extended to the Euphrates. HADES, a Greek word, which occurs fre- quently in the New Testament, where it is usually rendered 'hell' in the English version. The word hades means literally that which is in dark- ness. In the classical writers it is used to denote Orcus, or the infernal regions. According to the notions of the Jews, sheol or hades was a vast receptacle where the souls of the dead existed in a separate state until the resurrection of their bodies. The region of the blessed during this interval, or the inferior paradise, they supposed to be in the upper part of this receptacle ; while beneath was the abyss or gehenna (Tartarus), in which the souls of the wicked were subjected to punishment. The question whether this is or is not the doctrine of the Scriptures is one of much im- portance, and has, first and last, excited no small amount of discussion. It is a doctrine received by a large portion of the nominal Christian church ; and it forms the foundation of the Roman Catho- lic doctrine of Purgatory, for which there would be no ground but for this interpretation of the word hades. The question therefore rests entirely upon the interpretation of this word, and as the Septuagint I, HADES gives this as the meaning of the Hebrew word sheol, the real question is, what is the meaning which sheol bears in the Old Testament, and hades in the New ? A careful examination of the passages in which these words occur will probably lead to the conclusion, that they afford no real sanction to the notion of an intermediate place of the kind indicated, but are used by the inspired writers to denote the grave the resting-place of the bodies both of the righteous and the wicked ; and that they are also used to signify hell, the abode of miserable spirits. But it would be diffi- cult to produce any instance in which they can be shown to signify the abode of the spirits of just men made perfect, either before or after the re- surrection. In the great majority of instances sheol is in the Old Testament used to signify tJie grave, and in most of these cases is so translated in the Au- thorized Version. It can have no other meaning in such texts as Gen. xxxvii. 35 ; xlii. 38 ; 1 Sam. ii. 6; 1 Kings ii. 6 ; Job xiv. 13; xvii. 13, 16; and in numerous other passages in the writings of David, Solomon, and the prophets. But as the grave is regarded by most persons, and was more especially so by the ancients, with awe and dread, as being the region of gloom and darkness, so the word denoting it soon came to be applied to that more dark and gloomy world which was to be the abiding place of the miserable. Where our translators supposed the word to have this sense, they rendered it by ' hell.' Some of the passages in which this has been done may be doubtful ; but there are others of which a question can scarcely be entertained. Such are those (as Job xi. 8 ; Ps. cxxxix. 8 ; Amos ix. 2) in which the word denotes the opposite of heaven, which can- not be the grave, nor the general state or region of the dead, but hell. Still more decisive are such passages as Ps. ix. 17 ; Prov. xxiii. 14; in which sheol cannot mean any place, in this world or the next, to which the righteous as well as the wicked are sent, but the penal abode of the wicked as distinguished from and opposed to the right- eous. The only case in which such passages could by any possibility be supposed to mean the grave, would be if the grave that is, extinction were the final doom of the unrighteous. In the New Testament the word hades is used in much the same sense as sheol in the Old, ex- cept that in a less proportion of cases can it be construed to signify ' the grave.' There are still, however, instances in which it is used in this sense, as in Acts ii. 31 ; 1 Cor. xv. 55 ; but in general the hades of the New Testament appears to be no other than the world of future punish- ments (e.g. Matt. xi. 23; xvi. 18 ; Luke xvi. -J.; . The principal arguments for the intermediate hades, as deduced from Scripture, are founded on those passages in which things ' under the earth ' are described as rendering homage to God and the Saviour (Philip, ii. 10; Rev. v. 13, &c.). If such passages, however, be compared with others (as with Rom. xiv. 10, 11, &c.), it will appear that they must refer to the day of judgment, in which every creature will render some sort of homage to the Saviour ; but then the bodies of the saints will have been already raised, and the in- termediate region, if there be any, will have been deserted. One of the seemingly strongest arguments for HADES the opinion under consideration is founded on 1 Pet iii. 19, in which Christ is said to have gone and ' preached to the spirits in prison.' These spirits in prison are supposed to be the holy dead perhaps the virtuous heathen imprisoned in the intermediate place, 'into which the soul of the Saviour went at death, that he might preach to them the Gospel. This passage must be allowed to present great difficulties. The most intelligible meaning suggested by the context is, however, that Christ by his spirit preached to those who in the time of Noah, while the ark was preparing, were disobedient, and whose spirits are now in prison, abiding the general judgment. The prison is doubtless hades, but what hades is must be de- termined by other passages of Scripture; and, whether it is the grave or hell, it is still a prison for those who yet await the judgment-day. This interpretation is in unison with other passages of Scripture, whereas the other is conjecturally de- duced from this single text. Another argument is deduced from Kev. xx. 14, which describes ' death and hades' as ' cast into the lake of fire ' at the close of the general judgment meaning, according to the advocates of the doctrine in question, that hades should then cease as an intermediate place. But this is also true if understood of the grave, or of the general intermediate condition of the dead, or even of hell, as once more and for ever reclaiming what it had temporarily yielded up for judgment just as we every day see criminals brought from prison to judgment, and after judgment returned to the prison from which they came. It is further urged, in proof of Hades being an intermediate place other than the grave, that the Scriptures represent the happiness of the righteous as incomplete till after the resurrection. This must be admitted ; but it does not thence follow that their souls are previously imprisoned in the earth, or in any other place or region correspond- ing to the Tartarus of the heathen. Although at the moment of death the disembodied spirits of the redeemed ascend to heaven, and continue there till the resurrection, it is very possible that their happiness shall be incomplete until they have received their glorified bodies from the tomb, and entered upon the full rewards of eternity. A view supported by so little force of Scrip- ture, seems unequal to resist the contrary evidence which may be produced from the same source, and which it remains briefly to indicate. The effect of this is to show that the souls of the re- deemed are described as proceeding, after death, at once to heaven the place of final happiness, and those of the unredeemed to the place of final wretchedness. In Heb. vi. 12, the righteous dead are de- scribed as being in actual inheritance of the pro- mises made to the fathers. Our Saviour repre- sents the deceased saints as already, before the resurrection (for so the context requires), ' like \ unto the angels,' and ' equal to the angels ' (Matt. xxii. 30 ; Luke xx. 36) ; which is not very com- patible with their imprisonment even in the hap- '. pier region of the supposed Hades. Our Lord's ' declaration to the dying thief ' This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise' (Luke xxiii. 43), i has been urged on both sides of the argument ; i i but the word is here not Hades, but Paradise, and ! HADES 373 no instance can be produced in which the para- dise beyond the grave means anything else than that ' third heaven,' that ' paradise ' into which the Apostle was caught up, and where he heard 'unutterable things' (2 Cor. xii. 2, 4). In the midst of that paradise grows the mystic ' tree of life' (Rev. ii. 7), which the same writer repre- sents as growing near the throne of God and the Lamb (xxii. 2). In Eph. iii. 15, the Apostle de- scribes the whole church of God as being at pre- sent in heaven or on earth. But, according to the view under consideration, the great body of i the church would be neither in heaven nor on | earth, but in Hades the intermediate place. In i Heb. xii. 21-24, we are told that in the city of the j living God dwell not only God himself, the judge j of all, and Jesus, the mediator of the new cove- I nant, and the innumerable company of angels, I but also ' the spirits of just men made perfect ' all dwelling together in the same holy and happy place. To the same effect, but, if possible, still more conclusive, are the various passages in which the souls of the saints are described a? being, when absent from the body, present with Christ in heaven (comp. 2 Cor. v. 1-8 ; Philip, i. 23 ; 1 Thess. v. 10). To this it is scarcely neces- sary to add the various passages in the Apoca- lyptic vision, in which St. John beheld, as inha- bitants of the highest heaven, around the throne of God, myriads of redeemed souls, even before the resurrection (Rev. v. 9 ; vi. 9 ; vii. 9 ; xiv. 1, 3). Now the ' heaven ' of these passages cannot be the place to which the term Hades is ever applied, for that word is never associated with any circumstances or images of enjoyment or happiness [HEAVEN]. As these arguments seem calculated to dis- prove the existence of the more favoured region of the alleged intermediate place, a similar course of evidence militates with equal force against the ' existence of the more penal region of the same place. It is admitted by the staunchest advocates for the doctrine of an intermediate place, that the souls of the wicked, when they leave the body, go immediately into punishment. Now the Scrip- ture knows no place of punishment after death but that which was prepared for the devil and his angels. This place they now inhabit ; and this is the place to which, after judgment, the souls of the condemned will be consigned (comp. 2 Pet. ii. 4 ; Matt. xxv. 41). This verse of Peter is the only one in Scripture in which any reference to the word Tartarus occurs : here then, if any- where, we should find that intermediate place corresponding to the Tartarus of the heathen, from whom the word is borrowed. But from the other text we can be quite certain that the Tar- tarus of Peter is no other than the hell which is to be the final, as it is, in degree, the present doom of the wicked. That this hell is Hades is readily admitted, for the course of the argument has been to show that Hades is hell, whenever it is not the grave. Dr. Enoch Pond, whose in- teresting article on the subject, in the American Biblical Repository, we have chiefly followed, well remarks : ' Whether the righteous and the wicked, after the judgment, will go literally to the same places in which they were before si tuated, it is not material to inquire. But, both before and after the judgment, the righteous will be in the same place with their glorified Saviour r HAGAR HAGAR and his holy angels ; and this will be heaven : and before and after the judgment the wicked : will be in the same place with the devil and his angels ; and this will be hell. HA'GAR (a stranger), a native of Egypt, and servant of Abraham ; but how or when she became an inmate of his family we are not in- formed. Whatever were her origin and previous history, her servile condition in the family of Abraham must have prevented her from being ever known beyond the limits of her humble sphere, had not her name, by a spontaneous act of her mistress, become indissolubly linked with the patriarch's history. The long continued ste- rility of Sarah suggested to her the idea (not uncommon in the East) of becoming a mother by proxy through her handmaid, whom, with that view, she gave to Abraham as as a secondary wife [ABRAHAM : ADOPTION; CONCUBINE]. The honour of such an alliance and elevation was too great and unexpected for the weak and ill-regulated mind of Hagar : and no sooner did she find herself in a delicate situation, which made her, in the prospect of becoming a mother, an object of increasing interest and importance to Abraham, than she openly indulged in triumph over her less favoured mistress, and showed by her altered behaviour a growing habit of disrespect and insolence. The feelings of Sarah were se- verely wounded, and she broke out to her husband in loud complaints of the servant's petulance ; and Abraham, whose meek and prudent behaviour is strikingly contrasted with the violence of his wife, leaves her with unfettered power, as Ais- tress of his household, to take what steps she pleases to obtain the required redress. Hagar, though taken into the relation of con- cubine to Abraham, continued still, being a dotal maid-servant, under the absolute power of her mistress, who was neither reluctant nor sparing in making the minion reap the fruits of her in- solence. Sarah, indeed, not content with the simple exertion of her authority, seems to have resorted even to corporal chastisement. Sensible, at length, of the hopelessness of getting the better of her mistress, Hagar determined on flight ; and having seemingly formed the purpose of return- ing to her relations in Egypt, she took the di- rection of that country ; which led her to what was afterwards called Shur, through a long tract of sandy uninhabited country, lying on the west of Arabia Petrsea, to the extent of 1 50 miles between Palestine and Egypt In that lonely region she was sitting by a fountain to replenish her skin- bottle or recruit her wearied limbs, when the angel of the Lord, whose language on this occa- sion bespeaks him to have been more than a created being, appeared, and iu the kindliest manner remonstrated with her on the course she was pursuing, and encouraged her to return by the promise that she would ere long have a son, whom Providence destined to become a great man, and whose wild and irregular features of character would be indelibly impressed on the mighty nation that should spring from him. Obedient to the heavenly visitor, and having distinguished the place by the name of Beer- lahai-roi, the well of the" visible God,' Hagar retraced her steps to the tent of Abraham, where in due time she had a son ; and having probably narrated this remarkable interview to Abraham, 1 that patriarch, as directed by the angel, called the name of the child Ishmael, ' God hath heard.' Fourteen years had elapsed after the birth of Ishmael when an event occurred in the family of Abraham, by the appearance of the long-pro- mised heir, which entirely changed the prospects of (hat young man, though nothing materially affecting him took place till the weaning of Isaac, ; which, as is generally thought, was at the end of his third year. Ishmael was then a lad of seven- teen years of age ; and being fully capable of understanding his altered relations to the in- heritance, as well as having felt perhaps a sen- sible diminution of Sarah's affection towards him, it is not wonderful that a disappointed youth should inconsiderately give vent to his feelings on a festive occasion, when the newly-weaned child, clad according to custom with the sacred symbolic robe, which was the badge of the birth- right, was formally installed heir of the tribe. The harmony of the weaning feast was disturbed by Ishmael being discovered mocking. This con- duct gave mortal offence to Sarah, who from that moment would be satisfied with nothing short of his irrevocable expulsion from the family ; and as his mother also was included in the same condemnation,.there is ground to believe that she had been repeating her former insolence, as well as instigating her son to his improprieties of behaviour. So harsh a measure was extremely painful to the affectionate heart of Abraham ; but his scruples were removed by the timely appearance of his divine counsellor, who said, ' Let it not be grievous iu thy sight, because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman : in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice." The incident affords a very remarkable instance of an overruling Providence in making this family feud in the tent of a pastoral chief 4000 years ago the occasion of separating two mighty nations, who, according to the prophecy, have ever since occupied an important chapter in the history of man. Hagar and Ishmael departed early on the day fixed for their removal, Abra- ham furnishing them with the necessary supply of travelling provisions. In spite of their instructions for threading the desert, the two exiles missed their way. Over- come by fatigue and thirst, increasing at every step under the unmitigated rays of a vertical sun, the strength of the young Ishmael, as was natural, first gave way, and his mother laid him down in complete exhaustion under one of the stunted shrubs of this arid region, in the hope of his obtaining some momentary relief from smelling the damp in the shade. The burning fever, however, continued unabated, and the poor woman, forgetting her own sorrow, destitute and alone in the midst of a wilderness, and absorbed iu the fate of her son, withdrew to a little dis- tance, unable to witness his lingering sufferings ; and there 'she lifted up her voice aiid wept.' In this distressing situation the angel of the Lord appeared for the purpose of comforting her, and directed her to a fountain, which, concealed by the brushwood, had escaped her notice, and from which she drew a refreshing draught, that had the effect of reviving the almost lifeless Ishmael. Of the subsequent history of Ishmael we have no account, further than that he established him- 1IAGGAI self in the wilderness of Paran, in the neighbour- hood of Sinai, was married by his mother to a countrywoman of her own, and maintained both himself and family by the produce of his bow. HAGARENES'. [ARABIA.] HAG'G A I, one of the twelve minor prophets, and the first of the three who, after the return of the Jews from the Babylonian exile, prophesied in Palestine. Of the place and year of his birth, his descent, and the leading incidents of his life, nothing is known which can be relied on. This much appears from his prophecies, that he flourished during the reign of the Persian monarch Darius Hystaspis, who ascended the throne B.C. 521. These prophecies are comprised in a book of two chapters, and consist of dis- courses remarkably brief and summary. Their object generally is to urge the rebuilding of the Temple, which had indeed been commenced as early as B.C. 535 (Ezra iii. 10), but was after- wards discontinued, the Samaritans having ob- tained an edict from the Persian king, which for- bade further procedure, and influential Jews pre- tending that the time for rebuilding the Temple had not arrived, since the seventy years predicted by Jeremiah applied to the Temple also, from the time of the destruction of which it was then only the sixty-eighth year. As on the death of Pseudo-Smerdis, and the consequent termination of his interdict, the Jews still continued to wait for the end of the seventy years, and were only engaged in building splendid houses for them- selves, Haggai began to prophesy in the second year of Darius, B.C. 520. His first discourse (ch.i.), delivered on the first day of the sixth month of the year mentioned, foretells that a brighter era would begin as soon as Jehovah's house was rebuilt ; and a notice is subjoined, stating that the address of the prophet had been effective* the people having resolved on resuming the restoration of the Temple. The second discourse (ch. ii. 1-9), delivered on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, predicts that the glory of the new Temple would be greater than that of Solomon's, and shows that no fear need be entertained of the Second Temple not equalling the first in splendour, since, in a remarkable political revolution, the gifts of the Gentiles would be brought thither. The third discourse (ch. ii. 10-19), delivered on the twenty- fourth day of the ninth month, refers to a period when building materials had been collected, and the workmen had begun to put them together ; for which a commencement of the Divine blessing is promised. The fourth and last discourse (ch. ii. 20-23), delivered also on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, is exclusively addressed to Zerubbabel, the political chief of the new Jewish colony, who, it appears, had asked for an explanation regarding the great political revolu- tions which Haggai had predicted in his second discourse : it comforts the governor by assuring him they would not take place very soon, and not in his lifetime. The style of the discourses of Haggai is suitable to their contents : it is pathetic when he exhorts ; it is vehement when he re- proves ; it is somewhat elevated when he treats of future events ; and it is not altogether destitute of a poetical colouring, though a prophet of a higher order would have depicted the splendour of the Second Temple in brighter hues. The HA IK 375 language labours under a poverty of terms, as may be observed in the constant repetition of the same expressions. The prophetical discourses of Haggai are referred to in the Old and New Testa- ment (Ezra v. 1; vi. 14; Heb. xii. 2G ; cornp. Hag. ii. 7, 8, 22). In most of the ancient cata- logues of the canonical books of the Old Testa- ment, Haggai is not, indeed, mentioned byname-, but as they specify the twelve minor prophets, he must have been included among them, as otherwise their number would not be full. HAIR is frequently mentioned in Scripture, and in scarcely anything has the caprice of fashion been more strikingly displayed than in the various forms which the taste of different countries and ages has prescribed for disposing of this natural covering of the head. The Greeks let their hair grow to a great length. The early Egyptians, again, who were proverbial for their habits o' cleanliness, removed the hair as an incumbrance, and the almost unavoidable occasion of sordid and offensive negligence. All classes amongst that people, not excepting the slaves imported from foreign countries, were required to submit to the tonsure (Gen. xli. 14) ; and yet, what was remarkable in the inhabitants of a hot climati', while they removed their natural hair, they were accustomed to wear wigs, which were so con- structed that ' they far surpassed,' says Wilkinson, ' the comfort and coolness of the modern turban, the reticulated texture of the groundwork on which the hair was fastened allowing the heat of the head to escape, while the hair effectually protected it from the sun.' Different from the custom both of the Greeks and the Egyptians, that of the Hebrews was to wear their hair gene- rally short, and to check its growth by the appli- cation of scissors only. The priests at their inauguration shaved off all their hair, and when on actual duty at the temple, were in the habit, it is said, of cutting it every fortnight. The only exceptions to this prevailing fashion are found in the case of the Nazarites, whose hair, from reli- gious duty, was not to be cropped during the term of their vow ; of young persons who, during their minority, allowed their hair to hang down in luxuriant ringlets on their shoulders ; of such effeminate persons as Absalom (2 Sam. xiv. 26) ; and of Solomon's horse-guards, whose vanity affected a puerile extravagance, and who strewed their heads every day with particles of gold-dust. Although the Hebrews wore their hair short, they were great admirers of strong and thickset locks ; and so high a value did they set on the possession of a good head of hair, that they de- precated nothing so much as baldness. To pre- vent or remedy this defect they seem, at an early period, to have availed themselves of the assist- ance of art, not only for beautifying the hair, but increasing its thickness ; while the heads of the priests were anointed with an unguent of a peculiar kind, the ingredients of which, with their various proportions, were prescribed by divine authority, and the composition of which the people were prohibited, under severe penal- ties, from attempting to imitate (Exod. xxx. 32). This custom spread till anointing the hair of the head became a general mark of gentility and an essential part of the daily toilet ; the usual cos- metics employed consisting of the best oil of olives mingled with spices, a decoction of parsley- 376 HAIR seed in wine, and more rarely of spikenard (Ps. xxiii. 5 ; xlv. 7 ; Eccles. ix. 8 ; Mark xiv. 3). The prevailing colour of hair among the He- brews was dark ; ' locks bushy and black as a raven,' being mentioned in the description of the bridegroom as the perfection of beauty in ma- ture manhood (Sol. Song v. ll). Hence the ap- pearance of an old man with a snow-white head in a company of younger Jews, all whose heads, like those of other Eastern people, were jet black a most conspicuous object is beautifully com- pared to an almond-tree, which in the early part of the year is in full blossom, while all the others are dark and leafless (Eccles. xii. 5). Among the Romans it was customary to employ artificial means for changing or disguising the silver hue of age. From Rome the fashion spread into Greece and other provinces, and it appears that the members of the church of Corinth were, to a certain extent, captivated by the prevailing taste, some Christians being evidently in the eye of the Apostle, who had attracted attention by the cherished and womanly decoration of their hair (1 Cor. xi. 14-16). To them the letter of Paul was intended to administer a timely reproof for allowing themselves to fall in with a style of manners which, by confounding the distinctions of the sexes, threatened a baneful influence on good morals: and that not only the Christian converts in that city, but the primitive church generally, were led by this admonition to adopt simpler habits, is evident from the remarkable fact that a criminal, who came to trial under the assumed character of a Christian, was proved to the satisfaction of the judge to be an impostor, by the luxuriant and frizzled appearance of his hair. With regard to women, the possession of long and luxuriant hair is allowed by Paul to be an essential attribute of the sex a graceful and modest covering provided by nature ; and yet the tame Apostle elsewhere (1 Tim. ii. 9) concurs with Peter (1 Pet. iii. 9) in launching severe in- vectives against the ladies of his day for the pride and passionate fondness they displayed in the elaborate decorations of their head-dress. As she hair was pre-eminently the 'instrument of their pride ' (Ezek. xvi. 39, margin), all the re- rources of ingenuity and art were exhausted to set it off to advantage and load it with the most dazzling finery ; and many when they died caused their longest locks to be cut off, and placed sepa- rately in an urn, to be deposited in their tomb as the most precious and valued relics. From the great value attached to a profuse head of hair arose a variety of superstitions and emblematic observances, such as shaving parts of the head, or cropping it in a particular form ; parents dedicating the hair of infants to the gods ; young women theirs at their marriage ; warriors after a successful campaign ; sailors after deli- verance from a storm ; hanging it up on conse- crated trees, or depositing it in temples ; burying it in the tomb of friends, as Achilles did at" the funeral of Patroclus ; besides shaving, cutting off, or plucking it out, as some people did; or allow- ing it to grow in sordid negligence, as was the practice with others, according as the calamity that befel them was common or extraordinary, and their grief was mild or violent. Various metaphorical allusions are made to hair by the sacred writers, especially the pro- HAMAN phets. ' Cutting off the hair ' is a figure used ti> denote the entire destruction of a people by the righteous retributions of Providence (Isa. vii. 20) ' Gray hairs here and there on Ephraim ' por- tended the decline and fall of the kingdom of Israel (Hos. vii. 9). ' Hair like women's ' forms part of the description of the Apocalyptic locusts, and historically points to the prevailing head- dress of the Saracens, as well as the voluptuous effeminacy of the Antichristian clergy (Rev ix. 8). And, finally, ' hair like fine wool ' was a prominent feature in the appearance of the deified Redeemer, emblematic of the majesty and wisdom that belong to him (Rev. 5. 14). HA'LAH, or rather CHALACH, a city or dis- trict of Media, upon the river Gozan, to which, among other places, the captives of Israel were transplanted by the Assyrian kings. Many hare conceived this Halah or Chalach to be the Cala- chene which Ptolemy places in the north of Assyria, But if the river Gozan be the Kizzil- Ozan, Halah must needs be sought elsewhere, and near that river. Accordingly Major Ren- uell indicates as lying along its banks a district of some extent, and of great beauty and fertility. named Chalchal, having within it a remarkably strong position of the same name, situated on one of the hills adjoining to the mountains which separate it from the province of Ghilan. HALLELU'JAH, or ALLELUIA, a word which stands at the beginning of many of the Psalms. From its frequent occurrence in this position it grew into a formula of praise, and was chanted as such on solemn days of rejoicing. This ex- pression of joy and praise was transferred from the synagogue to the church, and is still occa- sionally heard in devotional psalmody. HAM. 1. The youngest son of Noah (Gen. v. 32 ; comp. ix. 24). Having provoked the wrath of his father by an act of indecency to- wards him, the latter cursed him and his de- scendants to be slaves to his brothers and their descendants (ix. 25). To judge, however, from the narrative, Noah directed his curse only against Canaan (the fourth son of Ham) and his race, thus excluding from it the descendants of Ham's three other sons, Cush, Mizraim, and Phut (Gen. x. 6). The general opinion is, that all the Southern nations derive their origin from Ham. Cush is supposed to have been the pro- genitor of the nations of East and South Asia. more especially of South Arabia, and also of Ethiopia ; Mizraim, of the African nations, in- cluding the Philistines and some other tribes which Greek fable and tradition connect with Egypt; Phut, likewise of some African nations ; and Canaan, of the inhabitants of Palestine and Phoenicia. 2. A poetical name for the land of Egypt (Ps. Ixxviii. 51 ; cv. 23, 27; cvi. 22). In Gen. xiv. 5 occurs a country or place called Ham, belonging to the Zuzim, but its geogra- phical situation is unknown. HA'MAN, a name of the planet Mercury; a favourite of the king of Persia, whose history is involved in that of Esther and Mordecai. lie is called an Agagite ; and as Agag was a kind of title of the kings of the Amalekites [AGAC], it is supposed that Hamau was descended from the royal family of that nation. He or his parents probably found their way to Persia as captives HANAMEEL or hostages ; and that the foreign origin of Ha- man was no bar to his advancement at court, is a circumstance quite in union with the most an- cient and still subsisting usages of the East. Joseph, Daniel, and Mordecai afford other ex- amples of the same kind. It is unnecessary to repeat the particulars of a story so well known as that of Haman. The cir- cumstantial details of the height which he at- tained and of his sudden downfall, afford, like all the rest of the book of Esther, a most faithful picture of the customs of an Oriental court and government, and furnish invaluable materials for a comparison between the regal usages of ancient and modern times. The result of such a com- parison will excite surprise by the closeness of the resemblance ; for there is not a single fact in the history of Haman which might not occur at the present day, and which, indeed, is not of fre- quent occurrence in different combinations. The death of Haman appears to have taken place about the year B.C. 510. HA'MATH, one of the smaller kingdoms of Syria, having Zobah on the east and Rehob on the south. This last kingdom, lying within the greater Mount Hermon, is expressly said to have been taken possession of by the Israelites, and, like Dan or Laish, which is represented to have been in the valley of Bethrehob (Judg. xviii. 28), is used to denote the northern boundary of the Holy Land. The approach to it from the south is by an opening or mountain-pass, called ' the entrance of Hamath,' and 'the entering in of Hamath,' which, being the passage from the northern extremity of the land of Israel into Syria, is sometimes used to describe the boundary of the former in this direction, as ' from the en- tering in of Hamath to the river of Egypt' (1 Kings viii. 65). The kingdom of Hamath, or, at least, the southern or central parts of it, appear to have nearly corresponded with what was afterwards denominated Coele-Syria; but northwards, it stretched as far as the city Hamath on the Orontes, which seems to have been the capital of the whole country. Toi was king of Hamath at the time when l)avid conquered the Syrians of Zobah; and it appears that he had reason to rejoice in the humiliation of a dangerous neighbour, as he sent his own son Joram to congratulate the victor (2 Sam. viii. 9, 10). In the time of Hezekiah the town along with its territory was conquered by the Assyrians (2 Kings xvii. 24; xviii. 34; xix. 13; Isa. x. 9; xi. 11); and afterwards by the Chaldaeans (Jer. xxxix. 2, 5). Hamath. is still a picturesque town, of considerable circumference, and with wide and convenient streets. In Burck- hardt's time the attached district contained 120 inhabited villages, and 70 or 80 that lay waste. The western part of this district forms the gra- nary of Northern Syria, though the harvest never yields more than a tenfold return, chiefly on ac- count of the immense numbers of mice, which sometimes completely destroy the crops. HANAM'EEL, a kinsman of Jeremiah, to whom, before the siege of Jerusalem, he sold a field which he possessed in Anathoth, a town of the Levites (Jec. xxxii. 6-12). If this field be- longed to Hanameel as a Levite, the sale of it would imply that an ancient law had fallen into disuse (Lev. xxv. 34) ; but it is possible that it HAND 37* may have been the property of Hanameel in right of his mother. The transaction was con- ducted with all the forms of legal transfer, and was intended to evince the certainty of restora- j tion from the approaching exile, by showing that possessions which could be established by documents would yet be of future value to the j possessor (B.C. 587). 1. HAN'ANI (gracious), a prophet under the reign of Asa, king of Judah, by whom he was seized and imprisoned for announcing that he had lost, from want of due trust in God, an advantage which he might have gained over the king of Syria (2 Chron. xvi. 7). 2. HANA'NI, a brother of Nehemiah, who went from Jerusalem to Shushan, being sent most probably by Ezra, and brought that information respecting the miserable condition of the returned Jews which led to the mission of Nehemiah. Hanani came back to Judaea, probably along with his brother, and, together with one Hananiah, was appointed to take charge of the gates of Je- rusalem, and see that they were opened in the morning and closed in the evening at the ap- pointed time. The circumstances of the time and place rendered this an important and respon- sible duty, not unattended with some danger (Neh. vii. 2, 3). B.C. 455. 1. HANANI'AH (Jehovah's goodness), a false prophet of Gibeon, who, by opposing his prophe- ' cies to those of Jeremiah, brought upon himself the terrible sentence, 'Thou shalt diesis year, because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord.' He died accordingly (Jer. xxviii. 1, sq.), B.C. 596. 2. HANANIAH. [SHADRACH.] 3. HANANIAH, the person who was asso- ciated with Nehemiah's brother Hanani in the charge of the gates of Jerusalem. The high eulogy is bestowed upon him, that 'he was a faithful man, and feared God above many ' (Neh. vii. 2) [HANANI 2]. HAND, the organ of feeling, rightly denomi- nated by Galen the instrument of instruments, since by its position at the end of the fore-arm, its structure and its connection with the mind, the hand admirably executes the behests of the human will, and acquires and imparts to man in- comparable skill and power. By the peculiarities of its conformation the inclination of the thumb to the palm, the comparative length of the thumb and of the fingers, ' the hollow of the hand,' and the fleshy protuberances by which that hollow is mainly formed this member is wonderfully adapted to the purposes for which it was designed, and serves to illustrate the wisdom and provi- dence of the great Creator. The hand itself serves to distinguish man from other terrestrial beings. No other animal has any member com- parable with the human hand. Of the two hands the right has a preference derived from natural endowment. Its universal use, as the chief in- strument in acting, serves to show that its supe- riority is something more than an accident. But the preference which it holds is only a part of the general advantage which the right side has over the left, not only in muscular strength, but also in its vital or constitutional properties. From the properties already described, the student of Scripture is prepared to see the hand employed in holy writ as a symbol of skill, 378 HANDICRAFT strength, and efficacy. As a part of that general anthropomorphism, wiibout whose aid men in the early ages could probably have formed no con- ception of God, the Deity is frequently spoken of in the records of revelation as if possessed of hands. The phrase ' sitting at the right hand of God,' as applied to the Saviour of the world, is derived from the fact that w'th earthly .princes a position on the right hand of the throne was accounted the chief place of honour, dignity, and power : ' upon thy right-hand did stand the queen ' (Ps. xlv. 9 ; compare 1 Kings ii. 19 ; Ps. Ixxx. 17). The immediate passage out of which sprang the phraseology employed by Jesus may be found in Ps. cr. 1 : ' Jehovah said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.' Accordingly the Saviour declares be- fore Caiaphas (Matt. xxvi. 64 ; Mark xiv. 62), ' Ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming iu the clouds of hea- veu ;' where the meaning obviously is that the Jews of that day should have manifest proofs that Jesus held the most eminent place in the divine favour, and that his present humiliation would be succeeded by glory, majesty, and power (Luke xxiv. 26; 1 Tim. iii. l(i). So when it is said (Mark xvi. 19 ; Rom. viii. 34; Col. iii. 1 ; 1 Pet. iii. 22; Heb. i. 3; viii. 1) that Jesus 'sits at the right hand of God,' ' at the -ight hand of the Majesty on high,' we are obviously to understand the assertion to be that, as his Father, so he worketh always (John v. 17) for the advance- ment of the kingdom of heaven, and the salvation of the world. As the hand is the great instrument of action, so is it eminently fitted for affording aid to the mind, by the signs and indications which it makes. Thus to- lay the hand on any one was a means of pointing him out, and consequently an emblem of setting any one apart for a particular office or dignity. Imposition ofhands accordingly formed, at an early period, a part of the ceremo- nial observed on the appointment and consecra- tion of persons to high and holy undertakings. (See Num. xxvii. 19 ; Acts viii. 15-17 ; 1 Tim. iv. 14; 2 Tim. i. 6.) A corruption of this doctrine was, that the laying on of hands gave of itself divine powers ; and on this account Simon, the magician (Acts viii. 18), offered money, saying, ' Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost,' intending probably to carry on a gainful trade by communicating the gift to others. HANDICRAFT. In the early periods to which the Scriptural history refers we do not meet with those artificial feelings and unreason- able prejudices against hand-labour which prevail and are so banefully influential in modern society. The primitive history which the Bible presents 'is the history of hand-labourers. Adam dressed the garden in which God had placed him (Gen. ii. 1 5), Abel was a keeper of sheep, Cain a tiller of the ground (Gen. iv. 3), Tubal-cain a smith (Gen. iv. 22). The general nature of this article does not require any extensive or detailed inquiry into the hand-labours which the Israelites practised before their descent into Egypt ; but the high and varied culture which they found there must have contri- buted greatly to increase their knowledge of the practical arts of life, though the herdsman-sort of HANDICRAFT life which the Hebrews continued to lead was not favourable to their advancement in either science or art. Another source of knowledge to the Hebrews of handicrafts were the maritime and commercial Plwenicians. Commerce and navigation imply great skill in art and science ; and the pursuits to which they lead largely increase the skill whence they emanate. It is not, therefore, surprising that the origin of so many arts has been referred to the north-eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea ; nor is there any difficulty in understanding how arts and letters should be propagated from the const to the interior, conferring high advantages on the inhabitants of Syria in general, as well before as after the settlement of the Hebrew tribes in the land of promise. The skill of the Hebrews during their wander- ings in the desert does not appear to have been inconsiderable ; but the pursuits of war and the entire absorption of the energies of the nation in the one great work of gaining the land which had been given to them, may have led to their falling off in the arts of peace ; and from a passage in 1 Sam. (xiii. 20) it would appear that not long after they had taken possession of the country they were in a low condition as to the instruments of handicraft. A comparatively settled state of society, however, soon led to the revival of skill by the encouragement of industry. A more mi- nute division of labour ensued. Trades, strictly so called, arose, carried on by persons exclusively devoted to one pursuit. Thus in Ju-.ig. xvii. 4 and Jer. x. 14, ' the founder ' is mentioned, a trade which implies a practical knowledge of metal- lurgy ; the smelting and working of metals were well known to the Hebrews (Job xxxvii. IS) ; brass was in use before iron ; arms and instru- ments of husbandry were made of iron. In Exodus (xxxv. 30-35) a passage occurs which may serve to specify many arts that were prac- tised among the Israelites, though it seems also to intimate that at the time to which it refers artificers of the description referred to were not numerous. From the ensuing chapter (ver. 34) it appears that gilding was known before the settlement in Canaan. The ark (Exod. xxxvii. 2) was overlaid with pure gold within and without. The cherubim were wrought (' beaten,' Exod. xxxvii. 7) in gold. The candlestick was of beaten gold (verses 17, 22). Wire-drawing was pro- bably understood (Exod. xxxviii. 4; xxxix. 3). Covering with brass (Exod. xxxviii. 2) and with silver (Prov. xxvi. 23) was practised. Architec- ture and the kindred arts do not appear to have made much progress till the days of Solomon, who employed an incredible number of persons to procure timber (1 Kings v. 13, sq.); but the men of skill for building his temple he obtained from Hiram, king of Tyre (1 Kings v. sq. ; 1 Chron. xiv. 1 ; 2 Chron. ii. 7). The intercourse which the Babylonish captivity gave the Jews seems to have greatly improved their knowledge and skill in both the practical and the fine arts, and to have led them to hold them in very high estimation. The arts were even carried on by jersons of learning, who took a title of honour Tom their trade. It was held a. sign of a bad education if a father did not teach his son some landicraft la the Apocrypha and New Testament there HANNAH are mentioned tanners (Acts ix. 43), tent-makers (Acts xviii. 31 ; in Josephus, cheese-makers, do- mestics ; in the Talmud, with others we find tailors, shoe-makers, blood-letters, glaziers, gold- smiths, plasterers. Certain handicraftsmen could never rise to the rank of high-priest, such as weavers, barbers, fullers, perfumers, cuppers, tanners ; which pursuits, especially the last, were held in disesteem. In large cities particular localities were set apart for particular trades, as is the case in the East to the present day. Thus in Jeremiah (xxxvii. 21) we read of ' the bakers' street.' So in the Talmud mention is made of a flesh-market ; in Josephus, of a cheese-market ; and in the New Testament (John v. 2) we read of a sheep-market. HANDKERCHIEF, NAPKIN, occurs in Luke xix. 20 ; John xi. 44 ; xx. 7 ; Acts xix. 12. The word is employed in Scripture in a variety of meanings. In the first instance (Luke xix. 20) it means a wrapper, in which the ' wicked ser- vant' had laid up the pound intrusted to him by his master. In the second instance (John xi. 44) it appears as a kerchief, or cloth attached to the head of a corpse. It was perhaps brought round the forehead and under the chin. In many Egyptian mummies it does not cover the face. In ancient times among the Greeks it d id. The next instance is that of the ' napkin' which had been 'about the head" of our Lord, but which, after his resurrection, was found rolled up, as if deliberately, and put in a place separately from the linen clothes. The last instance of the Biblical use of the word occurs in the account of ' the special miracles ' wrought by the hands of Paul (Acts xix. 11); 'so that handkerchiefs, napkins, wrappers, shawls, &c., were brought from his body to the sick ; and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.' The Ephesians had not unnaturally inferred that the apostle's miraculous power could be commu- nicated by such a mode of contact ; and certainly cures thus received by parties at a distance, among a people famed for their addictedness to ' curious arts,' i. e. magical skill, &c., would serve to convince them of the truth of the gospel, by a mode well suited to interest their minds. HANGING. [PUNISHMENTS.] H AN'NAH, properly CHANNAH (gracioitsness), wife of a Levite named Elkanah, and mother of Samuel. She was very dear to her husband, but being childless was much aggrieved by the in- sults of Elkanah's other wife Peuinnah, who was blessed with children. The family lived at Ra- mathaim-zophim, and, as the law required, there was a yearly journey to offer sacrifices at the sole altar of Jehovah, which was then at Shiloh. Women were not bound to attend; but pious females free from the cares of a family often did so, especially when the husband was a Levite. Every time that Hannah went there childless she declined to take part in the festivities which fol- lowed the sacrifices, being then, as it seems, peculiarly exposed to the taunts of her rival. At length, on one of these visits to Shiloh, while she prayed before returning home, she vowed to j devote to the Almighty the son which she so earnestly desired (Num. xxx. 1, sq.). It seems to have been the custom to pronounce all vows at the holy place in a loud voice, under the imme- diate notice of the priest (Deut. xxiii. 23 ; Ps. HANUN 379 xxvi. 14): but Hannah prayed in a low tone, so that her lips only were seen to move. This at- tracted the attention of the high-priest, Eli, who suspected that she had taken too much wine at the recent feast. From this suspiciuii Hannah easily vindicated herself, and returned home with a lightened heart. Before the end of that year Hannah became the rejoicing mother of a son, to whom the name of Samuel was given, and who was from his birth placed under the obligations of that condition of Nazariteship to which his mother had vowed him. B.C. 1171. Hannah went no more to Shiloh till her child was old enough to dispense with her maternal services, when she took him up with her to leave him there, as it appears was the custom when one already a Levite was placed under the additional obligations of Nazariteship. When he was pre- sented in due form to the high-pritst, the mother took occasion to re-mind him of the former trans- action: 'For this child,' she said, ' I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him' (1 Sam. i. 27). Hannah's gladness afterwards found vent in an exulting chant, which furnishes a remarkable specimen of the early lyric poetry of the Hebrews, and of ^Vhich many of the ideas and images were in after times re- peated by the Virgin Mary on a somewhat similar occasion (Luke i. 46, sq.). After this Hannah failed not to visit Shiloh every year, bringing a new dress for her son, who remained under the eye and near the person of the high-priest [SAMUEL]. That great personage took kind notice of Hannah on these occasions, and bestowed his blessing upon her and her husband. The Lord repaid her abundantly for that which she had, to use her own expression, ' lent to him ;' for she had three sons and two daughters after Samuel. HANUN (bestower), son and successor of Na- hash, king of the Ammonites. David, who had in his troubles been befriended by Nahash, sent, with the kindest intentions, an embassy to con- dole with him on the death of his father, and to congratulate him on his own accession. The rash young king, however, was led to misappre- hend the motives of this embassy, and to treat with gross and inexpiable indignity the honour- able personages whom David had charged with this mission. Their beards were lialf shaven, and their robes cut short by the middle, and they were dismissed in this shameful trim, which can be appreciated only by those who consider how reverently the beard has always been regarded by the Orientals [BEARD] (B.C. 1038). When the news of this affront was brought to David, he sent word to the ambassadors to remain at Jericho till the growth of their beards enabled them to appear with decency in the metropolis. He vowed vengeance upon Hanun for the insult ; and the vehemence with which the matter was taken up forms an instance, interesting from its antiquity, of the respect expected to be paid to the person and character of ambassadors. Hanun himself looked for nothing less than war as the consequence of his conduct ; and he subsidized Hadarezer and other Syrian princes to assist him with their armies. The power of the Syrians was broken in two campaigns, and the Ammon- ites were left to their fate, which was severe even beyond the usual severities of war in that remote 380 HARE age I" AMMONITES ; DAVID] (2 Sam. x. ; 1 Chron. xix.}. KARA (mountain}. One of the places to which the tribes beyond the Jordan were carried away by Tiglath-pileser. The word occurs only in a single passage (1 Chron. v. 26). Bochart and Gesenius conjecture that it is a name for the northern part of Media. HARADAH, a camp or station of the Israel- ites (Num. xxxiii. 24) [WANDERING]. HARAM. [HocsE.J 1. HARAN, eldest son of Terah, brother of Abraham and Nahor, and father of Lot, Milcah, and Iscah. He died before his father Terah, which, from the manner in which it is mentioned, appears to have been a much rarer case in those days than at present (Gen. xi. 27, sq.). HA'RAN, or rather CHARAN, called by the Greeks Charran, and by the Romans Charrse. It was situated in the north-western part of Meso- potamia, on a river of the same name running into the Euphrates. It is supposed to have been so called from Haran, the father of Lot and bro- ther of Abraham ; but there appears no ground for this conclusion except the identity of names. Abraham, after he had been called from Ur of the Chaldees, tarried here till his father Terah died, when he proceeded to the land of Canaan (Gen. xi. 31, 38 ; Acts vii. 4). The elder branch of the family still remained at Haran, which led to the interesting journeys thither described in the patriarchal history first, that of Abraham's servant to obtain a wife for Isaac (Gen. xxiv.), and next, that of Jacob when he fled to evade the wrath of Esau (Gen. xxviii. 10). The plain bordering on this town is celebrated in history as the scene of a battle in which the Roman army was defeated by the Parthians, and the Triumvir Crassus killed. Haran still retains its ancient name in the form of Harran, and is only peopled by a few families of wandering Arabs, who are led thither by a plentiful supply of water from several small streams. It is situated in a flat and sandy plain, in 36 40' N. lat, 39 2' 45" E. long. HARE occurs in Lev. xi. 6, and Deut. xiv. ", and in both instances it is prohibited from being used as food, because it chews the cud, although 204. [Syrian Hare.] it has not the hoof divided. The hare however does not actually chew the cud, but has iucisor teeth above and below, set like chisels, and calcu- lated for gnawing, cutting, and nibbling, and when in a state of repose is engaged in working the incisor teeth upon each other. This practice is a necessary condition of existence, for the fric- tion keeps them fit for the purpose of nibbling, and prevents their gro-wing beyond a proper length. As hares do not subsist on hard substances, but HART on tender shoots and grasses, they have more cause, and therefore a more constant craving, to abrade their teeth ; and this they do in a manner which, combined with the slight trituration of the occasional contents of the cheeks, even mo- dern writers, not zoologists, have mistaken for real rumination. It follows therefore we should understand the original in the above passages, rendered ' chewing the cud,' as merely implying a second mastication, more or less complete. The act of ' chewing the cud ' and ' re-chewing' being considered identical by the Hebrews, the sacred lawgiver, not being occupied with the doctrines of science, no doubt used the expression in the sense in which it was then understood. It may be added, that a similar opinion, and consequent rejection of the hare as food, pervaded many nations of antiquity. There are two distinct species of hare in Syria : one, Jhe Syrian hare, nearly equal in size to the common European, having the fur ochry buff; and the hare of the desert, smaller and brownish. They reside in the localities indicated by their names, and are distinguished from the common hare, by a greater length of ears, and a black tail with white fringe. There is found in Egypt, and higher up the Nile, a third species, represented in the outline paintings on ancient monuments, but not coloured with that delicacy of tint re- quired for distinguishing it from the others, ex- cepting that it appears to be marked with the black speckles which characterize the existing species. HARETH, a forest iu Judah, to -which David fled from Saul (1 Sam. xxii. 5) [FOREST], HAROD, a brook not far from Jezreel and Mount Gilboa, The name means ' palpitation,' and it has been. suggested that it originated in consequence of the alarm and terror of most of the men who were here tested by Gideon (Judg. vii. 1-3); but this supposition seems very far- fetched, and the name more probably arose from some peculiarity in the outflow of the stream* HAR'OSHETH OF THE GENTILES, a city sup- posed to have been situated near Hazor, in the northern parts of Canaan, called afterwards Upper Galilee, or Galilee of the Gentiles [GALILEE]. Harosheth is said to have been the residence of Sisera, the general of the armies of Jabin, king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. To this place Jabin himself was pursued and defeated by De- borah and Barak (Judg. iv. 2, 13, 16). HARP. [Music.] HART. The word thus translated is AJAIL (it occurs in Deut. xii. 15 ; Ps. xlii. 1 ; Isa. xxxv. 6), and differs only by the feminine termination from that rendered ' hind' in many other passages of Scripture. There is, upon the whole, no reason to doubt that the male and female of a species of deer are really intended by these words. It is indeed true that the existence of animals of the deer kind in Asia has been denied, and Cuvier for some time doubted whether any could be found in Africa, Yet, although never abundant where water is scarce, the existence of deer from Morocco and the Nile has now been satisfactorily established, and there are traces of their presence in Syria, where they were probably more nu- merous formerly than at present. The Cervus Barbatus, or Barbary Stag, is the African species ; and an individual of this species was obtained by ^\ HAWK a friend of the writer in the region east of the Jordan. This species is in size between our red and fallow deer, distinguished by the want of a bis-antler, or second branch in the horns reckoned from below, and for a spotted livery which is effaced only in the third or fourth year. There is also in Asia the Persian stag, or Maral of the Tartar natives, and Gewaze of the Armenians. This is larger than the stag of Europe, has a heavy mane, and is, like the former, destitute of bis-antlers. This species seems, under the name of Soegur, to extend its habitat to the northern frontier of Syria and Palestine ; but taking all circumstances iuto account, it seems less probable that this should be the ' hart ' of Scripture than the Cervus Barbatus. HAV'ILAH. 1. A district in Arabia Felix, de- riving its name from the second son of Cush (Gen. x. 7), or, according to others, from the second son of Joktan (Gen. x. 29 ; comp. xxv. 18). There can be no doubt, however, of the existence of a double Havilah ; one founded by the descendant of Ham, and the other by that of Shem. From Gen. xxv. 18, it would appear that the land of Havilah formed the eastern boundary of the Is- raelites, and so likewise from 1 Sam. xv. 7, where it seems, moreover, to have been a possession belonging to the Amalekites. 2. A land rich in gold, bdellium, and shoham, mentioned in Gen. ii. 11, in the geographical description of Paradise. Some identify this with the preceding ; but others take it to be Chwala on the Caspian Sea ; and others suppose it a general name for India, in which case the river Pison, mentioned as sur- rounding it, would be identified with the Ganges. HA'VOTH-JA'IR. Havoth signifies ' cabins ' or ' huts,' such as belong to the Arabians, and a collection of which is regarded as forming a hamlet or village. The district of Havoth-jair (Jair's hamlets), mentioned in Num. xxxii. 41, and Deut. iii. 14, was beyond the Jordan in the land of Gilead, and belonged to the half-tribe of Manasseh. H AU'RAN, a tract or region of Syria, south of Damascus, which is twice mentioned under this name in Scripture (Ezek. xlvii. 16, 18). It was probably of small extent originally ; but received extensive additions from the Romans under the name of Auranitis. At present it reaches from about twenty miles south of Damascus to a little below Bozra, including the rocky district of el- Ledja, the ancient Trachonitis, and the moun- tainous region of Jebel-Haouran. Within its limits are also included, besides Trachonitis, Itursca or Ittur, now called Jedour, and part of Batanaea or Bashan. It is represented by Burck- hardt as a volcanic region, composed of porous tufa, pumice, and basalt, with the remains of a crater on the Tel Shoba, which is on its eastern border. It produces, however, crops of corn, and has many patches of luxuriant herbage, which are frequented in summer by the Arab tribes for pasturage. It also abounds with interesting re- mains of cities, scattered over its surface, among which are found Greek inscriptions. HAWK, an unclean bird (Lev. xi. 16; Deut. xiv. 1 5 ; Job xxxix. 26). The English name is an altered form of the old word ' fawk ' or ' falk.' Western Asia and Lower Egypt, and consequently the intermediate territory of Syria and Palestine, are the habitation or transitory residence of a con- HAWK 031 siderable number of species of the order Raptores, which, even including the shortest-winged, have great powers of flight, are remarkably enterprising, live to a great age, are migratory, or followers upon birds of passage, or remain in a region so abundantly stocked with pigeon and turtle-dove as Palestine, and affording such a variety of ground to hunt their particular prey abounding as it does in mountain and forest, plain, desert, marsh, river and sea-coast. We shall here enumerate, so far as our information will permit, the Falconida of this region, exclusive of those mentioned in other articles [EAGLE ; GLEDE ; KITE ; OSPRBY]. 205. [Peregrine Falcon.] Falcons, or the ' noble ' birds of prey used for hawking, have for many ages been objects of great interest, and still continue to be bought at high prices. They are consequently imported from distant countries, as central Asia, Iceland, Barbary, &c. Their love of liberty often renders them irreclaimable when once on the wing ; and their powers and boldness, independent of cir- cumstances, and the extent of range which the long-winged species in particular can take, are exemplified by their presence in every quarter of the globe. The Peregrine falcon is so generally diffused as to occur even in New Holland and South America. Next we may place Falco Aroeris of Sir J. G. \ Wilkinson, the sacred hawk of Egypt. This, if it be not in reality the same as, or a mere variety of the Peregrine, should have retained the ancient I epithet of Hierax, and the hawker's name of Sacre. Innumerable representations of it occur in Egyptian monuments. The Hobby is no doubt a second or third spe- cies of sacred hawk, having similar gernonia. Both this bird and the tractable Merlin are used in the falconry of the inferior Moslem landowners of Asiatic Turkey. Besides these the Kestril occurs in Syria, and the lesser Kestril in Egypt ; and it is probable that both species visit these two territories accord- ing to the seasons. To the 'noble' birds we may add the Ger- falcon, which is one-third larger than the Pere- grine : it is imported from Tartary and sold at Constantinople, Aleppo, and Damascus. The great birds fly at antelopes, bustards, cranes, &c. ; and of the genus Astur, with shorter wings than true falcons, the Goshawk, and the Falcon Gentil are either imported, or taken in their nests, and used to fly at lower and aquatic game. The smaller and less powerful hawks of the genus 882 HAZAEL are mostly in use on account of the sport they afford being less fatiguing, as they are em- ployed to fly at pigeons, partridges, quails, &c. HAZAEL (vision of God), an officer of Beuha- dad, king of Syria, whose eventual accession to the throne of Jhat kingdom was made known to Elijah (I Kings xix. 15); and who, when Elisha was at Damascus, was sent by his master, who was then ill, to consult the prophet respecting his recovery. He was followed by forty camels bear- ing presents from the king. When Hazael ap- peared before the prophet, he said, ' Thy son Ben- hadad, king of Syria, hath sent me to thee saying, Shall I recover of this disease?' The answer was, that he miyht certainly recover. How- beit,' added the prophet, ' the Lord hath showed me that he shall surely die.' He then looked stedfastly at Hazael till he became confused : on which the man of God wept ; and when Hazael respectfully inquired the cause of this outburst, Elisha replied by describing the vivid picture then present to his mind of all the evils which the man now before him would inflict upon Israel. Hazael exclaimed, 'But what! Is thy servant a dog that he should do this great thing?' The prophet exclaimed that it was as king of Syria he should do it. Hazael then returned, and delivered to his master that portion of the pro- phetic response which was intended for him. But the very next day this man, cool and calculating in his cruel ambition, took a thick cloth, and, having dipped it in water, spread it over the face of the king, who, in his feebleness, and probably in his sleep, was smothered by its weight, and died what seemed to his people a natural death (2 Kings viii. 8, &c.), B.C. 885. We are not to imagine that such a project as this was conceived and executed in a day, or that it was suggested by the words of Elisha. His discomposure at the earnest gaze of the prophet, and other circum- stances, show that Hazael at that moment re- garded Elisha as one to whom his secret purposes were known. In that case, his cry, ' Is thy ser- vant a dog,' &c., was not, as some suppose, a cry of joy at the first view of a throne, but of horror at the idea of the public atrocities which the pro- phet described. This was likely to shock him more than it would do after he had committed his first crime, and obtained possession of a throne acquired at such a cost The further information respecting Hazael which the Scriptures afford is limited to brief notices of his wars with Ahaziah and Joash, kings of Judah, and with Jehoram, Jehu, and Jehoahaz, kings of Israel (2 Kings viii. 28 ; ix. 14; x. 32; xii. 17; xiii. 3; 2 Chron. xxii. 5). It is difficult to distinguish the several campaigns and victories involved in these allusions, and spread over a reign of forty years ; but it is cer- tain that Hazael always had the advantage over the Hebrew princes. He devastated their fron- tiers, rent from them all their territories beyond the Jordan, traversed the breadth of Palestine, and carried his arms into the states of the Philis- tines ; he laid siege to Jerusalem, and only re- t'.red on receiving the treasures of the temple and tha palace. The details of these conquests re- deemed to the very letter the appalling predictions cf Elisha. This able and successful, but unprin- cipled usurper left the throne at his death to his son Benhadad. HEAD HA'ZAR-MA'VETH, the third son of Jokta. (Gen. x. 26), whose name is judged to have beei E reserved in the Arabian province of Hadramau ARABIA]. HAZEL occurs only once in the Old Testa- ment, namely, in Gen. xxx. 37, where it indicates one of the kinds of rod from which Jacob peeled the bark and which he placed in the water- troughs of the cattle. Luz is translated hazel in ! the Authorized Version, as well as in several \ others ; in some it is rendered by words equiva- [ lent to ' walnut,' but ' almond ' appears to be its , true meaning ; for the same word denotes that tree in the Arabic language [ALMOND]. HAZE'ROTH, the third station of the Israel- ites after leaving Sinai, and either four or five days' march from that mountain (Num. xi. 35 ; xxxiii. 17; comp. x. 33) [WANDERING]. HA'ZEZON-TA'MAR. [EN-GEDI.] HA'ZOR, a city near the waters of lake Me- rom (Huleh), the seat of Jabin, a powerful Canaanitish king, as appears from the summon sent by him to all the neighbouring kings to assist him against the Israelites. He and his confederates were, however, defeated and slain by Joshua, and the city burnt to the ground (Josh. xi. 1, 10-13; Joseph. Antiq. v. 5. 1). But by the time of Deborah and Barak the Canaan- ites had recovered part of the territory then lost, had rebuilt Hazor, and were ruled by a king with the ancient royal name of Jabin, under whose power the Israelites were, in punishment for their sins, reduced. From this yoke they were delivered by Deborah and Barak, after which Hazor remained in quiet possession of the Israel- ites, and belonged to the tribe of Naphtali (Josh. xix 36 ; Judg. iv. 2). Hazor was one of the towns rebuilt or much improved by Solomon (1 Kings ix. 15), and was one of the fortified places of Galilee which the Assyrians under Tiglath-pileser first took on invading Palestine from the north (2 Kings xv. 29). There is no modern notice of this town. HEAD. As the head is the topmost part of the human body, it came derivatively to signify that which is highest, chief, the highest in posi- tion locally being regarded as highest in office, rank, or dignity : whence, as the head is the centre of the nervous system, holds the brain, and stands above all the other parts, Plato re- garded it as the seat of the deathless soul ; and it has generally been considered as the abode of the intellect or intelligence by which man is en- lightened and his walk in life directed ; while the heart, or the parts placed near it, have been accounted the place where the affections lie (Gen. iii. 15; Ps. iii. 3; Eccles. ii. 14). The head and the heart are sometimes taken for the entire person (Isa. i. 5). Even the head alone, as being the chief member, frequently stands for the man (Prov. x. C). The head also denotes sovereignty (1 Cor. xi. 3). Covering the head, and cutting off the hair, were signs of mourning and tokens of distress, which were enhanced by throwing ashes on the head, together with sack cloth (Amos viii. 10; Job i. 20; Lev. xxi. 5, Deut. xiv. 1; 2 Sam. xiii. 10; Esther iv. 1); while anointing the head was practised on festive occasions, and considered an emblem of felicity (Eccles. ix. 8 ; Ps. xxiii. 5 ; Luke vii. 46). It was usual to swear by the head (Matt. V. 36). HEAD The general character of the human head is such as to establish the identity of the human race, and to distinguish man from every other animal. At the same time different families of HEAVEN 383 06. 1. Ethiopian; 2. Mongolian; 3. Caucasian; 4. Malay ; 5. American. mankind are marked hy peculiarities of construc- tion in the head, which, though in individual cases, rnd when extremes are compared together, they run one into the other to the entire loss of distinctive lines, yet are in the general broadly contrasted one with the other. These peculiari- ties in the structure of the skull give rise to and are connected with other peculiarities of feature and general contour of face. In the union of cranial peculiarities with those of the face certain clear marks are presented, by which physiologists have been able to range the individuals cf our race into a few great classes, and in so doing to afford an unintentional corroboration of the in- formation which the Scriptures afford regarding the origin and dispersion of mankind. Physi- ologists have established five classes of heads, corresponding with five great families. 1. The Caucasian family, comprising the nations of Europe, some of the Western Asiatics, &c., have the head of the most symmetrical shape, almost round, the forehead of moderate extent, the cheek bones rather narrow, without any projection, but a direction downwards from the molar process of the frontal bone ; the alveolar edge well rounded ; the front teeth of each jaw placed perpendicu- larly ; the -face of oval shape, straight, features moderately prominent ; forehead arched : nose narrow, slightly arched ; mouth small ; chin full and round. 2. The second is the Mongolian variety. 3. Ethiopian. 4. Malay and South Sea Islanders. 5. American. The description of their peculiarities may be found in Prichard's Researches into the Physical History of Man, 2nd edition, vol. i. p. 167, sq. HEART. Ail the phrases, more or less meta- phorical, in which this word occurs, are rendered intelligible, without detailed examples, when we are told that the heart was, among the Hebrews, regarded poetically not only as the seat of the passions and emotions, as of love, pleasure, and grief, but also of the intellectual faculties the mind, the understanding. In the original Scrip- tures, as well as in the English and other trans- lations, the word 'heart' therefore, constantly occurs where 'mind' is to be understood, and would be used by a modern English writer. We say modern, because the ancient usage of the English word 'heart' was more conformable than the present to that of the Hebrews. HEATH. Oror, the word thus rendered oc- curs in two or three places of Scripture, and has been variously translated, as tamarisk ; tamarin, which is an Indian tree, the tamarind ; relama, that is the broom ; and also, as in the French and English versions, heath, which is perhaps the most incorrect of all, though Hasselquist mentions finding heath near Jericho, in Syria. As far as the context is concerned, some of these plants, as the return and tamarisk, would answer very well ; but the Arabic name arar, is applied to a totally different plant, a species of juniper. Several species of juniper are no doubt found in Syria and Palestine. Robinson met with some in proceeding from Hebron to Wady Musa, near the romantic pass of Nemela : ' On the rocks above we found the juniper tree, Arabic arar ; its berries have the appearance and taste of the common juniper, except that there is more of the aroma of the pine. These trees were ten or fifteen feet in height, and hung upon the rocks even to the summits of the cliffs and needles.' In a note the author says: 'This is doubtless the Hebrew aroer (Jer. xlvii. 6) ; whence both the English version and Luther read incorrectly heath ' (jBibl. Researches, ii. 506). In proceeding S.E. he states : ' Large trees of the juniper become quite common in the Wadys and on the rocks.' It is mentioned in the same situations by other travellers, and is no doubt common enough, particularly in wild, uncultivated, and often inaccessible situations, and is thus suitable to Jer. xlviii. 6 : ' Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath (oror) in the wilderness.' HEAVEN, the state and place of blessedness in the life to come. As we can have no distinct conception of those joys which never have been and never will be experienced by us here in their full extent, we have of course no words in human language to express them, and cannot therefore expect any clear description of them even in the Holy Scrip- tures. Hence the Bible describes this happiness sometimes in general terms designating its great- ness (as in Rom. viii. 18-22 ; 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18) ; and sometimes by various figurative images and modes of speech, borrowed from everything which we know to be attractive and desirable. The following are the principal terms, both literal and figurative, which are applied in Scrip- ture to the condition of future happiness. Among the literal appellations we find ' life,' ! 'eternal life,' and 'life everlasting,' literally 'a i happy life,' or 'eternal well-being' (Matt. vii. 14; xix. 16, 29; xxv. 46) ; 'glory,' 'the glory of God' (Rom. ii. 7, 10; v. 2); and 'peace' 384 HEAVEN (Rom. ii. 10). Also ' an eternal weight of glory ' (2 Cor. iv. 17); and 'salvation,' 'eternal salva- tion' (Heb. v. 9), &c. Among the figurative representations, we may place the word ' heaven ' itself. The abode of departed spirits, to us who live upon earth, and while we remain here, is invisible and inac- cessible, beyond the bounds of the visible world, and entirely separated from it. There they live in the highest well-being, and in a nearer con- nection with God and Christ than here below. This place and state cannot be designated by any more fit and brief expression than that which is found in almost every language, namely, ' heaven,' a word in its primary and material signification denoting the region of the skies, or the visible heavens. It is there that the highest sanctuary or temple of God is situated, f . e., it is there that the omnipresent God most gloriously reveals himself. This, too, is the abode of God's highest spiritual creation. Thither Christ was trans- ported : he calls it the house of his Father, and says that he has therein prepared an abode for h. : s followers (John xiv. 2). This place, this ' heaven,' was never conceived of in ancient times, as it has been by some modern writers, as a particular planet or world, but as the wide expanse of heaven, high above the atmosphere, or starry heavens ; hence it is sometimes called the third heaven, as being neither the atmosphere nor the starry heavens. Another figurative name is ' Paradise,' taken from the abode of our first parents in their state of innocence, and transferred to the abode of the blessed (Luke xxiii. 43 ; 2 Cor. xii. 4 ; Rev. ii. 7 ; xxii. 2). Again, this place is called ' the heavenly Jeru- salem' (Gal. iv. 26 ; Heb. xii. 22; Rev. iii. 12), because the earthly Jerusalem was the capital city of the Jews, the royal residence, and the seat of divine worship ; ' the kingdom of heaven ' (Matt xxv. 1 ; Jas. ii. 5) ; the ' heavenly king- dom' (2 Tim. iv. 18); the 'eternal kingdom' (2 Pet i. 11). It is also called an 'eternal in- heritance' (1 Pet. i. 4; Heb. ix. 15), meaning the possession and full enjoyment of happiness, typified by the residence of the ancient Hebrews in Palestine. The blessed are said ' to sit down at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,' that is, to be a sharer with the saints of old in the joys of salvation ; ' to be in Abraham's bosom ' (Luke xvi. 22; Matt. viii. 11), that is, to sit near or next to Abraham [BosoMJ ; ' to reign with Christ* (2 Tim. ii. 11), i. e. to be distinguished, honoured, and happy as he is to enjoy regal felicities : to enjoy 'a Sabbath,' or 'rest' (Heb. iv. 10, 11), indicating the happiness of pious Christians, both in this life and in the life to come. All that we can with certainty know or infer from Scripture or reason respecting the blessed- ness of the life to come, may be arranged under the following particulars: 1. We shall here- after be entirely freed from the sufferings and adversities of this life. 2. Our future blessedness will involve a continuance of the real happiness of this life. I. The entire exemption from suffering and all that causes suffering here, is expressed in the Scripture by words which denote rest, repose, re- freshment, after performing labour and enduring affliction. But all the terms which are employed to express this condition, define (in the original! the promised ' rest," as rest after labour, and exemption from toil and grief; and not the ab- sence of employment, not inactivity or indolence (2 Thess. i. 7: Heb. iv. 9, 11 ; Rev. xiv. 13; comp. vii. 1 7). This deliverance from the evils of our present life includes 1. Deliverance from this earthly body, the seat of the lower principles of our nature and of our sinful corruption, and the source of so many evils and sufferings (2 Cor. vi. 1, 2; 1 Cor. xviii. 15). 2. Entire separation from the society of wicked and evil-disposed persons, who, in various ways, injure the righteous man and embitter his life on earth (2 Tim. iv. 18). 3. Upon this earth everything is inconstant, and subject to perpetual change ; and nothing is capable of completely satisfying our expectations and desires. But in the world to come it will be different. The bliss of the saints will continue without interruption or change, without fear of termination, and without satiety (Luke xx. 36 ; 2 Cor. iv. 16, 18 ; 1 Pet. i. 4 ; v. 10 ; 1 John iii. 2, sq.). II. Besides being exempt from all earthly trials, and having a continuance of that happiness which we had begun to enjoy even here, we have good reason to expect hereafter other rewards and joys, which stand in no natural or necessary con- nection with the present life. For our entire fe- licity would be extremely defective and scanty, were it to be confined merely to that which we carry with us from the present world, or were we compelled to stop short with that meagre and ele- mentary knowledge which we possess here. Be- sides the natural rewards -of goodness, there must, therefore, be others, which are positive, and de- pendent on the will of the Supreme Legislator. In the doctrine of the New Testament positive rewards are considered most obviously as belong- ing to our future felicity, and as constituting a principal part of it. For it always represents the joys of heaven as resulting strictly from the favour of God, and as being undeserved by those on whom they are bestowed. Hence there must be some- thing more added to the natural good consequences of our actions, something which cannot be con- sidered as the necessary and natural consequences of the good actions we may have here performed. But on this subject, we know nothing more in general than this, that God will so appoint and order our circumstances, and make such arrange- ments, that the principal faculties of our souls reason and affection, will be heightened and de- veloped, so that we shall continually obtain more pure and distinct knowledge of the truth, and make continual advances in holiness. Some theologians have supposed that the saints in heaven may be taught by immediate divine re- velations, especially those who may enter the abodes of the blessed without knowledge, or with only a small measure of it ; e. g. children and others who have died in ignorance, for which they themselves were not to blame. On this subject nothing is definitely taught in the Scriptures; but both Scripture and reason warrant us in be- lieving that provision will be made for all such persons in the world to come. A principal part of our future happiness will consist, according to the Christian doctrine, in the enlarging and cor- HEBREWS, EPISTLE TO THE reeling of our knowledge respecting God, his nature", attributes, and works, and in the salutary application of this knowledge to our own moral benefit, to the increase of our faith, love, and obedience. lu the Scripture revelations respecting heaven Christ is always repre'sented as one who will be personally visible to us, and whose personal, fa- miliar intercourse and guidance we shall enjoy. Herein Christ himself places a chief part of the joy of the saints (John xiv. xvii., &c.) ; and the apostles often describe the blessedness of the pious by the phrase being u-ith Christ. To his guidance has God intrusted the human race, in heaven and on earth. And Paul says (2 Cor. iv. 6), we see ' the brightness of the divine glory in the face of Christ,' he is 'the visible representative of the invisible God' (Col. i. 15). According to the representation contained in the Holy Scriptures, the saints will dwell together in the future world, and form, as it were, a kingdom or state of God (Luke xvi. ; xx. 38 ; Rom. viii. 10 ; Rev. vii. 9 ; Heb. xii. 22). They will there partake of a com- mon felicity. Their enjoyment will doubtless be very much heightened by friendship, and by their confiding intercourse with each other. 1. HE'BER (One of the other side), son of Salah, who became the father of Peleg at the age of 34 years, and died at the age of 464 (Gen. x. 24 ; xi. 14; 1 Chron. i. 25). His name occurs in the gene- alogy of Christ (Luke iii. 35). There is nothing to constitute Heber an historical personage ; but there is a degree of interest connected with him from the notion, which the Jews themselves enter- tain, that the name of Hebrews, applied to them, was derived from this alleged ancestor of Abra- ham. 2. HEBER, a descendant of Hobab, son of Jethro, and brother of the wife of Moses. His wife was the Jael who slew Sisera, and he is called Heber the Kenite (Judg. iv. 11, 17; v. 24), which seems to have been a name for the whole family (Judg. i. 16). Heber appears to have lived sepa- rate from the rest of the Kenites, leading a patri- archal life, amid his tents and flocks. He must have been a person of some consequence, from its being stated that there was peace between the house of Heber and the powerful king Jabin. At the time the history brings him under our notice his camp was in the plain of Zaanaim, near Kedesh in Naphtali [JAEL ; KENITES]. HEBREW OF THE HEBREWS, emphati- cally a Hebrew, one who was so by both parents, and that by a long series of ancestors, without ad* mixture of Gentile or even proselyte blood. HEBREWS, EPISTLE TO THE. In the received text this composition appears as part of the Canonical Scriptures of the New Testament, and also as the production of the apostle Paul. But on no subject, perhaps, in the department of the higher criticism of the New Testament, have opinions been more divided and more keenly dis- cussed, than on this. Of those who have rejected the claims of the apostle Paul to the authorship of this epistle, some have advocated those of Bar- nabas, others those of Luke, others those of Cle- ment of Rome, others those of Silas, others those of Apollos, others those of some unknown Chris- tian of Alexandria, and others those of some ' apostolic man,' whose name is no less unknown. Of these hypotheses some are so purely conjectural HEBREWS, EPISTLE TO THE 385 and destitute of any basis either historical or in- ternal, that the bare mention of them as the va- garies of learned men is almost all the notice they deserve. Our limited space will not permit us to enter upon an examination of these theories ; we must therefore content ourselves with present- ing a condensed outline of the evidence that the epistle was written by the Apostle Paul ; and -we shall commence with the internal evidence. 1. A person familiar with the doctrines on which Paul is fond of insisting in his acknow- ledged epistles, will readily perceive that there is such a correspondence in this respect between these and the Epistle to the Hebrews, as supplies good ground for presuming that the latter pro- ceeded also from his pen. That Christianity as a system is superior to Judaism in respect of clear- ness, simplicity, and moral efficiency ; that the former is the substance and reality of what the latter had presented only the typical adumbra- tion ; and that the latter was to be abolished to make way for the former, are points which, if more fully handled in the Epistle to the Hebrews, are familiar to all readers of the Epistles of Paul (comp. 2 Cor. iii. 6-18; Gal. iii. 22; iv. 1-9, 21- 31 ; Col. ii. 16, 17, &c.). The same view is given in this epistle as in those of Paul, of the divine glory of the Mediator, as the ' image of God,' the reflection or manifestation of Deity to man (comp. Col. i. 15-20; Phil.ii. 6 ; Heb. i. 3, &c.); His condescension is described as having consisted in an impoverishing, and lessening, and lowering of Himself for man's behalf (2 Cor. viii. 9 ; Phil. ii. 7, 8 ; Heb. ii. 9) ; and His exaltation is set forth as a condition of royal dignity, which shall be consummated by all His enemies being put under His footstool (1 Cor. xv. 25-27 ; Heb. ii. 8 ; x. 13 ; xii. 2). He is represented as discharging the office of a mediator, a word which is never used except by Paul and the writer of this epistle (Gal. iii. 19, 20; Heb. viii. 6); His death is re- presented as a sacrifice for the sins of man ; and the peculiar idea is announced in connection with this, that He was prefigured by the sacrifices of the Mosaic dispensation (Rom. iii. 22-26; 1 Cor. v. 7 ; Eph. i. 7 ; v. 2 ; Heb. vii.-x.). Peculiar to Paul and the author of this epistle is the phrase ' the God of peace ' (Rom. xv. 33, &c. ; Heb. xiii. 20). It is worthy of remark also that the mo- mentous question of a man's personal acceptance with God is answered in this epistle in the same peculiar way as in the acknowledged Epistles of Paul. All is made to depend upon the indi- vidual's exercising what both Paul and the author of this epistle call ' faith,' and which they both represent as a realizing apprehension of the facts, and truths, and promises of revelation. By both also the power of this ' faith ' is frequently referred to and illustrated by the example of those who had distinguished themselves in the annals of the Jewish race (comp. Rom. iii. 4 ; v. 2 ; Heb. iii. 6 ; Gal. iii. 5-14 ; Heb. x. 38; xi. 40). On all these points the sentiments of this epistle are so ob- viously Pauline, that even the most decided op- ponents of its Pauline authorship in recent times have laid it down as undeniable that it must have been written by some companion and disciple of Paul. 2. Some of the figures and allusions em- ployed in this epistle are strictly Pauline. Thus the word of God is compared to a sword (Eph. vi. 17; Heb. iv. 12); inexperienced Christians are 2c 396 HEBREWS, EPISTLE TO THE children who need milk, and must be instructed in the elements, whilst those of maturer attainments are full-grown men who require strong meat (1 Cor. iii. 1, 2; xiv. 20; Gal. iv. 9 ; Col. 'iii. 14 ; Heb. v. 12, 13; vi. 1); redemption through Christ is an introduction and an entrance with confidence. unto God (Rom. v. 2 ; Eph. ii. 18 ; iii. 12 ; Heb. x. 19); afflictions are a contest or strife (Phil. i. 30; Col. ii. 1; Heb. x. 32); the Christian life is a race (1 Cor. ix. 24 ; Phil. iii. 14 ; Heb. xii. 1); a person under the constraint of some unworthy feeling or principle is ' a subject of bondage' (Gal. v. 1 ; Heb ii. 15), &c. The fact that these and other such like figurative phrases occur only in this epistle and in the acknowledged Epistles of Paul, affords strong evidence that the former is his production, for in nothing does a writer more readily betray himself than by the use of peculiar and favourite figures. 3. Certain marked characteristics of Paul's style are found in this epistle. Paley, in enumerating these (Horce Paulina), has laid stress chiefly on the following : A disposition to the frequent use of a word, which cleaves as it were to the memory of the writer, so as to become a sort of cant word in his writings ; a propensity ' to go off at a word,' and enter upon a parenthetic series of remarks suggested by that word ; and a fondness for the paronomasia, or play upon words. In the Epistle to the Hebrews these peculiarities of Paul's style are richly exemplified. 4. There is a striking analogy between Paul's use of the Old Testament and that made by tke writer of this epistle. Both make frequent appeals to the Old Testament ; both are in the habit of accumulating passages from different parts of the Old Testament, and making them bear on the point under discussion (comp. Rorn. iii. 10-18 ; ix. 7-33, &c. ; Heb. i. 5-14; Hi.; x. 5-17); both are fond of linking quotations together by means of the expression ' and again ' (comp. Rom. xv. 9-12; 1 Cor. iii. 19, 20; Heb.i. 5; ii. 12, 13; iv. 4 ; x. 30) ; both make use of the same passages, and that occasionally in a sense not naturally suggested by the context whence they are quoted ' (1 Cor. xv. 27 ; Eph. i. 22 ; Heb. ii. 8 ; Rom. i. 1 7 ; Gal. iii. 11; Heb. x. 38); and both, in one in- stance, quote the same passage in the same way, but in a form in which it does not agree with the Sept., and with an addition of the words ' saith the Lord,' not found in the Hebrew ; thereby in- dicating that the passage is given in both instances as it was present to the memory of one and the same writer (comp. Rom. xii. 19 ; Heb. x. 30). In fine : The Epistle to the Hebrews contains some personal allusions on the part of the writer which strongly favour the supposition that he was Paul. These are the mention of his intention to pay those to whom he was writing a visit speedily, in com- pany with Timothy, whom he affectionately styles 4 our brother,' and whom he describes as having been set at liberty, and expected soon to join rtie writer (Heb. xiii. 23) ; the allusion to his being in a state of imprisonment at the time of writing, as well as of his having partaken of their sym- pathy while formerly in a state of bondage among them (Heb. xiii. 19 ; x. 34) ; and the transmission to them of a salutation from the believers in Italy (Heb. xiii. 24) ; all of which agree well with the supposition that Paul wrote this epistle while a prisoner at Rome. It now remains that we should look at the ex- HEBREWS, EPISTLE TO THE ternal evidence bearing on this question. Here we shall find the same conclusion still more de- cisively supported. Passing by, as somewhat uncertain, the alleged testimony of Peter, who is supposed (2 Pet. iii. 15, 1C) to refer to the Epistle to thfe Hebrews as the composition of Paul, and passing by, also, the testimonies of the apostolic fathers, which, though very decisive as to the antiquity and ca- nonical authority of this epistle, yet say nothing to guide us to the author, we come to the testi- mony of the Eastern church upon this subject. Here we meet the important fact, that of the Greek fathers not one ascribes this epistle to any but Paul. Nor does it appear that in any part of the Eastern church the Pauline origin of this epistle was ever doubted or suspected. In the Western church this epistle did not meet with the same early and universal reception. Notwithstanding the regard shown for it by Cle- ment, the church at Rome seems to have placed it under a ban ; and hence Tertullian ascribed it to Barnabas, and others to Luke and Clement, whilst no Latin writer is found during the first three centuries who ascribed it to Paul. In the middle of the fourth century, Hilary of Poictiers quotes it as Paul's ; and from that time the opi- nion seems to have gained ground till the com- mencement of the fifth century, when it speedily became as general in the Western as it had been in the Eastern churches. The result of the previous inquiry may be thus stated. 1. There is no substantial evidence ex- ternal or internal in favour of any claimant to the authorship of this epistle except Paul. 2. There is nothing incompatible with the suppo- sition that Paul was the author of it. 3. The preponderance of the internal, and all the direct external, evidence, go to show that it was written by Paul. Assuming the Pauline authorship of the epistle, it is not difficult to determine when and where it was written. The allusions in ch. xiii. 19, 21, point to the closing period of the apostle's two years' imprisonment at Rome as the season during ' the serene hours ' of which, as Hug describes them, he composed this noblest production of his pen. In this opinion almost all who receive the epistle as Paul's concur ; and even by those who da not so receive it, nearly the same time is fixed upon, in consequence of the evidence furnished by the epistle itself of its having been written a good while after those to whom it is addressed had become Christians, but yet before the de- struction of the Temple. That the parties to whom this epistle was ad- dressed were converted Jews, the epistle itself plainly shows. Ancient tradition points out the church at Jerusalem, or the Christians in Pales- tine generally, as the recipients. Stuart con- tends for the church at Csesarea, not without some show of reason. Some have doubted whether this composition be justly termed an epistle, and have proposed to regard it rather as a treatise. The salutations, however, at the close, seem rather to favour the common opinion; though it is of little moment which view we espouse. The design of this epistle is to dissuade those to whom it is written from relapsing into Judaism, and to exhort them to liold fast the truths of HEBRON Christianity which they had received. For this purpose the apostle shows the superiority of the latter over the former, in that it was introduced by one for greater than angels, or than Moses, from vhom the Jews received their economy (i. iii.), and in that it affords a more secure and complete salvation to the sinner than the former (iv.-x.). In demonstrating the latter position the apostle shows that in point of dignity, perpetuity, sufficiency, and suitableness, the Jewish priest- hood and sacrifices were far inferior to those of Christ, who was the substance and reality, whilst these were but the type and shadow. He shows, also, that by the appearance of the anti-type the type is necessarily abolished ; and adduces the important truth, that now, through Christ, the privilege of personal access to God is free to all. On all this he founds an exhortation to a life of faith and obedience, and shows that it has ever been otily by a spiritual recognition and worship of God that good men have participated in his favour (xi.). The epistle concludes, as is usual with Paul, with a series of practical exhortations and pious wishes (xii.-xiii.). HE'BRON, a town in the south of Palestine and in the tribe of Judah, 18 miles south from Jerusalem, in 31 32' 30'' N. lat., 35 8' 20" E. long., at the height of 2' 64 Paris feet above the level of the sea. It is one of the most ancient cities existing, having, as the sacred writer in- forms us, been built ' seven years before Zoan in Egypt,' and being mentioned even prior to Da- mascus (Num. xiii. 22; Gen. xiii. 18; comp. xv. 2). Its most ancient name was Kirjath-arba, that is, ' the city of Arba,' from Arba, the father of Anak and of the Anakim who dwelt in and around Hebron (Gen. xxiii. 2; Josh. xiv. 15; xv. 3 ; xxi. 12 ; Judg. i. 10). It appears to have been also called Mamre, probably from the name of Abraham's Amoritish ally (Gen. xxiii. 19 ; xxxv. 27 ; comp. xiv. 13, 28). The ancient city lay in a valley ; and the two remaining pools, one of which at least existed in the time of David, serve, with other circumstances, to identify the modern with the ancient site (Gen. xxxvii. 14 ; 2 Sam. iv. 12). Much of the life-time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was spent in this neighbourhood, where they were all entombed ; and it was from hence that the patriarchal family departed for Egypt by the way of Beersheba (Gen. xxxvii. 14; xlvi. 1). After the return of the Israelites, the city was taken by Joshua and given over to Caleb, who expelled the Anukim from its territo- ries (Josh. x. 36, 37; xiv. 6-15; xv. 13, 14; Judg. i. 20). It was afterwards made one of the cities of refuge, and assigned to the priests and Levites (Josh. xx. 7; xxi. 11, 13). David, on becoming king of Judah, made Hebron his royal residence. Here he reigned seven years and a half; here most of his sons were born ; and here he was anointed king over all Israel (1 Sam. ii. 1-4, 11; 1 Kings ii. 11; 2 Sam. v. 1, 3). On this extension of his kingdom Hebron ceased to be sufficiently central, and Jerusalem then be- came the metropolis. It is possible that this step excited a degree of discontent in Hebron which afterwards encouraged Absalom to raise in that city the standard of rebellion against his father (2 Kings xv. 9. 10). Hebron was one of the places fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 10); and after the exile the Jews who returned to Pales- HEBRON 387 tine occupied Hebron and the surrounding vil- lages (Neh. xi. 15). Hebron is not named by the prophets, nor in the New Testament ; but we learn from the first book of Maccabees, and from Josej.hus, that it came into the power of the Edomites who had taken possession of the south of Judah, ar.d was recovered from them by Judas Maccabauis. During the great war, Hebron was seized by the rebel Simon Giorides, but was re-captured and burnt by Cerealis, an officer of Vespasian. Jo- sephus describes the tombs of the patriarchs as existing in his day ; and both Eusebius and Je- rome, and all subsequent writers who mention Hebron down to the time of the Crusudes, speak of the place chiefly as containing these sepulchres. Among the Moslems it is still called el-Khulil, from the name which they give to Abraham, meaning ' the friend' (of God). Since the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin in 1187, Hebron has always remained in the pos- session of the Moslems. In the modern history of Hebron the most remarkable circumstance is the part which the inhabitants of the town and district took in the rebellion of 1834, and the heavy retribution which it brought down upon them. They held out to the last, and gave battle to Ibrahim Pasha near Solomon's Pools. They were defeated ; but retired and entrenched them- selves in Hebron, which Ibrahim carried by storm, and gave over to sack and pillage. The town has not yet recovered from the blow it then sustained. In the fourteenth century pilgrims passed from Sinai to Jerusalem direct through the desert by Beersheba and Hebron, and it continued to be occasionally visited by European travellers down to the latter part of the seventeenth century ; but from that time till the present century it appears to have been little frequented by them. The town of Hebron lies low down on the sloping sides of a narrow valley (of Mamre), chiefly on the eastern side, but in the southern part stretches across also to the western side. The houses are all of stone, high and well built, with windows and flat roofs, and on these roofs are small domes, sometimes two or three to each house. The shops are well furnished, better in- deed than those of towns of the same class in Egypt, and the commodities are of a very similar description. The only display of local manufac- tures is the produce of the glass-works, for which the place has long been celebrated in these parts. Gates are placed not only at. the entrance of the city, but in different parts of the interior, and are closed at night for the better preservation of order, as well as to prevent communication be- tween the different quarters. There are nine mosques in Hebron, none of which possess any architectural or other interest, with the exception of the massive structure which is built over the tombs of the patriarchs. This is esteemed by the Moslems one of their holiest places, and Christians are rigorously excluded from it. At the period, however, when the Holy Land was in the power of the Christians, access was not denied ; and Be;. jamin of Tudela says that the sarcophagi above ground were shown to the generality of pilgrims as what they desired to see ; but if a rich Jew offered an additional fee, ' an iron door is opened, which dates from 2c2 388 HELBON the time of our forefathers who rest in peace, and with a burning taper m his hands the visitor descends into a first ca^e, which is empty, tra- verses a second in the same state, and at last reaches a third, which contains six sepulchres, those of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of Sarah, Kebekah, and Leah, one opposite the other. All thse sepulchres bear inscriptions, the letters being engraved ; thus upon that of Abraham : " This is the sepulchre of our father Abraham, upon whom be peace ;" even so upon that of Isaac and all the other sepulchres.' The identity of this place with the cave of Machpelah has not been called in question. The court in which the mosque stands is sur- rounded by an extensive and lofty wall, formed of large stones, and strengthened by square but- tresses. This wall is the greatest antiquity in Hebron, and even Dr. Robinson supposes that it may be substantially the same which is mentioned by Josephus, and by Eusebius and Jerome as the sepulchre of Abraham. Besides this venerable wall, there is nothing at Hebron bearing the stamp of antiquity, save two reservoirs for rain water outside the town. As these pools are doubt- less of high antiquity, one of them is in all like- lihood the ' pool of Hebron ' over which David hanged up the assassins of Ishbosheth (2 Sam. iv. 12). The present population of Hebron has not been clearly ascertained, but it probably amounts to about 5000. Most of the inhabitants are Mos- lems, of fierce and intolerant character. There are no resident Christians. The Jews amount to about one hundred families, mostly natives of diiferent countries of Europe, who have emi- grated to this place for the purpose of having their bones laid near the sepulchres of their illus- trious ancestors. They have two synagogues and several schools. The environs of Hebron are very fertile. Vine- yards and plantations of fruit-trees, chiefly olive- trees, cover the valleys and arable grounds; while the tops and sides of the hills, although stony, are covered with rich pastures, -which support a great number of cattle, sheep, and goats, constituting an important branch of the industry and wealth of Hebron. The hill country of Judah, of which it is the capital, is indeed highly productive, and under a paternal government would be capable of sustaining a large population. That it did so once, is manifest from the great number and ex- tent of ruined terraces and dilapidated towns. It is at present abandoned, and cultivation ceases at the distance of two miles north of the town. The hills then become covered with prickly and other stunted trees, which furnish Bethlehem and other villages with wood. HEIFER, RED. [SACRIFICE.] HEIR. [BIRTHRIGHT ; INHERITANCE.] HEL'BON, or CHELBON, a name which occurs only in Ezek. xxvii. 18, where 'the wine of Helbon ' is named among the commodities brought to the great market of Tyre. Helbon is supposed to be identified with Chalybon, an old city of Syria, famous for wine. Now, it is generally agreed that the ancient Chalybon is represented by the modern Aleppo. Aleppo, styled by the natives Haleb, is situated in N. lat. 36 11' 25", E. long. 37 9', and is seventy- six miles from the sea by way of Scanderoon, in a HELL straight line, and ninety miles by way of An- tioch. It is one of the few ancient cities of these parts which have retained their ancient importance; and this it owes to its happy posi- tion upon the line of the commercial inter- course of Asia Minor and Syria with Egypt, and of Europe and Westernmost Asia with the coun- tries beyond the Euphrates. It has long ranked as the capital of Syria, and as the third, if not the second city of the Ottoman empire. It has suf- fered dreadfully from earthquakes at different times, and has never recovered the terrible visita- tion of this kind which it sustained in 1822 : the population, which was formerly reckoned above 200,000, is not supposed to reach half that number at present. HELL, the name given in our Authorized Version of the Scriptures to the place of final punishment for sinners. It is also distinctively indicated by such phrases as ' the place of tor- ment' (Luke xvi. 28); 'everlasting fire' (Matt. xxv. 41) ; ' the hell of fire, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched ' (Mark ix. 44). The dreadful nature of the abode of the wicked is implied in various figurative expressions, such as ' outer darkness,' ' I am tormented in this flame,' ' furnace of fire,' ' unquenchable fire,' ' where the worm dieth not,' ' the blackness of darkness,' ' torment in fire and brimstone,' ' the ascending smoke of their torment,' ' the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone' (Matt. viii. 12; xiii. 42 ; xxii. 13 ; xxv. 30 ; Luke xvi. 24 ; comp. Matt. xxv. 41 ; Mark ix. 43-48; Jude 13; comp. Rev. xiv. 10, 11 ; xix. 20 ; xx. 14; xxi. 8). The figure by which hell is represented as burning with fire and brimstone is probably derived from the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as that which describes the smoke as ascending from it (comp. Rev. xiv. 10, 11, with Gen. xix. 24, 28). To this coincidence of description Peter also most probably alludes in 2 Pet. ii. 6. The names which in many of the other in- stances are given to the punishments of hell are doubtless in part figurative, and many of the terms which were commonly applied to the sub- ject by the Jews are retained in the New Testa- ment. The images, it will be seen, are generally taken from death, capital punishments, tortures, prisons, &c. And it is the obvious design of the sacred writers, in using such figures, to awaken the idea of something terrible and fearful. They mean to teach that the punishments beyond the grave will excite the same feelings of distress as are produced on earth by the objects employed to represent them. We are so little acquainted with the state in which we shall be hereafter, and with the nature of our future body, that no strictly literal representation of such punishments could be made intelligible to us. Many of the Jews, indeed, and many of the Christian fathers, took the terms employed in Scripture in an entirely literal sense, and supposed there would be actual fire, &c. in hell. But from the words of Christ and his apostles nothing more can with certainty be inferred than that they meant to denote great and unending miseries. The punishments of sin may be distinguished into two classes 1. Natural punishments, or such as necessarily follow a life of servitude to sin: 2. Positive punishments, or such as God shall see fit, by his sovereign will, to inflict. HELPS 1. Among the natural punishments we may rank the privation of eternal happiness (Matt. vii. 21, 23 ; xxii. 13; xxv. 41 ; couip. 2Thess. L 9); the painful sensations which are the natural con- sequence of committing sin, and of an impenitent heart; the propensities to sin, the evil passions and desires which in this world fill the human heart, and which are doubtless carried into the world to come. The company of fellow-sinners and of evil spirits, as inevitably resulting from the other conditions, may be accounted among the natural punishments, and must prove not the least grievous of them. 2. The positive punishments have been already indicated. It is to these chiefly that the Scrip- ture directs our attention. ' There are but few men in such a state that the merely natural punishments of sin will appear to them terrible enough to deter them from the commission of it. Experience also shows that to threaten positive punishment has far more effect, as well upon the cultivated as the uncultivated, in deterring them from crime, than to announce, and lead men to expect, the merely natural consequences of sin, be they ever so terrible. Hence we may see why it is that the New Testament says so little of natural punishments (although these beyond question await the wicked), and makes mention of them in particular far less frequently than of positive punishments ; and why, in those passages which treat of the punishments of hell, such ideas and images are constantly employed as suggest and confirm the idea of positive punishments.' As the sins which shut out from heaven vary so greatly in quality and degree, we should ex- pect from the justice of God a corresponding variety both in the natural and the positive punishments. This is accordingly the uniform, doctrine of Christ and his apostles. ' The ser- vant who knows his lord's will and does it not, deserves to be beaten with many stripes :' ' To whom much is given, of him much will be re- quired' (Matt. x. 15 ; xi. 22, 24 ; xxiii. 15 ; Luke xii. 48). Hence St. Paul says that the heathen who acted against the law of nature would in- deed be punished ; but that the Jews would be punished more than they, because they had more knowledge (Rom. ii. 9-29). In this conviction, that God will, even in hell, justly proportion punishment to sin, we must rest satisfied. We cannot now know more; the precise degrees as well as the precise nature of such punishments are things belonging to another state of being, which in the present we are unable to understand. HELLENIST. In the New Testament this word seems to be appropriated as the name of those persons who, being of Jewish extraction, nevertheless talked Greek as their mother-tongue ; which was the case generally with the Jews in Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece ; and in fact through the influence of the Greek cities in north- ern Palestine (Decapolis), it would appear that the Galilseans from their childhood learned nearly as much Greek as Hebrew. The' appellation Hel- lenist is opposed to that of Hebrew in Acts vi. 1 : in Acts ix. 29, the reading is not so certain, yet probably it should there also be ' Hellenists,' meaning unconverted Jews. HELMET. [ARMS; ARMOUR.] HELPS. In the New Testament it occurs once, viz. in the enumeration of the several HERMAS 389 orders or classes of persons possessing miraculous gifts among the primitive Christians (1 Cor. xii. 28), where it seems to be used by metonymy, the abstract for the concrete, and to mean helpers ; like the words ' miracles,' i. e. workers of mi- racles; 'governments,' that is, governors, &c., in the same enumeration. The Americans, it is well known, by a similar idiom, call their ser- vants ' helps.' Great difficulty attends the attempt to ascertain the nature of the office so desig- nated among the first Christians. Many con- jectures have been hazarded regarding it; but after all it must be confessed, with Doddridge, that ' we can only guess at the meaning of the words in question, having no principles on which to proceed in fixing it absolutely.' 1. HE'MAN, a person of the tribe of Judah, named with others celebrated for their wisdom, to which that of Solomon is compared (1 Kings iv. ' 31 ; 1 Chron. ii. 6). The considerations stated under ETHAN will distinguish this Heman from the following, with whom he is sometimes con- founded. 2. HEMAN, a Kohathite of the tribe of Levi, and one of the leaders of the temple- music as organized by David (i Chron. vi. 33 ; xvi. 41, 42). This, doubtless, is the Heman to whom the 88th Psalm is ascribed, HERA'KLES is mentioned in 2 Mace. iv. 19, as the Tyrian god to whom the Jewish high- priest Jason sent a religious embassy, with the offering of 300 drachma; of silver. There can be little doubt that this Tyrian Hercules is the same j as the Tyrian Baal, whose worship prevailed in i the reign of Ahab, and was introduced directly from Phoenicia by Ahab's marriage with the Sidonian princess Jezebel (1 Kings xvi. 31). The power of nature, which was worshipped 1 under the form of the Tyrian Hercules, Melkarth, Baal, Adonis, Moloch, and whatever his other names are, was that which originates, sustains, and destroys life. These functions of the Deity, according to the Phoenicians, were represented, although not exclusively, by the sun, the in- fluence of which both animates vegetation by its genial warmth, and scorches it up by its fer- vour. Almost all that we know of the worship of the Tyrian Hercules is preserved by the classical writers, and relates chiefly to the Phosnician colonies, and not to the mother-state. The eagle, the lion, and the thunny-fish, were sacred to him, and are often found on Phoenician coins. Pliny expressly testifies that human sacrifices were offered up every year to the Carthaginian Her- cules; which coincides with what is stated of Baal in Jer. xix. 5, and with the acknowledged worship of Moloch. HER'MAS, one of the Christians at Rome to whom Paul addressed special salutations in his Epistle (Rom. xvi. 14). Of his history and sta- tion in life nothing is known. By several writers, ancient and modern, he has been reputed to be the author of a work entitled The Shepherd of Hermas, which, from its high antiquity and the supposed connection of the writer with St. Paul, has been usually classed with the epistles of the so-called Apostolic Fathers. It was originally written in Greek, but we possess it only in a Latin version (as old as the time of Tertullian), a few fragments excepted, which are found as 890 HERODIAN FAMILY quotations in other ancient authors. It has been divided by modern editors (for in the manuscript copies there is no such division) into three books the first consisting of four visions, the second ol twelve commands, and the third of ten simili- tudes. It is called ' The Shepherd,' because the Angel of Repentance, at whose dictation Hernias professes that he wrote the second and third books, appeared in the garb of a shepherd. It is doubtful whether the author really believed that he saw the visions he describes, or merely adopted the fiction to render his work more attractive. Impartial judges will probably agree with Mosheim, that ' Tlte Shepherd ' contains such a mixture of folly and superstition with piety, ol egregious nonsense with momentous truth, as to render it a matter of astonishment that men ol learning should ever have thought of giving it a place among the inspired writings. HER'MES, the Mercurius of the Romans, was the messenger of the gods, and was equally cha- racterized by adroitness of action and readiness of speech. He was also the customary attendant of Jupiter when he appeared on earth. These circumstances explain why the inhabitants ol Lystra (Acts xiv. 12), as soon as ever they were disposed to believe that the gods had visited them in the likeness of men, discovered Hermes in Paul, as the chief speaker, and as the attendant of Jupiter. HERMOG'ENES and PHYGELLUS, dis- ciples of Asia Minor, and probably companions in labour of St. Paul. They abandoned him during his second imprisonment at Rome, doubt- less from alarm at the perils of the connection (2 Tim. i. 15). HER'MON, a mountain which formed the northernmost boundary of the country beyond the Jordan which the Hebrews conquered from the Amorites (Deut. iii. 8), and which, therefore, must have belonged to Anti-Libanus. Since modern travellers have made ns acquainted with the country beyond the Jordan, no doubt has been entertained that the Mount Hermon of those texts is no other than the present Jebel esh-sheikh, or the Sheikh's mountain, or, which is equivalent, Old Man's Mountain, a name it is said to have obtained from its fancied resemblance (being topped with snow, which sometimes lies in length- ened streaks upon its sloping ridges) to the hoary head and beard of a venerable sheikh. This Jebel esh-sheikh is a south-eastern, and in that direction culminating, branch of Anti-Libanus. It is probably the highest of all the Lebanon mountains, and is thought to rival Mont Blanc, though, as Elliot observes, the high ground on which it stands detracts considerably from its apparent altitude, and makes it a less imposing object than that king of European mountains as viewed from the Italian valley of Aosta. Its top is covered with snow throughout the summer, and must therefore rise above the point of perpetual congelation, which in this quarter is about 11,000 feet. It might, perhaps, be safe to add another 1000 feet for the height above that point, making in all 12,000 feet; but we must wait the result of more accurate observations than have yet been made. HERODIAN FAMILY. Josephus introduces us to the knowledge of the Herodian family in the fourteenth book of his Antiquities. He there HERODIAN FAMILY tells us (c. i. 3) that among the chief friends of Hyrcanus, the high-priest, was an Jdumsean, named Antipater, distinguished for his riches, and no less for his turbulent and seditious temper. He also quotes an author who represented him as descended from one of the best of the Jewish families which returned from Babylon after the captivity, but adds that this statement was founded on no better grounds than a desire to flatter the pride and support the pretensions of Herod the Great. The times were favourable to men of Aritipater's character ; and, while he obtained sovereign authority over his native province of Iduma:a, he contrived to subject Hyrcanus com- pletely to his will, and to induce him to form an alliance with Aretas, from which he trusted to secure the best means for his own aggrandizement. Having so far accomplished his designs as to make himself the favourite ally of Rome, he ob- tained for his son Phasselus the governorship of Jerusalem, and for Herod, then only fifteen years old. the chief command in Galilee. Herod soon distinguished himself by his talents and bravery. The country was at that time infested with numerous bands of robbers. These he assailed and vanquished, and his success was proclaimed, not only throughout Galilee, but in Judaea and the neighbouring countries. This increasing popularity of a member of the family of Antipater alarmed the ruling men at Jeru salem, and they willingly hearkened to the com- plaints made against Herod by some of the rela- tives of those whom he had slain. He was accord- ingly summoned to take his trial before the Sanhedrim : nor did he disobey the summons ; but on the day of trial he appeared at the tribunal gorgeously clad in purple, and surrounded by a numerous band of armed attendants. His acquit- tal was speedily pronounced. One only of the judges ventured to speak of his guilt, and the venerable old man prophesied that, sooner or later, this same Herod would punish both them and Hyrcanus for their pusillanimity. In the events which followed the death of Caesar, Herod found fresh opportunities of accom- plishing his ambitious designs. By collecting a considerable tribute for Cassius in Galilee, he- obtained the friendship of that general, and was appointed to the command of the army in Syria. No less successful with Marc Antony, he over came the powerful enemies who represented the dangerous nature of his ambitions views, and was exalted, with his brother Phasaelus, to the dignity of tetrarch of Judaea. They had not, however, long enjoyed their office when the approach of Antigonus against Jerusalem compelled them to meditate immediate flight. Phasaslus and Hyr- canus fell into the hands of the enemy ; but Herod, making good his escape, hastened to Rome, where he pleaded his cause and his former merits with so much skill, that he was solemnly proclaimed king of the Jews, and endowed with the proper ensigns and rights of royalty. Augustus, three years afterwards, confirmed this act of the senate; and Herod himself scrupled not to perpetrate the most horrible crimes to give further stability to bis throne. The murder of his wife Mariamue. a daughter of Hyrcanus, and of his two sons Alex- ander and Aristobulus, place him in the foremost rank of those tyrants whose names blacken the sage of history. Of the massacre at Bethlehem HERODIAN FAMILY the Jewish historian says nothing; but it has been well observed that such an event, in a reign marked by so many horrible deeds, and occurring as it did iu a small, obscure town, was not likely to obtain a place in the national annals. The reign of Herod, prolonged through thirty-seven years, was in many respects prosperous ; and the splendour of his designs restored to Jerusalem, as a city, much of its earlier magnificence. According to the custom of the times, Herod made his sons the heirs to his kingdom by a formal testament, leaving its ratification to the will of the emperor. Augustus assenting to its main provisions, Archelaus became tetrarch of Judaea, Samaria, and Idumaea ; Philip, of Tra- chonitis and Itursea ; and HEROD ANTIPAS, of Galilee and Persea. This Herod was first married to a daughter of King Aretas of Arabia ; but forming an unholy attach- ment for Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, he soon became involved in a course of guilt which ended iu his utter ruin. Aretas, to avenge his daughter, sent a considerable army against Herod, whose generals in vain attempted to oppose its progress. The forces which they led were totally destroyed, and instant ruin seemed to threaten both Herod and his dominions. An appeal to the Romans afforded the only hope of safety. Aretas was haughtily ordered by the emperor to desist from the prosecution of the war ; and Herod accordingly escaped the expected overthrow. But he was not allowed to enjoy his prosperity long. His nephew Agrippa having obtained the title of King, Herodias urged him to make a journey to Italy and demand the same honour. He weakly assented to his wife's ambi- tious representations ; but the project proved fatal to them both. Agrippa anticipated their designs ; and when they appeared before Caligula they were met by accusations of hostility to Rome, the truth of which they in vain attempted to disprove. Sentence of deposition was accordingly passed upon Herod, and both he and his wife were sent into banishment, and died at Lyons in Gaul. HEROD AGRIPPA, alluded to above, was the son of Aristobulus, so cruelly put to death by his father Herod the Great The earlier part of his life was spent at Rome, where the magnificence and luxury in which he indulged reduced him to poverty. After a variety of adventures and sufferings he was thrown into bonds by Tiberius ; but on the succession of Caligula was not only restored to liberty, but invested with royal dig- nity, and made tetrarch of Abilene, and of the districts formerly pertaining to the tetrarchy of Philip. His influence at the Roman court in- creasing, he subsequently obtained Galilee and Peraea, and at length Judaea and Samaria, his dominion being thus extended over the whole country of Palestine. To secure the good-will of his subjects, he yielded to their worst passions and caprices. Memorable instances are afforded of this in the apostolic history, where we are told that ' He stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church, and he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword ; and because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also ' (Acts xii. 1-3). His awful death, described in the same chapter, and by Josephus almost in the same words, occurred in the fifty-fourth year of his age. HERODIANS 391 HEROD AGRIPPA, the son of the above-named, w.as in his seventeenth year when his father died. The emperor Claudius, at whose court the young Agrippa was then residing, purposed conferring upon him the dominions enjoyed by his father. From this he was deterred, says Josephus, by the advice of his ministers, who represented the danger of trusting an important province of the empire to so youthful a ruler. Herod was, there- foreffor the time, obliged to content himself with the small principality of Chalcis, but was not long after created sovereign of the tetrarchies formerly belonging to Philip and Lysanias; a dominion increased at a subsequent period by the grant of a considerable portion of Pera;a. The habits which he had formed at Rome, and his strong attachment to the people to whose rulers he was indebted for his prosperity, brought him into frequent disputes with his own nation. He died, at the age of seventy, in the early part of the reign of Trajan. HERO'DIANS, a class of Jews that existed in the time of Jesus Christ, whether of a political or religious description it is not easy, for want of : materials, to determine. The passages of the New Testament which refer to them are the fol- lowing: Mark iii. 6 ; xii. 13; Matt. xxii. 1C; Luke xx. 20. They were associated with the emissaries of the chief priests sent to our Lord with the express but covert design of en- snaring him in his speech, that thus they might compass his destruction. The question they put to him was one of the most difficult' Is it law- ful to pay tribute to Ca3sar ? ' The way in which Jesus extricated himself from the difficulty and discomfited his enemies is well known. Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee, was at that time specially the ruler of Jesus, whose home was in that province. The Herodians then may have been subjects of Herod, Galila;ans, whose evidence the priests were wishful to procure, be- cause theirs would be the evidence of fellow- countrymen, and of special force with Antipas as being that of his own immediate subjects (Luke xxiii. 7). Herod's relations with Rome were in an unsaf.- condition. He was a weak prince, given to ease and luxury, and his wife's ambition conspired with his own desires to make him strive to obtain from the Emperor Caligula the title of king. For this purpose he took a journey to Rome, and was banished to Lyons in Gaul. The Herodians may have been favourers cf his pretensions : if so, they would be partial hearers, and eager witnesses against Jesus before the Ro- man tribunal. It would be a great service to the Romans to be the means of enabling them to get rid of one who aspired to be king of the Jews. It would equally gratify their own lord, should the Herodians give effectual aid in putting a pe- riod to the mysterious yet formidable claims of a rival claimant of the crown. We do not see that the two characters here ascribed to the Herodians are incompatible ; and if they were aGalilasan political party who were eager to procure from Rome the honour of royalty for Herod (Mark vi. 14, the name of king is merely as of courtesy), they were chosen as asso- ciates by the Sanhedrim with especial propriety. The deputation were to ' feign themselves just men,' that is, men whose sympathies were entirely 392 HESHBON Jewish, and, as such, anti-heatheu : they were to intimate their dislike of paying tribute, as being an acknowledgment of a foreign yoke ; and by flattering Jesus, as one who loved truth, feared no man, and would say what he thought, they meant to inveigle him into a condemnation of the prac- tice. In order to carry these base and hypocri- tical designs into effect, the Herodians were ap- propriately associated with the Pharisees ; for as the latter were the recognised conservators of Ju- daism, so the former were friends of the aggran- disement of n native as against a foreign prince. HERODIAS. [HERODIAN FAMILY.] HERON (Lev. xi. 19; Deut. xiv. 18). The original word anaphah is a disputed name of an unclean bird, and which has also been translated kite, woodcock, parrot, and crane. For the first of these see GLEDE ; the second is rare and only a momentary visitor in Palestine ; the third, surely, required no prohibition where it was not a resi- dent spt-cies, and probably not imported till the reign of Solomon ; and as the crane, we have already shown it to have been likewise exotic, making only a momentary appearance, and that rarely, in Syria. If the Hebrew name be de- rived from a word signifying ' to breathe short,' or ' to sniff through the nostrils with an irritated expression," the most obvious application would be to the goose, a bird not, perhaps, otherwise noticed in the Hebrew Scriptures, though it was constantly eaten in Egypt, was not held unclean by the Jews, and, at some seasons, must have fre- quented the lakes of Palestine. The heron, though not constantly hissing, can utter a similar sound of displeasure with much more meaning, and the common species is found in Egypt, and is also abundant in the Hauran of Palestine, where it frequents the margins of lakes and pools, and the reedy watercourses in the deep ra- vines, striking and devouring an immense quan- tity of fish. 207. [Ardea cinerea.] HESH'BON, a town in the southern district of the Hebrew territory beyond the Jordan, parallel with, and twenty-one miles east of, the point where the Jordan enters the Dead Sea, and nearly midway between the rivers Jabbock and Arnou. It originally belonged to the Moabites; but when the Israelites arrived from Egypt, it was found to be in the possession of the Amorites, whose king, Sihon, is styled both king of the Amorites and king of Heshbon, and is expressly said to have ' reigned in Heshbon ' (Josh. iii. 10 ; comp. Num. xxi. 26 ; Deut. ii. 9). It was taken by Moses (Num. xxi. 23-26), and eventually became a Levitical city (Josh. xxi. 39; 1 Chron. vi. 81) HEZEKIAH in the tribe of Reuben (Num. xxxii. 37 ; Josh, xiii. 17); but being on the confines of Gad, is sometimes assigned to the latter tribe (Josh. xxi. 39; 1 Chron. vi. 81). After the ten tribes were sent into exile, Heshbon was taken possession ot by the Moabites, and hence is mentioned by the prophets in their declarations against Moab (Isa. xv. 4; Jer. xlviii. 2, 34, 45). Under King Alex- ander JannsDus we find it again reckoned as a Jewish city. At the present day it is known by its ancient name of Heshbon, in the slightly modified form of Hesban. The ruins of a con- siderable town still exist, covering the sides of an insulated hill, but not a single edifice is left entire. The view from the summit is very exten- sive, embracing the ruins of a vast number o cities, the names of some of which bear a strong resemblance to those mentioned in Scripture. HEZEKI'AH, son of Ahaz, and thirteenth king if Judah, who reigned from B.C. 725 to B.C. 096. From the commencement of his reign the efforts of Hezekiah were directed to the reparation of the effects of the grievous errors of his predeces- sors ; and during his time the true religion and the theocratical policy flourished as they had not done since the days of David. The temple was cleared and purified ; the utensils and forms o. service were restored to their ancient order ; all the changes introduced by Ahaz were abolished ; all the monuments of dolatry were destroyed, and their remains cast into the brook Kedron. Among the latter was the brazen serpent of Moses, which had been deposited first in the tabernacle, and then in the temple, as a memorial of the event in which it originated: and it is highly to the credit o Hezekiah, and shows more clearly than any other single circumstance the spirit of his operations, that even this interesting relic was not spared when it seemed in danger of being turned to idolatrous uses. Having succeeded by his acts and words in rekindling the zeal of the priests and of the people, the king appointed a high fes- tival, when, attended by his court and people, he proceeded in high state to the temple, to present sacrifices of expiation for the past irregularities, and to commence the re-organised services. A vast number of sacrifices evinced to the people the zeal of their superiors, and Judah, long sunk in idolatry, was at length reconciled to God (2 Kings xviii. 1-8 ; 2 Chron. xxix.). The revival of the great annual festivals was included in this reformation. The Passover, which was the most important of them all, had not for a long time been celebrated according to the rites of the law; and the day on which it regularly fell, in the first year of Hezekiah, being already past, the king, nevertheless, justly con- ceiving the late observance a less evil than the entire omission of the feast, directed that it should be kept on the 14th day of the second month, being one month after its proper time. Couriers were sent from town to town, inviting the people to attend the solemnity; and even the ten tribes which formed the neighbouring kingdom were invited to share with their brethren of Judah in a duty equally incumbent on all the children of Abraham. Of these some received the message gladly, and others with disdain ; but a consider- able number of persons belonging to the northern" ' most tribes (which had more seldom than the others been brought into hostile contact with HEZEKIAH Judah) came to Jerusalem, and by their presence imparted a new interest to the solemnity. A profound and salutary impression appears to have been made on this occasion ; and so strong was the fervour and so great the number of the assembled people, that the festival was prolonged to twice its usual duration ; and during this time the multitude was fed abundantly from the count- less offerings presented by the king and his nobles. 'Never since the time of Solomon, when the whole of the twelve tribes were wont to assemble at the Holy City, had the Passover been observed with such magnificence (2 Chron. XXX.). The good effect of this procedure was seen when the people carried back to their homes the zeal for the Lord which had thus been kindled, and proceeded to destroy and cast forth all the abominations by which their several towns had been defiled ; thus performing again, on a smaller scale, the doings of the king in Jerusalem. Even the 'high places,' which the pious kings of former days had spared, were on this occasion abolished and overthrown; and even the men of Israel, who had attended the feast, were carried away by the same holy enthusiasm, and, on returning to their homes, broke all their idols in pieces (2 Chron. xxxi. 1). The attention of this pious and able king was extended to whatever concerned the interests of religion in his dominions. He caused a new col- lection of Solomon's proverbs to be made, being the same which occupy chaps, xxv. to xxix. of the book which bears that name. The sectional divisions of the priests and Levites were re-esta- blished ; the perpetual sacrifices were recom- menced, and maintained from the royal treasure ; the stores of the temple were once more filled by the offerings of the people, and the times of Solo- mon and Jehoshaphat seemed to have returned (2 Chron. xxxi.). This great work having been accomplished and consolidated (2 Kings xvii. 7, &c.), Hezekiah applied himself to repair the calamities, as he had repaired the crimes, of his father's govern- ment. He took arms, and recovered the cities of Judah which the Philistines had seized. Encou- raged by this success, he ventured to withhold the tribute which his father had paid to the Assyrian king ; and this act, which the result shows to have been imprudent, drew upon the country the greatest calamities of his reign. Only a few years before, namely, in the fourth of his reign, the Assyrians had put an end to the king- dom of Israel and sent the ten tribes into exile ; but had abstained from molesting Hezekiah, as he was already their tributary. Seeing his coun- try invaded ou all sides by the Assyrian forces under Sennacherib, and Lachish, a strong place which covered Jerusalem, on the point of falling into their hands, Hezekiah, not daring to meet them in the field, occupied himself in all neces- sary preparations for a protracted defence of Jeru- salem, in hope of assistance from Egypt, with which country he had contracted an alliance (Isa. xxx. 1-7). Such alliances were not favoured by the Divine sovereign of Israel and his prophets, and no good ever came of them. But this alli- ance did not render the good king unmindful of his true source of strength ; for in quieting the alarms of the people he directed their attention to HEZEKIAH 393 the consideration that they in fact had more of power and strength in the divine protection than the Assyrian king possessed in all his host. Ne- vertheless, Hezekiah was himself distrustful of the course he had taken, and at length, to avert the calamities of war, sent to the Assyrian king offers of submission. Sennacherib, who was anxious to proceed against Egypt, consented to withdraw his forces on the payment of three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold ; which the king was not able to raise with- out exhausting both his own treasury and that of the temple, and stripping off the gold with which the doors and pillars of the Lord's house were overlaid (2 Kings xviii. 7-16). But after he had received the silver and gold, the Assyrian king broke faith with Hezekiah, and continued to prosecute his warlike operations. While he employed himself in taking the fort- resses of Judaea, which it was important to secure before he marched against Egypt, he sent three of his generals, Eabshakeh, Tartan, and Kabsaris, with part of his forces, to threaten Jerusalem with a siege unless it were surrendered, and the inha- bitant;; submitted to be sent into Assyria ; and this summons was delivered in language highly insulting not only to the king and people, hut to the God they worshipped. When the terms of the summons were made known to Hezekiah, he gathered courage from the conviction that God would not fail to vindicate the honour of his in- sulted name. In this conviction he was con- firmed by the prophet Isaiah, who, in the Lord's name, promised the utter discomfiture and over- throw of the blasphemous Assyrian : ' Lo, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land, and I will cause him to die by the sword in his own land ' (2 Kings xix. 7). The rumour which Senna- cherib heard was of the advance of Tirhakah the Ethiopian to the aid of the Egyptians, with a force which the Assyrians did not deem it pru- dent to meet; but, before withdrawing to his own country, Sennacherib sent a threatening letter to Hezekiah, designed to check the gladness which his retirement was likely to produce. But that very night the predicted blast probably the hot pestilential south wind smote 180,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians, and released the men of Judah from all their fears (2 Kings xviii. 17-37 ; xix. 1-34 ; 2 Chron. xxxii. 1-23 ; Isa. xxxvi. 37). It was in the same year, and while Jerusalem was still threatened by the Assyrians, that Heze- kiah fell sick of the plague; and the aspect which the plague-boil assumed assured him that he must die. In this he was confirmed by Isaiah, who warned him that his end approached. The love of life, the condition of the country the Assy- rians being present in it, and the throne of David without an heir caused him to grieve at this doom, and to pray earnestly that he might be spared. And his prayer was heard in heaven. The prophet returned with the assurance that in three days he should recover, and that fifteen ad- ditional years of life should be given to him. This communication was altogether so extraor- dinary, that the king required some token by which his belief might be justified ; and accord- ingly the ' sign ' which he required was granted to him. The shadow of the sun went back upon 894 HI EL the dial of Ahaz the ten degrees it had gone down [DIAL]. This was a marvel greater than that of the cure which the king distrusted ; for there is 110 known principle of astronomy or natural philosophy by which such a result could be produced. A cataplasm of figs was then ap- plied to the plague-boil, under the direction of the prophet, and on the third day, as foretold, the king recovered (2 Kings xx. 1-11; 2 Chron. xxxii. 24-26 ; Isa. xxxviii.). [PLAGUE.] The destruction of the Assyrians drew the at- tention of foreign courts for a time towards Ju- daea, and caused the facts connected with Heze- kiah's recovery, and the retrogression of the shadow on the dial, to be widely known. Among others, Merodach Baladan, king of Babylon, sent ambassadors with presents to make inquiries into those matters, and to congratulate the king on his recovery. Since the time of Solomon the appearance of such embassies from distant parts had been rare at Jerusalem ; and the king, in the pride of his heart, made a somewhat ostentatious display to Baladan's ambassadors of all his trea- sures, which he had probably recovered from the Assyrians, and much increased with their spoil. Josephus (Antiq. x. 2. 2) says that one of the ob- jects of the embassy was to form an alliance with Hezekiah against the Assyrian empire ; and if so, his readiness to enter into an alliance adverse to the theocratical policy, and his desire to magnify his own importance in the eyes of the king of Babylon, probably furnished the ground of the divine disapprobation with which his conduct in this matter was regarded. He was reprimanded by the prophet Isaiah, who revealed to him the mysteries of the future, so far as to apprise him that all these treasures should hereafter be in the possession of the Babylonians, and his family and people exiles in the land from which these am- bassadors came. This intimation was received by the king with his usual submission to the will of God ; and he was content to know that these evils were not to be inflicted in his own days. He has sometimes been blamed for this seeming indifference to the fate of his successors ; but it is to be borne in mind that at this time he had no children. This was in the fourteenth year of his reign, and Manasseh, his successor, was not born till three years afterwards (2 Kings xx. 12-19; 2 Chron. xxxii. 31 ; Isa. xxxix.). The rest of Hezekiah's life appears to have been peaceable and prosperous. No man before or since ever lived under the certain knowledge of the precise length of the span of life before him. When the fifteen years had expired, Hezekiah was gathered to his fathers, after a reign of twenty-nine years. He died sincerely lamented by all his people, and the public respect for his character and memory was testified by his corpse being placed in the highest niche of the royal sepulchre (2 Kings xx. 20, 21 ; 2 Chron. xxxii. 32, 33). HI'EL (God liveth), a native of Beth-el, -who rebuilt Jericho, above 500 years after its destruc- tion by the Israelites, and who, in so doing, in- curred the effects of the imprecation pronounced by Joshna (1 Kings xvi. 34) : Accursed the man in the sight of Jehovah, Who shall arise and build this city, even Jericho ; With the loss of his first-born shall he found it, And with the loss of his youngest shall he fix its gates (Josh. vL 26). HIGH PLACES AND GROVES HIERAFOLIS. a city of Phrygia, not far from Colossae and Laodicea, where there was a Chris- tian church under the charge of Epaphros, as early as the time of St. Paul, who commends him for his fidelity and zeal (Colos. iv. 12, 13). The place is visible from the theatre at Laodicea, from which it is five miles distant northward. The place now bears the name of Pamluck- kale (Cotton-castle), from the white appearance of the cliffs of the mountain on the lower summit, or rather an extended terrace, on which the ruins are situated. It owed its celebrity, and probably the sanctity indicated by its ancient name (Holy City), to its very remarkable springs of mineral water, the singular effects of which, in the forma- tion of stalactites and incrustations by its deposits, are shown in the accounts of Pococke and Chan- dler, to have been accurately described by Strabo. A great number and variety of sepulchres are found in the different approaches to the site, which on one side is sufficiently defended by the preci- pices overlooking the valleys of the Lycus and Mseander, while on the other sides the town walls are still observable. The magnificent ruins clearly attest the ancient importance of the place. HIGH PLACES AND GROVES. As high places and groves are almost constantly associated in Scripture, it seems undesirable to separate them in our consideration. By ' high places ' we are content to understand natural or artificial eminences, where worship by sacrifice or offering was made, usually upon an altar erected thereon. By a ' grove ' we understand a plantation of trees around a spot in the open air set apart for worship and other sacred services, and therefore around or upon the ' high places ' which were set apart for the same purposes. We find traces of the custom of worshipping in groves and upon high places so soon after the deluge, that it is probable they existed ptior to that event. It appears that the first altar after the deluge was built by Noah upon the mountain on which the ark rested (Gen. viii. 20). Abraham, on entering the Promised Land, built an altar upon a mountain between Bethel and Hai (xii. 7, 8). At Beersheba he planted a grove, and called there upon the name of the everlasting God (Gen. xxi. 33). The same patriarch was required to travel to the mount Moriah, and there to offer up his son Isaac (xxii. 2, 4). It was upon a mountain in Gilead that Jacob and Laban ottered sacrifices before they parted in peace (xxxi. 54). In fact, such seem to have been the general places of worship in those times ; nor does any notice of a temple, or other covered or enclosed building for that purpose, occur. Thus far all seems clear and intelligible. There is no reason in the mere nature of things why a hill or a grove should be an objectionable, or, indeed, why it should not be a very suitable, place for worship. Yet by the time the Israelites returned from Egypt, some corrupting change had taken place, which caused them to be repeatedly and strictly enjoined to overthrow and destroy the high places and groves of the Canaanites wherever they found them (Exod. xxxiv. 13 ; Deut. vii. 5 ; xii. 2, 3). That they were not themselves to worship the Lord on high places or in groves is implied in the fact that they were to have but one altar for regular and constant sacrifice ; and it was expressly en- HIGH PLACES AND GROVES joined that near this sole altar no trees should be planted (Deut. xvi. 21). It is possible that the Canaanites had not yet fallen into rank idolatry in the time of Abraham at least, not into such idolatries as defiled the very places in which they worshipped. We know, at all events, that their iniquity was not full in those earlier times, but that when the Israelites invaded the land their iniquity was full to over- flowing. As included in this, we may with toler- able certainty infer that their religion had become so grossly erroneous and impure, that it was need- ful to place under ban even their places of wor- ship, which might otherwise bring the Israelites into danger by the associations which had become connected with them. The great object of the law was to attach the Israelites to the worship of the One Jehovah, the Creator of heaven and earth, and to preserve them from the polytheism into which the nations had fallen. Now it is certain that the Canaanites had become polytheistic, and, consequently, that their high places and groves were dedicated to different gods. By continuing or adopting the use of this custom, the Israelites would infallibly have fallen into the same notions. The groves which ancient usage had esta- blished around the places of sacrifice for the sake of shade and seclusion, idolatry preserved not only for the same reasons, but because they were found convenient for the celebration of the rites and mysteries, often obscene and abominable, which were gradually superadded. Then the presence of a grove of a particular species of tree at the principal seat of the worship of a particular god, would occasion trees of the same kind to be planted at other seats of the same worship ; whence that kind of tree came to be regarded as specially appropriate to the particular idol ; and, in pro- cess of time, there was no important tree which had not become the property of some god or goddess, so that every stranger who passed by a sacred grove could determine by the species of tree of which it was composed to what God the high place, altar, or temple with which it was con- nected belonged. This statement of the notions connected with religious worship in high places and in groves seems amply to support the view we have taken as to the nature of the dangers which the prohi- bition of it was designed to obviate. The expla- nation as to the special appropriation of trees to particular gods alone suffices to throw a flood of light upon the injunction to cut down the sacred groves of the Canaanites ; seeing that while these groves remained, it would be impossible to dis- sociate the idea of the god to which the trees had been consecrated ; and the disgraceful orgies which were celebrated under their obscure shade, would alone suffice to explain the same injunc- tion on the ground of the holy abhorrence with which the scene of such abominations must be re- garded by One who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. The injunctions, however, respecting the high places and groves were very imperfectly obeyed j by the Israelites ; and their inveterate attachment to this mode of worship was such that even pious kings, who opposed idolatry by all the means in their power, dared not abolish the high places at which the Lord was worshipped. And it appears HIRAM 395 to us likely, that this toleration of an acknow- ledged irregularity arose from the indisposition of the people living at a distance from the temple to be confined to the altar which existed there; to their determination to have places nearer home. for the chief acts of their religion sacrifice and offering ; and to the apprehension of the kinpa that if they were prevented from having places for offerings to the Lord in their own neighbour- hood, they would make the offerings to idols. This view of the case seems to be strongly con- firmed by the fact that we hear no more of this proneness to worship in high places and in groves after synagogues and regular religious services had been established in the towns and gave suf- : ficient operation to the disposition among men to j create a local interest in religious observances. HIGH-PRIEST. [PR'ESTS.] HILKI'AH. Several persons of this name occur in Scripture, of whom the following are the chief: 1. The father of Jeremiah (Jer. i. 1). 2. A high-priest in the reign of Josias (2 Kings xxii. 4, 8, 10). 3. The father of Eliakim (2 Kings xviii. 18, 26 ; Isa. xxn. 20). HIN, a Hebrew liquid measure [WEIGHTS AND MEASURES]. HIND (Gen. xlix. 21; 2 Sam. xxii. 34; Job xxxix. 1; Ps. xviii. 33. &c.), the female of tlie hart or stag, doe being the female of the fallow- 1 deer, and roe being sometimes used for that of the i roebuck. All the females of the Ctnida, with ] the exception of the reindeer, are hornless. It j may be remarked that the emendation of Bochart on the version of Gen. xlix. 21, where for ' Naph- thali is a hind let loose, he giveth goodly words,' he, by a small change in the punctuation of the original, proposes to read ' Naphthali is a spread- ing tree, shooting forth beautiful branches,' re- stores the text to a consistent meaning, agreeing with the Sept., the Chaldee paraphrase, and th Arabic version. [HART.] HIN'NOM, or rather Ben-Hinnom, an unknown person, whose name was given to the valley which bounds Jerusalem on the north, below Mount Zioii, and which in Scripture is often mentioned in connection with the horrid rites of Moloch, which under idolatrous kings were there celebra- ted (Josh. xv. 8; xviii. 16 ; Neh. xi. 30; Jer. vii. 31 ; xix. 2). When Josiah overthrew this idolatry, he defiled the valley by casting into k the bones of the dead, the greatest of all pollu- tions among the Hebrews : and from that time it became the common jakes of Jerusalem, into which all refuse of the city was cast, and where the combustible portions of that refuse were con- sumed by fire. Hence it came to be regarded as a sort of type of hell, the Gehenna of the New Testament being no other than the name of this valley of Hinnom (Ge-Hinnom) ; see Matt. v. 22, sq. ; Mark ix. 43 ; Luke vii. 5 ; John iii. 6. 1. HI'RAM, king of Tyre, at the commencement of David's reign. He sent an embassy to felicitate David on his accession, which led to an alliance, or strengthened a previous friendship between them. It seems that the dominion of this prince extended over the western slopes of Lebanon; and when David built himself a palace, Hiram materially assisted the work by sending cedar- wood from Lebanon, and able workmen to Jerusalem (2 Sam. v. 11 ; 1 Chron. xiv. 1), B.C. 1055. 396 HITTITES 2. HIRAM, king of Tyre, son of Abibaal, and grandson of the Hiram who was contemporary with David, in the last years of whose reign he ascended the throne of Tyre. Following his grandfather's example, he sent to Jerusalem an embassy of condolence and congratulation when David died and Solomon succeeded, and con- tracted with the new king a more intimate alliance than ever before or after existed between a Hebrew king and a foreign prince. The alliance seems to have been very substantially beneficial to both parties, and without it Solomon would scarcely have been able to realise all the great designs he had in view. In consideration of large quantities of corn, wine, and oil, furnished by Solomon, the king of Tyre agreed to supply from Lebanon the timber required for the temple, to float it along the coast, and deliver it at Joppa, which was the port of Jerusalem (1 Kings v. 1, sq. ; ix. 10, sq. ; 1 Chron. ii. 3, sq.). The vast commerce of Tyre made gold very plentiful there ; and Hiram supplied no less than 500 talents to Solomon for the ornamental works of the temple, and received in return twenty towns in Galilee ; which, when he came to inspect them, pleased him so little, that he applied to them a name of con- tempt, and restored them to the Jewish king (2 Chron. viii. 2) [CABUL]. It does not, however, appear that the good understanding between the two kings was broken by this unpleasant circum- stance ; for it was after this that Hiram suggested, or at least took part in, Solomon's traffic to the Eastern seas which certainly could not have been undertaken by the Hebrew king without his assistance in providing ships and experienced mariners (1 Kings ix. 27; x. 11, &c. ; 2 Chron. viii. 18; ix. 10, &c.), B.C. 1007 [OPHIK; SOLO- MON ; PHOENICIANS]. 3. HIRAM, or HURAM, son of a widow of the tribe of Dan, and of a Tyrian father. He was sent by the king of the same name to execute the principal works of the interior of the temple, and the various utensils required for the sacred services. It is probable that he was selected for this purpose by the king from among others equally gifted, in the notion that his half Hebrew blood would render him the more acceptable at Jerusalem. HITTITES, or children of Heth, one of the tribes of Canaanites which occupied Palestine before the Israelites (Gen. xv. 20 ; Exod. iii. 8 ; xxiii. 23). They lived in and about Hebron ; and Abraham, when he abode in that neighbourhood, was treated by them with respect and considera- tion (Gen. xxiii. 3-7, 11, 12). This intimacy led to Esau's marriage with two women of this nation, to the grief and annoyance of his parents (Gen. xxvi. 34, 35; xxxvi. 2). The Hittites are de- scribed in Num. xiii. 29, along with the Amorites, as dwelling in the mountains,' that is, in what were afterwards called ' the mountains of Judah,' of which Hebron was the chief town. Uriah, who had the high honour of being one of David's thirty ' worthies,' is called a Hittite (2 Sam. xi. 3, 6 ; 1 Kings ix. 20). He was, doubtless, a pro- selyte, and probably descended from several generations of proselytes ; but the fact shows that Canaanitish blood was in itself no bar to advance- ment in the court and army of David. Solomon rabjected the remaining Hittites to the same tri- bute of bond-service as the other remnants of the HOBAB Canaanite nations (1 Kings ix. 20). Of all these the Hittites appear to have been the most impor- tant, and to have been under a king of their own : for ' the kings of the Hittites ' are, in 1 Kings x. 29, coupled with the kings of Syria as pur- chasers of the chariots which Solomon imported from Egypt. The Hittites were still present in Palestine as a distinct people after the Exile, and are named among the alieu tribes with whom the returned Israelites contracted those marriages which Ezra urged, and Nehemiah compelled, them to dissolve (Ezra ix. I, &c. ; comp. Neh. xiii. 23-28). After this we hear no more of the Hittites, who probably lost their national identity by intermixture with the neighbouring tribes or nations. HI'VITES, one of the nations of Canaan which occupied Palestine before the Israelites Gen. x. 17; Exod. iii. 8, 17; xxiii. 23; Josh. iii. 10). They occupied the northern and north-eastern part of the country. In Judg iii. 3, it is stated that 'the Hivites dwelt in Mount Hermon, from Mount Baal-hermon unto the entering in of Ha- math ;' and in Josh. xi. 3, the Hivites arc described as living ' under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh.' The 'cities of the Hivites' are mentioned in 2 Sam. xxiv. 7, and, from being associated with Sidon and Tyre, must have been in the north- west A remnant of the nation still existed in the time of Solomon, who subjected them to a tribute of personal labour, with the remnants of other Canaanitish nations which the Israelites had been unable to expel (1 Kings ix. 20). A colony of this tribe was also found in Northern Palestine, occupying the towns of Gideon, Chephi- rah, Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim : and these obtained from Joshua a treaty of peace by strata- gem (Josh. ix. 3-17 ; xi. 19). HO'BAB, kinsman of Moses and priest or prince of Midian, a tract of country in Arabia Petraea, on the eastern border of the Red Sea, at no great distance from Mount Sinai. The family of this individual seems to have observed the worship of the true God in common with the Hebrews (Exod. xviii. 1 1, 12). Considerable difficulty has been felt in deter- mining who this person was, as well as his exact relation to Moses ; for the word, which, in Exod. iii. 1, Num. x. 29, Judg. iv. 11, is translated father-in-law, and in Gen. xix. 14, son-in-law, is a term of indeterminate signification, denoting simply relationship by marriage ; and besides, the transaction which in one place (Exod. xviii. -2~ > is related of Jethro, is in another related of Hobab. The probability is, that as forty years had elapsed since Moses' connection with this family was formed, his father-in-law (Exod. ii. 18) Reuel or Raguel (the same word in the original is used in both places) was dead, or confined to his tent by the infirmities of age, and that the person who visited Moses at the foot of Sinai was his brother- in-law, called Hobab in Num. x. 29, Judg. iv. 1 1 ; Jethro iii Exod. iii. 1 ; and the Kenite in Judg. I i. 16. About a year after the Exodus he paid a visit to Moses, while the Hebrew camp was lying in the environs of Sinai, bringing with him Zipporah, Moses' wife, who, together with her two sons, had been left with her family while her husband was absent on his embassy to Pharaoh. The inter- view was on both sides affectionate, and was cele- HONEY brated first by the solemn rites of religion, and afterwards by festivities, of which Aaron and the elders of Israel were invited to partake. On the following day, observing Moses incessantly occu- pied in deciding causes that were submitted to him for judgment, his experienced kinsman re- monstrated with him On the speedy exhaustion which a perseverance in such arduous labours would superinduce ; and in order to relieve him- self, as well as secure a due attention to every case, he urged Moses to appoint a number' of subordinate officers to divide with him the duty of the judicial tribunals, with power to decide in all common affairs, while the weightier and more serious matters were reserved to himself. This wise suggestion the Hebrew legislator adopted (Exod. xviii.). When the Hebrews were preparing to decamp from Sinai, the kinsman of Moses announced his intention to return to his own territory ; but if he did carry that purpose into execution, it was in opposition to the urgent solicitations of the Jewish leader, who entreated him, for his own advantage, to cast in his lot with the people of God ; at all events to continue with them, and afford them the benefit of his thorough acquaintance with the wilderness. ' Leave us not, I pray thee,' said Moses, ' forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mai/est be to us instead of eyes ;' in other words, that Hobab might perform the office of a hybeer or guide [ CARAVAN] his influence as an Arab chief, his knowledge of the routes, the situation of the wells, the places for fuel, the prognostics of the weather, and the most eligible stations for encamping, rendering him peculiarly qualified to act in that important capacity. It is true that God was their leader, by the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, the advancement or the halting of which regillated their journeys and fixed their encamp- ments. But beyond these general directions the tokens of their heavenly guide did not extend. And as smaller parties were frequently sallying forth from the main body in quest of forage and other necessaries, which human observation or enterprise was sufficient to provide, so Moses dis- covered his wisdom and good snse in enlisting the aid of a native sheik, who, from his family connection with himself, his powerful influence, and his long experience, promised to render the Israelites most important services. HOG. [BOAR; SWINK.] HONEY. In the Scripture there are three words denoting different sweet substances, all of which are rendered by ' honey' in the Autho- rized Version. These it is necessary to distinguish. 1. Yaar, which only occurs in 1 Sam. xiv. 25, 27, 29 ; Cant. v. 1 ; and denotes the honey of bees, and that only. 2. Nopeth, honey that drops, usually associated with the comb, and therefore bee-honey. This occurs in Ps. xix. 10; Prov. v. 3; xxiv. 13; xxvii. 7; Cant. iv. 11. 3. Debesh. This is the most frequent "word. It sometimes denotes bee-honey, as in Judg. xiv. 8, but more commonly a vegetable honey dis- tilled from trees, and called manna by chemists ; also the syrup of dates, and even dates them- selves. It appears also sometimes to stand as a general term for all kinds of honey. We shall here confine our remarks to honey in HONEY 397 general, and that of Lees in particular, referring for the vegetable honey to MANNA, and for the date-honey to DRINK, STRONG. It is very evident that the land of Canaan abounded in honey. It is indeed described as '' a land flowing with milk and honey ' (Exod. iii. 8, &c.) ; which we apprehend to refer to all the sweet substances Avhich the different Hebrew words indicate, as the phrase seems too large to be confined to the honey of bees alone. Yet the great number of bees in Palestine has been noticed by many travellers ; and they were doubt- less still more common in ancient times when the soil was under more general cultivation [BEE ; FOOD]. The ' wild honey ' which, with locusts, formed the diet of John the Baptist, was probably the vegetable honey, which we refer to MANNA. Honey was not permitted to be offered on the altar (Lev. ii. 11). As it is coupled with leaven in this prohibition, it would seem to amount to an interdiction of things sour and sweet. Aben Ezra and others allege that it was because honey partook of the fermenting nature of leaven, and when burnt yielded an unpleasant smell qua- lities incompatible with offerings made by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord. But Maimonides and others think it was for the purpose of making a difference between the religious customs of the Jews and the heathen, in whose offerings honey was much employed. The first-fruits of honey were, however, to be presented, as these were destined for the support of the priests, and not to be offered upon the altar. Under the different heads to which we have referred, the passages of Scripture relating to honey are explained. The remarkable incident related in 1 Sam. xiv. 24-32, requires, however, to be here noticed. Jonathan and his party coming to the wood, find honey dropping from the trees to the ground, and the prince extends his rod to the honeycomb to taste the honey. On this the present writer is unable to add anything to what he has stated elsewhere (Pictorial Bible, in loc.), which is to the following effect : First, we are told that the honey was on the ground, then that it dropped, and lastly, that Jonathan put his rod into the honeycomb. From all this it is clear that the honey was bee-honey, and that honeycdtnbs were above in the trees, from which honey dropped upon the ground ; but it is not clear whether Jonathan put his rod into a honey- comb that was in the trees or shrubs, or into one that had fallen to the ground, or that had been formed there. Where wild bees are abundant they form their combs in any convenient place that offers, particularly in cavities, or even on the branches of trees. In India particularly, an.d in the Indian islands, the forests often swarm with bees. We have good reason to conclude, from many allusions in Scripture, that this was also, to a considerable extent, the case formerly in Pales- tine. The woods on the western coast of Africa, between Cape Blanco and Sierra Leone, and par- ticularly near the Gambia, are full of bees, to which the negroes formerly, if they do not now, paid considerable attention for the sake of the wax. They had bee-hives, like baskets, made of reeds and sedge, and hung on the out-boughs of the trees, which the bees easily appropriated for 893 HOOK the purpose of forming their combs in them. In some parts these hives were so thickly placed that at a distance they looked like fruit. There was also much wild honey in the cavities of the trees. As to the other supposition, that the honeycomb had been formed on the ground, we think the context rather bears against it ; but the circumstance is not in itself unlikely, or incom- patible with the habits of wild bees. For want of a better resource they sometimes form their honey in any tolerably convenient spot they can find in the ground, such as small hollows, or even holes formed by animals. HOOK, HOOKS. Several Hebrew words are so rendered in the English Version. 1. (2 Kings xix. 28), ' I will put my hook in thy nose.' The parallel passage (Isa. xxxvii. L9) the Sept. reads ' I will put my muzzle, halter, or noose,' &c. Jehovah here intimates his abso- lute control over Sennacherib, by an allusion to the practice of leading buS'aloes, camels, drome- daries, &c. by means of a cord, or of a cord at- tached to a ring, passed through the nostrils. Job xli. 1 [xl. 25J ' Canst thou draw out Leviathan with a hook ? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down ? Canst thou place a reed-cord in his nose, or bore through his cheek with a thorn ?' (clasp, or possibly bracelet, &c.). ' Wilt thou draw out a dragon with a hook ? Wilt thou bind a band about his nose ? Wilt thou fasten a ring in his nose, or bore his lip with a bracelet ?' This passage in Job has undergone the following speculations. It has been assumed, that Bochart has completely proved the Leviathan to mean the crocodile. Herodotus has then been quoted, where he relates that the Egyptians near Lake Moeris select a crocodile, render him tame, and suspend ornaments to his ears, and sometimes gems of great value; his fore-feet being adorned with bracelets (ii. 69) ; and the mummies of crocodiles, having their ears thus bored, have been dis- covered. Hence it is concluded that this passage in Job refers to the facts mentioned by Hero- dotus ; and, doubtless, the terms employed, espe- cially by the Sept. and Vulg., and the third and following verses, favour the supposition ; for there the captive is represented as suppliant and obse- quious, in a state of security and servitude, and the object of diversion, ' played with ' as with a bird, and serving for the sport of maidens. He- rodotus is further quoted to show that in his time the Egyptians captured the crocodile with a hook, and with which he was drawn ashore ; and accounts are certainly given by modern travellers of the continuance of this practice. But does not the entire description go upon the supposition of the impossibility of so treating Leviathan? Sup- posing the allusions to be correctly interpreted, is it not as much as to say, ' Canst thou treat him as thou canst treat the crocodile and other fierce creatures ? ' Dr. Lee has, indeed, given reasons which render it doubtful, at least, whether the leviathan doe* mean the crocodile in this passage, or whether it does not mean some species of whale, as was formerly supposed ; the common grampus, fo-ind in the Mediterranean, the Kid S\-a, and alo in the Nile. [LEVIATHAN.] Ezek. xxix. 4, ' I will put my hooks in thy jaws,' &c. ; 'and I will cause thee to come up out if the midst of thy rivers,' where the prophet foretells the de- gtruction of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, by allusions HOPHRA to the destruction, possibly, of a crocodile, the symbol of Egypt. Thus Pliny states, that the Te n- tyritfc i, inhabitants of Egypt j followed the croco- dile,swimming after it in the river,sprung upon its back, thrust a bar into its mouth, which, being held by its two extremities, serves as a bit, and enables them to force it on shore (comp. Ezek. xxix. 3. 4). 2. (Exod. xxvi. 32, 37; xxxviii. 19), 'hooks,' where the Sept. and Jerome seem to have under- stood the capitals of the pillars ; and it has been urged that this is more likely to be the meaning than hooks, especially as 1775 shekels of silver were used in making them for the pillars, over- laying the chapiters, and filleting them (ch. xxxviii. 28) ; and that the hoohs are really the laches (Exod. xxvi. C, 11, 33, 35; xxxix. 33). Yet the Sept. also renders the word ' rings ' or 'clasps' (Exod. xxvii. 10, 11; Exod. xxxviii. 17, 19); and from a comparison of these two latter passages it would seem that these hooks, or rather tenters, rose out of the chapiters or heads of the pillars. 3. (1 Sam. ii. 13, 14), ' flesh-hook.' This was evidently a trident ' of three teeth,' a kind of fork, &c. for turning the sacrifices on the fire, and for collecting fragments, &c. (2) (Is. ii. 4, and elsewhere) ' beat their spears into pruning- hooks.' In Mic. iv. 3, weeding-hooks, or sho- vels, spades, &c. Joel reverses the metaphor ' pruning-hooks into spears' (iii. 10). (3) Ezek. xl. 43), ' hooks,' which Gesenius explains stalls in the courts of the Temple, where the sacri- ficiaJ victims were fastened : our translators give in the margin ' endirons, or the two hearth-stones.' Dr. Lightf'oot, in his chapter 'on the altar, the rings, and the laver,' observes, ' On the north side of the altar were six orders of rings, each of which contained six, at which they killed the sacrifices. Near by were low pijlurs set up, upon which were laid overthwart beams of cedar ; on these were fastened rows of hoohs, on which 'the sacrifices were hung; and they were flayed on marble tables, which were between these pillars.' HOPH'NI AND PHIN'EHAS, the sons of Eli, whose misconduct in the priesthood (as de- scribed in 1 Sam. ii. 12-17) brought down that dooin, of ruin and degradation upon the house of Eli which formed the first divine communication through the young Samuel (1 Sam. iii.). Hophni and Phinehas were slain in the battle in which the ark of God was taken by the Philistines, B.C. 1141 (1 Sam. iv. 11). [Em.] HOPH'RA (or PHARAOH-HOPHRA), king of Egypt in the time of Zedekiah king of Judah, and of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He formed alliance with the former against the latter, and his advance with an Egyptian army con- strained the Chalda:ans to raise the siege of Jeru- salem (Jer. xxxvii. 5) ; but they soon returned and took and destroyed the city. Thi momentary aid, and the danger of placing reliance on the protection of Hophra, led Ezekiel to compare the Egyptians to a broken reed, which was to pierce the hand of him that leaned upon it (Ezek. xxix. <>, 7). This alliance was, however, disapproved by God; and Jeremiah was authorized to di-liver the prophecy contained in his 44th chapter, which concludes with a prediction of Hophra's death and the subjugation of his country by the Chal- daians [comp. EGYPT]. HOPHRA This Pharaoh-hophra is identified with the Apries or Vaphres of ancient authors, and he may be the Psamatik III. of the monuments. Under this identification we may conclude that his ware with the Syrians and Cyrenscans pre- vented him from affording any great assistance to Zedekiah. Apries is described by Herodotus (ii. 169} as a monarch who, in the zenith of his glory, felt persuaded that it was not in the power even of a deity to dispossess him of his kingdom, or to shake the stability of his sway; and this account of his arrogance fully accords with that contained in the Bible. Ezekiel (xxix. 3) speaks of this king as ' the great dragon that lieth in the midst of the rivers, which hath said, my river is mine own, and I have made it for my- self.' His overthrow and subsequent captivity and death are foretold with remarkable precision by Jeremiah xliv. 30) ; ' I will give Pharaoh- HOR 399 hophra, king of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies, and into the hands of them that seek his life.' This was brought about by- a revolt of the troops, who placed Ainasis at their head, and after various conflicts took Apries prisoner. He was for a time kept in easy captivity by Amasis, who wished to spare his life ; but he was at length constrained to give him up to the vengeance of his enemies, by whom he was strangled. HOR, a mountain of Arabia Petrsca, on the confines of Idumsca, and forming part of the mountain of Seir or Edom. It is only mentioned in Scripture in connection with the circumstances recorded in Num. xx. 22-29. The Israelites were encamped before it, when Aaron was sum- moned to its top to die there, in the presence of his brother and son, who alone witnessed his final departure [AARON]. The mountain now identified with Mount Hor 208. [Mount Hor.] is the most conspicuous in the whole range of Mount Seir, and at this day bears the name of Mount Aaron (Jebel Haroun). It is m N. lat. 30 18', E. long. 35 33', about mid-way between the Dead Sea and the JSlanitic Gulf. It may be open to question if this is really the M.ount Hor on which Aaron died, seeing that the whole range of Seir was anciently called by that name ; yet from its height and the conspicuous manner in which it rises among the surrounding rocks, it seems not unlikely to have been the chosen scene of the high-priest's death. To this may be added that Josephus affirms Mount Hor to have been near Petra ; and near that place there is certainly no mountain which can contest the dis- tinction with the one now in view. The base ot the highest pinnacle of this mountain is in fact but a little removed from the skirts of the city to the westward. The account of it given twenty years since by Captains Irby and Mangles, in their then unpublished volume of Travels, is the best we yet possess, and we therefore present the substance of their description slightly abridged. 'The ascent of the mountain is extremely steep and toilsome. Much juniper grows on it, almost to the very summit, and many flowering plants which we had not observed elsewhere; some of these are very beautiful ; most of them are thorny. On the top there is an overhanging shelf in the rock which forms a sort of cavern. The tomb itself is enclosed in a small building, differing not at all in external form and appear- ance from those of Mahommedai; saints common throughout every province of Turkey. It has probably been rebuilt at no remote peiiod: some small columns are bedded in the walls, and some fragments of granite and slabs of white marble are lying about. The door is near the south-west angle, within which a constructed tomb, with a pall thrown over it, presents itself immediately 400 HORN npon entering : it is patched together out of frag- ments of stone and marble that have made part of other fabrics. ' Not far from the north-west angle is a passage, descending by steps to a vault or grotto beneath. The roof is covered, but the whole is rude, ill- fashioned, and quite dark. Towards the further end of this dark vault lie the two corresponding leaves of an iron grating, which formerly pre- vented all nearer approach to the tomb; they have, however, been thrown down, and we ad- ! vanced so as to touch it; it was covered by a j ragged pall.' It is highly interesting to know what view it was which last greeted the eyes of the dying high-priest from this lofty eminence ; aiid it is the more so from the fact that the region over which the view extends is that in which the Israelites wandered for forty years. Our travel- lers supply this information : ' The view from the summit of the edifice is extremely extensive in every direction, and the eye rests on few objects which it can clearly dis- tinguish to give a name to, although an excellent idea is obtained of the general face and features of the country. The chain of Idumaean moun- tains, which form the western shore of the Dead Sea, seem to run on to the southward, though losing considerably in their height. They appear in this point of view barren and desolate. Below them is spread out a white sandy plain, seamed with the beds of occasional torrents, and pre- senting much the same features as the most desert parts of the Ghor. Where this desert expanse approaches the foot of Mount Hor, there arise out of it, like islands, several lower peaks and ridges, of a purple colour, probably composed of the same kind of sandstone as that of Mount Hor itself, which, variegated as it is in its hues, pre- sents in the distance one uniform mass of dark purple. Towards the Egyptian side there is an expanse of country without features or limit, and lost in the distance. The lofty district which we had quitted in our descent to Wady Mousa shuts up the prospect on the south-east side ; but there is no part of the landscape which the eye wanders over with more curiosity and delight than the crags of Mount Hor itself, which stand up on every side in the most rugged and fantastic forms, sometimes strangely piled one on the other, and sometimes as strangely yawning in clifts of a frightful depth An artist who would study rock-scenery in all its wildest and most extravagant forms would find himself re- warded should he resort to Mount Hor for that sole purpose.' HO'REB. [SiNAi.] HOR-HAGID'GAD, an encampment of the Israelites during their wandering (Num. xxxiii. 32, 33) [WANDERING]. HO'RITES, or HORIM, the people who inha- bited Mount Seir before the Edomites [!DCM;EA]. HORN, from its primary use for defence in the case of horned animals, came to acquire several derivative meanings, some of which are connected with the illustration and right understanding of holy writ As horns are hollow and easily po- lished, they have in ancient and modern times been used for drinking-vessels and for military purposes; and as they are the chief source of strength for attack and defence with the animals HORNET to which God has given them, they serve in Scripture as emblems of power, dominion, glory, and fierceness (Dan. viii. 5, 9 ; 1 Sam. xvi. 1,13; 1 Kings i. 39 ; Josh. vi. 4, 5 ; 1 Sam. ii. 1 ; Ps. Ixxv. 5, 10; Jer. xlviii. 25; Ezek. xxix. 21; Amos vi. 13). Hence to defile the horn in the dust (Job xvi. 2), is to lower and degrade oneself, and, on the contrary, to lift up, to exalt the horn (Ps. Ixxv. 4; Ixxix. 17; cxlviii. 14), is poetically to raise oneself to eminent honour or prosperity, to bear oneself proudly. In the East, at present, horns are used as an ornament for the head, and as a token of eminent rank. The women among the Druses on Mount Lebanon wear on their heads silver horns of native make, ' which are the distinguishing badge of wifehood.' By an easy transition, horn came to denote an elevation or hill (Isa. v. 1); in Switzerland mountains still bear this name, thus, Schreck- horn, Buchhorn. The altar of burnt-offerings (Exod. xxvij. 2) and the altar of incense (Exod. xxx. 2), had each at the four corners four horns of shittim-wood, the first being overlaid with brass, the second with gold (Exod. xxxvii. 25 ; xxxviii. 2; Jer. xvii. 1; Amos iii. 14). Upon the horns of the altar of burnt-offerings was to be smeared with the finger the blood of the slain bullock (Exod. xxix. 12 ; Lev. iv. 7-18; viii. 15 ; ix. 9 ; xvi. 18 ; Ezek. xliii. 20). By laying hold of these horns of the altar of burnt-offering the criminal found an asylum and safety (I Kings i. 50 ; ii. 28). These horns are said to have served as a means for binding the animal destined for sacrifice (Ps. cxviii. 27) ; but this use Winer denies, asserting that they did not and could not answer for such a purpose. HORNET, WASP (Exod. xxiii. 28; Deut. vii. 20; Josh. xxiv. 12; Wisd. Sol. xii. 8, ' wasps '). The question has been raised whether in these passages of Scripture the word is to be taken as literally meaning this well-known anil terrific insect, or whether it is to be understood in a metaphorical and figurative sense for diseases, supernatural terror, &c., by which Jehovah ' drove out the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites, from before Israel.' Among the moderns, Michaelis has defended the figurative sense. In addition to other reasons for it, he doubts whether the ex- pulsion of the Canaanites could be effected by swarms of hornets, and proposes to derive the Hebrew from a root signifying ' scourges,' HORSE ' plagues ;' but his reasons are ably refuted by Rosenmiiller. In favour of the possibility of such an event, it is observed that jElian relates that the PhaseliUe were actually driven from their locality by such means ; and Bochart has shown that these PhaseliteD were a Phoenician people. Michaelis's doubt of the abstract possi- bility seems very unreasonable, when the irre- sistible power of bees and wasps, &c., attested by numerous modern occurrences, and the thin and partial clothing of the Canaanites, are considered. It is observable that the event is represented by the author of the book of Wisdom as a merciful dispensation, by which the Almighty, he says, ' spared as men the old inhabitants of his holy land,' and ' gave them place for repentance/ If the hornet, considered as a fly, was in any way connected with their idolatry, the visitation would convey a practical refutation of their error [see Baalzebub, under BAAL]. It may be remarked that the hornet, no less than the whole species of wasps, renders an essential service in checking the multiplication of flies and other insects, which would otherwise become intolerable to man ; and that in regard to their architecture, and especially their instincts and habits, they do not yield to their more popular congener, the bee, but even in several respects greatly excel it. HORSE (Gen. xlvii. 17 ; xlix. 17 ; Exod. xiv. 9, 23, and in many other places ; James iii. 3 ; Rev. vi. 2, &c.). It appears to be substantiated that the horse was derived from High Asia, and was not indigenous in Arabia, Syria, or Egypt. They are not mentioned among the presents which Pharaoh bestowed upon Abraham, and occur in Scripture for the first time when the patriarch Joseph receives them from the Egyptians in ex- change for bread (Gen. xlvii. 17), evidently as valuable animals, disposed of singly, and not in droves or flocks, like cattle and asses. They were still suificiently important to be expressly men- tioned in the funeral procession which accompa- nied the body of Jacob to his sepulchre in Canaan (Gen. i. 9) ; and for centuries after it does not appear that, under the domestic management of the Egyptians, unless the murrain had greatly reduced them, horses had multiplied as they would have done in a land more congenial to their habits, since only six hundred chariots appear to have pursued Israel (Exod. xiv. 7) ; even admitting that there were other chariots and horsemen not included in that number. In the sculptured battle-scenes, which are believed to represent victories of Sesostris, or of Thothmes II. and III., over nations of Central Asia, it is evident that the enemy's armies, as well as the foreign allies of Egypt, are abundantly supplied with horses, both for chariots and for riders ; and in triumphal processions they are shown as pre- sents or tribute, proving that they were portions of the national wealth of conquered states suffi- ciently valuable to be prized in Egypt. At a later period the books of Deuteronomy (xvii. 1C, for the future kings of Israel are forbidden to possess many) and Joshua (xi. 4) furnish similar evidence of abundance of horses in the plains of Syria; and in Job occurs a description of a per- fect war-horse couched in the bold figurative anguage of inspiration, such as remains un- equalled by any other poet, ancient or modern. Though the Israelites had chariots and horsemen HORSE 401 opposed to them in the plain country from their first entrance into the land of promise as in Judg. iv. 15, where we find Sisera with his cha- riots of war defeated at the foot of Mount Tabor yet not being intended to make military con- quests beyond the mountain basin and the adja- cent territory assigned them, they long remained without cavalry or chariots themselves (Deut. xvii. 16; 2 Sam. viii. 4) : they obeyed the divine injunction to abstain from possessing horses, and, to the time of David, hamstrung such as they captured from their enemies. It appears, how- ever, that a small cavalry force was raised bj him ; and as in all the military operations of Western Asia, there was a tendency to increase the mounted force and neglect the infantry, on the full establishment of royalty, when the He- brew government acquired a more political struc- ture, the reign of Solomon displayed a military system which embraced a regular body of horse and of chariots, evidently become the more necessary, since the limits of his sway were ex- tended to the shores of the Arabian Gulf, and far into the Syrian desert (1 Kings x. 26). So- lomon likewise acted with commercial views in the monopolizing spirit which Eastern sovereigns have been prone to exercise in all ages. He bought chariots and teams of horses in Egypt, and probably in Armenia, ' in all lands,' and had them brought into his dominions in strings, in the same manner as horses are still conducted to and from fairs : for this interpretation, as offered by Mr. Charles Taylor, appears to convey the natural and true meaning of the text, and not ' strings of linen yarn,' which here seem to be out of place (2 Chron. i. 16, 17 ; ix. 25, 28). The Tyrians purchased these objects from Solo- mon ; but in the time of Ezekiel they imported horses themselves from Togarmah or Armenia. On returning from the Babylonish captivity, the common possession of horses in Palestine was no -longer opposed ; for Nehemiah numbers seven hundred and thirty-six belonging to the liberated Hebrews (Neh. vii. 68). All the great original varieties or races of horses were then known in Western Asia, and the Hebrew prophets themselves have not unfre- quented distinguished the nations they had in view, by means of the predominant colours of their horses, and that more correctly than com- mentators have surmised. Taking Bochart's application of the Hebrew names, the bay race emphatically belonged to Egypt and Arabia Felix ; the white to the regions above the Euxine Sea, Asia Minor, and northern High Asia ; the dun, or cream-coloured, to the Medes ; the spotted piebald, or skewbald, to the Macedonians, the Parthians, and later Tahtars; and the black to the Romans ; but the checnuts do not belong to. any known historical race (Zech. i. 8 ; vi. 2). Bay or red horses occur most frequently oil Egyptian painted monuments, this being the primitive colour of the Arabian stock ; but white horses are also common, and in a few instances black, the last probably only to relieve the paler colour of the one beside it in the picture. There is also, we understand, an instance of a spotted pair, tending to show that the valley of the Nile was originally supplied with horses from foreign sources and distinct regions, as indeed the tribute pictures further attest. The spotted, if not real. 402 HORSE-LEECH but painted horses, indicate the antiquity of a practice still in vogue ; for staining the hair of riding animals with spots of various colours, and dyeing their limbs and tails crimson, is a prac- tice of common occurrence in the East [Ass]. On the natural history of the horse there is no occasion to enter in this place ; but it may be propsr to notice that the riding bridle was long a mere slip-knot, passed round the under jaw into the mouth, thus furnishing only one rein ; and that a rod -was commonly added to guide the animal with more facility. The bridle, however, and the reins of chariot-horses were, at a very early age, exceedingly perfect ; as the monuments of Egypt, Etruria, and Greece, amply prove. Saddles were not used, the rider sitting on the bare back, or using a cloth or mat girded on the animal. The Romans, no doubt copying the Per- sian Cataphractsc, first used pad-saddles, and from the northern nations adopted stimuli or spurs. Stirrups were unknown. Avicenna first men- tions the rikiab, or Arabian stirrup, perhaps the most ancient ; although in the tumuli of Central Asia, Tahtar horse skeletons, bridles, and stirrup- saddles, have been found along with idols ; which proves the tombs to be more ancient than the in- troduction of Islam. With regard to horse- shoeing, Bishop Lowth and Bracy Clark were mistaken in believing that the Roman horse or mule shoe was fastened on without nails driven through the horny part of the hoof, as at present. A contrary conclusion may be inferred from several passages in the poets : and the figure of a horse in the Pompeii battle mosaic, shod in the same manner as is now the practice, leaves little doubt on the question. HORSE- LEECH occurs only in Prov. xxx. 1 5. The horse-leech is properly a species of leech, dis- carded for medical purposes on account of the coarseness of its bite. Although the Hebrew word is translated ' leech ' in all the versions, there has been much dispute whether that is its proper meaning. Against the received translation it has been urged that upon an examination of the context in which it occurs, the introduction of the leech seems strange ; that it is impossible to understand what is meant by its ' two daughters ;' and that instead of the in- oessant craving apparently attributed to it, the leech drops off when filled : hence it has been at- tempted to give a different sense to the Hebrew word, and to render it ' destiny.' But there seems no good reason for altering the received transla- tion. In the preceding verse the writer speaks of ' a generation whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw-teeth as knives to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men ;' and then, after the abrupt and picturesque style of the East, the leech is introduced as an illus- tration of the covetousness of such persons, and of the two distinguishing vices of which it is the parent, avarice and cruelty. May not also the ' two daughters' of the leech ' crying, Give, give, be a figurative description of the two tips of the crea- ture (for these it has, and perfectly formed) which are a part of its very complicated mouth?' It certainly is agreeable to the Hebrew style to call the offspring of inanimate things daughters, for so branches are called daughters of trees (Gen. xlix. 22, margin). A similar use of the word is given in Eccles. xii. 4, 'All the daughters of HOSEA musick shall be brought low,' meaning the lips, front teeth, and other parts of the mouth. It is well remarked by Professor Paxton that ' this figurative application of the entire genus is suffi- cient to justify the interpretation. The leech, as a symbol in use among rulers of every class and in all ages for avarice, rapine, plunder, rapacity, and even assiduity, is too well known to need illustration. HOSAN'NA, a form of acclamatory blessing or wishing well, which signifies, Save now ! Succour now ! Be now propitious ! It occurs in Matt. xxi. 9 (also Mark xi. 9, 10; John xii. 13) ' Hosanna to the Son of David ; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord ; Hosanna in the highest !' This was on the occasion of our Saviour's public entry into Jerusalem, and, fairly construed, would mean, ' Lord, preserve this Son of David ; heap favours and blessings on him !' It is further to be observed that Hosanna was a customary form of acclamation at the Feast of Tabernacles. This feast was celebrated in Sep- tember, just before the commencement of the civil year ; on which occasion the people carried in their hands bundles of boughs of palms, myrtles, &c. They then repeated the 25th and 2Cth verses of Ps. cxviii., which commence with the word Hosanna ; and from this circumstance they gave the boughs, and the prayers, and the feast itself, the name of Hosanna. They observed the same forms also at the Encrcnia (1 Mace. x. 6, 7; 2 Mace. xiii. 51 ; Rev. vii. 9) and the Passover. And as they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles with great joy and gladness, in like manner, on this occasion, did they hail the coming of the Messiah, whose advent they believed to be repre- sented in all the feasts. HOSE'A (deliverance), the first in order of the minor prophets in the common editions of the Hebrew Scriptures, as well as of the Alexandrian and Vulgate translations. We are not, however, to suppose from this that he flourished earlier than all the other minor prophets : by the best compu- tation he seems to have been preceded by Joel, Amos, and Jonah. The figments of Jewish writers regarding Hosea's parentage need scarcely be mentioned. His father, Beeri, has been confounded with Beerah, a prince of the Reubenites, 1 Chron. v. 6. So, too, Beeri has been reckoned a prophet him- self, according to the rabbinical notion that the mention of a prophet's father in the introduction to his prophecies, is a proof that sire as well as son was endowed with the oracular spirit. Whether Hosea was a citizen of Israel or Judah has been disputed. Various arguments have been adduced to show that he belonged to the kingdom of Judah ; but we accede to the opinion that he was an Israelite, a native of that kingdom with whose sins and fates his book is specially and primarily occupied. The superscription of the book determines the length of time during which Hosea prophesied. That period was both long and eventful, com- mencing in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, extending through the lives of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and concluding in the reign of Hezekiah. Uzziah and Jeroboam were contem- porary sovereigns for a certain length of time. If we compute from the first year of Uzziah to the last of Hezekiah, we find a period of 1 13 HOSEA years. Such a period appears evidently to be too long; and the most probable calculation is to reckon from the last years of Jeroboam to the first of Hezekiah. We have then at least of Uzziah's reign 26 years. Jotham 16 Ahaz 16 Hezekiah 2 60* This long duration of office is not improbable, and the book itself furnishes strong presumptive evidence in support of this chronology. The first Srophecy of Hosea foretells the overthrow of ehu's house ; and the menace was fulfilled on the death of Jeroboam, his great-grandson. ' This was the word of the Lord which he spake unto Jehu, saying, Thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation ; and so it came to pass' (2 Kings xv. 12). A prediction of the ruin which was to overthrow Jehu's house at Jeroboam's death, must have been uttered during Jeroboam's life. This fact defines the period of Hosea's commencement of his labours, and veri- fies the inscription, which states that the word of the Lord came to him in the reign of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel. Again, in ch. x. 14, allusion is made to an expedition of Shal- manezer against Israel ; and Jf it was the first inroad against king Hoshea, who began to reign in the twelfth year of Ahaz, the event referred to by the prophet as past must have happened close upon the beginning of the government of Heze- kiah (2 Kings xvii. 5). Data are thus in like manner afforded to corroborate the statement that Hezekiah had ascended the throne ere the long- lived servant of Jehovah was released from his toils. The extended duration indicated in the superscription is thus borne out by the contents of the prophecy. The years of Hosea's life were melancholy and tragic. The vials of the wrath of heaven were poured out on his apostate people. The nation suS'ered under the evils of that schism which was effected by the craft of him who has been branded with the indelible stigma ' Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin.' The obligations of law had been relaxed, and the claims of religion disregarded ; Baal became the rival of Jehovah, and in the dark recesses of the groves were practised the impure and murderous rites of heathen deities; peace and prosperity lied the land, which was harassed by foreign invasion and domestic broils ; might and murder became the twin sentinels of the throne ; alliances were formed with other nations, which brought with them seductions to paganism ; captivity and insult were heaped upon Israel by the uncircumcised ; the nation was tho- roughly debased, and but a fraction of its popu- lation maintained its spiritual allegiance (2 Kings xix. 18). The death of Jeroboam II. was followed by an interregnum of ten years. At the expiry of this period, his son Zechariah assumed the sovereignty, and was slain by Shallum, after the short space of six months (2 Kings xv. 10). In four weeks Shallum was assassinated by Mena- HOSEA 403 * Maurer, in the Comment. Theol. p. 284, and more lately in his Comment. Gran. Hist. Crit. in Proph. Min., Lipsiffi, 1840. hem. The assassin, during a disturbed reign of ten years, became tributary to the Assyrian Pul. His successor, Pekahiah, wore the crown but two years, when he was murdered by Pekah. Pekah, after swaying his bloody sceptre for twenty years, met a similar fate in the conspiracy of Hoshea ; Hoshea, the last of the usurpers, after another interregnum of eight years, ascended the throne, and his administration of nine years ended in the overthrow of his kingdom and the expatriation of his people. ' The Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight. So was Israel carried out of their own land to Assyria unto this day' (2 Kings xvii. 18, 23). The prophecies of Hosea were directed espe- cially against the country whose sin had brought upon it such disasters prolonged anarchy and final captivity. Israel, or Ephraim, is the people especially addressed. Their homicides and for- nications, their perjury and theft, their idolatry and impiety, are censured and satirised with a faithful severity. Judah is sometimes, indeed, introduced, warned, and admonished ; but the oracles having relation to Israel are primary, while the references to Judah are only incidental. The prophet's mind was intensely interested in the destinies of his own people. The nations around him are unheeded ; his prophetic eye beholds the crisis approaching his country, and sees its can- tons ravaged, its tribes murdered or enslaved. No wonder that his rebukes were so terrible, his menaces so alarming, that his soul poured forth its strength in an ecstaey of grief and affection. Invitations, replete with tenderness and pathos, are interspersed with his warnings and expostu lations. Now we are startled with a vision of the throne, at first shrouded in darkness, and sending forth lightnings, thunders, and voices : but while we gaze, it becomes encircled with a rainbow, which gradually expands till it is lost in that universal brilliancy which itself had originated (ch. xi. and xiv.). The peculiar mode of instruction which the prophet details in the first and third chapters of his oracles has given risen to many disputed theo- ries. We refer to the command expressed in ch. i. 2 ' And the Lord said unto Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms,' &c. ; ch. iii. 1, 'Then said the Lord unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress,' &c. What was the precise nature of the transactions here recorded ? Were they real events, the result of divine injunc- tions literally understood, and as literally ful- filled ? or were these intimations to the prophet only intended to be pictorial illustrations of the apostacy and spiritual folly and unfaithfulness of Israel ? The former view, viz. that the prophet actually and literally entered into this impure connubial alliance, has found advocates both in ancient and modern times. Fanciful theories are also rife on this subject. Luther supposed the prophet to perform a kind of drama in view of the people, giving his lawful wife and children these mystical appellations. Newcome thinks that a wife of fornication means merely an Israelite, a woman of apostate and adulterous Israel. Heng- stenberg supposes the prophet to relate actions which happened, indeed, actually, but not out- wardly. Some, with Maimonides, imagine it to be a nocturnal -vision; -while others make it 2 n a 404 HOSEA wholly an allegory. The first opinion has been refuted by Hengstenberg at great length and with much force. Besides other arguments resting on the impurity and loathsomeness of the supposed nuptial contract, it may be argued against the external reality of the event, that it must have required several years for its completion, and that the impressiveuess of the symbol would therefore be weakened and obliterated. Whichever way this question may be solved ; whether these oc- currences be regarded as a real and external transaction, or as a piece of spiritual scenery, or only, as is most probable, an allegorical descrip- tion ; it is agreed on all hands that the actions are typical. Expositors are not at all agreed as to the mean- ing of the phrase rendered 'wife of whoredoms ;' whether the phrase refers to harlotry before mar- riage, or to unfaithfulness after it. It may afford an easy solution of the difficulty, if we look at the antitype in its history and character. Adul- tery is the appellation of idolatrous apostacy. The Jewish nation were espoused to God. The con- tract was formed on Sinai ; but the Jewish people had prior to this period gone a-whoring. Josh. xxiv. 2-14, ' Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, and they served other gods.' Comp, Lev. xvii. 7, in which it is implied that idolatrous propensities had also developed themselves during the abode in Egypt : so that the phrase may signify one devoted to lascivious- ness prior to her marriage. The 'marriage must be supposed a real contract, or its significance would be lost. Jer. ii. 2, ' I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.' Children of whore- doms refers most naturally to the two sons and daughters afterwards to be born. They were not the prophet's own, as is intimated in the allegory, and they followed the pernicious example of the mother. The names of the children being symbolical, the name of the mother has probably a similar signification, and may have the symbolic sense of ' one thoroughly abandoned to sensual delights.' The names of the children are Jezreel, Lo-ruha- mah, and Lo-ammi. The prophet explains the meaning of the appellations. It is generally sup- posed that the names refer to three successive generations of the Israelitish people. Hengsten- berg, on the other hand, argues that ' wife and children both are the people of Israel : the three names must not be considered separately, but taken together.' But as the marriage is first mentioned, and the births of the children are de- tailed in order, some time elapsing between the events, we rather adhere to the ordinary expo- sition. Nor is it without reason that the second child is described as a female. The first child, Jezreel, may refer to the first dynasty of Jeroboam I. and his successors, which was terminated in the blood of Ahab's house which Jehu shed at Jezreel. The name suggests also the cruel and fraudulent possession of the vineyard of Naboth, ' which was in Jezreel,' where, too, the woman Jezebel was slain so ignominiously (1 Kings xvi. 1 ; 2 Kings ix. 21). But as Jehu and his family had become as corrupt as their predecessors, the scenes of Jezreel were again to be enacted, and Jehu's race must perish. Jezreel, HOSEA the spot referred to by the prophet, is also, accord- ng to Jerome, the place where the Assyrian army routed the Israelites. The name of this child associates the past and future, symbolizes past sins, ntermediate punishments, and final overthrow. The name of the second child, Lo-ruhamah, ' not- jitied,' the appellation of a degraded daughter, nay refer to the feeble, effeminate period which followed the overthrow of the first dynasty, when Israel became weak and helpless as well as sunk and abandoned. The favour of God was not exhibited to the nation : they were as abject as impious. But the reign of Jeroboam II. was prosperous ; new energy was infused into the kingdom ; gleams of its former prosperity shone upon it. This revival of strength in that genera- tion may be typified by the birth of a third child, a son, Lo-ammi, 'not-my-people' (2 Kings xiv. 25). Yet prosperity did not bring with it a revival of piety ; still, although their vigour was recruited, they were not God's people. The peculiarities of Hosea's style have been often remarked. His style, says De Wette, is abrupt, unrounded, and ebullient ; his rhythm bard, leaping, and violent. The language is peculiar and difficult.' Lowth speaks of him as the most difficult and perplexed of the prophets. Eichhorn's description of his style was probably at the same time meant as an imitation of it : ' His discourse is like a garland woven of a multi- plicity of flowers : images are woven upon images, comparison wound upon comparison, metaphor strung upon metaphor. He plucks one flower, and throws it down that he may directly break off another. Like a bee, he flies from one flower- bed to another, that he may suck his honey from the most varied pieces. It is a natural conse- quence that his figures sometimes form strings of pearls. Often is he prone to approach to allegory often he sinks down in obscurity ' (cornp. ch. v. 9; vi. 3; vii. 8; xiii. 3, 7, 8, 16). Hosea, as a prophet, is expressly quoted by Matthew (ii. 15). The citation is from the first verse of ch. xi. Hosea vi. 6 is quoted twice by the same evangelist (ix. 13; xii. 7). Quotations from his prophecies are also to be found in Rom. ix. 25, 26. References to them occur in 1 Cor. xv. 55, and in 1 Pet. ii. 10. Messianic references are not clearly and prominently developed. This book, however, is not without them ; but they lie more in the spirit of its allusions than in the letter. Hosea's Christology appears written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, on the fleshly tables of his heart. The future conversion of his people to the Lord their God, and David theip king, their glorious privilege in becoming sons of the living God, the faithfulness of the original pro- mise to Abraham, that the number of his spiritual seed should be as the sand of the sea, are among the oracles whose fulfilment will take place only under the new dispensation. HOSEA, son of Elah, and last king of Israel. He conspired against and slew his predecessor Pekah, and seized his dominions. ' He did evil in the sight of the Lord,' but not in the same de- gree as his predecessors : and this, by the Jewish commentators, is understood to mean that he did not, like former kings of Israel (2 Kings xv. 30), restrain his subjects from going up to Jerusalem to worship. The intelligence that Hosea had entered into a confederacy with So, king of Egypt, HOSPITALITY 'whh th view of shaking off the Assyrian yoke, caused Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, to march an army into the land of Israel ; and after a three years' siege Samaria was taken and destroyed, and the ten tribes were sent into the countries beyond the Euphrates, B.C. 720 (2 Kings xv. 30 ; xvii. 1-6; xviii. 9-12).' The chronology of this reign is much perplexed [see CHRONOLOGY, ISBAELJ. HOSPITALITY. The practice of receiving strangers into one's house and giving them suit- able entertainment, may be traced back to the early origin of human society. It is not, however, confined to any age or to any country, but has been observed in all parts of the globe wherever circumstances have been such as to render it de- sirable thus affording one'among many instances of the readiness with which human nature, in its moral as well as in its physical properties, adapts itself to every varying condition. Hospitality is therefore not a peculiarly Oriental virtue. It was practised, as it still is, among the least cultivated nations. It was not less observed, in the early periods of their history, among the Greeks and Romans. With the Greeks, hospitality was under the immediate protection of religion. Jupiter bore a name signifying that its rights were under his guardianship. In the Odyssey we are told ex- pressly that all guests and poor people are special objects of care to the gods. There were both in Greece and Italy two kinds of hospitality, the one private, the other public. The first existed between individuals, the second was cultivated by one state towards another. Hence arose a new kind of social relation : between those who had exercised and partaken of the rites of hospitality an intimate friendship ensued, a species of freemasonry, which was called into play wherever the indi- viduals might afterwards chance to meet, and the right, duties, and advantages of which passed from father to son, and were deservedly held in the highest estimation. But though not peculiarly Oriental, hospitality has nowhere been more early or more fully prac- tised than in the East It is still honourably ob- served among the Arabs, especially at the present day. An Arab, on arriving at a village, dismounts at the house of some one who is known to him, saying to the master, I am your guest.' On this the host receives the traveller, and performs his duties, that is, he sets before his guest his supper, consisting of bread, milk, and borgul, and, if he is rich and generous, he also takes the necessary care of his horse or beast of burden. Should the traveller be unacquainted with any person, he alights at any house, as it may happen, fastens his horse to the same, and proceeds to smoke his pipe until the master bids him welcome, and offers him his evening meal. In the morning the traveller pursues his journey, making no other return than ' God be with you ' (good bye). We find hospitality practised and held in the highest estimation at the earliest periods in which the Bible speaks of human society (Gen. xviii. 3; xix. 2 ; xxiv. 25; Exod. ii. 20; Judg. xix. 16). Express provision for its exercise is made in the Mosaic law (Lev. xix. 33 ; Deut. xiv. 29). In the New Testament also its observance is enjoined, though in the period to which its books refer the nature and extent of hospitality would be changed with the change that society had undergone HOURS 405 posi- (1 Pet. iv. 9; 1 Tim. iii. 2 ; Tit. i. 8 ; 1 Tii 10; Rom. xii. 13, Heb. xiii. 2). The dis r __. tion which generally prevailed in favour of the practice was enhanced by the fear lest those who neglected its rites should, after the example of impious men, be subjected by the divine wrath to frightful punishments. Even the Jews, in ' the ; latter days,' laid very great stress on the obliga- ' tion : the rewards of Paradise, their doctors de- | clared, were his who spontaneously exercised hospitality. The guest, whoever he might be, was on his : appearing invited into the house or tent (Gen. ! xix. 2; Exod. ii. 20; Judg. xiii. 15; xix. 21). ! Courtesy dictated that no improper questions should be put to him, and some days elapsed be- . fore the name of the stranger was asked, or what object he had in view in his journey (Gen. xxiv. 33). As soon as he arrived he was furnished with water to wash his feet (Gen. xviii. 4 ; xix. 2 ; 1 Tim. v. 10) ; received a supply of needful food for himself and beast (Gen. xviii. 5 ; xix. 3; xxiv. 25; Exod. ii. 20; Judg. xix. 20); and enjoyed courtesy and protection from his host (Gen. xix. 5; Josh. ii. 2; Judg. xix. 23). The case of Sisera, decoyed and slain by Jael (Judg. iv. 18, sq.), was a gross infraction of the rights and duties of hospitality. On his departure the traveller was not allowed to go alone or empty- handed (Judg. xix. 5). As the free practice of hospitality was held right and honourable, so the neglect of it was considered discreditable (Job xxxi. 32 ; Odi/ss. xiv. 56) ; and any interference with the comfort and protection which the host afforded, was treated as a wicked outrage (Gen. xix. 4, sq.). Though the practice of hospitality was general, and its rites rarely violated, yet national or local enmities did not fail sometimes to interfere ; and accordingly travellers avoided those places in which they had reason to expect an unfriendly reception. So in Judg. xix. 12, the 'certain Levite' spoken of said, 'We will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger, that is not of the children of Israel.' The quarrel which arose between the Jews and Samaritans after the Babylonish captivity destroyed the rela- tions of hospitality between them. Regarding each other as heretics, they sacrificed every better feeling. It was only in the greatest ex- tremity that the Jews would partake of Samaritan food, and they were accustomed, in consequence of their religious and political hatred, to avoid passing through Samaria in journeying from one extremity of the land to the other. The ani- mosity of the Samaritans towards the Jews ap- pears to have been somewhat less bitter ; but they showed an adverse feeling towards those persons who, in going up to the annual feast at Jerusalem, had to pass through their country (Luke ix. 53). At the great national festivals hospitality was liberally practised so long as the state retained its identity. On these festive occasions no inhabitant of Jerusalem considered his house his own ; every home swarmed with strangers ; vet this unbounded hospitality could not find^ accommodation in the houses for all who stood in need of it, and a large proportion of visitors had to be content with such shelter as tents could afford. HOURS. The ancient Hebrews, like the Greeks, were unacquainted with any other means of distinguishing the times of day than the natural 406 HOURS divisions of morning, midday of noon, twilight, and night (Gen. xv. 12 ; xviii. 1 ; xix. 1, 15, 23). The earliest mention of hours occurs in Daniel (iii. 15; iv. 19; v. 5); and, as the Chaldscans claimed the honour of inventing this system of notation, it is most probable that it was during their residence in Babylon that the Jews became familiar with their artificial distribution of the day. At all events no trace of it occurs 1 efore the captivity -of that people ; while, subsequently to their return to their own land, we find the prac- tice adopted, and, in the time of Christ, univers- ally established, of dividing the day and night respectively into twelve equal portions (Matt. xx. 3-5 ; John xi. 9 ; Acts v. 7 ; xix. 34). The Jewish horology, however, in common with that of other Eastern nations, had this inherent defect, that the hours, though always equal to one another, were unequal in regard to the seasons, and that as their day was reckoned from sunrise to sunset, and not from the fixed period of noon, as with us, the twelve hours into which it was divided varied, of course, in duration according to the fluctuations of summer and winter. The mid-day, which with us is the twelfth hour, the Jews counted their sixth, while their twelfth hour did not arrive till sunset At the equinoxes, their hours were exactly of the same length with ours, and the time from which they began to reckon their day at those seasons corresponded precisely with our six o' clock A.M. ; their first hour being our seven o'clock, their third (Acti ii. 15), our nine, their ninth (Acts iii. 1), our three o'clock P.M., and their eleventh (Matt. xx. 6), our five. This equality, however, in the duration of their hours, as well as in their corre* spondence to ours, was disturbed as the season approached towards the summer or winter solstice. In midsummer, when sunrise in Judaea takes place at five o'clock A.M., and sunset at seven P.M., the Jewish hours were a little longer than ours ; and tlie only one of their hours which answered exactly to ours was the sixth, or twelve o'clock, while in all the rest there was a considerable difference. Their third hour was shortly before our nine, and their ninth a little after our three. In like manner, in winter, when the sun rises at seven and sets at five, the Jewish hour was proportionally shorter than ours, their third hour not occurring till a little after our nine, and their ninth a little before our three. Hence it is evident that in order to determine exactly the duration of Daniel's silence, for instance (' he was astonied one hour,' Dan. iv. 19), or the exact time when the darkness at Christ's crucifixion ended, it is necessary to ascertain the particular seasons when these incidents occurred. In ancient times the only way of reckoning the progress of thu day was by the length of the shadow a mode of reckoning which was both contingent on the sunshine, and served only for the guidance of individuals. By what means the Jews calculated the length of their hours whether by dialling, by the clepsydra or water- clock, or by some horological contrivance, like what was used anciently in Persia by the Romans, and which is still used in India, a servant notify- ing the intervals, it is. now impossible to dis- cover. Besides these smaller hours, there was another division of the day into larger hours, with re- HOUSE ference to the stated periods of prayer, viz. th* third, sixth, and ninth hours of the day (Ps. xlr. 17). The night was divided into twelve equal por- tions or hours, in precisely the same manner as the day. The most ancient division, however, was into three watches ; the first, or beginning of the watches, as it is called (Lament, ii. 19); the middle-watch (Judg. vii. 19) ; and the morn- ing-watch (Exod. xiv. 24). When Juda;a became a province of Rome, the Roman distribution of the night into four watches was introduced [see COCK-CROWING and DAY]; to which division frequent allusions occur in the New Testament (Luke xii. 38 ; Matt. xiv. 25 ; xiii. 35), as well as to that of hours (Matt. xxv. 13; xxvi. 40; Mark xiv. 37 ; Luke xvii. 59 ; Acts xxiii. 23 ; Rev. iii. 3). It remains only to notice that the word hour is sometimes used in Scripture to denote some de- terminate season, as ' mine hour is not yet come,' ' this is your hour, and the power of darkness,' ' the hour is coming,' &c. HOUSE. Houses are often mentioned in Scrip- ture, several important passages of which cannot be well understood without a clearer notion of the houses in which the Hebrews dwelt, than can be realized by such comparisons as we naturally make with those in which we ourselves live. But things so different afford no grounds for instructive comparison* We must therefore bring together such facts as can be collected from the Scripture and from ancient writers, with such details from modern travellers and our own ob- servations, as may tend to illustrate these state- ments ; for there is every reason to conclude that little substantial difference exists between the ancient houses and those which are at this day found in south-western Asia. Our information respecting the abodes of men in the ages before the Deluge is, however, too scanty to afford much ground for notice. We may, therefore, pass over this early period, and proceed at once to the later times in which the Hebrews flourished. The observations offered under ARCHITECTURE will preclude the expectation of finding among this Eastern people an accomplished style of building. The reason of this is plain. Their ancestors had roved through the country as no- made shepherds, dwelling in tents ; and if ever they built huts they were of so light a fabric as easily to be taken down when a change of station became necessary. In this mode of life solidity in the structure of any dwelling was by no means required ; much less were regular arrangement and the other requisites of a well-ordered dwell- ing matters of consideration. Under such cir- HOUSE cumstances as these, no improvement in the habi- tation takes place. The tents in which the Arabs now dwell are in all probability the same as those in which the Hebrew patriarchs spent their liyes. On entering Palestine, the Israelites occupied the dwellings of the dispossessed inhabitants ; and for a long time no new buildings would be needed. The generation which began to build new houses must have been born and bred in the country, and would naturally erect buildings like those which already existed in the land. Their mode of building was therefore that of the Ca- naanites whom they had dispossessed. Of their style of building we are not required to form any exalted notions. In all the history of the conquest of the country by the Israelites, there is no account of any large or conspicuous build- ing being taken or destroyed by them. It would seem also as if there had been no temples ; for we read not that any were destroyed by the con- querors ; and the command that the monuments of idolatry should be overthrown, specifies only altars, groves, and high places which seems to lead to the same conclusion ; since, if there had been temples existing in the land of Canaan, they would doubtless have been included. It is also manifest from the history that the towns which the Hebrews found in Palestine were mostly small, and that the largest were distinguished rather by their number than by the size or mag- nificence of their buildings. It is impossible to say to what extent Solomon's improvements in state architecture operated to the advancement of domestic architecture. He built different palaces, and it is reasonable to conclude that his nobles and great officers fol- lowed more or less the models which these palaces presented. In the East, however, the domestic architecture of the bulk of the people is little affected by the improvements in state buildings. Men go on building from age to age as their fore- fathers built ; and in all probability the houses which we now see in Palestine are such as those in which the Jews, and the Canaanites before them, dwelt the mosques, the Christian churches, and the monasteries being the only new features in the scene. There is no reason to suppose that many houses in Palestine were constructed with wood. A great part of that country was always very poor in timber, and the middle part of it had scarcely any wood at all. But of stone there was no want ; and it was consequently much used in the build- ing of houses. Having premised this, the prin- cipal building materials mentioned in Scripture may be enumerated with reference to their place in the three kingdoms of nature. I. VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES : 1. Shittim, or the timber of the acacia tree, which grows abundantly in the valleys of Arabia Petraa, and was therefore employed in the con- struction of the tabernacle. Not being, however, a tree of Palestine, the wood was not subsequently used in building. 2. The wood of the sycamore fig-tree, mentioned in Isa. ix. 10, as a building timber in more com- mon use than cedar, or perhaps than any other wood known in Palestine. 3. Cedar. As this was a wood imported from Lebanon, it would only be used in the higher class of buildings. HOUSE 407 4. Algum-wood, which, being imported from the Eastern seas, must have been valued at a high price. It was used by Solomon for pillars for his own palace, and for the temple (1 Kings x. 11, 12). 5. Cypress-wood. Boards of this were used for the floor of the Temple, which may suggest the use to which it was ordinarily applied (1 Kings vi. 15; 2 Chron. iii. 5). Particular accounts of all these woods, and oi the trees which afforded them, maybe seen under the respective words. II. MINERAL SUBSTANCES : 1. ^Marble. We find the court of the king of Persia's palace covered with marble of various colours (Esth. i. G). David is recorded to have possessed abundance of marble (1 Chron. xxx. [xxix.] 2 ; comp. Cant. v. 13), and it was used by Solomon for his palace, as well as for the Temple. 2. Porphyry and Granite are supposed to be 'the glistering stones, and stones of divers colours' named in 1 Chron. xxix. 2. If so, the mountains of Arabia Pctrsea furnished the nearest source of supply, as these stones do not exist in Palestine or Lebanon. 3. Bricks. Bricks hardened by fire were em- ployed in the construction of the tower of Babel (Gen. xi. 3), and the hard bondage of the Israel- ites in Egypt consisted in the manufacture of sun-dried bricks (Exod. v. 7, 10-13). This im- portant building-material has been noticed under ; another head [BRICKS] ; and it only remains to ' remark that no subsequent notice of bricks as being used by the Hebrews occurs after they had entered Palestine. Yet, judging from existing analogies, it is more than probable that bricks were to a considerable extent employed in their buildings. 3. Chalk and Gi/psum. That the Hebrews were acquainted with these materials appears from Deut. xxvii. 2 ; and from Dan. v. 5 ; Acts xxiii. 3, it further appears that walls were covered with them. . 4. Mortar, a cement made of lime, ashes, and chopped straw, or of gypsum and chopped straw. This is probably meant in Jer. xliii. 9 ; Ezek. xiii. 10, 11, 20. 5. Asplialtum, or Bitumen, which is mentioned as being used for a cement by the builders of Babel. This must have been in the want of lime- mortar, the country being a stoneless plain. But the Israelites, who had no lack of the usual ce- ments, did not employ asphaltum [BITUMEN]. 6. The metals also must be, to a certain extent, regarded as building materials : lead, iron, and copper are mentioned ; and even silver and gold were used in combination with wood, for various kinds of solid, plated, and inlaid work (Exod. xxxvi. 34, 38). III. ANIMAL SUBSTANCES : Such substances can be but in a small degree applicable to building. Ivory houses .are men- tioned in 1 Kings xxii. 39 ; Amos iii. 14 ; most likely from certain parts of the wood-work, pro- bably about the doors and windows, being inlaid with this valuable substance. Solomon obtained ivory in great quantities from Tyre (1 Kings x. 22 ; 2 Chron. ix. 21). [IVORY.] In describing the houses of ancient Palestine, there is no way of arriving at distinet notions but 408 HOUSE by taking the texts of Scripture and illustrating them by the existing houses of those parts of Western Asia which have been the least exposed to the changes of time, and in which the manners of ancient days have been the best preserved. Writers on the subject have seen this, and have brought together the descriptions of travellers bearing on the subject ; but these descriptions have generally been applied with very little judg- ment, from the want of that distinct knowledge of the matter which only actual observation can give. Travellers have seldom been students of Scripture, and students of Scripture have seldom been travellers. The present writer, having re- sided for a considerable time in Turkish Arabia, where the type of Scriptural usages has been better preserved than in Egypt, or even in Palestine itself, is enabled to speak on this matter with somewhat more precision. Of four houses in which he there resided, two were first-rate, and two were second-rate. One of the latter has always seemed to him to suggest a more satisfac- tory idea of a Scriptural house than any of the others, or than any that he ever saw in other Eastern countries. That one has therefore formed the basis of all his ideas on this subject ; and where it seemed to fail, the others have usually supplied the illustration he required. This course he has found so beneficial that he will endeavour to impart a clear view of the subject to the reader by giving a general notion of t'he house referred to, explaining any points in which the others dif- fered from it, and producing the passages of Scrip- ture which seem to be illustrated in the process. We may premise that the houses present little more than a dead wall to the street. The privacy of Oriental domestic habits would render our plan of throwing the front of the houses towards the street most repulsive. On coming to a house, one finds a lofty wall, which would be blank but for the low door of entrance [GATE] ; over which is usually the kiosk, or latticed window (sometimes projecting like the huge bay windows of Eliza- bethan houses), or screened balcony of the ' sum- mer parlour.' Besides this, there may be a small latticed window or two high up the wall, giving light and air to upper chambers. This seems, HOUSE from the above engraving (No. 211), to have been the character of the fronts of ancient Egyp- tian houses. Tfae buildings which form the house fron towards an inner square or court. Small houses have one of these courts, but superior houses have two, and first-rate houses three, communicating with each other ; for the Orientals dislike ascend- ing stairs or steps, and prefer to gain room rather by the extent than height of their habitations. It is only when the building-ground is confined by nature or by fortifications, that they build high houses. Not one out of four houses we ourselves inhabited had more than one story ; but, from the loftiness of the rooms, they were as high as houses of three stories among ourselves. If there are three or more courts, all except the outer one are much alike in size and appearance ; but the outer one, being devoted to the more public life of the occupant, and to his intercourse with society, is materially different from all the others. If there are more than two, the second is devoted chiefly to the MSC of the master, who is there attended only by his eunuchs, children, and females, and sees only such persons as he calls from the third or interior court in which they reside. In the his- tory of Esther, she incurs danger by going from her interior court to that of the king, to invite him to visit her part of the palace ; but she would not on any account have gone to the outermost court, in which the king held his public audiences. When there are only two courts, the innermost is the harem, in which the women and children live, and which is the true domicile of the master, to which he withdraws when the claims of busi- ness, of society, and of friends have been satisfied, and where no man but himself ever enters, or could be induced to enter, even by strong per- suasions. Entering at the street-door, a passage, usually sloping downward, conducts to the outer court ; the opening from the passage to this is not oppo- site the gate of entrance, but by a side turn, to preclude any view from the street into the court when the gate is opened. On entering the outer court through this passage, we find opposite to us the public room, in which the master receives and gives audience to his friends and clients. This is entirely open in front, and, being richly fitted up, has a splendid appearance when the first view of it is obtained. A refreshing coolness is sometimes given to this apartment by a fountain throwing up a jet of water in front of it. Some idea of the apartment may be formed from the annexed cut (No. 212). This is the ' guest-chamber ' of Luke xxii. 11. A large portion of the other side of the court is occupied with a frontage of lattice-work filled with coloured glass, belonging to a room as large as the guest-chamber, and which in winter is used for the same purpose, or serves as the apartment of any visitor of distinction, who can- not of course be admitted into the interior parts of the house. The other apartments in this outer court are comparatively small, and are used for the accommodation of visitors, retainers, and ser- vants. These various apartments are usually upon what we should call the first floor, or at least upon an elevated terrace. The ground-floor is in that case occupied by various store-rooms and servants' offices. In all cases the upper floor, containing the principal rooms, is fronted by a gallery or HOUSE terrace, protected from the sun by a sort of pent- house roof supported by pillars of wood. HOUSE 409 In houses having but one court, the reception- room is on the ground-floor, and the domestic establishment in the upper part of the house. This arrangement is shown in the annexed en- graving (No. 213), which is also interesting from its showing the use of the ' pillars ' so often men- S13. tioned in Scripture, particularly ' the pillars on which the house stood, and by which it was borne op ' (Judg. xvi. 29). The kiosk, which has been mentioned above as fronting the street, over the gateway, is connected with one of the larger rooms already described, or forms a separate apartment, which is the sum- mer parlour of Scripture. Here, in the heat of the afternoon, the master lounges or dozes list- lessly, refreshed by the air which circulates between the openings of the lattice-work; and here he can, if he pleases, notice unobserved what passes in the street. In this we are to seek the summer parlour in which Ehud smote the king of Moab (Judg. iii. 20), and the 'chamber on the wall,' which the Shunamite prepared for the prophet (2 Kings iv. 10). The projecting con- struction over the reception chamber in No. 213 is, like the kiosk, towards the street as a summer parlour; but there it belongs to the women's apartments, and looks into the court, and not the street. It is now time to proceed to the inner court, which we enter by a passage and door similar to those by which we entered from the street. This passage and door are usually at one of the innermost corners of the outer court. Here & much more extended prospect opens to us, tke inner court being generally much larger than the former. The annexed cut (No. 214) will convey some notion of it ; but being a Persian house, it somewhat differs from that which we have more particularly in view. It is lower, the principal apartments standing npon a terrace or bank of earth, and not upon a basement story of offices ; and it also wants the veranda or covered gallery in front, which we find in Syro-Arabian houses. The court is for the most part paved, excepting a portion in the middle, which is planted with trees (usually two) and shrubs, with a basin of water in the midst. In our Arabian house the two trees were palm-trees, in which a number of wild doves built their nests. In the second cut (No. 34 HYAENA swine. By soane it has been thought, but appa- rently without reason, that it was upon the husks of this tree that John the Baptist fed in the wil- derness : from this idea, however, it is often called St John's Bread and Locust-tree. HYMENEUS 413 818. [Ceratonia Siliqua.] The Carob-tree grows in the south of Europe and north of Africa, usually to a moderate size, but it sometimes becomes very large, with a trunk of great thickness, and affords an agreeable shade. The quantity of pods borne by each tree is very considerable, being often as much as 800 or 900 pounds weight : they are flat, brownish- coloured, from six to eight inches in length, of a sub-astringent taste when unripe, but when come to maturity they secrete, within the husks and round the seeds, a sweetish-tasted pulp. When on the tree, the pods have an unpleasant odour ; but when dried upon hurdles they become eat- able, and are valued by poor people, and during famine in the countries where the tree is grown, especially in Spain and Egypt, and by the Arabs. They are given as food to cattle in modern, as we read they were in ancient, times ; but at the best can only be considered very poor fare. HYAENA (Tzeboa), (Ecclus. xiii. 18). Ex- cepting in Ecclesiasticus just noted, the word does not occur in the English Bible, although there are several passages in the Hebrew canonical books, where Tzeboa, ' streaked ' or ' variegated,' is assumed to designate the hyaena. The most noted of these is Jer. xii. 9, where the words which the Septuagint render ' the cave of the hysDna,' are rendered in our version ' a speckled bird.' But Bochart and the continuator of Cal- met vindicate what we take to be the true reading, ' the striped rusher,' i. e. the hyaena, turning round upon his lair, introduced after an allusion in the previous verse to the lion calling to the beasts of the field (other hyaenas and jackals) to come and devour. This allusion, followed up as it is by a natural association of ideas, with a de- scription of the pastor, feeder, or rather consumer or devourer of the vineyard, treading down and destroying the vines, renders the natural and poetical picture complete; for the hyania seeks burrows and caverns for a lair; like the dog it turnaround to lie down ; howls, t;nd occasionally acts, in concert; is loathsome, savage, insatiable in appetite, offensive in smell ; aiicl will in the season, like canines, devour grapes, as the \vriter has himself ascertained by actual experiment. Tzeboa, therefore, we consider proved to be. generically, the hyaena. The striped species is one of three or four all, it seems, originally African ; and, by following armies and caravans, gradually spread over Southern Asia to beyond the Ganges, though not as yet to the east of the Bramapootra. It is now not uncommon in Asia Minor, and has extended into Southern Tartary ; but this progress is comparatively so recent, tliiit : no other than Semitic names are well known to | belong to it. The head and jaws of all the ! species are broad and strong ; the muzzle trun- cated ; the tongue like a rasp ; the teeth 34 in- stead of 42, as in the canidce, but robust, large, and eminently formed for biting, lacerating, and reducing the very bone ; the neck stiff; the body short and compact ; the limbs tall, with only four toes on each foot; the fur coarse, forming a kind of semi-erectile mane along the back; the tail rather short, with an imperfect brush, and with a fetid pouch beneath it. In stafure the species varies from that of a large wolf to much less. Hyaenas are not bold in comparison with wolves, or in proportion to their powers. They do not in general act collectively ; they prowl chiefly in the night ; attack asses, dogs, and weaker ani- mals ; feed most willingly on corrupt animal offal, dead camels, &c. ; and dig into human graves that are not well protected with stakes and brambles. The striped species is of a dirty ashy buff, -with some oblique black streaks across the shoulders and body, and numerous cross-bars on the legs ; the muzzle and throat are black, and the tip of the tail white. There is reason to believe that the deeb, or Scriptural wolf, when represented as carrying off a lamb, is no other than the hyaena, unless the real wolf has been extirpated; for zoologists have not found the wolf in Syria. HYMENE'US, a professor of Christianity at Ephesus, who, with Alexander (l Tim. i. 20) and Philetus (2 Tim. ii. 18), had departed from the truth both in principle and practice, and led others into apostacy. The chief doctrinal error 414 HYSSOP of these persons consisted in maintaining that ' the resurrection was past already.' The precise meaning of this expression is by no means clearly ascertained : the most general and perhaps best founded opinion is, that they understood the re- surrection in a figurative sense of the great change produced by the Gospel dispensation. Most critics suppose that the same person is re- ferred to in both the Epistles to Timothy by the name of Hymeneus. Dr. Mosheim, however, contends that there were two. But his reasoning 011 the subject is far from satisfactory. HYMN. In the only places of the New Tes- tament where this word occurs, it is connected with two others of very similar import. ' Speak- ing to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spf- ritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord ' (Eph. v. 19 ; Col. iii. 16). It has been conjectured that by ' psalms and hymns ' the poetical compositions of the Old Testament are chiefly to be understood, and that the epithet ' spiritual,' here applied to 'songs,' is intended to mark those devout effusions which resulted from the spiritual gifts granted to the primitive church ; yet in 1 Cor. xiv. 26 a production of the latter class is called ' a psalm.' Josephus, it may be remarked, uses the terms ' hymns ' and ' songs,' in reference to the Psalms of David (Antiq. vii. 1 2. 3). Our information respecting the hymr>- logy of the first Christians is extremely scanty ; the_ most distinct notice we possess of it is that contained in Pliny's celebrated Epistle (Ep. x. 97) : ' They sing a hymn to Christ as God.' The hymn which our Lord sung with his dis- ciples at the Last Supper is generally supposed to have been the latter part of the Hallel, or series of psalms which were sung by the Jews on the night of the Passover, comprehending Ps. cxiii.-cxviii. ; Ps. cxiii. and cxiv. being sung be- fore, and the rest after the Passover. HYSSOP. A great variety of opinions have been entertained respecting the plant called esobh, translated ' hyssop' in the Authorized Version both of the Old and the New Testament ; but it is difficult to fix with certainty on the plant in- tended. The first notice of it occurs in Exod. xii. 22, where a bunch of hyssop is directed 1o be dipped in blood and struck on the lintels and the two side-posts of the doors of the houses in which the Israelites resided. It is next men- tioned in Lev. xiv. 4, 6, 52, in the ceremony for declaring lepers to be cleansed ; and again, in Num. xix. 6, 18, in preparing the water of sepa- ration. To these passages the apostle alludes in Heb. ix. 19 : ' For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people, according to the law, he took the blood of calves, and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people.' From these texts we find that the plant must have been leafy, and large enough to serve for the purposes of sprinkling, and that it must have been found in Lower Egypt, as well as in the country towards Mount Sinai, and onwards to Palestine. From the following: passages we get some information respecting the habits and the supposed properties of the plant. Thus, in 1 Kings iv. 33, it is said, ' Solomon spoke of trees, from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall ;' and in the penitential psalm of David (li. 7), ' Purge me with hyssop, and I IBZAN shall be clean : wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.' In this passage it is, no doubt, con- sidered by some commentators that hyssop is used in a figurative sense ; but still it is possible that the plaut may have possessed some genern 1 cleansing properties, and thus come to be em- ployed in preference to other plants in the cere- monies of purification. It ought, at all events, to be found growing upon walls, and in Palestine. In the account of the crucifixion of our Saviour, the Apostle John says (John xix. 29), ' Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, aud put it to his mouth.' In the parallel passages of Matthew (xxvii. 48) and Mark (xv. 30), it is stated that the sponge filled with vinegar was put upon a reed or stick. To reconcile these statements, some commentators have supposed that both the sponge and the hyssop were tied to a stick, and that one apostle mentions only the hyssop, because he considered it as the most im- portant ; while, for the same reason, the other two mention only the stick ; but the simplest mode of explaining the apparent discrepancy is to consider the hyssop and the stick to be the same thing in other words, that the sponge was affixed to a stick of hyssop. A great variety of plants have been adduced by different authors as that alluded to in the above pas- sages. Some contend for several plants belonging to the class of ferns, such as maiden-hair, wall-rue, pearlwort, and hair-moss: others for a species of wormwood, that it might be more distasteful to our Saviour. The majority, however, have selected different kinds of fragrant plants belonging to the natural family of Labiates, several of which are found in dry and barren situations in Palestine, and also in some parts of the Desert. Of these may be mentioned the rosemary, species of la- vender, of mint, of marjoram, of thyme, of savory, of thymbra, and others of the same tribe, resem- bling each other much in characters as well as in properties : but it does not appear that any of them grow on walls, or are possessed of cleansing properties ; and, with the exception of the rose- mary, they are not capable of yielding a stick, nor are they found in all the required situations. Dr. Uoyle, who has recently investigated the subject, is of opinion that as the caper plant has an Arabic came, asnf, similar to the Hebrew esob or esof; as it is found in Lower Egypt, in the deserts of Sinai, and in New Jerusalem ; as it grows upon rocks and walls, was always supposed to be possessed of cleansing qualities, is large enough to yield a stick ; and as its different parts used to be preserved in vinegar, as its buds now are, he is warranted, from the union of all these properties in this plant, corresponding so closely to those of the original esof, in considering it as proved that the caper plant is the hyssop of Scrip- ture. IB'ZAN (illustrious], the tenth 'judge of Is- rael.' He was of Bethlehem, probably the Beth- lehem of Zebulun and not of Judah. He governed seven years. The prosperity of Ibzan is marked by the great number of his children (thirty sons IDDO and thirty daughters), and his wealth by their marriages for they were all married. ICH'ABOD (where is the glory), son of Phinehas and grandson of Eli. He is only known from the unhappy circumstances of his birth, which occa- sioned this name to be; given to him. The pains of labour came upon his mother when she heard that the ark of God was taken, that her husband was slain in battle, and that these tidings had jroved fatal to his father Eli. They were de*ath- jains to her ; and when those around sought to cheer her, saying, ' Fear not, for thou hast borne a son,' she only answered by giving him the name of Ichabod, saying, ' The glory is departed from Israel' (1 Sam. iv. 19-22); B.C. 1141. The name again occurs in 1 Sam. xiv. 3 [ELI]. ICCKNIUM, a town, formerly the capital of Lycaonia, as it is now, by the name of Konieh, of Karamania, in Asia Minor. It is situated in N. lat. 37 51', E. long. 32 40', about one hun- dred and twenty miles inland from the Mediter- ranean. It was visited by St. Paul in A.D. 45, when many Gentiles were converted ; but some unbelieving Jews excited against him and Bar- nabas a persecution, which they escaped with difficulty (Acts xiii. 51 ; xiv. 1, &c.). He under- took a second journey to Iconium in A.D. 51. The church planted at this place by the apostle continued to flourish, until, by the persecutions of the Saracens, and afterwards of the Seljukians, who made it one of their sultanies, it was nearly extinguished. But some Christians of the Greek and Armenian churches, with a Greek metro- politan bishop, are still found in the suburbs of the city, not being permitted to reside within the walls. Konie'h is situated at the foot of Mount Taurus, upon the border of the lake Trogolis, in a fertile plain, rich in valuable productions, particularly apricots, wine, cotton, flax, and grain. The cir- cumference of the town is between two and three miles, beyond which are suburbs not much less populous than the town itself. The town, suburbs, and gardens are plentifully supplied with water from streams which flow from some hills to the westward, and which, in the north-east, join the lake, which varies in size with the season of the year. In the town carpets are manufactured, anc blue and yellow leathers are tanned and dried Cotton, wool, hides, and a few of the other raw productions which enrich the superior industry and skill of the manufacturers of Europe, are sent to Smyrna by caravans. The city, like all those renowned for superior sanctity, abounds with dervishes, who meet the passenger at every turaing of the streets, and de- maryl paras with the greatest clamour and inso- lence. The bazaars and houses have little to recommend them to notice. 1. ID'DO (seasonable), a prophet of Judah who wrote the history of Rehoboam and Abijah or rather perhaps who, in conjunction with Se- raiah, kept the public rolls during their reigns ; It seems by 2 Chron. xiii. 22, that he named his book Midrash, or ' Exposition.' Josephus states that this Iddo was the prophet who was sent to Jeroboam at Bethel, and consequently the same who was slain by a lion for disobedience to his instructions (1 Kings xiii.); and many commen tators have followed this statement. 2. IDDO, grandfather of the prophet Zechariah Zech, i. 1 ; Ezra. T. 1 ; vi. 14). IDOLATRY 415 3. IDDO, chief of the Jews of the Captivity established at Casiphia, a place of which it is dif- icult to determine the position. It was to him hat Ezra sent a requisition for Levites and Ne- hinim, none of whom had yet joined his caravan. Thirty-eight Levites and two hundred and fifty hiniin responded to his call (Ezra viii. 1 7-20), B.C. 457. It would seem from this that Iddo was a chief person of the IS'ethinim, descended from those Gibeonites who were charged with the servile labours of the tabernacle and temple. This is one of several circumstances which indi- cate that the Jews in their several colonies under the Exile were still ruled by the heads of their nation, and allowed the free exercise of tlieir worship. 4. IDDO (lovely), a chief of the half tribe of Manasseh beyond the Jordan (1 Chron. xxvii. 21). IDLE. The ordinary uses of this word re- quire no illustration. But the very serious pas- sage in Matt. xii. 36 may suitably be noticed in this place. In the Authorized Version it is trans- lated, ' I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment.' The whole question depends upon the meaning, or rather the force, of the term rendered ' idle word,' concern- ing which there has been no little difference of opinion. Many understand it to mean ' wicked and injurious words ;' but this interpretation has been examined with much nicety by Dr. Titt- mann, and shown to be untenable. He contends that we must necessarily understand by the phrase a certain kind of words or discourse, which, under the appearance of sincerity or candour, is often the worst possible, and ' condemns a man,' because it is uttered with an evil purpose. The meaning of the expression, then, seems to be void of effect, without result, followed by no correspond- ing event. Therefore ' idle words ' are empty or vain words or discourse, i. e. void of truth, and to which the event does not correspond. In short, it is the empty, inconsiderate, insincere language of one who says one thing and means another. This Tittmann confirms by a number of citations ; and then deduces from the whole that the sense of the passage under review is : ' Believe me, he who uses false and insincere language shall suffer grievous punishment : your words, if uttered with sincerity and ingenuousness, shall be approved ; but if they are dissembled, although they bear the strongest appearance of sincerity, they shall be condemned.' IDOLATRY. In giving a summary view of the forms of idolatry which are mentioned in the Bible, it is expedient to exclude all notice ol those illegal images which were indeed designed to bear some symbolical reference to the worship of the true God, but which partook of the nature of idolatry ; such, for example, as the golden calf of Aaron (cf. Neh. ix. 1 8) ; those of Jeroboam ; the singular ephods of Gideon and Micah (Judg. viii. 27 ; xvii. 5) ; and the Teraphim. Idolatry was the most heinous'offence against the Mosaic law, which is most particular in de- fining the acts that constitute the crime, and severe in apportioning the punishment. Thus, it is forbidden to make any image of a strange god .; to prostrate oneself before such an image, or be^ fore those natural objects which were also wor- 416 IDOLATRY shipped without images, as the sun and moon (Deut. iv. 19); to suffer the altars, images, or f roves of idols to stand (Exod. xxxiv. 13) ; or to eep the gold and silver of which their images were made, and to suffer it to enter the house (Deut. vii. 25, 26) ; to sacrifice to idols, most especially to offer human sacrifices ; to eat of the victims offered to idols by others ; to prophesy in the name of a strange god ; and to adopt any of the files used in idolatrous worship, and to trans- fer them to the worship of the Lord (Deut. xii. 30, 31). As for punishment, the law orders that if an individual committed idolatry he should be stoned to death (Deut. xvii. 2-5) ; that if a town was guilty of this sin, its inhabitants and cattle should be slain, and its spoils burnt together with the town itself (Deut. xiii. 12-18). To what de- gree also the whole spirit of the Old Testament is abhorrent from idolatry, is evident (besides legal prohibitions, prophetic denunciations, and energetic appeals like that in Isa. xliv. 9 -20) from the literal sense of the terms which are used as synonymes for idols and their worship. Thus idols are called the inane (Lev. xix. 4) ; vanities (Acts xiv. 15 ; Jer. ii. 5); nothing (Isa. Ixvi. 3); abominations (1 Kings xi. 5) ; and their worship is called whoredom. The early existence of idolatry is evinced by Josh. xxiv. 2, where it is stated that Abram and his immediate ancestors dwelling in Mesopotamia 'served other gods.' The terms in Gen. xxxi. 53, and particularly the plural form of the verb, seem to show that some members of Terah's family had each different gods. From Josh, xxiv. 14, and Ezek. xx. 8, we learn that the Israelites, during their sojourn in Egypt, were seduced to worship the idols of that country; although we possess no particular account of their transgression. In Amos v. 25, and Acts vii. 42, it is stated that they committed idolatry in their journey through the wilderness ; and in Num. xxv. 1, sq., that they worshipped the Moabite idol Baal-peor at Shittim. After the Israelites had obtained possession of the promised land, we find that they were continually tempted to adopt the idolatries of the Canaanite nations with which they came in contact. The book of Judges enumerates several successive relapses into this sin. The gods which they served during this period were Baal .and Ashtoreth, and their modifications ; and Syria, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, | and Philistia, are named in Judg. x. 6, as the sources from which they derived their idolatries. | Then Samuel appears to have exercised a bene- | ficial influence in weaning the people from this folly (1 Sam. vii.) ; and the worship of the Lord acquired a gradually increasing hold on the na- tion until the time of Solomon, who was induced in his old age to permit the establishment of idolatry at Jerusalem. On the division of the nation, the kingdom of Israel (besides adhering to the sin of Jeroboam to the last) was specially devoted to the worship of Baal, which Ahab had renewed and carried to an unprecedented height ; and although the energetic measures adopted by Jehu, and afterwards by the priest Jehoiada, to suppress this idolatry, may have been the cause why there is no later express mention of Baal, yet it is evident from 2 Kings xiii. 6, and xvii. 10, that the worship of Asherah continued until the deportation of the ten tribes. This event IDOLATRY also introduced the peculiar idolatries of the As- syrian colonists into Samaria. In the kingdom of Judah, on the other hand, idolatry continued during the two succeeding reigns ; was suppressed for a time by Asa ( 1 Kings xv. 1 2) ; was revived in consequence of Joram marrying into the family of Ahab ; was continued by Ahaz ; received a check from Hezekiah ; broke out again more violently under Manasseh; until Josiah made the most vigorous attempt to suppress it. But even Josiah's efforts to restore the worship of the Lord were ineffectual; for the later prophets, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, still continue to utter reproofs against idolatry. Nor did the capture of Jerusalem under Jehoiachim awaken this peculiarly sensual people; for Ezekiel (viii.) shows that those who were left in Jerusalem under the government of Zedekiah had given themselves up to many kinds of idolatry ; and Jeremiah (xliv. 8) charges those inhabitants of Judah who had found an asylum in Egypt, with having turned to serve the gods of that country. On the restoration of the Jews after the Baby- lonian captivity, they appear, for the first time in their history, to have been permanently im- pressed with a sense of the degree to which their former idolatries had been an insult to God, and a degradation of their own understanding an advance in the culture of the nation which may in part be ascribed to the influence of the Persian abhorrence of images, as well as to the effects of the exile as a chastisement. In this state they continued until Antiochus Epiphanes made the last and fruitless attempt to establish the Greek idolatry in Palestine (1 Mace. i.). The particular forms of idolatry into which the Israelites fell are described under the names of the different gods which they worshipped [AUHTORETH, BAAL,, &c.] : the general features of their idolatry require a brief notice here. Ac- cording to Movers, the religion of all the idola- trous Syro- Arabian nations was a deification of the powers and laws of nature, an adoration of those objects in which these powers are considered to abide, and by which they act. The deity is thus the invisible power in nature itself, that power which manifests itself as the generator, sustainer, and destroyer of its works. This view admits of two modifications : either the separate powers of nature are regarded as so many dif- ferent gods, and the objects by which these powers are manifested as the sun, moon, &c. are regarded as their images and supporters ; or the power of nature is considered to be one and indivisible, and only to differ as to the forms under which it manifests itself. Both views co- exist in almost all religions. The most simple and ancient notion, however, is that which con- ceives the deity to be in a human form, as male and female, and which considers the male sex to be the type of its active, generative, and destruc- tive power ; while that passive power of nature whose function is to conceive and bring forth, is embodied under the female form. The human form and the diversity of sex lead naturally to the different ages of life to the old man and the youth, the matron and the virgin according to the modifications of the conception ; and the myths which represent the influences, the changes, the laws, and the relations of these natural powers under the sacred histories of such gods, constitute IDUMjEA a harmonious development of such a religious system. Those who saw the deity manifested by, or conceived him as resident in, any natural objects, could not fail to regard the suu and moon as the potent rulers of day and night, and the sources of those influences on which all animated nature depends. Hence star-worship forms a prominent feature in all the false religions mentioned in the liible. Of this character chiefly were the Egyp- tian, the Canaanite, the Chaldsean, and the Per- sian religions. The Persian form of astrolatry, however, deserves to be distinguished from the others ; for it allowed no images nor temples of the god, but worshipped him in his purest sym- bol, fire. It is understood that this form is alluded to in most of those passages which mention the worship of the sun, moon, and heavenly host, by incense, on heights (2 Kings xxiii. 5, 12; Jer. xix. 13). The other form of astrolatry, in which the idea of the sun, moon, and planets is blended with the worship of the god in the form of an idol, and with the addition of a mythology (as may be seen in the relations of Baal and his cog- nates to the sun), easily degenerates into lasci- viousness and cruel rites. The images of the gods were, as to material, of stone, wood, silver, and gold. Those of metal had a trunk or stock of wood, and were covered with plates of silver or gold (Jer. x. 4) ; or were cast. The general rites of idolatrous worship consist in burning incense ; in offering bloodless sacrifices, as the dough-cakes and libations in Jer. vii. 18, and the raisin-cakes in Hos. iii. 1 ; in sacrificing victims (1 Kings xviii. 26), and especially in human sacrifices [MOLOCH]. These offerings were made on high places, hills, and roofs of houses, or in shady groves and valleys. Some forms of idolatrous worship had libidinous orgies [ASHTORETH]. Divinations, oracles (2 Kings i. 2), and rabdomancy (Hos. iv. 12) form a part of many of these false religions. The priesthood was generally a numerous body ; and where persons of both sexes were attached to the service of any god, that service was infamously immoral. It is remarkable that the Pentateuch makes no menUon of any temple of idols ; after- wards we read often of such. IDUALE'A is the Greek form of the Hebrew name EDOM. It was derived from Isaac's son Edom, otherwise called Esau, the elder twin- brother of Jacob [EsAu]. It signifies red, and seems first to have been suggested by his appear- ance at his birth, when ' he came out all red' (i.e. covered with red hair, Gen. xxv. 25), and was afterwards more formally and permanently imposed on him on account of his unworthy dis- posal of his birthright for a mess of red lentiles (Gen. xxv. 30). The region which came to bear his name is the mountainous tract on the east side of the great valleys el-Ghor and el-Arabah, extend- ing between the Dead Sea and the Elanitic Gulf of the Red Sea. Into this district Esau removed during his father's lifetime, and his posterity gradually obtained possession of it as the country which God had assigned for their inheritance in the prophetic blessing pronounced by his father Isaac (Gen. xxvii. 39, 40 ; xxxii. 3 ; Deut. ii. , r >-12, 22). Previously to their occupation of the iountry, it was called Mount Seir, a designation indeed which it never entirely lost. The word IDUM^A 417 setr means hairy (being thus synonymous with Esau), and, when applied to a country, may sig- ! nify rugged, mountainous, and so says Josephus I (Antiq. i. 20. 3) : ' Esau named the country ! " Roughness " from his own hairy roughness.' j But in Gen. xxxvi. 20, we read of an individual of the name of Seir, who had before this inhabited the land, and from whom it may have received its first appellation. The first mention made of Mount Seir in Scrip- ture is in Gen. xiv. 6, where Chedorlaomer and his confederates are said to have smitten ' the Horim in their Mount Seir.' Among the earliest human habitations were caves, either formed by nature or easily excavated, and for the construc- tion of these the mountains of Edom afforded peculiar facilities. Hence the designation given to the Aboriginal inhabitants Horim, i.e. cave- dwellers, an epithet of similar import with the Greek Troglodytes. Even in the days of Jerome ' the whole of the southern part of Idumsea, from Eleutheropolis to Petra and Ai)a, was full of caverns used as dwellings on account of the sun's excessive heat;' and there is reason to believe that the possessors of the country in every age occupied similar habitations, many traces of which are yet seen in and near Petra, the re- nowned metropolis. We are informed in Deut. ii. 12. that ' the children of Esau succeeded [rnarg. inherited] the Horim when they had destroyed them from be- fore them, and dwelt in their stead, as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which Jehovah gave unto them.' From this it may be inferred, that the extirpation of the Horim by the Esauites was, like that of the Canaanites by Israel, very gradual and slow. From Genesis xxxvi. (compare 1 Chron. i.) we Jearn this much of the political constitution of the Seirite Abori- gines, that, like the Esanites and Israelites, they were divided into tribes, and these tribes were subdivided into families the very polity which still obtains among the Arabs by whom Idumrea is now peopled. Each tribe had its own Allnf term which is unhappily rendered in the English Version by ' Duke ' for though that has, no doubt, the radical meaning of the Latin dux, a ' kader,' it now only suggests the idea of a feudal title of nobility. Of these chiefs of the Horites seven are enumerated, viz., Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. The only one of these who is spoken of as related to the other is Anah, the son of Zibeon. The pri- mitive and pastoral character of the people is in- cidentally brought out by the circumstance that this Anah, though a chieftain's son, was in the habit of tending his father's asses. It was when thus employed that he found in the wilderness eth-ha-yemin, rendered in tke English Version by ' the m'ules>' but meaning more probably 'the hot springs ;' and thus interpreted, the passage seems to be an intimation that he was the first to dis- cover the faculty with which asses and other animals are endowed, of snuffing the moisture of the air, and thus sometimes leading to the oppor- tune discovery of hidden waters in the desert. There is in the country to the south-east of the Dead Sea (which formed part of the Seirite pos- sessions), a place, Kallirhoe, celebrated amonj* the Greeks and Romans for its warm baths, and- which has been visited by modern travellers. 2s 418 IDUM^EA Esau first married into two Canaanitish families of the Hittite and Hivite tribes (Gen. xxvi. 34 ; xxxvi. 2 ; in one or other of which places, how- ever, the text seems corrupt) ; but anxious to propitiate his offended parents, he next formed a matrimonial alliance with one of the race of Abraham, viz., Mahalath, otherwise called Bashe- math, daughter of Ishmael, and sister of Ne- baioth, whose descendants, the Nabathoeans, by a singular coincidence, obtained in after-times pos- session of the land of Edom (Gen. xxviii. <)). Esau's first-born (by Adah or Bashemath, of the daughters of Heth) was Eliphaz, whose son Teman gave name to a district of the country (Gen. xxxvi. 11, 34; 1 Chron. i. 45; Ezek. xxv. 1 3 ; Obad. verse 9). The Temanites were re- nowned for their wisdom (Jer. xlix. 7, 20 ; Baruch iii. 22, 23). The chief speaker in the book of Job is another Eliphaz, a Temanite, which is one of the circumstances that have led many to place the scene of that story in the land of tklom [Jos]. The name of Teman was preserved to the days of Eusebius in that of Thaiman, a small town five Roman miles from Petra. Another son of the first-mentioned Eliphaz was Amalelt, who is not to be confounded, however, with the iather of the Amalekites, one of the doomed nations of Canaan, of whom we hear so early as the age of Abraham (Gen. xiv. 7). As a modern Arab sheikh is often found to ex- ercise influence far beyond the sphere of his here- ditary domain, so in the list of the Edomite emirs preserved by Moses we have perhaps only the names of the more distinguished individuals who acquired more or less authority over all the tribes. This oligarchy appears gradually to have changed into a monarchy, as happened too among the Israelites; for in addition to the above mentioned lists, both of Horite and Esauite leaders, we have. at G"en. xxxvi. 31, a catalogue of eight kings (Bela, Jobab, Husham, Hadad, Samlah, Saul, BaaJ-hanan, Hadar or Hadad) who ' reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.' It is not necessary to suppose that this was said by Moses propheti- cally: it is one of those passages which may have been inserted by Ezra when finally arrang- ing the canon, inasmuch as it occurs also in the first book of Chronicles, of which he is the re- puted compiler. The period when this change to regal government took place in Iduma:a can only be matter of conjecture. In the Song of Moses (Exod. xv. 15) it is said that at the tidings of Israel's triumphant passage of the lied Sea the rulers or princes (Alliif) of Edom trembled with affright, but when, some forty years afterwards, application had to be made by the Israelites for leave to traverse the land of Edom, it was to the king (Melek) that the request was addressed (Num. xx. 14). The road by which it was sought to penetrate the country was termed ' the king's highway' (ver. 17), supposed by Robinson to be the Wady el-Ghuweir, for it is almost the only valley that affords a direct and easy passage through those mountains. From a comparison of these incidents it may be inferred that the change in the form of government took place during the wanderings cf the Israelites in the desert, unless we suppose, with Rosenmuller, that it was only this north-eastern part of Edom which was now subject to a monarch, the rest of the country re- IDUM^EA maining under the sway of its former chieftains. But whether the regal power at this period em- braced the whole territory or not, perhaps it did not supplant the ancient constitution, but was rather grafted on it, like the authority of the Judges in Israel, and of Saul, the first king, which did not materially interfere with the go- vernment that previously existed. It further ap- pears, from the list of Idumaean kings, that the monarchy was not hereditary, but elective (for no one is spoken of as the son or relative of his pre- decessor) ; or probably that chieftain was acknow- ledged as sovereign who was best able to vindi- cate his claim by force of arms. Every succes- sive king appears to have selected his own seat of government: the places mentioned as having enjoyed that distinction are Dinhabah, Avith, Pagu or Pai. Even foreigners were not excluded from the throne, for the successor of Samlah of Masrekah was Saul, or Shaul, ' of Rechoboth, on the river.' The word ' Rechoboth ' means, liter- ally, streets, and was a not uncommon name given to towns ; but the emphatic addition of ' the river.' points evidently to the Euphrates, and between Rakkah and Auak, on that river, there are still the remains of a place called by the Arabs Rachabath-Malik-Ibn Tank. In the age of Solomon we read of one Hadad, who ' was of the king's seed in Edom ' (1 Kings xi. 14); from which some have conjectured that by that period there was a royal dynasty of one particular family ; but all that the expression may imply is, that he was a blood-relation of the last king of the country. Hadad was the name of one of the early sovereigns ' who smote Midian in the field of Moab ' (Gen. xxxvi. 35). The unbrotherly feud which arose between Esau and Jacob was prolonged for ages between their posterity. The Israelites, indeed, were com- manded ' not to abhor an Edomite, for he was their brother' (Deut. xxiii. 7): but a variety of circumstances occurred to provoke and perpetuate the hostility. The first time they were brought into direct collision was when the Edornites, though entreated by their ' brother Israel,' refused the latter a passage through their territories ; and they had consequently to make a retrograde and toilsome march to the Gulf of Elath, whence they had to ' compass the land of Edom ' by the moun- tain desert on the east. We do not again hear of the Edomites till the days of Saul, who warred against them with partial success (1 Sam. xiv. 47); but their entire subjugation was reserved for David, who first signally vanquished them in the Valley of Salt (supposed to be in the Ghor, beside Usditm, the Mountain of Salt) ; and finally placed garrisons in all their country (2 Sain. -Yin. 14; I Chron. xviii. 11-13; 1 Kings xi. 15. Comp. the inscription of Ps. Ix. and v. 8, 9 ; cviii. 9, 10, where ' the strong city ' may denote Selah or Petra). Then were fulfilled the pro- phecies in Gen. xxv. 23 and xxvii. 40, that the ' elder should serve the younger ;' and also the prediction of Balaam (Num. xxiv. 18), that Edom and Seir should be for possessions to Israel. Solomon created a naval station at Ezion-geber, at the head of the Gulf of Elath, the modern Akaba (1 Kings ix. 2G; 2 Chron. viii. IS). To- wards the close of his reign an attempt was made to restore the independence of the country by one Hadad, an Idumacau prince, who, when a child. IDUM^EA 419 had been carried into Egypt at the time of David's invasion, and had there married the sister of Tah- panes the queen (1 Kings xi. 14-23) [HADAD]. If Edom then succeeded in shaking off the yoke, ;t was only for a season, since in the days of Jeho- shaphat, the fourth Jewish monarch from Solomon, it is said, 'there was no king in Edom ; a deputy was king;' ie. he acted as viceroy for the king of Judah. For that the latter was still master of the country is evident from the fact of his having fitted out, like Solomon, a fleet at Ezion-geber (1 Kings xxii. 47, 48; 2 Chron. xx. 36, 37). It was, no doubt, his deputy (called king) who joined the confederates of Judah and Israel in their attack upon Moab (2 Kings iii. 9, 12, 26). Yet there seems to have been a partial revolt of the Edomites, or at least of the mountaineers of Seir, even in the reign of Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. xx. 22) : and under his successor, Jehoram, they wholly rebelled, and ' made a king over them- selves' (2 Kings viii. 20, 22 ; 2 Chron. xxi. 8, 10). From its being added that, notwithstanding the temporary suppression of the rebellion, ' Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day,' it is probable that the Jewish dominion was never completely restored. Amaziah, indeed, invaded the country, and having taken the chief city, Selah or Petra, he, iu memorial of the con- quest, changed its name to Joktheel (q. d. sub- dued of God); and his successor, Uzziah, re- tained possession of Elath (2 Kings xiv. 7 ; 2 Chron. xxv. 11-14; xxvi. 3). But in the reign of Ahaz, hordes of Edomites made incursions into Judah and carried away captives (2 Chron. xxviii. 1"). About the same period Rezin, king of Syria, expelled the Jews from Elath, which (according to the correct reading of 2 Kings xvi. 6) was thenceforth occupied by the Edomites. Now was fulfilled the other part of Isaac's pre- diction, viz. that, in course of time, Esau ' should take his brother's yoke from off his neck ' (Gen. xxvii. 40). It appears from various incidental expressions in the later prophets, that the Edomites employed their recovered power iu the enlarge- ment of their territory iu all directions. They spread as far south as Dedan in Arabia, and north- ward to Bozrah in the Hauran ; though it is doubtful if the Bozrah of Scripture may not have been a place in Idumsea Proper (I sa. xxxiv. 6; Ixiii. 1 ; Jer. xlix. 7,8-20; Ezek. xxv. 13 ; Amos i. 12). When the Chaldseans invaded Jndah, under Nebuchadnezzar, the Edomites became their willing auxiliaries, and triumphed with fiendish malignity over the ruin of their kinsmen the Jews, of whose desolated land they hoped to obtain a large portion to themselves ("Obad. verses 10 16 ; Ezek. xxv. 12-14 ; xxxv. 3-10 ; xxxvi. 5 ; Lament, iv. 21). By this circumstance the hereditary- hatred of the Jews was rekindled in greater fury than ever, and hence the many dire denunciations of the ' daughter of Edom,' to be met with in the Hebrew prophets (Ps. cxxxvii. 7-9; Oliad. pas- i sim ; Jer. xlix. 7 ; Ezek. xxv. and xxxv.). From j the language of Malachi (i. 2, 3), and also from the accounts preserved by Josephus (Antiq. x. 9. 7), it would seem that the Edomites did not wholly escape the Chaldasan scourge; but instead of being carried captive, like the Jews, they not only retained possession of their own territory, but became masters of the south of Judah, as far as Hebron '1 Mace. v. 65, comp. with Ezek. xxxv. 10 ; xxxvi. 5). Here, however, they were, in course of time, successfully attacked by the Maccabees, and about B.C. 125, were finally sub- dued by John Hyrcanus, who compelled them to | submit to circumcision and other Jewish rites, I with a view to incorporate them with the nation ! (1 Mace. v. 3, 65; 2 Mace. x. 16; xii. 32 ; j Joseph. Antiq. xiii. 9. 1; 15, 4). The amalga- | mation, however, of the two races seems never to ; have been effected, for we afterwards hear of i Antipater, an Idumacan by birth, being made by | Caesar procurator of all Judaea; and his son, commonly called Herod the Great, was, at the time of Christ's birth, king of Judaea, including Idumsca; and hence Roman writers often speak of all Palestine under that name. Not long before the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, -20,000 Idu- mseans were called in to the defence of the city I by the Zealots ; but both parties gave themselves i up to rapine and murder. This is the last men- ' tion made of the Edomites in history. The author of a work on Job, once ascribed to Origen, says that their name and language had perished, and that, like the Ammonites and Moabites, they had all become Arabs. In the second century Ptolemy limits the name Idumaea to the country west of the Jordan. But while, during the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, the Edomites had thus been extending their territory to the north-west, they were them- selves supplanted in the southern part of their native region by the Nabathaeans, the descendants of Ishmael's eldest son ; and to the article NE- BAIOTH we must refer the reader for the subse- quent history of the land of Edom. From the era of the Crusades down to the pre- sent century the land of Esau was, to Europeans, a terra incognita. Its situation was laid down on the best maps more than a hundred miles from the true position, and as if lying in a direction where it is now known there is nothing but a vast j expanse of desert. Volney had his attention drawn towards it, when at Gaza, by the vague reports of the Arabs; and in 1807 the unfortunate Seetzen penetrated a certain way into the country and heard of the wonders of the Wady Musa ; but the first modern traveller who ' passed through the land of Edom ' was Burckhardt, in the year 1812. And it has been well remarked by Dr. Robinson that 'had lie accomplished nothing but his researches ic these regions, his journey would havt been worth all the labour and cost expended on ii, although his discoveries thus fched their strongest light upon subjects which were not com- prehended in the plan or purpose either of himself or his employers.' Burokhardt entered Idumaea from the north, and in the year 1818 he was fol- lowed in the same direction by Messrs. Legh, Bankes, Irby and Mangles. In 1828 Labordeand Linant found acce^s from the south: and since then it has been visited and described by so many that the names of its localities have become familiar as household words. The limit of the wanderings of the Israelites in the desert was the brook Zered, after crossing which they found themselves in the territory of Moab (Deut. ii. 13-18). This brook is supposed to be identical with the Wady el-AJisy, which, rising near the Castle el-Ahsy, on the route to Mecca of the Syrian caravan upon the high 2 2 420 IDUM^IA eastern desert, penetrates through the whole chain of mountains to near the south-east corner of the Dead Sea. It was thus the southern border of Moab and the northern of Edom, whence the latter region extended southwards as far as to Elath on the Red Sea. The valley which runs between the two seas consists first of El-Ghor, which is comparatively low, but gradually rises into the more elevated plain of El-Arabah to the south. The country lying east of this great valley is the land of Iduina;a. It is a mountain tract, consisting at the base of low hills of lime- stone or argillaceous rock, then lofty mountains of porphyry forming the body of the mountain ; above these, sandstone broken up into irregular ridges and grotesque groups of cliffs ; and again farther back, and higher than all, long elevated ridges of limestone without precipices. East of all these stretches off indefinitely the high plateau of the great eastern desert. The whole breadth of the mountainous tract between the Arabah and the eastern desert does not exceed fifteen or twenty geographical miles. Of these mountains the most remarkable is Mount HOT, near the Wady Musa (HoR, MOUNT]. While the mountains on the west of the Arabah, though less elevated, are wholly barren, those of Idumaea seem to enjoy a sufficiency of rain, and are covered with tufts of herbs and occasional trees. The wadys, too, are full of trees and shrubs and flowers, while the eastern and higher parts are extensively culti- vated, and yield good crops. This mountainous region is at present divided into two districts. The northern bears the name of Jebal, i. e. ' The Mountain,' the Gebal of the Hebrews (Ps. Ixxxiii. 8), and the Gebalene of the Greeks and Romans. The southern district is esh-Sherah, extending as far as Akabah, and including Shobak, Wady Musa, Maan, &c. Burckhardt mentions a third district, Jebal Hesma; but Robinson says that though there is a sandy tract, el-Hismah, with mountains around it, on the east of Akabah, it doc's not constitute a separate division. The whole of this region is at present occupied by various tribes of Bedouin Arabs. The chief tribe in the Jebal is the Hejaya, with a branch of the Kaabineh, while in esh-Sherah they are all of the numerous and powerful tribe of the Haweitat, with a few independent allies. The 13is is taught in the Scriptures. And it is obvious that the Bible could not be what Christ and the Apostles considered it to be, unless they were Divinely inspired. The diversity in the narratives of the Evan- gelists is sometimes urged as an objection against the position we maintain in regard to inspiration, but evidently without reason, and contrary to reason. For what is more reasonable than to expect that a work of Divine origin will have marks of consummate wisdom, and will be suited to accomplish the end in view. Now it will not be denied that God determined that there should be four narratives of the life and death of Jesus from four historians. If the narratives were all alike, three of them would be useless. Indeed such a circumstance would create suspicion, and would bring discredit upon the whole concern. The narratives must then be different. And if, besides this useful diversity, it is found that the seeming contradictions can be satisfactorily re- conciled, and if each of the narratives is given i in the peculiar style and manner of the writers, then all is natural and unexceptionable, and we have the highest evidence of the credibility and tnuh of the narratives. We shall advert to one more objection. It is alleged that writers who were constantly under a plenary Divine inspiration would not descend to ; the unimportant details, the trifling incidents, which are found in the Scriptures. To this it may be replied that the details alluded to must IRON be admitted to be according to truth, and that those things which, at first view, seem to be trifles may, when taken in their connections, prove to be of serious moment. And it is moreover mani- fest that, considering what human beings and human affairs really are, if all those things which are called trifling and unimportant were excluded, the Scriptures would fail of being conformed to fact ; they would not be faithful histories of hu- man life : so that the very circumstance which is demanded as proof of inspiration would become an argument against it. And herein we cannot but admire the perfect wisdom which guided the sacred writers, while we mark the weakness and shallowness of the objections which are urged against their inspiration. On the whole, after carefully investigating the subject of inspiration, we are conducted to the important conclusion that 'all Scripture is Divinely inspired;' that the sacred penmen wrote 'as they were moved by the Holy Ghost ;' and that these representations are to be understood as implying that the writers had, in all respects, the effectual guidance of the Divine Spirit. And we are still more confirmed in this conclusion because we find that it begets in those who seriously adopt it an acknowledgment of the Divine origin of Scripture, a reverence for its teachings, and a practical regard to its requirements, like what appeared in Christ and his Apostles. Being con- vinced that the Bible has, in all parts and in all respects, the seal of the Almighty, and that it is truly and entirely from God, we are led by reason, conscience, and piety to bow submissively to its high authority, implicitly to believe its doctrines, however incomprehensible, and cor- dially to obey its precepts, however contrary to our natural inclinations. We come to it from day to day, not as judges, but as learners, never questioning the propriety or utility of any of its contents. This precious Word of God is the perfect standard of our faith, and the rule of our life, our comfort in affliction, and our sure guide to heaven. IRON. Tubal-Cain is the first-mentioned smith, ' a forger of every instrument of iron" (Gen. iv. 22). From that time we meet with manufactures in iron of the utmost variety (some articles of which seem to be anticipations of what are com- monly supposed to be modern inventions); as iron weapons or instruments (Num. xxv. 7 ; Job xx. 24) ; barbed irons, used in hunting (Job xli. 7) ; an iron bedstead (Deut iii. 11); chariots of iron (Josh. xvii. 16, and elsewhere) ; iron weights (shekels) (1 Sam. xvii. 7); harrows of iron (2 Sam. xii. 31) ; iron armour (2 Sam. xxiii. 7): tools (1 Kings vi. 7 ; 2 Kings vi. 5); horns (1 Kings xxii. 11); nails, hinges (1 Chron. xxii. 3) ; fetters (Ps. cv. 1 8 ) ; bars (Ps. cvii. 10); iron bars used in fortifying the gates of towns (Ps. cvii. 16; Isa. xlv. 2); a pen of iron (Job xix. 24: Jer. xvii. 1); a pillar (Jer. i. 18); yokes (Jer. xxviii. 13) ; pan (Ezek. iv. 3) ; trees bound with iron (Dan. iv. 15); gods of iron (Dan. v. 4); threshing-instruments (Amos i. 3); and in later times, an iron gate (Acts xii. 10) ; the actual cautery (I Tim. iv. 2) ; breastplates (Rev. ix. 9). The mineral origin of iron seems clearly al- luded to in Job xxviii. 2. It would seem that in ancient times it was a plentiful production of Palestine (Deut viii. 9). There appear to have ISAAC been furnaces for smelting at an early period in Egypt (Deut. iv. 20). The requirement that the altar should be made of ' whole stones over which no man had lift up any iron,' recorded in Josh. viii. 31, does not imply any objection to iron as such, but seems to be merely a mode of directing that, in order to prevent idolatry, the stones must not undergo any preparation by art. Iron was prepared in abundance by David for the building of the temple (1 Chron. xxii. 8), to the amount of one hundred thousand talents (1 Ohron. xxix. 7), or rather ' without weight' (1 Chron. xxii. 14). Working in iron was con- sidered a calling (2 Chron. ii. 7) [SMITH J. Iron seems to have been better from some countries, or to have undergone some hardening prepara- tion by the inhabitants of them, such as were the people called Chalybes, living near the Euxine Sua (Jer. xv. 12) ; to have been imported from Tarshish to Tyre (Ezek. xxvii. 12), and ' bright iron' from Dan and Javan (ver. 19). The su- perior hardness of iron above all other sub- stances is alluded to in Dan. ii. 40. It was found among the Midiariites (Num. xxxi. 22), and was part of the wealth distributed among the tribes at their location in the land (Josh. xxii. 8). Iron is metaphorically alluded to in the follow- ing instances : affliction is signified by the fur- nace for smelting it (Deut. iv. 20) ; under the same figure, chastisement (Ezek. xxii. 18, 20, 22) ; reducing the earth to total barrenness by turning it into iron (Deut. xxviii. 23); slavery, by a yoke of iron (Deut. xxviii. 48); strength, by a bar of it (Job xl. 18) ; the extreme uf hard- ness (Job xli. 27) ; severity of government, by a rod of iron (Ps. ii. 9^; ; affliction, by iron fetters (Ps. cvii. 10) ; prosperity, by giving silver for iron (Isa. Ix. 17); political strength (Dan. ii. 33); obstinacy, by an iron sinew in the neck (Isa. xlviii. 4); giving supernatural fortitude to a prophet, making him an iron pillar (Jer. i. IS); destructive power of empires, by iron teeth (Dan. vii. 7); deterioration of character, by becoming iron (Jer. vi. 28; Ezek. xxii. 18), which resem- bles the idea of the iron age ; a tiresome burden, by a mass of iron (Ecclus. xxii. 15) ; the greatest obstacles, by walls of iron (2 Mace. xi. 9); the certainty with which a real enemy will ever show his hatred, by the rust returning upon iron (Ec- clus. xii. 10). Iron seems used, as by the Greek poets, metonymically for the sword (Isa. x. 34). The following is selected as a beautiful compari- son made to iron (Prov. xxvii. 17): 'Iron (lite- rally) uniteth iron ; so a man uniteth the coun- tenance of his friend,' gives stability to his ap- pearance by his presence. A most graphic de- scription (j a smith at work is found in Ecclus. xxxviii. 28. I'SAAC, son of Abraham and Sarah, born in his parents' old age. The promise of a son had been made to them when Abraham was visited by the Lord in the plains of Mamre, and ap- peared so unlikely to be fulfilled, seeing that both Abraham and Sarah were ' well-stricken in years,' that its utterance caused the latter to laugh incredulously. Being reproved for her unbelief, she denied that she had laughed. The reason assigned for the special vis'tation thus promised was, in effect, that Abraham was pious, and would train his offspring in piety, so that he would become the founder of a great nation, and ISAAC 431 all the nations of the earth should be blessed in lim. In due time Sarah gave birth to a son, who eceived the name of Isaac, in reference to the aughter occasioned by the announcement of the Jivine intention (comp. Gen. xxi. 6 ; xviii. 12; xvii. 17). The first fact that we read of in the history of Isaac, is the command given to his father to offer he youth 'thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom hou lovest' for a burnt-offering on a mountain 11 the land of Moriah. Abraham proceeded to obey the Divine direction, and was on the point of 'laying Isaac, when his hand was withheld by the interposition of God, a ram for sacrifice being jrovided instead. This event has found no few detractors, and va- iAis attempts have been made to explain it away. But the only proper way is to consider it as it is represented in the sacred page. The command, then, was expressly designed to try Abraham's faith. Destined as the patriarch was to be the father of the faithful, was he worthy of his high and dignified position? If his own obedience was weak, he could not train others in faith, trust, and love : hence a trial was necessary. That he was not without holy dispositions was already known, and indeed recognised in the Divine fa- vours of which he had been the object ; but was he prepared to do and to suffer all God's will? Religious perfection and his position alike de- manded a perfect heart: hence the kind of trial. If he were willing to surrender even his only child, and act himself both as offerer and priest in the sacrifice of the required victim, if he could so far conquer his natural affections, so subdue the father in his heart, then there could be no doubt that his will was wholly rec nciled to God's, and that he was worthy of every trust, confidence, and honour. The trial was made, the fact was ascertained, the victim was r.ot slain. What is there in this to which either religion or morality can take exception ? This view is both confirmed and justified by the words of God (Gen. xxii. Iti, sq.), 'because thou hast not withheld thy only son, in blessing 1 will i-less thee. and in multi- plying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.' Isaac pafsed his jouthful days under the eye of his father, engaged in the care of flocks and herds up and down the plains of Canaan. At length his father wished to see him married. Abraham therefore gave a commission to his old- est and most trustworthy servant to the effect that, in order to prevent Isaac from taking a wife from among the daughters of the Canaanites, he should proceed into Mesopotamia, and, under the divine direction, choose a partner among his own rela- tives for his beloved son. Kebekah, in conse- quence, becomes Isaac's wife, when he was now forty years of age. Isaac having, in conjunction with his half- brother Ishmael, buried Abraham his father, ' in a good old age, in the cave of Machpelah,' took up a somewhat permanent residence ' by the well Lahai-roi,' where, being blessed of God, he lived in prosperity and at ease. One source of regret, however, he deeply felt, Hebekah was barren. in time, two sons, Jacob and Esau, are granted to his prayers. As the boys grew, Isaac gave a 432 ISAAC preference to Esau, -who seems to have possessed those robuster qualities of character in which his father was defective, and therefore gratified him by such dainties as the pursuits of the chace en- abled the youth to offer ; while Jacob, ' a plain man dwelling in tents,' was an object of special regard to Rebekah a division of feeling and a kind of partiality which became the source of much domestic unhappiness, as well as of jealousy and hatred between the two sons. A famine compels Isaac to seek food in some foreign land. Divinely warned not to go down to Egypt, the patriarch applies to a petty prince of Philistia, by name Abimelech, who permits him to dwell at Gerar. Here an event took place which has a parallel in the life of his father Abra- ham. Rebekah was his cousin : afraid lest she should be violently taken from him, and his own life sacrificed to the lust of Abimelech, he repre- sented her as his sister, employing a latitude of meaning which the word 'sister' admits in Oriental usage. The subterfuge was discovered, and is justified by Isaac on the grounds which prompted him to resort to it. Another parallel event in the lives of Abraham and Isaac may be found by comparing together Gen. xxvi. 26, sq., and xxi. 22, sq. If these parallels should excite a doubt in tha mind of any one as to the credibility of the narratives, let him carefully peruse them, and we think that the simplicity and naturalness which pervade and characterize them will effectually substantiate the reality of the recorded events, and explode the notion that fiction has had anything to do in bringing the narrative into its present shape. Isaac, in his old age, was, by the practices of Rebekah and the art of Jacob, so imposed upon as to give his blessing to the younger son Jacob, instead of to the first-born Esau, and with that blessing to convey, as was usual, the right of headship in the family, together with his chief possessions. In the blessing which the aged patriarch pronounced on Jacob, it deserves notice how entirely the wished-for good is of an earthly and temporal nature, while the imagery which is employed serves to show the extent to which the poetical element prevailed as a constituent part of the Hebrew character (Geu. xxvii. 27, sq.). Most natural, too, is the extreme agitation of the poor blind old man, on discovering the cheat which had been put upon him : ' And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said (to Esau), Who ? where is he that hath taken venison and brought it me, and I have eaten, and have blessed him ? Yea, and he shall be blessed.' Equally natural is the reply of Esau. The entire passage is of itself enough to vindicate the his- torical character and entire credibility of those sketches of the lives of the patriarchs which Genesis presents. The stealing, on the part of Jacob, of his father's blessing having angered Esau, who seems to have looked forward to Isaac's death as affording an opportunity for taking vengeance on his uujust brother, the aged patriarch is induced, at his wife's entreaty, to send Jacob into Mesopo- tamia, that, after his own example, his son might take a wife from amongst his kindred and people, ' of the daughters of Laban, thy mother's brother." This is the last important act recorded of ISAIAH Isaac. Jacob having, agreeably to his father's command, married into Laban's family, returned, after some time, and found the old man at Mamre, in the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. Here, ' being old and full of days ' (1 80), Isaac ' gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him' (Gen. xxxv. 27, sq.). ISAI'AH (help of Jehovah}. The heading of this book places the prophet under the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah; and an examination of the prophecies themselves, independently of the heading, leads us to the same chronological results. Chapter vi., in which is related the call of Isaiah, not to his prophetic office, but to a higher degree of it, is thus headed : ' In the year in which king Uzziah died I saw the Lord,' &c. The collection of prophecies is chronologically arranged, and the utterances in the preceding chapters (i. to vi.) belong to an earlier period, preceding the last year of the reign of Uzziah. These two pro- phecies contain the sum and substance of what Isaiah taught during twenty years of his life. The continuation of prophetic authorship, ov the writing down of uttered prophecies, depended upon the commencement of new historical deve- lopments, such as took place under the reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah. Several prophecies in the seventh and following chapters belong to the reign of Ahaz ; and most of the subsequent pro- phecies to the reign of Hezekiah. The prophetic ministry of Isaiah under Hezekiah is also de- scribed in an historical section contained in chapters xxxvi.-xxxix. The data which are contained in this section, come down to the fif- teenth year of the reign of Hezekiah ; con- sequently we are in the possession of historical documents proving that the prophetic ministry of Isaiah was in operation during about forty-seven or fifty years, commencing in the year B.C. 763 or 759, and extending to the year B.C. 713. Of this period, from one to four years belong to the reign of Uzziah, sixteen to the reign of Jotham, sixteen to the reign of Ahaz, and fourteen to the reign of Hezekiah. Some writers have advanced the opinion that Isaiah lived to a much later period, and that his life extended to the reign of Manasseh, the suc- cessor of Hezekiah. But their arguments will not stand a strict scrutiny. While, on the other hand, the inscription of the book itself shows that all the prophecies of Isaiah in our collection are included within the period from Uzziah to Heze- kiah. Not one of the prophecies which are headed by an inscription of their own is placed after the fifteenth year of Hezekiah ; and the in- ternal evidence leads us in none beyond this period. Hence we infer that the prophetic mi- nistry of Isaiah terminated soon after its fullest development, to which it attained during the period of the Assyrian invasion, in the reign of Hezekiah. According to these statements, Isaiah belongs to the cycle of the most ancient prophets whose predictions have been preserved in writing. He was a contemporary of Hosea, Amos, and Jonah, although younger than those prophets, who be- longed to the kingdom of Israel. He was like- wise a. contemporary and co-worker of the prophet ISAIAH Micah in the kingdom of Judah. We infer also from the circumstance that the prophecies of Joel are inserted among the books of the minor pro- Ehets before those of Micah, that Isaiah must ave been a contemporary of Joel, since the minor prophets are chronologically arranged. Little is known respecting the circumstances of Isaiah's life. His father's name was Amoz. The fathers of the church confound him with the prophet Amos, because they were unacquainted with Hebrew, and in Greek the two names are spelled alike. The opinion of the Rabbins, that Isaiah was a brother of King Amaziah, rests also on a mere etymological combination. Isaiah resided at Jerusalem, not far from the temple. We learn from chapters vii. and viii. that he was married. Two of his sons are mentioned, Shear-jashul and Maher-shalal-hash-baz [See the words]. Isaiah calls his wife a prophetess. This indicates that his marriage-life was not in opposition to his vocation, and also that it not only went along with his vocation, but that it was intimately interwoven with it. This name cannot mean the wife of a prophet, but indicates that the prophetess of Isaiah had a prophetic gift, like Miriam, Deborah, and Huidah. The ap- pellation here given denotes the genuineness of their conjugal relation. Even the dress of the prophet was subservient to his vocation. According to chap. xx. 2, he wore a garment of hair-cloth or sackcloth. This seems also to have been the costume of Elijah, according to 2 Kings i. 8 ; and it was the dress of John the Baptist. Hairy sackcloth is in the Bible the symbol of repentance (compare Isa. xxii. 12, and 1 Kings xxi. 27). This costume of the prophets was a prophetic preaching by fact. The prophetic preacher comes forward in the form of personified repentance. What he does exhibits to the people what they should do. Before he has opened his lips his external ap- pearance proclaims, Repent. Besides the collection of prophecies which has been preserved to us, Isaiah also wrote two his- torical works, which did not originate from pro- phets. The first of these was a biography of King Uzziah (comp. 2 Chron. xxvi. 22) : ' Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write.' The second historical work of Isaiah, was a bio- graphy of King Hezekiah, which was subse- quently inserted in the annals of Judah and Israel. These annals consisted of a series of prophetic monographies, which were received partly entire, partly in abstracts, and are the chief source from which the information con- tained in the Chronicles is derived. In this work of Isaiah, although its contents were chiefly his- torical , numerous prophecies were inserted. Hence it is called in 2 Chron. xxxii. 32, TheVision of Isaiah. In a similar manner the biography of Solomon by Ahijah is called, in 2 Chron. ix. 29, ' the prophecy of Ahijah.' The two historical works of Isaiah were lost, together with the annals of Judah and Israel, into which they were embodied. Whatever these annals contained that was of importance for all ages, has been pre- served to us by being received into the historical books of the Old Testament, and the predictions of the most distinguished prophets have been ISAIAH 433 formed into separate collections. After this was effected, less care was taken to preserve the more diffuse annals, which also comprehended many statements, of value only for particular times and places. The Jewish synagogue, and the Christian church during all ages, have considered it as an undoubted fact that the prophecies which bear the name of Isaiah really originated from that prophet. But in the last quarter of the eighteenth century this prevailing conviction appeared to some divines to be inconvenient. In the theology of the natural man it passed as certain, that nature was complete in itself, and that prophecies, as well as miracles, never had occurred, and were even impossible. The assumption of the impos- sibility of miracles necessarily demanded that the genuineness of the Pentateuch should be re- jected ; and, in a similar manner, the assumption of the impossibility of prophecy demanded that, a great portion of the prophecies of Isaiah should be rejected likewise. Here also the wish was father to the thought, and interest led to the de- cision of critical questions, the arguments for which were subsequently discovered. All those who attack the integral authenticity of Isaiah agree in considering the book to be an anthology, or gleanings of prophecies, collected after the Babylonian exile, although they differ in their opinions respecting the origin of this collect ion. Koppe gave gentle hints of this view, which was first explicitly supported hy Eichhorn in his Introduction. Eichhorn advances the hypothesis that a collection of Isaian prophecies (which might have been augmented, even before th* Babylonian exile, by several not genuine addi tions) formed the basis of the present anthology, and that the collectors, after the Babylonian Exile, considering that the scroll on which thej were written did not form a volume proportional* to the size of the three other prophetic scrolls, containing Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and the minor pro- phets, annexed to the Isaian collection all other oracles at hand whose authors were not known to the editors. Gesenios, on the contrary, main- tained, in his introduction to Isaiah, that all the non-Isaian prophecies extant in that book ori- ginated from one author and were of the same date. Umbreit and Koster on the main point follow Gesenius, considering chapters xl. to Ixvi. to be a continuous whole, written by a pseudo- Isaiah who lived about the termination of ths Babylonian exile. In reference to other portions of the book of Isaiah, the authenticity of which has been questioned, Umbreit expresses himself doubtingly, and Koster assigns them to Isaiah. Gesenius declines to answer the question, how it happened that tliese portions were ascribed to Isaiah, but Hitzig feft that an answer to it might be expected. He accordingly attempts to ex- plain why such additions were made to Isaiah and not to any of the other prophetical books, by the extraordinary veneration in which Isaiah was held. He says that the great authority of Isaiah occasioned important and distinguished pro- phecies to be placed in connection with his name. But he himself soon after destroys the force of this assertion by observing, that the great au- thority of Isaiah was especially owing to those prophecies which were falsely ascribed to him. A considerable degree of suspicion must, how- 2 F 434 ISAIAH ever, attach to the boasted certainty of sncli critical investigations, it we notice how widely these learned men differ in defining what is of Isaian origin anl what is not, although they are all linked together by the same funda- mental tendency and interest. There are very few portions 5u the whole collection whose au'hen- ticity has not been called in question by some one or other of the various impugners. The only portions left t > Isaiah are chaps, i. 3-9, xvii., xx., xxviii., xxxi., and xxxiii. All the other chapters are defended by some and rejected by others; they are also referred to widely different dates. , In the most modern criticism, however, we ob- serve an inclination again to extend the sphere of Isaian authenticity as much as the dogmatic princ'nle and system of the critics will allow. Modern criticism is inclined to admit the ge- nuineness of chaps, i. to xxiii., with the only exception of the two prophecies against Babylon in chaps, xiii. and xiv., and in chap. xxi. 1-10. Chaps, xxviii.-xxxiii. are allowed to be Isaian by Ewald, Umbreit, and others. After this survey of the present state of the inquiry, we proceed to furnish, first, the external arguments for the integral authenticity of Isaiah. 1. The most ancient testimony in favour of Isaiah's being the author of all the portions of the collection which bears his name, is contained in the heading of the whole (5. 1), 'The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which lie saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah.' It is here clearly stated that Isaiah was the author of the following prophecies, uttered during the reign of four successive kings. This inscription is of great importance, even if it originated not from Isaiah, but from a later compiler. If we adopt the latest date at which this compilation could have been made, we must fix it at the time of its reception into the canon in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. Consequently the compiler could not be separated by many years from the pseudo- Isaiah who is said to have prophesied just before Babylon was conquered, or who, according to most critics, wrote even after the fall of Babylon. It is not credible that a compiler living so near the times of the author, should have erroneously ascribed these prophecies to Isaiah, who lived so much earlier, especially if we bear in mind that this so-called pseudo-Isaiah must have been a very remarkable person in an age so devoid of the prophetic spirit as that iu which he is said to have lived. It is still less credible that a pseudo-Isaiah should himself have fraudulently ascribed his prophecies to Isaiah. None of the adversaries of the authenticity of the book make such an assertion. If the compiler lived before the Exile, the in- scription appears to be of still greater importance. That the collection was made so early is very likely, from the circumstance that Jeremiah and other prophets apparently made use of the pro- phecies of Isaiah. This fact indicates that the prophecies of Isaiah early excited a lively in- terest, and that the compiler must have lived at a period eanier than that which is ascribed to the pseudo-Isaiah himself. From all this we infer tliat the compiler lived before the Exile. The adversaries liiuiuaelves felt the weight of this ISAIAH argument. They, therefore, attempted to remove it by various hypotneses, which received a sem- blance of probability from the circumstance that even the considerate Vitringa had called in ques- tion the authenticity of the heading. Vitringa conjectured that this heading belonged originally to the first chapter alone. He further conjectured that it originally contained only the words, pro- phecy of Isaiah, the son rf Amoz, which fie saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. The following words, he says, were added by fhe compiler, who enlarged the particular inscription of the first chapter to a general one of the whole collection. According to Vitringa the inscription does not suit the whole book, the contents of which arc not confined to Judah and Jerusak-m alone. Bui Judah and Jerusalem are always the chief sub- ject, and, in a certain sense, the only subject of these prophecies ; and there is no prophecy con- cerning other nations without a bearing upon the covenant-people. No prophet against foreign nations prophesied concerning them with the view to spread his predictions among them, he- cause the mission of all prophets was to Israel The predictions against foreign nations are in- tended to preserve the covenant-people from despair, and to strengthen their faith in the omni- potence aud justice of their God. It is their object to annihilate all reliance upou political combinations aud human confederacies. They are intended to lead Israel to the question, ' If they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry ?' But they are also designed to indicate the future conversion of the heathen, and to open to the view of the faithful the future glory of the kingdom of God, and its final victory over the kingdoms of this world ; and thus to extirpate all narrow-minded nationality. God shall be revealed not only as Jrhovah, but also as Elohim. His relation to Israel is mi>under- stood, if that relation is exclusively kept in view without any regard to the universe. Then.-fore the whole collection is justly entitled Prophecies concerning Judah and Jerusalem. No matter whether this inscription originated from Isaiah himself or from an ancient compiler. The inscription in ch. i. has a general bearing upon the whole collection. Then follows the first portion, which contains, as it were, the general prophetic programme. Thereupon fol- lows a series of prophecies directly bearing upon Judah and Jerusalem, commencing again with a particular heading (ii. 1). To this succeeds a series of prophecies indirectly hearing upon Judith and Jerusalem, but directly upon foreign nations. The first of this series has again its own heading (xiii. 1). Gesenius, advancing in the direction to which Vitringa had pointed, although he grants the integral authenticity of ch. i. 1, nevertheless maintains that this heading belonged originally only to chs. i.-xii., in which were contained genuine prophecies of Isaiah. To this collection, he asserts, were afterwards subjoined the antho- logies contained in the following chapters, and the heading was then misunderstood as npplying to the whole volume. This opinion is more in- consistent than that of Vitringa, since there occur in the first twelve chapters two prophecies agai:i>i , foreign nations; one against the Assyrian.*, ii | ch. x., and another against Ephraim, in ch. ix. ISAIAH Vitringa, Gesenius, and their followers, are also refuted by the parallel passage in the heading of Amos, ' The words of Amos, which he saw concerning Israel.' The prophecies of Amos in general are here said to be concerning Israel, although th"re are. as in Isaiah, several against foreign nations, a series of which stands even at the coinmenci ment of the book. To this we may add the similarity of the headings of other pro- phetical hooks. For instance, the commencement of Jeremiah, Hosea, Micah, and Zephaniah. 2. It cannot he proved that there ever existed any so-called prophetic anthology as has been supposed to exist in the hook of Isaiah. We find nothing analogous in the whole range of pro- phetic literature. It is generally granted that the collections bearing the names of Jeremiah and Ezekiel contain only productions of those authors whose name they bear. In the book of the minor prophets, the property of each is strictly distinguished from the rest by headings. The authenticity of only the second portion of Zecha- riah has been attacked: and this with very feeble arguments, which have been refuted. But even if it could be proved that the pro- phecies of Zechariah belonged to two different authors, namely, as Bertholdt and Gesenius sup- pose, to the two Zechariahs, each of whom hap- pened to be the son of a Berechiah, this identity of names might te considered an inducement for uniting the productions of the two authors in one collection : still this case would not be analogous to what is asserted to be the fact in Isaiah. In Isaiah it is alleged not only that a series of chapters belonging to a different author were subjoined, commencing about chap, xxxiv. ; but it is affirmed that, even in the first thirty-three chapters, the genuine and spurious portions are intermixed. Before we admit that the compilers proceeded here in a manner so unreasonable and so contrary to their usual custom, we must ex- pect some cogent proof to be adduced , but instead of this, nothing but bald conjecture and feeble illustrations have been offered. 3. According to the opinion of several critics, all the spurious portions of Isaiah belong to one and the same author. But it so happens that the portion which is most emphatically declared to be spurious, namely, chaps, xiii. and xiv., bear an inscription which expressly ascribes them to Isaiah. Now, as :he internal arguments against the authenticity of all the portions which are said to be spurious are nearly identical, if the opposi- tion to chaps, xiii. and xiv. is given up, it cannot with consistency be maintained against the other portions. This argument serves also as an answer to those who ascribe the portions which they con- sider spurious to several authors. The contents of these portions are similar. They contain pre- dictions of the fall of Babylon, and of the redemp tion of Israel from captivity. Whatever proves the genuineness of one of these portions, indirectly proves the others also to be genuine. 4. According to Josephus (Antiq. xi. c. 1. 1,2), Cyrus was induced by the prophecies of Isaiah respecting him to allow the return of the Jews, and to aid them in rebuilding the temple. The credibility of Josephus, who in regard! to i'acts of ancient history is not always to te relied upon, is here supported by two circumstances. First, the favour shown by Cyrus to the Jews, ISAIAH 435 which remains inexplicable except by the fact mentioned, in combination with the influence of Daniel. In mod'.-rn times, the favour of Cyrus to the Jews has been called a prudential measure; but it does not appear what he could either hope or fear from a people so erifei bled as the Jews were at that period. It has been added that Cyrus was favourable to the Jews on account of the similarity between the Persian and the Jewish religion ; but there is 110 historical proof that the Persians, on any other occasion, favoured the Jews on account of their religion. The favours shown toNehemiahon behalf of Israel were only personal favours, owing to his position at the Persian court. We allow that all this would be insufficient to prove the correctness of the above statement in Josephus, but it must render us in- clined to admit its truth. The second argument is much stronger : it is, that the statement of Josephus is supported by the edict of Cyrus (Ezra i.). This edict pre- supposes the fact related by Josephus, so that Jahn calls the passage in Josephus a commentary on the first chapter of Ezra, in which we read that Cyrus announces in his edict that he was commanded by Jehovah to build him a temple in Jerusalem, and that he received all the conquered kingdoms of the earth as a gift from Jehovah. This cannot refer to any other predictions of the prophet, but only to what are called the spurious portions of Isaiah, in which the Lord grants to Cyrus all his future conquests, and appoints him to be the restorer of his temple (comp. xli. 2-4 ; xliv. 24-28; xiv. 1-13; xlvi. 11; xlviii. 13-15). The edict adopts almost the words of these pas- sages. In reply to this, our adversaries assert that Cyrus was deceived by pseudo-prcphecies forged in the name of Isaiah; but if Cyrus could be deceived in so clumsy a manner, he was not the man that history represents him ; and to have committed forgery is so contrary to what was to be expected from the author of chaps, xl.-lxvi., that even the feelings cf our opponents revolt at the supposition that the pseudo-Isaiah should have forged prophecies after the event in the name of the prophets. 5. Again, the most ancient production of Jewish literature after the completiwn of the canon, furnishes proof of the integral authen- ticity of Isaiah. The book of Jesus Sirach, com- monly called Ecclesiasticus, was written as earlj as the third century before Christ, as Hug has clearly demonstrated, in opposition to those who place it in the second century before Christ. In Ecclesiasticus xlviii. 22-25, Isaiah is thus praised : ' For Hezekiah had done the thing that pleased the Lord, and was strong in the ways of David his father, as Isaiah the prophet, who was great and faithful in his vision, had commanded him. In his time the sun went backward, and he lengthened the king's life. He saw by an ex- cellent spirit what should come to pass at the last, and he comforted them that mourned in Sion. He showed what should come to pass for ever, and secret things or ever they came.' This commendation especially refers, as even Gesenius grants, to the disputed portions of the prophet, in which we find predictions of the rno*t distant futurity. The comfort for Zion is found more particularly in the second part of Isaiah, which Legins with the words ' Comfort 2 r 2 436 ISAIAH ye, comfort ye my people.' The author of this second part himself says (xlviii. 3), ' I have de- clared the former things from the beginning ; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them.' Thus we perceive that Jesus Sirach, the learned scribe, confidently attributes the debated passages to Isaiah in such a manner as plainly indicates that there was no doubt in his days respecting the integral authenticity of that book, which has the testimony of historical tradition in its favour. Jesus Sirach declares his intention (Ecclus. xliv.-l.) to praise the most celebrated men of his nation. The whole tenor of these chapters shows that he does not confine himself to celebrated authors. We therefore say that the praise which he bestows upon Isaiah is not intended for the book personified, but for the person of the prophet. If Jesus Sirach had en- tertained doubts respecting the genuineness of those prophecies on which, in particular, he bases his praise, he could not hare so lauded the prophet. In the Jewish synagogue the integral authen- ticity of Isaiah has always been recognised. This general recognition cannot be accounted for except by the power of tradition based upon truth ; and it is supported as well by the New Testament, in which Isaiah is quoted as the author of the whole collection . which bears his name, as also by the express testimony of Jo- sephus, especially in his Antiquities (x. 2. 2, and xi. 1.1). After such confirmation it would be superfluous to mention the Talmudists. Tims we have seen that we possess a series of external arguments in favour of the integral authenticity of Isaiah. Each of these arguments is of importance, and, in their combination, they have a weight which could only be counter- balanced by insurmountable difficulties in the contents of these prophecies; and it has been clearly shown that there are no such difficulties, and that the internal arguments unite with the external in demonstrating the authenticity of Isaiah as a whole. No definite account respecting the method pursued in collecting into books the utterances of the Prophets has been handed down to us. Concerning Isaiah, as well as the rest, these accounts are wanting. We do not even know whether he collected his prophecies himself. But we have no decisive argument against this opi- nion. The argument of Kleinert, in his above- mentioned work (p. 112), is of slight importance. He says, If Isaiah himself had collected his pro- phecies, there would not be wanting some which are not to be found in the existing book. To this we reply that it can by no means be proved, with any degree of probability, that a single pro- phecy of Isaiah has been lost, the preservation of which would have been of importance to pos- terity, and which Isaiah himself would have deemed it necessary to preserve. Kleiuert ap- peals to the fact that there is no prophecy in our collection which can with certainty be ascribed to the days of Jotham ; and he thinks it incre- dible that tb.3 prophet, soon after having been consecrated to his office, should have passed full sixteen years without any revelation from God. This, certainly, is unlikely ; but it is by no means unlikely that during this time he uttered no prophecy which he thought proper to pre- ISAIAH serve. Nay, it appears very probable, if we compare the rather general character of chapters i.-v., the contents of which would apply to the days of Jotham also, since during his reign no considerable changes took place ; consequently the prophetic utterances moved in the same sphere with those preserved to us from the reign of Uzziah. Hence it was natural that Isaiah should confine himself to the communication of some important prophetic addresses, which might as well represent the days of Jotham as those of the preceding reign. We must not too closely identify the utterances of the prophets with their writings. Many prophets have spoken much and written nothing. The minor prophets were generally content to write down the quintessence alone of their numerous utterances. Jeremiah likewise, of his numerous addresses under Josiah, gives us only what was most essential. To us it seems impossible that Isaiah left it to others to collect his prophecies into a volume, because we know that he was the author of his- torical works ; and it is not likely that a man accustomed to literary occupation would have left to others to do what he could do much better himself. Hitzig has of late recognised Isaiah as the col- lector and arranger of his own prophecies. But he supposes that a number of pieces were inserted at a later period. The chronological arrangement of these prophecies is a strong argument in favour of the opinion that Isaiah himself formed them into a volume. There is no deviation from this arrangement, except in a few instances where pro- phecies of similar contents are placed together ; but there is no interruption which might appear attributable to either accident or ignorance. There is not a single piece in this collection which can satisfactorily be shown to belong to another place. All the portions, the date of which can be ascertained either by external or internal reasons, stand in the right place. This is generally granted with respect to the first twelve chapters, although many persons errone- ously maintain that ch. vi. should stand at the beginning. Chaps, i.-v. belong to the later years of Uzziah ; chap. vi. to the year of his death. What follows next, up to chap. x. 4, belongs to the reign of Ahaz. Chaps, x.-xii. is the first portion apper- taining to the reign of Hezekiah. Then follows a series of prophecies against foreign nations, in which, according to the opinions of many, the chronological arrangement has been departed from, and, instead of it, an arrangement accord- ing to contents has been adopted. But this is not the case. The predictions against foreign nations are also in their right chronological place. They all belong to the reign of Hezekiah, and arc placed together because, according to their dates, they belong to the same period. In the days of Heze- kiah the nations of Western Asia, dwelling on the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris, more and more resembled a threatening tempest. That the prophecies against foreign nations belong to this period is indicated by the home-prophecy in ch. xxii., which stands among the foreign prophecies. The assertion that the first twelve chapters are a collection of home-prophecies is likewise refuted by the fact Chat there occur in these chapters two foreign prophecies. The prophetic gift of Isaiah ISAIAH was more fully unfolded in sight of the Assyrian invasion under the reign of Hezekiah. Isaiah, in a series of visions, describes what Assyria would do, as a chastising rod in the hand of the Lord, and what the successors of the Assyrians, the Chaldees, would perform, according to the decree of God, in order to realise divine justice on earth, as well among Israel as among the heathen. The prophet shows that mercy is hidden behind the clouds of wrath. There is no argument to prove that the great prophetic picture in chaps, xxiv.- xxvii. was not depicted under Hezekiah. Chaps, xxviii.-xxxiii. manifestly belong to the same reign, but somewhat later than the time in which ohaps. x., xi., xii. were written. They were com- posed about the time when the result of the war against the Assyrians was decided. With the termination of this war terminated also the public life of Isaiah, who added an historical section in chaps, xxxvi.-xxxix., in order to facilitate the right understanding of the prophecies uttered by him during the most fertile period of his pro- phetic ministry. Then follows the conclusion of his work on earth. The second part, which con- tains his prophetic legacy, is addressed to the small congregation of the faithful, strictly so called. This part is analogous to the last speeches of Moses in the fields of Moab, and to the last speeches of Christ in the circle of his disciples, related by John. Thus we have everywhere order, and such an order as could scarcely have proceeded from any one but the author. It was not the -vocation of the prophets to change anything in the religious constitution of Moses, which had been introduced by divine authority ; and they were not called upon to sub- stitute anything new in its place. They had only to point out the new covenant to be introduced by the Redeemer, and to prepare the minds of men for the reception of it. They themselves in all their doings were subject to the law of Mos:es. They were destined to be extraordinary ambas- sadors of God, whose reign in Israel was not a mere name, not a mere shadow of earthly royalty, but rather its substance and essence. They were to maintain the government of God, by punishing all, both high and low, who manifested contempt of the Lawgiver by offending against his laws. It was especially their vocation to counteract the very ancient delusion, according to which an ex- ternal observance of rites was deemed sufficient to satisfy God. This opinion is contrary to many passages of the law itself, which admonish men to circumcise the heart, and represent the sum of the entire law as consisting in loving God with the whole heart; which make salvation to depend upon being internally turned towards God, and which condemn not only the evil deed, but also the wicked desire. The law had, however, at the first assumed a form corresponding to the wants of the Israelites, and in accordance with the sym- bolical spirit of antiquity. But when this form, which was destined to he the living organ of the Spirit, was changed into a corpse by those who were themselves spiritually dead, it offered a point of coalescence for the error of those who contented themselves with external observances. The prophets had also to oppose the delusion of those who looked upon the election of the people of God as a preservative against the divine judg- ments ; who supposed that their descent from the ISAIAH 437 patriarchs, with whom God had made a covenant, was an equivalent for the sanctification which they wanted. Even Moses had stroncly opposed this delusion; for instance, in Lev. xxvi. and Deut. xxxii. David also, in the Psalms, as in xv. and xxiv., endeavours to counteract this error, which again and again sprang up. It was the vocation of the prophets to insist upon genuine piety, and to show that a true attachment to the Lord necessarily manifests itself by obedience to his precepts ; that this obedience would lead to happiness, and disobedience to misfortune and distress. The prophets were appointed to comfort the faint-hearted, by announcing to them the succour of God, and to bring glad tidings to the faithful, in order to strengthen their fidelity. They were commissioned to invite the rebellious to return, by pointing out to them future salva- tion, and by teaching them that without conver- sion they could not be partakers of salvation ; and in order that th':ir admonitions and rebukes, their consolations and awakenings, might gain more attention, it was granted to them to behold futurity, aud to foresee the blessings and judg- ments which would ultimately find their full ac- complishment in the days of Messiah. In Deut. xviii. 18, where the Lord says, ' I v/ill raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth ; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall com- mand him,' we have a description of the pro- phetical calling, and also a statement of the con- tents of the prophecies of Isaiah. He refers expressly in many places to the basis of the ancient covenant, that is, to the law of Moses ; for instance, in viii. 1C, 20, and xxx. 9, 10. In many other passages his utterance rests on the same basis, although he does not expressly state it. All his utterances are interwoven with refer- ences to the law. It is of importance to examine at least one chapter closely, in order to under- stand how prophecies are related to the law. Let us take as an example the first The beginning, ' Hear, O heavens, and give ear, earth,' is taken from Deut. xxxii. Thus the prophet points out that his prophecies are a commentary upon the Magna Charta of prophetism contained in the books of Moses. During the prosperous condi- tion of the state under Uzziah and Jotham, luxury and immomlity had sprung up. The im piety of Ahaz had exercised the worst influence, upon the whole people. Great part of the natiob had forsaken the religion of their fathers and embraced gross idolatry ; and a great number ol those who worshipped God externally had for- saken Him in their hearts. The divine judgments were approaching. The rising power of Assyria was appointed to be the instrument of divine justice. Among the people of God internal demoralisation was always the forerunner of outward calamity. This position of affairs de- manded an energetic intervention of prophetism. Without prophetism the number of the elect would have been constantly decreasing, and even the judgments of the Lord, if prophetism had not furnished their interpretation, would have been mere facts, which would have missed their aim, and. in many instances, might have had at, effect opposite to that which was intended, be- cause punishment which is not recognised to be punishment, necessarily leads away from God. 438 ISAIAH The prophet attacks the distress of his nation, not at the surface, but at the root, by rebuking the prevailing corruption. Pride and arrogance appear to him to be* the chief roots of all sins. He inculcates again and again not to rely upon the creature, but upon the Creator, from whom all temporal and spiritual help proceeds; that in order to attain salvation, we should despair of our own and all human power, and rely upon God. He opposes those who expected help through foreign alliances with powerful neighbouring na- tions against foreign enemies of the state. The people of G fallen into a very low estate, but being also of divine nature, shall, at first in lowliness, hut ;is a prophet filled with the Spirit of God, proclaim the divine doctrine, develope the law in truth, and render it the animating principle of national life; he shall, as high-priest, by his vicarious suffering and his death, remove the guilt of his nation, and that of other nations, and finally rule as a mighty king, not only over the covenant- people, but over all nations of the earth who will subject themselves to his peaceful sceptre, not l>y violent compulsion, but induced by love and gra- titude. He will make both the moral and the physical consequences of sin to cease ; tht- whole earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, and all enmity, hatred, and destruction shall be removed even from the brute creation. This is the surrey of the Messianic preaching by Isaiah, of which he constantly renders prominent those portions which were most calculated to impress the people under the then existing cir- cumstances. The first part of Isaiah is directed to the whole people, consequently the glory of the Messiah is here dwelt upon. The fi-ar lest the kingdom of God should be overwhelmed by the power of heathen nations, is removed bj pointing out the glorious king to come, who would elevate the now despised and apparent'} mean kingdom of God above all the kingdoms of this world. In the second part, which is more particularly addressed to the elect, than to the whole nation, the prophet exhibits the Messiah more as a divine teacher and high priest. The prophet here preaches righteousness through the blood of the servant of God, who will support the weakness of sinners and take upon Himself their sorrows. We may show, by an example, in chap. xix. 18-25, that the views of futurity which were granted to Isaiah were great and comprehensive, and that the Spirit of God raised him above all narrow-minded nationality. It is there stated that a time should come when all the heathen, subdued by the judgments of the Lord, should be converted to him, and being placed on an ISAIAH equality with Israel, with equal laws, would equally partake of the kingdom of God, and form a brotherly alliance for his worship. Not the whole mass of Israel is destined, according to Isaiah, to future salvation, but only the small number of the converted. This truth he announces most definitely in the sketch of his prophecies contained in chapter vi. haiah describes with equal vivacity the divine justice which punishes the sins of the nation with inexorable feverity. Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Sabaoih, is the key-note of his prophe- cies. He describes also the divine mercy and covenant-fidelity, by which there is always pre- served a remnant among the people: to them punishment itself is a means of salvation, so that life everywhere proceeds from death, and the cong pgation itself is led to full victory and glory- Isaiah saw the moral and religious degradation of his people, and also its external distress, both then pivtent and to come (chap. vi.). But this did not break his courage; he confidently ex- pected a better futurity, and raised himself in God above all that is visible. Isaiah is not afraid when the whole nation and its king tremble. Of this we see a remarkable instance in chapter vii., and another in the time of the Assyrian invasion under Hexekiah, during which the courage of his faith rendered him the saviour of the common- wealth, and the originator of that great religious revival which followed the preservation of the state. The faith of the king and of the people was roused by that of Isaiah. Isaiah stands pre-eminent above all other pro- phets, as well in the contents and spirit of his predictions, as also in their form and style. Sim- plicity, clearness, sublimity, and freshness, are the never-failing characters of his prophecies. Even Eichhoru mentions, among the first merits of Isaiah, the concinnity of his expressions, the beautiful outline of his images, and the fine ex- ecution of his speeches. In reference to richness of imagery he stands between Jeremiah and Kzekiel. Symbolic actions, which frequently occur in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, seldom occur in Isaiah. The same is the case with visions, strictly so called, of which there is only one, namely, that in chapter vi. ; and even it is distinguished by its simplicity and clearness above that of the later prophets. But one characteristic of Isaiah is, that he likes to give signs that fc, a fact then present, or near at hand as a pledge for the more distant futurity ; and that he thus supports the feebleness of man (comp. vii. 20 ; xxxvii. 30 ; xxxviii. 7. sqq.). The instances in chapters vii. and xxxviii. s-how how much he was convinced of his vocation, and in what intimacy he lived with the Lord, by whose assistance alone he could effect what he offers to do in the one passage, and what he grants in the other. The spiritual riches of the prophet are seen in the variety of his style, which always befits the sub- ject. When he rebukes and threatens, it is like a storm, and when he comforts, his language is as tender and mild as (to use his own words) that of a mother comforting her son. With regard to style, Isaiah is comprehensive, and the other prophets divide his riches. Isaiah enjoyed an authority proportionate to his gifts. We learn from history how great this ISH-BOSHETH 430 authority was during his life, especially under the reign of Hezekiah. Sc'Vt-ral of his most defi- nite prophecies were fulfilled while he was yet alive; for instance, the overthrow of the king- doms of Syria and Israel ; the invasion of the Assyrians, and the divine deliverance from it; the prolongation of life granted to Hezekiah ; and several predictions against foreign nations. Isaiah is honourably mentioned in the historical Looks. The later prophets, especially Nahuni, HaUkkuk, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Haggui, Zechariah, and Malachi, clearly prove that his book was dili- gently read, and that his prophecies were atten- tively studied. The authority of the prophet greatly increased after the fulfilment of his prophecies by the Baby- lonian exile, the victories of Cyrus, and the de- liverance of the covenant-people. Even Cyrus (according to the above-mentioned account in Jo- sephus, Antiq. xi. l. 1,2) was induced to set the Jews at liberty by the prophecies of Isaiah concerning himself. This prediction of Isaiah made so deep an impression upon him that he probably took from it the name by which he is generally known in history. Jesus Sirach (^xlviii. 22-25) bestows splendid praise upon Isaiah, and both Philo and Josephus speak of him with great veneration. He attained the highest degree of authority after the times of the New Testament had proved the most important part of his pro- phecies, namely, the Messianic, to be divine. Chi 1st and the Apostles quote no prophecies so frequently as those of Isaiah, in order to prove that He who had appeared was one and the tame with Him who had been promised. The fathers of the church abound in praises of Isaiah. ISH'BI, or ISHBl-BENOB. [GIANTS.] ISH'-BOSHETH (man of shame), a son of king Saul, and the only one who survived him. In 1 Chron. viii. 33, and ix. 39, this name is given as Enhbual. Baal was the name of an idol, accounted abominable by the Hebrews, and which scrupulous persons avoided pronouncing, using the word bosfieth, ' shame ' or ' vanity,' in- stead. This explains why tha name Eshbaal is substituted for Ish-bosheth, Jerubbaal for Jerub- besheth (comp. Judg. viii. 35 with 2 Sam. xi. 21), and Merib-baal for Mephibosheth (comp. 2 Sam. iv. 4 with 1 Chron. viii. 34 and ix. 40). Ish-bosheth was not present in the disastrous battle at Gilboa, in which his father and brothers perished; and, too feeble of himself to seize the sceptre which had fallen from the hands of Saul, he owed the crown entirely to his uncle Abner, who conducted him to Mahanaim, beyond the Jordan, where he was recognised as king by ten of the twelve tribes. He reigned seven, or, as some will have it, two years if a power so un- certain as his can be called a reign. Even the semblance of authority which he possessed he owed to the will and influence of Abner, who himself kept the real substance in his own hands. A sharp quarrel between them led at last to the ruin of Ish-bosheth. Although accustomed to tremble before Abner, even his meek temper was roused to resentment by the dis-covery that Abner had invaded the harem of his late father Saul, which was in a peculiar manner sacred under his care as a son and a king. By this act Abnei exposed the king to public contempt ; if i', did not indeed leave himself open to the suspicion of 440 ISHMAEL intending to advance a claim to the crown on his own behalf. Abner highly resented the rebuke of Ish-bosheth, and from that time contemplated uniting all the tribes under the sceptre of David. Ish-bosheth, however, reverted to his ordinary timidity of character. At the first demand of David, he restored to him his sister Michal, who had been given in marriage to the son of Jesse by Saul, and had afterwards been taken from him and bestowed upon another. It is, perhaps, right to attribute this act to his weakness ; al- though, as David allows that he was a righteous man, it may have been owing to his sense of justice. On the death of Abner Ish-bosheth lost all heart and hope, and perished miserably, being murdered in his own palace, while he took his mid-day sleep, by two of his officers, Baanah and Fechab. They sped with his head to David, ex- pecting a great reward for their deed ; but the monarch as both right feeling and good policy required testified the utmost horror and con- cern. He slew the murderers, and placed the head of Ish-bosheth with due respect in the se- pulchre of Abner, B.C. 1048 (2 Sam. ii. 8-11; iii. 6-39 ; iv.). 1. ISH'MAEL (heard of God"), Abraham's eldest son, born to him by Hagar ; the circum- stances of whose birth, early history, and final expulsion from his father's tents, are related in the articles ABRAHAM, HAGAR [see also ISAAC, INHERITANCE]. He afterwards made the desert into which he had been cast his abode, and by attaching himself to, and acquiring influence over, the native tribes, rose to great authority and influence. It would seem to have been the original intention of his mother to have returned to Egypt, to which country she belonged; but this being prevented, she was content to obtain for her son wives from thence. Although their lots were cast apart, it does not appear that any serious alienation existed between Ishmael and Isaac ; for we read that they both joined in the sepulchral rites of their father Abraham (Gen. xxv. 9). This fact has not been noticed as it de- serves. It is full of suggestive matter. As funerals in the East take place almost imme- diately after death, it is evident that Ishmael must have been called from the desert to the death-bed of his father; which implies that re- lations of kindness and respect had been kept up, although the brevity of the sacred narrative pre- vents any special notice of this circumstance. Ishmael had probably long before received an endowment from his father's property, similar to that which had been bestowed upon the sons of Keturah (Gen. xxv. 6). Nothing more is recorded of him than that he died at the age of 137 years, and was the father of twelve sons, who gave their names to as many tribes (Gen. xvii. 20; xxv. 13). He had also two daughters, one of whom became the wife of Esau. It has been shown, in the article ARABIA, that Ishmael has no claim to the honour, which is usually assigned to him, of being the founder of the Arabian nation. That nation existed before he was born. He merely joined it, and adopted its habits of life and character ; and the tribes which sprung from him formed eventually an important section of the tribes of which it was c mpcsed. The celebrated prophecy which de- scribes the habits of life which he, and in him ISLE, ISLAND his descendants, would follow, is therefore to be regarded not as describing habits which he would first establish, but such as he would adopt, The description is contained in the address of the angel to Hagar, when, before the birth of Ishmael, she fled from the tents of Abraham : ' Behold, thou art with child, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Ishmael ( God hears\ because the Lord hath heard thine affliction. And he shall be a wild man : his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him, and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren' (Gen. xvi. 11, 12). This means, in short, that he and his descendants should lead the life of the Bedouins of the Arabian deserts ; and how graphically this description portrays their habits, may be seen in the article ARABIA, in the notes on these verses in the ' Pictorial Bible,' and in the works of Niebuhr, Burckhardt, Lane, &c. ; and, more particularly, in the Arabian , romance of Antar, which presents the most per- fect picture of real Bedouin manners now in existence. The last clause, ' He shall dwell in ! the presence of all his brethren,' is pointedly alluded to in the brief notice of his death, which states that ' he died in the presence of all his brethren' (Gen. xxxv. 18). Of this expression various explanations have been given, but the plainest is the most probable : which is, that Ishmael and the tribes springing from him should always be located near the kindred tribes descended from Abraham. 2. ISHMAEL, a prince of the royal line of Judah, who found refuge among the Ammonites from the ruin which involved his family and nation. After the Chaldceans had departed he returned, and treacherously slew the too-con- fiding Gedaliah, who had been made governor of the miserable remnant left Su the land [GEDA- ; LIAHJ. Much more slaughter followed this, and ! Ishmael, with many people of consideration as captives, hastened to return to the Ammonites. ! But he was overtaken near the pool of Gibeon, by Johanan. a friend of Gedaliah, and was com- pelled to abandon his prey and escape for his life, with only eight attendants, to Baalis, king of the Ammonites, with whom he appears to have had a secret understanding in these transactions : B.C. 588 (Jer. xli.). ISLE, ISLAND. These words occur in the Scriptures in tlie three following senses. First, that of dry land in opposition to water ; as ' I will make the rivers islands' (Isa. xlii. 15). In Isa. xx. C, the Isle of Ashdod means the country, and is so rendered in the margin. In Isa. xxiii. 2, 6, ' the isle ' means the country of Tyre, and in Ezek. xxvii. 6, 7, that of Chittim and Elisha. (See also Job xxii. 30.) Secondly, it is used both in Hebrew and English, according to its geograpliical meaning, for a country surrounded by water, as in Jer. xlvii. 4, ' the isle (margin) of Caphtor,' which is probably that of Cyprus. ' The isles of the sea' (Esth. x. 1) are evidently put in opposition to ' the land,' or continent. In Ps. xcvii. l,Mhe multitude of the isles ' seem dis- ! tinguished from the earth or continents, and are evidently added to complete the description ot the whole world. Thirdly : the word is used by the Hebrews to designate "all those countries di- vided from them by'the sea. In Isa. xi. 11, after j an enumeration of countries lying on their own ISRAEL continent, the words ' and the islands of the sea ' are added in order to comprehend those situate beyond the ocean. The following are additional instances of this usage of the word, which is of very frequent occurrence (Isa. xlii. 10; lix. 18; Ixvi. 19; Jer. xxv. 22$ Ezek. xxvii. 3, 15;Zeph. ii. 11). It is observed by Sir I. Newton (On Daniel, p. 276), ' By the earth the Jews under- stood the great continent of all Asia and Africa, to which they had access by land ; and by the isles of the sea they understood the places to which they sailed by sea, particularly all Europe.' IS'llAEL is the sacred and divinely bestowed name of the patriarch Jacob, and is explained to mean, ' A prince with God.' Although, as ap- plied to Jacob personally, it is an honourable or poetical appellation, it is the common prose name of his descendants ; while, on the con- trary, the title Jacob is given to them only in poetry. The separation of the Hebrew nation into two parts, of which one was to embrace ten of the tribes, and be distinctively named Israel, had its origin in the early power and ambition of the tribe of Ephraim. The rivalry of Kphraim and Judah began almost from the h'rst conquest of the laud ; nor is it unsignificant, that as Caleb be- longed to the tribe of Judah, so did Joshua to that of Ephraim. From the very beginning Judah learned to act by itself; but the central position of Ephraim, with its fruitful and ample soil, and the long-continued authority of Joshua, must have taught most of the tribes west of the Jordan to look up to Ephraim as their head ; and a still more important superiority was conferred on the same tribe by the fixed dwelling of the ark at Shiloh for so many generations (Josh, xviii. &c.). Judah could boast of Hebron, Machpelah, Beth- lehem, names of traditional sanctity ; yet so could Ephrajm point to Shechem, the ancient abode of Jacob ; and while Judah, being on the frontier, was more exposed to the attack of the powerful Philistines, Ephraim had to fear only those Canaanites from within who were not subdued or conciliated. The haughty behaviour of the Ephraimites towards Gideon, a man of Manasseh (Judg. viii. 1), 'sufficiently indicates the preten- sions they made. Still fiercer language towards Jephthah the Gileadite (Jud. xii. 1) was retorted by less gentleness than Gideon had shown ; and a bloody civil war was the result, in which their pride met with a severe punishment. This may in part explain their quiet submission, not only to the priestly rule of Eli and his sons, who had ttieir centre of authority at Shiloh, but to Samuel, whose administration issued from three towns of Benjamin. Of course his prophetical character and personal excellence eminently contributed to this result ; and it may seem that Ephraim, as well as all Israel besides, became habituated to the predominance of Benjamin, so that no serious resistance was made to the supremacy of Saul. At his death a new schism took place through their jealousy of Judah; yet in a few years' time, by the splendour of David's victories, and afterwards by Solomon's peaceful power, a per- manent national union might seem to have been effected. But the laws of inheritance in Israel, excellent as they were for preventing permanent alienation of landed property, and the degrada- ISRAEL 441 tion of the Hebrew poor into prccdial slaves, necessarily impeded the perfect fusion of the tribes, by discouraging intermarriage, and hinder- ing the union of distant estates in the same hands. Hence, when the sway of Solomon began to be felt as a tyranny, the old jealousies of the tribes revived, and Jeroboam, an Ephraimite (1 Kings xi. 26), being suspected of treason, fied to Shi- shak, king of Egypt. The death of Solomon was followed by a dei'ection often of the tribes, which established the separation of Israel from Judah (B.C. 975). This was the most important event which had befallen the Hebrew nation since their conquest of Canaan. The chief territory and population were now with Jeroboam, but the religious sanc- tion, the legitimate descent, lay with the rival monarch. From the political danger of allowing the ten tribes to go up to the sanctuary of Jeru- salem, the princes of Israel, as it were in sdf- defence, set up a sanctuary of their own ; and the intimacy of Jeroboam with the king of Egypt may have determined his preference for the form of idolatry (the calves) which he established at Dan and Bethel. In whatever else his successors differed, they one and all agreed in upholding this worship, which, once established, appeared essential to their national unity. Nevertheless it is generally understood to have been a worship of Jehovah, though under unlawful and degrading forms. Worse by far was the worship of Baal, which came in under one monarch only, Ahab, and was destroyed after his son was slain, by Jehu. A secondary result of the revolution was the ejection of the tribe of Levi from their lands and cities in Israel ; at least, such as remained were spiritually degraded by the compliances re- quired, and could no longer offer any resistance to the kingly power by aid of their sacred cha- racter. When the priestly tribe had thus lost independence, it lost also the power to assist the crown. The succession of Jeroboam's family was hallowed by no religious blessing ; and when his son was murdered, no Jehoiada was found to rally his supporters and ultimately avenge his cause. The example of successful usurpation was so often followed by the captains of the armies, that the kings in Israel present to us an irregular series of dynasties, with several short and tumultuous reigns. This was one cause of disorder and weakness to Israel, and hindered it from swallowing up Judah : another was found in the relations of Israel towards foreign powers, which will presently be dwelt upon. With regard to chronology, the following scheme agrees with Winer in its total range, but has minor changes by a single unit in some rf the kings: B.C. Rehoboam. . . 975 Jeroboam.^ Abijah. . . .957 Asa .... 955 ( 954 Nadab J 952 Baasha. 1 929 Elah. J 928 Zimri, Omri. 917 Ahab. \ Jehoshaphat . .914 897 Ahaziah. f 896 Jehoram. J Jehoram . . .889 442 Ahaziah Queen Athaliah Jehoash . . Amazia'a Uzziah. Jotham Ahaz . . Hezekiah . ISRAEL B.C. . 885 . 884 . 878 855 840 . 838 824 . 809 772 771 760 758 . 757 . 741 729 . 726 Jehu Jehoahaz. Jehoash. Jeroboam II. Zachariah. Shallum, Menahem.l Pekahiah. J Pekah. Hosea. Samaria cap*ured. Tlie dynasties in Israel are denoted by brackets. Jeroboam originally fixed on Shechem as the centre of his monarchy, and fortified it; moved perhaps not only by its natural suitability, but by the remembrances of Jacob which clove to it, and by the auspicious fact that here first Israel had decided for him against Rehoboam. But the natural deligbtfulness of Tirzah (Cant vi. 4) led him, perhaps late in his reign, to erect a palace there (1 Kings xiv. 17). After the murder of Jeroboam's son, Baasha seems to have intended to fix his capital at llamuh, as a convenient place for annoying the king of Judah, whom he looked on as his only dangerous enemy ; but when forced to renounce this plan (xv. 17, 21), he acquiesced in Tirzah, which continued to be the chief city of Israel, until Omri, who, since the palace at Tirzah had been burned during the civil war (I Kings xvi. 18), built Samaria, with the ambition not uncommon in the founder of a new dynasty (xvi. 24). Samaria continued to the end of the monarchy to be the centre of administra- tion ; and its strength appears to have justified Omri's choice. For details, see SAMARIA ; also TIRZAH and SHKCHEM. There is reason to believe that Jeroboam carried back with him into Israel the good will, if not the substantial assistance, of Shishak; and this will account for his escaping the storm from Egypt which swept over Rehoboam in his fifth year. During that first period Israel was far from quiet within. Although the ten tribes collectively had decided in favour of Jeroboam, great numbers of individuals remained attached to the family of David and to the worship at Jerusalem, and in the first three years of Rehoboam migrated into Judah (a Chron. xi. 1C, 17). Perhaps it was not until this process commenced, that Jeroboam was worked up to the desperate measure of erecting rival sanctuaries with visible idols (1 Kings xii. 27): a measure which met the usual ill-success of profane state-craft, and aggravated the evil which he feared. It set him at war with the whole order of priests and Levites, whose expulsion or subjugation, we may be certain, was not effected without convulsing his whole kingdom, and so occupying him as to free Rehoboam from any real danger, although no peace was made. The king of Judah improved the time by immense efforts in fortifying his territory (2 Chron. xi. 5-11); ISRAEL and, although Shishak soon after carried off the most valuable spoil, no great or definite i'i pres- sion could be made by Jeroboam. Israel having so far taken the place of heathen nations, and being already perhaps even in alliance with Egypt, at an early period we know not how soon sought and obtained the friendship of the ki,;gs of Damascus. A sense of the gfi-at advan- tage derivable from such 'a union seems to have led Aliab afterwards to behave with mildness and conciliation towards Beuhadad, at a time when it could have teen least expected (1 Kings xx. 31-34). From that transaction we learn that Benhadad I. had made in Damascus ' streets for Omri,' and Omri for Benhadad in Samaria. This, no doubt, implied that 'a quarter' was assigned for Syrian merchants in Samaria, which was pro- bably fortified like the 'camp of the Tyrians' in Memphis, or the English factory at Calcutta ; and in it, of course, Syrian worship would be tolerated. Against such intercourse the prophets, as might be expected, entered their protest (ver. 35-43); but it was in many ways too profitable to be renounced. In the reign of Haasha, Asa king of Judah, sensible of the dangerous advan- tage gained by his rival through the friendship of the Syrians, determined to buy them off at any price [se^ also under JUDAH]: and by sacrificing ' the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house' (xv. 18), induced Benhadad I. to break his league with Baasha and to ravage all the northern district of Israel. This drew off the Israelitish monarch, and enabled Asa to destroy the fortifications of Ramah, which would have stopped the course of his trade (xv. 17), perhaps that with the sea-coast and wiih Tyre. Such was the beginning of the war be- tween Israel and Syria, on which the safety of Judah at that time depended. Cordial union was not again restored between the two northern states until the days of Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, when Damascus must have already felt the rising power of Nineveh. The renewed alliance instantly proved so disastrous to Judah, which was reduced to extremest straits (Isa. vh. 2; 2 Kings xv. 37; 2 Chron. xxviii. 5, 6), as may seem to justify at least the policy of Asa's proceeding. Although it was impossible for a prophet to approve of it (2 Chron. xvi. 7), we may only so much the more infer that Judah was already brought into most pressing difficul- ties, and that the general course of the war, in spite of occasional reverses, was decidedly and increasingly favourable to Israel. The wars of Syria and Israel were carried on chiefly under three reigns, those of Benhadad II., Hazael, and Benhadad III., the two first mo- narchs being generally prosperous, especially Hazael, the last being as decidedly unsuccessful. Although these results may have depended in part on personal qualities, there is high proba- bility that the feebleness displayed by the Syrians against Jehoash and his son Jeroboam was orca- sioned by the pressure of the advancing empire of Nineveh. Asa adhered, through the whole of his long reign, to the policy of encouraging hostility be- tween the two northern kingdoms; and the first Benhadad had such a career of success that his son found himself in a condition to hope for an entire conquest of Israel. His formidable inva- ISRAEL ons wrought nn entire change in the mind of Jehoshaphat ^1 Kings xxii. 44), who saw that it' Israel was swallowed up by Syria, there would he no safety for Judah. We may conjecture that this consideration determined him V) unite the two royal families : for no common cause would have induced so religious a king to select for his son's wife Athaliah the daughter of Jezebel. The age of Ahaziah. who was sprung from this mar- riage, forces us to place it as early as B.C. 912, which is the third year of Jehoshaphat and sixtli of Ahab. Late in his reign Jehoshaphat threw himself most cordially (1 Kings xxii. 4; into the defence of A hah, and by so doing probably saved Israel from a foreign yoke. Another mark of the low state into which both kingdoms were falling, is. that after Ahab's death the Moahites refused their usual tribute to Israel, and (as fur as can be made out from the ambiguous words of 2 Kings iii. 27), the united force of the two kingdoms failed of doing more than irritate them. Soon after, in the reign of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat, the Kdomites followed the example, and esta- blished their independence. This event possibly engaged the whole force of Judah, and hindered it from succouring Samaria during the cruel siege which it sustained from Benhadad II., in the reign of Jehoram son of Ahab. The declining years and health of the king of Syria gave a short respite to Israel ; but, in B.C. 885, Hazael, by de- feating the united Hebrew armies, commenced the career of conquest and harassing invasion by which he ' made Israel like the dust by threshing.' Even under Jehu he subdued the trans-Jordaaic trilies (2 Kings x. 32). Afterwards, since he took the town of Gath (2 Kings xii. 17) and prepared to attack Jerusalem an attack which Jehoash king of Judah averted only by strictly following Asa's precedent it is manifest that all the passes and chief forts of the country west of the Jordan must have been in his hand. Indeed, as he is said ' to have left to Jehoahaz only fifty horsemen, fen chariots, and ten thousand footmen,' it would seem that Israel was stricily a conquered province, iu which Hazael dictated (as the Eng- lish to the native rajahs of India) what military force should he kept up. From this thraldom Israel was delivered by some unexplained agency. We are told merely that 'Jehovah gave to Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the liaud of the Syrians ; and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents as beforetime.' 2 Kings xiii. 5. It is allowable to conjecture that the (apparently unknown) deliverer was the Assyrian monarchy, which, assaulting Hazael towards the end of the reign of Jehoahaz, entirely drew away the Syrian armies. That it was some urgent, powerful, and continued pressure, considering the great strength which the empire of Damascus had attained, seems clear from the sudden weakness of Syria through the rei ns of Jehoash and Jeroboam II., the former of whom thrice defeated Benhadad III. and ' recovered the cities of Israel ;' the latter not only regained the full territory of the ten tribes, but made himself master (for a time at least) of Damascus and Hamatli. How entirely the friendship of Israel and Judah had been caused and cemented by their common fear of Syria, is proved by the fact that no sooner is the power of Damascus broken than new war breaks out be- tween the two kingdoms, which ended in the ISRAEL 443 plunder of Jerusalem by Jehoash, wfco also broke down its walls and carried off hostages: after which there is no more alliance between Ju.iah and Israsl. The empire of Damascus seems to have bien entirely dissolvid under the son of Hazael. and no mention is made of its kings for eighty years or more. When Pckah. sou of h'c- maliah, reigned in Samaria, Ifezin, as king of Damascus, made a last but ineffectual effort for i its independence. The same Assyrian power which had doubtless so seriously shaken, and perhaps temporarily overturned, the kingdom of Damascus, was soon to he felt by Israel. Menahem was invaded by Pul (the first sovereign of Nineveh whose name we know), and was made tributary. His succes- sor, Tiglath-pileser, in the reign of Pekah, son t f Kemaliah, carried cjptive the eastern ami m.rthrrn tribes of Israel (/. e. perhaps all their chief im 1 * as hostages?), and soon after slew Hezin, the ally of Pekah, and subdued Damascus. The follow- ing emperor, Shahnanezer, besieged and captured Samaria, and terminated the kingdom of Israel, B.C. 721. This branch of the Hebrew monarchy suffered far greater and more rapid reverses than the other. From the accession of Jeroboam to the middle of Haasha's reign it probably increased in power; it then waned with the growth of the Damascene empire ; it struggled hard against it under Ahab and Jehoram, but sank lower and lower ; it was dismembered under Jehu, and made subject under Jeho;ihaz. From B.C. 940 to B.C. 850 is, as nearly as can be ascertained, the period of depivtsion ; and from B.C. 914 to B.C. 830 that of friendship or alliance with Judah. But after (about) B.C. 850 Syria began to decline, and Israel soon shot out rapidly ; so that Joash and his son Jeroboam appear, of all Hebrew mor.archs, to come next to David and Solomon. How long this burst of prosperity lasted does not distinctly appear ; but it would seem that entire dominion over the ten j tribes was held until Pekah received the first ; hlow from the Assyrian conqueror. Besides that which was a source of weakness to Israel from the beginning, viz., the schism of | the crown with the whole ecclesiastical body, other causes may be discerned which made the ten tribes less powerful, in comparison with the ' two, than might have been expected. The mar- \ riage of Ahab to Jezebel brought with it no poli- tical advantages at all commensurate with the ; direct moral mischief, to say nothing of the spi- ritual evil ; and the reaction against the worship of Baal was a most ruinous atonement for the sin. To suppress the monstrous iniquity, Jehu not only put to death Ahab's wife, grandson, and seventy sons, but murdered first the king of Judah himself, and next forty-two youthful and ; innocent princes of his house ; while, strange to tell, the daughter of Jezebel gained by his died the throne of Judah, and perpetrated a new mas- | sacre. The horror of such crimes must have j fallen heavily on Jehu, and have caused a wide- ! spread disafiection among his own subjects. Add I to this, that the Phoenicians must have deeply j resented his proceedings ; so that we get a very j sufficient clue to the prostration of Israel under the foot of Hazael during the reign of Jehu and his son. Another and more abiding cause of political 444 ISs&ACHAiC debility in the ten tribes was found in the imper- fect consolidation of the inhabitants into a single nation. Since those who lived east of the Jordan retained, to a great extent at least, their pastoral h ibits, their union with the rest could never have been very firm; and when a king was neither strong independently of them, nor had good hereditary pretensions, they were not likely to contribute much to his power. After their con- quest of the Hagarenes and the depression of the Moabites and Ammonites by David, they had free room to spread eastward; and many of their chief men may have become wealthy in flocks and herds (like Machir the son of Ammiel, of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite. 2 Sam. xvii. 27), over whom the authority of the Israel- Irish crown would natura.lly be precarious ; while j west of the Jordan the agrarian law of Moses made it difficult or impossible for a landed nobi- lity to form itself, which could be formidable to the royal authority. That the Arab spirit of freedom was rooted in the eastern tribes, may perhaps be inferred from the case of the Re- chabites, who would neither live in houses nor plant vines ; undoubtedly like some of the Na- bathaeans, lest, by becoming settled and agricul- tural, they should be enslaved. Yet the need of imposing this law on his descendants would not have been felt by Jonadab, had not an opposite tendency been rising, that of agricultural settle- ment. Although the priests and Levites nearly dis- appeared out of Israel, prophets were perhaps even more numerous and active there than in Judah ; and Ahijah, whose prediction first endan- gered Jeroboam (1 Kings xi. 29-40), lived in honour at Shiloh to his dying day (xiv. 2). Obadiah alone saved one hundred prophets of Jehovah from the rage of Jezebel (xviii. 13). Possibly their extra-social character freed them from th? restraint imposed on priests and Levites ; and while they felt less bound to the formal rites of the Law, the kings of Israel were also less jealous of them. 1. IS'SACHAR (price-boughf), a son of Jacob and Leah, born B.C. 1749, who gave name to one of the tribes of Israel (Gen. xxx 18; Num. xxvi. 25). 2. The tribe called after Issachar. Jacob, on his death-bed, speaking metaphorically of the character and destinies of his sons, or rather of the tribes which should spring from them, said, ' Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens' (Gen. xlix. 14, 15). Remembering the character of the ass in Eastern countries, we may be sure that this comparison was not intended in disparagement. The ass is anything but stupid ; and the proverbial obstinacy which it sometimes exhibits in our own country, is rather the result of ill-treatment than a natural charac- teristic of the animal. Its true attributes are patience, gentleness, great capability of endurance, laborious exertion, and a meek submission to au- thority. Issachar, therefore, the progenitor of a race singularly docile, and distinguished for their patient industry, is exhibited under the similitude of the meekest and most laborious of quadrupeds. The descriptive character goes on : ' And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant, and he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute ' which probably ITQR^A does not imply that reproach upon Issachar, as addicted to ignominious ease, which some com- mentators find in it. It seems simply to mean that finding itself in possession of a most fertile portion of Palestine, the tribe devoted itself to the labours of agriculture, taking little interest in the public affairs of the nation. Accordingly Joscphus says that the heritage of the tribe ' was fruitful to admiration, abounding in pastures and nurseries of all kinds, so that it would make any man in love with husbandry ' (Antiq. v. 1. 22). But although a decided preference of agricultural over commercial or military pursuits is here in- dicated, there seems no reason to conclude, as some gather from the last clause, that the tribe would be willing to purchase exemption from war by the payment of a heavy tribute. The words do not necessarily imply this ; and there is no evidence that the tribe ever declined any military service to which it was called. On the contrary, it is specially commended by Deborah for the promptitude with which it presented itself in the war with Jabin (Judg. v. 15); and in the days of David honourable testimony is borne to its character (1 Chron. xii. 32). In this passage the ' children of Issachar ' are described as ' men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do," which probably means that they were men held in esteem for their pru- dence and wisdom, and who knew that the time was come when it was no longer safe to delay calling David to the throne of all Israel. On quitting Egypt the tribe of Issachar numbered 54,000 adult males, which gave it the fifth nume- rical rank among the twelve tribes, Judah, Simeon, Zebulun, and D;in, being atone above it. In the wilderness it increased nearly 10,000, and then ranked as the third of the tribes, Judah and Dan only being more numerous (Num. i. xxvi.). The territory of the tribe comprehended the whole of the plain of Esdraelon and the neigh- bouring districts the granary of Palestine. It was bounded on the east by the Jordan, on the west and south by Manasseh, and on the north by Asher and Zebulun. It contained the towns of Megiddo, Taanach, Shunem, Jezreel, and Beth- shan, with the villages of Endor, Aphek, and Ibleam, all historical names: the mountains of Tabor and Gilboa, and the valley of Jezreel, were in the territory of this tribe, and the course of the river Kishon lay through it. ITH'AMAR (palm-coast), fourth sou of Aaron. He was consecrated to the priesthood along with his brothers (Exod. vi. 23; Num. iii. 2, 3). Nothing is individually recorded of him, except that the property of the tabernacle was placed under his charge (Exod. xxxviii. 21), and that he superintended all matters connected with its removal by the Levitical sections of Gershou and Merari (Num. iv. 28). The sacred utensils and their removal were entrusted to his elder brother Eleazar. Ithamar, with his descendants, occu- pied the position of common priests till the Uigh- priesthooid passed into his family in the person of Eli, under circumstances of which we are igno- rant. Abiathar, whom Solomon deposed, was the last high-priest of that line ; and the ponti- ficate then reverted to the elder line of Eleazar in the person of Zadok (1 Kings ii. -27). ITUK/E'A, a district in the north-east of Pa- lestine, forming the tetrarchy of Philip. Th* IVORY name is supposed to have originated with Itur, or Jet nr, one of Ishmael's sons (1 Chron. i. 31). In I Chron. v. 19 this name is given as that^of a tribe or nation with which Reuben (beyond the Jordan) warred ; and from its being joined with the names of other of Ishmael's sons it is evident fhat a tribe descended from his son Jetur is inti- mated. During the Exile this and other border coun- tries were taken possession of by various tribes, whom, although they are called after the original names, as occupants of the countries which had received those names, \ve are not bound to regard as descendants of the original possessors. These new Ituneans were eventually subdued by King Aristobulus (B.C. 100) ; by whom they were con- strained to embrace the Jewish religion, and Were at the same time incorporated with the state. Nevertheless the Iturceans were still recog- nisable as a distinct people in the time of Pliny. As already intimated, Herod the Great, in di- viding his dominions among his sons, bequeathed Itursea to Philip, as part of a tetrarchy composed, according to Luke, of Trachonitis and Itursca. The name is so loosely applied by ancient writers, that it is difficult to fix its boundaries with pre- cision. Perhaps it may suffice for general pur- poses to describe it as a district of indeterminate extent, traversed by a line drawn from the Lake of Tiberias to Damascus. The present Jedur probably comprehends the whole or greater part of the proper Itursca. This is described by Burckhardt as ' lying south of Jebelkessoue, east of Jebel es-Sheik (Mount Hermon), and west of the Hadj road.' He adds, that it now contains only twenty inhabited villages. By the help of these lights we may discover that Iturcea was a plain country, about thirty miles long from north to south, and twenty-four from east to west, having on the north Abilene and the Damascene district ; on the south Auranitis and part of Ba- shan ; on the east the stony region of Trachonitis ; and on the west the hill country of Bashan. IVORY (1 Kings x. 22 ; 2 Chron. ix. 21; Rcr. xviii. 12). ' Elephant's tooth,' or simply ' elephant,' is a common name for ivory, not only in the Oriental languages and in Greek, but also in the Western tongues ; although in all of them teeth of other species may be included. Ele- phants' teeth were largely imported as merchan- dise, and also brought as tribute into Egypt. The processions of human figures bearing pre- sents, &c., still extant on the walls of palaces and tombs, attest by the black crisp-haired bearers of huge teeth, that some of these came from Ethiopia or Central Africa; and by white men similarly laden, who also bring an Asiatic elephant and a white bear, that others came from the East. Phoenician traders had ivory in such abundance, that the chief seats of their galleys were inlaid with it. In the Scriptures, according to the Chaldee Paraphrase, Jacob's bed was made of this substance (Gen. xlix. 33) ; we find king Solomon importing it from Tarshish (1 Kings x 22) ; and if Psalm xlv. 8 was written before hi reign, ivory was extensively used in the furnitur of royal residences at a still earlier period. Thi tusks of African elephants are generally much longer than those of the Asiatic ; and it may be observed in this place, that the ancients, as wel as the moderns, are mistaken when they asser JABAL 445 lephants* tusks to be a kind of horns. They re genuine teeth, combining in themselves, aud iccupying, in the upper jaw, the whole mass of ecretions which in other animals form the upper ncisor and laniary teeth. They are useful for 'efence and offence, aud for holding down green iranches, or rooting up water-plants ; but still hey are not absolutely necessary, since there is a i ariety of elephant in the Indian forests entirely lestitute of tusks, and the females in most of the races are either without them or have them very j mall ; not turned downwards, as Bochart states, >ut rather straight, as correctly described by Pliny. IYAR is the late name of that month which was the second of the sacred, and the seventh of he civil year of the Jews, and which began with | he new moon of May. The few memorable days n it are the 10th, as a fast for the death of Eli ; the 14th, as the second or lesser Passover, for ;hose whom unclcanness or absence prevented Tom celebrating the feast in Nisan (Num. ix. 11); the 23rd, as a feast instituted by Simon the Vlaccabee in memory of his taking the citadel Acra in Jerusalem (1 Mace. xiii. 51, 52); the 28th, as a fast for the death of Samuel. The name lyar does not occur in the Old Testament, this month being always described as :he second month, except in four places in which it is called Ziv (1 Kings v. 1, 37; Dan, ii. 31 ; iv. 33) ; which is a curtailed form for ' zehiv,' bright, an appropriate epithet of the month of flowers. J. JA'BAL (a stream}, a descendant of Cain, son of Lamech and Adah, who is described in Gen. iv. 20, as ' the father of such as dwell in tents, and have cattle.' This obviously means that Jabal was the first who adopted that nornade life which is still followed by numerous Arabian and Tartar tribes in Asia. Abel had long before been a keeper of sheep ; but Jabal invented such portable habitations (formed, doubtless, of skins) as enabled a pastoral people to remove their dwellings with them from one place to another, when they led their flocks to new pastures. JAB'BOK, one of the streams which traverse the country east of the Jordan, and which, after a course nearly from east to west, falls into that river about thirty miles below the lake of Ti- berias. It seems to rise in the Hauran moun- tains, and its whole course may be computed at sixty-five miles. It is mentioned in Scripture as the boundary which separated the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites, from that of Og, king of Bashan (Josh. xii. 1-6) ; and it appears afterwards to have been the boundary between the tribe of Reuben and the half-tribe of Ma- nasseh. The earliest notice of it occurs in Gen. xxxii. 22. The Jabbok now bears the name of Zerka. In its passage westward across the plains it more than once passes under ground ; and in summer the upper portion of its channel becomes dry. But on entering the more hilly country immediately east of the Jordan, it receives tribute from several springs, which maintain it as a perennial stream, although very low in sum- 446 JABIN mer. On approaching the Jordan it flows through a deep ravine, the steep banks being overgrown with the Solatium J'nrii sum, which attains a con- siderable size. IJut the ravine is not so well wooded as the immediate neighbourhood. The water is pleasant, and the bed being rocky the stream runs clejr. JA'BKSH, or JABESH GILKAD, a town beyond the Jordan, in the lai;d of (Jilead. Jdbesh belonged to the half tribe of Manasseh, and was sacked by the Israelites for refusing to join in the \\aragainst Benjamin (Judg. xxi. 8). It is chiel'y memorable for the siege it sustained from Nnh;i>h. king of the Ammonites, the raising of which formed the first exploit of the newly- ekcted king. Saul, and procured his confirmation iu the sovereignty. The inhabitants had agreed to surrender, ami to have their right eyes put out vto incapacitate them from military service), but were allowed seven days to ratify the treaty. In the meantiineSaul collected a large army, and came to their relief ( I Sam. xi.X This service was gratefully remembered by the Jabeshites ; and, al cut forty ye ire after, when the dead bodies of Saul and his sous were giblet^d on the walls of Bethsban, on the other side of the rirer, they made a forced march by night, took away the bodies, and gave them honourable burial (1 Sam. xxxi.). Jabvsh still existed as a tovn in the time of Eusebius, who places it six miles from Pella towards Gerasa ; but the knowledge of the site is now lost, unless we accept the conclusion of Mr. Buckingham, who thinks it may be found in a place called Jehaz or Jejaz, marked by ruins upon a hill, in a spot not far from which, accord- ing to the above indications, Jabesh must have been situated. 1. JA'BIN (discerner), king of Hazor,and one of the moit powerful of all the princes who reigned in Canaan when it was invaded by the Israelites. His dominion seems to have extended over all the north part of the country ; and after the ruin of the league formed against the He- brews in the south of Adonizedek, king of Jeru- salem, he assembled his tributaries near the waters of Merom (the lake Huleh), and called all the people to arms. This coalition was destroyed, as the one in the south had been, and Jabin him- self perished in the sack of Hazor, his capital, B.C. 1450. This prince was the last powerful enemy with whom Joshua combated, and his overthrow seems to have been regarded as the crowning act in the conquest of the Promised Laud ( Jofh. xi. 1-14). 2. JABIN, king of Hazor, and probably de- scended from the preceding. It appears that during one of the senritudes of the Israelites, probably when they lay under the yoke of Cushan or EjJon, the kingdom of Hazor was recon- structed. The narrative gives to this second Jabin even the title of ' king of Canaan ;' and this, with the possession of 900 iron-armed war- chariots implies unusual power and extent of dominion. The iniquities of the Israelites having lost them the Divine protection. Jabin gained the mastery over them ; and, stimulated by the remembrance of ancient wrongs, oppressed them heavily for twenty years. From this thraldom they were relieved by the gr~at victory won by 'iarak in the plain of Esdraelou ever the hosts JACO3 of Jabin, commanded by Sisera, one of the most renowned generals of those times, B.C. 1-285. The well-compacted power of the king of Hazor was not yet, however, entirely broken. The war was still prolonged for a time, but ended in the entire ruin of Jabin, and the subjugation of his terri- tories by the Israelites (Judg. iv.). This is the Jabiu whose name occurs in Ps. Ixxxiii. 10. JA'CHIN and BO'AZ. the names of two brazen pillars in the porch of Solomon's temple [TKMPLE!. JACINTH. The stone which is called Ja- cinth in Rev. xxi. 20, is the same which is called in the Old Testament a LIGUKE. [See the word.] JA'COBwas the second son of Isaac by his wife Rebekah. Her conceiving is stated to have been supernatural. Led by peculiar fielings she went to inquire of the Lord, and was informed that she was indeed wiih child ; that her off- spring should be the founders of two nations, and that the elder should serve the younger: cir- cumstances which ought to be borne in mind when a judgment is pronounced on her conduct in aiding Jacob to secure the privileges of birth to the exclusion of his elder brother Esau. As the boys grew, Jacob appeared to partake of the gentle, quiet, and retiring character of his father, and was accordingly led to prefer the tranquil safety and pleasing occupations of a shepherd's life to the hold and daring enterprises of the hunter, for which Esau had an irresistible predilection. Jacob, therefore, passed his days in or near the paternal tent, simple and unpre- tending in his manner of life, and finding in the flocks and herds which he kept images and emo- tions which both filled and satisfied his heart. That selfishness and a prudence which approached to cunning had a seat in the heart of the youth Jacob, appeal's but too plain in his dealing with Esau, when he exacted from a famishing brother so large a price for a mess of pottage as the sur- render of his birthright. The leaning which his mother had in favour of Jacob would naturally be augmented by the conduct of Esau in marrying, doubtless contrary to his parents' wishes, two Hittite women, who are recorded to have been a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah. Circumstances thus prepared the way for pro- curing the transfer of the birthright, when Isaac, being now old, proceeded to take steps to pro- nounce the irrevocable blessing which acted with all the force of a modern testamentary bequest. This blessing, then, it was essential that Jacob should receive in preference to Esau. Here Rebt-kah appears the chief agent; Jacob is a mere instrument in her hands. Isaac directs Esau to procure him some venison. This Re- bekah hears, and urges her reluctant favourite to personate his elder brother. Jacob suggests dif- ficulties ; they are met by Rebekah, who is ready to incur any personal danger so that her object be gained. Her voice is obeyed, the venison is brought, Jacob is equipped for the deceit ; he helps out his fraud by direct falsehood, and the old man, whose senses are now failing, is at last with difficulty deceived. Jt cannot be denied that this is a most reprehensible transaction, and presents a truly painful picture ; in which a JACOB 447 mother conspires -with one son in order to cheat tier aged husband, with a view to deprive another son of his rightful inheritance. Justification is here impossible; hut it should not be forgotten in the estimate we form that there was a promise in favour of Jacob, that Jacob's qualities had en- deared him to his mother, and that the prospect to her was dai'k and threatening which arose when she saw the neglected Esau at the head of the house, and his hateful wives assuming com- mand over herself. Punishment in this world always follows close upon the heels of transgression. Fear seized the guilty Jacob, who is sent by his father, at the suggestion of Rebekah, to the original seat of the family, in order that he might find a wife among his cousins, the daughters of his mother's brother, I.ahau the Syrian. J5efore he is dismissed Jacob again receives his father's blessing, the object obviously being to keep alive in the young man's mind the great promise given to Abraham, and thus to transmit that influence which, under the aid of Divine Providence, was to end in placing I the family in possession of the land of Palestine, j and in so doing to iLake it ' a multitude of people.' Ou his journey eastward he tarried all night upon a certain plain, where he was favoured with a vision, and received a promise of divine pro- tection in all the way on which he should go. Jacob, on coming 'into the land of the people of the East.' providentially met with Rachel, La ban's daughter, to whom, with true Eastern | simplicity and politeness, he showed such courtesy I as the duties of pastoral life suggest and admit. And here his gentle arid affectionate nature dis- plays itself under the influence of the bonds of : kindred and the fair form of youth: 'Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept.' After he had been with his uncle the space of a month, Lahan inquires of him what reward he expects for his services. He asks for the ' beau- tiful and well-favoured Rachel." His request is granted on condition of a seven years' service a long period truly, hut to Jacob 'they seemed but a few days for the love he had to her.' When the time was expired, the crafty Lahan availed himself of the customs of the country, in order to substitute his elder and ' tender-eyed ' daughter Leah. Jn the morning Jacob found how he had been beguiled ; but Laban excused himself, say- ing, It must not be done in our country, to give the younger before the first-born.' Another seven years' service gains for Jacob the beloved Rachel. Leah, however, has the compensatory privilege of being the mother of the first-born Reuben ; three other sons successively follow, namely, Simeon, Levi, and Jndah. sons of Leah. This fruitfulnt ss was a painful subject of reflection to the barren Rachel, who employed language on this occasion that called forth a reply from her husband which shows that, mild as was the character of Jacob, it was by no means wanting in force and energy (Gen. xxx. 2). An arrangement, however, took place, by which Rachel had children by means ; of her maid Bilhah, of whom Dan and Naphtali ! were born Two other sons Gad nd Asher i were born to Jacob of Leah's maid, Zilpah. Leah ! herself bare two more sous, namely, Issachar and I Zebiiluii ; >>he also bare a daughter, Dinah. At | length Rachel herself bare a son, and she called bis name Joseph. Most faithfully, and with great success, had Jacob served his uncle for fourteen years, when he became desirous of returning to his parents. At the urgent request of Laban, however, lie is induced to remain. The language employed upon this occasion (.Gen. xxx. 25, sq.) shows that Jacob's character had gained considerably during his service both in strength and comprehensive- ness : but the means which he employed in order to make his bargain with his uncle *'ork so as to enrich himself, prove too clearly that his moral feelings had not undergone an equal improve- ment, and that the original taint of prudei.ee. and the sad lessons of his mother in deceit, had pro- duced some of their natural fruit in his bosom. The prosperity of Jacob displeased an.l grieved Laban, so that a separation seemed desirable. His wives are ready to accompany him. Accord- ingly he set out, with his family and his property, ' to go to Isaac his father in the land of Cai.aan.' It was not till the third day that Laban learned that Jacob had fled, when he immediately sit cut in pursuit of his nephew, and after seven days' journey overtook him in Mount Gilead. Labux, however, is divinely warned not to hinder Jacob's return. Reproach and recrimination ensued. Even a charge of theft is put forward by Laban 'Wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?' In truth, Rachel had carried oft' certain images which were the objects of superstitious reverence. Igno- rant of this misdeed, Jacob boldly called for a search, adding, 'With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live.' A crafty woman's cleverness eluded the keen eye of Laban. Rachel by an appeal which cne of her sex alone could make, deceived her father. Laban's conduct on this occasion called forth a reply from Jacob, irom which it appears that his service had been most severe, and which alsr> proves that however this severe service might have encouraged a certain servility, it had i:ot prevented the development in Jacob's soul of a high and energetic spirit, which when roused could assert its rights and give utterance to senti- ments both just, striking, and forcible. Peace, however, being restored, Laban, on th ensuing morning, took a friendly, if not an affec tionate farewell of his daughters and their sons, and returned home. Meanwhile Jacob, going on his way, had to pass near the Iai:d of Seir. in which Esau dwelt. Remembering his own con duct and his brother's threat, he was seized with fear, and sent messengers before in order to pro pitiate Esau, who, however, had no evil desigi j against him ; but. when he ' saw Jacob, ran tc I meet him and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept' the one j i tears of joyful lecoguitiou, the other of gladness ! at unexpected escape. It was immediately preceding this interview that Jacob passed the night in wrestling with 'a man,' who is afterwards recognised as God, ai:d ! who at length overcame Jacob by touching the hollow of his thigh. His name also was on this event changed by the mysterious antagonist into Israel, 'for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men. and hast prevailed ' (Gen. xxxii. 28). It is added that on this account his de- scendants abstained from Bating the thigh ol slaughtered animals. i Hiving, by the misconduct of Hamor the 448 JACOB Hivite and the hardy valour of his sons, been involved in danger from the natives of Shechem in Canaan, Jacob is divinely directed, and under the divine protection proceeds to Bethel, where he is to ' make an altar unto God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.' Obedient to the divine com- i mand, he first purifies his family from 'strange gods,' which he hid under ' the oak which is by Shechem ; ' after which God appeared to him again with the important declaration, ' I am God Almighty,' and renewed the Abrahamic covenant. While journeying from Beth-el to Ephrath his beloved Rachel lost her life in giving birth to her second son, Benjamin. At length Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, the family residence, in time to pay the last attentions to the aged pa- triarch. Not long after this bereavement Jacob was robbed of his beloved son Joseph through the jealousy and bad faith of his brothers. This loss is the occasion of showing us how strong were Jacob's- paternal feelings ; for on seeing what ap- peared to l>e proofs that ' some evil beast had devoured Joseph,' the old man ' rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days, and refused to be com- forted.' ' I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning ' (Gen. xxxvii. 33). A widely extended famine induced Jacob to send his sons down into Egypt, where he had heard there was corn, without knowing by whose instrumentality. The patriarch, however, re- tained his youngest son Benjamin, ' lest mischief should befall him.' as it had befallen Joseph. The young men returned with the needed sup- plies of corn. They related, however, that they had been taken for spies, and that there was but one way in which they could disprove the charge, namely, by carrying down Benjamin to ' the lord of the land.' This Jacob vehemently refused : ' Me have ye bereaved ; Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin ; my son shall not go down with you ; if mischief befall him, then shall ye bring dovrn my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave ' (Gen. xlii. 36). The pres- sure of the famine, however, at length forced Jacob to allow Benjamin, to accompany his Brothers on a second visit to Egypt ; whence in due time they brought back to their father the pleasing intelligence, 'Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt." How naturally is the effect of this on Jacob told ' and Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not.' When, however, they had gone into particulars, he added, ' Enough, Joseph my son is yet alive ; I will go and see him before I die.' Encouraged ' in the visions of the night,' Jacob goes down to Egypt. ' And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him ; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive ' (Gen. xlvi. 29). Joseph proceeded to conduct his father into the presence of the Egyp- tian monarch, when the man of God, with that self-consciousness and dignity which religion gives, instead of offering slavish adulation, ' blessed Pharaoh.' Struck with the patriarch's venerable air, the king asked. ' How old art thou Y What composure and elevation is there in the JAEL reply, ' The days of the years of my pilgrimag. are an hundred and thirty years ; f-jw and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pil- grimage : and Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh' (Gen. xlvii. 8-10). Jacob, with his sons, now entered into posses- sion of some of the best land of Egypt, where they carried on their pastoral occupations, and enjoyed a very large share of earthly prosperity. The aged patriarch, after being strangely tossed ubout on a very rough ocean, found at last a tranquil harbour, where all the best affections of his nature were gently exercised and largely un- folded. After a lapse of time Joseph, being in- formed that his father was sick, went to him, when ' Israel strengthened himself, and sat up in his bed.' He acquainted Joseph with the divine pro- rnisa of the land of Canaan which yet remained to be fulfilled, and took Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, in place of Reuben and Simeon, whom he had lost. Then having convened his sons, the venerable patriarch pronounced on them also a blessing, which is full of the loftiest thought, expressed in the most poetical diction, and adorned by the most vividly descriptive and engaging imagery, showing how deeply religious his character had become, how freshly it retained its fervour to the last, and how greatly it had in- creased in strength, elevation, and dignity : ' And when Jacob had made an end of command- ing his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people ' (Gen. xlix. 33). JA'EL (wild goat}, wife of Heber, the Kenite. When Sisera, the general of Jabin, had been de- feated, he alighted from his chariot, hoping to escape best on foot from the hot pursuit of the victorious Israelites. On reaching the tents of the nomade chief, he remembered that there was peace between his sovereign and the house of Heber ; and, therefore, applied for the hospitality and protection to which he was thus entitled. This request was very cordially granted by the wife of the absent chief, who received the van- quished warrior into the inner part of the tent, where he could not be discovered by strangers without such an intrusion as Eastern customs would not warrant. She also brought him milk to drink, when he asked only water ; and then covered him from view, that he might enjoy repose the more securely. As he slept, a horrid thought occurred to Jael, which she liastened too promptly to execute. She took one of the tent nails, and with a mallet, at one fell blow, drove it through the tern pies of the sleeping Sisera. Soon after, Barak and his people arrived in pursuit, and were shown the lifeless body of the man they sought. It does not seem difficult to understand the object of Jael in this painful transaction. Her motives seem to have been entirely prudential, and, on prudential grounds, the very circum- stance which renders her act the more odious the peace subsisting between the nomade chief and the king of Hazor must, to her, have seemed to make it the more expedient. She saw that the Israelites had now the upper hand, and was aware that, as being in alliance with the oppressors of Israel, the camp might expect very rough treat- JAMES ment from the pursuing force ; which would be greatly aggravated if Sisera were found sheltered within it. This calamity she sought to avert, and to place the house of Heber in a favourable position with the victorious party. She probably justified the act to herself, by the consideration that, as Sisera would certainly be taken and slain, she might as well make a benefit out of his inevi- table doom, as incur utter ruin in the attempt to protect him. We have been grieved to see the act vindicated . as authorized by the usages of ancient warfare, of rude times, and of ferocious manners. There was not warfare, but peace be- tween the house of Heber and the prince of Hazor ; and, for the rest, we will venture to affirm that there does not now, and never did exist, in any country, a set of usages under which the act of Jael would be deemed right. 1 . JA'IR (enliyhtener), son of Segub, of the tribe of Manasseh by his mother, and of Judah by his father. He appears to have distinguished himself i i an expedition against the kingdom of Bashan, the time of which is disputed, but may probably be referred to the last year of the life of Moses, B,C. 1451. It seems to have formed part of the operations connected with the conquest of the country east of the Jordan. He settled in the part of Argob bordering on Gilead, where we find twenty-three villages named collectively Havoth-jair, or ' Jair's villages ' (Num. xxxii. 41; Deut. Hi. 14-, Josh. xiii. 30 ; 1 Chron. ii. 22). 2. JAIR, eighth judge of Israel, of Gilead, in Manasseh, beyond the Jordan ; and, therefore, probably descended from the preceding, with whom, indeed, he is sometimes confounded. He ruled twenty-two years, and his opulence is indi- cated in a manner characteristic of the age in which he lived. ' He had thirty sons, that rode on thirty ass-colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havoth-jair, in the land of Gilead.' The twenty-three villages of the more ancient Jair were probably among the thirty which this Jair possessed (Judg. x. 3). B.C. 1210. JA'IRUS, a ruler of the synagogue at Caper- naum, whose daughter Jesus restored to life (Mark v. 22 ; Luke viii. 41). JAMES. Two, if not three persons of this name are mentioned in the New Testament. 1. JAMES, the son of Zebedee, and brother of the Evangelist John. Their occupation was that of fishermen, probably at Bethsaida, in partnership with Simon Peter (Luke v. 10). On comparing the account given in Matt. iv. 21, Mark i. 19, with that in John i., it would appear that James and John had been acquainted with our Lord, and had received him as the Messiah some time before he called them to attend upon him statedly a call with which they immediately complied. Their mother's name was Salome. We find James, John, and Peter associated on several in- teresting occasions in the Saviour's life. They alone were present at the Transfiguration (Matt. xvii. 1 ; Mark ix. 2 ; Luke ix. 28) ; at the resto- ration to life of Jairus's daughter (Mark v. 42 ; Luke viii. 51) ; and in the garden of Gethsemane during the agony (Mark xiv. 33 ; Matt. xxvi. 37 ; Luke xxi. 37). With Andrew they listened in private to our Lord's discourse on the fall of Je- rusalem (Mark xiii. 3). James and his brother appear to have indulged in false notions of the JAMES, EPISTLE OF 449 kingdom of the Messiah, and were led by am bitious views to join in the request made to Jesus by their mother (Matt. xx. 20-23 ; Mark x. 35) From Luke ix. 52, we may infer that their tem- perament was warm and impetuous. On account probably, of their boldness and energy in dis- charging their Apostleship, they received from their Lord the appellation of Boanerges, or Sons of Thunder. James was the first martyr among the Apostles. Clement of Alexandria, in a frag- ment preserved by Eusebius, reports that the officer who conducted James to the tribunal was so influenced by the bold declaration of his faith as to embrace the Gospel and avow himself also a Christian ; in consequence of which he was be- headed at the same time. 2. JAMES, the son of Alphseus, one of the twelve Apostles (Mark iii. 18 : Matt. x. 3 ; Luke vi. 15 ; Acts i. 13). His mother's name was Mary (Matt. xxvii. 56 ; Mark xv. 40) ; in the latter passage he is called James the Less, either as being younger than James the son of Alphseus, or on account of his low stature (Mark xvi. 1 ; Luke xxiv. 10). 3. JAMES, ' the brother of the Lord' (Gal. i. 19). Whether this James is identical with the son of Alphseus, is a question which Dr. Neander pro- nounces to be the most difficult in the Apostolic history, and which cannot yet be considered as decided. It is probable, however, that he was a different person. JAMES, EPISTLE OF. This is called by Eusebius the first of the Catholic Epistles. As the writer simply styles himself James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, doubts have existed, both in ancient and modern times, re- specting the true Author of this Epistle. It has been ascribed to no less than four different persons, viz. James, the son of Zebedee ; James, the son of Alphceus (who were both of the number of the twelve Apostles) ; James, our Lord's brother (Gal. i. 19) ; and to an anonymous author who assumed the name of James in order to procure authority to a supposititious writing. It is highly improbable that James the son of Zebedee is the author of this epistle, for it is not credible that so great progress as the epistle im- plies had been made among the dispersed Jews before the martyrdom of James, which took place at Jerusalem, about A.D. 32 ; and if the author, as has been commonly supposed, alludes to St. Paul's Epistles to the Romans (A.D. 58) and Galatians (A.D. 55), it would be a manifest anachronism to ascribe this epistle to the son of Zebedee. The claim to the authorship of the epistle, therefore, rests between James 'the Lord's brother,' and James the son of Alphseus. In the preceding article the difficult question, whether these names do not, in fact, describe the same person, has been referred to : it suffices, in this place, to state that no writer who regards James ' the Lord's brother ' as distinct from James the son of Alphseus, has held the latter to be the author of the epistle : and therefore, if no claim be advanced for the son of Zebedee, James ' the brother of the Lord' remains the only person whom the name at the head of this epistle could be intended to designate. Hegesippus, cited by Eusebius, acquaints us that James, the brother of Jesus, who obtained the surname of the Just, governed the church of 2 G 450 JAMES, EPISTLE OF Jerusalem along -with, or after the apostles. Eusebius relates that he was the first who held the episcopate of Jerusalem (Jerome says for thirty years) ; and both he and Josephus give an account of his martyrdom. To him, there- fore, is the authorship of an epistle addressed to the Jewish Christians with good reason ascribed. The other opinion, which considers the epistle as written by an anonymous writer, we shall consider in treating of its author. Eusebius observes that ' James, the brother of Jesus, who is called Christ,' is said to have written the first of the Catholic Epistles ; but it is to be observed that it is considered spurious. Not many of the ancients have mentioned it, nor that called the Epistle of Jude .... Nevertheless we know that these, with the rest, are publicly read in most of the churches.' It is, however, cited by Clemens Romanus in his first or ge- nuine Epistle to the Corinthians. It seems to be alluded to in the Shepherd of Hennas, ' Resist the devil, and he will be confounded and flee from you.' It is also generally believed to be referred to by Irenseus, ' Abraham believed God, and it was,' &c. Origen cites it in his Comment, on John, i. xix. iv. 306, calling it, however, the reputed epistle of James. We have the authority of Cassiodorus for the fact that Clemens Alexan- drinus commented on this epistle ; and it is not only expressly cited by Ephrem Syrus (51, ' James the brother of our Lord says " weep and howl," ' together with other references), but it forms part of the ancient Syriac version, a work of the second century. But though ' not quoted expressly by any of the Latin fathers before the fourth century,' it was, soon after the time of the Council of Nice, received both in the Eastern and Western churches without any marks of doubt, and was admitted into the canon along with the other Scriptures by the Councils of Hippo and Carthage. Nor (with the above exceptions) does there appear to have been a voice raised against it since that period until the era of the Reforma- tion, when the ancient doubts were revived by Erasmus. The latter 6bjected to it principally on the ground that it ' directly opposes St. Paul and the other Scriptures in ascribing justification to works.' This opinion, however, has been suc- cessfully combated by Neander, who maintains that there is no discrepancy whatever between St. Paul and St. James ; that it was not even the design of the latter to oppose any misapprehen- sion respecting St. Paul's doctrine, but that they each addressed different classes of people from different standing points, using the same familiar examples. ' Paul,' he says, ' was obliged to point out to those who placed their dependence , on the justifying power of the works of the law, the futility of such works in reference to justifica- tion, and to demonstrate that justification and sanctification could proceed only from the faith of the Gospel : James, on the other hand, found it necessary to declare to those who imagined that they could be justified in God's sight by faith in the Jewish sense .... that this was completely valueless if their course of life were not conformed to it.' By those who consider James the Just, bishop of Jerusalem, to have been the author of this epistle, it is generally believed to have been JAPHETH written shortly before his martyrdom, which took place A.D. 62, six years before the de- struction of Jerusalem, whose impending fate is alluded to in chap. v. Neander fixes its date at a time preceding the separate formation of Gentile Christian churches, before the relation of Gentiles and Jews to one another in the Christian Church had been brought under dis- cussion, in the period of the first spread of Christianity in Syria, Cilicia, and the adjacent regions. It is addressed to Jewish Christians, the descendants of the twelve tribes ; but the fact of its being written in Greek exhibits the author's desire to make it generally available to Christians. Contents and Character of the Epistle. This epistle commences with consolations addressed to the faithful converts, with exhortations to patience, humility, and practical piety (ch. i. 1-27). Undue respect to persons is then con- demned, and love enjoined (ch. ii.). Erroneous ideas on justification are corrected (ii. 13-26), the temerity of new teachers is repressed (iii. 12); an unbridled tongue is inveighed against, and heavenly wisdom contrasted with a spirit of covetousuess (13-18). Swearing is prohibited (v. 12). The efficacy of prayer is proved by ex- amples, and the unction of the sick by the Pres- byters, together with prayer and mutual con- fession, are enjoined as instruments of recovery and of forgiveness of sins (v. 14-18). The ap- proaching advent of the Lord is foretold (v. 7). The style of this epistle is close and sen- tentious. The general manner of the writer, says Jebb, ' combines the plainest and most practical good sense with the most vivid and poetical con- ception ; the imagery various and luxuriant ; the sentiments chastened and sober ; his images, in truth, are so many analogical arguments, and if, at the first view, we are disposed to recreate our- selves with the poet, we soon feel that we must exert our hardier powers to keep pace with the logician.' Seiler designates the style of this \ epistle as ' sometimes sublime and prophetical, nervous, and full of imagery.' The eloquence and persuasiveness of St. James's Epistle, as an ethical composition, are such as must command universal admiration. JAN'NES AND JAM'BRES, two of the Egyp- tian magicians who attempted by their enchant- ments to counteract the influence on Pharaoh's mind of the miracles wrought by Moses. Their names occur nowhere in the Hebrew Scriptures, and only once in the New Testament (2 Tim. iii. 8). The Apostle Paul became acquainted with them, most probably, from an ancient Jewish tra- dition, or, as Theodoret expresses it, ' from the unwritten teaching of the Jews.' They are found frequently in the Talmudical and Rabbinical writings, but with some variations. J A'PHETH, a son of Noah. In Gen. v. 32 he is mentioned third in order ; but some think, from Gen. x. 21 (comp. ix. 24), that lie was tin- eldest of Noah's sons, begotten one hundred years before the flood. In Gen. x. 2, sq. lie is called the progenitor of the extensive tribes in the west (of Europe) and north (of Asia), of the Armenians, Medes, Greeks, Thracians, c. The Arabian traditions rank Japheth among the pro- phets, and enumerate eleven of his sons, the pro- genitors of as many Asiatic nations. In these JASHER traditions he is therefore simply called progenitor of the Turks and Barbarians. JAR'HA, the Egyptian slave of a Hebrew named Sheshan, who married the daughter of his master, and was, of course, made free. As Sheshan had no sons, his posterity is traced through this Connection (1 Chron. ii. 34-41), which is the only one of the kind mentioned in Scripture. Jar ha was doubtless a proselyte, and the anecdote seems to belong to the period of the sojourn in Egypt, although it is not easy to see how an Egyptian could there be slave to an Israelite. JA'SHER, BOOK OF, a work no longer extant, but cited in Josh. x. 13, and 2 Sam. i. 18. In the former it is thus introduced : ' And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their ene- mies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher ? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day,' &c. And in the passage referred to in 2 Sam. i. it stands thus: ver. 17. 'And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jona- than his son:' ver. 18. '(Also he bade them teach the children of Judah [the use of] the bow : behold it is written in the book of Jasher.)' After which follows the lamentation of David. As the word Jasher signifies just or upright, by which word it is rendered in the margin of our Bibles, this book has been generally considered to have been so entitled as containing a history of just men. Bishop Lowth, however, conceives, from the poetical character of the two passages cited from it, that it was most probably a collection of national songs written at various times, and that it derived its name from jashar, ' he sang.' It is, at the same time, by no means an improbable conjecture, that the book was so called from the name of its author. Josephus speaks of the book of Jasher as one of the ' books laid up in the temple.' The chief interest connected with the Scrip- tural book of Jasher arises from the circumstance that it is referred to as the authority for the standing still of the sun and moon. There are few passages in Biblical literature the explana- tion of which has more exercised the skill of commentators than this celebrated one. We shall here give a brief account of the most ge- nerally received interpretations. The first is that which maintains that the ac- count of the miracle is to be literally understood. According to this interpretation, which is the most ancient, the sun itself, which was then be- lieved to have revolved round the earth, stayed his course for a day. Those who take this view argue that the theory of the diurnal motion of the earth, which has been the generally received one since the time of Galileo and Copernicus, is inconsistent with the Scripture narrative. Not- withstanding the general reception of the Co- pernican system of the universe, this view con- tinued to be held by many divines, Protestant as well as Roman Catholic, and was strenuously maintained by Buddeus and others in the last century. But in more recent times the miracle has been explained so as to make it accord with the now received opinion respecting the earth's motion, aad the Scripture narrative supposed to contain JAVAN 45] rather an optical and popular, than a literal ac- i count of what took place on this occasion. So ' that it was in reality the earth, and not the ! sun, which stood still at the command of Joshua. Another opinion is that first suggested by Spi- I noza, and afterwards maintained by Le Clerc, that the miracle was produced by refraction only, 1 causing the sun to appear above the horizon after its setting, or by some other atmospherical phe- nomena, which produced sufficient light to enable j Joshua to pursue and discomfit his enemies. The last opinion we shall mention is that of the learned Jew Maimonides, viz. that Joshua only asked of the Almighty to grant that he ' might defeat his enemies before the going down ' of the sun, and that God heard his prayer, j inasmuch as before the close of day the five ; kings with their armies were cut in pieces, j Grotius, while he admitted that there was no dif- ! ficulty in the Almighty's arresting the course cf the sun, or making it reappear by refraction, ap- proved of the explanation of Maimonides, which has been since that period adopted by many divines. JASHO'BEAM, son of Hachmoni, one of David's worthies, and the first named in the two lists which are given of them (2 Sam. xxxiii. 8 ; 1 Chron. xi. 11). The exploit of breaking through the host of the Philistines to procure David a draught of water from, the well of Bethlehem, is ascribed to the three chief heroes, and therefore to Jasho- beam, who was the first of the three (2 Sam. xxiii. 13-17; 1 Chron. xi. 15-19). A Jashobeam is named among the Korhites who came to David at Ziklag (1 Chron. xii. 6) ; but this could scarcely have been the same with the preceding. We also find a Jashobeam who commanded 24,000, and did duty in David's court in the month Nisan (1 Chron. xxvii. 2). He was the son of Zabdiel ; if, therefore, he was the same as the first Jashobeam, his patronymic of ' the Hachmonite ' must be referred to his race rather than to his immediate father. This seems likely. JA'SON, a kinsman of St. Paul, and his host at Thessalonica, where the Jews forced his house in order to seize the Apostle. Not finding the Apostle, they dragged Jason himself and some other converts before the magistrates, who re- leased them with an admonition (A.D. 53). Jason appears to have accompanied the Apostle to Corinth (Acts xvii. 5-9 ; Rom. xvi. 21). JASPER. Our word Jasper is plainly from the Greek jaspis, which comes from the Hebrew word yashpeh. Jasper is a species of the quartz family, and embraces a great many varieties. The brown Egyptian variety was perhaps the one selected for the breastplate of the high-priest (Exod. xxxviii. 19; xxxix. 1). The brown is of various shades, disposed in concentric stripes. It occurs loose in the sands of Egypt, and is cut into ornaments. JA'VAN. the fourth son of Japhet. The in- terest connected with his name arises from his being the supposed progenitor of the original set- tlers in Greece and its isles [NATIONS, DISPER- SION OF], JAVELIN. [ARMS.] 2o2 452 JEHOAHAZ JEB'USITES, one of the most powerful of the nations of Canaan, "who settled about Mount Moriah, where they built Jerusalem, and called it Jebus, after the name of their founder (1 Chron. xi. 4). Although they were defeated with much slaughter, and Adonizedek, their king, slain by Joshua. (Josh, x.), they were not wholly subdued, were able to retain their city till after his death (Judg. i. 8), and were not entirely dispossessed of it till the time of David (2 Sam. v.). By that time the inveteracy of the enmity between the Hebrews and such of the original inhabitants as remained in the land had much abated, and the rights of private property were respected by the conquerors. This we discover from the fact that the site on which the Temple afterwards stood belonged to a Jebusite, named Araunah, from whom it was purchased by King David, who de- clined to accept it as a free gift from the owner (2 Sam. xxiv.). This is the last we hear of the Jebnsites. JED'UTHUN (praiseyiver), a Levite of Me- rari's family, and one of the four great masters of the temple music (1 Chron. xvi. 41, 42). This name is also put for his descendants, who occur later as singers and players on instruments (2 Chron. xxxv. 15 ; Neh. xi. 17). 1. JEHO'AHAZ (God-sustained), son of Jehu, king of Israel, who succeeded his father in B.C. 856, and reigned seventeen years. As he followed the evil courses of the house of Jeroboam, the Syrians under Hazael and Benhadad were suf- fered to prevail over him ; so that, at length, he had only left of all his forces fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 foot. Overwhelmed by his calamities, Jehoahaz at length acknowledged the authority of Jehovah over Israel, and humbled himself before him; in consideration -of which a deliverer was raised up for Israel in the person of Joash, this king's son, who was enabled to expel the Syrians and re-establish the afTairs of the kingdom (2 Kings xiii. 1-9, 25). 2. JEHOAHAZ, otherwise called SHALLUM, seventeenth king of Judah, son of Josiah, whose reign began and ended in the year B.C. 608. After his father had *been slain in resisting the progress of Pharaoh Necho, Jehoahaz, who was then twenty-three years of age, was raised to the throne by the people, and received at Jerusalem the regal anointing, which seems to have been usually omitted in times of order and of regular succession. He found the land full of trouble, but free from idolatry. Instead, however, of fol- lowing the excellent example of his father, Jeho- ahaz fell into the accustomed crimes of his pre- decessors ; and under the encouragements which his example or indifference offered, the idols soon re-appeared. It seems strange that in a time so short, and which must have been much occupied in arranging plans for resisting or pacifying the Egyptian king, he should have been able to de- serve the stigma which the sacred record has left upon his name. But there is no limit except in the greatness of the divine power to the activity of evil dispositions. The sway of Jehoahaz was terminated in three months, when Pharaoh Necho, on his victorious return from the Euphrates, thinking it politic to reject a king not nominated by himself, removed him from the throne, and set thereon his brother Jehoiakim. This reign was the shortest in the kingdom of Judah, al- JEHOIACHIN though in that of Israel there were several shorter. The deposed king was at first taken as a prisoner to Riblah in Syria ; but was eventually carried to Egypt, where he died (2 Kings xxiii. 30-35 ; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 1-4; 1 Chron. iii. 15 ; Jer. xxii. 10-12). The anointing of this king has drawn attention to the defect of his title as the reason for the ad dition of that solemn ceremony. It appears from 1 Chron. iii. 15 that Josiah had four sons, of whom Johanan is expressly said to have been ' the first-born.' But he seems to have died before his father, as we nowhere find his name historically mentioned, while those of the other brothers an familiar to us. If, therefore, he died childless and Jehoahaz were the next son, his claim would have been good. But he was not the next son. His name, as Shallum, occurs last of the four in 1 Chron. iii. 15; and from the historical notices in 2 Kings xxiii. and 1 Chron. xxxvi. we ascer- tain that when Josiah died the ages of the three surviving sons were, Eliakim (Jehoiakim) twenty- five years, Jehoahaz (Shallum) twenty-three years, Mattaniah (Zedekiah) teu years ; conse- quently Jehoahaz was preferred by the popular favour above his elder brother Jehoiakim, and the anointing, therefore, was doubtless intended to give to his imperfect claim the weight of that so- lemn ceremony. It was also probably suspected that, as actually took place, the Egyptian king would seek to annul a popular election unsanc- tioned by himself; but as the Egyptians anointed their own kings, and attached much importance to the ceremony, the possibility that he would hesitate more to remove an anointed than an un- anointed king might afford a further reason for the anointing of Jehoahaz [ANOINTING]. Jehoahaz is supposed to be the person who is designated under the emblem of a young lion carried in chains to Egypt (Ezek. xix. 3, 4). JEHO'ASH. [JOASH.] JEHOFACHIN (God-appointed), by contrac- tion JECONIAH and CONIAH, nineteenth king of Judah, and son of Jehoiakim. When his father was slain, B.C. 599. the king of Babylon allowed him, as the rightful heir, to succeed. He was then eighteen years of age, according to 2 Kings xxiv. 8 ; but only eight according to 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9. Many attempts have been made to reconcile these dates, the most usual solution being that he had reigned ten years in conjunc- tion with his father, so that he was eight when he began his joint reign, but eighteen when he began to reign alor.e. There are, however, difficulties in this view, which, perhaps, leave it the safest course to conclude that 'eight' in 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9, is a corruption of the text, such as might easily occur from the relation of the numbers eight and eighteen. Jehoiachin followed the evil courses which had already brought so much disaster upon the royal house of David, and upon the people under its sway. He seems to have very speedily indicated a political bias adverse to the interests of the Chaldccan empire ; for in three months after his accession we find the generals of Nebuchadnezzar again laying siege to Jerusalem, according to the predictions of Jeremiah (xxii. 18; xxiv. 30). Convinced of the futility of resistance, Jehoiachin went out and surrendered as soon as Nebuchad- nezzar arrived in person before the city. He JEHOIAKIM was sent away as a captive to Babylon, with his mother, his generals, and his troops, together with the artificers and other inhabitants of Jerusalem, to the number of ten thousand. Thus ended an unhappy reign of three months and ten days. If the Chaldsean king had then put an end to the show of a monarchy, and annexed the country to his own dominions, the event would probably have been less unhappy for the nation. But still adhering to his former policy, he placed on the throne Mattaniah, the only siu'viving son of Josiah, whose name he changed to Zedekiah (2 Kings xxiv. 1-16; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9, 10; Jer. xxix. 2 ; xxxvii. 1). Jehoiachin remained in prison at Babylon during the lifetime of Nebuchadnezzar: but when that prince died, his son, Evil-merodach, not only released him, but gave him an honour- able seat at his own table, with precedence over all the other dethroned kings who were kept at Babylon, and an allowance for the support of his rank (2 Kings xxv. 27-30; Jer. lii. 31-34). To what he owed this favour we are not told ; but the Jewish commentators allege that Evil-mero- dach had himself been put into prison by his father during the last year of his reign, and had there contracted an intimate friendship with ^he deposed king of Judah. The name of Jehoiachin re-appears to fix the epoch of several of the prophecies of Ezekiel (Ezek. i. 2), and of the deportation which ter- minated his reign (Esth. ii. vi.). In the genea- logy of Christ (Matt. i. 11) he is named as the ' son of Josias ' his uncle. JEHOPADA (God-known), high-priest in the times of Ahaziah and Athaliah. He is only known from the part which he took in recover- ing the throne of Judah for the young Joash, who had been, saved by his wife Jehoshebah from the massacre by which Athaliah sought to exterminate the royal line of David. The par- ticulars of this transaction are related under other heads [ATHALIAH; JOASH]. Jehoiada mani- fested much decision and forecast on this occa- sion ; and he used for good the great power which devolved upon him during the minority of the young king, and the influence which he con- tinued to enjoy as long as he lived. The value of this influence is shown by the misconduct and the disorders of the kingdom after his death. He died in B.C. 834, at the age of 130, and his remains were honoured with a place in the se- pulchre of the kings at Jerusalem (2 Kings xi. 12 ; 2 Chron. xxiii. xxiv.). JEHOI'AKIM (God-ettablished), originally ELIAKIM, second son of Josiah, and eighteenth king of Judah. On the death of his father the people raised to the throne his younger brother Jehoahaz; but three months after, when the Egyptian king returned from the Euphrates, he removed Jehoahaz, and gave the crown to the rightful heir, Eliakim, whose name he changed to Jehoiakim. This change of name often took place in similar circumstances ; and the altered name was in fact the badge of a tributary prince. Jehoiakim began to reign in B.C. 608, and reigned eleven years. He, of course, occupied the posi- tion of a vassal of the Egyptian empire, but how- ever heavy may have been the Egyptian yoke, Jehoiakim was destined to pass under one heavier still. JEHOIAKIM 453 In the third year of his reign, being besieged in Jerusalem, he was forced to submit to Nebu- chadnezzar, and was by his order laden with chains, with the intention of sending him captive to Babylon (2 Chron. xxxvi. C) ; but eventually the conqueror changed his mind and restored the crown to him. Mauy persons, however, of high family, and some even of the royal blood, were sent away to Babylon. Among these was Daniel, then a mere youth. A large proportion of the treasures and sacred vessels of the temple were also taken away and deposited in the idol- temple at Babylon (Dan. i. 1, 2). The year fol- lowing the Egyptians were defeated upon the Euphrates (Jer. xlvi. 2), and Jehoiakim, when he saw the remains of the defeated army pass by his territory, could not but perceive how vain had been that reliance upon Egypt against which he had been constantly cautioned by Jeremiah (Jer. xxxi. 1 ; xlv. 1). In the same year the prophet caused a collection of his prophecies to be written out by his faithful Baruch, and to be read publicly by him in the court of the temple. This coming to the knowledge of the king, he sent for it and had it read before him. But he heard not much of the bitter denunciations with which it was charged, before he took the roll from the reader, and after cutting it in pieces threw it into the brasier, which, it being winter, was burning before him in the hall. The counsel of God against him, however, stood sure ; a fresh roll was written, with the addition of a further and most awful denunciation against the king, occasioned by this foolish and sacrilegious act : ' He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David : and his dead body shall be cast.Out in the day to the heat and in the night to the frost ' (Jer. xxxvi.). All this, however, appears to have made little impression upon Jehoiakim, who still walked in his old paths. After three years of subjection, Jehoiakim, finding the king of Babylon fully engaged else- where, and deluded by the Egyptian party in his court, ventured to withhold his tribute, and thereby to throw otf the Chalda;an yoke. This step, taken contrary to the earnest remonstrances of Jeremiah, was the ruin of Jehoiakim. The land was ere long invaded by the armies of the Chaldseans, accompanied by a vast number of auxiliaries from the neighbouring countries, the Edomites, Moabites, and others, who were for the most part actuated by a fierce hatred against the Jewish name and nation. The events of the war are not related. Jerusalem was taken, or rather surrendered on terms, which Josephus alleges were little heeded by Nebuchadnezzar. It is certain that Jehoiakim was slain, but whether in one of the actions, or, as Josephus says, after the surrender, we cannot determine. His body remained exposed and unlamented without the city, under the circumstances foretold by the prophet ' He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem' (Jer. xxii. 18, 19 ; 1 Chron. iii. 15; 2 Kings xxiii. 34-37 ; xxiv. 1-7 ; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 4-8). It was not the object of Nebuchadnezzar to destroy altogether a power which, as tributary to him. formed a serviceable outpost towards Egypt, which seems to have been the great final object of all his designs in this quarter. He 454 JEHOSHAPHAT therefore still maintained the throne of Jndah, and placed on it Jehoiachin, the son of the late king. He, however, sent away another body, a second corps of the nobles and chief persons of the nation, three thousand in number, among whom was Ezekiel, afterwards called to prophesy in the land of his exile. JEHON'ADAB. [JONADAB.] JEHO'RAM (God-exalted), eldest son and successor of Jehoshaphat, and fifth king of Judah, who began to reign (separately) in B.C. 889, at the age of thirty-five years, and reigned five years. Jehoram was associated with his father in the later years of his reign, but he pro- fited little by this association. He had unhappily been married to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel ; and her influence seems to have neutralized all the good he might have derived from the example of his father. One of the first acts of his reign was to put his brothers to death and seize the valuable appanages which their father had in his lifetime bestowed upon them. After this we are not surprised to find him giving way to the gross idolatries of that new and strange kind the Phoenician which had been brought into Israel by Jezebel, and into Judah by her daughter Athaliah. For these atrocities the Lord let forth his anger against Jehoram and his kingdom. The Edomites revolted, and, ac- cording to old prophecies (Gen. xxvii. 40), shook off the yoke of Judah. The Philistines on one side, and the Arabians and Cushites on the other, also grew bold against a king forsaken of God, and in repeated invasions spoiled the land of all its substance ; they even ravaged the royal palaces, and took away the wives and children of the king, leaving him only one son, Ahaziah. Nor was this all ; Jehoram was in his last days afflicted with a frightful disease in his bowels, which, from the terms employed in describing it, appears to have been malignant dysentery in its most shocking and tormenting form. After a disgraceful reign, and a most painful death, public opinion inflicted the posthumous dishonour of refusing him a place in the sepulchre of kings. Jehoram was by far the most impious and cruel tyrant that had as yet occupied the throne of Judah, though he was rivalled or surpassed by some of his successors (2 Kings viii. 1G-24; 2 Chron. xxi.). 2. JEIIO'KAM, King of Israel. [JonAM.] JEHOSH'APHAT (God-judged}, the fourth king of Judah, and son of Asa, whom he succeeded in B.C. 914, at the age of thirty- five, and reigned twenty-five years. He commenced his reign by fortifying his kingdom against Israel ; and having thus secured Limself against surprise from the quarter which gave most disturbance to him, he proceeded to purge the land from the idolatries and idolatrous monuments by which it was still tainted. Even the high places and groves, which former well-disposed kings had suffered to remain, were by the zeal of Jehoshaphat in a great measure destroyed. The chiefs, with priests and Levites, proceeded from town to town, with the book of the law in their hands, instructing the people, and calling back their wandering affections to the religion of their fathers. This was a beautiful and interesting circumstance in the operations of the young king. Jehoshaphat was too well instructed in the JEHOSHAPHAT great principles of the theocracy not to know that his faithful conduct had entitled him to ex- pect the divine protection. Of that protection he soon had manifest proofs. At home he enjoyed peace and abundance, and abroad security and honour. His renown extended into the neigh- bouring nations, and the Philistines, as well as the adjoining Arabian tribes, paid him rich tributes in silver and in cattle. He was thus enabled to put all his towns in good condition, to erect fortresses, to organize a powerful army, and to raise his kingdom to a degree of import- ance and splendour which it had not enjoyed since the revolt of the ten tribes. The weak and impious Ahab at that time oc- cupied the throne of Israel ; and Jehoshaphat, having nothing to fear from his power, sought, or at least did not repel, an alliance with him. This is alleged to have been the grand mistake of his reign ; and that it was such is proved by the consequences. A few years after we find Jehoshaphat on a visit to Ahab, in Samaria, being the first time any of the kings of Israel and Judah had met in peace. He here experienced a reception worthy of his greatness ; but Ahab failed not to take advantage of the occasion, and so worked upon the weak points of his character as to prevail upon him to take arms with him against the Syrians, with whom hitherto the kingdom of Judah never had any war or occasion of quarrel. However, Jehoshaphat was not so far infatuated as to proceed to the war without consulting God. The false prophets of Ahab poured forth ample promises of success, and one of them, named Zedekiah, resorting to material symbols, made him horns of iron, saying, ' Thus saith the Lord, with these shalt thou smite the Syrians till they be consumed.' Still Jehoshaphat was not satis- fied; and the answer to his further inquiries extorted from him a rebuke of the reluctance which Ahab manifested to call Micah, ' the pro- phet of the Lord.' The fearless words of this prophet did not make the impression upon the king of Judah which might have been expected ; or probably he then felt himself too deeply bound in honour to recede. He went to the fatal battle of Ramoth-Gilead, and there nearly became the victim of a plan which Ahab had laid for his own safety at the expense of his too confiding ally. He persuaded Jehoshaphat to appear as king, while he himself went disguised to the battle. This brought the heat of the con- test around him, as the Syrians took him for Ahab ; and if they had not in time discovered their mistake, he would certainly have been slain. Ahab was killed, and the battle lost [AHAB] ; but Jehoshaphat escaped, and returned to Jerusalem. On his return from this imprudent expedition he was met by the just reproaches of the prophet Jehu. The best atonement he could make for this error was by the course he actually took. He resumed his labours in the further extirpation of idolatry, in the instruction of the people, and the improvement of his realm. He now made a tour of his kingdom in person, that he might see the ordinances of God duly established, and witness the due execution of his intentions re- specting the instruction of the people in the divine law. This tour enabled him to discern JEHOSHAPHAT many defects in the local administration of justice, which he then applied himself to remedy. He appointed magistrates in every city, for the de- termination of causes civil and ecclesiastical. Then he established a supreme council of justice at Jerusalem, composed of priests, Levites, and ' the chiefs of the fathers ;' to which difficult cases were referred, and appeals brought from the provincial tribunals. The activity of Jehoshaphat's mind was then turned towards the revival of that maritime commerce which had been established by Solo- mon. The land of Edom and the ports of the Elanitic Gulf were still under the power of Judah : and in them the king prepared a fleet for the voyage to Ophir. Unhappily, however, he yielded to the wish of the king of Israel, and allowed him to take part in the enterprise. For this the expedition was doomed of God, and the vessels were wrecked almost as soon as they quitted port. Instructed by Eliezer, the prophet, as to the cause of this disaster, Jehoshaphat equipped a new fleet, and having this time de- clined the co-operation of the king of Israel, the voyage prospered. The trade was not, however, prosecuted with any zeal, and was soon aban- doned [COMMERCE], In accounting for the disposition of Jehosha- phat to contract alliances with the king of Israel, we are to remember that there existed a powerful tie between the two courts in the marriage of Jehoshaphat's eldest son with Athaliah, the iaughter of Ahab ; and, when we advert to the part in public affairs which that princess after- wards took, it may well be conceived that even thus early she possessed an influence for evil in the court of Judah. After the death of Ahaziah, king of Israel, Joram, his successor, persuaded Jehoshaphat to join him in an expedition against Moab. This alliance was, however, on political grounds, more excusable than the two former, as the Moabites, who were under tribute to Israel, might draw into their cause the Edomites, who were tributary to Judah. Besides, Moab could be invaded with most advantage from the south, round by the end of the Dead Sea ; and the king of Israel could not gain access to them in that quarter but by marching through the territories of Jehoshaphat. The latter not only joined Joram with his own army, but required his tributary, the king of Edom, to bring his forces into the field. During seven days' march through the wilderness of Edom, the army suffered much from want of water ; and by the time the allies came in sight of the army of Moab, they were ready to perish from thirst. In this emergency the pious Jeho- shaphat thought, as usual, of consulting the Lord ; and hearing that the prophet Elisha was in the camp, the three kings proceeded to his tent. For the sake of Jehoshaphat, and for his sake only, deliverance was promised; and it came during the ensuing night, in the shape of an abundant supply of water, which rolled down the exhausted wadys, and filled the pools and hollow grounds. Afterwards Jehoshaphat took his full part in the operations of the campaign, till the armies were induced to withdraw in horror, by witnessing the dreadful act of Mesha, king of Moab, in offering up his eldest son in sacrifice upon the wall of the town in which he was shut up. JEHOVAH 455 This war kindled another much more dan- gerous to Jehoshaphat. The Moabites, being highly exasperated at the part he had taken against them, turned all their wrath upon him. They induced their kindred, the Ammonites, to join them, obtained auxiliaries from the Syrians, and even drew over the Edomites ; so that the strength of all the neighbouring nations may be said to have been united for this great enterprise. The allied forces entered the land of Judah and encamped at Engedi,near the western border of the Dead Sea. In this extremity Jeho- shaphat felt that all his defence lay with God. A solemn fast was held, and the people repaired from the towns to Jerusalem to seek help of the Lord. In the presence of the assembled mul- titude the king, in the court of the temple, offered up a fervent prayer to God. He^ceased ; and in the midst of the silence which ensued, a voice was raised pronouncing deliverance in the name of the Lord, and telling them to go out on the morrow to the cliffs overlooking the camp of the enemy, and see them all overthrown without a blow from them. The voice was that of Jaha- ziel, one of the Levites. His words came to pass. The allies quarrelled among themselves, and de- stroyed each other; so that when the Judahites came the next day they found their dreaded enemies all dead, and nothing was left for them but to take the rich spoils of the slain. This done, they returned with triumphal songs to Jerusalem. This great event was recognised even by the neighbouring nations as the act of God ; and so strong was the impression which it made upon them, that the remainder of the good king's reign was altogether undisturbed. His death, however, took place not very long after this, at the age of sixty, after having reigned twenty-five years, B.C. 896. He left the kingdom in a prosperous condition to his eldest son Je- horam, whom he had in the last years of his life associated with him in the government. JEHOSHAPHAT, VALLEY OF, the name now given to the valley which bounds Jerusalem on the East, and separates it from the Mount of Olives [JERUSALEM]. In Joel iii. 2, 12, we read, 'the Lord will gather all nations in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and plead with them there.' Many interpreters, Jewish and Christian, conclude from this that the last judgment is to take place in the above- mentioned valley. But there is no reason to sup- pose that the valley then bore any such name ; j and more discreet interpreters understand the text to denote a valley in which some great victory was to be won, most probably by Nebuchad- nezzar, which should utterly discomfit the ancient enemies of Israel, and resemble the victory which Jehoshaphat obtained over the Ammonites, Moab- ites, and Edomites (2 Chron. xx. 22--26). Others translate the name Jehoshaphat into God's judg- ment, and thus read, ' the valley of God's judg- ment,' which is doubtless symbolical, like ' the valley of decision,' i. e. of punishment, hi the same chapter. JEHOSH'EBA, daughter of Jehoram, sister of Ahaziah, and aunt of Joash, kings of Judah. The last of these owed his life to her, and his crown to her husband, the high-priest Jehoiada [JEHOIADA] . JEHO'VAH, or rather perhaps JAHVEH, the 456 JEHU name by which God was pleased to make himself known, under the covenant, to the ancient He- brews (Exod. vi. 2, 3). The import of this name has been considered under the head GOD. JE'HU (God t's), tenth king of Israel, and founder of its fourth dynasty, who began to reign in B.C. 884, and reigned twenty-eight years. Jehu held a command in the Israelite army posted at Ramoth-Gilead to hold in check the Syrians, who of late years had made strenuous efforts to extend their frontier to the Jordan, and had possessed themselves of much of the territory of the Israelites east of that river. Ahaziah, king of Judah, had taken part with Joram, king of Israel, in this war ; and as the latter had been severely wounded in a recent action, and had gone to Jezreel to be healed of his wounds, Aha- ziah had also gone thither on a visit of sympathy to him. In this state of affairs a council of war was held among the military commanders in camp, when very unexpectedly one of the disciples of the prophets, known for such by his garb, appeared at the door of the tent, and called forth Jehu, de- claring that he had a message to deliver to him. He had been sent by Elisha the prophet, in dis- charge of a duty which long before had been confided by the Lord to Elijah (1 Kings xix. 16), and from him had devolved on his successor. When they were alone the young man drew forth a horn of oil and poured it upon Jehu's head, with the words, ' Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel. And thou shall smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel' (2 Kings ix. 7, 8). Jehu returned to the council, probably with an altered air, for he was asked what had been the communication of the young prophet to him. He told them plainly ; and they were obviously ripe for defection from the house of Ahab, for immediately, taking him in triumph to ' the top of the stairs,' they spread their mantles beneath his feet, and proclaimed him king by sound of trumpet in the presence of all the troops. Jehu was not a man to lose any advantage through remissness. He immediately entered his chariot, in order that his presence at Jezreel should be the first announcement which Joram could receive of this revolution. As soon as the advance of Jehu and his party was seen in the distance by the watchmen upon the palace-tower in Jezreel, two messengers were successively sent forth to meet him, and were commanded by Jehu to follow in his rear. But ' when the watchman reported that he could now recognise the furious driving of Jehu, Joram went forth himself to meet him, and was accom- panied by the king of Judah. They met in the field of Naboth, so fatal to the house of Ahab. The king saluted him with ' Is it peace, Jehu ?' and received the answer, ' What peace, so long as the whoredoms (idolatries) of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?' This com- pletely opened the eyes of Joram, who exclaimed to the king of Judah, ' There is treachery, O Ahaziah !' and turned to flee. But Jehu imme- diately drew a bow with his full strength and sent forth an arrow which passed through the JEHU king's heart. He then caused the body to be thrown back into the field of Naboth, out of which he had passed in his attempt at flight. The king of Judah contrived to escape, but not without a wound, of which he afterwards died at Megiddo [AHAZIAH]. Jehu then entered the city, whither the news of this transaction had already preceded him. As he passed under the walls of the palace Jezebel herself, studiously arrayed for effect, np- peared at one of the windows, and saluted him with a question such as might have shaken a man of weaker nerves, ' Had Zimri peace, who slew his master ?' But Jehu was unmoved, and instead of answering her, called out, ' Who is on my side, who ?' when several eunuchs made their appear- ance at the window, to whom he cried, ' Throw her down!' and immediately this proud and guilty woman lay a blood-stained corpse in the road, and was trodden under foot by the horses [JEZEBEL]. Jehu then went in and took pos- session of the palace. He was now master of Jezreel, which was, next to Samaria, the chief town of the kingdom ; but he could not feel secure while the capital itself was in the hands of the royal family, and of those who might be supposed to feel strong attachment to the house of Ahab. The force of the blow which he had struck was, however, felt even in Samaria. When therefore he wrote to the persons in authority there the somewhat ironical but de- signedly intimidating counsel, to set up one of the young princes in Samaria as king and fight out the matter which lay between them, they sent a very submissive answer, giving in their adhesion, and professing their readiness to obey in all things his commands. A second letter from Jehu tested this profession in a truly horrid and exceedingly Oriental manner, requiring them to appear before him on the morrow, bringing with them the heads of all the royal princes in Samaria. A fallen house meets with little pity in the East ; and when the new king left his palace the next morning, he found seventy human heads piled up in two heaps at his gate. There, in the sight of these heaps, Jehu took occasion to explain his conduct, de- claring that he must be regarded as the appointed minister of the divine decrees, pronounced long since against the house of Ahab by the prophets, not one of whose words should fall to the ground. He then continued his proscriptions by extermi- nating in Jezreel not only all in whose veins the blood of the condemned race flowed, but also by a considerable stretch of his commission those officers, ministers, and creatures of the late govern- ment, who, if suffered to live, would most likely be disturbers of his own reign. He then proceeded to Samaria. So rapid had been these proceedings that he met some of the nephews of the king of Judah, who were going to join their uncle at Jezreel, and had as yet heard nothing of the revolution which had taken place. These also perished under Jehu's now fully-awakened thirst for blood, to the number of forty-two persons. On the way he took up into his chariot the pious Jehonadab the Recbabite, whose austere virtue and respected character would, as he felt, go far to hallow his proceedings in the eyes of the multitude. At Samaria he continued the extirpation of the persons more intimately con- nected with the late government. This, far from being in any way singular, is a common circum- JEPHTHAH stance in Eastern revolutions. But the great object of Jehu was to exterminate the ministers and more devoted adherents of Baal, who had been much encouraged by Jezebel. There was even a temple to this idol in Samaria ; and Jehu, never scrupulous about the means of reaching objects which he believed to be good, laid a snare by which he hoped to cut off the main body of Baal's ministers at one blow. He professed to be a more zealous servant of Baal than Ahab hat! been, and proclaimed a great festival in his honour, at which none but his true servants were to be present. The prophets, priests, and officers of Baal assembled from all parts for this great sacriiice, and sacerdotal vestments were given to them, that none of Jehovah's worshippers might be taken for them. When the temple was full, soldiers were posted so that none might escape ; and so soon as the sacrifice had been offered, the word was given by the king, the soldiers entered the temple, and put all the worshippers to the sword. The temple itself was then demolished, the images overthrown, and the site turned into a common Jakes. Notwithstanding this zeal of Jehu in extermi- nating the grosser idolatries which had grown up under his immediate predecessors, he was not prepared to subvert the policy which had led Jeroboam and his successors to maintain the schismatic establishment of the golden calves in Dan and Beth-el. Here Jehu fell short: and this very policy, apparently so prudent and far- sighted, by which he hoped to secure the stability and independence of his kingdom, was that on account of which the term of rule granted to his dynasty was shorted. For this, it was foretold that his dynasty should extend only to four gene- rations ; and for this, the divine aid was withheld from him in his wars with the Syrians under Hazael on the eastern frontier. Hence the war was disastrous to him, and the Syrians were able to maintain themselves in the possession of a great part of his territories beyond the Jordan. He died in B.C. 856, and was buried in Samaria, leaving the throne to his son Jehoahaz. 2. JEHU, son of Hanani, a prophet, who was sent to pronounce upon Baasha, king of Israel, and his house, the same awful doom which had been already executed upon the house of Jero- boam (1 Kings xvi. 1-7). The same prophet was, many years after, commissioned to reprove Jeho- shaphat for his dangerous connection with the hotis of Ahab (2 Chron. xix. 2). JEPH'THAH (opener'], ninth judge of Israel, of the tribe of Manasseh. He was the son of a person named Gilead by a concubine. After the death of his father he was expelled from his home by the envy of his brothers, who refused him any share of the heritage, and he withdrew to the land of Tob, beyond the frontier of the Hebrew territories. It is clear that he had before this distinguished himself by his daring character and skill in arms ; for no sooner was his with- dravrment known than a great number of men of desperate fortunes repaired to him, and he be- came their chief. His position was now very similar to that of David when he withdrew from the court of Saul. To maintain the people who bad thus linked their fortunes with his, there was no other resource than that sort of brigandage which is accounted honourable in the East, so JEPHTHAH 457 long as it is exercised against public or private enemies, and is not marked by needless cruelty or outrage. Jephthah led this kind of life for some years, during which his dashing exploits and successful enterprises procured him a higher military reputa- tion than any other man of his time enjoyed. After the death of Jair the Israelites gradually fell into their favourite idolatries, and were punished by subjection to the Philistines on the west of the Jordan, and to the Ammonites on the east of that river. The oppression which they sustained for eighteen years became at length so heavy that they recovered their senses and re- turned to the God of their fathers with humi- liation and tears ; and he was appeased, and pro- mised them deliverance from their affliction (B.C. 1143). The tribes beyond the Jordan having resolved to oppose the Ammonites, Jephthah seems to occur to every one as the most tilting leader. A deputation was accordingly sent to invite him to take the command. After some demur, on ac- count of the treatment he had formerly, received, he consented. The rude hero commenced his operations with a degree of diplomatic considera- tion and dignity for which we are not prepared. The Ammonites being assembled in force for one of those ravaging incursions by which they had repeatedly desolated the land, he sent to their camp a formal complaint of the invasion, and a demand of the ground of their proceeding. Their answer was, that the land of the Israelites beyond the Jordan was theirs. It had originally be- longed to them, from whom it had been taken by the Amorites, who had been dispossessed by the Israelites : and on this ground they claimed the restitution of these lands. Jephthah's reply laid down the just principle which has been fol- lowed out in the practice of civilized nations, and is maintained by all the great writers on the law of nations. The land belonged to the Israelites by right of conquest from the actual possessors ; and they could not be expected to recognise any antecedent claim of former possessors, for whom they had not acted, who had rendered them no assistance, and who had themselves displayed hostility against the Israelites. But the Ammon- ites re-asserted their former views, and on this issue they took the field. When Jephthah set forth against the Ammon- ites he solemnly vowed to the Lord, ' If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into my hands, then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Am- mon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.' He was victorious. The Ammonites sustained a terrible overthrow. He did return in peace to his house in Mizpeh. As he drew nigh his house, the one that came forth to meet him was his own daughter, his only child, in whom his heart was bound up. She, with her fair companions, came to greet the tri- umphant hero ' with timbrels and with dances.' But he no sooner saw her than he rent his robes, and cried, 'Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low ; . . . for 1 have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and cannot go back.' Nor did she ask it. She replied, ' My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me ac- 453 JEPHTHAH cording to that which has proceeded out of thj mouth ; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken ven geance for thee of thine enemies, the children o Ammou.' But after a pause she added, 'Le this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and fellows.' Her father of course assented ; anc when the time expired she returned, and, we are told, ' he did with her according to his vow.' Ii is then added that it became ' a custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite three days in the year.' The victory over the Ammonites was followed by a quarrel with the proud and powerfu" Ephraimites on the west of the Jordan. This tribe was displeased at having had no share in the glory of the recent victory, and a large body ol men belonging to it, who had crossed the river to share in the action, used very high and threatening language when they found their services were nol required. Jephthah, finding his remonstrances had no effect, re-assembled some of his disbanded troops and gave the Ephraimites battle, when they were defeated with much loss. The victors seized the fords of the Jordan, and when any one came to pass over, they made him pronounce the word Shibboleth [an ear of corn], but if he could not give the aspiration, and pronounced the word as Sibboleth, they knew him for an Ephraimite, and slew him on the spot. Jephthah judged Israel six years, during which we have reason to conclude that the exercise of his authority was almost if not altogether con- fined to the country east of the Jordan. Volumes have been written on the subject of ' Jephthah's rash vow ; ' the question being whether, in doing to his daughter ' according to his vow,' he really did offer her in sacrifice or not. The negative has been stoutly maintained by many able pens, from a natural anxiety to clear the character of one of the heroes in Israel from so dark a stain. But the more the plain rules of common sense have been exercised in our view of biblical transactions, and the better we have suc- ceeded in realizing a distinct idea of the times in which Jephthah lived and of the position which he occupied, the less reluctance there has been to admit the interpretation which the first view of the passage suggests to every reader, which is, that he really did offer her in sacrifice. The ex- planation which denies this maintains that she was rather doomed to perpetual celibacy ; but to live unmarried was required by no law, custom, or devotement among the Jews : no one had a right to impose so odious a condition on another, nor is any such condition implied or expressed in the vow which Jephthah uttered. The Jewish commentators themselves generally admit that Jephthah really sacrificed his daughter ; and even go so far as to allege that the change in the pon- tifical dynasty from the house of Eleazar to that of Ithamar was caused by the high-priest of the time having suffered this transaction to take place. _ It is very true that human sacrifices were for- bidden by the law. But in the rude and unsettled age in which the judges lived, when the Israelites had adopted a vast number of erroneous notions and practices from their heathen neighbours, many JEREMIAH things were done, even by good men, which the law forbade quite as positively as human sacrifice. Again, Jephthah vows that whatsoever came forth from the door of his house to meet him 'shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering,' which, in fact, was the re- gular way of making a thing wholly the Lord's. Afterwards we are told that ' he did with her ac- cording to his vow,' that is, according to the plain meaning of plain words, offered her for a burnt- offering. Then follows the intimation that the daughters of Israel lamented her four days every year. People lament the dead, not the living. The whole story is consistent and intelligible, while the sacrifice is understood to have actually taken place ; but becomes perplexed and difficult as soon as we begin to turn aside from this obvious meaning in search of recondite explanations. Professor Bush, in his elaborate note on the text, maintains with us that a human sacrifice was all along contemplated. But he suggests that during the two months Jephthah might have obtained better information respecting the nature of vows, by which he would have learned that his daughter could not be legally offered, but might be redeemed at a valuation (Lev. xxvii. 2-12). This is possible, and is much more likely than the popular alternative of perpetual celi- bacy ; but we have serious doubts whether even this meets the conclusion that ' he did with her according to his vow.' Besides, in this case, where was the ground for the annual ' lamenta- tions ' of the daughters of Israel, or even for the ' celebrations' which some understand the word to mean ? JEREMl'AH (raised up or appointed by God), was the son of Hilkiah, a priest of Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin [ANATHOTH]. Jeremiah was very young when the word of the Lord first came to him (ch. i. G). This event took place in the thirteenth year of Josiah (B.C. 629), whilst the youthful prophet still lived at Anathoth. It would seem that he remained in his native city several years, but at length, in order to escape the persecution of his fellow townsmen (ch. xi. 21), and even of his own family (ch. xii. C), as well as to have a wider field for his exertions, he left Anathoth and took up his residence at Jeru- salem. The finding of the book of the law five years after the commencement of his predictions, must have produced a powerful influence on the mind of Jeremiah, and king Josiah no doubt found him a powerful ally in carrying into effect the reformation of religious worship (2 Kings xxiii. 1-25). During the reign of this monarch we may readily believe that Jeremiah would be in no way molested in his work ; and that from the time of his quitting Anathoth to the eighteenth year of his ministry, he probably uttered his warnings without interruption, though with little success (see ch. xi.). Indeed, the reformation tself was nothing more than the forcible repres- sion of idolatrous and heathen rites, and the re- establishment of the external service of God, by the command of the king. No sooner, therefore, was the influence of the court on behalf of the rue religion withdrawn, than it was evident that no real improvement had taken place in the minds of the people. Jeremiah, who hitherto was at least protected by the influence of the pious dng Josiah, soon became the object of attack, as JEREMIAH lie must, doubtless have long been the object of dislike to those whose interests were identified with the corruptions of religion. We hear nothing of the prophet during the three months which constituted the short reign of Jehoahaz ; but ' in the beginning of the -reign of Jehoiakim ' the prophet was interrupted in his ministry by ' the priests and the prophets,' who with the populace brought him before the civil authorities, urging that capital punishment should be inflicted on him for his threatenings of evil on the city unless the people amended their ways (ch. xxvi.). The princes seem to have been in some degree aware of the results which the general corruption was bringing on the state, and if they did not them- selves yield to the exhortations of the prophet, they acknowledged that he spoke in the name of the Lord, and were quite averse from so openly renouncing His authority as to put His mes- senger to death. It appears, however, that it was rather owing to the personal influence of one or two, especially Ahikam, than to any general feeling favourable to Jeremiah, that his life was preserved. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim (B.C. 606) he was commanded to write the pre- dictions which had been given through him, and to read them to the people. As he was at that time ' shut up,' and could not himself go into the house of the Lord (ch. xxxvi. 5), he deputed Baruch to write the predictions after him, and to read them publicly on the fast-day. These threatenings being thus anew made public, Baruch was summoned before the princes to give an account of the manner in which the roll con- taining them had come into his possession. The princes, who, without strength of principle to oppose the wickedness of the king, had sufficient respect for religion, as well as sagacity enough to discern the importance of listening to the voice of God's prophet, advised both Baruch and Jeremiah to conceal themselves, whilst they en- deavoured to influence the mind of the king by reading the roll to him. The result showed that their precautions were not needless. The bold self-will and reckless daring of the monarch re- fused to listen to any advice, even though coming with the professed sanction of the Most High. Having read three or four leaves, ' he cut the roll with the penknife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed,' and gave immediate orders for the apprehension of Jeremiah and Baruch, who, however, were both preserved from the vin- dictive monarch. Of the history of Jeremiah during the eight or nine remaining years of the reign of Jehoiakim we have no certain account. At the command of God he procured another j roll, in which he wrote all that was in the roll ; destroyed by the king, ' and added besides unto them many like words ' (ch. xxxvi. 32). In the ' short reign of his successor Jehoiachin or Jeco- ! niah, we find him still uttering his voice of warn- ing (see ch. xiii. 18 ; comp. 2 Kings xxiv. 12, ; and ch. xxiii. 24-30), though without effect. It ! was probably either during this reign, or at the ; commencement of the reign of Zedekiah, that he I was put in confinement by Pashur, the ' chiel i governor of the house of the Lord.' He seems, however, soon to have been liberated, as we find that ' they had not put him into prison ' when tiie army of Nebuchadnezzar commenced the siege JEREMIAH 459 of Jerusalem. The Chaldacans drew off their army for a time, on the report of help coming ! From Egypt to the besieged city ; and now feel- ' ing the danger to be imminent, and yet a ray of hope brightening their prospects, the king en- j treated Jeremiah to pray to the Lord for them. The hopes of the king were not responded to in , the message whicli Jeremiah received from God. j He was assured that the Egyptian army should return to their own land, that the Chaldseans should come again, and that they should take the city and burn it with fire (ch. xxxvi. 7, 8). The princes, apparently irritated by a message so con- trary- to their wishes, made the departure of Jeremiah from the city, during the short respite, the pretext for accusing him of deserting to the Chaldaans, and he was forthwith cast into prison. The king seems to have been throughout inclined to favour the prophet, and sought to know from him the word of the Lord ; but he was wholly under the influence of the princes, and dared not communicate with him except in secret (ch. xxxviii. 14, 28); much less could he follow advice so obnoxious to their views as that which the prophet gave. Jeremiah, therefore, more from the hostility of the princes than the in- clination of the king, was still in confinement when the city was taken. Nebuchadnezzar formed a more just estimate of his character and of the value of his counsels, and gave a special charge to his captain Nebuzar-adan, not only to provide for him but to follow his advice (ch. xxxix. 12). He was accordingly taken from the prison and allowed free choice either to go to Babylon, where doubtless he would have been held in honour in the royal court, or to remain with his own people. We need scarcely be told that he who had devoted more than forty years of unrequited service to the welfare of his fall- ing country should choose to remain with the remnant of his people rather than seek the pre- carious fame which might await him at the court of the king of Babylon. Accordingly he went to Mizpah with Gedaliah, whom the Babylonian monarch had appointed governor of Judaea ; and after his murder sought to persuade Johanan, who was then the recognised leader of the people, to remain in the land, assuring him and the people, by a message from God in answer to their inquiries, that if they did so the Lord would build them up, but if they went to Egypt the evils which they sought to escape should come upon them there (ch. xlii.). The people refused to attend to the divine message, and under the command of Johanan went into Egypt, taking Jeremiah and Baruch along with them (ch. xliii. 6). In Egypt the prophet still sought to turn the people to the Lord, from whom they had so long and so deeply revolted (ch. xliv.) ; but his writings give us no subsequent information re- specting his personal history. Ancient traditions assert that he spent the remainder of his life in Egypt. According to the pseudo-Epiphanius he was stoned by the people at Taphnse, the same as Tahpanhes, where the Jews were settled. It is said that his bones were removed by Alexander the Great to Alexandria. Jeremiah was contemporary with Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Ezekiel, and Daniel. None of these, however, are in any remarkable way connected with him, except Ezekiel. The writings and 460 JERICHO character of these two eminent prophets furnish many very interesting points both of comparison aad contrast. Both, during a long series of years, were labouring at the same time and for the same object. The representations of both, far separated as they were from each other, are in substance singularly accordant; yet there is at the same time a marked difference in their modes of statement, and a still more striking diversity in the character and natural disposition of the two. No one who compares them can fail to perceive that the mind of Jeremiah was of a softer and more delicate texture than that of his illustrious contemporary. His whole history con- vinces us that he was by nature mild and retiring, highly susceptible and sensitive, especially to sorrowful emotions, and rather inclined, as we should imagine, to shrink from danger than to brave it. Yet, with this acute perception of in- jury, and natural repugnance from being ' a man of strife,' he never in the least degree shrinks from publicity ; nor is he at all intimidated by reproach or insult, or even by actual punishment and threatened death, when he has the message of God to deliver. He is, in truth, as remark- able an instance, though in a different way, of the overpowering influence of the divine energy, as Ezekiel. The one presents the spectacle of the power of divine inspiration acting on a mind naturally of the firmest texture, and at once sub- duing to itself every element of the soul ; whilst the other furnishes an example, not less memo- rable, of moral courage sustained by the same divine inspiration against the constantly opposing influence of a love of retirement and strong sus- ceptibility to impressions of outward evil. The style of Jeremiah corresponds with this view of the character of his mind ; though not deficient in power, it is peculiarly marked by pathos. He delights in the expression of the tender emotions, and employs all the resources of his imagination to excite corresponding feelings in his readers. He ha* an irresistible sympathy with the miserable, which finds utterance in the most touching descriptions of their condition. He seizes with wonderful tact those circum- stances which point out the objects of his pity as the objects of sympathy, and founds his ex- postulations on the miseries which are thus exhi- bited. His book of Lamentations is an astonishing exhibition of his power to accumulate images of sorrow. The whole series of elegies has but one object the expression of sorrow for the forlorn condition of his country ; and yet he presents this to us in so many lights, alludes to it by so many figures, that not only are his mournful strains not felt to be tedious reiterations, but the reader is captivated by the plaintive melancholy which pervades the whole. The genuineness and canonicity of the writings of Jeremiah in general are established both by the testimony of ancient writers, and by quota- tions and references which occur in the New Testament. The principal predictions relating to the Mes- siah are found in ch. xxiii. 1-8; xxx. 31-40; xxxiii. 14-26. JER'ICHO, a town in the plain of the same name, not far from the river Jordan, at the point where it enters the Dead Sea. It lay before the Israelites when they crossed the river, on first JERICHO entering the Promised Land ; and the account which the spies who were sent by them into the city received from their hostess Rahab, tended much to encourage their subsequent operations, as it showed that the inhabitants of the country were greatly alarmed at their advance, and the signal miracles which had marked their course from the Nile to the Jordan. The strange manner in which Jericho itself was taken must have strengthened this impression in the country, and appears, indeed, to have been designed for that effect. The town was utterly destroyed by the Israelites, who pronounced an awful curse upon whoever should rebuild it; and all the inhabitants were put to the sword, except Rahab and her family (Josh. ii. 6). In these accounts Jericho is repeatedly called ' the city of palm-trees ;' which shows that the hot and dry plain, so similar to the land of Egypt, was noted beyond other parts of Palestine for the tree which abounds in that country, but which was and is less common in the land of Canaan than general readers and painters suppose. It has now almost disappeared even from the plain of Jericho, although specimens remain in the plain of the Mediterranean coast. Notwithstanding the curse, Jericho was soon rebuilt [HIEL], and became a school of the pro- phets (Judg. iii. 13; 1 Kings xvi. 34; 2 Kings ii. 4, 5). Its inhabitants returned after the exile, and it was eventually fortified by the Syrian general Bacchides (Ezra ii. 34; Neh. iii. 2; 1 Mace. ix. 50). Pompey marched from Scytho- polis, along the valley of the Jordan, to Jericho, and thence to Jerusalem ; and Strabo speaks of the castles Thrax and Taurus, in or near Jericho, as having been destroyed by him. Herod the Great, in the beginning of his career, captured and sacked Jericho, but afterwards strengthened and adorned it, when he had redeemed its revenues from Cleopatra, on whom the plain had been be- stowed by Antony. He appears to have often resided here, probably in winter : he built over the city a fortress called Cypros, between which and the former palace he erected other palaces, and called them by the names of his friends. Here also was a hippodrome or circus, in which the same tyrant, when lying at Jericho on his death-bed, caused the nobles of the land to be shut up, for massacre after his death. He died here ; but his bloody intention was not executed. The palace at this place was afterwards rebuilt more magnificently by Archelaus. By this it will be seen that the Jericho which existed in the time of our Saviour was a great and important city pro- bably more so than it had ever been since its foundation. It was once visited by him, when he lodged with Zaccheus, and healed the blind man (Luke xviii. 35-43 ; xix. 1-7 ; Matt. xx. 29-34 ; Mark x. 46-52). Jericho was afterwards made the head of one of the toparchies, and was visited by Vespasian before he left the country, who stationed there the tenth legion in garrison. Eu- sebius and Jerome describe Jericho as having been destroyed during the siege of Jerusalem, on account of the perfidy of the inhabitants, but add that it was afterwards rebuilt. The town, how- ever, appears to have been overthrown during the Mohammedan conquest ; for Adamnanus, at the close of the seventh century, describes the site as without human habitations, and covered with corn and vines. The celebrated palm-groves JKK1CHO still existed. In the next century a church is mentioned; and in the ninth century several monasteries appear. -About the same time the plain of Jericho is again noticed for its fertility and peculiar products ; and it appears to have been brought under cultivation by the Saracens, for the sake of the sugar and other products for which the soil and climate were more suitable than any other in Palestine. Ruins of extensive aqueducts, with pointed Saracenic arches, remain in evidence of the elaborate irrigation and culture of this fine plain which is nothing without water, and everything with it at a period long subse- quent to the occupation of the country by the Jews. It is to this age that we may probably refer the origin of the castle and village, which have since been regarded as representing Jericho. The place has been mentioned by travellers and JERICHO 4G1 pilgrims down to the present time as a poor ham- let consisting of a few houses. In the fifteenth century the square castle or tower began to pass among pilgrims as the house of Zaceheus, a title which it bears to the present day. ^ The village now regarded as representing Je- richo is supposed to date its origin from the ninth century, It bears the name of Rihah, and is situated about the middle of the plain, six miles west from the Jordan, in N. lat. 31 57', and E. long. 35 33'. Dr. Olin describes the present village as ' the meanest and foulest of Palestine.' It may perhaps contain forty dwellings, formed of small loose stones. The most important object is a square castle or tower, which Dr. Robinson supposes to have been constructed to protect the cultivation of the plain under the Saracens. It is thirty or fortv feet square, and about the 221. [Jericho.] same height, and is now in a dilapidated con- dition. Rihah may contain about two hundred inha- bitants, who have a sickly aspect, and are reckoned vicious and indolent. They keep a few cattle and sheep, and till a little land for grain as well as for gardens. A small degree of industry and skill bestowed on this prolific soil, favoured as it is with abundant water for irrigation, would amply reward the labour. But this is wanting ; and everything bears the mark of abject, and, which is unusual in the East, of squalid poverty. There are some fine fig-trees near the village, and some vines in the gardens. But the most distinguishing feature of the whole plain is a noble grove of trees which borders the village on the west, and stretches away northward to the distance of two miles or more. This grove owes its existence to the waters of one of the fountains, the careful distribution of which over the plain by canals and aqueduits did once, and might still, cover it with abund- ance. One of these fountains is called by the natives Ain es-Sultan, but by pilgrims the Fountain of Elias, being supposed to be the same whose bitter waters were cured by that prophet. Dr. Robinson thinks there is reason for this conclusion. It lies almost two miles N.W. from the village, and is a large and beau- tiful fountain of sweet and pleasant waters. Be- yond the fountain rises up the bold perpendicular face of the mountain Quarantana (Kuruntul), from the foot of which a line of low hills runs out N.N.E. in front of the mountains, and forms the ascent to a narrow tract of table-land along their base. On this tract, at the foot of the mountains, about two and a half miles N.N.W. I from the Ain es-Sultan, is the still larger fountain ! of Duk, the waters of which are brought along the base of Quarantana in a canal to the top of 4G2 JEROBOAM the declivity at the back of Am es-Sultan, whence they were formerly distributed to several mills, and scattered over the upper part of the plain. Under the mountains on the western confine of the plain, about two miles west of Rihah, and just where the road from Jerusalem comes down into the plain, are considerable ruins, extending both on the north and south side of the road. Mr. Buckingham was the first to suspect that these were the ruins of the ancient Jericho. He shows that the situation agrees better with the ancient intimations than does that of the modern Tillage,- near which no trace of ancient ruins can be found. Since this idea was started the matter has been examined by other travellers ; and the conclusion seems to be that Rihah is certainly not the ancient Jericho, and that there is no site of ancient ruins on the plain which so well answers to the intimations as that now de- scribed ; although even here some drawback to a satisfactory conclusion is felt, in the absence of any traces of those great buildings which be- longed to the Jericho of king Herod. JEROBO'AM, son of Nebat, and first king of Israel, who became king B.C. 975, and reigned 22 years. He was of the tribe of Ephraim, the son of a widow named Zeruiah, when he was noticed by Solomon as a clever and active young man, and was appointed one of the superintendents of the works which that magnificent king was carrying on at Jerusalem. This appointment, the reward of his merits, might have satisfied his ambition had not the declaration of the prophet Ahijah given him higher hopes. When informed that, by the divine appointment, he was to become king over the ten tribes about to be rent from the house of David, he was not contend to wait pa- tiently for the death of Solomon, but began to form plots and conspiracies, the discovery of which constrained him to flee to Egypt to escape condign punishment. The king of that country was but too ready to encourage one whose success must necessarily weaken the kingdom which had become great and formidable under David and Solomon, and which had already pushed its fron- tier to the Red Sea (1 Kings xi. 2(>-40). When Solomon died, the ten tribes sent to call Jeroboam from Egypt ; and he appears to have headed the deputation which came before the son of Solomon with a demand of new securities for xthe rights which the measures of the late king had compromised. It may somewhat excuse the harsh answer of Rehoboam, that the demand was ; urged by a body of men headed by one whose pretensions were so well known and so odious to the house of David. The imprudent answer of Rehoboam rendered a revolution inevitable, and Jeroboam was then called to reign over the ten tribes, by the style of 'king of Israel' (1 Kings xii. 1-20). The general course of his conduct on the throne has already been indicated in the article ISRAEL, and need not be repeated in this place. The leading object of his policy was to widen the breach between the two kingdoms, and to rend asuudi-r those common interests among all the descendants of Jacob, which it was one great object of the law to combine and interlace. To this end he scrupled not to sacrifice the most JEROBOAM sacred and inviolable interests and obligations of the covenant people, by forbidding his subjects to resort to the one temple an'd altar of Jehovah at Jerusalem, and by establishing shrines at Dan and Beth-el the extremities of his kingdom where ' golden calves ' were set up as the symbols of Jehovah, to which the people were enjoined to resort aud bring their offerings. The pontificate of the new establishment he united to his crown, in imitation of the Egyptian kings. He was officiating in that capacity at Beth-el, offering incense, when a prophet appeared, and in the name of the Lord announced a coming time, as yet far off, in which a king of the house of David, Josiah by name, should burn upon that unholy altar the bones of its ministers. He was then preparing to verify, by a commissioned prodigy, the truth of the oracle he bad delivered, when the king attempted to arrest him, but was smitten with palsy in the arm he stretched forth. At the same moment the threatened prodigy took place, the altar was rent asunder, and the ashes strewed far around. This measure had, however, no abiding effect. The policy on which he acted lay too deep in what he deemed the vital interests of his separate kingdom, to be even thus aban- doned : and the force of the considerations which determined his conduct may in part be appre- ciated from the fact that no subsequent king of Israel, however well disposed in other respects, ever ventured to lay a finger on this schismatical establishment. Hence ' the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, wherewith he sinned and made Israel to sin,' became a standing phrase in de- scribing that iniquity from which no king of Israel departed (1 Kings xii. 25-33 ; xiii.). The contumacy of Jeroboam eventually brought upon him the doom which he probably dreaded beyond all others the speedy extinction of the dynasty which he had taken so much pains and incurred so much guilt to establish on firm foundations. His son Abijah being sick, he sent his wife disguised to consult the prophet Ahijah, who had predicted that he should be king of Israel. The prophet, although he had become blind with age, knew the queen, and saluted her with ' Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam, for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.' These were not merely that the son should die for that was intended in mercy to one who alone, of all the house of Jeroboam, had remained faithful to his God, and was the only one who should obtain an honoured grave but that his race should be violently and utterly extinguished: 'I will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone ' (1 Kings xiv. 1-18). The son died so soon as the mother crossed the threshold on her return ; and as the death of Jeroboam himself is the next event recorded, it would seem that he did not long survive his son. He died in B.C. 954 (1 Kings xiv. 20). Jeroboam was perhaps a less remarkable man than the circumstance of his being the founder of a new kingdom might lead us to expect. The tribes would have revolted without him ; and he was chosen king merely because he had been pointed out by previous circumstances. His government exhibits but one idea that of raising a barrier against the re-union of the tribes. Of this idea he was the slave and victim ; and JERUSALEM although the barrier which he raised was effec- tual for its purpose, it only served to show the weakness of the man who could deem needful the protection for his separate interests which such a barrier offered. 2. JEROBOAM, thirteenth king of Israel, son of Joash, -whom, in B.C. 824, he succeeded on the throne, and reigned forty-one years. He followed the example of the first Jeroboam in keeping up the idolatry of the golden calves. Nevertheless the Lord had pity upon Israel, the time of its ruin was not yet come, and this reign was long and flourishing. Jeroboam brought to a success- ful result the wars which his father had under- taken, and was always victorious over the Syrians. He even took their chief cities of Damascus and Eiamath, which had formerly been subject to the sceptre of David, and restored to the realm of [srael the ancient eastern limits from Lebanon to JERUSALEM 463 the Dead Sea. He died in B.C. 783 (2 Kings xiii 13 ; xiv. 16, 2.3-29). The Scriptural account of this reign is too short to enable us to judge of the character of a prince under whom the kingdom of Israel seems to have reached a degree of prosperity which it had never before enjoyed, and was not able long to preserve. JERUB'-BAAL. [GIDEON.] JERU'SALEM (habitation of peace), the Jewish capital of Palestine. It is mentioned very early in Scripture, being usually supposed to be the Salem of which Melchlzedek was king. The Psalmist says (Ixxvi. 2) : > In Salem is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in Sion.' The mountain of the land of Moriah, which Abraham (Gen. xxii. 2) reached on the third day from Beersheba, there to ofl'er Isaac, is, ac- cording to Josephus, the mountain on which . [Jerusalem.] Solomon afterwards built the temple (2 Chron. iii. 1). The name Jerusalem first occurs in Josh. x. 1, where Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, is men- tioned as having entered into an alliance with other kings against Joshua, by whom they were all overcome (comp. Josh. xii. 10). In drawing the northern border of Judah, we find Jerusalem again mentioned (Josh. xv. 8 ; comp. Josh, xviii. 16). This border ran through the valley of Ben Hinnom ; the country on the south of it, as Bethlehem, belonged to Judah ; but the mountain of Zion, forming the northern wall of the valley, and occupied by the Jebusites, appertained to Benjamin. Among the cities of Benjamin, therefore, is also mentioned (Josh, xviii. 28) 'Jebus, which is Jerusalem' (comp. Judg. xix. 10; 1 Chron. xi. 4). After the death of Joshua, when there remained for the children of Israel much to conquer in Canaan, the Lord directed Judah to fight agains* the Canaanites; and they took Jerusalem, smote it with the edge of the sword, and set it on fire (Judg. i. 1-8). After that, the Judahites and the Benjamites dwelt with the Jebusites at Jerusa lem ; for it is recorded (Josh. xv. 63) that the children of Judah could not drive out the Jebus- ites inhabiting Jerusalem ; and we are further informed (Judg. i. 21) that the children of Ben- jamin did not expel them from Jerusalem. Pro- bably the Jebusites were removed by Judah only from the lower city, but kept possession of the mountain of Zion, which David conquered at a later period. Jerusalem is not again mentioned till the time of Saul, when it is stated (1 Sam. xvii. 54) that David took the head of Goliath and brought it to Jerusalem. After David, who had previously reigned over Judah alone iu Hebron, 464 JERUSALEM was called to rule over all Israel, he led his forces against the Jebusites, and conquered the castle of Zion, which Joab first scaled (2 Sam. v. 5-9 ; 1 Chron. xii. 4-8). He then fixed his abode on this mountain, and called it ' the city of David.' Thither he carried the ark of the covenant and there he built unto the Lord an altar in the threshing-floor of Arauuah the Je- busite, on the place where the angel stood who threatened Jerusalem with pestilence (2 Sam. xxiv. 15-25). The reasons which led David to fix upon Je- rusalem as the metropolis of his kingdom have been alluded to elsewhere [ISRAEL ; JUDJB] ; being chiefly, that it was in his own tribe of Judah, in which his influence was the strongest, while it was the nearest to the other tribes of any site he could have chosen in Judah. The pe- culiar strength also of the situation, enclosed on three sides by a natural trench of valleys, could not be without weight. The promise made to David received its ac- complishment when Solomon built his temple upon Mount Moriah. By him and his father Je- rusalem had been made the imperial residence of the king of all Israel : and the temple, often called 'the house of Jehovah,' constituted it at the same time the residence of the King of kings, the supreme head of the theocratical state, whose vicegerents the human kings were taught to re- gard themselves. It now belonged, even less than a town of the Levites, to a'particular tribe : it was the centre of all civil and religious affairs, the very place of which Moses spoke, Dent, xii. 5 : ' The place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come ' (comp. ix. 6 ; xiii. 14 ; xiv. 23; xvi. 11-16; Ps. cxxii.). The importance and splendour of Jerusalem were considerably lessened after the death of Solomon ; under whose son, Rehoboam, ten of the tribes rebelled, Judah and Benjamin only re- maining in their allegiance. Jerusalem was then only the capital of the very small state of Judah. And when Jeroboam instituted the worship of golden calves in Beth-el and Dan, the ten tribes went no longer up to Jerusalem to worship and sacrifice in the house of the Lord (1 Kings xii. 26-30). After this time the history of Jerusalem is continued in the history of Judah, for which the second book of the Kings and of the Chronicles are the principal sources of information. After the time of Solomon, the kingdom of Judah was almost alternately ruled by good kings, ' who did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,' and by such as were idolatrous and evil disposed ; and the reign of the same king often varied, and was by turns good or evil. The condition of the kingdom, and of Jerusalem in particular as its metropolis, was very much af- fected by these mutations. Under good kings the city flourished, and under bad kings it suffered greatly. Under Rehoboam (B.C. 973) it was conquered by Shishak, king of Egypt, who pil- laged the treasures of the temple (2 Chron. xii. 9). Under Amaziah it was taken by Jehoash, king of Israel, who broke down 400 cubits of the wall of the city, and took all the gold and silver, JERUSALEM and all the vessels that were found in the temple (2 Kings xiv. 13, 14). Uzziah, sou of Amaziab, who at first reigned well, built towers in Jeru- salem at the corner-gate, at the valley-gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them (2 Chron. xxvi. 9). His son, Jotham, built the high gate of the temple, and reared up many other structures (2 Chron. xxvii. 3, 4). Hezekiah (B.C. 728) added to the other honours of his reign that of an improver of Jerusalem. His most eminent work in that character was the stopping of the upper course of Gihon, and bringing its waters by a subterraneous aqueduct to the west side of the city (2 Chron. xxxii. 30). This work is inferred, from 2 Kings xx., to have been of great importance to Jerusalem, as it cut off a supply of water from any besieging enemy, and bestowed it upon the inhabitants of the city. Hezekiah's son, Manasseh, in his later and best years, built a strong and very high wall on the west side of Jerusalem (2 Chron. xxxiii. 14). The works in the city connected with the names of the succeeding kings of Judah were, so far as recorded, confined to the defilement of the house of the Lord by bad kings, and its purgation by good kings, till about 100 years after Manasseh, when, for the abounding iniquities of the nation, the city and temple were abandoned to destruc- tion. After a siege of three years, Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, who razed its walls, and destroyed its temple and palaces with fire (2 Kings xxv. ; 2 Chron. xxxvi. ; Jer. xxxix.). Thus was Jerusalem smitten with the calamity which Moses had prophesied would befal it, if the people would not keep the commandments of the Lord, but broke his covenant (Lev. xxvi. 1 4 ; Deut. xxviii.). But God, before whom a thousand years are as one day, gave to the afflicted people a glimpse beyond the present calamity and retributive judg- ment, into a distant futurity. The same prophets who foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, also announced the consolations of a coming time. Moses had long before predicted that if in the land of their captivity they repented of their evil, they should be brought back again to the land out of which they had been cast (Deut. xxx. 1-5 ; comp. 1 Kings viii. 4C-53 ; Neh. i. 8, 9). The Lord also, through Isaiah, condescended to point out the agency through which the restora- tion of the holy city was to be accomplished, and even named long before his birth the very person, Cyrus, under whose orders this was to be effected (Isa. xliv. 28 ; comp. Jer. iii. 2, 7, 8 ; xxiii. 3 ; xxxi. 10 ; xxxii. 36, 37). Among the remarkably precise indications should be mentioned that in which Jeremiah (xxv. 9, 12) limits the duration of Judah's cap- tivity to 70 years. These encouragements were continued through the prophets, who themselves shared the cap- tivity. Of this number was Daniel (ix.'16, 19), who lived to see the reign of Cyrus, king of Persia (Dan. x. I), and the fulfilment of his prayer. It was in the year B.C. 53G, ' in the first year of Cyrus,' that in accomplishment of the prophecy of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of this prince, who made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, expressed in these remarkable words : ' The Lord God of heaven JERUSALEM hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jeru- salem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people ? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, and build the hpuse of the Lord God of Israel' (Ezra i. 2, 3). This important call was answered by a considerable number of persons, particularly priests and Le- vites ; and the many who declined to quit their houses and possessions in Babylonia, committed valuable gifts to the hands of their more zealous brethren. Cyrus also caused the sacred vessels of gold and silver which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple to be restored to Shesh- bazzar, the prince of Judah, who took them to Jerusalem, followed by 42,360 people, beside their servants, of whom there were 7337 (Ezra 1. 5-11). On their arrival at Jerusalem they contributed according to their ability to rebuild the temple ; Jeshua, the priest, and Zerubbabel, reared up an altar to offer burnt-offerings thereon ; and when in the following year the foundation was laid of the new house of God, ' the people shouted for joy, but many of the Levites who had seen the first temple wept with a loud voice ' (Ezra iii. 2, 12). When the Samaritans expressed a wish to share in the pious labour, Zerubbabel declined the offer ; and in revenge the Samaritans sent a deputation to king Artaxerxes of Persia, carrying a presentment in which Jerusalem was described as a rebellious city of old time, which, if re- built, and its walls set up again, would not pay toll, tribute, and custom, and would thus enda- mage the public revenue. The deputation suc- ceeded, and Artaxerxes ordered that the building of the temple should cease. The interruption thus caused lasted to the second year of the reign of Darius (Ezra iv. 24), when Zerubbabel and Jeshua, supported by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, again resumed the work, and would not cease, though cautioned by the Persian go- vernor of Judaea. On the matter coming before Darius Hystaspis, and the Jews reminding him of the permission given by Cyrus, he decided in their favour, and also ordered that the expenses of the work should be defrayed out of the public revenue (Ezra vi. 8). In the sixth year of the reign of Darius the temple was finished, when they kept the Feast of Dedication with great joy, and" next celebrated the Passover (Ezra vi. 1 5, 16, 19). Afterwards, in the seventh year of the second Artaxerxes ; Ezra, a descendant of Aaron, came up to Jerusalem, accompanied by a large number of Jews who had remained in Babylon. He was highly patronised by the king, who not only made him a large present in gold and silver, but published a decree enjoining all treasurers of Judsea speedily to do whatever Ezra should require of them ; allowing him to collect money throughout the whole province of Babylon for the wants of the temple at Jerusalem ; and also giving him full power to appoint magistrates in his country to judge the people (Ezra vii. viii.). At a later period, in the twentieth year of king Artaxerxes, Nehemiah, who was his cupbearer, obtained permission to proceed to Jerusalem, and to complete the rebuilding of the city and its wall, 'which he happily accomplished, despite of a^l the opposition which he received from the enemies of Israel (Neh. i. ii. iv. vi.). The city JERUSALEM 465 was then capacious and large, but the people in ' it were few, and many houses lay still in ruins ! (Neh. vii. 4). At Jerusalem dwelt the rulers of j the people and ' certain of the children of Judah i and of the children of Benjamin ;' but it was now determined that the rest of the people should cast lots to bring one of ten to the capital (Neh. xi. 1-4). All strangers, Samaritans, Ammonites, Moabites, &c., were removed, to keep the chosen people from pollution ; ministers were appointed to the temple, and the service was performed ac- cording to the law of Moses (Ezrax. ; Neh. viii. x. xii. xiii.). Of the Jerusalem thus by such great and long-continued exertions restored, very splendid prophecies were uttered by those pro- phets who flourished after the exile : the general purport of which was to describe the temple and city as destined to be glorified far beyond the former, by the advent of the long and eagerly expected Messiah, ' the desire of all nations ' (Zech. ix. 9; xii. 10; xiii. 3; Hagg. ii. 6, 7; Mai. iii. 11). Thus far the Old Testament has been our guide in the notices of Jerusalem. For what follows, down to its destruction by the Romans, we must draw chiefly upon Josephus, and the books of the Maccabees. The difficulty here, as before, is to separate what properly belongs to Jerusalem from that which belongs to the country at large. For as Jerusalem was invariably af- fected by whatever movement took place in the country of which it was the capital, its history might be made, and often has been made, the history of Palestine. It is. said by Josephus, that, when the do- minion of this part of the world passed from the Persians to the Greeks, Alexander the Great ad- vanced against Jerusalem to punish it for the ! fidelity to the Persians which it had manifested i while he was engaged in the siege of Tyre, j His hostile purposes, however, were averted by j the appearance of the high-priest Jaddua at the head of a train of priests in their sacred vest- ; ments. Alexander recognised in him the figure ; which in a dream had encouraged him to under- take the conquest of Asia. He therefore treated him with respect and reverence, spared the city against which his wrath had been kindled, and granted to the Jews high and important privi- leges. The historian adds that the high-priest failed not to apprise the conqueror of those pro- phecies in Daniel by which his successes ha^ been predicted. The whole of this story is, how- ever, liable to suspicion, from the absence of any notice of the circumstance in the histories of this campaign which we possess. After the death of Alexander at Babylon (B.C. 324), Ptolemy surprised Jerusalem an the Sabbath-day, when the Jews would sot fight, plundered the city, and carried away a great number of the inhabitants to Egypt, where, how- ever, from the estimation in which- the Jews of this period were held as citizens, important pri- vileges were bestowed upon them. In the contests which afterwards followed for the pos- session of Syria (including Palestine), Jerusalem does not appear to have been directly injured, and was even spared when Ptolemy gave up Samaria, Acco, Joppa, and Gaza to pillage. The contest was ended by the treaty in B.C. 302, which annexed the whole of Palestine, together 466 JERUSALEM with Arabia Petrsca and Geek-Syria, to Egypt. Under easy subjection to the Ptolemies the Jews remained in much tranquillity for more than a hundred years, in which the principal incident, as regards Jerusalem itself, was the visit which was paid to it, in u.c 245, by Ptolemy Euergetes, on his return from his victories in the East. He offered many sacrifices, and made magnificent presents tu the temple. In the wars between Antiochus the Great and the kings of Egypt, from B.C. 221 to 197, Judaea could not fail to suffer severely ; but we are not acquainted with any incident in which Jerusalem was principally concerned till the alleged visit of Ptolemy Phi- lopator in B.C. 211. He offered sacrifices, and gave rich gifts to the temple, but, venturing to enter the sanctuary, in spite of the remonstrances of the high-priest, he was seized with a super- natural dread, and fled in terror from the place. It is said that on his return to Egypt he vented his rage on the Jews of Alexandria in a very barbarous manner [ALEXANDRIA]. But the whole slory of his visit and its results rests upon the sole authority of the third book of Maccabees (chaps, i. and ii.), and is therefore not entitled to implicit credit. Towards the end of this war the Jews seemed to favour the cause of Antiochus; and after he had subdued the neighbouring country, they voluntarily tendered their submis- sion, and rendered their assistance in expelling the Egyptian garrison from Mount Zion. For this conduct they were rewarded by many im- portant privileges by Antiochus. Under their new masters the Jews enjoyed for a time nearly as much tranquillity as under the generally benign and liberal government of the Ptolemies. But in B.C. 176, Seleucus Philopator, hearing that great treasures were hoarded up in the temple, and being distressed for money to carry on his wars, sent his treasurer, Heliodorus, to bring away these treasures. But this per- sonage is reported to have been so frightened and stricken by an apparition that he relinquished the attempt ; and Seleucus left the Jews in the undisturbed enjoyment of their rights. His brother and successor, Antiochus Epiphanes, how- ever, was of another mind. He took up the design of reducing them to a conformity of manners and religion with other nations ; or, in other words, of abolishing those distinctive fea- tures which made the Jews a peculiar people, socially separated from all others. This design was odious to the great body of the people, although there were many among the higher classes who regarded it with favour. Of this way of thinking was Menelaus, whom Antiochus had made a high-priest, and who was expelled ' by the orthodox Jews with ignominy, in B.C. 1159, when they heard the joyful news that An- tiochus had been slain in Egypt. The rumour proved untrue, and Antiochus on his return punished them by plundering and profaning the temple. Worse evils befel them two years after: for Antiochus, out of humour at being compelled .by the Romans to abandon his designs upon Egypt, sent his chief collector of tribute, Apol- louius, with a detachment of 22,000 men, to vent : his rage on Jerusalem. This person plundered the city, and razed its walls, with the stones of which he built a citadel that commanded the temple mount A statue of Jupiter was set up JERUSALEM in the temple ; the peculiar observances of the Jewish law were abolished ; and a persecution was commenced against all who adheied to these observances, and refused to sacrifice to idols. Jerusalem was deserted by priests and people, and the daily sacrifice at the altar was entirely discontinued. This led to the celebrated revolt of the Mac- cabees, who, after an arduous and sanguinary struggle, obtained possession of Jerusalem (B.C. 163), and repaired and purified the temple, which was then dilapidated and deserted. The sacri- fices were then recommenced, exactly three years after the temple had been dedicated to Jupiter Olympius. The castle, however, remained in the hands of the Syrians, and long proved a sore annoyance to the Jews; but at length, in B.C. 142, it was taken by Simon Maccabaeus, who demolished it altogether, that it might not again be used against the Jews by their enemies. Simon then strengthened the fortifications of the mountain on which the temple stood, and built there a palace for himself, which was strengthened and enlarged by Herod the Great, who called it the castle of Antonia, under which name it makes a conspicuous figure in the Jewish wars with the Romans. Of Jerusalem itself we find nothing of conse- quence till it was taken by Pompey in the summer of B.C. 63, and on the very day observed by the Jews as one of lamentation and fasting, in commemoration of the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Twelve thousand Jews were massacred in the temple courts, including many priests, who died at the very altar rather than suspend the sacred rites. On this occasion Pompey, attended by his generals, went into the temple and viewed the sanctuary ; but he left un- touched all its treasures and sacred things, while the walls of the city itself were demolished. From this time the Jews are to be considered as under the dominion of the Romans. The trea- sures which Pompey had spared were seized a few years after (B.C. 51) by Crassus. In the year B.C. 43, the walls of the city, which Pompey had demolished, were rebuilt by Antipater, the father of that Herod the Great under whom Jerusalem was destined to assume the new and more magnificent aspect which it bore in the time of Christ, and which constituted the Jeru- salem which Josephus describes. The temple itself was taken down and rebuilt by Herod the Great, with a magnificence exceeding that of Solomon's (Mark xiii. 1 ; John ii. 20 ; see TEMPLE). It was in the courts of the temple as thus rebuilt, and in the streets of the city as thus improved, that the Saviour of men walked up and down. Here he taught, here he wrought miracles, here he suffered; and this was the temple whose ' goodly stones ' the apostle ad- mired (Mark xiii. 1), and of which he foretold that ere the existing generation had passed away not one stone should be left upon another. Jerusalem seems to have been raised to this greatness, as if to enhance the misery of its over- throw. So soon as the Jews had set the seal to their formal rejection of Christ, by putting him to death, and invoking the responsibility of his blood upon the heads of themselves and of their children (Matt, xxvii. 25), its doom went forth. After having been the scene of horrors without JERUSALEM example, it -was, in A.D. 70, abandoned to the Romans, who razed the city and temple to the ground, leaving only three of the towers and a part of the western wall to show how strong a place the Roman arms had overthrown. Since then the holy city has lain at the mercy of the Gentiles, and will so remain ' until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.' MODERN HISTORY. The destruction of Jeru- salem by the Romans did not cause the site to be utterly forsaken : but for a considerable period there is no mention of it in history. Up to A.D. 131 the Jews remained tolerably quiet. The then emperor, Adrian, among other measures of precaution, ordered Jerusalem to be rebuilt as a fortified place wherewith to keep in check the whole Jewish population. The works had made some progress, when the Jews, unable to endure the idea that their holy city should be occupied fey foreigners, and that strange gods should be set up within it, broke out into open rebellion under the notorious Barchochebas, who claimed to be the Messiah. His success was at first very great ; bat he was crushed before the tremendous power of the Romans, so soon as it could be brought to bear upon him : and a war scarcely inferior in horror to that under Vespasian and Titus was, like it, brought to a close by the capture of Jerusalem, of which the Jews had ob- tained possession. This was in A.D. 135, from which period the final dispersion of the Jews has been often dated. The Romans then finished the city according to their first intention. It was made a Roman colony, inhabited wholly by foreigners, the Jews being forbidden to approach it on pain of death: a temple to Jupiter Capito- linus was erected on Mount Moriah, and the old name of Jerusalem was sought to be supplanted by that of JE\\a. Capitolina, conferred upon it in honour of the emperor.^ ^Elius Adrianus, and Jupiter Capitolinus. This name was retained for some time by the Mohammedans ; and it was not till after they recovered the city from the Crusaders that it became generally known among them by the name of El-Khuds the holy which it still bears. From the rebuilding by Adrian the history of Jerusalem is almost a blank till the time of Con- stantine, when its history, as a place of extreme solicitude and interest to the Christian church, properly begins. Pilgrimages to the Holy City now became common and popular. Such a pil- grimage was undertaken in A.D. 326 by the em- peror's mother Helena, then in the 80th year of her age, who built churches on the alleged site of the nativity at Bethlehem, and of the resurrec- tion on the Mount of Olives. This example may probably have excited her son to the discovery of the site of the holy sepulchre, and to the erection of a church thereon. He removed the temple of Venus, with which, in studied insult, the site had been encumbered. The holy sepulchre was (hen purified, and a magnificent church was, by his order, built over and around the sacred spot. This temple was completed and dedicated with great solemnity in A.D. 335. There is no doubt that the spot thus singled out is the same which has ever since been regarded as the place in which Christ was entombed ; but the correctness of the identification then made has been of late years much disputed. JERUSALEM 467 By Constantino the edict, excluding the Jews from the city of their fathers' sepulchres, was so far repealed" that they were allowed to enter it once a-year to wail over the desolation of ' the holy and beautiful house ' in which their fathers worshipped God. When the nephew of Constan- tine, the Emperor Julian, abandoned Christianity for the old Paganism, he endeavoured, as a matter of policy, to conciliate the Jews. He allowed them free access to the city, and permitted them to rebuild their temple. They accordingly began to lay the foundations in A.D. 3(12 ; but the speedy death of the emperor probably occasioned that abandonment of the attempt which contemporary writers ascribe to supernatural hindetances. The edicts seem then to have teen renewed which ex- cluded the Jews from the city, except on the day of annual wailing. In the following centuries the roads to Zion were thronged with pilgrims from all parts of Christendom. After much struggle of conflicting dignities, the ' holy city ' was, in A.D. 451, &- clared a patriarchate by the council of Chal- cedon. In the next century it found a second Constantine in Justinian, who ascended the throne A.D. 527. He repaired and enriched the former structures, and built upon Mount Moriah a mag- nificent church to the Virgin, as a memorial of the persecution of Jesus in the temple. In A.D. 614 the Persians took it by storm, and slew thousands of the inhabitants, and inflicted much injury on the buildin.es. Their inroad was speedily repaired. But in A.D. 636 it fell into the hands of a more for- midable enemy, the Khalif Omar. By his orders the magnificent mosque which still bears his name was huilt upon Mount Moriah, upon the site of the Jewish temple. Jerusalem remained in possession of the Ara- bians, and was occasionally visited by Christian pilgrims from Europe, till towards the year 1COO, when a general belief that the second coming of the Saviour was near at hand drew pilgrims in unwonted crowds to the Holy Land. The sight, by such large numbers, of the holy place in the hands of infidels, the exaction of tribute by the Moslem government, and the insults to which the pilgrims, often of the highest rank, were exposed from the Moslem rabble, excited an ex- traordinary ferment in Europe, and led to those remarkable expeditions for recovering the Holy Sepulchre from the Mohammedans, which, under the name of the Crusades, will always fill a most important and curious chapter in the history of the world. On the 17th of June, 1099, the Crusaders, under Godfrey of Bouillon, appeared before Jerusalem, which was at that time in possession of the Fatemite khalifs of Egypt. A fter a siege of forty days the holy city was taken by storm on the 15th day of July ; and a dreadful massacre of the Moslem inhabitants fol- lowed, without distinction of age or sex. As soon as order was restored, and the city cleared of the dead, a regular government was established by the election of Godfrey as king of Jerusalem. The Christians kept possession of Jerusalem eighty -eight years. During this long period they appear to have erected several churches and many convents. Of the latter few, if any, traces remain ; and of the former, save one or two ruins, a H 2 4C8 JERUSALEM the church of the holy sepulchre, -which they re- built, is the only memorial which attests the 1 existence of the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem. In A.D. 1187 the holy city was wrested from the hands of the Christians by the Sultan Saladin. From that time to the present day Jerusalem has remained, with slight interruption, in the hands of the Moslems. On the threatened siege ; by Richard of England in 1192, Saladin took ; great pains in strengthening its defences. New i walls and bulwarks were erected, and deep trenches cut, and in six months the town was stronger than it ever had been, and the works had the firmness and solidity of a rock. But in j A.D. 1219 the Sultan Melek el-Moaddin of Da- ; ;nascus, who then had possession of Jerusalem, ordered all the walls and towers to be demolished, except the citadel and the enclosure of the mosque, lest the Franks should again become ' masters of the city and find it a place of strength. In this defenceless state Jerusalem continued till it was delivered over to the Christians in conse- quence of a treaty with the emperor Frederick II., in A.D. 1229, with the understanding that the walls should not be rebuilt. Yet ten years later (A.D. 1239) the barons and knights of Jerusalem began to build the walls anew, and to erect a strong fortress on the west of the city. But the works were interrupted by the emir David of Kerek, who seized the city, strangled the Chris- tian inhabitants, and cast down the newly erected walls and fortress. Four years after, however (A.D. 1243), Jerusalem was again made over to the Christians without any restriction, and the works appear to have been restored and com- pleted ; for they are mentioned as existing when the city was stormed by the wild Kharismian hordes in the following year ; shortly after which the city reverted for the last time into the hands of its Mohammedan masters, who have kept it to the present day. From this time Jerusalem appears to have sunk I very much in political and military importance ; i and it is scarcely named in the history of the Memluk sultans who reigned over Egypt and the greater part of Syria in the fourteenth and fif- teenth centuries. At length, with the rest of Syria and Egypt, it passed under the sway of the Turkish sultan Selim I., who paid a hasty visit to the holy land from Damascus after his return from Egypt. From that time Jerusalem has t'ormed a part of the Ottoman empire, and during this period has been subject to few vicissitudes ; its history is accordingly barren of incident. The present walls of the city were erected by Suleiman the Magnificent, the successor of Selim, in A.D. 1542, as is attested by an inscription over the Jaffa gate. So lately as A.D. 1808, the church of the holy sepulchre was partially consumed by fire; but the damage was repaired with great labour and expense by September, 1810, and the traveller now finds in this imposing fabric no traces of the recent calamity. In A.D. 1832 Jerusalem became subject to Mohammed Ali, the pasha of Egypt, the holy city opening its gates to him without a siege. During the great insurrection in the districts of Jerusalem and Nabulus, in 1834, the insurgents seized upon Jerusalem, and held possession of it for a time ; but by the vigorous operations of the government, order was soon restored, and the city JERUSALEM reverted quietly to its allegiance on the approach of Ibrahim Pasha with his troops. In 1841 Mohammed Ali was deprived of all his Syrian possessions by European interference, and Jeru- salem was again subjected to the Turkish govern- ment, under which it now remains. It is not, perhaps, the happier for the change. The only subsequent event of interest has been the esta- blishment of a Protestant bishopric at Jerusalem by the English and Prussian governments, and the erection upon Mount Zioii of a church, cal- culated to hold 500 persons, for the celebration of divine worship according to the ritual of the English church. GENERAL TOPOGRAPHY. Jerusalem lies near the summit of a broad mountain-ridge, extending, without interruption, from the plain of Esdraelon to a line drawn between the south end of the Dead Sea and the south-east corner of the Medi- terranean ; or, more properly, perhaps, it may be regarded as extending as far south as to Jebel Araif in the Desert, where it sinks down at once to the level of the great western plateau. This tract, which is everywhere not less than from 20 to 25 geographical miles in breadth, forms the precipitous western wall of the great valley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, and is every- where rocky, uneven, and mountainous ; and is, moreover, cut up by deep valleys which run east or west on either side towards the Jordan or the Mediterranean. The line of division, or water- shed, between the waters of these valleys, follows for the most part the height of land along the ridge ; yet not so but that the heads of the valleys, which run off in different directions, often inter- lap for a considerable distance. Thus, for ex- ample, a valley which descends to the Jordan often has its head a mile or two westward of the commencement of other valleys which run to the western sea. From the great plain of Esdraelon onwards toward the south, the mountainous country rises gradually, forming the tract anciently known as the mountains of Ephraim and Judah ; until, in the vicinity of Hebron, it attains an elevation of nearly 30UO Paris feet above the level of the Me- diterranean Sea. Further north, on a line drawn from the north end of the Dead Sea towards the true west, the ridge has an elevation of only about 2500 Paris feet ; and here, close upon the water- shed, lies the city of Jerusalem. Its mean geo- graphical position is in lat. 31 46' 43" N., and long. 35 IS' E. from Greenwich. The surface of the elevated promontory, on which the city stands, slopes somewhat steeply towards the east, terminating on the brink of the valley of Jehoshaphat. From the northern part, near the present Damascus gate, a depression or shallow wady runs in a southern direction, having on the west the ancient hills of Akra and Zion, and on the east the lower ones of Bezetha and Moriah. Between the hills of Akra and Zion another depression or shallow wady (still easy to be traced) comes down from near the Jaffa gate, and joins the former. It then con- tinues obliquely down the slope, but with a deeper bed, in a southern direction, quite to the pool of Siloam and the valley of Jehoshaphat. This is the ancient Tyropo3on. West of its lower part Zion rises loftily, lying mostly with- out the modern city ; while on the east of the JERUSALEM Tyropceon and the valley first mentioned lie Bezetha, Moriah, and Ophel, the last a long and comparatively narrow ridge, also outside of the modern city, and terminating in a rocky point over the pool of Siloam. These three last hills may strictly be taken as only parts of one and the same ridge. The breadth of the whole site of Jerusalem, from the brow of the valley of Hinnom, near the Jaffa gate, to the brink of the valley of Jehoshaphat, is about 1020 yards, or nearly half a geographical mile. The country around Jerusalem is all of lime- stone formation, and not particularly fertile. The rocks everywhere come out above the surface, which in many parts is also thickly strewed with loose stones ; and the aspect of the whole region is barren and dreary ; yet the olive thrives here abundantly, and fields of grain are seen in the valleys and level places, but they are less pro- ductive than in the region of Hebron and Na- bulus. Neither vineyards nor fig-trees flourish on the high ground around the city, though the latter are found in the gardens below Siloam, and very frequently in the vicinity of Bethlehem. ANCIENT JERUSALEM. Every reader of Scrip- ture feels a natural anxiety to form some notion of the appearance and condition of Jerusalem, as it existed in the time of Jesus, or rather as it stood before its destruction by the Romans. There are unusual difficulties in the way of satisfying this desire, although it need not be left altogether ungratified. The principal sources of these difficulties have been indicated by different travellers, and by none more forcibly than by Richardson ( Travels, ii. 251). ' It is a tantalizing circumstance, however, for the traveller who wishes to recognise in his walks the site of par- ticular buildings, or the scenes of memorable events, that the greater part of the objects men- tioned in the description, both of the inspired and of the Jewish historian, are entirely razed from their foundation, without leaving a single trace or name behind to point out where they stood. Not an ancient tower, or gate, or wall, or hardly even a stone, remains. The foundations are not only broken up, but every fragment of which they were composed is swept away, and the spec- tator looks upon the bare rock with hardly a sprinkling of earth to point out her gardens of pleasure, or groves of idolatrous devotion.' To the difficulties originating in these causes may be added those which arise from the many ambiguities in the description left by Josephus, the only one which we possess, and which must form the ground-work of most of our notices respecting the ancient city. There are indeed some manifest errors in his account, which the critical reader is able to detect without having the means to rectify. In describing Jerusalem as it stood just before its destruction by the Romans, Josephus states that the city was built upon two hills, between which lay the valley TyropO3on (Cheesemonger's Valley), to which the buildings on both hills came down. This valley extended to the fountain of Siloam. The hill on which the upper town stood was much higher than the other, and straighter in its extent. On account of its forti- fications, David called it the Fortress or Castle ; but in the time of Josephus it was known by the name of the Upper Market. The other hill, on JERUSALEM 469 which was situated the lower town, was called Akra. It was in the form of a horseshoe or crescent. Opposite to Akra was a third, and naturally lower hill (Moriah), on which the temple was built; and between this and Akra was originally a broad valley, which the inha- bitants of Jerusalem filled up in the time of Simon Maccabeus for the purpose of connecting the town with the temple. At the same time they lowered the hill Akra, so as to make the temple rise above it. Both the hills on which the upper and lower towns stood were externally surrounded by deep valleys, and here there was no approach because of the precipices on every side. The single wall which enclosed that part of the city skirted by precipitous valleys began at the tower of Hippicus. On the west it extended (southward) to a place called Bethso, and the gate of the Essenes ; thence it kept along on the south to a point over against Siloam ; and thence on the east was carried along by Solomon's Pool and Ophla (Ophel), till it terminated at the eastern portico of the temple. Of the triple walls, we are told that the first and oldest of these began at the tower of Hippicus, on the northern part, and, extending (along the northern brow of Zion) to the Xystus, afterwards ter- minated at the western portico of the temple. The second wall began at the gate of Gennath (apparently near Hippicus), and, encircling only the northern part of the city, extended to the castle of Autonia at the north-west corner of the area of the temple. The third wall was built by Agrippa at a later period : it also had its begin- ning at the tower of Hippicus, ran northward as far as the tower Psephinos ; and thence sweeping round towards the north-east by east, it turned afterwards towards the south, and was joined to the ancient wall at or in the valley of the Kidron. This wall enclosed the hill Bezetha. From other passages we learn that the Xystus, named in the above descriptions, was an open place in the extreme part of the upper city, where the people sometimes assembled, and that a bridge connected it with the temple. Dr. Robinson, in comparing the information derived from Josephus with his own more de- tailed account, declares that the main features depicted by the Jewish historian may still be recognised. ' True,' he says, ' the valley of the Tyropceon, and that between Akra and Moriah, have been greatly filled up with the rubbish ac- cumulated from the repeated desolations of nearly eighteen centuries. Yet they are still distinctly to be traced : the hills of Zion, Akra, Moriah, and Bezetha, are not to be mistaken ; while the deep valleys of the Kidron, and of Hinnom, and the Mount of Olives, are permanent natural features, too prominent and gigantic indeed to be forgotten, or to undergo any perceptible change.' The details embraced in this general notice must be more particularly examined in connec- tion with modern observations ; for it is to be remembered that the chief or only value of these observations consists in the light which thev throw on the ancient condition and history of the site. The first or most ancient wall appears to have enclosed the whole of Mount Zion. The greater part of it, therefore, must have formed the ex- 470 JERUSALEM tenor and sole -wall on the south, overlooking the deep valleys below Mount Zion ; and the northern part evidently passed from the tower of Hippicus on the west side, along the northern brow of Zion, and across the valley, to the western side of the temple area. It probably nearly coincided with the ancient wall which existed before the time of David, and which enabled the Jebusites to maintain themselves in possession of the upper city, long after the lower city had been in the hands of the Israelites. Mount Zion is now unwalled, and is excluded from the modern city. No trace of this wall can now. be perceived, but by digging through the rubbish the foundations might perhaps be dis- covered. The account given by Josephs, of the second wall, is very short and unsatisfactory. It seems to have enclosed the whole of the lower city, or Akra, excepting that part of the eastern side of it which fronted the Temple area on Mount Moriah, and the southern side, towards the valley which separated the lower from the upper city. In short, it was a continuation of the external wall, so far as necessary, on the west and north, and on so much of the east as was not already protected by the strong wall of the Temple area. Although these were the only walls that ex- isted in the time of our Saviour, we are not to infer that the habitable city was confined within their limits. On the contrary, it was because the city had extended northward far beyond the second wall that a third was built to cover the defenceless suburb: and there is no reason to doubt that this unprotected suburb, called Be- zetha, existed in the time of Christ This wall is described as having also begun at the tower ot Hippicus : it ran northward as far as to the tower Psephinos, then passed down opposite the sepul- chre of Helena (queen of Adiabene), and, being carried along through the royal sepulchres, turned at the corner tower by the Fullers' monument, and ended by making a junction with the ancient wall at the valley of the Kidron. It was begun ten or twelve years after our Lord's crucifixion by the elder Herod Agrippa, who desisted from completing it for fear of offending the Emperor Claudius. But the design was afterwards taken up and completed by the Jews themselves, al- though on a scale of less strength and magnifi- cence. Dr. Robinson thinks that he discovered some traces of this wall, which are described in his great work. The same writer thinks that the wall of the new city, the^Eliaof Adrian, nearly coincided with that of the present Jerusalem. We know from Josephus that the circumference of the ancient city was 33 stadia, equivalent to nearly three and a half geographical miles. The circumference of the present walls does not ex- ceed two and a half geographical miles; but the extent of Mount Zion, now without the walls, and the tract on the north formerly enclosed, or partly so, by the third wall, sufficiently account for the difference. The history of the modern walls has already been given in the sketch of the modern history of the city. The present walls have a solid and formidable appearance, especially when cursorily observed from without j and they are strength- JERUSALEM ened, or rather ornamented, with towers and battlements after the Saracenic style. They are built of limestone, the stones being not com- monly more than a foot or 15 inches square. The height varies wiih the various elevations of the ground. The lower parts are probably about 25 feet high, while in more exposed localities, where the ravines contribute less to the security of the city, they have an elevation of 60 or 70 feet. Much uncertainty exists respecting the ancient gates of Jerusalem. Many gates are named in Scripture ; and it has been objected that they are more in number than a town of the size of Jeru- salem could require especially as they all occur within the extent embraced by the first and second walls, the third not then existing. It has, there- fore, been suggested as more than probable that some of these gates were within the city, in the walls which separated the town from the temple, and the upper town from the lower, in which gates certainly existed. On the other hand, con- sidering the circumstances under which the wall was rebuilt in the time of Nehemiah, it is difficult to suppose that more than the outer wall was then constructed, and certainly it was in the wall then built that the ten or twelve gates mentioned by Nehemiah occur. But these may be considerably reduced by supposing that two or more of the names mentioned were applied to the same gate. If this view of the matter be taken, no better dis- tribution of these gates can be given than that suggested by Raumer. A. On the north side. 1. The Old Gate, probably at the north -cast corner (Neh. iii. 6 ; xii. 39). 2. The Gate of Ephraim or Benjamin (Jer. xxxviii. 7; xxxvii. 13; Neh. xii. 9; 2 Chrou. xxv. 2-3). This gate doubtless derived its names from its leading to the territory of Ephraim and Benjamin; and Dr. Robinson supposes it may possibly be represented by some traces of ruii;s which he found on the site of the present gate of Damascus. 3. The Corner-gale, 3CO cubits from the former, and apparently at the north-west corner (2 Chron. xxv. a ; 2 Kings xiv. 13; Zech. xiv. 10). Pro- bably the Gate of the Furnaces is the same (Neh. iii. 2 ; xii. 38). B. On the west side. 4. The Valley-gate, over against the Dragon- fountain of Gihon (Neh. ii. 13 ; iii. 13; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9). It was probably abcut the north-west corner of Zion, where there appears to have been always a gate, and Dr. Robinson supposes it to be the same with the Gennath of Josephus. c. On the south side. 5. The Dinig-ate, perhaps the same as Jo- sephus's Gate of the Essenes (Neh. ii. 13: xii. 31). It was 1COO cubits from the valley -gate (Neh. iii. 14 \ and the dragon- well was between them (Neh. ii. 13). This gate is probably also identical with 'the gate between two walls' (2 Kings xxv. 4; Jer. xxxix. 4; Lam.ii. 7). 0. The Gate rfthe Fountain, to the south-east (Neh. ii. 14; iii. 15); the gate of the fountain near the king's pool (Neh. ii. 14): the gate of the fountain near ' the pool of Siloab by the king's garden' (Neh. iii. 15). The same gate is pro- bably denoted in all these instances, and the pools seem to hav been also the same. It is slso JERUSALEM possible that this fountain-gate was the same otherwise distinguished as the brick-gate (or potter's gate), leading to the valley of Hinnom < Jer. xix. 2, where the Auth. Ver. has ' east-gate'). . On the east side. 7. The Water-gate (Neh. iii. 26). 8. The Prison-gate, otherwise the Horse-gate, near the temple (Neh. iii. 28 ; xii. 39, 40). 9. The Sheep-gate, probably near the sheep- pool (Neh. iii. 1-32 ; xii. 29). 10. The Fish-gate was quite at the north-east (Neh. iii. 3 ; xii. 39 ; Zeph. i. 10 ; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14). In the middle ages there appear to have been two gates on each side of the city, making eight in all ; and this number, being only two short of those assigned in the above estimate to the ancient Jerusalem, seems to vindicate that esti- mate from the objections which have been urged against it. On the west side were two gates, of which the principal was the Gate of David, often mentioned by the writers on the Crusades. It corresponds to the present Jaffa gate. The other was the gate of the Fullers' Field, so called from Isa. vii. 3. There is no trace of it in the present wall. On the north there -were also two gates ; and all the middle-age writers speak of the principal of them as the gate of St. Stephen, from the no- tion that the death of the protomartyr took place near it. This was also called the gate of Ephraim, in reference to its probable ancient name. The present gate of St. Stephen is on the east of the city, and the scene of the martyrdom is now placed near it ; but there is no account of the change. Farther east was the gate of Ben- jamin, corresponding apparently to what is now called the gate of Herod. On the east there seem to have been at least two gates. The northernmost is described by Adamuanus as a small portal leading down to the^valley of Jehoshaphat. It was called the gate of Jehoshaphat, from the valley to which it led. It seems to be represented by the present gate of St. Stephen. The present gate of St. Stephen has four lions sculptured over it on the outside, which, as well as the architecture, show that it existed before the present walls. The other gate is the famous Golden Gate in the eastern wall of the temple area. This gate is, from its architecture, obviously of Roman origin, arid is conjectured to have belonged to the enclo- sure of the temple of Jupiter which was built by Adrian upon Mount Moriah. The exterior is now walled up ; but being double, the interior forms within the area a recess, which is used for prayer by the Moslem worshipper. On the south side were also two gates. The easternmost is now called, by the Franks the Dung-gate. The earliest mention of this gate is by Brocard, about A.D. 1283, who regards it as the ancient Water-gate. Farther west, between the eastern brow of Zion and the gate of David, the Crusaders found a gate which they call the Gate of Zion, corresponding to one which now bears the same name. Of the seven gates mentioned as still existing, three, the Dung Gate, the Golden Gate, and He- rod's Gate, are closed. Thus there are only four gates now in use, one on each side of the town, JERUSALEM 471 all of which have been enumerated. St. Ste- phen's, on the east, leads to the Mount of Olives, Bethany, and Jericho. Zion Gate, on the south side of the city, connects the populous quarter around the Armenian convent with that part of Mount Zion which is outside the walls, and which is much resorted to as being the great field of Christian burial, as well as for its traditionary sanctity as the site of David's tomb, the house of Caiaphas, house of Mary, c. The Jaffa Gate, on the west, is the termination of the important routes from Jaffa, Bethlehem, and Hebron. The Damascus Gate, on the north, is also planted in a vale, which in every age of Jerusalem must have been a great public way, and the easiest ap- ' proach from Samaria and Galilee. The towers of Jerusalem are often mentioned in Scripture and in Josephus. Most of the towers mentioned by Josephus were erected by Herod the Great, and were, consequently, standing in the time of Christ. It was on these, therefore, that his eyes often rested when he approached Jerusalem, or viewed its walls and towers from the Mount of Olives. Of all these towers, the most important is that of Hippicus, which Jo- sephus, as we have already seen, assumed as the starting-point in his description of all the walls of the city. Herod gave to it the name of a friend who was slain in battle. It was a qua- drangular structure, 25 cubits on each side, and built up entirely solid to the height of 30 cubits. The altitude of the whole tower was 80 cubits. Dr. Robinson has shown that this tower should be sought at the north-west corner of the upper city, or Mount Zion. This part, a little to the south of 'the Jaffa Gate, is now occupied by the citadel. It is an irre- gular assemblage of square towers, surrounded on the inner side towards the city by a low wall, and having on the outer or west side a deep fosse. The towers which rise from the brink of the fosse are protected on that side by a low sloping bulwark or buttress, which rises from the bottom of the trench at an angle of forty-five degrees. This part bears evident marks of antiquity, and Dr. Robinson is inclined to ascribe these massive outworks to the time of the rebuilding and forti- fying of the city by Adrian. The north-eastern tower bears among the Franks the name of the Tower of David, while they sometimes give to the whole fortress the name of the Castle of ] David. Taking all the circumstances into ac- count, Dr. Robinson thinks that the antique lower portion of this tower is in all probability a rem- nant of the tower of Hippicus, which, as Josephus states, was left standing by Titus when he de- stroyed the city. Josephus describes two other towers those of Phasaelus and Mariamne, both built by Herod, one of them being named after a friend, and the other after his favourite wife. They stood not far from Hippicus, upon the first or most ancient wall, which ran from the latter tower eastward, along the northern brow of Zion. Connected with these towers and Hippicus was the royal castle or palace of the first Herod, which was enclosed by this wall on the north, and en the other sides by a wall 30 cubits high. These were the three mighty towers which Titus left standing as mo- numents of the strength of the place which had yielded to his arms. But nothing now remains 172 JERUSALEM save the above-mentioned supposed remnant of the tower of Hippicus. A fourth tower, called Psephinos, is mentioned by Josephus. It stood at the north-west corner of the third or exterior wall of the city. It did not, consequently, exist in the time of Christ, seeing that the wall itself was built by Herod Agrippa, to whom also the* tower may be ascribed. The above are the only towers which the his- torian particularly mentions. But in describing the outer or third wall of Agrippa, he states that it had battlements of two cubits, and turrets of three cubits more : and as the wall was 20 cubits high, this would make the turrets of the height of 25 cubits, or nearly 38 feet., Many loftier and more substantial towers than these were erected on each of the walls at regulated distances, and furnished with every requisite for convenience or defence. Of those on the third or outer wall are enumerated ninety ; on the middle or second wall, forty ; and oa the inner or ancient wall, sixty. The temple was in all ages the great glory and principal public building of Jerusalem, as the heathen temple, church, or mosque, successively occupying the same site, has been ever since the Jewish temple was destroyed. That temple is reserved for a separate article [TEMPLE], and there are few other public edifices -which require a particular description. Those most connected with Scripture history are the palace of Herod and the tower of Antonia. The former has already been noticed. In the time of Christ it was the residence of the Roman procurators while in Jerusalem ; and as such provincial residences were called by the Romans Pretoria, this was the prsDtorium or judgment-hall of Pilate (Matt. xxvii. 27 ; Mark xv. 16 ; John xviii. 28). In front of the palace was the tribunal or 'judgment- seat,' where the procurator sat to hear and deter- mine the causes; and where Pilate was seated when ur Lord was brought before him. It was a raised pavement of mosaic work, called in the Hebrew Gabbatha, or ' an elevated place ' [JUDG- MENT-HAIL]. The tower or castle of Antonia stood on a steep rock adjoining the north-west corner of the temple. It has already been mentioned that it originated under the Maccabees, who resided in it. As improved by Herod, who gave it the name of Antonia, after his patron Mark Antony, this fortress had all the extent and appearance of a palace, being divided into apartments of every kind, with galleries and baths, and also broad halls or barracks for soldiers ; so that, as having everything necessary within itself, it seemed a city, while in its magnificence it was a palace. At each of the four corners was a tower, one of which was 70 cubits high, and overlooked the whole temple with its courts. The fortress communicated with the cloisters of the temple by secret passages, through which the soldiers could enter and quell any tumults, which were always apprehended at the time of the great festivals. It was to a guard of these soldiers that Pilate re- ferred the Jews as a ' watch' for the sepulchre of Christ This tower was also ' the castle ' into which St. Paul was carried when the Jews rose against him in the temple, and were about to kill him ; and where he gave his able and manly ac- JERUSALEM count of his conversion and conduct (Act xri. 27-40 ; xxii.). This tower was, in fact, the citadel of Jerusalem. In the narratives of all the sieges which Jeru- salem has suffered, we never read of the besieged suffering from thirst, although driven to the most dreadful extremities and resources by hunger, while the besiegers are frequently described as suffering greatly from want of water, and as being obliged to fetch it from a great distance. This is a very singular circumstance, and is perhaps only in part explained by reference to the system of preserving water in cisterns, as at this day in Jerusalem. There is, however, good ground to conclude that from very ancient times there has been under the temple an unfailing source of water, derived by secret and subterra- neous channels from springs to the west of the town, and communicating by other subterra- neous passages with the pool of Siloam and the fountain of the Virgin in the east of the town, whether they were within or without the walls of the town. The ordinary means taken by the in- habitants to secure a supply of water have bee described under the article CISTERN. MODERN JERUSALEM. In proceeding to fur- nish a description of the present Jerusalem, we shall, for the most part, place ourselves under the guidance of Dr. Olin, whose account is not only the most recent, but is by far the most complete and satisfactory which has of late years been pro- duced. The general view of the city from the Mount of Olives is mentioned more or less by all tra- vellers as that from which they derive their most distinct and abiding impression of Jerusalem. The summit of the Mount of Olives is about half a mile east from the city, which it completely overlooks, every considerable edifice and almost every house being visible. The city seen from this point appears to be a regular inclined plain, sloping gently and uniformly from west to east, or towards the observer, and indented by a slight depression or shallow vale, running nearly through the centre in the same direction. The south-east corner of the quadrangle for that may be assumed as the figure formed by the rocks that which is nearest to the observer, is occupied by the mosque of Omar and its exten- sive and beautiful grounds. This is Mount Mo- riah, the site of Solomon's temple ; and the ground embraced in the sacred enclosure, which conforms to that of the ancient temple, occupies about an eighth of the whole modern city. It is covered with green sward and planted sparingly with olive, cypress, and other trees, and it is certainly the most lovely feature of the town, whether we have reference to the splendid structures or the beautiful lawn spread out around them. The south-west quarter, embracing that part of Mount Ziou which is within the modern town, is to a great extent occupied by the Armenian con- vent, an enormous edifice, which is the only con- spicuous object in this neighbourhood. The north-west is largely occupied by the Latin con- vent, another very extensive establishment. About midway between these two convents is the castle or citadel, close to the Bethlehem gate, already mentioned. The north-east quarter of Jerusalem is but partially built up, and it has more the aspect of a rambling agricultural village than that of a JERUSALEM crowded city. The vacant spots here are green with gardens and olive-trees. There is another large vacant tract along the southern wall, and west of the Haram, also covered with verdure. Near the centre of the city also appear two or three green spots, which are small gardens. The chnrch of the Holy Sepulchre is the only conspi- cuous edifice in this vicinity, and its domes are striking objects. There are no buildings which, either from their size or beauty, are likely to en- gage the attention. Eight or ten minarets mark the position of so many mosques in different parts of the town, but they are only noticed because of their elevation above the surrounding edifices. Upon the same principle the eye rests for a mo- ment upon a great number of low domes, which form the roofs of the principal dwellings, and relieve the heavy uniformity of the flat plastered roofs which cover the greater mass of more humble habitations. From the same commanding point of view a few olive and fig trees are seen in the lower part of the valley of Jehoshaphat, and scattered over the side of Olivet from its base to the summit. They are sprinkled yet more sparingly on the southern side of the city on Mounts Zion and ^phel. North of Jerusalem the olive plantations appear more numerous as well as thriving, and thus offer a grateful contrast to the sun-burnt fields and bare rocks which predominate in this land- scape. The region west of the city appears to be destitute of trees. Fields of stunted wheat, yellow with the drought rather than white for the har- vest, are seen on all sides of the town. Jerusalem, as seen from Mount Olivet, is a plain inclining gently and .equably to the East. Once enter its gates, however, and it is fouud to be full of inequalities. The passenger is always as- cending or descending. There are no level streets, and little skill or labour has been employed to re- move or diminish the inequalities which nature or time has produced. Houses are built upon mountains of rubbish, which are probably twenty, thirty, or fifty feet above the natural level, and the streets are constructed with the same dis- regard to convenience, with this difference, that some slight attention is paid to the possibility of carrying off surplus water. The latter are, with- out exception, narrow, seldom exceeding eight or ten feet in breadth. The houses often meet, and in some instances a building occupies both sides of the street, which runs under a succession of arches barely high enough to permit an eques- trian to pass under them. A canopy of old mats or of plank is suspended over the principal streets when not arched. This custom had its origin, no doubt, in the heat of the climate, which is very intense in summer, and it gives a gloomy aspect to all the most thronged and lively parts of the city. These covered ways are often per- vaded by currents of air when a perfect calm prevails in other places. The principal streets of Jerusalem run nearly at right angles to each other. Very few, if any, of them bear names among the native population. They are badly paved, being merely laid irregularly with raised stones, with a deep square channel, for beasts of burden, in the middle ; but the steepness of the ground contributes to keep them cleaner than in most Oriental cities. The houses of Jerusalem are substantially built JERUSALEM 473 of the limestone of which the whole of this part of Palestine is composed: not usually hewn, but broken into regular forms, and making a solid wall of very respectable appearance. For the most part there are no windows next to the street, and the few which exist for the purposes of light or ventilation are completely masked by case- ments and lattice-work. The apartments receive their light from the open courts within. The ground plot is usually surrounded by a high en- closure, commonly forming the walls of the house only, but sometimes embracing a small garden and some vacant ground. The rain-water which falls upon the pavement is carefully conducted, by means of gutters, into cisterns, where it is preserved for domestic uses. The people of Jeru- salem rely chiefly upon these reservoirs for their supply of this indispensable article. Stone is employed in building for all the purposes to which it can possibly be applied, and Jerusalem is hardly more exposed to accidents by fire than a quarry or subterranean cavern. The floors, stairs, &c., are cf stone, and the ceiling is usually formed by a coat of plaster laid upon the stones, which at the same time form the roof and the vaulted top of the room. Doors, sashes, and a few other appurtenances, are all that can usually be afforded of a material so expensive as wood. A large number of houses in Jerusalem are in a dilapidated and ruinous state. Nothing of this would be suspected from the general appearance of the city as seen from the various commanding points without the walls, nor from anything that meets the eye in the streets. Few towns in the East offer a more imposing spectacle to the view of the approaching stranger. He is struck with the height and massiveness of the walls, which are kept in perfect repair, and naturally produce a favourable opinion of the wealth and comfort which they are designed to protect. Upon entering the gates, he is apt, after all that has been published about the solitude that reigns in the streets, to be surprised at meet- ing large numbers of people in the chief thorough- fares, almost without exception decently clad. A longer and more intimate acquaintance with Jerusalem, however, does not fail to correct this too favourable impression, and demonstrate the existence and general prevalence of the poverty and even wretchedness which must result in every country from oppression, from the absence of trade, and the utter stagnation of all branches of industry. Considerable activity is displayed in the bazaars, which are supplied scantily, like those of other Eastern towns, with provisions, tobacco, coarse cottons, and other articles of prime necessity. A considerable business is still done in beads, crosses, and other sacred trinkets, which are purchased to a vast amount by the pilgrims who annually throng the holy city. The support and even the existence of the considerable population of Jerusalem depend upon this tran- sient patronage a circumstance to which a grea* part of the prevailing poverty and degradation is justly ascribed. With the exception of some establishments for soap-making, a tannery, and a very few weavers of coarse cottons, there do not appear to be any manufacturers properly belong- ing to the place. Agriculture is almost equally wretched, and can only give employment to a few- hundred people. The masses really seem to be 474 JERUSALEM JESHUA Spaniards. In it resides the Intendant or the Principal of all the convents, with the rank of abbot, and the title of Guardian of Mount Zion and Gustos of the Holy Land. There is also a president or vicar, who takes the place of the guardian in case of absence or death. The pro- curator, -who manages their temporal affairs, is always a Spaniard. A council, called Discre- torium, composed of these officials aud three other monks, has the general management 01 both spiritual and temporal matters. There is a Greek patriarch of Jerusalem, but he usually resides at Constantinople, and is re- presented in the holy city by one or more vicars, who are bishops residing in the great convent near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In addition to thirteen monasteries in Jerusalem, they possess the convent of the Holy Cross, near Jerusalem, that of St. Helena, between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and that of St. John, between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. All the monks of the convents are foreigners. The Christians of the Greek rite who are not monks are all native Arabs, with their native priests, who are allowed to perform the church services in their mother tong-ue the Arabic. The Armenians in Jerusalem have a patriarch, with three convents and 100 monks. They have also convents at Bethlehem, Ramleh, aud Jaffa. Few of the Armenians are natives: they are mostly merchants, and among the wealthiest inhabitants of the place; and their convent in Jerusalem is deemed the richest in the Levant. Their church of St. James upon Mount Ziou is very showy in its decorations, but void of taste. The Coptic Christians at Jerusalem are only some monks residing in the convent of Es-Sultau, on the north side of the pool of Hezekiah. There is also a convent of the Abyssiniaus, and one be- longing to the Jacobite Syrians. The Jews inhabit a distinct quarter of the town between Mount Zion and Mount Moriah. This is the worst and dirtiest part of the holy city, and that in which the plague never fails to make its first appearance. Few of the Jerusalem Jews are natives ; and most of them come from foreign parts to die in the city of their fathers' sepulchres. They are for the most part wretch- edly poor, and depend in a great degree for their subsistence upon the contributions of their brethren in different countries. The expectation of sup- port from the annual European contributions leads many of them to live in idleness. Hence there are in Jerusalem 500 acknowledged paupers, and 500 more who receive charity in a quiet way. Many are so poor that, if not relieved, they would not stand out the winter season. A few are shopkeepers, and a few more hawkers, and a very few are operatives. None of them are agriculturists not a single Jew cultivates the soil of his fathers. JESH'UA, or JOSHUA, son of Jozedech, and high-priest of the Jews when they returned, under Zerubbabel, from the Babylonian exile (B.C. 536). He was, doubtless, born during the exile. His presence and exhortations greatly promoted the _ . . rebuilding of the city and temple. The altar maintaining the twenty convents belonging to | of the latter being first erected, enabled him to the establishment of the Terra Santa is estimated sanctify their labour by the religious ceremonies at 40.000 Spanish dollars a-year. The convent and offerings which the law required. Jeshua contains fifty monks, half Italians and half j joined with Zerubbabel in opposing the machi- without any regular employment. A considerable number, especially of the Jews, professedly live on charity Many Christian pilgrims annually find their way hither on similar resources, and the approaches to the holy places are thronged with beggars, who in piteous tones demand alms in the name of Christ and the Blessed Virgin. The general condition of the population is that of abject poverty. A few Turkish officials, eccle- siastical, civil, and military ; some remains of the old Mohammedan aristocracy once powerful and rich, but now much impoverished and nearly extinct ; together with a few tradesmen in easy circumstances, form almost the only exceptions to the prevailing indigence. There is not a single broker among the whole population, and not the smallest sum can be obtained on the best bills of exchange short of Jaffa or Beirout. The number of the inhabitants of Jerusalem has been variously estimated by different tra- vellers. The estimate lately given by Dr. Schulz, the Prussian consul at Jerusalem, is as follows : I. Mohammedans 5,000 H. Christians: a. Greeks 2,000 b. Koman Catholics .... 900 c. Armenians 350 d. Copts 100 e. Syrians 20 /. Abyssinians 20 3,390 III. Jews: a. Turkish subjects (SepJiardim) 6,000 b. Foreign (ashhenazim), namely, Polish, Russian, and German 1,100 c. Karaites 20 7,120 15,510 The language most generally spoken among them is the Arabic. Schools are rare, and con- sequently facility in reading is not often met with. The general condition of the inhabitants has already been indicated. The Turkish governor of the town holds the rank of Pasha, but is responsible to the Pasha of Beirout. The government is somewhat milder than before the period of the Egyptian dominion ; but it is said that the Jewish and Christian in- habitants at least have ample cause to regret the change of masters, and the American missionaries lament that change without reserve. Formerly there were in Palestine monks of the Benedictine and Augustine orders, and of those of St. Basil and St. Anthony; but since 1304 there have been none but Franciscans, who have charge of the Latin convent and the holy places. They resided on Mount Zion till A.D. 1561, when the Turks allowed them the monastery of St. Salvador, which they now occupy. They had formerly a handsome revenue out of all Roman Catholic countries, but these sources have fallen off since the French revolution, and the establishment is said to be poor and deeply in debt. The ex- penses arise from the duty imposed upon the convent of entertaining pilgrims ; and the cost of JESUS CHRIST nations of the Samaritans (Ezra iv. 3) ; and he was not found wanting in zeal when the works, after having been interrupted, were resumed in the second year of Darius Hystaspis (Ezra v. 2 ; Hagg. i. 12). Several of the prophet Haggai's utterances are addressed to Jeshua (Ha};g. i. 1 ; ii. 2), and his name occurs in two of the sym- bolical prophecies of Zechariah (iii. 1-10; vi. 11-15). In the first of these passages Jeshua, as por.tiff, represents the Jewish people covered at first with (he garb of slaves, and afterwards with the new and glorious vestures of deliverance. In the second lie wears for a moment crowns of silver and gold, as symbols of the sacerdotal and regal crowns of Israel, which were to be united ou the head of the Messiah. JESH'URUN, a name poetically applied to Israel in Deut. xxxii. 15; xxxiii. 5, 26; Isa. xliv. 2. It has been very variously understood. but it is generally agreed to be a poetical dimi- nutive expressive of aCection. It is derived from a word signifying to be atraigl.t, riylit, upright, righteous. In ibis character, as entin-ly upright (for the termination is intensitive), Jehovah re- cognises his people in consideration of their covenant relation to him, whereby, while they observed the terms of that covenant, they stood legally righteous before him and clean in his- bijjit. It is in this sense that the ancient kings are said to have done ' that which was right' in the eyes of Jehovah. JES'SE (Jirm), a descendant of Obed, the son of Boaz and Ruth. He was the father of eight sons from the youngest of whom, David, is reflected all the distinction which belongs to the came. He seems to have been a person of some note and substance at Bethlehem, his property- being chiefly in sheep. It would seem, from 1 Sam. xvi. 10, that he must have been aware of the high destinies which awaited his son ; but it is doubtful if he ever lived to see them realized. The last historical mention of Jesse is in relation to the asylum which David procured for him with the king of Moab (1 Sam.xxii. 3). JE'SUS CHRIST, the ordinary designation of the incarnate Son of God, and Saviour of man- kind. This double designation is not, like Simon Peter, John Mark, Joses Barnabas, composed of a name and a surname, but, like John the Baptist, Simon Magus, Bar-Jesus Elymas, of a proper name, and an official title. JESCS was our Lord's proper name, just as Peter, James, and John were the proper names of three of his disciples. The name seems not to have been an uncommon one among the Jews (Acts xiii. 6 ; Col. iv. 11). To distinguish our Lord from others bearing the name, he was termed Jesus of Nazareth (John xviii. 7, &c.), and Jesus the son of Joseph (John vi. 42, &c.). The conferring of this name on our Lord was not the result of accident, or of the ordinary course of things, there being ' none of his kin- dred,' so far as we can trace from the two gene- alogies, ' called by that name' (Luke i. 61). It was the consequence of a twofold miraculous interposition. The angel who announced to his virgin mother that she was to be ' the most honoured of women,' in giving birth to the Son of God and the Saviour of men, intimated also to her the name by which the holy child was to be called : ' Thou shalt call his name Jesus' (Luke JESUS CHRIST 475 i. 31). And it was probably the same heavenly messenger who appeared to Joseph, and, to re- move his suspicions and qniet his fears, said to him, ' That which is conceived in thy wife Mary ] is of the Holy Ghost, and she shall bring forth a j son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus' (Matt, j i. 20. 21). The pious pair were ' not disobedient ; to the heavenly vision.' ' When eijiht days were ! accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived iii the womb' (Luke ii. 21). The precise import of the name has been a subject of doubt and debate among interpreters. As to its general meaning there is all Lut an unanimous concurrence. It was intended to de- note that he who bore it was to be a Deliverer or Saviour. But while some interpreters hold that it simply signifies ' he shall save,' cthe:s hold that it is a compound word equivalent to ' The Salvation of the Lord,' cr ' The Lord the Saviour.' It is not a matter of vital importance. The ' name of Jesus' (Phil. ii. lu) is not the name Jesus, but ' the name above every name' (ver. 9), i. e. the supreme dignity and authority with which the Father has invested Jesus Christ, as the reward of his disinterested exertions in the cause of the divine glory and human happi- ness ; and the bowing ' at the name of Jesus ' is obviously not an external mark of homae when the name Jesus is pronounced, but the inward sense of awe and submission to him who is raised to a station so exalted. CHRIST. This is not, strictly speaking, a proper name, but an official tille. Jesus Christ, or rather, as it generally ought, to be rendered, Jesus tlie Christ, is a mode of expression of the same kind as John the Baptist, or Baptises In consequence of not adverting to this, the force and even the meaning of many passages of Scrip- ture are misapprehended. When it is stated that Paul asserted, ' This Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ ' (Acts xvii. 3), that lie ' testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ ' (Acts xviii. 5), the meaning is, that he proclaimed and proved that Jesus was the Christ, or Messiah the rightful owner of a title descriptive of a hi^h official station which had been the subject of ancient prediction. When Jesus himself says that ' it is life eternal to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent ' (John xvii. 3), he represents the knowledge of himself as the Christ, the Messiah, as at once necessary and sufficient to make men truly and perma- nently happy. When he says, ' What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?' (Matt. xxii. 42), he does not mean, What think ye of ME, or of my descent? but, What thiiik ye of the Christ the Messiah and especially of his paternity,. There can be no doubt that the word, though originally an appellative, and intended to bring before the mind a particular official character possessed by him to whom it is applied, came at last, like many other terms of the same kind, to be often used very much as a proper name, to distinguish our Lord from other persons bearing the name Jesus. This is a sense, however, of compara- tively rare occurrence in the New Testament. Proceeding, then, on the principle that Christ is an appellative, let us inquire into its origin and signification as applied to our Lord. CHRIST 476 JESUS CHRIST is the English form of a Greek -word, correspond- ing in meaning to the Hebrew word Messiah, and the English word Anointed. ' The Christ ' is just equivalent to ' the Anointed One.' The important question, however, remains behind, What is meant when the Saviour is represented as the Anointed One ? To reply to this question satisfactorily, it will be necessary to go some- what into detail. Unction, from a very early age, seems to have been the emblem of consecration, or setting apart to a particular, and especially to a religious, purpose. Under the Old Testament economy high-priests and kings were regularly set apart to their offices, both of which were, strictly speaking, sacred ones, by the ceremony of anointing, and the prophets were occasionally designated by the same rite. This rite seems to have been intended as a public intimation of a Divine appointment to office. Thus Saul is termed ' the Lord's anointed' (1 Sam. xxiv. 6) ; David, ' the anointed of the God of Israel ' (2 Sam. xxiii. 1) ; and Zedekiah, ' the anointed of the Lord ' (Lam. iv. 20). The high-priest is called ' the anointed priest ' (Lev. iv. 3). From the origin and design of the rite, it is not wonderful that the term should have, in a secondary and analogical sense, been applied to persons set apart by God for important purposes, though not actually anointed. Thus Cyrus, the King of Persia, is termed ' the Lord's anointed ' (Isa. xlv. 1) ; the Hebrew patriarchs, when so- journing in Canaan, are termed ' God's anointed ones' (Ps. cv. 15; and the Israelitish people receive the same appellation from the prophet Habakknk (Hab. iii. 13). In the prophetic Scriptures we find this appel- lation given to an illustrious personage, who, under various designations, is so often spoken of as destined to appear in a distant age as a great deliverer. The royal prophet David seems to have been the first who spoke of the great deli- verer under this appellation (Ps. ii. 2 ; xx. 1 ; xlv. 7). In all the passages in which the great deliverer is spoken of as ' the anointed one,' by David, he is plainly viewed as sustaining the character of a king. The prophet Isaiah also uses the appellation, ' the anointed one,' with reference to the pro- mised deliverer, but, when he does so, he speaks of him as a prophet or great teacher. He intro- duces him as saying, ' The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord tJod hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek ; he hath sent me to bind up the broken- hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn,' &c. (Isa. Ixi. 1, &c.). Daniel is the only other of the prophets who uses the appellation ' the anointed one ' in refer- ence to the great deliverer, and he plainly repre- sents him as' not only a prince, but also a high- priest, an expiator of guilt (Dan. ix. 24-26). During the period which elapsed from the close of the prophetic canon till the birth of Jesus, no appellation of the expected deliverer seems to have been so common as the Messiah or Anointed One ; and this is still the name which the unbelieving Jews ordinarily employ when JESUS CHRIST speaking of him whom they still look for to avenge their wrongs and restore them to more than their former honours. Messiah, Christ, Anointed, is, then, a term equivalent to consecrated, sacred, set apart ; and as the record of Divine revelation is called, by way of eminence, The Bible, or book, so is the Great Deliverer called The Messiah, or Anointed One, much in the same way as he is termed The Man, The Son of Man. The import of this designation as given to Jesus of Nazareth may now readily be apprehended. (1.) When he is termed the Christ it is plainly indicated that HE is the great deliverer promised under that appellation, and many others in the Old Testament Scriptures, and that all that is said of this deliverer under this or any other ap- pellation is true of HIM. No attentive reader of the Old Testament can help noticing that in every part of the prophecies there is ever and anon pre- sented to our view an illustrious personage des- tined to appear at some future distant period, and, however varied may be the figurative repre- sentations given of him, no reasonable doubt can be entertained as to the identity of the individual. It is quite obvious that the Messiah is the same person as the ' seed of the woman ' who was to ' bruise the head of the serpent' (Gen. iii. 15) ; ' the seed of Abraham, in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed' (Gen. xxii. 18) ; the great ' prophet to be raised up like unto Moses,' whom all were to be required to hear and obey (Dent xviii. 15) ; the ' priest after the order of Melchizedek ;' ' the rod out of the stem of Jesse, which should stand for an ensign of the people to which the Gentiles should seek ' (Isa. xi. 1, 10) ; the virgin's son whose name was to be Immanuel (Isa. vii. 14); ' the branch of Je- hovah ' (Isa. iv. 2) ; ' the Angel of the Covenant ' (Mai. iii. 1) ; ' the Lord of the Temple,' &c. &c. (ib.). When we say, then, that Jesus is the Christ, we in effect say, ' This is HE of whom Moses, in the law, and the prophets did write ' (John i. 45) ; and all that they say of HIM is true of Jesus. Now what is the sum of the prophetic testimony respecting him? It is this that he should be- long to the very highest order of being, the in- communicable name Jehovah being represented as rightfully belonging to him ; that ' his goings forth have been from old, from everlasting' (Mic. v. 2); that his appropriate appellations should be 'Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God ' (Isa. ix. 6) ; that he should assume human nature, and become 'a child born' of the Israel- itish nation of the tribe of Judah (Gen. xlix. 10), of the family of David (Isa. xi. 1) ; that the ob- ject of his appearance should be the salvation of mankind, both Jews and Gentiles (Isa. xlix. 6) ; that he should be ' despised and rejected ' of his countrymen ; that he should be ' cut off, but not for himself;' that he should be 'wounded for men's transgressions, bruised for their iniquities, and undergo the chastisement of their peace;' that ' by his stripes men should be healed ;' that 'the Lord should lay on him the iniquity' of men ; that ' exaction should be made and he should answer it ;' that he should ' make his soul an offering for sin ;' that after these sufferings he should be ' exalted and extolled and made very high ;' that he should ' see of the travail of his JESUS CHRIST Boul and be satisfied, and by his knowledge justify many ' (Isa. liii. passim) ; that Jehovah should say to him, ' Sit at ray right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool' (Ps. ex. 1) ; that he should be brought near to the Ancient of Days, and that to him should be given 'dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, and nations, and languages should serve him an everlasting do- minion which shall not pass away, a kingdom that shall not be destroyed ' (Dan. vii. 13, 14). All this is implied in saying Jesus is the Christ. In the plainer language of the New Testament ' Jesus is the Christ ' is equivalent to Jesus is ' God manifest in the flesh' (1 Tim. iii. 16), the Son of God, who, in human nature, by his obe- dience, and sufferings, and death iu the room of the guilty, has obtained salvation for them, and all power in heaven and earth for himself, that he may give eternal life to all coming to the Father through him. (2.) While the statement ' Jesus is the Christ ' is thus materially equivalent to the statement ' all that is said of the Great Deliverer in the Old Testament Scriptures is true of HIM,' it brings more directly before our mind those truths re- specting him which the appellation ' the Anointed One' naturally suggests. He is a prophet, a priest, and a king. He is the great revealer of divine truth ; the only expiator of human guilt, and reconciler of man to God ; the supreme and sole legitimate ruler over the understandings, consciences, and affections of men. In his per- son, and work, and word, by his spirit and provi- dence, he unfolds the truth with respect to the divine character and will, and so conveys it into the mind as to make it the effectual means of conforming man's will to God's will, man's cha- racter to God's character. He has by his spotless, all-perfect obedience, amid the severest suffer- ings, ' obedience unto death even the death of the cross,' so illustrated the excellence of the divine law and the wickedness and danger of violating it, as to make it a righteous thing in ' the just God' to 'justify the ungodly,' thus propitiating the offended majesty of heaven ; while the mani- festation of the divine love in appointing and accepting this atonement, when apprehended by the mind under the influence of the Holy Spirit, becomes the effectual means of reconciling man to God and to his law, ' transforming him by the renewing of his mind.' And now, possessed of ' all power in heaven and earth,' ' all power over all flesh,' ' He is Lord of All.' AH external events and all spiritual influences are equally under his control, and as a king he exerts his au- thority in carrying into full effect the great pur- poses which his revelations as a prophet, and his great atoning sacrifice as a high-priest, were in- tended to accomplish. (3.) But the full import of the appellation the CHRIST is not yet brought out. It indicates that He to whom it belongs is the anointed prophet, priest, and king not that he was anointed by material oil, but that he was divinely appointed, qualified, commissioned, and accredited to be the Saviour of men. These are the ideas which the term anointed seems specially intended to convey. Jesus was divinely appointed to the offices he filled. He did not ultroneously assume them, ' he was called of God as was Aaron ' (Heb. v. 4 ; Isa. xi. 2-4). He was divinely commissioned: JEW 477 'The Father sent him' (Isa. xlix. f>). He is divinely accredited (Acts ii. 22 ; John v. 37). Such is the import of the appellation Christ. If these observations are clearly apprehended there will be little difficulty in giving a satisfac- tory answer to the question which has sometimes been proposed when did Jesus become Christ? when was he anointed of God ? We have seen that the expression is a figurative or analogical one, and therefore we need not wonder that its references are various. The appointment of the Saviour, like all the other divine purposes, was, of course, from eternity. ' He was set up from everlasting' (Prov. viii. 23); he 'was fore- ordained before the foundation of the world' (1 Pet. i. 20). His qualifications, such of them as were conferred, were bestowed in or during his incarnation, when ' God anointed him with the Holy Ghost and with power ' (Acts x. 38). His commission may be considered as given him when called to enter on the functions of his office. He himself, after quoting, in the synagogue of Nazareth, in the commencement of his ministry, the passage from the prophecies of Isaiah in which his unction to the prophetical office is pre- dicted, declared ' This day is this Scripture ful- filled in your ears.' And in his resurrection and ascension, God, as the reward of his loving righteousness and hating iniquity, ' anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellows ' (Ps. xlv. 7), i.e. conferred on him a regal power, fruitful in blessings to himself and others, far superior to that which any king had ever pos- sessed, making him, as the Apostle Peter ex- presses it, ' both Lord and Christ' (Acts ii, 36). As to his being accredited, every miraculous event performed in reference to him or by him may be viewed as included in this species of anointing especially the visible descent of the Spirit on him in his baptism. . These statements, with regard to the import of the appellation ' the Christ,' show us how we are to understand the statement of the Apostle John, ' Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God' (1 John v. 1), i. e. is 'a child of God,' ' born again,' ' a new creature ;' and the similar declaration of the Apostle Paul, ' No man can say that Jesus is the Lord,' i . e. the Christ, the Messiah, 'but by the Holy Ghost' (1 Cor. xii. 3). It is plain that the proposition, ' Jesus is the Christ,' when understood in the latitude of meaning which we have shown belongs to it, contains a complete summary of the truth re- specting the divine method of salvation. To believe that principle rightly understood is to believe the Gospel the saving truth, by the faith of which a man is, and by the faith of which only a man can be, brought into the relation or formed to the character of a child of God ; and though a man may, without divine influence, be brought to acknowledge that ' Jesus is the Lord,' ' Messiah the Prince,' and even firmly to believe that these words embody a truth, yet no man can be brought really to believe and cordially to acknowledge the truth contained in these words, as we have attempted to unfold it, without a peculiar divine- influence. JESUS, surnamed JUSTUS. [JUSTUS.] JE'THRO. [HOBAB.] JEW, a name formed from that of the patriarch Judah, and applied in its first use to one belong- 478 JEZEBEL ing to the tribe or country of Judah, or rather perhaps to a subject of the separate kingdom of Judah (2 Kings xvi. 6 ; xxv. 5). During the Captivity the term seems to have been extended to all the people of the Hebrew language and country, without distinction (Esth. iii. 6, 9 ; Dan. iii. 8, 12); and this loose application of thename was preserved after the restoration to Palestine, when it came to denote not only every descendant of Abraham in the largest possible sense, but even proselytes who had no blood-relation to the Hebrews (Acts ii. 5 ; comp. 10). See the articles ISRAF.L; JUDAH. JEZ'EBEL (not inhabited, comp. Isabella}, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre and Sidon, ami consort of Ahab, king of Israel (B.C. 918). Tiiis unsuitable alliance proved most disastrous to the kingdom of Israel ; for Jezebel induced her weak husband not only to connive at her in- troducing the worship of her native idols, but eventually to become himself a worshipper of them, and to use all the means in his power to establish them in the room of the God of Israel. This was a great enormity. The worship of the f olden calves which previously existed was, owever mistakenly, intended in honour of Je- hovah ; but this was an open alienation from him, and a turning aside to foreign and strange gods, which, indeed, were no gods. Most of the particulars of this bad but apparently highly- gifted woman's conduct have been related in the notices of AHAB and ELIJAH. From the course of her proceedings it would appear that she grew to hate the Jewish system of law and religion, on account of what must have seemed to her its in- tolerance and its anti-social tendencies. She hence sought to put it down by all the means she could command; and the imbecility of her husband seems to have made all the powers of the state subservient to her designs. The man- ner in which she acquired and used her power over Ahab is strikingly shown in the matter of Naboth, which, perhaps, more than all the other affairs in which she was engaged, brings out her true character, and displays the nature of her influence. When she found him puling, like a spoiled child, on account of the refusal of Naboth to gratify him by selling him his patrimonial vineyard for a ' garden of herbs,' she teaches him to look to her, to rely upon her for the ac- complishment of his wishes ; and for the sake of this impression, more perhaps than from savage- ness of temper, she scrupled not at murder under the abused forms of law and religion. She had the reward of her unscrupulous decisiveness of character in the triumph of her policy in Israel, where, at last, there were but 7000 people who had not bowed the knee to Baal, nor kissed their hand to his image. Nor was her success confined to Israel, for through Athaliah a daughter after her own heart who was married to the son and successor of Jehoshaphat, the same policy pre- vailed for a time iu Judah, after Jezebel herself had perished and the house of Ahab had met its doom. It seems that after the death of her hus- band Jezebel maintained considerable ascen- dancy over her son Joram ; and her measures and misconduct formed the principal charge which Jehu cast in the teeth of that unhappy monarch before he sent forth the arrow which slew him. The last effort of Jezebel was to iuti- JOAB midate Jehu as he passed the palace, by -warning him of the eventual rewards of even successful treason. It is eminently characteristic of the woman, that, even in this terrible moment, when she knew that her son was slain, and must have frit that her power had departed, she displayed herself not with rent veil and dishevelled hair, ' but tired her head and painted her eyes ' before she looked out at the window. The eunuchs, at a word from Jehu, having cast her down, she met her death beneath the wall [JEHU] ; and when afterwards the new monarch bethought him that, as ' a king's daughter,' her corpse should not be treated with disrespect, nothing was found of her but the palms of her hands anil the soles of her feet. The dogs had eaten all the rest. B.C. 884 (1 Kings xvi. 31 ; xviii. 4, 13, 19 ; xxi. 5-25 ; 2 Kings ix. 7, 22, 30-37). JEZ'REEL, a town in the tribe of Issachar (Josh. xix. 18), where the kings of Israel had a palace, and where the court often resided, al- though Samaria was the metropolis of the king- dom. It is most frequently mentioned in the history of the house of Ahab. Here was the vineyard of Naboth, which Ahab coveted to en- large the palace-grounds (1 Kings xviii. 45, 4t> ; xxi.), and here Jehu executed his dreadful com- mission against the house of Ahab, when Jezebel, Joram, and all who were connected with that wretched dynasty, perished (2 Kings ix. 14-37 ; x. 1-11). These horrid scenes appear to have fiven the kings of Israel a distaste to this resi- ence, as it is not again mentioned in their his- tory. It is, however, named by Hosea (i. 4 ; comp. i. 11 ; ii. 22); and in Judith (i. 8; iv. 3; vii. 3) it occurs under the name of Esd-aelon. In the days of Eusebius and Jerome it was still a large village, called Esdraela. Nothing more is heard of it till the time of the crusades, when it was called by the Franks Parvum Gerinum, and by the Arabs Zerin ; and it is described as commanding a wide prospect on the east to the mountains of Gilead, and on the west to Mount Carmel. But this line of identification seems to have been afterwards lost sight of, and it is only of late that the identification of Zerin and Jezreel has been restored. Zerin is seated on the brow of a rocky and very steep descent into the great and fertile val- ley of Jezreel, which runs down between the mountains of Gilboa and Hermon. Lying com- paratively high, it commands a wide and noble view, extending down the broad valley on the east to Beisan (Bethshean), and on the west quite across the great plain to the mountains of Carmel. It is described by Dr. Robinson (Jtesearclies, iii. 163) as a most magnificent site for a city, which, being itself a conspicuous object in every part, would naturally give its name to the whole region. In the valley directly under Zerin is a considerable fountain, and another still larger somewhat farther to the east, under the northern side of Gilboa, called Ain Jalud. There can, therefore, be little question that, as in Zerin we have Jezreel, so in the valley and the fountain we have the ' valley of Jezreel,' and the fountain of Jezreel. of Scripture. Zerin has at present little more than twenty humble dwellings, mostly iu ruins, and with few inhabitants. JO'AB (God-fathered), one of the three sons JOAB JOAB 479 of Zeruiah, the sister of David, and ' captain of I deemed his duty to the king and the people, and the host' (generalissimo) of the army during was quite as ready to serve his master's vices as his virtues, so long as they nearly the whole of David's reign. He first appears associated with his two bro- thers, Abishai and Asahel, in the command of David's troops against Abner, who had set up the claims of a sou of Saul in opposition to those of David, who then reigned in Hebron. The armies having met at the pool of Gibeon, a general action was brought on, in which Aimer was worsted. In his flight he had the misfortune to kill Joab's brother, the swift-footed Asahel, by whom he was pursued (2 Sam. ii. 13-32). The consequences of this deed have been explained elsewhere [ABNER; ASAHF.I.]. .loab smothered for a time his resentment against the shedder of his brother's blood; but being whetted by the natural rivalry of position between him and Abner, he afterwards made it the instrument of his policy by treacherously, in the act of friendly communication, sbying Abuer, at the very time when the services of the latter to David, to whom he had then turned, had rendered him a most dangerous rival to him in power and influ- ence (2 Sam. iii. 22-27). That Abner had at first suspected that Joab would take the position of blood-avenger [BLOOD-REVENGE] is clear, from the apprehension which he expressed (2 Sam. ii. 22 ) ; but that he thought that Joab had. under all the circumstances, abandoned this position, is shown by the unsuspecting readiness with which he went aside with him (2 Sam. iii. 20, 27) ; and that Joab placed his murderous act on the footing of vengeance for his brother's blood, is plainly stated in 2 Sam. iii. 30; by which it also appears that the other brother, Abishai, shared in some way In the deed and its responsibilities. At the same time, as Abner was perfectly justified in slaying Asahel to save his owu life, it is very doubtful if Joab would ever have asserted his right of blood-revenge if Abner had not appeared likely to endanger his influence with David. The king, much as he reprobated the act, knew that it had a sort of ex- cuse in the old customs of blood-revenge, and he stood habitually too much in awe of his impetu- ous and able nephew to bring him to punish- ment, or even to displace him from his command. 4 I am this day weak,' he said, ' though anointed king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, be too hard for me' (2 Sam. iii. 39 ; 1 Chron. xi. 4-9). Desirous probably of making some atonement before David and the public for this atrocity, in a way which at the same time was most likely to prove effectual namely, by some daring ex- ploit he was the first to mount to the assault at the storming of the fortress on Mo^nt Sion, which had remained so long in the hands of the Jebnsites. By this service he acquired the chief command of the army of all Israel, of which David was by this time king (2 Sam. v. 6-10). It is not necessary to trace the subsequent acts of Joab, seeing that they are in fact the public acts of the king he served. And he served him faithfully ; for although he knew his power over David, and often treated him with little cere- mony, there can be no doubt that he was most truly devoted to his interests, and sometimes ren- dered him good service even against his own will. did not interfere with his own interests, or tended to promote them by enabling him to make himself useful to the king. His ready apprehension of the king's meaning in the matter of Uriah, and the facility with which he made himself the instrument of the murder, and of the hypocrisy by which it was covered, are proofs of this, and form as deep a stain upon his character as his own murders (2 Sam. xi. 14-25). As Joab was on good terms with Absalom, and had taken pains to bring about a reconciliation between him and his father, we may set the higher value upon his firm adhesion to David when Absalom revolted, and upon his stern sense of duty to the king from whom he expected r.o thanks displayed in putting an end to the war by the daughter of his favourite son, when all others shrunk from the responsibility of doing the king a service against his own will (2 Sam. xviii. 1-14). In like manner, when David unhappily resolved to number the people, Joab discerned the evil, and remonstrated against it: and although he did r.ot venture to disobey, he performed the duty tardily and reluctantly, to afford the king an opportunity of reconsidering the matter, and took no pains to conceal how odious the measure was to him (2 Sam. xxiv. 1-4). David was certainly un- grateful for the services of Joab, when, in order to conciliate the powerful party which had sup- ported Absalom, he offered the command of the host to Amasa, who had commanded the army of Absalom (2 Sam. xix. 13). But the inefficiency of the new commander, in the emergency w.hich the revolt of Bichri's son produced, arisin-r per- haps from the reluctance of the troops to follow their new leader, gave Joab an opportunity of displaying his superior resources, and also of re- moving his rival by a murder Very similar to, and in some respects less excusable and more fou than, that of Abner [AMASA]. Besides, Amasa was his own cousin, being the son of his mother's sister (2 Sam. xx. 1-13). When David lay on his death-bed, and a de- monstration was made in favour of the succession of the eldest surviving son, Adonijah, whose in- terests had been compromised by the preference of the young Solomon, Joab joined the party of the natural heir. It would be unjust to regard this as a defection from David. It was nothing more or less than a demonstration in favour of the natural heir, which, if not then made, could not be made at all. But an act which would have been justifiable, had the preference of Solo- mon been a mere caprice of the old king, became criminal as an act of contumacy to the Divine king, the real head of the government, who had called the house of David to the throne, and had the sole right of determining which of its mem- bers should reign. When the prompt measures taken under the direction of the king rendered this demonstration abortive (1 Kings i. 7), Joab withdrew into private life till some time after the death of David, when the fate of Adonijah, and of Abiathar whose life was only spared in con- sequence of his sacerdotal character warned Joab that he had little mercy to expect from the as in the affair at Mahanaim (2 Sam. xix. 5-8). I new king. He fled for refuge to the altar; but But Joab had no principles apart from what he ' when Solomon heard this, he sent Benaiah to put 480 JOASH him to death ; and, as he refused to come forth, gave orders that he should be slain even at the altar. Thus died one of the most accomplished warriors and unscrupulous men that Israel ever produced. His corpse was removed to his domain in the wilderness of Judah, and buried there, B.C. 1015 (1 Kings ii. 5, 28-34). JOAN'NA, wife of Chuza, the steward of He- rod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee. She was one of those women who followed Christ, and ministered to the wants of him and his disciples out of their abundance. They had all been cured of grievous diseases by the Saviour, or had re- ceived material benefits from him ; and the cus- toms of the country allowed them to testify in this way their gratitude and devotedness without reproach. It is usually supposed that Joanna was at this time a widow (Luke viii. 3 ; xxiv. 10). 1. JO'ASH (God-given*), a. contraction of JE- HOASH, son of Ahaziah and eighth king of Judah, who began to reign in B.C. 878, at the age of seven, aud reigned forty-one years. Joash, when an infant, was secretly saved by his aunt Jehoshebah, who was married to the high-priest Jehoiada, from the general massacre of the family by Athaliah, who had usurped the throne [ATHALIAH ; JEHOIADA]. By the high- priest and his wife the child was privily brought up in the chambers connected with the temple till he had attained his eighth year, when Je- hoiada deemed that the state of affairs required him to produce the youthful heir of the throne to the people, and claim for him the crown which his grandmother had so unrighteously usurped. Finding the influential persons whom he con- sulted favourable to the design, everything was secretly, but admirably, arranged for producing Joash, and investing him with the regalia, in such a manner that Athaliah could have no sus- picion of the event till it actually occurred. On the day appointed, the sole surviving scion of David's illustrious house appeared in the place of the kings, by a particular pillar in the temple- court, and was crowned and anointed with the usual ceremonies. The high-wrought enthusiasm of the spectators then found vent in clapping of hands and exulting shouts of ' Long live the king!' The joyful uproar was heard even in the palace, and brought Athaliah to the temple, from which, at a word from Jehoiada, she was led to her death. Joash behaved well during his non-age, and so long after as he remained under the influence of the high-priest. But when he died the king seems to have felt himself relieved from a yoke ; and, to manifest his freedom, began to take the contrary course to that which he had followed while under pupilage. ' Gradually the persons who had pos- sessed influence formerly, when the house of David was contaminated by its alliance with the house of Ahab, insinuated themselves into his councils, and ere long the worship of Jehovah and the observances of the law were neglected, and the land was defiled with idolatries and idolatrous usages. The prophets then uttered their warnings, but were not heard ; and the in- fatuated king had the atrocious ingratitude to put to death Zechariah, the son and successor of his benefactor Jehoiada. Fur these deeds Joash was made an example of the divine judgments. He saw big realm devastated by the Syrians under JOB, THE BOOK OF Hazael; his armies were cut in pieces by ai enemy of inferior numbers ; and he was even besieged in Jerusalem, and only preserved his capital and his crown by giving up the treasures of the temple. Besides this, a painful malady embittered all his latter days, and at length he became so odious that his own servants conspired against him, and slew him on his bed. Joash was buried in the city of David ; but a place in the sepulchre of the kings was denied to his re- mains (2 Kings xi. ; xii. ; 2 Chron. xxiv.). 2. JOASH, son and successor of Jehoahaz on the throne of Israel, of which he was the twelfth king. He began to reign in B.C. 840, and reigned sixteen incomplete years. He followed the ex- ample of his predecessors in the policy of keeping up the worship of the golden calves ; but, apart from this, he bears a fair character, and had in- tervals, at least, of sincere piety and true devotion to the God of his fathers. He held the prophet Elisha in high honour, looking up to him as a father. When he heard of his last illness he re- paired to the bed-side of the dying prophet, aud was favoured with promises of victories over the Syrians, by whom his dominions were then harassed. These promises were accomplished after the prophet's death. In three signal and successive victories Joash overcame the Syrians, and retook from them the towns which Hazae] had rent from Israel. These advantages rendered the kingdom o) Israel more potent than that of Judah. He, however, sought 110 quarrel with that kingdom ; but when he received a defiance from Amaziah, king of Judah, he answered with becoming spirit in a parable, which by its images calls to mind that of Jotham [PARABLES] : the cool disdain oi the answer must have been, and in fact was, ex- ceedingly galling to Amaziah. In the war, or rather action, which followed, Joash was vic- torious. Having defeated Amaziah at Beth- shemesh, in Judah, he advanced to Jerusalem, broke down the wall to the extent of 400 cubits, and carried away the treasures both of the temple and the palace, together with hostages for the future good behaviour of the crest-fajlen Ama- ziah. Joash himself did not long survive this victory; he died in peace, and was buried in Samaria (2 Kings xiii. 9-25; xiv. 1-17). JOB, THE BOOK OF. We shall consider, first, the contents of this book ; secondly, its ob- ject ; thirdly, its composition ; and, lastly, the country, descent, and age of its author. I. CONTESTS. In the land of Uz, belonging to the northern part of Arabia Deserta, lived an honest, pious man, called Job. For his sincere and perfect devotedness, God had amply blessed him with*worldly property and children ; but on Satan obtaining leave to tempt him, he suddenly lost the fortune of his life. Ultimately he is smitten with a severe and painful disease; but though his wife moves him to forsake God, lie still continues true and stanch to the Lord. Three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, hear of his calamities, and come to console him. His distressed state excites their heartfelt compassion ; but the view which they take of its origin pre- vents them from at once assisting him, aud they remain silent though they are sensible that by so doing they further wound his feelings. Seven days thus pass, until Job, suspecting the cause of JOB, THE BOOK OF their conduct, becomes dis'omposed and breaks silence. His first observations are based on the assertion not, indeed, broadly expressed that God acts harshly and .arbitrarily in inflicting calamity on men. This causes a discussion be- tween him and his friends, which is divided into three main parts, each with subdivisions, and embraces the speeches of the three friends of Job, and his answers: the last part, however, consists of only two subdivisions, the third friend, Zophar, having nothing to rejoin. By this silence the author of the book generally designates the defeat of Job's friends, who are defending a com- mon cause. Taking a general view of the argu- ment which they urge against him, they may be considered as asserting the following positions : 1. No man being free from sin, we need not wonder that we are liable to calamities, for which we mustaccount by a reference, not to God, but to ourselves. From the misery of the distressed, others are enabled to infer their guilt ; and they must take this view in order to vindicate divine justice. 2. The distress of a man proves not only that he has sinned, but shows also the degree and measure of his sin ; and thus, from the extent of calamity sustained, may be inferred the extent of sins committed; and from this the measure of, impending misfortune. 3. A distressed man may recover his former happiness, and even attain to greater fortune than he ever enjoyed before, if he takes a "warning from his afflictions, repents of his sins, reforms his life, and raises himself to a higher degree of moral rectitude. Impatience and irreverent expostula- tion with God serve but to prolong and increase punishment ; for, by accusing God of injustice. a fresh sin is added to former transgressions. 4. Though the wicked man is capable of pro- sperity, still it is never lasting. The most awful retribution soon overtakes him ; and his transient felicity must itself be considered as punishment, since it renders hiu heedless, and makes him feel misfortune more keenly. In opposition to them, Job maintains : 1. The most upright man may be highly un- fortunate more ?o than the inevitable faults and shortcomings of human nature would seem to imply. There is a savage cruelty, deserving the severities of the Divine resentment, in inferring the guilt of a man from his distresses. In dis- tributing good and evil, God regards neither merit nor guilt, but acts according to His sove- reign pleasure. His omnipotence is apparent in every part of the creation ; but His justice cannot be seen in the government of the world ; the afflictions of the righteous, as well as the prospe- rity of the wicked, are evidence against it. There are innumerable cases,- and Job considers his own to be one of them, in which a suiferer has a right to justify himself before God, and to repine at liis decrees. Of this supposed right Job freely avails himself, and maintains it against his friends. 2. In a state of composure and calmer reflec- tion, Job retracts, chiefly in his concluding speech, all his former rather extravagant asser- tions, and says that, although God generally | afflicts the wicked and blesses the righteous, still I -there are exceptions to this rule, single cases in I which the pious undergo severe trials ; the infe- JOB, THE BOOK OF 481 rence, therefore, of a man's guilt from his mis- fortunes is by no means warranted. For the exceptions established by experience prove that God does not always distribute prosperity and adversity after this rule ; but that he sometimes acts on, a different principle, or ?.s an absolute lord, according to his mere will and pleasure. 3. Humbly to adore God is our duty, even when we are subject to calamities not at all deserved ; but we should abstain from harshly judging of those who, when distressed, send forth complaints against God. The interest of the narrative is kept up with considerable skill, by progressively rising and highly passionate language. At first, Job's friends charge him, and he defends himself, in mild terms; but gradually they are all betrayed into warmth of temper, which goes on increasing until the friends have nothing more to object, and Job remains in possession of the field. The discussion then seems to be at an end, when a fresh disputant, Elihu, appears. Trusting in his just cause, Job had proudly opposed God, with whom he expostulated, and whom he charged with injustice, when the sense of his calamities should have led him to acknowledge the siniul- ness of human nature, and humbly to submit to the Divine dispensations. Making every allow- ance for his painful situation, and putting the mildest construction on his expressions, he- is still substantially wrong, and could not therefore be suffered to remain the vanquisher in this high argument. He had silenced his friends, but the general issue remained to be settled. Elihu had waited till Job and his friends had spoken, be- cause they were older than he ; but when he saw that the three visitors ceased to answer, he offers himself to reason with Job, and shows that God is just in his ways. He does this, 1. From the nature of inflictions. He begins by urging that Job was very wrong in boasting of his integrity, and making it appear that re- wards were due to him from God. How righteous soever he was, he still had no claim to reward ; on the contrary, all men are sinners in God's eyes ; and nobody can complain that he suffers unjustly, for the very greatest sufferings equal not his immense guilt. Then Elihu explains a leading point on which he differs from the friends of Job: he asserts that from greater sufferings inflicted on a person it was not to be inferred that he had sinned more than others afflicted with a less amount of calamity. Calamities were, in- deed, under, all circumstances, punishments for sins committed, but at the same time they were correctives also ; and therefore they might be inflicted on the comparatively most righteous in preference to others. If the object of afflictions was attained, and the distressed acknowledged his sinfulness, he would humble himself before God, who would bless him with greater happiness than he ever before enjoyed. But he who took not this view, and did not amend his ways, would be ruined, and the blame would rest wholly with himself. Consequently, if Job made the best of his misfortune, God would render him most happy; but if he continued refractory, punish- ment would follow his offences. 2. From a clear conception of the nature of God. ' The whole creation shows forth His majesty, and evinces His justice. For a man to stand up 21 482 JOB, THE BOOK OF against Him and to assert that he suffers inno- cently, is the greatest anthropomorphism, because it (joes to deny the Divine majesty, evident in all the facts of the created world, and including God's justice. His nature being one and indi- cisible, it cannot on one side exhibit infinite perfection, aud on the other imperfection : each example, then, of God's grandeur in the creation of the world is evidence against the rash accuser: of God's justice. God must be just this is cer- tain from the outset ; and how His justice is not impaired by calamities inflicted on the righteous aud oa thyself, 1 have already explained.' Job had, in a stirring manner, several times, challenged God to decide the contest. Elihu suspects the approach of the Lord, when, towards the end of his speech, a violent thunder-storm arises, and God answers Job out of the whirl- wind, showing how foolishly the latter had acted in offering to reason with Him, when His works proved His infinite majesty, and, consequently, His absolute justice. Job now submits to God, and humbly repents of his offence. Hereupon God addresses Eliphaz, Biidad, and Zophar, declaring unto them His? displeasure at their unmerciful dealing with their friend, the conse- quences of which could only be avoided by Job offering a propitiatory sacrifice. This is done, and the Ix>rd grants unto Job ample compensa- tion for his sufferings. II. DESIGN OF THE BOOK. All agree that the object of the book is the solution of the question, how the afflictions of the righteous and the prosperity of the wicked can be consistent with God's justice. But it should be observed that the direct problem exclusively refers to the first | point, the second being only incidentally dis- I cussed on occasion of the leading theme. If this I is overlooked, the author would appear to have i solved only one half of his problem ; the case i from which the whole discussion proceeds, has reference merely to the leading problem. Ths solution of the problem regarding the sufferings of the righteous rests on two positions. 1. Calamity is th only way that leads to the king loin of God. 2. Calamity, as the veiled grace of God, is with the pious never alone, but manifest proofs of Divine favour accompany or follow it. Though sunk in misery, they still are happier than the wick.-d, and when it has attained its object, it is terminated by the Lord. It is this exclusively correct solution of the problem which occurs in the book of Job. It is not given in Job's speeches or in the speeches of his friends, neither is it exclusively given in the addresses of God which contain only the basis of the solution, not the solution itself. But all in- terpreters allow that it is set forth iu Elihu's speeches which appear to contain the opinion of the author. The leading principle in Elihu's statement is, that calamity in the shape of trial was inflicted even on the comparatively best men, but that God allowed a favourable turn to take place as soon as it had attained its object. Now this is the key to the events of Job's life. Though a pious and righteous niaa, he is tried by severe afflictions. He knows not for what purpose he is smitten, and his calamity continues ; but when tie learns it from the addresses of Elihu and God, JOB, THE BOOK OF and humbles himself, he is relieved from the burden which oppresses him, and ample prospe- rity atones for the afflictions he has sustained. Add to this, that the remaining portion of Elihu's speeches, in which he points to God's infinite majesty as including his justice, is continued in the addresses of God ; that Elihu foretells God's appearance ; that he is not punished by God as are the friends of Job ; in fine, that Job by his very silence acknowledges the problem to have been solved by Elihu ; and his silence is the more significant because Elihu had urged him to defend himself (xxxiii. 32), and because Job had repeatedly declared he would ' hold his peace,' if it was shown to him wherein he had erred (vi. 24, 25 ; xix. 4). In regard to the character of the composition of the book there are three different opinions : 1. Some contend that the book contains an entirely true history. 2. Others assert that it is founded on a true history, which has been recast, modified, and enlarged by the author. 3. The third opinion is, that the book contains a narra- tive entirely imaginary, and constructed by the author to teach a great moral truth. The first view, taken by numerous ancient in- terpreters, is now abandoned by nearly all inter- preters. It seems, however, to have been adopted by Josephus, for he places Job in the list of the historical books; and it was prevalent with all the fathers of the church. In its support it is said, 1. That Job is (Ezek. xiv. 14-20) men- tioned as a public character, together with Noah and Daniel, and represented as an example of piety. 2. In the epistle of James (v. 11), patience in sufferings is recommended by a reference to Job. We must confine ourselves to contending for an historical foundation of the book, but must not undertake to determine the exact nature of the groundwork. That its historical framework was poetically enlarged by the author, has been al- ready observed by Luther. As for the rest, the subtility displayed in explaining opposite views, the carefully drawn characters of the persons introduced, and their animated discourses, lead us to suppose that the question at issue had pre- viously been the subject of various discussions in presence of the author, who, perhaps, took part in them. Thus there would be an historical foundation, not only for the facts related in the book, but to a certain extent also for the speeches. Opinions differed in ancient times as to the nation to which the author belonged ; some con- ! sidering him to have been an Arab, others an Israelite ; but the latter supposition is undoubt- edly preferable. For, 1st, we find in our book many ideas of genuine Israelite growth : the creation of the world is described, in accordance with the prevailing notions of the Israelites, as the immediate effect of Divine omnipotence ; man is formed of clay; the spirit of man is God's breath ; God employs the angels for the perform- ance of his orders ; Satan, the enemy of the chosen children of God, is his instrument for tempting them ; men are weak and sinful ; no- body is pure in the sight of God ; moral corrup- tion is propagated. There is promulgated to men the law of God, which they must not infringe, and the transgressions of which are visited on JOB, THE BOOK OF offenders with punishments. Moreover, the ' nether world is depicted in hues entirely Hebrew. ; To these particulars might, without much trouble, : be added many more ; but the deep-searching inquirer will particularly weigh, 2ndly, the fact, that the book displays a' strength and fervour of ; religious faith, such as could only be expected ; within the domain of revelation. Proceeding to the inquiry as to the age of the author of this book, we meet with three opi- nions: 1. That he lived before Moses, or was, at least, his contemporary. 2. That he lived in : the time of Solomon, or in the centuries next i following. 3. That he lived shortly before, or during, or even after the Babylonian exile. The view of those who assert the book to have been written long after the Babylonian exile, can be supported neither by the nature of its language nor by reasons derived from its historical ground- work, and is therefore now generally rejected. Against this view, militate, first, the references to it in the Old Testament, which prove that it ; was before this period a generally known writing. Thus, in Ezek. xiv. 14-20, are mentioned 'three \ men, Noah, Daniel, and Job,' as examples of ' righteousness. Further, in Je/emiah xx. 14, we find evidently imitated Job's cursing of the day of his birth (ch. iii.). Not only the sentiments but the words are often the same. There are also in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, many pas- sages clearly alluding to our book, which must have eminently suited the taste of this prophet and interested him (comp. xvi. 13 with Lam. ii. 16; and xix. 8, with Lam. iii. 7, 9). Another example of words borrowed from Job occurs in Psalm cvii. 42, where the second part of the verse agrees literally with Job v. 16. 2. A most decisive reason against assigning the composition of Job to the period of the Exile is derived from the language, since it is free from those Chal- daisms which occur in the books written about that time. Eichhorn justly observes, ' Let him who is fit for such researches, only read, first, a writing, tainted with Arama?isms, and next the book of Job : they will be found diverging as east and west.' 3. Equally conclusive is the poetical character of the book. The Exile might produce a soft, moving poem, but could not give birth to such a rich, compact, animated, and warm composition as ours, breathing youthful freshness throughout. Ewald, in acknowledging this, says justly, ' The high skill displayed in this book cannot be well expected from later centuries, when poetry had by degrees generally declined, and particularly in the higher art re- quired by large compositions; and language so concise and expressive as that of our author, is not found in writings of later times.' To the view which places the age of the book of Job in the time of the Babylonian exile, is most opposed that which assigns the composition of it to a period prior to Moses. In support of this latter view, two arguments have been ad- duced. It is said, 1. 'There is in the book of Job no direct reference to the Mosaic legislation ; and its descriptions and other statements are suited to the period of the patriarchs ; as, for instance, the great authority held by old men, the high age of Job, and fathers offering sacri- fices for their families which leads to the sup- position that when our book was written no JOB'S DISEASE 483 sacerdotal order yet existed.' These points, how- ever, are quite intelligible, if the design of the book, as stated above, is kept in view. The author intended not to rest the decision of the question at issue on particular passages of Scrip- ture, but on religious consciousness and ex- ' perience. This at once explains why he places ; the scene without Palestine, why he places it in j. the patriarchal age, and why he avoids the use ; of the name Jehovah ; of these three items the first sufficiently accounts for no reference being made to the "Mosaic legislation. 2. 'The lan- guage of the book of Job seems strongly to support the opinion of its having been, written before Moses.' It has been often said, that no writing of the Old Testament may be more fre- quently illustrated from the Arabic than this book. In answer to this it has been said that this inference would be safe only if the book were written in prose, and that the selection of obsolete and rare words and forms, with the Hebrews, was a peculiar feature of the poetical style, and served to distinguish it from the usual, habitual way of writing; and that this peculiarity belongs to our book more than to any other. With regard to the reasons in support of the | opinion that the book of Job was written after the age of Moses, most of them are either not con- clusive at all, or not quite cogent. Thus it is an arbitrary assumption, proved by modern re- searches to be erroneous, that the art of writing was unknown previous to the age of Moses. The assertion too, that the marks of cultivation and refinement observable in our book belonged to a later age, rests on no historical ground. The evident correspondence also between this book and the Proverbs and Psalms is not a point proving with resistless force that they were all written at the same time. It is, indeed, some- times of such a kind, that the authors of the Proverbs and Psalms cannot be exactly said to have copied our book ; but it may be accounted for by their all belonging to the same class of writings, by the very great uniformity and ac- cordance of religious conceptions and sentiments expressed in the Old Testament, and by the sta- bility of its religious character. Summing up the whole of our investigations, we take it to be a settled point that the book of Job does not belong to the time of the Baby- lonian exile : and it cannot have been composed later than the era of Isaiah, who alludes to it. With this result we must rest satisfied. There remains uncertainty, but it does not concern an important point of religion. The significancy of our book for the church rests on the evidence of our Lord and his apostles in support of the inspi- ration of the whole collection of the Old Testa- ment, and on the confirmation which this external evidence hns at all times received, and continues to receive, from the internal testimony, among the true believers of all ages. JOB'S DISEASE. The opinion that the ma- lady under which Job suffered was elephantiasis, or black leprosy, is very ancient and. in modern \ times, it is entertained by the best scholars gene- rally. The passages which are considered to in- | dicate this disease are found in the description of his skin burning from head to foot, so that he took a potsherd to scrape himself (ii. 7, 8) ; in its being covered with putrefaction and crusts of earth, and 4S4 JOEL being at one time stiff and hard, while at another it cracked and discharged fluid (vii. 5) ; in the offensive breath which drove away the kindness of attendants (xix. 17); in the restless nights, which were either sleepless or scared with frightful dreams (vii. 13, 14; xxx. 17); in general emacia- tion (xvi. 8) ; and in so intense a loathing of the burden of life, that strangling and death were preferable to it (vii. 15). In this, as in most other Biblical diseases, there is too little distinct description of symptoms to enable us to determine the precise malady in- tended. But the general character of the com- plaint under which Job suffered, bears a greater resemblance to elephantiasis than to any other disease [LEPROSY]. JOCH'EBED ( God-glorijied), wife of Amram and mother of Miriam, Moses and Aaron. In Exod. vi. 20, Jochebed is expressly declared to have been the sister of Amram's father, and con- sequently the aunt of her husband. As marriage between persons thus related was afterwards forbidden by the law (Lev. xviii. 12), various attempts have been made to show that the rela- tionship was more distant than the text in its literal meaning indicates. We see no necessity for this. The mere mention of the relationship implies that there was something remarkable in the case ; but if we show that nothing is remark- able, we do away the occasion for the relationship being at all noticed. The fact seems to be, that where this marriage was contracted, there was no ' law forbidding such alliances, but they must in \ any case have been unusual, although not for- bidden ; and this, with the writer's knowledge that they were subsequently interdicted, suffi- ; ciently accounts for this one being so pointedly mentioned. The candour of the historian in de- claring himself to be sprung from a marriage, '. afterwards forbidden by the law, delivered through himself, deserves especial notice. JO'EL (worshipper of JehovaK), one of the twelve minor prophets, the son of Pethuel. Of his birth-place nothing is known with certainty. From the local allusions in his prophecy, we may infer that he discharged his office in the kingdom of Judah. But the references to the temple, its priests and sacrifices, are rather slender grounds for conjecturing that he belonged to the sacerdotal order. Various opinions have been held respect- ing the period in which he lived. It appears most probable that he was contemporary with Amos and Isaiah, and delivered his predictions in the reign of Uzziah, between 800 and 780 B.C. This prophet opens his commission by an- nouncing an extraordinary plague of locusts, accompanied with extreme drought, which he depicts in a strain of animated and sublime poetry under the image of an invading army. The fide- lity of his highly-wrought description is corro-. borated and illustrated by the testimonies of Shaw, Volney, Forbes, and other eminent travel- lers, who have beeu eye-witnesses of the ravages committed by this most terrible of the insect tribe. In the second chapter, the formidable aspect of the locusts their rapid progress their sweeping devastation the awful murmur of their countless throngs their instinctive marshalling the irresistible perseverance with which they makc their way over every obstacle and through 'every aperture are delineated with the utmost JOHANAN graphic force. There is considerable diversity of sentiment as to the point whether these descrip- tions are to be understood Hterally or figuratively. The figurative interpretation has, it must be allowed, the support of antiquity. It was adopted by the Chaldee paraphrast, Ephrem the Syrian (A.D. 350), and the Jews in the time of Jerome (A.D. 400). Ephrem supposes that by the four different denominations of the locusts were in- tended Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser, Sennache- rib, and Nebuchadnezzar. The Jews, in the time of Jerome, understood by the first term the Assy- rians and Chaldeans ; by the second, the Medes and Persians ; by the third, Alexander the Great and his successors ; and by the fourth, the Romans, j Grotius applies the description to the invasions by Pul and Shalmaneser. Holzhausen attempts to unite both modes of interpretation, and applies the language literally to the locusts, and meta- phorically to the Assyrians. It is singular, how- ever, that, if a hostile invasion be intended, not the least hint is given of personal injury sustained by the inhabitants ; the immediate effects are con- fined entirely to the vegetable productions and the cattle. The prophet, after describing the approaching judgments, calls on his countrymen to repent, assuring them of the divine placability and readi- ness to forgive (ii. 12-17). He foretels the restor- ation of the land to its former fertility, and ' declares that Jehovah would still be their God (ii. 18-26). He then announces the spiritual blessings which would be poured forth in the Messianic age (iii. 1-5, Heb. text ; ii. 28-32, Auth. Vers.). This remarkable prediction is applied by the Apostle Peter to the events that transpired on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 16-21). In the last chapter the divine vengeance is denounced against the enemies and oppressors of the chosen people, of whom the Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Edomites are especially named. The style of Joel, it has been remarked, unites the strength of Micah with the tenderness of Jere- miah. In vividness of description he rivals Nahum, and in sublimity and majesty is scarcely inferior to Isaiah and Habakkuk. The canonicity of this book has never been called in question. JOHA'NAN (God-bestowed} ; one of the officers who came and recognised Gedaliah as governor of Judaea after the destruction of Jerusalem, and who appears to have been the chief in authority and influence among them. He penetrated the designs of Ishmnel against the governor, whom he endeavoured, without success, to put upon his guard. When Ishmael had accomplished his de- sign by the murder of Gedaliah, and was carrying away the principal persons at the seat of govern- ment as captives to the Ammonites, Johanan pur- sued him, and released them. Being fearful, however, that the Chaldaeans might misunder- stand the affair, and make him and those who were with him responsible for it, he resolved to with- draw for safety into Egypt, with the principal persons of the remnant left in the land. Jeremiah remonstrated against this decision ; but Johanan would not be moved, and even constrained the prophet himself to go with them. They pro- ceeded to Taphanes, but nothing further is re- corded of Johanan. B.C. 588 (2 Kings xxv. 23 ; Jer. xl. S-1G; xli. ; xlii. ; xliii.). JOHN THE BAPTIST JOHN THE BAPTIST. The name John denotes grace or favour. In the church John commonly bears the honourable title of ' fore- runner of the Lord.' His parents were Zacharias and Elisabeth, the latter ' a cousin of Mary/ the mother of Jesus, whose senior John was by a period of six months (Luke i.). According to the account contained in the first chapter of Luke, his father, while en- gaged in burning incense, was visited by the angel Gabriel, who informed him that in compliance with his prayers his wife should bear a son, whose name he should call John in allusion to the grace thus accorded. A description of the manner of his son's life is given, which in effect states that he was-tobe a Nazarite, abstaining from bodily indulgences, was to receive special favour and aid of God, was to prove a great religious and social reformer, and so prepare the way for the long-expected Messiah. Zacharias was slow to believe these tidings and sought some token in evidence of their truth. Accordingly a sign was given which acted also as a punishment of his want of faith his tongue was sealed till the pre- diction should be fulfilled by the event. Six months after Elisabeth had conceived she received a visit from Mary, the future mother of Jesus. On being saluted by her relation, Elisabeth felt her babe leap in her womb, and, being filled with the holy spirit, she broke forth into a poetic con- gratulation to Mary, as the destined mother of her Lord. At length Elisabeth brought forth a son, whom the relatives were disposed to name Zacha- rias, after his father but Elisabeth was in some way led to wish that he should be called John. The matter was referred to the father, who sig- nified in writing that his name was to be John. This agreement with Elisabeth caused all to marvel. Zacharias now had his tongue loosed, and he first employed his restored power in praising God. These singular events caused uni- versal surprise, and led people to expect that the child would prove a distinguished man. The parents of John were not only of a priestly ord-,T, but righteous and devout. Their influence, in consequence, in the training of their son, would be not only benign but suitable to the holy office which he was designed to fill. More than this the special aids of God's Spirit were with him (Luke i. 66). As a consequence of the lofty in- fluences under which he was nurtured, the child waxed strong in spirit. The sacred writer adds that ' he was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel' (Luke i. 80). In the fifteenth year of the Emperor Tiberius, John made his public appearance, exhibiting the austerity, the costume, and the manner of life of the ancient Jewish prophets (Luke iii. ; Matt. Hi.). His raiment was camel's hair ; he wore a plain leathern girdle about his loins ; his food was what the desert spontaneously offered locusts and wild honey from the rock. The burden of John's preaching bore no slight resemblance to the old prophetic exhortations, whose last echo had now died away for centuries. He called upon the Jewish people to repent, to e-hauge their minds, their dispositions and affections, and thus prepared the way for the great doctrine promul- gated by his Lord, of the necessity of a spiritual regeneration. That the change which John had ill view was by no means of so great or so elevated JOHN THE BAPTIST 485 a kind as that which Jesus required, is very pro- i bable ; but the particulars into which he enters when he proceeds to address classes or individuals : (Matt. iii. 7, sq. ; Luke iii. 7, sq.), serve fully to show that the renovation at which he aimed was , not merely of a material or organic, but chiefly of a moral nature. In a very emphatic manner did ; he warn the ecclesiastical and legal authorities of ; the land of the necessity under which they lay of j an entire change of view, of aim, and of desire; i declaring in explicit and awful terms that their | pride of nationality would avail them nothing i against the coming wrathful visitation, and that they -were utterly mistaken in the notion that Divine Providence had any need of them for com- pleting its own wise purposes (Luke iii. 8, 9). The first reason assigned by John for entering on his most weighty and perilous office was an- nounced in these words ' the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' It was his great work to prepare the mind of the nation, so that when Jesus himself came they might be a people made ready for the Lord. Had we space to develope the moral character of John, we could show that this fine, stern, high-minded teacher possessed many eminent qualities; but his personal and official modesty in keeping, in all circumstances, in the lower rank assigned him by God. must not pass without special mention. The doctrine and manner of life of John appear to have roused the entire of the south of Palestine, and people flocked from all parts to the spot where, on the banks of the Jordan, he baptized thousands unto repentance. Such, indeed, was the fame which he had gained, that ' people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not' (Luke iii. 15). Had he chosen, John might without doubt have assumed to himself the higher office, and risen to great worldly power. But he was faithful to his trust, and never failed to declare, in the fullest and clearest manner, that he was not the Christ, but merely his harbinger, and that the sole work he had to do was to usher in the day-spring from on high. The more than prophetic fame of the Baptist reached the ears of Jesus in his Nazarene dwell- ing, far distant from the locality of John (Matt. ii. 22, 23). The nature of the report namely, that his Divinely- predicted forerunner had ap- peared in Judaea showed our Lord that the time was now come for his being made manifest to Israel. Accordingly he comes to the place where John is to be baptized of him, in order that thus he might fulfil all that was required under the dispensation which was about to dis- appear (Matt. iii. 13). John's sense of inferiority inclines him to ask rather than to give baptism in the case of Jesus, who, however, wills to have it so, and is accordingly baptized of John. Im- mediately on the termination of this symbolical act, a Divine attestation is given from the opened vault of heaven, declaring Jesus to be in truth the long-looked-for Messiah' This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased' (Matt. iii. 17). The relation which subsisted between John and Jesus, after the emphatic testimony above recorded had been borne, we have not the mate- rials to describe with full certainty. It seems but natural to think, when their hitherto relative position is taken into account, I 486 JOHN THE EVANGELIST that John would forthwith lay down his office of harbinger, which, now that the Sun of Righte- | ousness himself had appeared, was entirely ful- filled and terminated. Such a step he does not 1 appear to have taken. On the contrary, the lan- guage of Scripture seems to imply that the Bap- tist church continued side by side with the Mes- siauic (Mutt. xi. 3; Luke vii. 19 ; Matt. ix. 14; Luke xi. 1 ; John iii. 23), and remained long after John's execution (Acts xix. 3). Still, though i it has been generally assumed that John did not lay down his office, we are not satisfied that the New Testament establishes this alleged fact. John may have ceased to execute his own pecu- liar work, as the forerunner, but may justifiably have continued to bear his most important testi- mony to the Messiahship of Christ ; or he may 1 even have altogether given up the duties of active life some time, at least, before his death ; and yet his disciples, both before and after that event, may have maintained their individuality as a religious communion. Nor is it impossible that some misconception or some sinister motive may have had weight in preventing the Baptist church from dissolving and passing into that of Christ. It was, not improbably, with a view to remove some error of this kind that John sent the embassy of his disciples to Jesus which is recorded in Matt. xi. 3; Luke vii. ,19. No inti- ; mation is found in the record that John required : evidence to give him satisfaction ; and all the language that is used is proper and pertinent if we suppose that the doubt lay only in the minds of his disciples. That the terms employed admit the interpretation that John was not without some misgivings (Luke vii. 23 ; Matt xi. 6), we are free to allow. And if any doubt had grown up in the Baptist's mind, it was most probably owing to the defective spirituality of his views ; for even of him Jesus has declared, ' he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he' (Matt. xi. 11). Were this the case, it would of itself account not only for the embassy sent by John to Jesus, but also for the continuance and perpetuation of John's separate influence as the founder of a sect. The manner of John's death is too well known to require to be detailed here (Matt. iv. 12 ; xiv. 3 ; Luke iii. 19 ; Mark vi. 17 ; Joseph. Aiitiq. xviii. 5. 2). He reproved a tyrant for a heinous crime, and received his reward in decapitation. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. This eminent Apostle was the son of Zebedee, a fisherman, and ' of Salome. It is probable that he was Ivorn at Bethsaida, on the lake of Galilee. His parents appear to have been in easy circumstances; at least, we find that Zebedee employed hired ser- vants (Mark i. 20), and that Salome was among 1 the number of those women who contributed to the maintenance of Jesus (Matt, xxvii. 56). We ; also find that John received Mary into his house after the death of Jesus. Since this house seems to have been situated at Jerusalem, it would ap- pear that he was the owner of two houses. John's ; acquaintance, also, with the high-priest (xviii. : 15) seems to indicate that he lived at Jerusalem, ; and belonged to the wealthier class. We may suppose that from a tender age he nourished religious feelings, since Salome, who evinced so ' much love for Jesus, probably fostered at an earlier period those hopes of a Messiah which JOHN THE EVANGELIST she expresses in Matt. xx. 20 ; and we find that he entered into communion with the Baptist from pure motives. On the banks of the Jordan the Baptist directed John to Jesus, and he immedi- ately became the Lord's disciple, and accompanied him on his return to Galilee. Having arrived there, he at first resumed his trade, but was afterwards called to remain permanently with the Redeemer (Lukev. 5-10). Jesus was parti- cularly attached to John (John xiii. 23 ; xix. 26 ; xx. 2 ; xxi. 7), who was one of the three who were distinguished above the other apostles (Matt. xvii. 1 ; xxvi. 37 ; Mark v. 37). After the ascension, John abode at Jerusalem, where Paul met him on his third journey, about the year 52 (Gal. ii. 3-9). Since he had" undertaken the care of the mother of Jesus, we cannot well suppose that he left Jerusalem before Mary's death ; and, indeed, we find that about the year 58, when Paul M-as at Ephesus, John was not yet living there. If we consider the great importance of Ephesus among the various churches of Asia Minor, and the dangers arising from false teachers, who were prevalent there as early as the days of Paul (Acts xx. 29), it will appear likely that John was sent to Ephesus alter Paul had left that scene, about the year 65. During the time of his activity in Asia Minor he was exiled by the Roman einperor to Patmos, one of the Sporadic isles in the ^Egean Sea, where, according to Revelations i. 3, he wrote the Apocalypse. Irenseus and, following him, Eusebius state" that John beheld the visions of the Apocalypse alwut the close of the reign of Domitian. If this state- ment can be depended upon, the exile to Patmos also took place under Domitian, who died A.I). 96. Tertullian relates that in the reign of Domi- tian John was forcibly conveyed to Rome, where he was thrown into a cask of oil ; that he was miraculously released, and then brought to Pat- mos. But since none of the ancient writers Ix?- sides the rather undiscriminating Tertullian, relate this circumstance, and since this mode of capital punishment was unheard of at Rome, we ought not to lay much stress upon it. It is, how- ever, likely that John was called to suffer for his faith, since Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, writing about A.D. 200, calls him ' martyr.' According to Eusebius, he returned from exile during the reign of Nerva. TLe three epistles of John, as also the affecting account concerning his fidelity as a spiritual pastor, given by Clemens Alexan- drinus, testify that he was the pastor of a large diocese. John's second Epistle, ver. 12, and third Epistle, ver. 14, indicate that he made journeys of pastoral visitation. John died at Ephesus past the age of ninety, in the reign of the Emperor Trajan. According to Jerome, he was a hundred years old, and according to Sui- das, a hundred and twenty.* * Jerome relates that when John had attained a great age he was so feeble that he could not walk to the assemblies of the church ; he, there- fore, caused himself to be carried in by young men. He was no longer able to say much, but he constantly repeated the words, ' Little chil- dren, love one another.' On being asked why he constantly repeated this one saying, he replied, ' Because it is the command of the Lord ; and enough is done if this is done." JOHN, THE GOSPEL OF JOHN, THE GOSPEL OF. During the eighteenth century and the first ten years of the nineteenth, the Gospel of John was attacked, but with feeble arguments, by some English Deists, and by four German theologians. A similar attack has lately been made by Strauss, who, although in the third edition of The Life of Jesus he manifested an inclination to give up his doubts, yet resolutely returned to them in the fourth edition, principally, as he himself con- fesses, because ' without them one could not escape from believing the miracles of Christ.' It is unnecessary, however, to refute his arguments, as they are quite unimportant, and have met witli little sympathy even in Germany. It may suffice to observe, that during the lapse of ages up to the conclusion of the eighteenth century, no one ever expressed a doubt respecting the genuineness of John's Gospel, except one small sect, whose scep- ticism, however, was not based upon historical, but merely upon dogmatical grounds. John's Gospel diifers very much in substance from the first three Gospels. But the most ! striking difference is that of the speeches ; and ' even here the difference is, perhaps, still more apparent in the form than in the substance of them. The difference of the CONTENTS may be accounted for by supposing that John intended to relate and complete the history of the Lord according to his own view of it. We are led to this supposition from the following circumstances : that, with the exception of the history of his pas- sion and his resurrection, there are only two sec- tions in which John coincides with the synoptic gospels (vi. 1-21; xii. 1); that he altogether omits such important facts as the baptism of Jesus by John, the history of his temptation and transfiguration, the institution of the Lord's sup- per, and the internal conflict at Gethsemane ; and that chapters i. 32, iii. 24, xi. 2, indicate that he presupposed his readers to be already ac- quainted with the Gospel history. He confined himself to such communications as were wanting in the others, especially with regard to the speeches of Jesus. The peculiarities of John's Gospel more espe- cially consist in the four following doctrines : 1. That of the mystical relation of the Son to the Father. 2. That of the mystical relation of the Re- deemer to believers. 3. The announcement of the Holy Ghost as the Comforter. 4. The peculiar importance ascribed to Love. Although there can be shown in the writings of the other Evangelists some isolated dicta of the Lord, which seem to bear the impress of John, it can also be shown that they contain thoughts not originating with that disciple, but with the Lord himself. Matthew (xi. 27) speaks of the relation of the Son to the Father so entirely in the style of John, that persons not sufficiently versed in Holy Writ are apt to search for this passage in the Gospel of John. The mystical union of the Son with believers is expressed in Matt, xxviii. 20. The promise of the effusion of the Holy Ghost, in order to perfect the disciples, is found in Luke xxiv. 49. The doctrine of Paul with respect to love, in 1 Cor. xiii., entirely re- sembles what, according to John, Christ taught on the same subject Paul here deserves our JOHN, THE GOSPEL OF 487 particular attention. In the writings of Paul are found Christian truths which have their points of coalescence only in John, viz., that Christ is the image oj the invisible God, by whom all things are created (Col. i. 15, 16). Paul considers the Spirit of God in the church, the spiritual Christ, as Jesus himself does (John xiv. 16). That the speeches of Christ have been faith- fully reported may be seen by a comparison of the speeches of the Baptist in the Gospel of John. The Baptist's speeches bear an entirely Old Testament character: they are full of allusions to the Old Testament, and abound in sententious expressions (John iii. 27-30; i. 26-36). We have already intimated our opinion as to the purport and plan of the Gospel of John. Most of the earlier critics considered the Gospel of John to have had a polemico-dogmatical pur- port. According to Irenacus, John wrote with the intention of combating the errors of Cerinthus the Gnostic. Others suppose that his writings were directed against the disciples of John the Baptist. . It is not improbable that the Evangelist had in view, both in his Introduction and also in ch. xix. 34, 35, some heretical opinions of those times; but it cannot be maintained that this is the case throughout the whole of the Gospel. He himself states (xx. 31) that his work had a more general object. One of the peculiarities of John is, that in speaking of the adversaries of Jesus, he always calls them the Jews. This observation has, "in modern times, given rise to a peculiar opinion concerning the plan of John's Gospel, namely, that the Evangelist has, from the very beginning of the Gospel, the following theme before his eyes : The eternal combat between Divine light and the corruption of mankind, exemplified by the mutual opposition subsisting between the hos- tile Jewish party and the manifestation of the Son of God, which combat terminates in the vic- tory of light. The Introduction of the Gospel of John ex- presses this theme in speaking of the opposition of the world to the incarnate Logos. This theme is here expressed in the same manner as the leading idea of a musical composition is expressed in the overture. As the leading idea of the whole Epistle to the Romans is contained in ch. i. 1 7, so the theme of the Gospel of John is contained in ch. i. 11-13. The Gospel is divided into two principal sections. The first extends to ch. xii. It comprehends the public functions of Jesus, and terminates with a brief summary (ver. 44-50). The second section contains the history of the Passion and of the Resurrection. The reader is prepared for this section by ch. xii. 23-32. The leading idea of this speech is, that Destruction is necessary, because without it there can be no Resurrection. With ch. xiii. begins the history of our Lord's Passion. In the third verse the Apostle directs attention to the fact that the suf- fering would finally lead to glory. In the first section is described how the opposition of the in- fluential men among the Jews was gradually increased until the decisive fact of the resurrec- tion of Lazarus led to a public outburst of their hatred. This description terminates with the official decree of Caiaphas (xi. 49, 50). The Fathers supposed that the Gospel of John 488 JOHN, THE EPISTLES OF was written at Ephesus, and there is some inter- nal evidence in favour of the statement One writer affirms that John wrote the Gospel which bears his name in Patmos, but that it was edited by the same Gaius whom Paul in the epistle to the Romans calls mine host. One might be in- clined to explain by this circumstance the post- script contained in John xxi. 24, 25. JOHN, THE EPISTLES OF. For the au- thenticity of the first epistle very ancient testi- mony may be adduced. Papias, the disciple of John, quotes some passages from it. Polycarp, also, another disciple of John, quotes a passage from this epistle. So, also, Iremcus. The author of the first epistle describes him- self, at its commencement, as an eye-witness of the life of our Lord. The style and language manifestly harmonize with those of the author of the Gospel of John. The polemics, also, which in ch. ii. 18-26, are directed against the Docetic Gnostics, in ch. iv. 1-3, agree with the sphere of action in Asia Minor in which the Evangelist John was placed. We may, therefore, suppose that the epistle was written to Christian con- gregations in Asia Minor, which were placed under the spiritual care of the apostle. It is generally admitted that ch. i. 2 refers to the Gospel. If this is correct, the apostle wrote this epistle at a very advanced age, after he had written his gospel. The epistle breathes love and devotion, but also zeal for moral strictness (iii. 6-8 ; v. 16). There is a remarkable absence of logical connection in the form of separata ex- pressions, and in the transitions from one thought to another. Some writers have been inclined to find a reason for this in the advanced age of the writer. Old age may, perhaps, have contributed to this characteristic, but it is chiefly attributable to the mental peculiarity of the apostle. There has been no subject connected with Biblical literature -which has attracted more attention than this epistle, in consequence of the contro- versies which have existed since the commence- ment of the sixteenth century, respecting the ce- lebrated passage in 1 John v. 7, 8. We cannot enter here into the history of that controversy, which has continued with more or less of asperity to our own day. We shall merely remark that the disputed passage is found in no Greek ma- nuscript, save only in two, both belonging to the fifteenth century ; and that it has not once been quoted by any of the Greek, Latin, or Oriental fathers. It is now, therefore, generally omitted in all critical editions of the New Testament. The second and third epistles of John were originally wanting in the ancient Syriac trans- lation. From their nature, it may easily be explained how it happened that they were less generally known in ancient Christian con- gregations, and that the fathers do not quote them so often as other parts of Scripture, since they are very short, and treat of private affairs. The private nature of their contents removes also the suspicion that they could have been forged, since it would be difficult to discover any purpose which could have led to such a forgery. The second epistle is addressed to a lady, called Kuria, which name frequently occurs in ancient writers as that of a woman. The third epistle is addressed to Gaius, a person otherwise unknown. It is remarkable JONADAB that the writer of this epistle calls himself 'the presbyter ' or ' elder.' Some writers have been i inclined to ascribe these letters to the presbyter John, who is sometimes spoken of in the ancient church, and to whom even the Apocalypse has been attributed; but if the presbyter John wrote these epistles, John's Gospel also must be ascribed to the same person, of whom otherwise so little- is known. This, however, is inadmissible. We may suppose that the term ' presbyter ' or 'elder' expressed in the epistles of John a degree of friendliness, and was chosen on ac- count of the advanced age of the writer. The apostle Paul, also, in his friendly letter to Phi- lemon, abstains from the title Apostle. The cir- cumstances and events in the church, to which the second epistle alludes, coincide with tho-e which are otherwise known to have happened in John's congregation. Here, also, are allusions to the dangers arising from the Gnostic heresy. The admonition, in verse 10, not to receive such heretics as Christian brethren, agrees with the ancient tradition, that John made haste to quit a public bath after Cerinthus the Gnostic entered it, declaring he was afraid the building would fall down. JOHN MARK. [MARK.] JOHN HYRCANUS. [MACCABEES.] JOI'ADA (contraction of JEHOIADA, which see), a high-priest of the Jews, successor to Elia- shib, or Joashib, who lived under Nehemiar., about B.C. 434 (Neh. xiii. 28). JOK'SHAN (fowler), second son of Abraham and Keturah, whose sons Sheba and Dedan ap- pear to have been the ancestors of the Sabceans and Dedanites, who peopled a part of Arabia Felix (Gen. xxv. 2, 3) [ARABIA]. JOK'TAN (small), one of the sons of Eber, a descendant from Shem (Gen. x. 25, 26), and the supposed progenitor of many tribes in Southern Arabia. The Arabians call him Kahtau, and re- cognise him as one of the principal founders of their nation. JOK'THEEL (God-subdued). I. A name given by King Azariah to the city Sela, or Petra, the capital of Arabia Petreea, when he took it from the Edomites (2 Kings xiv. 7) [PETRA]. 2. There was also a city of this name in the tribe of Judah (Josh. xv. 38). JON' ADAB (God-impelled). 1. A nephew of David, a crafty person, whose counsel suggested to his cousin Ammon the means by which he ac- complished his abominable design upon his half- sister Tamar (2 Sam. xiii. 4, 5). 2. A son or descendant of Rechab, the pro- genitor of those nomadic Rechabites, -who held themselves bound by a vow to abstain from wine, and never to relinquish the nomadic life. The principle on which the tribe acted may be con- sidered elsewhere [RECHABITES]. Jonadab was at the head of this tribe at the time when Jehu received his commission to exterminate the house of Ahab, and is supposed to have added to its ancient austerities the inhibition of wine. He was held in great respect among the Israelites generally: and Jehu, alive to the importance of obtaining the countenance and sanction of such a man to his proceedings, took him up in his chariot, when on his road to Samaria to complete the work he had begun at Jezreel. The terms of the col- loquy which took place on this occasion are rather JONAH remarkable. Perceiving Jonadab, he saluted him, and called out, ' Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart ?' Jonadab answered, ' It is." Then said Jehu, ' If it be, give me thine hand.' And he gave him his hand, and was taken up into the chariot, Jehu inviting him to ' Come and see my zeal for the Lord' (2 Kings x. 15-17; Jer. xxxv. 6-10). It would seem that the Re- chabites were a branch of the Kenites, over another branch of whom Heber was chief in the time of Deborah and Barak (Judg. iv. 11, 17): and as it is expressly said that Jonadab went out to meet Jehu, it seems probable that the people of Samaria, alarmed at the menacing letter which they had received from Jehu, had induced Jonadab to go to meet and appease him on the road. His venerated character, his rank as the head of a tribe, and his neutral position, well qualified him for this mission ; and it was quite as much the interest of Jonadab to conciliate the new dynasty, in whose founder he beheld the minister of the divine decrees, as it was that of Jehu to obtain his concurrence and support in proceedings which he could not but know were likely to render him odious to the people. JO'NAH (a dove), the fifth in order of the minor prophets. No era is assigned to him in the book of his prophecy, yet there is little doubt of his being the same person who is spoken of in 2 Kings xiv. '25. His birthplace was Gath-hepher, in the tribe of Zebulon. Jonah flourished in or before the reign of Jeroboam II., and predicted the suc- cessful conquests, enlarged territory, and brief prosperity of the Israelitish kingdom under that monarch's sway. The book of Jonah contains an account of the prophet's commission to denounce Nineveh, and of his refusal to undertake the embassy of the method he employed to escape the unwelcome task [TARSHISH], and the miraculous means which God used to curb his self-willed spirit, and subdue his petulant and querulous disposition. The third and fourth chapters briefly detail Jo- nah's fulfilment of the divine command, and present us with another exemplification of his refractory temper. His attempt to flee from the presence of the Lord must have sprung from a partial insanity, produced .by the excitement of distracting motives in an irascible and melan- choly heart. The temerity and folly of the fugi- tive could scarcely be credited, if they had not been equalled by future outbreaks of a similar peevish and morbid infatuation. The mind of Jonah was dark and moody, not unlike a lake which mirrors in the waters the gloomy thunder- clouds which overshadow it, and flash over its sullen waves a momentary gleam. The history of Jonah is certainly striking and extraordinary. Its characteristic prodigy does not resemble the other miraculous phenomena recorded in Scripture ; yet we must believe in its literal occurrence, as the Bible affords no indi- cation of its being a mythus, allegory, or parable. On the other hand, our Saviour's pointed and peculiar allusion to it is a presumption of its reality (Matt. xii. 40). The opinion of the earlier Jews is also in favour of the literality of the ad- venture. It requires less faith to credit this simple excerpt from Jonah's biography, than to believe the numerous hypotheses that have been invented (o deprive it of its supernatural character, the JONAH 489 great majority of them being clumsy and far- fetched, doing violence to the language, and de- spite to the spirit of revelation. In vindication of the reality of this striking narrative, it may be argued that the allusions of Christ to Old Testament events on similar occasions are to actual occurrences (John iii. 14; vi. 48); that the purpose which God had in view justified his miraculous interposition ; that this miracle must have had a salutary effect both on the minds of the Ninevites and on the people of Israel. Neither is the character of Jonah improbable. Many reasons might induce him to avoid the discharge of his prophetic duty fear of being thought a false prophet, scorn of a foreign and hostile race, desire for their utter destruction, a false dignity which might reckon it beneath his prerogative to officiate among uncircumcised idolaters. Some, who cannot altogether reject the reality of the narrative, suppose it to have had an historical basis, though its present form be fanciful or mythical. Grimm regards it as a dream pro- duced in that sleep which fell upon Jonah as he lay on the sides of the ship, and others regard this book as an allegory. Various other hypotheses have been proposed which are all vague and baseless, and do not merit a special refutation. Endeavouring to free us from one difficulty they plunge us into others yet more intricate and perplexing. Much pro- fane wit has been expended on the miraculous means of Jonah's deliverance, very unnecessarily and very absurdly ; it is simply said, ' The Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.' Now the species of marine animal is not defined, and the original word is often used to specify, not the genus whale, but any large fish or sea- monster. All objections to its being a whale which lodged Jonah in its stomach from its straitness of throat, or rareness of haunt in the Mediterranean, are thus removed. The Scrip- ture speaks only of an enormous fish, which under God's direction swallowed the prophet, and does not point out the species to which the vora- cious prowler belonged. Since the days of Bo- chart it has been a common opinion that the fish was of the shark species or ' sea-dog.' Entire human bodies have been found in some fishes of this kind. The stomach, too, has no influence on any living substance admitted into it. Granting all these facts as proof of what is termed the eco- nomy of miracles, still must we say, in reference to the supernatural preservation of Jonah, Is any- thing too hard for the Lord ? On what portion of the coast Jonah was set down in safety we are not informed. The pro- phet proceeded, on receiving a second commission, to fulfil it. The fearful menace had the desired effect. The city humbled itself before God, and a respite was vouchsafed. The king (Pul, ac- cording to Usher) and his people fasted, and their penitence was accepted. The spirit of Jonah was chafed that the doom he had uttered was not executed. He retired to a station out of the city whence he might witness the threatened cata- strophe. Under the shadow of a gourd prepared by God he reclined, while Jehovah taught him by the growth and speedy death of this plant, and his attachment to it, a sublime lesson of pa- tient and forgiving generosity. The book of Jonah is a simple narrative, with the exception 41K) JONATHAN of the prayer or thanksgiving in chap. ii. Its style aud mode of narration are uniform. There are no traces of compilation, as Nactigall sup- posed; neither is the prayer, as De Wette imagines, improperly borrowed from some other sources. That prayer contains, indeed, not only : imagery peculiar to itself, but also such imagery I as at once was suggested to the mind of a pious | Hebrew preserved in circumstances of extreme ; jeopardy. On this principle we account for the similarity of some portions of its phraseology to I Ps. lix., xlii., &c. The language in both places had been hallowed by frequent usage, and had become the consecrated idiom of a distressed and succoured Israelite. The hymn seems to have been composed after his deliverance, and the reason why his deliverance is noted after the hymn is recorded may be to show the occasion of its composition. 1. JONATHAN (God-gii-cii), a Levite de- scended from Gershom, the son of Moses, not Manasseh. as in our common copies, an interpo- lation made (Judg. xviii. 30) in order to save the character of the great lawgiver from the stain of having an idolater among his immediate de- scendants. The history of this Jonathan is in- volved in the narrative which occupies Judges xvii., xviii.; and the events themselves appear to have occurred soon after the death of Joshua, and of the elders who outlived him, when the government was in a most unsettled state. Jonathan, who was resident at Bethlehem, lived at a time when the dues of the sanctuary did not afford a livelihood to the numerous Le- vites who had a claim upon them ; and belonged to a tribe destitute of the landed possessions which gave to all others a sufficient maintenance. He, therefore, went forth to seek his fortune. In Mount Ephraim he came to ' a house of gods,' which had been established by one Micah, who wanted nothing but a priest to make his esta- blishment complete [MICAH]. This person made Jonathan what was manifestly considered the handsome offer of engaging hioi as his priest for his victuals, a yearly suit of clothes, and ten shekels (twenty-five shillings) a year in money. Here he lived for some time, till the Danite spies, who were sent by their tribe to explore the north, passed this way and formed his acquaint- ance. When, not long after, the body of armed Danites passed the same way when going to settle near the sources of the Jordan, the spies mentioned Micah's establishment to them; on which they went and took away not only ' the ephod, the teraphim, and the graven image,' but the priest also, that they might set up the same worship in the place of which they were going to take possession. Micah vainly protested against this robbery ; but Jonathan himself was glad at the improvement in his prospects, and from that time, even down to the captivity, he and his de- scendants continued to be priests of the Danites in the town of Laish, the name of which they changed to Dan. There is not any reason to suppose that this establishment, whether in the hands of Micah or of the Danites, involved an apostacy from Je- hovah. It appears rather to have been an attempt to localize or domesticate His presence, under those symbols and forms of service which were common among the neighbouring nations, but JONATHAN were forbidden to the Hebrews. The offence here was twofold, the establishment of a sacret ritual different from the only one which the law recognised, and the worship by symbols, naturally leading to idolatry, with the ministration of one who could not legally be a priest, but only a Levite, aud under circumstances in which no Aaronic priest could legally have officiated. It is more than likely that this establishment was eventually merged iu that of the golden calf, which Jeroboam set up in this place, his choice of which may very possibly have been determined by its being already in possession of ' a hous ol gods.' 2. JONATHAN, eldest son of Saul, king of Israel, and consequently heir apparent of the throne which David was destined to occupy (1 Sam. xiv. 9; 1 Chron. viii. 33; ix. 39). The war with the Philistines, which occupied the early part of his father's reign, afforded Jonathan more than one opportunity of displaying the chivalrous valour and the princely qualities with which he was endowed. His exploit in surprising the Phi- listine garrison at Michmash, attended only by his armour-bearer, is one of the most daring which history or even romance records (1 Sam. xiv. 1-14). His father came to follow up this victory, and in the ensuing pursuit of the con- founded Philistines, Jonathan, spent with fatigue and hunger, refreshed himself with some wild honey which he found in a wood through which he passed. He knew not that his father had rashly vowed to put to death any one who touched a morsel of food before night. When the fact transpired, Saul felt himself bound to execute his vow even upon his gallant son ; but the people, with whom the young prince was a great fa- vourite, interposed and prevented the executiou of his design (1 Sam., xiv. 16-52). Jealousy and every mean or low feeling were strangers to the generous heart of Jonathan. Valiant and accomplished himself, none knew better how to acknowledge valour and accom- plishment in others. The act of David in meet- ing the challenge of Goliath, and in overcoming that huge barbarian, entirely won his heart; aud from that day forward the son of Jesse found no one who loved him so tenderly, who admired his high gifts with so much enthusiasm, or who risked so much to preserve him from harm, as the very prince whom he was destined to exclude from a ihrone. Jonathan knew well what was to happen, and he submitted cheerfully to the appointment which gave the throne of his father to the young ihepherd of Bethlehem. In the intensity of his love and confidence he shrank not to think cf David as his destined king and master ; and his dreams of the future pictured nothing brighter :haii the day in which David should n order that they might repay the sum which Jo- seph had caused to be put into each man's sack at their departure, if, as Jacob supposed, ' it was . an oversight'), they went again down to Egypt and stood before Joseph (xliii. 15); and there, too, stood Benjamin, Joseph's beloved brother. The required pledge of truthfulness was given. If it is asked why such a pledge was demanded, since the giving of it caused pain to Jacob, the answer may be thus : Joseph knew not how to demean himself towards his family until he as- certained its actual condition. That knowledge he could hardly be certain he had gained from the mere words of men who had spared his life only to sell him into slavery. How had these wicked men behaved towards his venerable father ? His beloved brother Benjamin, was he safe ? or had he suffered from their jealousy and malice the worse fate with which he himself had been threatened? Nothing but the sight of Ben- jamin could answer these questions, and resolve these doubts. Benjamin had come, and immediately a natural change took place in Joseph's conduct : the bro- ther began to claim his rights in Joseph's bosom. Jacob was safe, and Benjamin was safe. Joseph's heart melted at the sight of Benjamin : ' And he said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men 494 JOSEPH home, and slay and make ready, for these men shall dine with me at noon' ^xliii. 16). But guilt is always the ready parent of fear. Ac- cordingly the brothers expected nothing but being reduced to slavery. When taken to their own brother's house, they imagined they were being entrapped. A colloquy ensued between them and Joseph's steward, whence it appeared that the money put into their sacks, to which they now attributed their peril, was in truth a present from Joseph, designed, after his own brotherly manner, to aid his family in their actual necessities. Noon came, and with it Joseph, whose first question regarded home : ' He asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? is he yet alive? And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your younger brother? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son ! ' ' And Joseph made haste, for his bowels did yearn upon his brother, and he sought where to weep, and he entered into his chamber and wept there.' Does this look like harshness ? The connection brings into view an Egyptian custom, which is of more than ordinary import- ance, in consequence of its being adopted in the Jewish polity ; ' And they set on (food) for him by himself (Joseph), and for them by themselves (the brethren), and for the Egyptians which did eat with them, by themselves , because the Egyp- tians might not eat bread with the Hebrews ; for that is an abomination with the Egyptians ' (ver. 3'>~). This passage is also interesting, as proving that Joseph had not, in his princtly grandeur, become ashamed of his origin, nor consented to receive adoption into a strange nation : he was still a Hebrew, waiting, like Moses after him, for the proper season to use his power for the good of his own people. Joseph, apparently with a view to ascertain how far his brethren were faithful to their father, hit upon a plan which would in its issue serve to show whether they would make any, and what, sacrifice, in order to fulfil their solemn promise of restoring Benjamin in safety to Jacob. Ac- cordingly he ordered not only that every man's money (as before) should be put in his sack's mouth, but also that his ' silver cup in which my lord drinketh, and whereby he divineth,' should be put in the sack's mouth of the youngest. The brethren departed, but were soon overtaken by Joseph's steward, who charged them with having surreptitiously carried off this costly and highly- i valued vessel. They on their part vehemently repelled the accusation, adding, ' with whomso- ever of thy servants it be found, both let him die, and we also will be my lord's bondmen.' A search was made, and the cup was found in Ben- jamin's sack. Accordingly they returned to the city. And now cafrie the hour of trial : Would they purchase their own liberation by surrender- ing Benjamin ? After a most touching interview, in which they proved themselves worthy and faithful, Joseph declared himself unable any longer to withstand the appeal of natural afiec- tion. On this occasion Judah, who was the spokesman, showed the deepest regard to his aged father's feelings, and entreated for the libe- ration of Benjamin even at the price of his own liberty. In the whole of literature we know of JOSEPH nothing more simple, natural, true, and im- pressive. Most natural and impressive is the scene also which ensues, in which Joseph, after informing his brethren who he was, and inquiring, first of all, ' Is my father alive?" expresses feelings free from the slightest taint of revenge, and even shows how, under Divine Providence, the conduct of his brothers had issued in good ' God sent me before you to preserve a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.' Five years had yet to ensue in which 'there would be neither earing nor harvest / and therefore the brethren were directed to return home and bring Jacob down to Egypt with all speed. ' And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept; and Benjamin* wept upon his neck. Moreover, he kissed all his brethren, and wept npon th"in ; and after that lis brethren talked with him' (xtv. 14, 15). The news of these striking events was carried to Pharaoh, who being pleased at Joseph's con- duct gave directions that Jacob and his family should come forthwith into Egypt. The brethren departed, being well provided for 'And to his father Joseph sent ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way.' The intelligence which they bore to their father was of such a nature that ' Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not.' When, how- ever, he had recovered from the thus naturally told effects of his surprise, the venerable patri- arch said, ' Enough ; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die' (xlv. 26, 28). Accordingly Jacob and his family, to the number of threescore and ten souls, went down to Egypt, and by the express efforts of Joseph, were allowed to settle in the district of Goshen, where Joseph met his father: ' And he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a cood while.' There Joseph ' nourished his father and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread, according to their families' (xlvii. 12). Meanwhile the predicted famine was pauper- izing Egypt. The inhabitants found their money exhausted, and their cattle and substance all gone, being parted with in order to purchase food from the public granaries, until at length they had nothing to give in return for sustenance but them- selves. 'Buy us' they then imploringly said to Joseph 'and our land for bread, and we and our land will be slaves unto Pharaoh.' ' And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, so the land became Pharaoh's.' The people too, ' Joseph removed to cities from one end of the borders of the land to the other end.' Religion, however, was too strong to submit to these politi- cal and social changes, and so the priests still retained their land, being supplied with provi- sions out of the common store gratuitously. The land, which was previously the people's own, was now let to them on a tenancy, at the rent of one- fifth of the produce : the land of the pnests being exempted. Joseph had now to pass through the mournful scenes which attend on the death and burial of a father. Having had Jacob embalmed, and seen the rites of mourning fully observed, the faithful JOSEPH and affectionate son proceeded into the land of Canaan, in order, agreeably to a promise which the patriarch had exacted, to lay the old man's , bones with those of his fathers, in ' the field of ; Ephron the Hittite.' Having performed with long and bitter mourning Jacob's funeral rites, Joseph returned into Egypt. The last recorded act of his life forms a most becoming close. After the death of their father, his brethren, unable, like all guilty people, to forget their criminality, and characteristically finding it difficult to think that Joseph had really forgiven them, grew afraid, now they were in his power, that he would take an opportunity of inflicting some punishment on them. They accordingly go into his presence, and, in imploring terms and an abject manner, entreat his forgiveness. ' Fear not ' this is his noble reply ' I will nourish you and your little ones-' Joseph lived an hundred and ten years, kind and gentle in his affections to the last ; for we are told, ' The children of Machir, the son of Ma- nasseh, were brought up upon Joseph's* knees ' (1. 23). And so having obtained a promise from his brethren, that when the time came, as he assured them it would come, that God should visit them, and ' bring them unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob,' they would carry up his bones out of Egypt, Joseph at length ' died, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin ' (1. 26). This pro- mise was religiously fulfilled. His descendants, after carrying the corpse about with them in their wanderings, at length put it in its final resting- place in Shechem, in a parcel of ground that Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor, which became the inheritance of the children of Joseph (Josh, xxiv. 32). By his Egyptian wife, Asenath, daughter of the high priest of Heliopolis, Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim (Gen. xli. 50, sq.), whom Jacob adopted (Gen. xlviii. 5), and who accord- ingly took their place among the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. JOSEPH, 'the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ ' (Matt. i. 16). By Matthew he is said to have been the son of Jacob, whose lineage is traced by the same writer through David up to Abraham. Luke re- presents him as being the son of Heli, and traces his origin up to Adam. How these accounts are to be reconciled, is shown under GENEALOGY. The statements of Holy Writ in regard to Joseph are few and simple. According to a custom among the Jcnvs, traces of which are still found, Joseph had pledged his faith to Mary ; but before the marriage was consummated she proved to be with child. Grieved at this, Joseph j was disposed to break off the connection ; but, not wishing to make a public example of one whom he loved, he contemplated a private dis- ! ruptiou of their bond. From this step, however, :he is deterred by a heavenly messenger, who assures him that Mary has conceived under a i divine influence. 'And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins ' (Matt. i. 18, sq. ; Luke i. 27). To this account various objections have been taken ; but most of them are drawn from the ground of a narrow, short- sighted, and half-informed rationalism, which JOSEPH 495 judges everything by its own small standard, and either denies miracles altogether, or admits only such miracles as find favour in its sight. Joseph was by trade a carpenter, in which business he probably educated Jesus (Matt. xiii. 55 ; Mark vi. 3). The word rendered ' carpenter' is of a general character, and may be fitly ren- dered by the English word 'artificer' or 'arti- zan.' Schleusner asserts that the universal testi- mony of the ancient church represents our Lord as being a carpenter's son. Hilarius, on Mat- thew, asserts, in terms which cannot be mistaken, that Jesus was a smith. Of the same opinion was the venerable Bede; while others have held that our Lord was a mason, and Cardinal Ca- jetan, that he was a goldsmith. The last notion probably had its origin in those false associations of more modern times which disparage hand- labour. Among the ancient Jews all handi- crafts were held in so much honour, that they were learned and pursued by the first men of the nation. Christian tradition makes Joseph an old man when first espoused to Mary, being no less than eighty years of age, and father of four sons and two daughters. The painters of Christian anti- quity conspire with the writers in representing Joseph as an old man at the period of the birth of our Lord an evidence which is not to be lightly rejected, though the precise age men- tioned may be but an approximation to fact. It is riot easy to determine when Joseph died, but it has been alleged, with great probability, that he must have been dead before the cru- cifixion of Jesus. There being no notice of Joseph in the public life of Christ, nor any reference to him in the discourses and history, while ' Mary ' and ' His brethren ' not unfre- quently appear, these circumstances afford evi- dence not only of Joseph's death, but of the inferior part which, as legal father only of our Lord, Joseph might have been expected to sus- tain. So far as our scanty materials enable us to form an opinion, Joseph appears 1o have been a good, kind, simple-minded man, who, while he aflorded aid in protecting and sustaining the family, would leave Mary unrestrained to use all the impressive and formative influence of her gentle, affectionate, pious, and thoughtful soul. JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA. 'Jhe name Arimathea denotes probably the place where Joseph was born, not that \vhere he resided. [ARIMATHEA.] Jost-ph was a secret disciple of Jesus 'an honourable counsellor, who waited for the king- dom of God' (Mark xv. 43), and who, on learn- ing the death of our Lord, 'came and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the bcdy of Jesus.' Pilate having learned from the centurion, who commanded at the execution, that Jesus ' was ac- tually dead,' gave the body to Joseph, who took it down and wrapped his deceased Lord in fine linen which he had purchased for the purpose; after which he laid the corpse in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sipulchre (Mark xv. 43, sq.). From the parallel passages in Matthew (xxvii. 58, sq.), Luke (xxiii. 50, scq.) and John (xix. 38, seq.), it appears that the Icdy vt.s pre- viously embalmed at the cost of ar.otber secret disciple, Nicodemus, and that the sepulchre was 496 JOSHUA new, ' wherein never man before was laid ;' also that it lay in a garden, and was the property of Joseph himself. This garden was ' in the place where Jesus was crucified.' Luke describes the character of Joseph as ' a good man and a just,' adding, that ' he had not consented to the counsel and deed of them,' i . e. of the Jewish authorities. From this remark it is clear that Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrim : a conclusion which is corroborated by the epithet ' counsellor,' applied to him by both Luke and Mark. Tradition re- presents Joseph as having been one of the Seventy, and as having first preached the Gospel in our own country. JOSEPH CALLED BARSABAS was one of the two persons whom the primitive church, im- mediately after the resurrection of Christ, nomi- nated, praying that the Holy Spirit would show which of them should enter the apostolic band in place of the wretched Judas. On the lots being cast, it proved that not Joseph, but Mat- thias, was chosen. Joseph bore the honourable surname of Justus, which was not improbably given him on account of his well-known probity. He was one of those who had ' companied with the Apostles all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out amongst them, beginning from the baptism of John,' until the ascension (Acts i. 15, sq.). Tradition also accounted him one of the Seventy. 1. JO'SES, son of Mary and Cleopas, and bro- ther of James the Less, of Simon and of Jude, and, consequently, one of those who are called the ' brethren ' of our Lord (Matt. xiii. 55 ; xxvii. 56 ; Mark \\. 3 ; xv. 40, 47). [JAMES ; JUDE.] He was the only one of these brethren who was not an apostle a circumstance which has given occa- sion to some unsatisfactory conjecture. It is per- haps more remarkable that three of them, were apostles than that the fourth was not. 2. JOSES [BARNABAS]. JOSH'UA. This is the name of four persons in the Old Testament, and means whose salvation is Jehovah. The most distinguished of the four persons so called, who occur in tlie Old Testament, is Joshua the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, the assistant and successor of Moses. His name was originally Oshea, salvation (Num. xiii. 8) ; and it seems that the subsequent alteration of it by Moses (Num. xiii. 16) was significant, and proceeded on the same principle as that of Abram into Abraham (Gen. xvii. 5), and of Sarai into Sarah (Gen. xvii. 15). In the Bible Joshua is first mentioned as being the victorious commander of the Israelites in their battle against the Amalekites at Rephidim (Exod. xvii. 8-16). He distinguished himself by his courage and intelligence during and after the ex- ploration of the land of Canaan, on which occa- sion he represented his tribe, which was that of Ephraim (Num. xiii., xiv.). Moses, with the divine sanction, appointed him to command the Israelites, even during his own lifetime (Num. xxvii. 18-23 ; Deut. iii. 28 ; xxxi. 23). After the death of Moses he led the Israelites over the Jordan, fortified a camp at Gilgal (Josh. ix. C ; x. 6-43), conquered the southern and middle por- tions of Canaan (vi.-x.), and also some of the northern districts (ix.). But the hostile nations, although subdued, were not entirely driven out and destroyed (xiii.; xxiii. 13; Judg. i. 27-35). JOSHUA In the seventh year after entering the land.it was distributed among the various tribes, which then commenced individually to complete the conquest by separate Avarfare (xv. 13, sq. ; xvi. 10; xvii. 12, sq.). Joshua died 110 years old (B.C. 1427), and was buried at Timnath-serah (Josh, xxiv.), on Mount Ephraim. There occur some vestiges of the deeds of Joshua in other historians besides those of the Bible. Procopius mentions a Phoenician inscrip- tion near the city of Tingis in Mauritania, the sense of which was : ' We are those who fled be- fore the face of Joshua the robber, the son of Nun.' The book of Joshua is so called from the per- sonage who occupies the principal place in the narration of events contained therein, and may be considered as a continuation of the Pentateuch. The Peutateuch, and especially Deuteronomy, arc- repeatedly referred to in the book of Joshua, the narration of which begins with the death of Moses and extends to the death of Joshua, em- bracing a chronological period of somewhat lers than thirty years. The subject of the book is thus briefly stated in ch. i. 5, 6 : ' There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee : I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage ; for unto this people shall thou divide for an inheritance the land which I sware unto their fathers to give them.' In these two verses is also indicated tJhe division of the book into two principal portions, with reference to the conquest and the distribution of the land of Canaan. The conquest is narrated in the first twelve, and the distribution in the follow- ing ten chapters. In the last two chapters are subjoined the events subsequent to the distribution Up to the death of Joshua. The history of the conquest of Canaan is a series of miracles, than which none more remarkable are recorded in any part of sacred history. The passage into the Pro- mised Laud, as well as that out of Egypt, was through water. Jericho was taken not by might, but by the falling of the walls on the blast of the trumpets of seven priests ; and in the war against Gibeon the day was prolonged to afford time for the completion of the victory. It is generally granted that the first twelve chapters form a continuous whole : although the author, in ch. x. 13, refers to another work, he not merely transcribes but intimately combines the quotation with the tenor of his narration. It is certain that there sometimes occur episodes which seem to interrupt the chronological con- nection, as for instance the portion intervening between chs. i., ii., and iii. 1. But it belongs to the nature of detailed historical works to contain such episodes. The whole tenor of the first twelve chapters bespeaks an eye-witness who bore some part in the transactions a fact proved not merely by such expressions as 'AVE passed over,' in ch. v. 1, but especially by the circumstantial vividness of the narrative, which clearly indicates that the writer was an eye-witness. The statement that the monuments which he erected were extant to this day, indicates that Joshua did not promulgate the book immediately after the events narrated (comp. iv. 9; vii. 26 ; viii. 28, 29 ; x. 27). The book, however, could not have been written very long after the time of JOSHUA Joshua, because we find that Rahab was still alive when it was composed (vi. 29). The section from chapter xiii. to xxii. inclusive, which contains an account of the distribution of the land, seems to be based upon written documents, in which the property was accurately described. That this was the case is likely not merely on account of the peculiar nature of the diplomatic contents by which this ' Doomsday Book ' is distinguished from the preceding part of Joshua, but also on account of the statement in chapter xviii. 4, where Joshua says to the children of Israel, ' Give out from among you three men from each tribe : and I will send them, and they shall rise, and go through the land, and describe it according to the inheritance of them ; and they shall come again to me.' Compare ver. 6, ' Ye therefore shall de- scribe the land into seven parts." Compare also verses 8 and 9, ' And the men arose and went away ; and Joshua charged them that went to describe the land, saying, Go, and walk through the land, and describe it. and come again to me, that I may here cast lots for you before the Lord in Shiloh. And the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven parts in a book, and came again, to Joshua to the host at Shiloh.' The author of the hook of Joshua frequently repeats the statements of the Pentateuch in a more detailed form, and mentions the changes which had taken place since the Pentateuch was written. Compare Num. xxxiv. 13 and 14, with Josh. xiii. 7, sq. ; Num. xxxii. 37, with Josh. xiii. 17, sq. ; Num. xxxv. with Josh. xxi. There is also considerable similarity between the following passages in the books of Joshua and Judges: Josh. xiii. 4, Juclg. iii. 3; Josh. xv. 13, sq., Judg. 5. 10, 20; Josh. xv. 15-19, Judg. i. 11-15; Josh. xv. 62, Judg. i. 21 ; Josh. xvi. 10, Judg. i. 29; Josh. xvii. 12, Judg. i. 27; Josh, xix. 47, Judg. xviii. It seems to have been the intention of the author of chapters xiii.-xxii. to furnish authentic records concerning the arrangements made by Joshua after the conquest of Canaan. Since we do not find in the subsequent history that the tribes, after the death of Joshua, disagreed among themselves about the ownership of the land, it would appear that the object of the book of Joshua, as a ' Doomsday Book,' was fully attained. The circumstance that the book of Joshua con- tains many Canaanitish names of places to which the Hebrew names are added, seems also to indi- cate that the second part originated in an early age, when neither the Canaanitish name was en- tirely forgotten, nor the Hebrew name fully intro- duced ; so that it was expedient to mention both. In the last two chapters occur two orations of Joshua, in which he bids farewell to the people whom he had commanded. In chapter xxiv. 26, we read. ' And Joshua WROTE these words in the book of the law of God.' The expression, these words, seems to refer only to his last address, and the subsequent resolution of the people to follow his example. We are here, however, expressly informed that Joshua did WRITE this much ; and consequently we deem it the more likely that he also committed to writing the other memorable events connected with his career, such as the con- quest and the distribution of the land. Viewing all the circumstances together, we JOSIAH 497 consider it highly probable that the whole book of Joshua was composed by himself up to the twenty-eighth verse of the la'st chapter ; to which a friendly hand subjoined some brief notices, con- tained in verses 29-33, concerning tlie death, age, and burial of Joshua ; the continuance of his in- fluence upon the people ; the interment, in She- chem, of the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought from Egypt; and the death and burial of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, whom his son Phinehas interred in his allotment on Mount Ephraim. The authority of the book of Joshua mainly rests npon the manner in -which it is treated iu other parts of the Bible. Besides the allusions in the book of Judges, we find Joshua referred to in 1 Kings xvi. 34. (Comp. Josh. vi. 2G). The second and third verges of Psalm xliv. contain a brief summary of the whole book of Joshua: 'Thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them : thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them : but thy right hand and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.' (Compare Psalm Ixviii. 12-14 ; Ixxviii. 54, 55 ; cxiv. 3 and 5, which refer to the book of Joshua.) Also, Hab. iii. 11 : ' The sun and moon stood still in their habitation,' &c. Heb. xiii. 5 : ' For he hatb said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.' (Compare Josh. i. 5.) Heb. xi. 31: 'By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace ;' and James ii. 25 : ' Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way ?' (Compare Josh. ii. and vi. 22-25.) Acts vii. 45 : ' Whf.ch (the tabernacle) also our fathers that came .after brought in with Jesus into the posses- sion of the Gentiles, whom God drave out liefore the face of our fathers.' (Compare Josh. iii. 14.) Heb. xi. 30: 'By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.' (Compare Josh. vi. 17-23.) Heb. iv. 8: 'For if Jesus [JOSHUA] had given them rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day.' The other persons of this name in the Bible are: JOSHUA, a Beth-shemite (1 Sam. vi. 14, 18), an Israelite, the owner of the field into which the cart came which bore the ark on its return from, the land of the Philistines. JOSHUA (2 Kings xxiii. 8), the governor of the city of Jerusalem at the commencement of the reign of Josiah. JOSHUA, the son of Josedec (Hagg. i. 1, 12, 14 ; Zech. iii. 1 , 3, 9 ; vi. 1 1), a high-priest in the time of Haggai and Zechariah [JESHUA]. JO.Sl'AH (God-healed\ seventeenth king of Judah, and son of Amon, whom he succeeded on the throne in B.C. 698, at the early age of eight years, and reigned thirty-one years. As Josiah thus early ascended the throne, vre may the more admire the good qualities which he manifested. Avoiding the example of his immediate predecessors, he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of Da-rid his father, and turned not 2K 498 JOSIAH aside to the right hand or to the left' (2 Kings xxii. 1.2; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 1. 2). So early as the sixteenth year of his age he began to mani- fest that enmity to idolatry in all its forms which distinguished his character and reign ; and he was not quite twenty years old when he pro- claimed open war against it, although more or less favoured by many men of rank and influence in the court and kingdom. He then commenced a thorough purification of the land from all taint of idolatry, by going about and superintending in person the operations of the men M'ho were employed in breaking down idolatrous altars and images, and cutting down the groves which had been consecrated to idol-worship. His detes- tation of idolatry could not have been more strongly expressed than by ransacking the sepul- chres of the idolatrous priests of former days, and consuming their l>oties upon the idol-altars before they were overturned. Yet this operation, although unexampled in Jewish history, was foretold 326 years before Josiah was born, by the prophet who was commissioned to denounce to Jeroboam the future punishment of his sin. He even named Josiah as the person by whom this act was to be performed ; and s-aid that it should be performed in Beth-el, which was then a part of the kingdom of Israel (1 Kings xiii. 2). AH this seemed much beyond the range of human probabilities. But it was performed to the letter ; for Josiah did not confine his proceedings to his own kingdom, but went over a considerable part of the neighbouring kingdom of Israel, which then lay comparatively desolate, with the same object, in view ; and at Beth-el in particular, executed all that the prophet h >d foretold (2 Kings xxiii. 1-19; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 3-7, 32). In these proceedings Josiah seems to have been ac'nated by an absolute hiitred of idolatry, such as no other king since David had manifested, and which David had scarcely occasion to manifest in the same degree. In the eighteenth year of his reign and the twenty-sixth of his ace, when the land had been thoroughly purified from idolatry and all that belonged to it, Josiah proceeded to repair and beautify the temple of the Lord. In the course of this pious labour, the high -priest Ililkiah dis- covered in the sanctuary a volume, which proved to contain the books of Moses, and which, from the terms employed, seems to have been con- sidered the original of the law as written by Moses. On this point there has leen much anxious discussion and some rash assertion. Some writers of the German school allege that there is no external evidence- -that is, evidence beside the law itself that the book of the law existed till it was thus produced by Hilkiah. This as- sertion it is the less necessary to answer here, as it is duly noticed in the art. PENTATEUCH. But it may b*> observed that it is founded very much on the fact that the king was greatly as- tonished when some parts of the law were read to him. It is indeed perfectly manifest that he had previously been entirely ignorant of much that he then heard; and he rent his clothes in consternation when he found that, with the 1 est intentions to serve the Lord, h- and all his people had been living in the neglect of dutiis which the law declared to be of vital importance. It is certainly difficult to account for this ignorance. JOTIIAM Some fnppose that all the copies of the law had perished, and that the king had never seen one. But this is very unlikely : for however scarce complete copies may have been, the pious king was likely to have been the possessor of one. The probability seems to be that the passages read were those awful denunciation? against dis- obedience with which the book of Deuterono-ny concludes, and which from some cause or other the king had never before read, or which had never before produced on his mind the same strong conviction of the imminent dangers under which the nation lay, as now when read to him from a volume invested with a character so vene- rable, and brought with such interesting circum- stances under his nrtice. The king in his alarm sent to Huldah 'the prophetess,' for her counsel in this emergency fHuLDAH] : her answer assured him that, although the dread penalties threatened by the law bad bten incurred and would be inflicted, he should be gathered in peace to his fathers before the days of punishment and sorrow came. It was perhaps not without some hope of avert- ing this doom that the king immediately called the people together at Jerusalem, and engaged them in a solemn renewal of the ancient cove- nant with God. When this had been done, the Passover was celebrated with careful attention to the directions given in the law, and on a scale of unexampled magnificence. But all was too late; the hour of mercy had passed; for 'the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his grent wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Jndah ' (1 Kings xxii. 3-20; xxiii. 21-27; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 8-33; xxxv. 1-19). That removal from the world which had been promised to Josiah as a blessing, was not long delayed, and was brought about in a way which he had probably not expected. His kingdom was tributary to the Chaldacan empire ; and when Pharaoh-necho, king of Kgypt, sought a passage through his territories, on an expedition against the Chalda-ans, Josiah, with a very high sense of the obligations which his vassalage imposed, refused to allow the march of the Kgyptum army through his dominions, and prepared to resist the attempt by force of arms. Necho was very un- willing to engage in hostilities with Josiah : the appearance of the Hebrew army at Megiddo, however, brought on a battle, in which the king of Judah was so desperately wounded by arrows tluit his attendants removed him from the war- chariot, and placed him in another, in which lie was taken to Jerusalem, where he" died. No king that reigned in Israel was ever more deeply I lamented by all his subjects than Joshih : and we are told that the rrophet composed on the occa- sion an elegiac ode. which was long preserved among the people, but which is not i:ow in ex- istence (2 Kings xxiii. 29-37 ; 2 Chron. xxxv. 20-2 7 \ JOT. properly IOTA, designates the smallest letter of the Greek alplial>et (iV, derived from the Hebrew jod (*) and employed metaphorically to express the minutest trirle. It is, in fact, one ' of several metaphors derived from the alphabet as when alpla, the first letter, and oweyii, the last, are employed to express the beginning and tl:e end. 1. JOTHAM (God is upright), the youngest of JUBILEE seventy legitimate sons ; and the only one who escaped when the rest were massacred by the order of Abimelech. When the fratricide | was made king by the people of Shechem, the young Jo*han was so daring as to make his appearance on Mount Gerizim for the purpose of lilting up a protesting voice, and of giving vent i to his feelings. This lie did in a beautiful pa- I ratile, wherein the trees are represented as making choice of a king, and bestowing on the bramble the honour which the cedar, the olive, and the vine would not accept. The obvious application, which indeed Jotham failed not himself to point OUT, must have been highly exasperating to Abimelech and his friends; but the speaker fled. as >oon as he had delivered his parable, to the town of Beer, and remained there out of his | brother's reach. We hear no more of him ; but three years after, if then living, he saw the ac- complishment of the malediction he had pro- nounced (Judy. ix. 5-21). 2. JOTHAM, tenth king of Judah, and son of Uzziah, whom he succeeded in uc. 758, at the age of twenty-five: he reigned sixteen years. Ilis father having during his last years been ex- cluded by leprosy from public life [UzziAii], the government was administered by his son. Jotham profited by the experience which the reign of his ; father, and of the kings who preceded him, af forded, and he ruled in the fear c.f God, although he was unable to correct all the corrupt practices into which the people had fallen. His sincere intentions were rewarded with a prosperous reign. He was successful in his wars. The Ammonites, who had 'given gifts' as a sort of tribute to Uzziah, but had ceased to do so after his leprosy had incapacitated him from governing, were constrained by Jotham to pay for three years a heavy tribute" in silver, wheat, and barley (2 Chron. xxvi. 8; xxvii. 5, 6). Many important public works were also undertaken and accom- plished by Jotham. The principal gate ot the temple was rebuilt by him on a more magnificent scale; the quarter of Ophel, in Jerusalem, was strengthened by new fortifications ; various towns were built or rebuilt in the mountains of Jndah; and castles and towers of defence were erected in the wilderness. Jotham died greatly lamented by his people, and was buried in the sepulchre of the kings (2 Kings xv. 38 ; 2 Chron. xvii. ;<-9). JU'BAL (MI/SIC); one of Cain's descendants, son of Lameoh and Adar. He is described as the inventor of the KINNOR, and the UGAB, ren- dered in our version Mhe harp ai.d the orpan,' tut perhaps more properly 'the lyre and month- organ,' or Pandean pipe (Gen. iv. 21) [Music]. JU'BILEE, according to some a period of fifty years, according to others, though less pro- foabh, of forty -nine years, the termination of which led f o certain gnat changes in the con- dition of the Hebrews, all of which seem to have been designed and fitted to bring about from time to time a restoration of the original social state instituted by Moses, and so to sustain in its un- impaired integrity the constitution of which he was the author. Intimately connected with the Jubilee was another singular Mosaic institution, namely, the Sabbatical year. On this account we shall speak briefly of the latter, as preparatory to a right understanding of the former. JUBILEE 499 While yet wandering in the wilderness, and- therefore, before they had entered ' the land of promise,' the children of Israel received from the lips of their great legislator tre following law ' six years thou shall sow thy land, and shall gather in the fruits thereof: but the seventh yiar thou shall let it rest ; that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed' (Exod. xxiii. 10, cq.). This injunction is repeated in Lev. xxv. 1-7, where it stands as proceeding immediately from the Lord. The land is to keep 'a sabbath for the Lord.' Then in immediate sequence follows the law relating to the Jubilee (Lev. xx. 8). 'And thou shall number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years, forty and nine years : then shall thou cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound in the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye thai! Lulli.w lie fiftieth year, and proclaim libeity throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; and ye shall return every man unto his possession and unto his family,' &c. &c. (Lev. xxv. 8-->4). Land might be redeemed by a kinsman or by the party who sold it; but in the Jubilee year it must return to its original proprietor. Dwelling- houses within a walled city mighl be redeemed within the firsl year ; if nol redeemed within the space of a full year they became the freehold of the purchaser. The houses of villages were to be counted as the fields of the country. The cities and houses of theLevites were redeemable at any time, and could never be held longer than the ensuing Jub'lee : the field of the suburbs of their cities might nol he sold (vers. 25-38). Israelites who were hired servants (Israelitish to?)f/-servants were not allowed) might serve till the year of Jubilee, when they returned to their possession?. A Hebrew sold as a slave to a foreigner resident ! in Palestine was redeemable by himself or rela- I lives at any time, by making payment according to the number of years to elapse before the next Jubilee; but al the Jubilee such bondsman was, under all circumstances, to be set at liberty (vers. 39-55). The only exception to this system of ge- neral restitution was in the case of property set apart ar.d devoted to the Divine service ' Every devoted thing is most holy un'o the Lord ; none devoted sh:01 be redeemed' (Lev. xxvii. 28-29). With these scriptural details the account given by Josephus (Anliq. iii. 12. 3) substantially agrees ; and il is worthy of notice that the Jewish hi.-torian speaks of the law as a reality, as a present reality, as something in actual operation. The time required by the Sabbatical year and by the Jubilee to be rescued from the lal ours of the field, was very considerable. Strictly inter- ! preted the language we have cited would take out of the ordinary course of things every sixth, | seventh, and eighth year, during each successive ! septenary, till the circle of fifty years was in each ! period completed. Nay more, the old store, pto- j duced in the sixth year, was to last until the ninth ! year, for the sixth year was to bring forth fruits ; for three years. The reader has now before him the whole of this extraordinary piece of legWation, which, viewed in all its bearings in its effects on human labour, on characti-r, on religious institutions and observances, as well as on the general condition 2K2 500 JUBILEE of society, no less than on the productiveness of the land, and the means of sustenance to its inha- bitants is wholly unparalleled by any event in the history of the world. It is, however, in strict harmony with the Mosaic economy. The recurring periods of seven years are in keeping with the institution of the seventh day as a Sabbath for man and beast. The aim in both is similar needful repose. The leading idea in- volved in the Jubilee namely, restitution also harmonizes with the fundamental principles of the Mosaic system. The land was God's, and was entrusted for use to the chosen people in such a way that every individual had his portion. A power of perpetual alienation would have been a virtual denial of God's sovereign rights, while the law of Jubilee was one continued recognition of them. The conception is purely theocraticai in its whole character and tendencies. The theocracy was of such a nature as to disallow all subordinate ' thrones, principalities, and powers ;' and conse- quently, to demand entire equality on the part of the people. But the power of perpetual alienation in regard to land would have soon given rise to the greatest inequalities of social condition, pre- senting splendid affluence on one side and sordid pauperism on the other. A passage in Deutero- nomy (xv. 4), when rightly understood, as in the marginal translation ' to the end that there be no poor among you 'seems expressly to declare that the aim in view, at least, of the Sabbatical release, was to prevent the rise of any great in- equality of social condition, and thus to preserve unimpaired the essential character of the theo- cracy. Equally benevolent in its aim and tendency does this institution thus appear, showing how thoroughly the great Hebrew legislator cared and provided for individuals, instead of favouring classes. Beginning with a narrow cycle of seven days, he went on to a wider one of as many years, embracing at last seven times seven annual revo- lutions, seeking in all his arrangements rest for man and beast, and, by a happy personification, rest even for the brute earth ; and in the rest which he required for human beings, providing for that more needful rest of mind which the sharp competitions and eager rivalries of modern society deny to ten thousand times ten thousand. As being of a benign character and tendency, the law of the Sabbatical and Jubilee year is in accordance with the general spirit of the Mosaic legislation, and appears not unworthy of its divine origin. Warburton adduced this law in order to show that Moses was in truth sent and sustained by God, since nothing but a divine power could have given the neci'ssary supplies of food in the sixth year; and no unprejudiced person can deny the force of the argument. Now these laws either emanated from Moses, or they did not. If they did not, they arose after the settlement in Canaan, and are of such a na- ture as to convict their fabricator of imposture, if, indeed, any one could have been found so daring ns to bring forth laws implying institutions which did not exist, and which under ordinary circum- stances could not find permanence, even if they could ever be carried into operation at all. But if thes,? laws emanated from Moses, is it credible that he would have given utterance to commands which convict themselves of impossibility ? or caused the rise of institutions, which, if unsup- JUDZEA ported of heaven, must come to a speedy termina- tion, and in so doing act to his own discredit as a professed divine messenger? But it may be asked, Could the land sustain th< people? On this point we find the following im portant passage in Palfrey's Lectures on the Jewish Scriptures, Boston, 1841, vol. i. p. 3C3: 'I find no difficulty arising from any inadequacy of the produce of six years to afford sustenance to the people for seven. To say that this was in tended would merely be to say that the design was that the consumption of each year should only amoun on an average to six-sevenths of its produce. In such an arrangement it cannot be thought tha there was anything impracticable. There are states of this Union which export yearly more than half their produce, and subsist substantially on the remainder, their imports consisting mostly of luxuries. Again, in England nearly three quarters of the families are engaged in commerce, manufactures, professions, and unproductive pur- suits ; but in Judoea every man was a producer of food, with the advantage of a fine climate and a rich soil.' In spite of all these arguments, some rational istic writers have hazarded the surprising assertion that these laws were not executed before the Baby- lonish exile. But in addition to the proofs already mentioned, we have the positive evidence of the Roman historian Tacitus ( Hist. v. 4), of Josephus (Antiq. xiv. 10-6), of Ezekiel (xlvi. 17), and ot Isaiah (Ixi. 1-2), to the observance of the Sab- batical year at least. And since the essential ele- ment of this system of law, namely, the Sabbatical year, was an established institution in the days ol Tacitus, Josephus, the Maccabees, Ezekiel, and Isaiah, we think the fair and legitimate inference is in favour of those laws having been long pre- viously observed, probably from the early periods of the Hebrew republic. Their existence in a declining state of the commonwealth cannot be explained without seeking their origin nearer the fountain-head of those pure, living waters, which, with the force of all primitive enthusiasm, easily effected great social wonders, especially when divinely guided and divinely sustained. JUD.T/A, the southernmost of the three divi- sions of the Holy Land. It denoted the kingdom of Judah as distinguished from that of Israel. But after the captivity, as most of the exiles who returned belonged to the kingdom of Judah, the name Judcea (Judah) was applied generally to the whole of Palestine west of the Jordan (Hag. i. 1, 14; ii. 2). Under the Romans, in the time of Christ, Palestine was divided into Judaea, Galilee, and Samaria (John iv. 4, 5; Acts ix. 31), the last including the whole of the southern part west of the Jordan. But this division was only observed as a political and local distinction, for the sake of indicating the part of the country, just as we use the name of a county (Matt. ii. 1,5; iii. 1 ; iv. 25 Luke i. 65) ; but when the whole of Palestine was to be indicated in a general way, the term Judcea was still employed. It is only Judsea, in the provincial sense, that requires our present notice, the country at large being described in the article PALESTINE. In this sense, however, it was much more extensive than the domain of the tribe of Judah, even more so than the kingdom of the same name. There are no materials for describing its limits with JUDAH precision ; but it included the ancient territories : of Judah, Benjamin, Dan, Simeon, and part of | Ephraim. "Judtca is a country full of hills and valleys. The hills are generally separated from one another by valleys and torrents, and are, for the most part, of moderate height, uneven, and seldom of any regular figure. The rock of which they are composed is easily converted into soil, which being arrested by the terraces when washed down by the rains, renders the hills cultivable in a series of long, narrow gardens, formed by these terrace's from the base upwards. In this manner the hills were in ancient times cultivated most industriously, and enriched and beautified with the fig-tree, the olive-tree, and the vine ; and it is thus that the scanty cultivation which still subsists is now carried on. But when the inhabitants were rooted out, and the culture neglected, the terraces fell to decay, and the soil which had been col- lected in them was washed down into the valleys, leaving only the arid rock, naked and desolate. This is the general character of the scenery ; but in some parts the hills a?e beautifully wooded, and in others the application of the ancient mode of cultivation still suggests to the traveller how rich the country once was and might be again,' and how beautiful the prospects which it oS'ered. As, however, much of this was the result of cul- tivation, the country was probably anciently, as at present, naturally less fertile than either Samaria or Galilee. JU'DAH (celebrated}, fourth son of Jacob and Leah (B.C. 1755). The narrative in Genesis brings this patriarch more before the reader, and makes known more of his history and character, than it does in the case of any other of the twelve sons of Jacob, with the single exception of Joseph. It is indeed chiefly in connection with Joseph that the facts respecting Judah transpire ; and as they have already been given in the articles JACOB and JOSEPH, it is only necessary to indicate them shortly in this place. It was Judah's advice that the brethren followed when they sold Joseph to tha Ishmaelites, instead of taking his life. By the light of his subsequent actions we can see that his conduct on this occasion arose from a generous impulse, although the form of the question he put to them has been sometimes held to suggest an interested motive: 'What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood ? Come, let us sell him,' &c. (Gen. xxxvii. 26, 27). Not long after this Ju-.lah withdrew from the paternal tents, and went to reside at Adu'.lam, in the country which afterwards bore his name. Here he married a woman of Canaan, called Shuah, and had by her three sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah. When the eldest of these sons became of fit age, he was married to a woman named Tamar, but soon after died. As hi? died childless, the patriarchal law, afterwards adopted into the Mosaic code (Deut. xxv. 6), required him to bestow upon the widow his second son. This he did: but as Onan also soon died childless, Judah ; became reluctant to bestow his only surviving son upon this woman, and put her off with the excuse that he was not yet of sufficient age. Tamar accordingly remained in her father's house at Adullam. She had the usual passion of Eastern women for offspring, and could not endure the Btignia of having been twice married without bear- JUDAH, TRIBE OF 501 ing children, while the law precluded her from contracting any alliance but that which Judah withheld her from completing. Meanwhile Judah's wife died, and after the time of mourning had expired, he went, accom- panied by his friend llirah, to attend the shearing of his sheep at Timuath in the same neighbour- hood. These circumstances suggested to Tamar the strange thought of connecting herself with Judah himself, under the guise of a loose woman. Having waylaid him on the road to Timnath, she succeeded in her object, and when the consequences begun to be manifest in the person of Tamar, Judah was highly enraged at her crime, and, exercising the powers which belonged to him as the head of the family she had dishonoured, he commanded her to be brought forth and com- mitted to the flames as an adulteress. But when she appeared, she produced the ring, thv> bracelet, and the staff, which he had left in pledge with her ; and put him to confusion by declaring that they belonged to the father of her coming offspring. Judah acknowledged them to be his, and confessed that he had been wrong in withholding Shelah from her. Thi result of this painful affair was the birth of two sons, Zerah and Pharez, from whom, with Shelah, the tribe of Judah descended. Pharez was the ancestor of the line from which David, the kings ot Judah, and Jesus came (Gen. xxxviii.; xlvi. 12; 1 Chron. ii. 3-5 ; Matt i. 3; Luke iii. 33). These circumstances seem to have disgusted Judah with his residence in towns ; for we find him ever afterwards at his father's tents. His experience of life, and the strength of his cha- racter, appear to have given him much influence with Jacob; and it was chiefly from confidence in him that the aged father at length consented to allow Benjamin to go down to Egypt. That this confidence was not misplaced has already been shown [JOSEPH] ; and there is not in the whole range of literature a finer piece of true natural eloquence than that in which Judah offers himself to remain as a bond-siave in the place of Benjamin, for whose safe return he had made himself responsible to his father. The strong emo- tions which it raised in, Joseph disabled him from keeping up longer the disguise he had hitherto maintained, and there are few who have read it without being, like him, moved even to tears. We hear nothing more of Judah till he re- ceived, along with his brothers, the final blessing of his father, which was conveyed in lofty lan- guage, glancing far into futurity, and strongly indicative of the high destinies which awaited the tribe that was to descend from him. 2. JUDAH, TRIBE OF. This tribe sprang from Judah, the son of Jacob. When the Israelites quitted Egypt, it already exhibited the elements of its future distinction in a larger population than any of the other tribes possessed. It num- bered 74,000 adult males, being nearly 12,000 more than Dan, the next in point of numbers, and 34,100 more than Ephraim, which in the end contested with it the superiority among the tribes. During the sojourn in the wilderness, Judah neither gained, like some tribes, nor lost HL-e others. Its numbers had increased to 76,500, being 12,100 more than Issachar, which had be- come next to it in population (Num. i. 2 y . la the first distribution of lands, the tribe of Judah 602 JUDAH, KINGDOM OF received the southernmost part of Palestine, to the exteut of fully one-third of the whole country to be distributed among the nine and a half tribes for which provision was to be made. This over- sight was discovered and rectified at the time of the second distribution, which was founded on an actual survey of the country, when Simeon and Dan received allotments out of the territory which had before been wholly assigned to Judah (Josh. xix. 9). That which remained was s'ill very large, and more proportioned to the future greatness than the actual wants of the tribe. When Judah became a kingdom, the original extent of territory assigned to the tribe was more than restored or compensated, for it must have included the domains of Simeon, and we know that Benjamin was included in it. The history of the J udges contains fewer facts respecting this important tribe than might be ex- pected. It seems however to have been usually considered that the birthright which Reuben for- feited had passed to Judah under the blessing of Jacob ; and a sanction was given to this impres- sion when, after the death of Joshua, the divine oracle nominated Judah to take precedence of the other tribes in the war against the Canaanites (Judg. i. 2). It does not appear that any tribe was disposed to dispute the superior claim of ! Judah on its own account, except Ephraim, al- though in doing this Kphraim had the support of other tribes. Ephraim appears to have rested its claims to the leadership of the tribes upon the ! ground that the house of Joseph, whose interest it represented, had received the birthright, or doable portion of the eldest, by the adoption of the two sous of Joseph, who became the founders of two tribes in Israel. The existence of the sa- i cerdotal establishment at Shiloh. in Ephraim, was doubtless also alleged by the tribe as a ground of superiority over Judah. When, therefore, Judah assumed the sceptre in the person of David, and when the sacerdotal establishment ! was removed to Jerusalem, Ephraim could not i brook the eclipse it had sustained, and took the first opportunity of erecting a separate throne, and of forming separate establishments for worship and sacrifice. Perhaps the separation of the king- doms may thus he traced to the rivalry of the two tribes. After that separation the rivalry was between the two kingdoms ; but it was still popu- larly considered as representing the ancient ri- valry of these great tribes; for the prophet, in foretelling the repose of a coming time, describes it by saying, ' The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judce refuse their accustomed tribute, and become again practically independent; and some irregular invasion of these trilics might have been dreaded. It was a mark of conscious weakness, and not a result of strength, that Reho- boam fortified 15 cities (2 Chron. xi. 5-11), in which his people might find defeuce against the irregular armies of his roving neighbours. Hut a more formidable enemy came in, Shisbuk king JUDAH, KINGDOM OF of Ejrypt, against whom the fortresses were of no avail (xii. 4), and to whom Jerusalem was forced to open its gates ; and, from the despoiling of his treasures, Kehoboam probably sustained a still greater shock in its moral effect on tha Moabites and Edomites, than in the direct loss : nor is it easy to conceive that he any longer retained the commerce of the lied Sea, or any very lucrative trade. After Jehoshaphat followed the calamitous affinity with the house of Ahab, and the mas- sacres of both families. Under Jchoiada the priest, and Jehoash his pupil, no martial efforts wei-e made ; but Amaziah sou of Jehoash, after hiring 100,000 Israelites to no purpose, made war on the Edomites, slew 10,ouo, ai.d threw 10,000 more down from the top of their reck (xxv. 5, 6, 11, 12). His own force in Judah, from 20 years old and upwards, was numbered at 300,000 choice men, able to handle spear and shield. His soa Uzziah had 2600 military officers, and 307,500 men of war (xxvi. }>, 13). Ahaz lot-t, in a single battle with Pekah, 120,000 valiant men (xxviii. 6), after the severe slaughter he had received from Rezin king of Syria ; after which no further military strength is ascribed to thi- kings of Judah. These figures have caused no small perplexity, and have suggested to some the need of conjec- tural -emendation. It perhaps deserves remark, that in the book of Kings no numbers of such startling magnitude are found. The army as- cribed to Rehoboam (1 Kings xii. 21) is, indeed, as in Chronicles, 180,000 men ; but if we explain it of tho$e able to fight, the number, though cer- tainly large, may be dealt with historically. As the most important external relations of Israel were with Damascus, so were those of Judah with Edom and Egypt. Some revolution in the state of Egypt appears to have followed the reign of Shishak, Apparently the country must have fallen under the power of an Ethiopian dynasty, for the name of the Lubim, who accom- panied Zerah in his attack on Asa, is generally regarded as proving that Zerah was from Seunaar, the ancient Meroe. But as this invasion was sig- nally repulsed, the attempt was not repeated ; and Ji.dah enjoyed entire tranquillity from that quarter until the invasion of Pharaoh Necho. In fact it may seem that this success assisted the reaction, favourable to the power of Judah, which was already begun, in consequence of a change in the policy of Damascus. Asa having bought, by a costly sacrifice, the serviceable aid of the Damascene king, Israel was soon distressed, ai.d Judah became once more formidable to her southern neighbours. Jehoshaphat appears to have re-asserted the Jewish authority over the Edomites without war, and to have set his own viceroy over them (1 Kings xxii. 47). Intending to resume the distant commerce which had been so profitable to Solomon, he built ships suitable for Jong voyages (' ships her and others accustomed to the Mediterranean; but Jeho&haphat was too discouraged to accept his offer, and the experi- JUDAH, KINGDOM OF 503 ment was never renewed by any Hebrew king. The Edomites, who paid only a forced allegiance, soon alter revolted from Jehoram, and elected their own king (2 Kings viii. 20, 22). At a later time they were severely defeated by Aina- ; ziah (2 Kings xiv. 7), whose ton, Uzziah, fortified ! the town of Elath, intending, probal.ly, to resume maritime enterprise ; but it remained a barren \ possession, and was finally taken from them by fiezin, in the reign of /\haz (2 Kings xvi. 6J. ; The Philistines, in these times, seem to have j fallen from their former greatness, their league having been so long dissolved. The most re- ' markable event in which they are concerned is ] the assault on Jerusalem, in the reign of Jcho- ; ram (2 Chron. xxi. 10, 17). It is strikingly indicative of the stormy scenes through which the line of David parsed, that the treasures of the king and of the Temple were so often plundered or bargained away. First, under Rehoboam, all the hoards of Solomon, conse- crated and common alike, were carried off by Shishak (1 Kings xiv. 26). Two generations later, Asa emptied out to Benhadad ail that had since accumulated 'in the house of Jehovah or in the king s house.' A third time, when Hazael had taken Gath, and was preparing to march on Jerusalem, Jehoash, king of Jiidah, turned him away by sending to him all 'that Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Ahaziah and Jehoash himself hail de- dicated, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of Jehovah and in the king's house' (2 Kings xii. 18). In the very next reign Jehoash, king of Israel, defeated and captured Amaziah, took Jerusalem, broke down the walls, carried oft' hostages, and plundered the gold and silver deposited in the temple and': in the royal palace (2 Kings xiv. 11-14). A fifth sacrifice of the sacred and of the royal treasure was made by Ahaz to Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings xvi. 8). '1 he act was repeated by his son Hezekiah to Sennacherib, who had demanded ' 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold.' It is extraordinary, therefore, to find expressions used when Nebuchadnezzar took the city, which at first sight imply that Solomon's far-famed stores were still untouched (2 Kings xxiv. 13). The severest shock which the house of David received was the double massacre which it en- j dured from Jehu and from Athaliah. After a long minority, a youthful king, the sole sur- viving male descendant of his great-graudlaiher, and reared under the paternal rule of the priest Jehoiada, to whom he was indebted not only for his throne but even for his recognition as a son j of Ahaziah, was not in a situation to uphold the royal authority. That Jehoash conceived the j priests to have abused the power which they had ! gained, sufficiently appears in 2 Kiuf,s xii., where I he complains that they had for twenty-three ! years appropriated the money, which they ought : to have spent on the repairs of the temple. ; Jehoiada gave way ; but we see here the begin- ; ning of a feud (hitherto unknown in the house ; of David) between the crown and the priestly order; which, after Jehoiada's death, led to the murder of his son Zachariah. The massacre' of the priests of Baal, and of Athaliah, grand- daughter of a king of Sidon, must also have destroyed cordiality between the Phoenicians and I the kingdom of Judah ; and when the victorious 504 JUDAS MACCABEUS Hazacl had subjugated all Israel and showed himself near Jerusalem, Jehoash could look for no help from without, and had neither the faith of Hezekiah nor a prophet like Isaiah to support him. The assassination of Jehoash in his bed by ' his own servants' is described in the Chro- nicles as a revenge taken upon him by the priestly party for his murder of ' the sons ' of Jehoia'da ; and (he same fate, from the same in- fluence, fell upon his son Amaziah, if we may so interpret the words in 2 Chron. xxv. 27 : ' From the time that Amaziah turned away from follow- ing Jehovah they made a conspiracy against him,' &c. Thus the house of David appeared to be committing itself, like that of Saul, to per- manent enmity with the priests. The wisdom of Uzziah, during a long reign, averted this col- lision, though a symptom of it returned towards its close. No further mischief from this cause 1 followed, until the reign of his grandson, the weak and unfortunate Ahaz : after which the power of the kingdom rapidly mouldered away. The struggle of the crown against (what we might call) the constitutional check of the priests, was perhaps the most immediate cause of the ruin of Juuah. Ahaz was probably less guided by policy than by superstition, or by architectural taste, in erecting his Damascene altar (2 Kings xvi. 10-18). But the far more outrageous pro- ceedings of Manasseh seem to have been a sys- tematic attempt to extirpate the national religion because of its supporting the priestly power ; and the 'innocent blood very much,' which he is stigmatized for shedding (2 Kings xxi. 16), was undoubtedly a sanguinary attack on the party opposed to his impious and despotic innovations. The storm which he had raised did not burst in his lifetime ; but, two years after, it fell on the head of his son Amon ; and the disorganization of the kingdom which his madness had wrought is commemorated as the cause of the Babylonish captivity (2 Kings xxiii. 26 ; xxiv. 3, 4). It is also credible that the long-continued despotism had greatly lessened patriotic spirit; and that the Jewish people of the declining kingdom were less brave against foreign invaders than against kindred and neighbour tribes or civil opponents. Faction had become very fierce within Jerusalem itself (Ezek. xxii.), and civil bloodshed was common. Wealth, where it existed, was gene- rally a source of corruption, by introducing foreign luxury, tastes, manners, superstitions, immo- rality, or idolatry ; and when consecrated to pious purposes, as by Hezekiah and Josiah, produced little more than a formal and exterior religion. The appointment of Hilkiah to the office of high priest seems to mark the era at which (by a reaction after the atrocities of Manasseh and Amon) the purer priestly sentiment obtained its triumph over the crown. But the victory came too late. Society was corrupt and convulsed within, and the two great powers of Egypt and Babylon menaced it from without. True lovers of their God and of their country, like Jeremiah, saw that it was a time rather for weeping than for action ; and that the faithful must resign themselves to the bitter lot which the sins of their nation had earned. JU'DAS is merely the Greek form of the Hebrew name JUDAH. 1. JUDAS MACCABEUS. [MACCABEES.] JUDAS ISCAEIOT 2. JUDAS ISCAR'IOT. The object of this article is not to elucidate all the circumstances recorded respecting this person, but simply to investigate his motives in delivering up Jesus to the chief-priests. The evangelists relate his pro- ceedings, but give no opinion. The subject is consequently open to inquiry. Our conclusions must be guided by the facts of the case, and by the known feelings and principles of human nature. The only conceivable motives for the conduct of Judas arc, a sense of duty in bring- ing his Master to justice, resentment, avarice, dissatisfaction with the procedure of Jesus, and a consequent scheme for the accomplishment of his own views. With regard to the first of these motives, if Judas had been actuated by a sense of duty in bringing his Master to justice for anything censurable in his intentions, words, or actions, he would certainly have alleged some charge against him in his first interview with the chief-priests, and they would have brought him forward as a witness against Jesus, espe- cially when they were at so great a loss for evi- dence : or they would have reminded him of his accusations when lie appealed to them after our Lord's condemnation, saying, ' I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood ' a confes- sion which amounts to an avowal that he had never seen anything to blame in his Master, but everything to approve. The second motive sup- posed, namely, that of resentment, is rather more plausible. Jesus had certainly rebuked him for blaming the woman who had anointed him in the house of Simon the leper, at Bethany (comp. Matt. xxvi. 8-17; John xii. 4, 5); and Mat- thew's narrative seems to connect his going to the chief-priests with that rebuke (ver. 14): ' Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief- priests ;' but closer inspec- tion will convince the reader that those words are more properly connected with ver. 3. Be- sides, the rebuke was general, ' Why trouble ye the woman ?' Nor was it nearly so harsh 'as that received by Peter, 'Get Ihee behind me, Satan" (Matt. xvi. 23), and certainly not so public (Mark viii. 32, 33). Even if Judas had felt ever so much resentment, it could scarcely have been his sole motive ; and as nearly two ' days elapsed between his contract with the chief- priests and its completion, it would have subsided during the interval, and have yielded to that covetousness which we have every reason to believe was his ruling passion. St. John ex- pressly declares that Judas 'was a thief, and had the bag, and bare (that is, conveyed away from it, stole) what was put therein ' (xii. 6 ; comp. xx. 15, in the original). This rebuke, or rather certain circumstances attending it, might have determined him to act as he did, but is insuffi- cient, of itself, to account entirely for his conduct, by which he endangered all his expectations of worldly advancement from Jesus, at the very moment when they seemed upon the verge of being fulfilled. It is, indeed, a most important feature in the case, that the hopes entertained by Judas, and all the apostles, from their Master's expected elevation, as the Messiah, to the throne of Judaea, and, as they believed, to the empire of the whole world, were never more stedfast than at the time when he covenanted with the chief- priests to deliver him into their hands. Hor JUDAS 1SCA1UOT does the theory of mere resentment agree with the terms of censure in which the conduct and character of Judas are spoken of by our Lord and the evangelists. Since, then, this supposi- tion is insufficient, we may consider another motive to which his conduct is more commonly ascribed, namely, covetousness. But if by covetousness l>e meant the eager desire to obtain 'the thirty pieces of silver,' with which the chief-priests ' covenanted with him ' (Matt. xxvi. 15), it presents scarcely a less inadequate motive. Can it he conceived that Judas would deliberately forego the prospect ot immense wealth from his Master, by delivering him up for about four pounds ten shillings of our money, upon the highest computation, and not more than double in value, a sum which he might easily have pur- lointd from the bag? Is it likely that he would have made such a sacrifice for any further sum, however large, which we may suppose ' they promised him,' (Mark xiv. 11), and of which the thirty pieces of silver might have been the mere earnest (Luke xxii. 5)? Had covetousness been his motive, he would have ultimately applied to tbe chief-priests, not to bring again the thirty pieces of silver with the confession, ' I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent, blood ' (Matt, xxvii. 4), but to demand the com- pletion of their agreement with him. We are now at liberty to consider the only remaining motive for the conduct of Judas, namely, dis- satisfaction with the procedure of his Master, arid a consequent scheme for the furtherance of his own views. It seems to us likely, that the im- patience of Judas for the accomplishment of his worldly views, which we conceive to have ever actuated him in following Jesus, could no longer be restrained, arid that our Lord's observations at Bethany served to mature a stratagem he had meditated long before. He had no doubt been greatly disappointed at seeing his Master avoid being made a king, after feeding the five thousand in Galilee. Many a favourable crisis had he seemed to lose, or had not dared to embrace, and now while at Bethany he talks of his burial (John xii. 7) ; and though none of his apostles, so firm were their worldly expectations from their Master, could clearly understand such 'sayings' (Luke xviii. 34); yet they had been made ' exceeding sorry f by them (Matt xvii. 23). At the same time Judas had long been convinced by the miracles he had seen his Master perform that he was the Messiah (John vii. 31). He had even heard him accept this title from his apostles in private (Matt. xvi. 16). He had promised them that when he should ' sit upon the throne of his glory, they should sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel ' (Matt. xix. 28). Yet now, when every- thing seemed most favourable to the assumption of empire, he hesitates and desponds. Within a few days, the people, who had lately given him a triumphal entry into the city, having kept the passover, would be dispersed to their homes, and Judas and his fellow apostles be, perhaps, re- quired to attend their Master on another tedious expedition through the country. Hence it seems most probable that Judas resolved upon the plan of delivering up his Master to the Jewish autho- rities, when he would be compelled, in self- defence, to prove his claims, by giving them the JUDAS ISC A RIOT 505 sign from heaven they had so often demanded: they would, he believed, elect him in due form as the King Messiah, and thus enable him tc reward his followers. He did, indeed, receive from Jesus many alarming admonitions against his design ; but the plainest warnings are losl upon a mind totally absorbed by a purpose, and agitated by many violent passions. The worst he would permit himself to expect, was a tem- porary displeasure for placing his Master in this dilemma ; but as he most likely believed, judging from himself, that Jesus anticipated worldly aggrandizement, h? might calculate upon his for- giveness when the emergency should have been triumphantly surmounted. Judas could not doubt his master's ability to extricate himself from his enemies by miracle. He had known him do so mrre than once (Luke iv. 30 ; John viii. 59; x. 39). Hence his directions to the officers to 'hold him fast,' when he was appre- hended (Matt. xxvi. 48). With other Jews he believed the Messiah W'ould never die (John xii. 34); accordingly, we regard his pecuniary stipu- lation with the priests as a mere artful cover to his deeper and more comprehensive design ; and so that he served their purpose in causing the apprehension of Jesus, they would little care to scrutinize his motive. All they felt was being 'glad' at his proposal (Mark xiv. 11), and the plan appeared to hold good up to the very moment of our Lord's condemnation; for after his ap- prehension his miraculous power seemed unabated, from his healing Malchus. Judas heard him declare that he could even then ' ask, and his father would give him twelve legions of angels' for his rescue. But when Judas, who awaited the issue of the trial with such different expecta- tions, saw that though Jesus had avowed himself to be the Messiah, he had not convinced the San- hedrim ; and, instead of extricating himself from their power by miracle, had submitted to be ' condemned, buffeted, and spit upon,' by his judges and accusers; then it should seem he awoke to a full view of all the consequences of his conduct The prophecies of the Old Testa- ment, ' that Christ should suffer,' ar.d of Jesus, concerning his own rejection and death, flashed on his mind in their true sense and full force, and he found himself the wretched instrument of their fulfilment. He made a last desperate effort to stay proceedings. He presented himself to the chief-priests, offered to return the money, con- fessed that he had sinned in that he had betrayed the innocent blood, and upon receiving their heartless answer was wrought into a phrenzy of despair, during which he committed suicide. There is much significancy in these words of Matt, xxvii. 3, 'Then Judas, when lie saw he was condemned,' not expiring on the cross, ' re- pented himself,' &c. If such be the true hypo- thesis of his conduct, then, however culpable it may have been, as originating in the most in- ordinate covetousness, in:patience of the procedure of Prov'dence, crooked policy, or any other bad ! quality, he is certainly absolved from the direct intention of procuring his Master's death. ' The difference,' says Archbishop Whately, 'between Iscariot and his fellow apostles was, that though they all bad the same expectations and con- jectures, he dared to act on his conjectures, de- parting from the plaiu course of his known duty 506 JUDE, LE OF to follow the calculations of his worldly wisdom, ar.d the sehemts of his worldly ambition.' 3. JUDAS, or JUDE, suruanied BARSABAS, a Christian teacher scut from Jerusalem to Ahtioch along with Paul and Barnabas (Acts xv. 22, 27, 32). He is supposed to have been one of the evenly disciples, and brother of Joseph, also surnamed Barsabas (son of Sabas), who was pro- posed, with Matthias, to fill up the place of the traitor Judas (Acts i. 23). Judas and Silas (who was also of the party) are mentioned to- gether as ' prophets ' and chief mi-n among the brethren.' 4. JUDAS. [JcDE.] 5. JUDAS, a Jew of Damascus, with whom Paul lodged (Acts ix. 11). 6. JUDAS, nirnamed the Galilean (Acts v. 37), so called also by Josephus. and likewise ' the Gaulonite.' In company with one Sadoc he attempted to raise a sedition among the Jews, but was destroyed by Cyrenius (Quirinus), then pro- consul of Svria and Judaea. JUDK, OR JUDAS. There were two of this name among the twelve Apostles Judas, called also Lebbaus and Thadda?us (Matt. x. 4 ; Mark iii. 18, which see), and Judas Iscariot. Judas is the name of one of our Lord's brethren, but it is not agreed whether our Lord's brother is the same with the Apostle of this name [JAMES]. We are not iu formed as to the time of the voca- tion of the Apostle Jude to that dignity. Indeed, the only circumstance relating to him which is recorded in the Gospels consists in the question put by him to our Lord (John xiv. 22). Judas saith imto him (not Iscariot), Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not unto the world ? ' Nor have we any account given of his proceedings after our Lord's resurrection, for the traditionary notices which have been preserved of him rest on no very certain foundation. It has been asserted that he was sei;t to Edessa, to Ahgarus king of Osroene, and that he preached in Syria, Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Persia; in which latter country he suffered martyrdom. JUDE, EPISTLE OF. Doubts have been thrown upon the genuineness of this Epistle from the fict of the writer haviug been supposed to have cited two Apocryphal books Enoch and the Assumption of Moses. But notwithstanding the difficulties connected with this point, it was treated l>y the ancients with the highest respect, and regarded as the genuine work of an inspired writer. Although Origeu on one occasion speaks doubtfully, calling it the ' reputed Epistle of Jud.-,' yet on another occasion, and in the same work, he says, ' Jude wrote an Epistle, of few lines indeed, but full of the powerful words of heavenly grace, who at the beginning says, " Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James." ' The same writer calls it the writing of Jude the Apostle. The moderns are, however, divided in opinion between Jude the Apostle and Jude the Lord's brother, if indeed they be dif- ferent persons. The author simply calls himself Jude, the broiher of James, and a servant of Jesus Christ. This form of expression has given rise to various conjectures. Hug supposes that he in- timates thereby a nearer degree of relationship than that c.f an Apostle. At the same time it must be acknowledged that the circumstance of his uot naming himself an apostle is not ot itself JUDGES necessarily sufficient to militate against his be'intf the Apostle of that name, inasmuch as St. Paul does not upon all occasions (as iu Philippians, Thessalonians. and Philemon) use this title. From his calling himself the brother of James, rather than the brother of the Lord. Michaelis deduces that be was the son of Joseph by a former wife, and not a full brother of our Lord's, as Herder contends [JAMES, JUDE]. From the great coincidence both in sentiment and subject which exists between this Epistle and the second of St. Peter, it has been thought by many critics that one of these writers had seen the other's work ; but we shall reserve the discussion as to which was the earlier writing until we come to treat of St. Peter's Epistle. Dr. Larduer sup- poses that Jude's Epistle was written between the years C4 and C(, Beausobre and L'E;.fant between 70 and 75 (from which Dodwell and Cave do not materially differ), and Dr. Mill fixes it to the year 90. If Jude has quoted the apocry- phal book of Enoch, as seems to be agreed upon by most modern critics, and if this book was written, as Liicke thinks, after the destruction of Jerusalem, the age of our Kpistle best accords with the date assigned to it by Mill. It is difficult to decide who the persons were to whom this Epistle was addressed, some supposing that it was written to converted Jews, others to all Christians, without distinction. Many of the arguments seem best adapted to convince the Jewish Christians, as appeals are so strikingly made to their sacred books and traditions. The design of this Epistle is to warn the Chris- tians against the false teachers who had insinu- ated themselves among them and disseminated dangerous tenets of insubordination and licen- tiousness. The author reminds them, by the example of Sodom and Gomorrah, that God had punished the rebellious Jews ; and that even the disobedient angels had shared the same fate. The false teachers to whom he alludes ' speak evil of dignities," while the archangel Mieluul did not even revile Satan. He compares them to Balaam and Korah, to clouds without water, ai;d to raging waves. Enoch, he says, foretold their wickedness ; at the same time he consoles be- lievers, and exhorts them to persevere in faith and love. The Epistle is remarkable for the vehemence, fervour, and energy of its composi- tion and style. JUDGES. This name is applied to fifteen persons who at intervals presided over the ai'airs of the Israelites during the 450 years which elapsed from the death of Joshua to the accession of Saul. The station and office of thes t j rulers of the people,' as the original literally sigi:iii<.-.s, are involved in great obscurity, partly from the want of clear intimations in the history in which their exploits and government are recorded, ;u,(l partly from the absence of parallels in the history of other nations, by which our notions might he assisted. They may be briefly described as faithful men, who acted for the most part as agents of the Divine will, regents for the In- visible King of the chosen people; and who, holding their commission directly from him. or with his sanction, Mould be more inclined to ct as dependent vassals of Jehovah than kings, who, as members of royal dynasties, would come Jo : rian with notions of independent rights ujid JUDGES JUDGES 507 yal privileges, which would draw away their I law alone ; and in doubtful cases they were di- tention from their true place in the theocracy. reete<~ ro utt Iu this greater depeudmce of the judges upon the Divine King we see the secret of their iusti- tutio:!. The Israelites were disposed to rest upon their separate interests as tribes; and having ihus allowed the standing general government ir> re- main inoperative through disuse, they would in cases of emergency have been di>pofed to forget that Jehovah hud taken upon himself the function of their Supreme liuler, and ' to make themselves a king like the nations,' had their attention not been directed to the appointment of officers whose authority could rest on no tangible rigid apart from character and services, which, with the temporary nature of their power, rendered their functions more accordant with the principles of the theocracy than those of any other public offi- cers could be. . And it is probably in this adapt- ation to the peculiar circumstances of the Hebrew theocracy that we shall discover the reason of our inability to find any similar office among oilier nations. With regard to the nature of the office held by these judges, it is usual to consider them as com- mencing their career with military exploits to deliver Israel from foreign oppression; but this is by no means invariably the case. Eli and Samuel werv not military men ; Deborah judged Israel before she planned the war against Jabin ; and of Juir, I b/an, Elon, and Abdon, it is at least uncertain whether they ever h. Id any military command. The command of the army can there- fore be scarcely considered the distinguishing characteristic of these men. or military exploits the necessary introduction to the office. In many cases it is true that military achievements were the means by which they elevated themselves to the rank of judges ; but in general the appoint- ment may be said to have varied with the exi- pencies of the limes, and with the particular cir- cumstances which in times of trouble would dra*r the public attention to persons who appeared suited by their gifts or influence to advise in matters of general concernment, to decide in questions arising between tribe and tribe, to ad- minister public affairs, and to appear as their recognised head in their intercourse with their neighbours and oppressors. Iu nearly all the instances recorded the appoint- ment seems to have been by the free unsolicited choice of the people. The only cases of direct Divine appointment are those of Gideon and Samson, and the last stood in lire peculiar posi- tion of having been f.-om before his birth ordained ' to begin to deliver Israel.' Deborah was called to deliver Israel, but was already a judge. , Samuel was called by the Lord to be a prophet, 1 but not a judge, which ensued from the high gifts wl ich the people recognised as dwelling m i him : and as to Eli, the office of judge seems to i have devolved naturally, or rather ex-officio, i upon him ; and his case seems to be the only one j in which the high-priest appears in the character which the theocratical institutions designed for him. d to consult the Divine King lhrou-.li j riest by Urim and Thuinmim (Num. xxvii. 21). They were not obliged in common cases to ak advice of the ordinary rulers; it was sufficient if these did not remonstrate ugaii.st the measures of the judge. Iu important emergencies, however, they convoked a general assembly of ihe rulers, over which they presided and exerted a powerful influence. They could issue orders, but not enact laws; they could neither levy taxes nor appoint officers, except perhaps in the army. Their au- thority extended only over those tribes by whom they had been elected or acknowledged; for it is clear that several of the judges (.resided over separate tribes. There was no income attached to their office, nor was there any income appro- priated to them, unless it might be a larger share in the spoils, and those presents winch were made them as testimonials of respect (Judg viii. 24). They bore no external marks of dig- nity, and maintained no retinue of courtiers, though some of them were very opulent. They were not only simple in their manners, moderate in their dcires, and free from avarice and ambi- tion, but noble and magnanimous men, who felt that whatever they did for tlnir country was above all reward, and could not be recompensed ; who desired merely to promote the public good, and who chose rather to deserve well of their country than to be enriched by its wealth. This exalted patriotism, like everything else connected with politics in the theocratical state of the He- brews, was partly of a religious character, and those regents always conducted themselves as the officers of God ; in all their enterprises they relied upon Him, and their only care * as, that their countrymen should acknowledge the authority of Jehovah, their invisible king (Judg. viii. 22, ?q. ; comp. Heb. xi.). Still they were not without faults, neither are they so represented by their historians; they relate, ou the contrary, with the utmost frankness, the great sins of which some of them were guilty. They were not merely de- liverers of the state from a foreign yoke, but destroyers of idolatry, foes of pagan vices, pro- moters of the knowledge of God, of religion, and of morality - r restorers of theocracy in the minds of the Hebrews, and powerful instruments of Divine providence in the promotion of the great design of preserving the Hebrew constitution, and, by that means, of rescuing the true religion fri.m destruction.' The times of the judges would certainly not he considered so turbulent and barbarous, mud less would they, be taken, contrary to the clearest evidence and to the analogy of all history, for a heroic age, if they were viewed without the pre judices of a preconceived hypothesis. It must never be forgotten that tha book of Judges is by no means a complete history. This no impartial inquirer can ever deny. It is, in a manner, a mere register of diseases, from which, however, we have no right to conclude that there were co healthy men, much less that there were no | healthy seasons ; since the book itself, for the The following clear summary of their duties i most part, mentions only a few tribes in which and privileges is given by Jahn: The office of ; the epidemic prevailed, and notices long periods judges or regents was held during life, but it was | during which it h.id universally ceased. What- not hereditary, neither could they appoint their | ever may be the result of more accurate investi- successors. Their authority was limited by the gation, ii remains undeniable that the condition 508 JUDGES of the Hebrews during this period perfectly cor- responds throughout to the sanctions of the law ; ; and they were always prosperous when they complied with the conditions on which prosperity was promised them ; it remains undeniable that the government of God was clearly manifested, not only to the Hebrews, but to their heathen i neighbours ; that the fulfilling of the promises and threatening* of the law were so many sen- sible proofs of the universal dominion of the Divine King of the Hebrews; and, consequently, that all the various fortunes of that nation were so many means of preserving the knowledge of God on the earth. The Hebrews had no suffi- cient reason to desire a change in their constitu- tion ; all required was, that they should observe the conditions on which national prosperity was promised them. The chronology of the period in which the judges ruled is Iwset with great and perhaps in- superable difficulties. There are intervals of time the extent of which is not specified ; as, for instance, that from Joshua's death to the yoke of Chushan-rishathaim (ii. 8) ; that of the rule of Shamgar (iii. 31); that between Gideon's death and Abimelech's accession (viii. 31, 32); and that of Israel's renewal of idolatry previous to their oppression by the Ammonites (x. 6, 7). Sometimes round numbers seem to have been given, as forty years for the rule of Othniel, forty years for that of Gideon, and forty years also for the duration of the oppression by the Philistines. Twenty years are given for the subjection to Jabin, and twenty years for the government of Samson ; yet the latter never completely con- quered the Philistines, who, on the contrary, succeeded in capturing him. Some judges, who are commonly considered to have been successive, were in all probability contemporaneous, and ruled over different districts. Under these cir- cumstances, it is impossible to fix the date of each particular event in the book of Judges ; but attempts have been made to settle its general chronology, of which \ve must in this place men- tion the most successful. The whole period cf the judges, from Joshua to Eli, is usually estimated at 299 years, in order to meet the -180 years which (1 Kings vi. I) are said to have elapsed from the departure of the Israelites from Egypt to the foundation of the temple by Solomon. But St. Paul says (Acts xiii. 20), ' God gave unto the people of Israel judges about the space of 450 years until Samuel the prophet.' Again, if the number of years spe- cified by the author of our book, in stating facts, is summed up, we have 410 years, exclusive of those years not specified for certain intervals of time above mentioned. In order to reduce these 410 years and upwards to 299, events and reigns must, in computing their years of duration, either be entirely passed over, or, in a most arbitrary way, included in other periods preceding or subse- quent. This has been done by Archbishop Usher, whose system, here peculiarly faulty, has been adopted in the Authorized Version of the Scrip- tures. He excludes the repeated intervals during which the Hebrews were in subjection to their enemies, and reckons only the years of peace and rest which were assigned to the successive judges. For example, he passes over the eight years of servitude inflicted upon the Hebrews by Chushan- JUDGES rishathaim, and, without any interruption, con- nects the peace obtained by the victories of Othniel with that which had been conferred on the land by the government of Joshua; and although the sacred historian relates in the plainest terms pos- sible that the children of Israel served the king of Mesopotamia eight years, and were afterwards delivered by Othiiiel, who gave the laud rest forty years, the archbishop maintains that the forty years now mentioned be^an, not after the successes of this judge, but immediately after the demise of Joshua. Nothing certainly can be more ol>vious than that in this case the years of tranquillity and the years of oppression ought to be reckoned separately. Again, we are informed by the sacred writer, that after the death of Ehud the children of Israel were under the oppression of Jabin king ofHazorfor twenty years, and that afterwards, when their deliverance was effected by Deborah and Barak, the land had rest forty years. Nothing can be clearer than this ; yet Usher's system l~ads him to include the twenty years of oppression in the forty of peace, making both but forty years. All this arises from the obligation which Usher unfortunately conceived himself under of follow- ing the scheme adopted by the Masoretic Jews, who, as Dr. Hales remarks, have by a curious invention included the four first servitudes in the years of the judges who put an end to them, contrary to the express declarations of Scripture, which represents the administrations of the judges, not as synchronising with the servitudes, but as succeeding them. The Ifabbins were indeed forced to allow the fifth servitude to have been distinct from the administration of Jephthah, because it was too long to be included in that administra- tion ; but they deducted a year from thy Scrip- ture account of the servitude, making it only six instead of seven years. They sank entirely the sixth servitude of forty years under the Philis- tines, because it was too long to be contained in Samson's administration ; and, to crown all, they reduced Saul's reign of forty years to two years only. The necessity for all these tortuous operations has arisen from a desire to produce a conformity with the date in 1 Kings vi. 1, which, as already cited, gives a period of only 480 years from the Exode to the foundation of Solomon's temple. As this date is incompatible with the sum of the different numbers given in the book of Judges, and as it differs from the computation of Josephus and of all the ancient writers on the subject, whether Jewish or Christian, it is not unsatis- factory to find grounds which leave this text open ' to much doubt and suspicion. We cannot here enter into any lengthened proof; but that the text did not exist in the Hebrew and Greek copies of the Scripture till nearly three centuries after Christ, is evident from the absence of all refereuca to it in the works of the learned men who com- posed histories of the Jews from the materials supplied to them in the sacred books. This might be shown by reference to various authors, who, if the numbtr specified in it had existed, could not fail to have adduced it. It only remains to arrange the different systems of the chronology of this period so as to exhibit them in one view to the eye of the reader. It has been deemed right, for the better apprehension of the differences, to make the table embrace the JUDGES, BOOK OF whole period from the exode to the building of Solomon's temple. The headings are taken from Hales, simply because, from being the most co- pious, they can afford a framework within which all tha explanations may be inserted. The authorities for this table are: Josephus, Antiquities, v. 1-10; Theophilus, Bp. of Antioch JUDGES, BOOK OF 509 (A.D. 330), Epist. ad Autclycum, iii. ; Eusebius (AD. 330), Prapuratio Ecaugelicu, x. 14; Usher ; (1650), Chronoloqia Sacra, p. 71 ; Juckson (1752), Chronological Antiquities, p. 145; Hales (1811), i Analysis of Chronology, i. 101 ; Russell (1827), j Connection of Sacred and Profane History, i. 1 Exode to death of Moses . . Joshua (aud the) ... 1 Hales. Jackson. O K Josephus. j3 0* & L'sher. Yrs. 40 26 B.C. 1648 1608 1602 1596 Years. 40 27 B.o. 1593 1553 Yn. 40 25 Yrs. 40 25 Yrs. 40 27 Yea-s. 40 27 Years. 40 64m 40 j 80 40 40 92m 48 6 25 40 21 40 43 B.C. 1491 1451 1444 1413 14C5 1343 1323 1285 12C5 1252 1245 1236 1232 1210 1206 1188 1182 1175 1165 1157 1116 1095 1055 1014 First Division of Lands . . Anarchy or Interregnum . I. Servitude, Mesopotam. . 1 Othniel 10 8 40 18 80 20 40 7 40 3 23 22 18 6 7 10 8 40 40 20 12 40 40 3 1582 1572 1564 1524 1506 1426 1406 1368 1359 1319 1316 1293 1271 1253 1247 1240 1230 1222 1182 1142 1122 1110 1070 1030 8 40 18 80 20 40 '7 40 3 22 22 18 6 7 10 8 40 20* 20 20 { 20 40 3 1526 1518 1478 14GO 1380 13CO 1320 1313 1273 1270 1248 1226 1208 1202 1195 1185 1177 1137 1117 1097 1077 10.'. 7 1017 2 8 40 80 20 40 7 40 3 22 22 18 6 7 10) 8J 40 20f 20^ 12 40 40 3 18 40 /SO I 1 20 40 7 40 3 22 22 18 6 7 10 40 20 40 12 18 2 40 3 8 40 18 80 1 20 40 7 40 3 22 22 18 6 7 10 8 40 20 40 20 20 40 3 8 \ 40 J 18 80 omitted. 20) 40 J 40 / 3 231 22 1 181 6J 7 I 10 8 I 40, 20 1 40 j 40 40) 3j 11. Servitude, Moabit. . 2. Ehud (and) .... 1 3. Shamgar . J 111. Servitude, Canaanit. . 4. Deborah and Barak IV. Servitude, Midian. . V. Servitude, Ammon. . . 11 Elon VI. Servitude, Philist. 20) Interregnum 14 Eli 30) Samuel called as a prophet 10 j VII. Servitude or Anarchy . Samuel and Saul . . .181 Saul 22j Solomon to Found, of the Temple Exode to F. of Temple . . 621 1027 , 579 1014 591 592 012 600 4781 1012 JUDGES, BOOK OF, the third in the list of the historical compositions of the Old Testament. It consists of two d'msions, the first comprising chaps, i.-xvii. ; the second, being an appendix, chaps, xvii.-xxi. That the author, in composing this work, had a certain design in view, is evident from ch. ii. 1 1-23, where he states the leading features of his narrative. He introduces it by relating (ch. i.) the extent to which the wars against the Ca- naanites were continued after the death of Joshua, and what tribes had spared them in consideration of a tribute imposed ; also by alluding (ch. ii. 1-10) to the benefits which Jehovah had conferred on them, and the distinguished protection with which he had honoured them. Next he states his lead- ing object, namely, to prove that the calamities to which the Hebrews had been exposed since the death of Joshua were owing to their a{x>stacy from Jehovah, and to their idolatry. ' They forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth' (ch. ii. 13); for which crimes they were deservedly pu- nished and greatly distressed (ch. ii. 15). Never- theless, when they repented and obeyed again the commandments of the Lord, he delivered them out of the hand of their enemies by the 'judges' whom he raised up, and made them prosper (ch. ii. 16-23). To illustrate this theme, the author * Samson and Eli are supposed to have been judges simultaneously during 20 years of this period. j- Besides the 20 years under the sixth servi- tude. 510 JUDGES, BOOK OF collected several fragments of (he Hebrew history during the period between Joshua and Kli. Some episodes occur; but in arguing his subject he never loses sight of his leading theme, to which, on the contrary, he frequently recurs while stating facts, and shows how it applied to them ; the moral evidently being, that the only way to happiness was to shun idolatry and obey the commandments of the Lord. The design of the author was not to give a connected and complete histoiy of the Hebrews in the period between Joshua and the kings; for if he had intended a plan of that kind, Le woujd also have described the state of the do- i mestic affairs and of the government in the several tribes, the relation in which they stood to each other, and the extent of power exercised by a judge ; he would have further stated the number : of tribes over whom a judge ruled, and the number of years during which the tribes were not oppressed > by their heathen neighbours, but enjoyed rest and peace. The appendix, containing two narratives (that of Micah with his ' house of gods,' and the brutal outrage committed by the Benjamites of Gibeah), further illustrates the lawlessness and anarchy prevailing in Israel after Joshua's death. It the first and second divisions had been by the rame author, the chronological indications would also have been the same. Now the author of the second division always describes the period of which he speaks thus : ' In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes' (ch. xvii. f. ; xviii. 1 ; xix. 1 ; xxi. 25) ; but this expression never once occurs in the first division. If one author had composed both divisions, instead of this chrono- logical formula, we should rather have expected, 4 In the days of the judges,' ' At a time when there was no judge,' &c., which would he consonant with the tenor of the first sixteen chapters. The style also iu the two divisions is different, and it will be shown that the appendix was written much later than the first part. All modern critics, then, agree in this, that the author of the first sixteen .chapters of our book is different from him who composed the appendix. The authorship of the first sixteen chapters has been assigned to Joshua, Samuel, and Ezra. There is no evidence, however, in support of any of these opinions, and various conclusive reasons can be assigned to show that they are incorrect. But though we cannot determine the authorship of the book of Judges, still its age may be deter- mined from internal evidence. The first sixteen chapters must have been written under Saul, whom the Israelites made their king in the hope of improving their condition. Phrases used in the period of the Judges may be traced in them, and the author must consequently have lived near the time when they were yet current. He says that in his time ' the Jehusites dwelt with the children of Benjamin iu Jerusalem' (ch. i. 21): now this was the case only before David, who conquered the town and drove out the Jebusites. Conse- quently, the author of the first division of the l>ook of Judges must have lived and Written be- fore David, and under king Saul. If he had lived under D.ivid, he would have mentioned the cap- ture of Jerusalem by that monarch, as the nature of his subject did not allow him to pass it over in Hence. The omission, moreover, of the history, not only of Samuel but also of Eli, indicates an JUDGES, BOOK OF author who, living in an age very near that of Eli, considered his history as generally known, because so recent. The exact time when the appendix was added to the book of Judges cannot indeed be determined, but its author certainly lived in an age much later than that of the recorded events. It was published at a time when the events re- lated were generally known, and when the vera- city of the author could be ascertained by a re- ference to the original documents. Several of its narratives are confirmed by the books of Samuel (com p. Judg. iv. 2 ; vi. 14 ; xi., with ! Sam. xii. 9-12: Judg. ix. 53 with 2 Sam. xi. 21). The Psalms not only allude to the book of Judges (comp. Ps. Ixxxiii. 11, with Judg. vii. 25), fcnt copy from it entire verses (comp. Ps. Ixviii. 8, 9; xcvii, 5 ; with Judg. v. 4, 5). Pliilo and Josephus knew the book, and made use of it in their own compositions. The New Testament alludes 1o it in several places (comp. Matt. ii. 13 23 with Judg. xiii. 5 ; xvi. 17 ; Acts xiii. 20; Ileb. xi. 32). This external evidence in support of the authority of the book of Judges is corroborated by many in- ternal proofs of its authenticity. All its narra- tives are in character with the age to which they belong, and agree with the natural order of things. \Ve find here that shortly after the death of Joshua the Hebrew nation had, by seve- ral victories, gained courage and become valorous (ch. i. and xix.); but that it afterwards turned to agriculture, preferred a quiet life, and allowed the Canaanites to reside in its territory in con- sideration of a tribute imposed on them, when the original plan was that they should be expelled. This changed their character entirely : they be- came effeminate and indolent a result which we find in the case of all nations who, from a no- madic and warlike life, turn to agriculture. The intercourse with their heathen neighbours fre- quently led the uncultivated Hebrews to idolatry ; and this, again, further prepared them for servi- tude. They were consequently overpowered and oppressed by their heathen neighbours. The first subjugation, indeed, by a king of Mesopotamia, they endured but eight years; but the second, more severe, by Eglon, lasted longer : it was the natural consequence of the public spirit having gradually more and more declined, and of Eglon having removed his residence to Jericho with a view of closely watching all their movements (Joseph. Antiq. v. 5). When Ehud sounded the trumpet of revolt, the whole nation no longer rose in arms, but only the inhabitants of Mount Ephraim (ch. iii. 27) ; and when Barak called to arms against Sisera, many tribes remained quietly with their herds (ch. v. 14, 15, 26, 28\ Of the 30,000 men who offered to follow Gideon, he could make use of no more than 300, this small number only being, as it would seem, filled with true patriotism and courage. Thus the people had sunk gradually, and deserved for forty years to bear the yoke of the Philistines, to whom they had the meanness to deliver Samson, who, how- ever, loosed the cords with which he was tied, and killed a large number of them (ch. xv.). It is impossible to consider such an historical work, which perfectly agrees with the natural course of tilings, as a fiction : at that early period of author- ship, no writer could have, from fancy, depicted the character of the Hebrews so conformably with JUDGMENT-HALL native and established facts. All in this book breathes the spirit of the ancient world. Martial law w find in it. as could not but be exported, hard and wild. The conquered people are subjected to rough treatment, as is the case in the wars of all uncivilized people; the inhabitants of cities are destroyed wholesale' (ch. viii. 16, 17; xx.). Hospitality and the protection of strangers re- ceived as guests is considered the highest virtue (ch. xix. ; comp. Gen. xix.). In the state of oppression in which the Hebrews iftt-n found themselves during the period from Joshua to Eli, it was to be expected that me.i, filled with heroism, should now and then rise u(- and cull the people to arms in order to deliver them from their enemies. Such valiant men are introduced by our author, and he extols them, indeed, highly ; but on the other hand he is i:ot silent respecting their faults, which he discloses in a way proper to true history, but impossible to fiction, which could have no other object than the aggrandisement of the national character and exploits. And this frank, impartial tone pervades the whole work. It begins with displaying the Israelites as a refractory and obstinate people, and the appendix ends with the statement ! torium' (Acts xxiii. 25), the words apply not i only to the whole palace originally built at Ca'sarea by Herod, and now most likely inhabited by the pra-tor, but also to the lirep or doiijui, a prison for confining offenders, such as existed in our ancient royal palaces and grand baronial castles. Thirdly, in the remaining instance of the word, Phil, i 3, ' So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the prsetorium,' ' palace,' it is, in the opinion of the best commentators, used to signify the pratorian camp at Home, a select body of troops constituted by Augustus to euard Ins person and to have charge of the city, so that the words of the apostle really mean, ' My bonds in Christ are manifest to all the praetorians, and by their means to the public at large.' JU'DITH. the name of one of the apocryphal or deutero-canonical books of the Old Testament, I is placed in manuscripts of the Alexandrine ver- j sion between the books of Tobit and Ksthtr. In its external form this book bears th;.- character of the record of an historical event, describing the complete defeat of the. Assyrians by the Jews ' through the prowess of a woman. The following is a sketch of the narrative: Nebuchadnezzar, or, as he is called in the Greek, Nahuchodonosor, king of the Assyrians, having, in the twelfth year of his reign, conquered and taken Arphaxad, by whom his territory had been invaded, formed the design of subduing the people of Asia to the westward of Nineveh his capital, who had declined to aid him against Arphaxad. With this view he sent his general, Holofernes, at the bead of a powerful army, and soon made himself master of Mesopotamia, Syria, Libya, Cilicia. and Idumsca. The inhabitants of the sea- : coast made a voluntary submission ; which, how- j ever, did not prevent their territories from being laid waste, their sacred groves burned, and their idols destroyed, in order that divine honours should be paid only to Nebuchadnezzar. IIolo- fernes, having finally encamped in the plain of Esdraelon (ch. i. 3), remained inactive for a whole month or two, according to the Latin version. But the Jews, who had not long re- turned from captivity, and who had just restored their temple and its worship, prepared for war ' under the direction of their bigh-pne&t Joacim, ' or Eliakim, and the senate. The high- priest ad- drwst-d letters to the inhabitants of Bethulia and Betomestham, near Esdraelou (ch. rr. (j), charging them to guard the passes of the mountains. The 512 JUDITH Jews at the same time kept a fast, and called upon God for protection against their enemies. Holo- fernes, astonished at their audacity and prepara- tions, inquired of the Moabites and Ammonites who these people were. Achior, the leader of the Ammonites, informed him of the history of the Jews, adding, that if they offended their God he would deliver them into the hands of their ene- mies, but that otherwise they would be invincible. Holofernes, however, prepares to lay siege to Bethulia, and commences operations by taking the mountain parses, and intercepting the water, in order to compel the inhabitants to surrender. Ozias, the governor of the city, holds out as long as possible; but at the end of thirty-four days' siege, the inhabitants are reduced to that degree of distress from drought, that they are determined to surrender unless relieved within five days. Meantime Judith, a rich and beautiful woman, the widow of Manasseh, forms the patriotic design of delivering the city and the nation With this view she entreats the governor and elders to give up all idea of surrender, and to permit the gates of the city to be opened for her. Arrayed in rich attire, she proceeds to the camp of Holofernes, attended only by her maid, bearing a bag of pro- visions. She is admitted into the presence of Ho- lofernes, and informs him that the Jews could not be overcome so long as they remained faithful to God, but that they had now sinned against Him in converting to their own use the tithes, which were sacred to the priests alone ; and that she had fled from the city to escape the impending and inevitable destruction which awaited it She obtains leave to remain in the camp, with the liberty of retiring by night for the purpose of prayer, and promises that at the proper moment she will herself be the guide of Holofernes to the very walls of Jerusalem. Judith is favourably en- tertained ; Holofernes is smitten with her charms, gives her a magnificent entertainment, at which, having drunk too freely, he is shut up with her alone in the tent. Taking advantage of her op- portunity, while he is sunk in sleep, she seizes his falchion and strikes off his head. Giving it to her maid, who was outside the tent door, she leaves the camp as usual, under pretence of devo- tion, and returns to Bethulia, displaying the head of Holofernes. The Israelites, next morning, fall on the Assyrians, who, panic-struck at the loss of their general, are soon discomfited, leaving an immense spoil in the hands of their enemies. The whole concludes with the triumphal song of Judith, who accompanies all the people to Jeru- salem to give thanks to the Lord. After this she returns to her native city Bethulia, gives freedom to her maid, and dies at the advanced age of 105 years. The Jews enjoying a profound and happy peace, a yearly festival (according to the Vulgate") is instituted in honour of the victory. The difficulties, historical, chronological, and geographical, comprised in the narrative of Judith are so numerous and serious as to be held by many divines altogether insuperable. Events, times, and manners are said to be confounded, and the chronology of th? times before and those after the exile, of the Persian and Assyrian, and even of the Maccabaan period, confusedly and unaccountably blended. The authorship of the book is as uncertain as its date. It is not named either by Philo or KADESH Josephus ; nor have we any indication -whatever by which to form a conjecture respecting its author. The original language is uncertain. Eichhorn and Jahn and Seiler, with whom is Bertholdt, conceive it to have been Greek. Calmet states, on the authority of Origen, that the Jews had the book of Judith in Hebrew in his time. Jerome states that it is written in Chaldee, from which he translated it, with the aid of an interpreter, giving rather the sense than the words. Although the book of Judith never formed part of the Jewish canon, and finds no plnce in the ancient catalogues, its authority in the Chris- tian church has been very great. Along with the other deutero-canonical books, it has been at all times read in the church, and lessons are taken from it in the Church of Eng- land in course. JU'LIA (a name common among the Roinans\ a Christian woman of Home, to whom St. Panl sent his salutations (Rom. xvi. 15); she is named with Philologus, and is supposed to have been his wife or sister. JU'LIUS, the centurion who had the charge of conducting Paul as a prisoner to Rome, and who treated him with much consideration and kind- ness on the way (Acts xxvii. 1, 3). JU'NIAS, a person who is joined with Andro- nicus in Rom. xvi. 7 : ' Salute Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles.' They were, doubtless, Jewish Christians. 1. JUS'TUS, surnamed Barsabas. [JOSEPH.] 2. JUSTUS, a Christian at Corinth, with whom Paul lodged (Acts xviii. 7). 3. JUSTUS, called also JESUS, a believing Jew, who was with Paul at Rome when he wrote to the Colossians (Col. iv. 11). The apostle names him and Marcus as being at that time his only fellow-labourers. K. KA'DESH, or KADESH-BARKEA, a site on the south-eastern border of the Promised Land to- wards Edom, of much interest as being the point at which the Israelites twice encamped with the intention of entering Palestine, and from which they were twice sent back ; the first time in pur- suance of their sentence to wander forty years in the wilderness, and the second time from the refusal of the king of Edom to permit a passage through his territories. It was from Kadesh that the spies entered Palestine by ascending the mountains ; and the murmuring Israelites, after- wards attempting to do the same, were driven back by the Amalekites and Canaanites, and after- wards apparently by the king of Arad, as far as Hormah, then called Zephath (Num. xiii. 17; xiv. 40-45; xxi. 1-3; Deut. i. 41-44; comp. Judg. i. 7). There was also at Kadesh a foun- tain (En-mishpat) mentioned long before the exode of the Israelites (Gen. xiv. 7) ; and the miraculous supply of water took place only on the second visit, which implies that at the first there was no lack of this necessary article. After *his, Moses sent messengers to the kiriaZms; Josh. xv. 49), otherwise KIEJATH-SEPHER (city of the book), a city of the tribe of Judah, called also DEBIR, which see (Josh. xv. 15, 16; Judg. i. 11, 12). KIR'-MO'AB (' the wall, stronghold, or citadel of Moab '), Isa. xv. 1 ; called also KIR-HARESETH and KIR-HERES (brick-fortress ; Isa. xvi. 7,11; Jer. xlviii. 31), a fortified city in the territory of MoaJ). Joram king of Israel took the city, and destroyed it, except the walls ; but it appears from the passages here cited that it must have been re- built before the time of Isaiah. Abulfeda describes Karak as a small town, with a castle on a high hill, and remarks that it is so strong that one must deny himself even the wish to take it by force. In the time of the Crusades, and when in possession of the Franks, it was invested by Sa- ladin ; but after lying before it a month he was compelled to raise the siege. The first person who visited the place in modern times was Sect- 520 KISHON zen, who says, 'Karak, formerly a city and bishop's see, lies on the top of the hill near the end of a deep valley, and is surrounded on all sides with lofty mountains. The hill is very steep, and in many places the sides are quite per- pendicular. The walls round the town are for the most part destroyed, and Karak can at present boast of little more than being a small country town. The castle, which is uninhabited, and in a state of great decay, was formerly one of the strongest in these countries. The inhabitants of the town consist of Mohammedans and Greek Christians. The present bishop of Karak resides at Jerusalem. From this place one enjoys, by looking down the Wady Karak, a fine view of part of the Dead Sea, and even Jerusalem may be distinctly seen in clear weather. The hill on which Karak lies is composed of limestone and brittle marl, with many beds of blue, black, and grey flints. In the neighbouring rocks there are a number of curious grottoes ; in those which are under ground wheat is sometimes preserved for a period of ten years.' A fuller account of the place is given by Burckhardt, by whom it was next visited ; and another description is furnished by Irby and Mangles. From their account it would seem that the caverns noticed by Seetzen were probably the sepulchres of the ancient town. We also learn that the Christians of Karak (which they and Burckhardt call Kerek) are nearly as nu- merous as the Turks, and boast of being stronger and braver. They were, however, on good terms with the Turks, and appeared to enjoy equal free- dom with them. KISH, son of Ner, and father of King Saul (1 Sam. ix. 1). KI'SHON, a river which, after traversing the plain of Acre, enters the bay of the same name at its south-east corner. It is celebrated in Scrip- ture for the overthrow of the host of Sisera in its overflowing stream (Judg. iv. 13 ; v. 21). It has been usual to trace the source of this river to Mount Tabor ; but Dr. Shaw affirms that in tra- velling along the south-eastern brow of Mount Carmel, he had an opportunity of seeing the sources of the river Kishon, three or four of which lie within less than a furlong of each other, and are called Ras el-Kishon, or the head of the Kishon. These alone, without the lesser contri- butions near the sea, discharge water enough to form a river half as. large as the Isis. During the rainy season all the waters which fall upon the eastern side of Carmel, or upon the rising grounds to the southward, empty themselves into it in a number of torrents, at which time it over- flows its banks, acquires a wonderful rapidity, and carries all before it. It was doubtless in such a season that the host of Sisera was swept away, in attempting to ford it. But such inunda- tions are only occasional, and of short duration, as is indeed implied in the destruction in its waters of the fugitives, who doubtless expected to pass it safely. The course of the stream, as estimated from the sources thus indicated, is not more than seven miles. It runs very briskly till within half a league of the sea ; but when not augmented by rains, it never falls Into the sea in a full stream, but insensibly percolates through a bank of sand, which the north winds have thrown up at its mouth. It was in this state that Shaw himself KISS found it in the month of April, 1722, when it was crossed by him. Notwithstanding Shaw's contradiction, the as- sertion that the Kishon derives its source from Mount Tabor has been repeated by modern tra- vellers as confidently as by their ancient prede- cessors. We have had opportunities of seeing much of streams similarly constituted ; and it does not seem to us difficult to reconcile the seem- ingly conflicting statements with reference to the Kishon. On further inquiry, and more extensive comparison of observations made at different times of the year, it will probably be found that the remoter source of the river is really in Mount Tabor; but that the supply from this source is cut off in early summer, when it ceases to be main- tained by rains or contributory torrents ; whereas the copious supply from the nearer springs at Eas el-Kishon, with other springs lower down, keep it up from that point, as a perennial stream, even during the drought of summer. Thus during one part of the year the source of the river may appear to be in Mount Tabor, while during another part the source of the diminished stream is at Ras el- Kishon. The Scriptural account of the overthrow of Sisera's host manifestly shows that the stream crossed the plain, and must haVe been of con- siderable size. The transaction of the prophet Elijah, who, after his sacrifice on Carmel, commanded the priests of Baal to be slain at the river Kishon (1 Kings xviii. 40), requires no explanation, seeing that it took place at the perennial lower stream. This also explains, what has sometimes been asked, whence, in that time of drought, the water was obtained with which the prophet inundated his altar and sacrifice. KISS. Originally the act of kissing had a symbolical character, and, though this import may now be lost sight of, yet it must be recognised the moment we attempt to understand or explain its signification. Acts speak no less, sometimes far more forcibly, than words. In the language of action, a kiss, inasmuch as it was a bringing into contact of parts of the body of two persons, was naturally the expression and the symbol of affec- tion, regard, respect, and reverence; and if any deeper source of its origin were sought for, it would, doubtless, be found in the fondling and caresses with which the mother expresses her ten- derness for her babe. That the custom is of very early date appears from Gen. xxix. IS, where we read ' When Laban heard the tidings of Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house :' the practice was even then established and recog- nised as a matter of course. In Gen. xxvii. 26, 27, a kiss is a sign of affection between a parent and child. It was also, as with some modern na- tions, a token of friendship and regard bestowed when friends or relations met or separated (Tobit vii. 6 ; x. 1 2 ; Lukft vii. 45 ; xv. 20 ; Acts xx. 37 ; Matt. xxvi. 48 ; 2 Sam. xx. 9). The church of Ephesus wept sore at Paul's departure, and fell on his neck and kissed him. When Orpah quitted Naomi and Ruth (Ruth i. 14), after the three had lifted up their voice and wept, she ' kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clave uuto her.' It was usual to kiss the mouth (Gen. xxxiii. 4; Exod. iv. 27 ; xviii. 7 ; 1 Sam. xx. 41 ; Prov. xxiv. 20) KOPHER or the beard, -which was then taken hold of by the baud (2 Sam. xx. 9). Kissing of the feet was an expression of lowly and tender regard (Luke vii. 38). Kissing of the hand of another appears to be a modern practice : the passage of Job xxxi. 27, 'Or my mouth hath Jcissed my hand,' is not in point, and refers to idolatrous usages, namely, tb.e adoration of the heavenly bodies. It was the custom to throw kisses towards the images of the gods, and towards the sun and moon (1 Kings xix. 18 ; Hosea xiii. 2). The kissing of princes was a token of homage (Ps. ii. 12; 1 Sam. x. 1). Xenophon says that it was a national custom with the Persians to kiss whomsoever they honoured. Kissing the feet of princes was a token of subjec- tion and obedience ; which was sometimes carried so far that the print of the foot received the kiss, so as to give the impression that the very dust had become sacred by the royal tread, or that the subject was not worthy to salute even the prince's foot, but was content to kiss the earth itself near or on which he trod (Isa. xlix. 23 ; Micah vii. 17 ; Ps. Ixxii. 9). The Rabbins, in the meddlesome, scrupulous, and falsely delicate spirit which ani- mated much of what they wrote, did not permit more than three kinds of kisses, the kiss of reve- rence, of reception, and of dismissal. The peculiar tendency of the Christian religion to encourage honour towards all men, as men, to foster and develop the softer affections, and, in the trying condition of the early church, to make its members intimately known one to another, and unite them in the closest bonds, led to the observance of kissing as an accompaniment of that social worship which took its origin in the very cradle of our religion. Hence the exhorta- tion ' Salute each other with a holy kiss' (Rom. xvi. 16 ; see also 1 Cor. xvi. 20; 2 Cor. xiii. 12; 1 Thess. v. 26 ; in 1 Pet. v. 14, it is termed 'a kiss of charity'). The observance was continued in later days, and has not yet wholly disap- peared, though the peculiar circumstances have vanished which gave propriety and emphasis to such an expression of brotherly love and Chris- tian friendship. KITE. [GLEDE.] KNEADING-TROUGHS. [BREAD.] KO'H ATH (assembly}, son of Levi, and father of Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel (Gen. xlvi. 11). The descendants of Kohath formed one of the three great divisions of the Levitical tribe. This division contained the priestly family which was descended from Aaron, the son of Amram. In the service of the tabernacle, as settled in the wilderness, the Kohathites had the distinguished charge of bearing the ark and the sacred vessels (Exod. vi. 16 ; Num. iv. 4-6). KO'PHER, or GOPHER, occurs twice in the Song of Solomon (i. 14; iv. 13), and is in both places translated camphire in the Authorized Version. It has beien supposed to indicate a bunch of grapes (Botrus kophcr}, also camphor. The word camphire is the old mode of spelling camphor, but this substance does not appear to have been known to ancient commerce ; at least we cannot adduce any proof that it was so. The ; word Kopher closely resembles the Greek Knpros, ' usually written Cypros. Indeed, as has been observed, it is the same word, with the Greek pronunciation and termination. Mariti remarks, that ' the shrub known in the Hebrew language KOPHER 521 by the name of kopher is common in the island of Cyprus, and thence had its Latin name :' also, that * the Botrus Cypri has been supposed to be | a kind of rare and exquisite grapes, transplanted from Cyprus to Engaddi ; but the Botrits is : known to the natives of Cyprus as an odoriferous shrub called henna, or alkanna.' This identity is now universally acknowledged: the Kitpros, therefore, must have been Lawsonia inermis, as the Hinna of the Arabs is well known to be. If we examine the works of Oriental travellers and naturalists, we shall find that this plant is uni- versally esteemed in Eastern countries, and appears to have been so from the earliest times, both on account of the fragrance of its flowers and the colouring properties of its leaves. 224. [Lawsonia inermis.] Thus Rauwolff, when at Tripoli, 'found there another tree, not unlike unto our privet, by the Arabians called Alcana, or Henna, and by the Grecians, in their vulgar tongue, Sclienna, which they have from Egypt, where, but above all in Cayre, they grow in abundance. The Turks and Moors nurse these up with great care and dili- gence, because of their sweet-smelling flowers. They also, as I am informed, keep their leaves all winter, which leaves they powder and mix with the juice of citrons, and stain therewith against great holidays the hair and nails of their children of a red colour, which colour may per- haps be seen with us on the manes and tails of Turkish horses.' This custom of dyeing the nails and the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, of an iron-rust colour, with henna, exists throughout the East, from the Mediterranean to the Ganges, as well as in Northern Africa. In' some parts the practice is not confined to women and children, but is also followed bj men, espe-j cially in Persia. In dyeing the beard, the hair is turned to red by this application, which is then changed to^lack by a preparation of indigo. In ! dyeing the hair of children, and the tails and manes of horses and asses, the process is allowed 522 KORAH to stop al the red colour -which the henna pro- duces, la reference to this universal practice of the East, Dr. Harris observes that ' the expression in Deut. xxi. 1 2, " pare her nails," may perhaps rather mean " adorn her nails," and imply the antiquity of this practice. This is a universal custom in Egypt, and not to conform to it would be considered indecent. It seems to have been practised by the ancient Egyptians, for the nails of the mummies are most commonly of a reddish hue.' Seeing, then, that the henna is so uni- versally admired in the East, both on account of the fragrance of its flowers and the dye yielded by its leaves, and as there is no doubt that it is the Cyproo of the Greeks, and as this word is so similar to the kopher of the Hebrews, there is every probability of this last being the henna of the Arabs, Lawsonia alba of botanists. KCKRAH (fee), a Levite, son of Izhar, the hroiher of Amrarn, the father of Moses and Aaron, who were therefore cousins to Korah (Exod. vi. 21). From this near relationship we may, with tolerable certainty, conjecture, that the source of the discontent which led to the steps afterwards taken by this unhappy man, lay in his jealousy that the high honours and privileges of the priesthood, to which he, who remained a simple Levite, might, apart from the divine ap- pointment, seem to have had as good a claim, should have been exclusively appropriated to the family of Aaron. When to this was added the civil, authority of Moses, the whole power over the nation would seem to him to have been en- grossed by his cousins, the sons of Amram. Under the influence of these feelings he or- ganized a conspiracy, for the purpose of redressing what appeared to him the evil and injustice of this arrangement. Dathan, Abiram, and On, the chief persons who joined him, were of the tribe of Reuben ; but he was also supported by many more from other tribes, making up the number of 250, men of name, rank, and influence, all who may be regarded as representing the families of which they were the heads. The private object of Korah was apparently his own aggrandizement, but his ostensible object was the general good of the people; and it is perhaps from want of attention to this distinction that the transaction has not been well understood. The design seems to have been made acceptable to a large body of the nation, on the ground that the first-born of Israel had been deprived of their sacerdotal birthright in favour of the Levites, while the Levites themselves announced that the priesthood had been conferred by Moses (as they considered) on his own brother's family, in pre- ference to those who had equal claims ; and it is easy to conceive that the Reubenites may have considered the opportunity a favourable one for the recovery of their birthright the double portion and civil pre-eminence which had been forfeited by them and given to Joseph. The leading conspirators having organized their plans, repaired in a body to Moses and Aaron, boldly charged them with their usurpa- tions, and required them to lay down their ill- gotten power. Moses no sooner heard this than he fell on hi> face, confounded at the enormity of so outrageous a revolt against a system framed so carefully for the benefit of the nation. He left the matter in the Lord's hands, and desired them KORAH to come on the morrow, provided with censers for incense, that the Lord himself, by some manifest token, might make known his will in this great matter. As this order was particularly addressed to the rebellious Levites, the Reube/iites left the place, and when afterwards called back by Moses, returned a very insolent refusal, charging him with having brought them out of the land of Egypt under false pretences, ' to kill them in the wilderness.' The next day Korah and his company appeared before the tabernacle, attended by a multitude of people out of the general body of the tribes. Then the Shekinah, or symbol of the Divine pre- sence, which abode between the cherubim, ad- vanced to the entrance of the sacred fabric, and a voice therefrom commanded Moses and Aaron to stand apart, lest they should share in the destruc- tion which awaited the whole congregation. On hearing these awful words the brothers fell on their faces, and, by strong intercession, moved the Lord to confine his wrath to the leaders in the rebellion, and spare their unhappy dupes. The. latter were then ordered to separate them- selves from their leaders and from the tents in which they dwelt. The terrible menace involved in this direction had its weight, and the command was obeyed; and after Moses had appealed to what was to happen as a proof of the authority by which he acted, the earth opened, and received and closed over the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. The Reubenite conspirators were in their tents, and perished in them; and at the same instant Korah and his 250, who were offer- ing incense at the door of the tabernacle, were destroyed by a fire which ' came out from the Lord ;' that is, most probably, in this case, from out of the cloud in which his presence dwelt. The censers which they had used were afterwards made into plates, to form an outer covering to the altar, and thus became a standing monument of this awful transaction (Num. xvi.). On, al- though named in the first instance along with Dathan and Abiram, does not further appear either in the rebellion or its punishment. It is hence supposed that he repented in time: and Abendana and other Rabbinical writers allege that his wife prevailed upon him to abandon the cause. It might be supposed from the Scripture narra- tive that the entire families of the conspirators perished in the destruction of their tents. Doubt- less all who were in the tents perished ; but as the descendants of Korah afterwards became emi- nent in the Levitical service, it is clear that his sons were spared. They were probably living in separate tents, or were among those who sundered themselves from the conspirators at the command of Moses. There is no reason to suppose that the sons of Korah were children when their father perished. The Korahites were appointed by David to the office of guarding the doors of the temple, and of singing praises. They, in fact, occupied a distinguished place in the choral ser- vice of the temple, and several of the Psalms (xlii. xliv.-xlix. Ixxxiv. Ixxxv. Ixxxvii. Ixxxviii.) are inscribed to them. Heman, the master of song under David, was of this family, and his genealogy is traced through Korah up to Levi (1 Chron. vi. 31-38). LAMENTATIONS L. LA'BAN, son of Bethuel, and grandson of Nahor, brother of Rebekah, and father of Jacob's two wives. Leah and Rachel [JACOB]. LA'CHISH, a city in the south of Judah, in the plain between Adoraim and Azekah (Josh. x. 3, 5, 31 ; xv. 39). It was rebuilt and fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 9), and seems after that time to have been regarded as one of the strongest fortresses of the kingdom of Judah, having for a time braved the assaults of the Assyrian army under Sennacherib (2 Kings xviii. 17; xix. 8; 2 Chron. xxxii. 9). Eusebius and Jerome place it seven Roman miles from Eleutheropolis to- wards the south. There has not been any more recent notice of the place, and no modern vestige of the name or site has been discovered. LA'ISII. [DAN.] LAKES. [PALESTINE.] LA'MECH, son of Methusael, and father of Jabal, Jubal, Tubal-cain, and Naamah (Gen. iv. 18, 24, &c.). He is recorded to have taken two wives, Adah and Zillah ; and there appears no reason why the fact should have been mentioned, unless to point him out as the author of the evil practice of polygamy. The manner in which the ' sons of Lamech distinguished themselves as the inventors of useful arts, is mentioned under their several names. The most remarkable circum- stance in connection with Lamech is the poetical address which he is very abruptly introduced as making to his wives. This is not only remark- able in itself, but is the first and most ancient piece of poetry in the Hebrew Scriptures ; and, indeed, the only example of Antediluvian poetry extant : ' Adah and Zillah, hear my voice ! Wives of Lamech, receive my speech ! If I slew a man to my wounding, And a young man to my hurt : If Cain was avenged seven times, Then Lamech seventy times seven.' This exhibits the parallelism and other charac- teristics of Hebrew poetry, the development of which belongs to another article [POETRY]. It has all the appearance of an extract from an old poem, which we may suppose to have been handed down by tradition to the time of Moses. It is very difficult to discover to what it refers, and the best explanation can be nothing more than a conjecture. So far as we can make it out, it would seem to be, as Bishop Lowth explains, an apology for committing homicide, in his own de- fence, upon some man who had violently assaulted him, and, as it would seem, struck and wounded him : and he opposes a homicide of this nature to the wilful and inexcusable fratricide of Cain. Under this view Lamech would appear to have intended to comfort his wives by the assurance that he was really exposed to no danger from this act, and that any attempt upon his life on the part of the friends of the deceased would not fail to bring down upon them the severest ven- geance. 2. LAMECH, son of Methuselah, and father of Noah (Gen. v. 28-31). LAMENTATIONS. This book is called by the Hebrews, ' how,' from the first word of the LAMENTATIONS 523 book ; but sometimes they call it ' tears,' or ' la- mentation,' in allusion to the mournful character of the work, of which one would conceive, says ! Bishop Lowth, that every letter was written with a tear, every word the sound of a broken heart.' From this, or rather from the translation of it in the Septuagint, comes our title of LA- MENTATIONS. The ascription of the Lamentations in the title is of no authority in itself, but its correctness has never been doubted. The style and manner of the book are those of Jeremiah, and the circum- tances alluded to, those by which he is known to have been surrounded. This reference of the Lamentations to Jeremiah occurs in the intro- ductory verse which is found in the Septuagint : ' And it came to pass, after Israel hud been car- ried away captive, and Jerusalem was become desolate, that Jeremiah sat weeping, and lamented with this lamentation over Jerusalem, and said.' It is disputed whether or not this verse existed in the Hebrew copies from which the translation of the Seventy was made. We are certainly not bound by its authority if disposed to question the conclusion which it supports. But it at least | ihows the opinion which prevailed as to the author, and the occasion of the book, at the time the translation was made. That opinion is now all but universally acquiesced in. It is adopted by nearly all commentators, who, as they pro- ceed through the book, find that they cannot fol- low out the details on any other supposition. We may, under this view, regard the two first chap- ters as occupied chiefly with the circumstances of the siege, and those immediately following that event. In the third the prophet deplores the calamities and persecutions to which he had him- self been exposed : the fourth refers to the ruin and desolation of the city, and the unhappy lot of Zedekiah ; and the fifth and last seems to be a sort of prayer in the name, or on behalf of, the Jews in their dispersion and captivity. As Jere- miah himself was eventually compelled to with- draw into Egypt much against his will (Jer. xliii. 6), it has been suggested that the last chap- ter was possibly written there. Pareau refers chap. i. to Jer. xxxvii. 5, sqq. ; chap. iii. to Jer. xxxviii. 2, sqq. ; chap. iv. to Jer. xxxix. 1, sqq., and 2 Kings xxv. 1, sqq. ; chap. ii. to the destruc- tion of the city and temple ; chap. v. is admitted to be the latest, and to refer to the time after that event. Ewald says that the situation is the same throughout, and only the time different. In chaps, i. and ii. we find sorrow without consola- tion ; in chap. iii. consolation for the poet him- self; in chap. iv. the lamentation is renewed with greater violence ; but soon the whole people, as if urged by their own spontaneous impulse, fall to weeping and hoping. Dr. Blayney, regarding both the date and occasion of the Lamentations as established by the internal evidence, adds, ' Nor can we admire too much the flow of that full and graceful pa- thetic eloquence, in which the author pours out the effusions of a patriotic heart, and piously weeps over the ruins of his venerable country.' ' Never,' says an unquestionable judge of these matters, ' was there a more rich and elegant va- riety of beautiful images and adjuncts, arranged together within so small a compass, nor more happily chosen and applied.' 524 LAMP In the ancient copies this book is supposed to have occupied the place which is now assigned to it, after Jeremiah. Indeed, from the manner in which Josephus reckons up the books of the Old Testament, it has been supposed that Jere- miah and it originally formed but one book. In the Bible now used by the Jews, however, the book of Lamentations stands in the Hagiographa. and among the five Megilloth, or books of Ruth, Esther, Ecclesiastes, and Solomon's Song. They believe that it was not written by the gift of prophecy, but by the spirit of God (between which they make a. distinction), and give this as a reason for not placing it among the prophets. It is read in their synagognes on the ninth of the month Ab, which is a fast for the destruction of the holy city. LAMP. Lamps are very often mentioned in Scripture; but there is nothing to give any notion of their form. Almost the only fact we 225. [Egyptian Lamps.] can gather is, that vegetable oils were burnt in them, and especially, if not exclusively, olive-oil. This, of the finest quality, was the oil used in the seven lamps of the Tabernacle (Exod. xxvii. 20). It is somewhat remarkable, that while the golden candlestick, or rather candelabrum, is so mi- nutely described, not a word is said of the shape, or even the material, of the lamps (Exod. xxv. 37). This was, perhaps, because they were to be of the common forms, already familiarly known to the Hebrews, and the same probably which were used in Egypt, which they had just quitted. They were in this instance doubtless of gold, although metal is scarcely the best substance for a lamp. The golden candlestick may also sug- gest, that lamps in ordinary use were placed on stands, and where more than one was required, on stands with two or more branches. The modern Orientals, who are satisfied with very little light in their rooms, use stands of brass or wood, on which to raise the lamps to a sufficient height above the floor on which they sit. Such stands are shaped not unlike a tall candlestick, spi'eading out at the top. Sometimes the lamps are placed on brackets against the wall, made for the purpose, and often upon stools. Doubt- less the same contrivances were employed by the Hebrews. LAMP From the fact that lamps were carried in the pitchers of Gideon's soldiers, from which, at the md of the march, they were taken out, and borne n the hand (Judg. vii. 16, 20), we may with certainty infer that they were not. like many of the classical lamps, entirely open at top, but so shaped that the oil could not easily be spilled. 226. [Classical Lamps.J This was remarkably the case in the Egyptian ipccimens, and is not rare in the classical. Gideon's lamps must also have had handles ; but that the Hebrew lamps were always furnished with handles we are not bound to infer: in Egypt we find lamps both with and without handles. Although the lamp-oils of the Hebrews were exclusively vegetable, it is probable that animal fat was used, as it is at present by the Western Asiatics, by being placed in a kind of lamp, and burnt by means of a wick inserted in it. This we have often witnessed in districts where oil- yielding plants are not common. Cotton wicks are now used throughout Asia ; but the Hebrews, like the Egyptians, probably employed the outer and coarser fibre of flax; and perhaps linen yarn, if the Rabbins are cor- rect in alleging that the linen dresses of the priests were unravelled when old, to furnish wicks for the sacred lamps [CANDLESTICK]. It seems that the Hebrews, like the modern Orientals, were accustomed to burn lamps over- night in their chambers ; and this practice may appear to give point to the expression of ' outer darkness,' which repeatedly occurs in the New Testament (Matt. viii. 12; xxii. 13): the force is greater, however, when the contrast implied in the term outer is viewed with reference to the effect produced by sudden expulsion into the dark- ness of night from a chamber highly illuminated for an entertainment. This custom of burning lamps at night, with the effect produced by their going out or being extinguished, supplies various figures to the sacred writers (2 Sam. xxi. 17; Prov. xiii. 9 ; xx. 20). And, on the other hand, the keeping up of a lamp's light is used as a symbol of enduring and unbroken succession (1 Kings xi. 3G; xv. 4; Ps. cxxxii. 17\ It appears from Matt. xxv. 1, that the Jews used lamps and torches in their marriage cere- LANTERN monies, or rather whea the bridegroom eame to conduct home the bride by night This is still the custom in those parts of the East where, on account of the heat of the day, the bridal pro- cession takes place in the night-time. The con- nection of lamps and torches with marriage ceremonies, it may be observed, is still preserved in Western Asia, even where it is no longer usual to bring home the bride by night. During two, or three, or more nights preceding the wedding, the street or quarter in which the bridegroom lives is illuminated with chandeliers and lanterns, or with lanterns and small lamps suspended from cords drawn across from the bridegroom's and several other houses on each side to the houses opposite ; and several small silk flags, each of two colours, generally red and green, are attached to other cords. Lamps of this kind are some- times hung over doors. There are some indica- tions that the ancient Egyptians had lamps of flass; and, if so, there is no reason why the ews also might not have had them, especially as this material is more proper for lamps intended to be hung up, and therefore to cast their light down from above. The Jews certainly used lamps in other festivals besides those of marriage. If this custom had not been so general in the ancient and modern East, it might have been supposed that the Jews adopted it from the Egyp- tians, who, according to Herodotus, had a ' Feast of Lamps,' which was celebrated at Sais, and, indeed, throughout the country at a certain season of the year. The description which the historian gives of the lamps employed on this occasion, strictly applies to those in modern use already described, and the concurrence of both these sources of illustration strengthens the pro- bable analogy of Jewish usage. He speaks of them as ' small vases filled with salt and olive-oil, in which the wick floated, and burnt during the whole night.' It does not indeed appear of what materials these vases were made ; but we may reasonably suppose them to have been of glass. The later Jews had even something like this feast among themselves. A 'Feast of Lamps' was held every year on the twenty-fifth of the month Chisleu. It was founded by Judas Mac- cabaeus in celebration of the restoration of the temple worship, and has ever since been observed by the lighting up of lamps or candles on that day in all the countries of their dispersion. Other Orientals have at this day a similar feast, of which the ' Feast of Lanterns ' among the Chinese is, perhaps, the best known. LANGUAGE. [TONGUES, CONFUSION OF.] LANTERN. This word occurs only in John xviii. 3, where the party of men which went out of Jerusalem to apprehend Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane is described as being provided ' with lanterns and torchos.' In the article LAMP it has been shown that the Jewish lantern, or, if we may so call it, lamp-frame, was similar to that now in use among the Orientals. As the streets of Eastern towns are not lighted at night, and never were so, lanterns are used to an extent not known among us. Such, doubtless, was also formerly the case ; and it is therefore remarkable that the only trace of a lantern which the Egyptian monuments offer, is that contained in the present engraving (No. 227). In this case it seems to be borne by the night-watch, or civic LAODICEA 525 guard, and is shaped like those in common use imong ourselves. A similar lantern is at this day used in Persia, and perhaps docs not mate- rially differ from those mentioned in Scripture. More common at present in Western Asia is a large folding lantern of waxen cloth strained : over rings of wire, with a top and bottom of tinned copper. It is usually about two feet long by nine inches in diameter, and is carried by servants before their masters, who often pay visits to their friends at or after supper-time. In many Eastern towns the municipal law for- bids any one to be in the streets after nightfall without a lantern. LAODICEA. There were four places of this name, which it may be well to distinguish, in order to prevent them from being confounded with one another. The first was in the western part of Phrygia, on the borders of Lydia ; the second, in the eastern part of the same country, denominated Laodicea Combusta ; the third, on the coast of Syria, called Laodicea ad Mare, and serving as the port of Aleppo ; and the fourth, in the same country, called Laodicea ad Libanum, from its proximity to that mountain. The third of these, that on the coast of Syria, was destroyed by the great earthquake of Aleppo in August, 1822, and at the time of that event was supposed by many to be the Laodicea of Scripture, al- though in fact not less than four hundred miles from it. But the first named, lying on the con- fines of Phrygia and Lydia, about forty miles east of Ephesus, is the only Laodicea mentioned in Scripture, and is that one of the 'seven churches in Asia ' to which St. John was com- missioned to deliver the awful warning contained in Rev. iii. 14-19. The fulfilment of this warn- ing is to be sought, as we take it, in the history of the Christian church which existed in that city, and not in the stone and mortar of the city itself; for, although it is true that the city is utterly ruined, it is not the city, but ' (he church of the Laodiceans,' which is denounced. Laodicea was the capital of Greater Phrygia, and a very considerable city at the time it was named in Scripture ; but the frequency of earth- quakes, to which this district has always been j liable, demolished, some ages after, great part of the city, destroyed many of the inhabitants, and eventually obliged the remainder to abandon the spot altogether. 526 LAPWING Laodicea is now a deserted place, called by the Turks Eski-hissar ( Old Castle). From its ruins, Laodicea seems to have been situated upon six or seven hills, taking up a large extent of ground. To the north and north-east runs the river Lycus, about a mile and a half distant ; but nearer it is watered by two small streams, the Asopus and Caprus, the one to the west, and the other to the south-east, both passing into the Lycus, which last flows into the Maeander. Laodicea preserves great remains of its import- ance as the residence of the Roman governors of Asia under the emperors ; namely, a stadium, in uncommon preservation, three theatres, one of which is 450 feet in diameter, and the ruins of several other buildings. Col. Leake says : * There are few ancient sites more likely than Laodicea to preserve many curious remains of antiquity beneath the surface of the soil ; its opulence, and the earthquakes to which it was subject, .rendering it probable that valuable works of art were often there buried l>eneath the ruins of the public and private edifices.' LAPWING. The original word thus rendered in our version has been surmised to mean ' double-crest ;' and is supposed on good grounds to mean the hoopoe, rather than the lapwing. 228. [Hoopoe.] The hoopoe is not uncommon in Palestine at this day, and was from remote ages a bird of mystery. The summit of the augural rod is said to have been carved in the form of a hoopoe's head; and one of the kind is still used by Indian gosseins, and even Armenian bishops, attention being no doubt drawn to the bird by its pecu- liarly arranged black and white bars upon a delicate vinous fawn-colour, and further embel- lished with a beautiful fan-shaped crest of the same colour, tipped with white and black. Its appellations in all languages appear to be either imitations of the bird's voice or indications of its filthy habits ; which, however, modern ornitho- logists deny, or do not notice. In Egypt these birds are numerous; forming, probably, two species, the one permanently resident about human habitations, the other migratory, and the same that visits Europe. The latter wades in the mud when the Nile has subsided, and seeks for worms and insects ; and the former is known to rear its young so much immersed in the shards and fragments of beetles, &c. as to cause a dis- agreeable smell about its nest, which is always in holes or in hollow trees. Though an unclean bird in the Hebrew law, the common migratory hoopoe is eaten in Egypt, and sometimes also in LAZARUS Italy ; but the stationary species is considered inedible. It is unnecessary to give further de- scription of a bird so well known as the hoopoe, which, though not common, is nevertheless an annual visitant of England, arriving soon after the cuckoo. LAVER, a basin to contain the water used by the priests in their ablutions during their sacred ministrations. There was one of brass (fabricated out of the metal mirrors which the women brought from Egypt, Exod. xxxviii. 8). It had a ' foot ' or base, which, from the manner in which ' the laver and its foot' are mentioned, must have been a conspicuous feature, and was perhaps separable from the basin itself for the purpose of removal. We are not informed of the size or shape of this laver ; but it appears to have been large. It stood between the altar of burnt-offerings and the door of the tabernacle (Exod. xxx. 18-21 ; xl. 30-32). The water of this laver seems to have served the double purpose of washing the parts of the sacri- fices, and the hands and feet of the priests. But in the temple of Solomon, when the number of both priests and victims had greatly increased, ten lavers were used for the sacrifices, and the molten sea for the personal ablutions of the priests (2 Chron. iv. 6). These lavers are more minutely described than that of the tabernacle. So far as can be made out from the description, they con- sisted of a square base or stand mounted upon rollers or wheels, and adorned with figures of palm-trees, cherubim, lions, and oxen. The stand doubtless formed a hollow basin for receiving the water which fell from the laver itself, and which appears to have been drawn from it by means- of cocks (1 Kings vii. 27-39). Each of the lavers contained forty baths, or, according to the usual computation, about 300 English gallons. In the second temple there appears to have been only one laver. Of its size or shape we have no information, but it was probably like those of Solomon's temple. LAWYER. This word, in its general sense, denotes one skilled in the law, as in Tit. iii. 13. When, therefore, one is called a lawyer, this is understood with reference to the laws of the land in which he lived or to which he belonged. Hence among the Jews a lawyer was one versed in the laws of Moses, which he taught in the schools and synagogues (Matt, xxviii. 35 ; Luke x. 25). The same person who is called ' a lawyer ' in these texts, is in the parallel passage (Mark xii. 28) called a scribe ; whence it has been in ferred that the functions of the lawyers and tht scribes were identical. The individual may have been both a lawyer and a scribe ; but it does not thence follow that all lawyers were scribes. Some suppose, however, that the ' scribes ' were the public expounders of the law, while the ' lawyers' were the private expounders and teachers of it. But this is a mere conjecture ; and nothing more is really known than that the ' lawyers ' were ex- pounders of the law, whether publicly or privately, or both. LAZ'ARUS (an abridged form of the Hebrew name Eleazer), an inhabitant of Bethany, brother of Mary and Martha, who was honoured with the friendship of Jesus, by whom he was raised from the dead after he had been four days in the tomb. This great miracle is minutely described in John xi. The credit which Christ obtained among the LEAVEN AND FERMENT people by this illustrious act, of which the life and j presence of Lazarus afforded a standing evidence, ! induced the Sanhedrim, in plotting against Jesus, [ to contemplate the destruction of Lazarus also ' (John xii. 10). Whether they accomplished this | object or not, we are not informed : but the pro- bability seems to be that when they had satiated their malice on Christ, they left Lazarus un- : molested. LEAD, a well-known metal, the first Scriptural notice of which occurs in the triumphal song in ! which Moses celebrates the overthrow of Pharaoh, whose host is there said to have ' sunk like lead ' iu the waters of the Red Sea (Exod. xv. 10). Before the use of quicksilver was known, lead was used for the purpose of purifying silver, and separating it from other mineral substances. To this Jeremiah alludes where he figuratively de- scribes the corrupt condition of the people : ' In their fire the lead is consumed (in the crucible) ; the smelting is in vain, for the evil is not sepa- rated ' ( Jer. vi. 29). Job (xix. 23, 24) expresses a wish that his words were engraven ' with an iron pen and lead.' These words are commonly supposed to refer to engraving on a leaden tablet ; and it is unde- niable that such tablets were anciently used as a writing material. But our authorized translators, oy rendering ' an iron pen and lead iu the rock for ever,' seem to have entertained the same view with Rosenmiiller, who supposes that molten lead was to be poured into letters sculptured on stone with an iron chisel, in order to raise the in- scription. Although the Hebrew weights were usually of stone, and are indeed called 'stones,' a leaden weight denominated anacfi, which is the Arabic word for lead, occurs in Amos vii. 7, 8. In Acts xxvii. 28, a plummet for taking soundings at sea is mentioned, and this was of course of lead. The ancient uses of lead in the East seem to have been very few ; nor are they now numerous. One may travel far in Western Asia without dis- covering any trace of this metal in any of the numerous useful applications which it is made to serve in European countries. We are not aware that any trace of lead has been yet found within the limits of Palestine. But ancient lead-mines, in^ some of which the ore has been exhausted by working, have been discovered by Mr. Burton in the mountains between the Red Sea and the Nile ; and lead is also said to exist at a place called Sheff, near Mount Sinai. LE'AII (weaned), one of the two daughters of j Laban who became the wives of Jacob [JACOB]. LEAVEN AND FERMENT. The organic chemists define the process of fermentation, and the substance which excites it, as follows : j ' Fermentation is nothing else but the putre- ] faction of a substance containing no nitrogen. Ferment, or yeast, is a substance in a state of putrefaction, the atoms of which are in a con- tinual motion.' This definition is in strict ac- cordance with the views of the ancients, and gives point and force to many passages of Sacred Writ (Ps. Ixxix. 21 ; Matt. xvi. 6, 11, 12; Mark viii. 15; Luke xii. 1 ; xiii. 21 ; 1 Cor. v. 5-8 ; Gal. v. 9). i Leaven, and fermented or even some readily fer- mentible substances (as honey), were prohibited ; ill many of the typical institutions both of the Jews and Gentiles. Plutarch assigns as the rea- LEBANON 527 son why the priest of Jupiter was not allowed to touch leaven, ' that it, comes out of corruption, and corrupts that with which it is mingled.' All fer- mented substances were prohibited in the Paschal Feast of the Jews (Exod. xii. 8, 19, 20); also during the succeeding seven days, usually called ' The Feast of Unleavened Bread,' though bread is not in the original. God forbade either Jer- ment or honei/ to be ottered to Him in his temple (i. e. in the symbolical rites), while they were permitted in offerings designed to be consumed as food (Num. xv. 20, 21). On the same prin- ciple of symbolism, God prescribes that salt shall always constitute a part of the oblations to Him (Lev. ii. 13). Salt prevents corruption or decay, and preserves flesh. Hence it is used as a symbol of incorrnp+ion and perpetuity. Thus St. Paul (comp. Col. -v. 6 ; Eph. iv. 29) uses ' salt' as pre- servative from corruption, on the same principle which leads him to employ that which is inrjer- meiited as an emblem of purity and uncorrupted- ness. ' The 1 usual leaven in the East is dough kept till it becomes sour, and which is kept from one day to another for the purpose of preserving leaven in readiness. Thus, if there should be no leaven in all the country for any length of time, as much as might be required could easily be produced in twenty-four hours. Sour dough, however, is no! exclusively used for leaven in the East, the lea of wine being in some parts employed as yeast.' LEB'ANON, a long chain of mountains on the northern border of Palestine. The term Libanus is more convenient in use than the Hebrew form Lebanon, as enabling us to distinguish the parallel ranges of Libanus and Anti- Libanus, which have no such distinctive names in connection with the Hebrew designation. Lebanon seems to be applied in Scripture to either or both of these ranges ; and we shall also use it in this general sense : but Libanus means distinctively the westernmost of those ranges, which laces the Mediterranean, and Anti-Libanus the eastern, facing the plain oi Damascus ; in which sense these names will be used in this article. The present inhabitants of the country have found the convenience ol distinguishing these parallel ranges ; and give to Libanus the name of ' Western Mountain ' (Jebel esh-Sharki), and to Anti-Libanus that or ' Eastern Mountain ' (Jebel el-Gharbi) ; although Jebel Libnan (the same name in fact as Lebanon) occurs among the Arabs with special reference to the eastern range. These two great ranges, which together form the Lebanon of Scripture, commence about the parallel of Tripoli (lat. 34 28'), run in a general direction from N.E. to S.W., through about one degree of latitude, and form, at their southern termination, the natural frontier of Palestine. These parallel ranges enclose between them a fertile and well-watered valley, averaging about fifteen miles in width, which is the Ceele-Syria ( Hollow Syria) of the ancients, but is called by the present inhabitants, by way of pre-eminence, el-Bekaa, or ' the Valley,' which is watered through the greater portion of its length by the river Litany, the ancient Leontes. Nearly opposite Damascus the Anti-Libaius separates into two ridges, which diverge some- what, and enclose the fertile Wady et-Teim. The easternmost of these two ridges, which has 528 LEBANON already been pointed out as the Hermon of Scrip- ture [HERMON], Jebel esh-Sheikh, continues its S.W. course, and is the proper prolongation of Anti-Libanus. From the base of the higher part of this ridge, a low broad spur or mountainous tract runs off towards the south, forming the high land which shuts in the basin and Lake of el-Huleh on the east. This tract is called Jebel Heish, the higher portion of which terminates at Tel el-Faras, nearly three hours north of Fiek. The other ridge of Anti-Libanus takes a more westerly direction. It is long, low, and level ; and con- tinues to border the lower part of the great valley of Bekaa, until it seems to unite with the higher bluffs and spurs of Lebanon, and thus entirely to close that valley. In fact, only a narrow gorge is here left between precipices, in some places of great height, through which the Litany finds its way down to the sea, north of Tyre. The chain of Lebanon, or at least its higher ridges, may be said to terminate at the point where it is thus broken through by the Litany. But a broad and lower mountainous tract continues towards the south, bordering the basin of the Huleh on the west It rises to its greatest elevation about Safed (Jebel Safed); and at length ends abruptly in the mountains of Nazareth, as' the northern wall of the plain of Esdraelon. This high tract may very properly be regarded as a prolongation of Lebanon. The mountains of Lebanon are of limestone rock, generally of a whitish hue, and from the aspect which the range thus bears in the distance, in its cliffs and naked parts, the name of Lebanon (which signifies ' white') has been supposed to be derived ; but others seek its origin in the snows which rest long upon its summits, and perpetually upon the highest of them. Of the two ranges, that of Libanus is by far the highest. Its uppermost ridge is marked by a line, drawn at the distance of about two hours' journey from the summit, above which all is barren ; but the slopes and valleys below this line afford pasturage, and are capable of cultiva- tion, by reason of the numerous springs which are met with in all directions. Cultivation is, however, chiefly found on the seaward slopes, where numerous villages flourish, and erery inch of ground is turned to account by the industrious natives, who, in the absence of natural levels, construct artificial terraces in order to prevent the earth from being swept away by the winter rains, and at the same time to retain the water requisite for the irrigation of the crops. When one looks upward from below, the vegetation on these terraces is not visible; so that the whole mountain appears as if composed only of immense rugged masses of naked whitish rock, traversed by deep wild ravines, running down precipitously to the plain. No one would suspect among these rocks the existence of a vast multitude of thrifty villages, and a numerous population of moun- taineers, hardy, industrious, and brave. Here, amidst the crags of the rocks, are to be seen the remains of the renowned cedars; but a much larger proportion of firs, oaks, brambles, mul- berry-trees, fig-trees, and vines. A {though the general elevation of Anti-Libanus is inferior to that of Libanus, the easternmost of the branches into which it divides towards its termination (Jebel esh-Sheikk) rises loftily, and LEES orertops all the other summits of heaven. Onr information respecting Anti-Libanus is less dis- tinct than that concerning the opposite range. It appears, however, that it has fewer inhabitants, and is scarcely in any part cultivated. None of the summits of Libanus or Anti- Libanus have been measured. By comparing the accounts of different travellers, however, as to the continuance of snow upon the higher summits, and adjusting them with reference to the point of perpetual congelation in that latitude, a rough estimate may be formed, that the average height of the Libanus mountains, from the top of which the snow entirely disappears in summer, must be considerably below 11,000 feet, probably about 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. But the higher points, particularly the Sannin, which is the highest of all, must be above that limit, as the snow rests on them all the year. By the same rule the average height of the Anti-Libanus range is reckoned as not exceeding 9000 feet ; but its highest point, in the Jebel es-Sheik, or Mount Hermon, is considered to be somewhat more lofty than the Sannin, the highest point of Libanus. In Scripture Lebanou is very generally men- tioned in connection with the cedar-trees in which it abounded ; but its wines are also noticed (Hosea xiv. 8) ; and in Cant. iv. 11; Hosea xiv. 7, it is celebrated for various kinds of fragrant plants. LEECH occurs only in Prov. xxx. 1 5. ' The horse-leech ' is properly a species of leech dis- carded for medical purposes on account of the coarseness of its bite. The leech, as a symbol, in use among rulers of every class and in all ages, for avarice, rapine, plunder, rapacity, and even assiduity, is too well known to need illus- tration. LEES. The original word (Shemarim) thus rendered is generally understood to denote the lees or dregs of wiue. But this cannot be the meaning of the term in Isa. xxv. G, where, we think, it must refer to some rich preserves appro- priate to the feast of which that text speaks. The verse may be rendered thus : ' And Jehovah of hosts shall make to all peoples in this mountain a feast of fat things, a feast of preserves, of the richest fatness, of preserves well refined.' Con- siderable diversity of opinion has obtained among Biblical critics in regard to both the literal meaning and prophetic bearing of this text. The most usual interpretation supposes a reference to veines on the lees ; but there are strong objections to this view, the most obvious of which is, that it is exceedingly inappropriate. There is no men- tion of wine in the original, but simply of dregs ; and interpreters have been forced to suppose a reference to the former, from a conviction that the latter was altogether inapt. The mention of dregs does not naturally call up the idea of wine which has been drawn from them. We agree with the great majority of interpreters, that a signal blessing is here referred to ; but we cannot agree with those who suppose that wine drawn off from dregs is made the emblem of that bless- ing. Such wine would evidently not answer the purpose. It was not the best wine. We regard it as indicating something excellent in its kind, and the best of its kind. It seems to refer to some rich preserves made from grapes or other fruits. LEES It is difficult to say how these preserves were prepared. ' In the East grapes enter very largely into the provisions at an entertainment. Thus Noiden was treated by the Aga of Assaoun with coffee, and some bunches of grapes of an excel- lent taste.' It is probable, however, that some solid preparation of the dried grape is here in- tended. The very best grapes were anciently, and still are, employed to make such prepara- tions in Palestine. The finest grapes in that country grow in the vineyards around Hebron. ' The produce of these vineyards,' says Professor Robinson, ' is celebrated throughout Palestine. No wine, however, nor 'Arak is made from them, except by the Jews, and this is not in great quantity. The wine is good. The finest grapes are dried as raisins ; and the rest, being trodden and pressed, the juice is boiled down to a syrup, which, under the name of Dibs, is much used by all classes, wherever vineyards are found, as a condiment with their food. It resembles thin molasses, but is more pleasant to the taste.' The fact here stated regarding the use made of the finest grapes, supplies us with an article worthy of the feast mentioned in the text. Buckingham mentions the following facts : ' By way of des- sert, some walnuts and dried figs were afterwards served to us, besides a very curious article, pro- bably resembling the dried wine of the ancients, which they are said to have preserved in cakes. They were of the size of a cucumber, and were made out of the fermented juice of the grape formed into a jelly, and in this state wound round a central thread of the kernel of walnuts ; the pieces of the nuts thus forming a support for the outer coat of jelly, which became harder as it dried, and would keep, it is said, fresh and good for many months, forming a welcome treat at all times, and being particularly well adapted for sick or delicate persons, who might require some grateful provisions capable of being carried in a small compass, and without risk of injury on a journey.' After a full consideration of the subject, we conclude that the shemdrim of this text was a solid article, different from grape-cake, as not being pressed in any particular form, and dif- ferent from dried grapes, as being refined and prepared for being served up at a sumptuous entertainment. Neither of the other passages (Jer. xlviii. 1 1 , Zeph. i. 12), where the word under discussion occurs, is invested with special interest. The wine was separated from the lees, sometimes at least, by being drawn off from one vessel to another, as appears from Jeremiah xlviii. 11, which Bishop Lowth renders thus : ' Moab hath been at ease from his youth, And he hath settled upon his lees ; Nor hath he been drawn off from vessel to vessel, Neither hath he gone into captivity : Therefore his taste remaineth in him, And his flavour is not changed.' Moab is here represented as spending a life of quiet indifference, living undisturbed in sin. Such, too, was the situation of those of whom Jehovah says (#eph. i.- 12), ' I will punish the men that are settled on their lees ;' that is, those who disregarded his admonitions, and prosecuted LENTILES 52!) their sinful courses, unmoved by his threaten- ings. LEGION, a division of the Roman army. It always comprised a large body of men ; but the number varied so much at different times, that there is considerable discrepancy in the state- ments with reference to it. The legion appears to have originally contained about 3000 men, and to have risen gradually to twice that number, or even more. In and about the time of Christ it seems to have consisted of 6000 men ; but this was exclusive of horsemen, who usually formed an additional body amounting to one-tenth of the infantry. As all the divisions of the Roman army are noticed in Scripture, we may add that each legion was divided into ten cohorts or regi- ments, each cohort into three maniples or bands, and each maniple into three centuries or com- panies of 100 each. This smaller division into centuries or hundreds, from the form in which it is exhibited as a constituent of the larger divi- sions, clearly shows that 6000 had become at least the formal number of a legion. The word legion came to be used to express a great number or multitude. Thus, the unclean spirit (Mark v. 7), when asked his name, answers, ' My name is Legion, for we are many.' LENTILES. Lentiles appear to have been chiefly used for making a kind of pottage. The red pottage for which Esau bartered his birthright was of lentiles (Gen. xxv. 29-34). The term red was, as with us, extended to yellowish brown, which must have been the true colour of the pottage, if derived from lentiles. The Greeks and Romans also called lentiles red. Lentiles were among the provisions brought to David when he fled from Absalom (2 Sam. xvii. 28), and a field of lentiles was the scene of an exploit of one of David's heroes (2 Sam. xxiii. 11). From Ezek. iv. 9, it would appear that lentiles were sometimes used as bread. This was, doubt- less, in times of scarcity, or by the poor. Son- nini assures us that in southernmost Egypt, where corn is comparatively scarce, lentiles mixed with a little barley form almost the only bread in use among the poorer classes. It is called bettan, is of a golden yellow colour, and is not bad, although rather heavy. In that country, indeed, probably even more than in Palestine, lentiles anciently, as now, formed a chief article of food among the labouring classes. Large quantities of lentiles were exported from Alexandria. Pliny, in men- tioning two Egyptian varieties, incidentally lets us know that one of them was red, by remarking that they like a red 'soil, and by speculating whether the pulse may not have thence derived the reddish colour which it imparted to the pottage made with it. This illustrates Jacob's red pottage. Dr. Shaw also states that these lentiles easily dissolve in boiling, and form a red or chocolate coloured pottage, much esteemed in North Africa and Western Asia. Putting these facts together, it is likely that the reddish lentile, which is uow so common in Egypt, is the sort to which all these statements refer. The tomb-paintings actually exhibit the opera- tion of preparing pottage of lentiles, or, as Wil- kinson describes it, ' a man engaged in cooking lentiles for a soup or porridge; his companion brings a bundle of faggots for the fire, and the lentiles themselves are seen standing near him in 2 AI S30 LEOPARD wicker baskets.' The lentiles of Palestine have eii little noticed by travellers. The lentile is an annual plant, and the smallest of all the legumiuosie which are culti- vated. It rises with a weak stalk about eighteen inches high, having pinnate leaves at each joint composed of several pairs of narrow leaflets, and terminating in a tendril, which supports it by fastening about some other plant The small 230. [Lentiles Cicer lens.] flowers, which come out of the sides of the branches on short peduncles, three or four toge- ther, are purple, and are succeeded by the short LEPROSY zoologists differ in opinion respecting the identity of the leopard and the panther, and dispute, sup- posing them to be distinct, how these names should be respectively applied, and by what marks the animals should be distinguished, nevertheless there can be no doubt that the leopard of the Bible is that great spotted feline which anciently infested the Syrian mountains, and even now occurs in the wooded ranges of Libanus. The variety of leopard, or rather panther, of Syria, is considerably below the stature of a lioness, but very heavy in proportion to its bulk. Its general form is so well known as to require no description beyond stating, that the spots are rather more irregular, and the colour more mixed with whitish, than in the other pantherine felinaj, excepting the Felis Uncia, or Felis Irbis, of High Asia, which is shapgy and almost white. It is a nocturnal, cat- like animal in habits, dangerous to all domestic cattle, and sometimes even to man. In the Scriptures it is constantly placed in juxtaposition with the lion or the wolf; which last, if the hyaena be intended, forms a natural association. There is in Asia Minor a species or variety of panther, much larger than the Syrian, not un- frequent on the liorders of the snowy tracts even of Mount. Ida, above ancient Troy ; and the group of these spotted animals is spread over the whole of Southern Asia to Africa. From several names of places, it appears that, in the earlier ages of Israelitish dominion, it was sufficiently numerous in Palestine. Leopard skins were worn as a part of ceremonial costume by the superiors of the Egyptian priesthood, and i>y other personages in Nubia; and the animal itself is represented in the processions of tributary nations. LEPROSY. Leprosy is a name that was given by the Greek physicians to a scaly disease of the skin. During the dark ages it was indis- criminately applied to all chronic diseases of the skin, and more particularly to elephantiasis, to which latfer, however, it does not bear the and flat legumes, which contain two or three flat j slightest resemblance. The disease, as it is known round seeds slightly curved in the middle. The j at the present day, commences by an eruption of flower appears in May, and the seeds ripen in I small reddish spots slightly raised above the July. When ripe, the plants are rooted up, if level of the skin, and grouped in a circle. These thev have been sown along with other plants, as i spots are soon covered by a very thin, semi-trans- is sometimes done; but they are cut down when j parent scale or epidermis, of a whitish colour, grown by themselves. They are threshed, win- nowed, and cleaned like corn. LEOPARD (Cant iv. 8 : Isa. xi. 6 ; Jer. v. 6 ; xiii. 23 ; Hos. xiii. 7 ; Hab. i. 8 ; Dan. vii. 6 ; and very smooth, which in a little time falls off, and leaves the skin beneath red and uneven. As the circles increase in diameter the skin re- covers its healthy appearance towards the centre Rev. xiii. 2; Ecclus. xxviii. 23). fresh scales are formed, which are now thicker, and snperimposed one above the other, especially at the edges, so that the centre of the scale appears to be depressed. The scales are of a greyish white colour, and have something of a micaceous or pearly lustre. The circles are gene- rally of the size of a shilling or half-crown, but they have been known to attain half a foot in diameter. The disease generally affects the knees and elbows, but sometimes it extends over the whole body; in which case the circles lie- come confluent. It does not at all affect the general health, and the only inconvenience it causes the patient is a slight itching when th-; skin is heated ; or, in inveterate cases, when the skin about the joints is much thickened, it may Though in some degree impede the free motion of th? LEPROSY limbs. It is common to both sexes, to almost all ages, and all ranks of society. It is not in the least infectious, but it is always difficult to be cured, and iu oJd persons, when it is of long standing, may be pronounced incurable. It is commonly met with in this country and in all parts of Europe. On turning to the Mosaic account, we find three species mentioned, which were all included under the generic term of Bahe'ret, or ' bright spot.' The first is called Bohaq, which signifies ' brightness,' but in a subordinate degree. This species did not render a person unclean. The second was called Bahtrtt lebfind.fi, or a bright white Bahc'ret. The third was Bahdret kiluih, or dusky Buhe'ret, spreading in the skin. These two last were also called 'a stroke,' as if a chastisement, and rendered a person unclean. The characteristic marks of the Bahe'ret lebanah mentioned by Moses, are a glossy white and spreading scale upon an ele- vated base, the elevation depressed in the middle, the hair on the patches participating in the whiteness, and the patches themselves perpetually increasing. There are some other slight atiec- tions mentioned by name in Leviticus, which the priest was required to distinguish from leprosy. If a person had any of the above diseases he was brought before the priest to be examined. If the priest found the distinctive signs of a contagious leprosy, the person was immediately declared unclean. If the priest had any doubt on the subject, the person was put under confinement for seven days, when he was examined a second time. If in the course of the preceding week the eruption had made no advance, he was shut up for another seven days ; and if then the disease was still stationary, and had none of the dis- tinctive signs above noticed, he was declared clean (Lev. xiii.). It, may be useful here to subjoin a description of elephantiasis, or the leprosy of the middle ages, as this is the disease from which most of the prevalent notions concerning leprosy have been derived, and to which the notices of lepers contained in modern books of travels exclusively refer. Elephantiasis first of all makes its appearance by spots of a reddish, yellowish, or livid hue, irregularly disseminated over the skin and slightly raised above its surface. These spots are glossy, and appear oily, or as if they were covered with varnish. After they have remained in this way for a longer or shorter time, they are succeeded by an eruption of tubercles. These are soft, roundish tumours, varying in size from that of a pea to that of an olive, and are of a reddish or livid colour. They are principally developed on the face and ears, but in the course of years extend over the whole body. The face becomes frightfully deformed ; the forehead is traversed by deep lines and covered with nume- rous tubercles ; the eyebrows become bald, swelled, furrowed by oblique lines, and covered with nipple-like elevations^ the eyelashes fall out, and the eyes assume a fixed and staring look ; the lips are enormously thickened and shining ; the beard falls out; the chin and ears are en- larged and beset with tubercles ; the lobe and aisc of the nose are frightfully enlarged and deformed; the nostrils irregularly dilated, inter- Daily constricted, and excoriated ; the voice is LEVI 531 hoarse and nasal, and the breath intolerably fetid. After some time, generally aftt-i bomt jears, many of the tubercles ulcerate, aijd the matter which exudes from them dries to crusts of a ' brownish or blackish colour; but this process seldom terminates in cicatrization. The extre- ' mities are affected in the same way as the face. ; The hollow of the foot is swelled out, so that the sole becomes flat; the sensibility of the skin is greatly impaired, and, in the hands and feet, often entirely lost ; the joints of the toes ulcerate and fall oft' one after the other ; insupportable foetor exhales from the whole body. The patient's general health is not affected for a con- I siderable time, and his sufferings are not always of the same intensity as his external deformity. \ Often, however, his nights are sleepless or dis- turbed by frightful dreams ; he becomes morose and melancholj- ; he shuns the sight of the ! healthy, because he feels what an object of disgust , he is to them, and life becomes a loathsome bur- den to him; or he falls into a state of apathy, and afrer many years of such an existence he sinks either from exhaustion, or from the super- vention of internal disease. The Greeks gave the name of elephantiasis to this disease, because the skin of the person affected with it was thought to resemble that of an elephant, in dark colour, ruggedness, and insensibility, or, as some have thought, because the foot, after the loss of the toes, when the hollow of the sole is filled up and the ankle enlarged, resembles the foot of an elephant. About the / period of the Crusades elephantiasis spread itself like an epidemic over all Europe, even as far north as the Faroe Islands ; and henceforth, owing to the above- named mistakes, every one became familiar with leprosy under the form of the terrible disease that has just been described. Leper or lazar- houses abounded everywhere ; as many as 2000 are said to have existed in France alone. The disease was considered to be contagious possibly only on account of the belief that was entertained respecting its identity with Jewish leprosy, and the strictest regulations were enacted for seclud- ing the diseased from society. Towards the commencement of the seventeenth century the disease gradually disappeared from Europe, and is now confined to intertropical countries. It existed in Faroe as late as 1676, and in the Shetland Islands in 1736, long after it had ceased ' in the southern parts of Great Britain. The best authors of the present day who have had an opportunity of observing the disease do not con- sider it to be contagious. There seems, however, to be little doubt as to its being hereditary. LE'VI (a joining), the third son of Jacob and Leah, born in Mesopotamia B.C. 1750 (Gen. xxix. 34). No circumstance is recorded of him save the part which he and his full brother Simeon took in the massacre of the Shechemites, to avenge the wroug done to their sister Dinah (Gen. xxxiv. 25, 26). This transaction was to his last hour regarded by Jacob with abhorrence, and he failed not to allude to it in his dying declaration. As Simeon and Levi were united in that act, so the patriarch couples them in his prophecy : i 'Accursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel ! 1 will divide them in Jacob, and disperse them in Israel.' And, accordingly, their descendants were after- 2 M 2 532 LEV1TES wards, in different ways, dispersed amongthe other tribes ; although, in the case of Levi, this curse was eventually turned into a benefit and blessing. LEVTATHAN (Job iii. 8 ; xli. 1 ; Ps. Ixxiv. 14 ; civ. 26 : Isa. xxvii. 1) [BEHEMOTH, CROCO- DILE, DRAGON]. Gesenius very justly remarks that this word, which denotes any twisted animal, is especially applicable to every great tenant of the waters, such as the great marine serpents and crocodiles, and, it may be added, the colossal serpents and great monitors of the desert. lu general it points to the crocodile, and Job xli. is unequivocally descriptive of that Saurian. Pro- bably the Egyptian crocodile is therein depicted in all its magnitude, ferocity, and indolence, such as it was in early days, when as yet uncon- scious of the power of man, and only individually tamed for the purposes of an imposture, which had sufficient authority to intimidate the public and protect the .species, under the sanctified pretext that it was a type of pure water, and an emblem of the importance of irrigation ; though the people in general seem ever to have been disposed to consider it a personification of the destructive principle. At a later period the Egyptians, probably of such places as Tentyris, where crocodiles were not held in veneration, not only hunted and slew them, but it appears from a statue that a sort of Bestiarii could tame them sufficiently to perform certain exhibitions mounted on their backs. The intense musky odour of its flesh must have rendered the croco- dile, at all times, very unpalatable food, bat breast-armour was made of the horny and ridged parts of its back. We have ourselves witnessed a periodical abstinence in the great Saurians, and have known negro women, while bathing, play with young alligators ; which, they asserted, they could do without danger, unless they hurt them and thereby attracted the vengeance of the mother; but the impunity most likely resulted from the period of inactivity coinciding with the then state of the young animals, or from the negro women being many in the water at the same time. The occurrence took place at Old Harbour, Jamaica. LE'VITES, the descendants of Levi, through his sous Gershon, Kohath and Merari, whose descendants formed so many sub-tribes or great families of the general body. In a narrower sense the term Levites designates the great body of the tribe employed in the subordinate offices of the hierarchy, to distinguish them from that one family of their body the family of Aaron in which the priestly functions were vested. While the Israelites were encamped before Mount Sinai, the tribe of Levi, to which Moses and Aaron belonged, was, by special ordinance from the Lord, set specially apart for sacerdotal services, in the place of the first-born of the dif- ferent tribes and families to whom such func- tions, according to ancient usage, belonged ; and which indeed had already been set apart as holy, in commemoration cf the first-born of the Israel- ites having been spared when the first-born of the Egyptians were destroyed (Num. iii. 12, 13, 40-51; Exod. xiii.). When it was determined to set apart a single tribe of Levi for this service, the numbers of the first-born in Israel and of the tribe selected were respectively taken, when it was found that the former amounted to 2-2,273, LEVITES and the latter to 22,000. Those of the first-born beyond the number of the Levites were thrn redeemed at the rate of five shekels, or 12s. 6rf. each, and the money assigned to the priests. At the same time the cattle which the Levites then happened to possess were considered as equivalent to all the firstlings of the cattle which the Israel- ites had ; and, accordingly, the firstlings were not required to be brought, as in subsequent years, to the altar and to the priesthood (Nun>. iii. 41-51). In the wilderness the office of the Levites was to carry the Tabernacle and its utensils and fur- niture from place to place, after they had been packed up by the priests (Num. iv. 4-15). In this service each of the three Levitical families had its separate department ; the Gershonites carried the hangings and cords of the Tabernacle, for which they were allowed two wains, each drawn by four oxen (Num. iii. 25, 26 ; iv. 24-28 ; vii. 7). The Kohathites carried the ark, the table of shew-bread, the candlestick, the two altars, and such of the hangings as belonged to the sanctuary ; for this they had no wains or oxen, the whole being carried upon their shoulders (Num. iii. 31; iv. 4-15; vii. 9); the Merarites had charge of the substantial parts of the Taber- nacle the boards, pillars, bars, bases, &c., and also all the ordinary vessels of service, for which they were allowed four wains and eight oxen (Num. iii. 36, 37; iv. 31, 32; vii. 8). In this manner they proceeded in all their journeys ; and when they settled in a place, and had erected the Tabernacle, the different families pitched their tents around it in the following manner : the Gershonites behind it on the west (Num. iii. 23), the Kohathites on the south (iii. 29), the Merarites on the north (iii. 35), and the priests on the east (iii. 38). They all assisted Aaron and his sons in taking care of, and attending on, the Tabernacle, when it was pitched; but they were allowed to take no part in the services of the altar (xviii. 2-7). This was the nature of their service in the desert: but when they entered the land of Ca- naan, and the tabernacle ceased to be migratory, the range of their service was considerably altered. While part attended at the tabernacle, the rest were distributed through the country in the several cities which were allotted to them. These cities are commonly reckoned forty-eight; but thirteen of them were reserved for the priests, so that only thirty-five belonged to the Levites. The names of these cities, and the tribes in which they were situated, are given in Josh. xxi. 20-42 ; 1 Chron. vi. G4-81. Of the forty-eight cities six were cities of refuge for the unintentional homi- cide, of which one. Hebron, was a priestly city (Deut. iv. 41-43; Josh. xx. 2-9). In the time of David, when the number of the priests and Levites had much increased, a third and very important alteration was effected, as much, or more, with reference to the Temple, for which he made every possible preparation, as for the existing service at the Tabernacle. While I the priests were divided into twenty-four courses, ! that they might attend the Temple in rotation weekly, and only officiate about two weeks in the year, the Levites were also divided into twenty- , four courses. In the book of Chronicles we have ; four times twenty-four courses of Levites men- LEVITES tioned, but all their employments are not dis- tiuctly stated (1 Chvon. xxiii. 7-23; xxiv. 20-31 ; xxv. 1-31; xxvi. 1-12). The most conspicuous classification is that of twenty-four courses of por- ters and servitors, and twenty-four of musicians. The office of the porters was to open and shut the doors arid gates of the Temple-courts, at which they also attended throughout the day to prevent the entrance of any harmful or unclean person or thing (1 Chrou. xxvi. 17, 18). They had also the charge of the treasure-chambers in their respective wards ; for we find four of the chief porters holding this trust in 1 Chron. ix. 26, and their names and the articles in their charge are given in 1 Chrou. xxvi. 20-29; 2 Chron. xxxi. 12-14. Besides acting as porters and servants during the day, we learn that they were also the guards of the Temple. Without entering into specific details, it may be remarked that the whole num- ! ber of guards to the Temple at night is stated to have been twenty-four, of whom three were priests. These are described as having been under an overseer called ' the man of the moun- tain of the house.' He went his rounds to see that the guards were at their posts : if he found any one seated who should have been standing, he said, Peace be unto thee;' but if he found any one asleep, he struck him, and sometimes set fire to his clothes. We have thus seen that one division of the Le- vites was employed as porters during the day, and another as guards during the night ; a third division served as musicians. A catalogue of these is given in 1 Chron. xxi. 1-9, according to their employments ; and another, according to their courses, in 1 Chron. xxi. 9-31. We shall have to speak of Music under that head, and need only here state that on grand occasions, when a full band was formed, the family of Heman sung in the middle (1 Chron. vi. 33-38), the family of Asaph on the right hand (vi. 39-43), and the family of Ethan on the left. The ordi- nary place for the musicians, vocal and instru- I mental, was at the east end of the court of the priests, between the court of Israel and the altar. It seems that the singers could never be under twelve, because that number was particularly mentioned at their first appointment (1 Chron. xxv. 9) ; but. there was no objection to any larger number. The young sons of the Levitts were, on such occasions only, allowed to enter the court of the priests with their fathers, that their small voices might relieve the deep bass of the men : and for this authority was supposed to be found in Ezra iii. 9. The Leviteswere not at liberty to exercise any properly sacerdotal functions ; but on extraordi- nary occasions they were permitted to assist in preparing the sacrifices, ivithout, however, in any way concerning themselves with the blood (2 Chron. xxix. 34 ; xxx. 16, 17 ; xxxv. 1). In Num. iv. 3 the Levites are described as commencing their actual service at thirty years of age ; but in Num. viii. 24, 25, twenty-five is the age mentioned ; and in 1 Chron. xxiii. 24, 25, and Ezra iii. 8, twenty. The reason of these apparent discrepancies is, that from twenty-five tj thirty they were in the state of probationers, doing some things, but excluded from others (Aben Ezra, on Num. viii.). At thirty they be- LEVITES 533 came qualified for every part of the Levitical service. This was under the Tabernacle; but when the Temple was built, and bodily strength i was less required, the age was reduced to twenty, j After fifty they were no longer called upon to j serve as a matter of obligation : but they might ' attend if they thought proper, and perform any usual service which was not considered burthen- some. Thus, in the wilderness, they ceased at that age to carry any part of the burdens when the ark and Tabernacle were removed ('Num. viii. 25, 26). \Vhen the Levitical body was first set apart for its sacred duties, the existing members were consecrated in the manner particularly described in Num. viii. 6, 22. They, and in "them their descendants, were thus inducted into their par- ticular office ; and, in later times, when any one became of age, it was sufficient for his admission to prove that he belonged to a Levitical family, and, probably, to offer some trifling sacrifice. It does not appear that the Levites, when at home, had any particular dress to distinguish them from their countrymen ; nor is there any positive evi- dence that they had any distinctive garb, even when on actual service at the tabernacle or ! temple. Josephus relates that only six years be- j fore the destruction of the Temple by the Romans, the Levites were allowed by Agrippa to wear a linen tunic, like the priests an innovation with which the latter were highly displeased. This shows that the dress of the Levites, even when on duty, had not previously been in any respect similar to that of the priests. The subsistence of the Levites was provided for in a peculiar manner. It consisted, first, of a compensation for the abandonment of their right to one-twelfth of the land of Canaan ; and, secondly, of a remuneration for their services in their official capacity as devoted to the services of the sanctuary. The territorial compensation lay in the 48 cities which were granted to the whole tribe, including the priests. These cities were scattered among the different tribes, as centres of instruction, and had 1000 square cubits, equal to above 305 English acres, attached to each of them, to serve for gardens, vineyards, and pasturage. It is obvious, however, that this alone could not have been an adequate compensa- tion for the loss of one-twelfth of the soil, seeing that the produce of 305 acres could not in any case have sufficed for the wants of the inhabitants of these cities. The further provision, therefore, which was made for them must be regarded as ! partly in compensation for their sacrifice of ter- ritory, although we are disposed to look upon it as primarily intended as a remuneration for the dedication of their services to the public. This provision consisted of the tithe, or tenth of the produce of the grounds allotted to the other tribes. The simplest view of this payment is to regard it, first, as the produce of about as much land as the Levites would have been entitled to if placed on the same footing with regard to ter- ritory as the other tribes ; and also as the produce of so much more land, which the other tribes enjoyed in consequence of its not having been assigned to the tribe of Levi. In giving the pro- duce of this land to the Levites the Israelites were therefore to be regarded as simply releasing them from the cares of agriculture, to enable 534 LEVITES them to devote themselves to the service of the sanctuary. The land which produced the tithe was jus^ so much land held by the other tribes in their behalf; and the labour of cultivating this land was the salary paid to the Levites for their official services. The tenth was paid to the whole tribe of Levi ; but as the Levites had to give out of this one-tenth to the priests, their own i allowance was only nine-tenths of the tenth. A more particular account of tithes belongs to an- other head (TITHES!. The Levites had also a certain interest in the ' second tithe.' being the ; portion which, after the first tithe had been paid, the cultivator set apart for hospitable feasts, v hich i were held at the place of the sanctuary in two out of three years, but in the third year at home. ' This interest, however, extended no further than that the offerer was particularly enjoined to in- vite the priests and Levites to such feasts. The earliest notice we have of the numbers of the Levites occurs at their first separation in the desert, when there were 32,300, of a month old and upwards ; of whom 8580 were fit for service, or between the ages of 30 and 50 (Num. iii. 22, 28, 34; iv. 2, 34-49). Thirty-eight years after, just before the Israelites entered Canaan, they had increased to 23,000, not one of whom had been born at the time of the former enumeration (Num. xxvi. 57, 62-65). About 460 years after the eutry into Canaan (B.C. 1015) they were again numbered by David, a little before his death, and were found to have increased to 38,000 men fit for Levitical service of whom 24,000 were ' set over the work of the Lord,' 6000 were officers and judges, 4000 were porters, and 4000 were musicians (I Chron. xxiii. 3, 4, 5). If the same proportion then existed between those come of age and those a month old which existed when the tribe quitted Egypt, the entire number of the Levitical body, in the time of David, must have been 95,433. * After the revolt of the ten tribes, those of the Levites who resided in the territories of those tribes, having resisted the request of Jeroboam to transfer their services to his idolatrous establish- ments at Dan and Bethel, were obliged to abandon their possessions and join their brethren in .Judah and Benjamin (2 Chron. xi. 12, 13, 14; xiii. 9); and this concentration of the Levitical body in the kingdom of Jndah must have had an im- portant influence upon its condition and history. That kingdom thus actually consisted of three tribes Judah, Benjamin, and Levi of which one was devoted to sacerdotal uses. This altered position of the Levites after they had been de- prived of most of their cities, and "the tithes from ten of the tribes were cut off presents a subject for much interesting investigation, into which we cannot enter. Their means must have been much reduced ; for it cannot be supposed that Judah and Benjamin alone were able, even if willing, to underke the support of the whole Levitical body on the same scale as when the dues of all Israel flowed into its treasuries. In the subsequent history of Judah the Levites appear less frequently than might have been expected. The chief public measure in which they were engaged was the restoration of the house of David in the person of young Joash (2 Chron. xxiii. 1-11): which may be regarded as mainly the work of the Levitical body, including the priests. LEVITICUS Under the edict of Cyrus, only 341 according to Ezra (ii. 40-42), or 350, according to Nehemiah (vii. 43-45), returned with Zernb babel to Jerusalem. This is less surprising thau might at first sight appear; for if, before the captivity, the great body of them had been iu straitened circumstances and without fixed pos- sessions in Judah, it was only consistent with human prudence that those who had, in all probability, comfortably settled themselves in Babylon, should not be anxious to return in such numbers to Palestine as were likely to produce similar effects. A few more are men- tioned in Neh. xii. 24-2(5. Those who did return seem to have had no very correct notion of their obligations and duties ; for there were many who formed matrimonial alliances with the idolaters of the land, and thereby corrupted both their morals and genealogies. But they were prevailed upon to reform this abuse ; and, as a token of obedience, signed the national covenant with Nehemiah, and abode at Jerusalem to influence others by their authority and example (Neh. x. 9-13; xi. 15-19). The Levites are not mentioned in the Apocry- phal books, and very slightly in the New Testa- ment (Luke x. 32; John i. 19; Acts iv. 36); but the 'scribes' and the 'lawyers,' so often named in the Gospels, are usually supposed to have belonged to them. It would be taking a very narrow view of the duties of the Levitical body if we regarded them as limited to their services at the sanctuary. On the contrary, we see in their establishment a pro- vision for the religious and moral instruction of the great body of the people, which no ancient lawgiver except Moses ever thought of attending to. But that this was one principal object for which a twelfth of the population the tribe of Levi was set apart, is clearly intimated in Deut. xxxii. 9, 10 : ' They shall teach Jacob thy judgments and Israel thy law ; they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar.' They were to read the volume of the law publicly every seventh year at the Feast of Taternacle's (Deut. xxxi. 10-13). ' This public and solemn periodical instruction,' observes Dean Graves (Lectures, p. 1 70), ' though eminently useful, was certainly not the entire of their duty ; they were bound from the spirit of this ordinance to take care that at all times the aged should be improved and the children instructed in the knowledge and fear of God. the adoration of his majesty, and the observance of his law ; and for this purpose the peculiar situation and privileges of the tribe of Levi, as regulated by the divine appointment, admirably fitted them.' LEVITICUS, the third book of Moses. CONTESTS. Leviticus contains the further state- ment and development of the Sinaitic legislation, the beginnings of which are described in Exodus. It exhibits the HISTORICAL progress of this legis- lation ; consequently we must not expect to find the laws detailed in it in a systematic form. There is, nevertheless, a certain order observed, which arose from the nature of the subject, and of which the plan may easily be perceived. The whole is intimately connected with the contents of Exodus, at the conclusion of which bock that sanctuarv is described with whicli all external worship was connected (Exod. xxxv.-xl.). LEVITICUS Some critics have strenuously endeavoured to prove that the laws contained in Leviticus ori- ginated in a period much later than is usually supposed. But the following observations suffi- ciently support their Mosaical origin, and show that the whole of Leviticus is historically genuine. The laws in ch. i.-vii. contain manifest vestiges of the Mosaical period. Here, as well as in Exodus, when the priests are mentioned, Aaron and his sons are named ; as, for instance, in ch. i. 4, 7, 8, 11, &c. The tabernacle is the sanctuary, and no other place of worship is mentioned any- where. Expressions like the following constantly occur, before the tabernacle of the congregation, or the door of the tabernacle cfthe congregation (ch. i. 3: iii. 8, 13, &c.). The Israelites are always de- scribed as a congregation (ch. iv. 13, sq.), under the command of the elders of the congregation (ch. iv. 15), or of a ruler (ch. iv. 22). Every thing has a reference to life in a camp, and that camp commanded by Moses (ch. iv. 12, 21 ; vi. 11; xiv. 8; xvi. 20, 28). A later writer could scarcely have placed himself so entirely in the times, and so completely adopted the modes of thinking of the age, of Moses : especially if, as has been asserted, these laws gradually sprung from the usages of the people, and were written down at a later period with the object of sanc,- tioning them by the authority of Moses. They so entirely befit the Mos'aical age, that, in order to adapt them to the requirements of any latei period, they must have undergone some modi- fication, accommodation, and a peculiar mode ol interpretation. This inconvenience would have been avoided by a person who intended to forge laws in favour of the later modes of Levitical worship. A forger would have endeavoured to identify the past as much as possible with the present. In ch. xvii. occurs the law which forbids the slaughter of any beast except at the sanctuary Tlrs law could not be strictly kept in Palestine, and had therefore to undergo some modification (Deut. xii.). Our opponents cannot show any rational inducement for contriving such a fiction The law (ch. xvii. 6, 7) is adapted to the natioi only while emigrating from Egypt. It was tin object of this law to guard the Israelites from falling into the temptation to imitate the Egyptian rites and sacrifices offered to he-goats ; which word signifies also demons represented under the form or he-goats, and which were supposed to inhabit the desert. The laws concerning food and purifications appear especially important if we remember that the people emigrated from Egypt. The funda- mental principle of these laws is undoubtedly Mosaical, but in the individual application o: them there is much which strongly reminds us of Egypt. This is also the case in Lev. xviii. sq., where the lawgiver has manifestly in view the two opposites, Canaan and Egypt That the lawgiver was intimately acquainted with Egypt, is proved by such remarks as those about the Egyptian marriages with sisters (ch. xviii. 3) ; a custom which stands as an exception among the prevailing habits of antiquity. The book of Leviticus has a prophetical cha- racter. The lawgiver represents to himself the ftiture history of his people. This prophetical character is especially manifest in chs. xxv., LIBNAH 535 xxvi., where the law appears in a truly sublime and divine attitude, and when its predictions refer to the whole futurity of the nation. It is mpossible to say that these were prophecies de- ivered after the event, unless we would assert hat this book was written at the close of [sraelitish history. We must rather grant that passages like this are the real basis on which the authority of later prophets is chiefly built. Such passages prove also, in a striking manner, that the lawgiver had not merely an external aim, but that his law had a deeper purpose, which was clearly understood by Moses himself. That purpose was to regulate the national life in all its bearings, and to consecrate the whole nation to God. See especially ch. xxv. 18, sq. But this ideal tendency of the law does not preclude its applicability to matters of fact. The law had not merely an ideal, but also a mil cha- racter, evidenced by its relation to the faithless- ness and disobedience of the nation. The whole future history of the covenant people was i regulated by the law, -which has manifested its eternal power and truth in the history of the people , of Israel. Although this section has a general bearing, it is nevertheless manifest that it ori- j ginated in the times of Moses. At a later j period, for instance, it would have been imprac- ticable to promulgate the law concerning the Sabbath and the year of Jubilee : for it was soon sufficiently proved how far the nation in reality remained behind the ideal Israel of the law. | The sabbatical law bears the impress of a time when the whole legislation, in its fulness and glory, was directly communicated to the people, in such a manner as to attract, penetrate, and command. LIBERTINES. 'Certain of the synagogue, which is called (the synagogue) of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians,' &c., are mentioned in Acts vi. 9. There has been much diversity in the interpretation of this word. The most probable opinion, and that which is now generally entertained, is, that the Libertini were Jews, whom the Romans had taken in war and conveyed to Rome, but afterwards freed ; and that this synagogue had been built at their expense. Libertini is, therefore, to be regarded as a word of Roman origin, and to be explained with reference to Roman customs. Further, we know that there were in the time of Tiberius many libertini, or ' freed-men,' of the Jewish religion at Rome. LIB'NAH, one of the royal cities of the Ca- naanites, taken by Joshua immediately after Makkedah (Josh. x. 20, 30). It lay within the territory assigned to Judah (Josh. xv. 42), and became one of the Levitical towns in that tribe (Josh. xxi. 13; 1 Chron. vi. 57). It was a strongly fortified place. The Assyrian king Sennacherib was detained some time before it when he invaded Judaea in the time of Hezekiah ; and it was before it that he sustained that dreadful stroke which constrained him to with- draw to his own country (2 Kings xix. 8 ; Isa. xxxvii. 8). In the reign of King Jehoram, Libnah is said to have revolted from him (2 Kings viii. 22 ; 2 Chron. xxi. 10). Libnah existed as a village in the time of Eusebius and Jerome, and is placed by them in the district of Eleuthero-' polls. 536 LICE LIB'NATH, or, more fully, SIIIHOR-LTBNATH a stream near Carmel, on the borders of Asher (Josh. xix. 26). Michael is conceives this to be the ' glass-river,' i. e. the Belus, from whose sands the first glass was made by the Phoenicians LIB'YA. This name, in its largest accepta- tion, was used by the Greeks to denote the whole of Africa. But Libya Proper, which is the Libya of the New Testament and the country of the Lubim in the Old, was a large tract, lying along the Mediterranean, to the west of Egypt. Libya is supposed to have been first peopled by, and to have derived its name from, the Lehabim or Lubim [NATIONS, DISPERSION OF]. These, its earliest inhabitants, appear, in the time of the Old Testament, to have consisted ol wandering tribes, who were sometimes in alliance with Egypt, and at others with the Ethiopians, as theyare said to have assisted both Shishak, king of Egypt, and Zerah the Ethiopian in their expeditions* against Judrea (2 Chron. xii. 4; xiv. 8 ; xvi. 9). They were eventually subdued by the Carthaginians : and it was the policy of that people to bring the nomade tribes of Northern Africa which they mastered into the condition of cultivators, that by the produce of their industry they might be able to raise and maintain the numerous armies with which they made their foreign conquests. But Herodotus assures us that none of the Libyans beyond the Carthagi- nian territory were tillers of the ground. Since the time of the Carthaginian supremacy the country, with the rest of the East, has successively passed into the hands of the Greeks, Romans, Saracens, and Turks. The name of Libya occurs in Acts ii. 10, where ' the dwellers in the parts of Libya about Cyrene' are mentioned among the stranger Jews who came up to Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost. LICE occurs in Exod. viii. 16, 17, 18 (Heb. 12, 13, 14); Ps. cv. 31. The name of the creature employed in the third plague upon Egypt, miraculously produced from the dust of the land. Its exact nature has been much dis- puted. Those who suppose the name to be derived from a Hebrew word which means to fix, settle, or establish, infer lice to be meant, from their fixing themselves on mankind, animals, &c. Dr. A. Clarke has further inferred from the words ' in man and in beast,' that it was the tick.' It is probable, however, that not lice, but some species of gnats is the proper rendering. It is not a valid objection, that if this plague were gnats, &c., the plague of flies would be anticipated, since the latter most likely consisted of one particular species having a different desti- nation [FLY] ; whereas this may have consisted of not only mosquitoes or gnats, but of some other species which also attack domestic cattle, as the ceslrus, or tabanus, or zimb ; on which sup- position these two plagues would be sufficiently distinct. But since mosquitoes, gnats, &c., have ever been one of the evils of Egypt, there must have been some peculiarity attending them on this occasion, which proved the plague to be ' the finger of God.' From the next chapter, ver. 31, it appears that the flax and the barley were mitten by the hail ; that the former was begin- ning to grow, and that the latter was in the ear which, according to Shaw, takes place in ! Egypt in March. Hence these gnats would be sent about February, i. e. before the increase ot the Nile, which takes place at the end of May, or beginning of June. Since, then, the innu- merable swarms of mosquitoes, gnats, &c., which every year affect the Egyptians come, according to HasselquSst, at the increase of the Nile, the appearance of them in February would be as much a variation of the course of nature as the appearance of the gadfly in January would be in England. They were also probably numerous and fierce beyond example on this occasion ; and as the Egyptians would be utterly unprepared for them (for it seems that this plague was not announced), the effects would be signaHy dis- tressing. For a description of the evils inflicted by these insects upon man, see Kirby and Spence, Introduction to Entomology, Lond. 1828, i. 115, &c. LIGHT is represented in the Scriptures as the immediate result and offspring of a divine com- mand (Gen. i. 3). The earth was void and dark, when God said, ' Let light be, and light was.' This is represented as having preceded the plac- ing of 'lights in the firmament of heaven, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night : he made the stars also' (Gen. 5. 14, sq.). Whatever opinion may be entertained as to the facility with which these two separate acts may be reconciled, it cannot be questioned that the origin of light, as of every other parl of the universe, is thus referred to the exertion of the divine will : as little can it be denied that the narrative in the original is so simple, yet at the same time so majestic and impressive, both in thought and diction, as to fill the heart with a lofty and pleasurable sentiment of awe and wonder. The divine origin of light made the subject one of special interest to the Biblical nations the rather because light in the East has a clear- ness, a brilliancy, is accompanied by an intensity of heat, and is followed in its influence by a argeness of good, of which the inhabitants of ess genial climes can have no conception. Liht easily and naturally became, in consequence, with Orientals, a representative of the highest raman good. All the more joyous emotions of the mind, all the pleasing sensations of the frame, all the happy hours of domestic intercourse, were described under imagery derived from light (1 Sings xi. 36; Isa. Ivii. 8; Esther viii. 16; Ps. xcvii. 11). The transition was natural from earthly to heavenly, from corporeal to spiritual hings ; and so light came to typify true religion and the felicity which it imparts. But as light not only came from God, but also makes mail's way clear before him, so it was employed to sig- nify moral truth, and pre-eminently that divine iystem of truth which is set forth in the Bible, 'rom its earliest gleamings onward to the perfect [ay of the Great Sun of Righteousness. The application of the term to religious tnpics had he greater propriety because the light in the world, being accompanied by heat, purifies, [uickens, enriches ; which efforts it is the pecu- iar province of true religion to produce in the human soul (Isa. viii. 20 ; Matt. iv. 1 6 ; Ps. cxix. 105; 2 Pet. i. 19; Eph. v. 8 ; 2 Tim. L 10; 1 Pet. ii. 9). It is doubtless owing to the special providence LILY under which the divine lessons of the Bible were delivered, that the views which the Hebrews took on this subject, while they were high and worthy, did not puss into superstition, and so cease to be truly religious. Other Eastern nations beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and their hearts were secretly enticed, and their mouth kissed their hand in token of adoration (Job xxxi. 26, 27). This ' iniquity ' the Hebrews not only avoided, but when they considered the heavens they recognised the work of God's fingers, and learnt a lesson of humility as well as of reverence (Ps. viii. 3, sq.). Among the personifications on this point which Scripture presents we niay specify, 1. God. The Apostle James (i. 17) declares that 'every good and perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning;' obviously referring to the faithfulness of God, and the constancy of his goodness, which shine on undimmed and unsha- dowed. So Paul (1 Tim. vi. 16); 'God who dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto.' Here the idea intended by the imagery is the incompreheusibleness of the self-existent and eternal God. 2. Light is also applied to Christ : ' The peo- ple who sat in darkness have seen a great light' (Matt. iv. 16 ; Luke ii. 32 : John i. 4, sq.). ' He was the true light;' ' I am the light of the world' (John viii. 12; xii. 35, 36). 3. It is further used of angels, as in 2 Cor. xi. 14 : ' Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.' 4. Light is moreover employed of men: John the Baptist ' was a burning and a shining light ' ( Johu v. 35) ; ' Ye are the light of the world' (Matt. v. 14; see also Acts xiii. 47 ; Eph. v. 8). LIGN ALOES. [ALOES.] LI CURE. The Hebrew word Leshem is thus rendered in Exod. xxviii. 19;. xxxix. 12 ; and in Rev. xxi. 20 it is put as equivalent *o the Jacinth or Hyacinth; and it is certain that the ligure and the jacinth are regarded as the same stone. The prevailing colour of the jacinth is orange- yellow-red; which passes over sometimes into reddish-brown, sometimes into brownish and pale red, and sometimes into imperfect pistachio green. It is harder than the emerald, but the artists of antiquity frequently engraved upon it. It comes to us from t'.ie East Indies. LILY. This plant is mentioned in the well-known and beautiful passage (Matt. vi. 2(>) : Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow ; they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these ;' so also in Luke xii. 27. Here it is evident that the plant alluded to must have been indigenous or grown wild, in the vicinity of the sea of Galilee, must have been of an ornamental character, and, from the Greek name given to it, of a liliaceous nature. Travellers in Palestine mention that in the month of January the fields and groves every- where abound with various species of lily, tulip, and narcissus. Benard noticed, near Acre, on Jan. 18th, and about Jaffa, on the 23rd, tulips, white, red, blue, &c. Gumpenberg saw the meadows of Galilee covered with the same flowers on the 31st. Tulips figure conspicuously among the flowers of Palestine. So Pococke says, ' I LIN EM, FINE 537 saw many tulips growing wild in the fields (in March), and any one who considers how beautiful those flowers are to the eye, would be apt to con- jecture that these are the lilies to which Solomon in all his glory was not to be compared.' This is much more likely to he the plant intended than some others which have been adduced, as, for instance, the scarlet amari/llis, having white flowers with bright purple streaks, found by Salt at Adowa. Others have preferred the Crown imperial, which is a native of Persia and Cash- mere. _ Most authors have united in considering the white lily, Lilium candidum, to be the plant to which our Saviour referred ; but it is doubtful whether it has ever been found in a wild state in Palestine. This opinion is confirmed by a cor- respondent at Aleppo, who has resided long in Syria, but is acquainted only with the botany of Aleppo and Antioch : ' I never saw the white lily in a wild state, nor have I heard of its being so in Syria. It is cultivated here on the roofs of the houses in pots as an exotic bulb, like the daffodil.' The following extract of a letter from Dr. Bow- ring throws a new light upon the subject : ' I cannot describe to you with botanical accuracy the lily of Palestine, I heard it called by the title of Lilia syriaca, and I imagine under this title its botanical characteristics may be hunted out. Its colour is a brilliant red; its size about half that of the common tiger lily. The white lily I do not remember to have seen in any part of Syria. It was in April and May that I observed my flower, and it was most abundant in the district of Galilee, where it and the Rho- dodendron (which grew in rich abundance round the paths) most strongly excited my attention.' On this Dr. Lindley observes, ' It is clear that neither the white lily, nor the Oporantlnts lutei/s, nor Ixiolirion, will answer to Dr. Bowring's description, which seems to point to the Chalce- doniau or scarlet martagon lily, formerly called the lily of Byzantium, found from the Adriatic to the Levant, and which, with its scarlet turban- like flowers, is indeed a most stately and striking object.' As this lily (the Lilium chulcedomciim of botanists) is in flower at the season of the year when the sermon on the Mount is supposed to have been spoken, is indigenous in the very locality, and is conspicuous, even in the garden, for its remarkable showy flowers, there can now be little doubt that it is the plant alluded to by our Saviour. LINEN, FINE. The word SHESH, thus trans- lated in the Authorized Version, occurs twenty- eight times in Exodus, once in Genesis, once in Proverbs, and three times in Ezekiel. Consider- able doubts have, however, always been enter- tained respecting the true meaning of the word ; but it appears to us to signify hemp, which is a plant that in the present day is extensively dis- tributed, being cultivated in Europe, and extend- ing through Persia to the southernmost parts of India. In the plains of that country it is culti- vated on account of its intoxicating product, so well known as bang ; in the Himalayas both on this account and for its yielding the ligneous fibre which is used for sack and rope-making. There is no doubt that it might easily have been culti- vated in Egypt. Herodotus mentions it as being employed by the Thracians for making garments. ' These were so like linen, that none but a very 538 LION experienced person could tell whether they were of hemp or flax ; one who had never seen hemp would certainly suppose them to be linen.' Hemp is used in the present day for smockfrocks and tunics ; and Russia sheeting and Russia duck are well known. Dioscorides describes it as being employed for making ropes, and it was a good deal cultivated by the Greeks for this purpose. Though we a-e unable at present to prove that it was cultivated in Egypt at an early period, and used for making garments, yet there is nothing improbable in its having been so. Indeed, as it was known to various Asiatic nations, it could hardly have been unknown to the Egyptians. Hemp might thus have been used at an early period, along with flax and wool, for making cloth for garments and for hangings, and would be much valued until cotton and the finer kinds of linen came to be known. LI'NUS, one of the Christians at Rome whose salutations Paul sent to Timothy (2 Tim. iv. 21). He is said to have been the first bishop of Rome after the martyrdom of Peter and Paul. LION, the most powerful, daring, and im- pressive of all carnivorous animals, the most magnificent in aspect and awful in voice. Being very common in Syria in early times, the lion naturally supplied many forcible images to the poetical language of Scripture, and not a few his- torical incidents in its narratives. This is shown by the great number of passages where this ani- mal, in all the stages of existence as the whelp, the young adult, the fully mature, the lioness occurs under different names, exhibiting that multiplicity of denominations which always re- sults when some great image is constantly present to the popular mind. Thus we have, 1. Gor, a lion's whelp, a very young lion (Gen. xlix. 9; Deut. xxxiii. 20; Jer. li. 38; Ezek. xix. 2; Nahum ii. 11, 12, &c.). 2. Chephir, a youn lion, when first leaving the protection of the ol pair to hunt independently (Ezek. xix. 2, 3 : Ps. xci. 13; Prov. xix. 12, &c.). 3. Ari, an adult and vigorous lion, a lion having paired, vigilant and enterprising in search of prey (Nahum ii. 12; 2 Sam. xvii. 10; Num. xxiii. 24). This is the common name of the animal. 4. Sachal, a mature lion in full strength ; a black lion? (Job iv. 10; x. 16; Ps. xci. 13; Prov. xxvi. 13; Hosea v. 14; xiii. 7). This denomi- nation may very possibly refer to a distinct variety of lion, and not to a black species or race, because neither black nor white lions are recorded, excepting in Oppian ; but the term may be safely referred to the colour of the skin, not of the fur ; 232. LION for some lions have the former fair, and ev destroyers made their appearance in great numbers. The fact, indeed, is a .res'.tu t>y ihe impression which their increase ma\ie upon the mixed heathen population of Sa- rr.aria, when Israel was carried away into cap- tivity (-2 Kings xvii. 25, 26). The Scriptures present many striking pictures of lions, touched with wonderful force and fide- I lity : even where the animal is a direct instru- ment of the Almighty, while true to his mission, he still remains so to his nature. Thus nothing can be more graphic than the record of the man of God (I Kings xiii. 28), disobedient to his charge, struck down from his ass, and lying dead, while the lion stands by him, without touching the lifeless body, or attacking the living animal, usually a favourite prey. See also Gen. xlix. 9 ; Job iv. 10, 11 ; Nahum ii. 11, 12. Sam- son's adventure also with the young lion (Judg. xiv. 5, 6), and the picture of the young lion coining up from the underwood cover on the banks of the Jordan, all attest a perfect know- ledge of the animal and its habits. Finally, the lions in the den with Daniel, miraculously leav- ing him unmolested, still retain, in all other resp'.-cts, the real characteristics of their nature. The lion, as an emblem of power, was symbol- ical of the tribe of Judah (Gen. xlix. 9). The type recurs in the prophetical visions, and the figure of this animal was among the few which the Hebrews admitted in sculpture, or in cast metal, as exemplified in the throne of Solomon. Lions, in remote antiquity, appear to have been trained for the chace, and are, even now, occa- sionally domesticated with safety. Placability and attachment are displayed by them even to the degree of active defence of their friends, as ' was exemplified at Birr, in Ireland, in 1839, when ' a keeper of wild beasts, being within the den, had fallen accidentally upon a tiger, who immediately caught the man by the thigh, in the presence of numerous spectators ; but a lion, being in the same compartment, rose up, and seizing the tiger by the neck, compelled it to let go, and the man was saved.' Numerous anec- dotes of a similar character are recorded both by ancient and modern writers. Zoologists consider Africa the primitive abode of lious, their progress towards the north and west having at one time extended to the forests of Macedonia and Greece ; but in Asia, never to the south of the Nerbudda, nor east of the lower Ganges. Since the invention of gunpowder, and even since the havoc which the ostentatious bar- barism of Roman grandees made among them, they have diminished in number exceedingly, although at the present day individuals are not infrequently seen in Barbary, within a short dis- tance of Ceuta. LITTER. The word translated litter, in Isa. Ixvi. 20, is the same which, in Num. vii. 3, de- notes the wains or carts drawn by oxen, in which the materials of the tabernacle were removed ' from place to place. It was not, therefore, a litter, which is not drawn, but carried. This is the only place in which the word occurs in the Authorized translation. We are not, however, to infer from this that the Hebrews had no vehicles of the kind. Litters or palanquins were, as We know, ia use among the ancient Egyptians. They were borne upon the shoulders of men (No. LITTER 539 233), and appear to have been used for carrying persons of consideration short distances on visits, like the sedan chairs of a former day in England. We doubt if the Hebrews had this kind of litter, as it scarcely agrees with their simple, uulux- urious habits ; but that they had litters borne by beasts, such as are still common in Western Asia, seems in the highest degree probable. In Cant. iii. 9 we find a word which occurs nowhere else in Scripture, and is applied to a vehicle used by king Solomon. This word is rendered 'chariot' in our Authorized version, although unlike any other word so rendered in .that version. It literally means a movim/ couch, and is usually conceived to denote a. kind of 233. sedan, litter, or rather palanquin, in which great personages and women were borne from place to place. The name, as well as the object, immedi- ately suggests that it may have been nearly the same thing as the moving throne or seat of the Persians. It consists of a light frame fixed on two strong poles, like those of our sedan-chair. The frame is generally covered with cloth, and has a door, sometimes of lattice work, at each ' side. It is carried by two mules, one between the poles before, the other behind. These con- veyances are used by great persons when disposed j for retirement or ease during a journey, or when i sick or feeble from age. But they are chiefly ' used by ladies of consideration in their journeys (No. 234). The popular illustrators of Scripture do not appear to have been acquainted with this and the other litters of Western Asia; and have, there- fore, resorted to India, and drawn their illustra- tions from the palanquins borne by men, and from the howdahs of elephants. This is unneces- sary, as Western Asia still supplies conveyances of this description, more suitable and more likely to have been anciently in use, than any which the further east can produce. If the one already described should seem too humble, there are other takht-ravans of more imposing appearance. Some readers may remember the ' litter of red cloth, 540 LIVER adorned with pearls and jewels,' together -with ten mules (to bear it by turns), which the king Zahr Shah prepared tor the journey of his daughter. This was, doubtless, of the kind which is borne by four mules, two behind and two be- fore. In Arabia, or in the countries whsre Ara- bian usages prevail, two camels are usually em- ployed to bear the takht-ravan, and sometimes two horses. When borne by camels, the head of the hindmost of the animals is bent painfully down under the vehicle. This is the most com- fortable kind of litter, and two light persons may travel in it. The sJiibreeyeh is another kind of camel-litter, resembling the Indian hoicduli, by which name (or rather lodaj) it is sometimes called. It is composed of a small square platform with a canopy or arched covering. It accommodates but one person, and is placed upon the back of a camel, and rests upon two square camel-chests, one on each side of the animal. It is very evi- dent, not only from the text in view, but from others, that the Hebrews had litters ; and there is little reason to doubt that they were the same as those now employed in Palestine and the neighbouring countries, where there are still the same circumstances of climate, the same domestic animals, and essentially the same habits of life, as in the Biblical period. LIVER occurs in Exod. xxix. 13, 22; Lev. iii. 4, 10, 15; iv. 9; vii. 4; viii. 16, 25; ix. 10, 19 ; Prov. vii. 23 ; Lam. ii. 11 ; Ezek. xxi. 21. In all the instances where the word occurs in the Pentateuch, it forms part of the phrase translated in the Authorized Version ' the caul that is above the liver," but which Gesenius understands to be the great lobe of the liver itself, rather than the caul over it. Jahn thinks ths smaller lobe to be meant. It appears from the same passages that it was burnt upon the altar, and not eaten as sacrificial food. The liver was supposed by the jicieui Jews, Greeks, and Romans, to be the seat LIZARD of the passions, pride, love, c. Thus, Gen . xlix. 6, 'with their assembly let not' literally 'my liver be united.' Wounds iu the liver were sup- posed to be mortal ; thus the expressions m Prov. vii. 23, 'a dart through his liver,' and Lam. ii. 11, 'my liver is poured out upon the earth,' are each of them a periphrasis for death itself. The pissage in Ezekiel (ch. xxi. 21) contains an interesting reference to the most ancient of all modes of divination, by the inspection of the viscera of animals and even of mankind sacri- ficially slaughtered for the purpose. It is there said that the king of Babylon, among other modes of divination, referred to in the same verse, ' looked upon the liver.' The liver was always considered the most important organ in th- an- cient art of divination by the entrails. Philo- stratus felicitously describes it as ' the prophesy- ing tripod of all divination.' It is an interesting inquiry how this regard to it originated. Vitruvius suggests a plausible theory of ths first rise of di- vination by the liver. He says the ancients inspected the livers of those animals which fre- quented the places where they wished to settle ; and if they found the liver, to which they chiefly ascribed the process of sanguification, was injured, they concluded that the water and nourishment collected in such localities were unwholesome (i. 4). But divination is coeval and co-extensive wi;h a belief in the divinity. We know that as early as the days of Cain and Abel there were certain means of communication between God and man, and that those means were connected with the sacrifice of animals; and we prefer to consider those means as the source of divination in later ages, conceiving that when the real tokens of the divine interest with which the pri- mitive families of man were favoured ceased, in consequence of the multiplying of human trans- gressions, their descendants endeavoured to obtain counsel and information by the same external observances. We believe that thus only will the minute resemblances be accounted for, which we discover between the different methods of divina- tion, utterly untraceable to reason, but which have prevailed from unknown antiquity among the most distant regions. It is further important to remark that the first recorded instance of divina- tion is that of the teraphim of Laban, a native of Padan-aram, a district bordering on that country (1 Sam. xix. 13, 16), but by which teraphim both the Sept. and Josephus understood ' the liuer of goats.' LIZARD. Under this denomination the modern zoologist places all the cold-blooded animals that have the conformation of serpents with the addition of four feet. Thus viewed, us one great family, they constitute the Saurians, Lacert'msc, and Lacertidae of authors; embracing numerous generical divisions, which commence with the largest, that is, the crocodile group, and pass through sundry others, a variety of species, formidable, disgusting, or pleasing in appearance some equally frequenting the land and water, others absolutely confined to the earth and to the most arid deserts ; and though in general harm- less, there are a few with disputed properties, some being held to poison or corrode by means of the exudation of an ichor, and others extolled as of medical use in pharmacy ; but these pro- perties in most, if uot in all, are undetermined LIZARD or illusory. Of some genera, such as the cro- codile and chameleon, we have already made mention [CHAMELKON ; CROCODILE; DRAGON; LEVIATHAN], and therefore we shall confine our present remarks to the lizards that are inhabitants of Western Asia and Egypt, and to those more particularly noticed in the Bible. Of these com- mentators indicate six or seven species, whereof some indeed may be misapprehended ; but when it is considered that the regions of Syria, Arabia, and Egypt are overrun with animals of this family, there is every reason to expect allusion to more than one genus in the Scriptures, -where so many observations and similes are derived from the natural objects which were familiar to the various writers. In Lev. xi. 29 mention is made of a species called tzab, which Bochart refers to one of the group of Monitors or Varanus, the Nilotic lizard. Like the other of this form, it is possessed of a tail double the length of the body, but is not so well known in Palestine, where there is only one real river (Jordan), which is not tenanted by this species. We have already shown that the true crocodile frequented the shores and marshes of the coast down to a comparatively late period ; and therefore it may well have had a more specific name than Levia- than a word apparently best suited to the dig- nified and lofty diction of the prophets, and clearly of more general signification than the more collo- quial designation. Jerome was of this opinion ; and it is thus likely that tzab was applied to both, as waran is now considered only a variety of, or a young, crocodile. There is a second of the same group, Lacerta Scincus of Merrem ( Varanus Arenarius), Waran-el-hard, also reaching to six feet in length ; and a third, not as yet clearly described, which appears to be larger than either, growing to nine fret, and covered with bright cupreous scales. This last prefers rocky and stony situations. It is in this section of the Saurians that most of the gigantic fossil species, the real ' children of the giants,' are found to be located ; and of the existing species some are re- ported to possess great strength. One of the last- mentioned pursues its prey on land with a rapid bounding action, feeds on the larger insects, and is said to attack game in a body, sometimes destroying even sheep. The Arabs, in agreement with the ancients, assert that this species will do fierce and victorious battle with serpents. LOAN 541 237. [ Lacerta Stellio.] We come next to the group of lizards more properly so called, which Hebrew commentators take to be the letaah, a name having some allu- sion to poison and adhesiveness. The word occurs only once (Lev. xi. 30), where Saurians alone appear to be indicated. If the Hebrew root ware to guide the decision, letaah would be another name for the gecko or anakaJi, for there is but one species which can be deemed venomous , and with ' regard to the quality of adhesiveness, though the geckos possess it most, numerous common lizards run up and down perpendicular walls with great facility. We, therefore, take cl/oniet, or the sand lizard of Bochart, to be the true lizard, several (probably many) species existing in my- riads on the rocks in sandy places, and in ruins in every part of Palestine and the adjacent countries. There is one species particularly abundant and small, well known in Arabia by the name of Sara- bandi. We now come to the Stelliones, which have been confounded with the noxious (jeckos and others from the time of Aldrovandus, and thence have been a source of inextricable trouble to commentators. They are best known by the bundles of starlike spines on the body. Next we place the Gecltotians, among which comes anakah, in our versions denominated _/er- ret, but which is with more propriety transferred to the noisy and venomous aou-burs of the Arabs. The particular species most probably meant is the lacerta gecko of Hasselquist, the gecko lobtitns of Geoffry. distinguished by having the soles of the feet dilated and striated like open fans, from whence a poisonous ichor is said to exude, in- flaming the human skin, and infecting food that may have been trod upon by the animal. Hence the Arabic name of abu-burs, or 'father-leprosy,' at Cairo. To these we add the Chameleons, already described [CHAMELEON] ; and then follows the Scincus. Of the species of Seps, that is, viviparous serpent-lizards, having the body of snakes, with four weak limbs, a species, with only three toes on each foot, appears to extend to Syria. LOAN. The Mosaic laws which relate to the subject of borrowing, lending, and repaying, are in substance as follows : If an Israelite became poor, what he desired to borrow was to be freely lent to him, and no interest, either of money or produce, could be exacted from him ; interest might be taken of a foreigner, but not of an Israelite by another Israelite (Exod. xxii. 25; Deut. xxiii. 19, 20; Lev. xxv. 35, 38). At the end of eve'ry seven years a remission of debts was ordained ; every creditor was to remit what he had lent: of a foreigner the loan might be exacted, but not of a brother. If an Israelite wished to borrow, he was not to be refused because the year of remission was at hand (Deut. xv. 1-11). Pledges might be taken, but not as such the mill or the upper millstone, for that would be to take a man's life in pledge. If the pledge was raiment, it was to be given back before sunset, as being needful for a covering at night. The widow's garment could not. be taken in pledge (Exod. xxii. 26, 27 ; Deut. xxiv. 6, 17). These laws relating to loans may wear a strange aspect to the mere modern reader, and cannot be understood, either in their bearing or their sanc- tions, unless considered from the Biblical point of view. The land of Canaan (as the entire world) belonged to its Creator, but was given of God to the descendants of Abraham under certain con- ditions, of which thrs liberality to the needy was one. The power of getting loans therefore was a part of the poor man's inheritance. It was a lien on the land (the source of all property with agri- 542 LOAN cnltu'-nl people"), which was as valid as the tenure of any given portion by the tribe or family to whose lot it had fallen. This is the light in which the Mosaic polity represents the matter, and in this light, so long as that polity retained its force, would it, as a matter of course, be regarded by the owners of propi-rty. Thus the execution of this particular law was secured by the entire force with which the constitution itself was recom- mended and sustained. But as human selfishness might in time endanger this particular set of laws, so Moses applied spc-cial support to the possibly weak part. Hence the emphasis with which he enjoins the duty of lending to the needy. Of this emphasis the very essence is the sanction supplied by that special providence which lay at the very- basis of the Mosaic commonwealth ; so that lend- ing to the destitute came to be enforced with all the power derivable from the express will of God. That the system of law regarding loans was carried into effect there is no reason to doubt. It formed an essential part of the general constitu- tion, and therefore came recommended with the entire sanction which that system had on its own behalf; nor were there any predominant antago- nist principles at work which would prevent this from proceeding step by step, in its proper place and time, with the residue of the Mosaic legisla- tion. Nor do the passages of Scripture (Job xxii. C; xxiv. 3; Matt, xviii. 28; Prov. xxviii. 8; Ezek. xviii. 8 ; Ps. xv. 5 ; cix. 11), which give us reason to think that usury was practised and the poor debtor oppressed, show anything but those breaches to which laws are always liable, espe- cially in a period when morals grow corrupt and institutions in consequence decline. While, however, the benign tendency of the laws in question is admitted, may it not be ques- tioned whether they were strictly just ? Such a doubt could arise only in a mind which viewed the subject from the position of our actual society. A modern might plead that he had a right to do what he pleased with his own ; that his property of every kind land, food, money was his own ; and that he was justified to turn all and each part to account for his own benefit. Apart from reli- gious considerations this position is impregnable. But such a view of property finds no "upport in the Mosaic institutions. In them property has a divine origin, and its use is entrusted to man on certain conditions, which conditions are as valid as is the tenure of property itself. In one sense, indeed, the entire laud all property was a great loan, a loan lent of God to the people of Israel, who might well therefore acquiesce in any ar- rangement which required a portion a small portion of this loan to be under certain circum- stances accessible to the destitute. This view receives confirmation from the fact that interest might be taken of persons who were not Hebrews, and therefore lay beyond the sphere embraced by this special arrangement. Had the Hebrews enjoyed a free intercourse with other nations, the permission to take usury of foreigners might have had the effect of impo- verishing Palestine by affording a strong induce- ment for employing capital abroad; but, under the actual restrictions of the Mosaic law, this evil was impossible. Some not inconsiderable advan- tages must have ensued from the observance of these laws. The entire alienation and loss of the LOCUST lent propprty were prevented by that peculiar in- stitution which restored to every man his property at the great year of release. In the interval be- tween the jubilees the system under consideration would tend to prevent those inequalities of social condition which always arise rapidly, and which have not seldom brought disaster and ruin on states. The affluent were required to part with a portion of their affluence to supply the wants of the needy, without exacting that recompense which would only make the rich richer and the poor more needy; thus superinducing a state of things scarcely more injurious to the one than to the other of these two parties. There was also in this system a strongly conservative influence. Agriculture was the foundation of the constitu- tion. Had money-lending been a trade, money- making would also have been eagerly pursued. Capital would be withdrawn from the land ; the agriculturist would pass into the usurer; huge inequalities would arise ; commerce would assume predominance, and the entire commonwealth be overturned changes and evils which were pre- vented, or, if not so, certainly retarded and abated, by the code of laws regarding loans. As it was, the gradually increasing wealth of the country was in the main laid out on the soil, so as to augment its productiveness and distribute its bounties. These views may prepare the reader for con- sidering the doctrine of ' the Great Teacher ' on the subject of loans. It is found forcibly ex- ; pressed in Luke's Gospel (vi. 34, 35): 'If ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye ? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again : but love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again ; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall he the children of the Highest ; for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.' The meaning of the passage is distinct and full, unmistakeable, and not to be evaded. He commands men to lend, not as Jews to Jews, but even to enemies, without asking or receiving any return, after the manner of the Great Benefactor of the Universe, who sends down his rains, and bids his sun to shine on the fields of the unjust as well as of the just. To attempt to view this command in the light of reason and experience would require space which cannot here be given ; but we must add, that any attempt to explain the injunction away is most unworthy on the part of professed disciples of Christ; and that, not impossibly at least, fidelity to the behests of Him whom we call Lord and Master would of itself answer all doubts and remove all misgivings, by practi- cally showing that this, as every other doctrine that fell from His lips, is indeed of God (John vii. 17). LOAVES. [BREAD.] LOCUST. There are ten Hebrew words which appear to signify 'locust' in the Old Testament. It has been supposed, however, that some of these : words denote merely the different states through which the locust passes after leaving the egg, viz. j the larva, the pupa, and the perfect insect- all which much resemble each other, except that the larva has no wings, and that the pupa possesses only the rudiments of those members, which are I fully developed only in the adult locust (Mi- ! chaelis, Supplem. ad Lex. Hebr. ii. 667, 1080). i But this supposition is manifestly wrong with re- LOCUST gard to four of the terms, because, in Lev. xi. 22, the word 'after his kind,' or species, is added after each of them (conip. ver. 14, 15, 16). It is most probable, therefore, that all the rest are also the names of species, but we know not how to distinguish the several species from each other. Locusts, like many other of the general pro- visions of nature, may occasion incidental and partial evil ; but upon the whole they are an im- mense benefit to those portions of the world which they inhabit; and so connected is the chain of being that we may safely believe that the advan- tage is not confined to those regions. ' They clear the way for the renovation of vegetable produc- tions which are in danger of being destroyed by the exuberance of some particular species, and are thus fulfilling the law of the Creator, that of all which he has made should nothing be lost. A region which has been choked up by shrubs and perennial plants and hard half-withered im- palatable grasses, after having been laid bare by these scourges, soon appears in a far more beau- tiful dress, with new herbs, superb lilies, fresh annual grasses, and young and juicy shrubs of perennial kinds, affording delicious herbage for the wild cattle and game.' Meanwhile their ex- cessive multiplication is repressed by numerous causes. Contrary to the order of nature with all other insects, the males are far more numerous | than the females. It is believed that if they were ! equal in number they would in ten years annihi- I late the vegetable system. Besides all the crea- tures that feed upon- them, rains are very de- structive to their eggs, to the larva;, pupa?, and perfect insect. When perfect, they always fly with the wind, and are therefore constantly being carried out to sea, and often ignorantly descend upon it as if upon land. Myriads are thus lost in the ocean every year, and become the food of fishes. On land they afford in all their several states sustenance to countless tribes of birds, beasts, reptiles, &c. ; and if their office as the scavengers of nature, commissioned to remove all superfluous productions from the face of the earth, sometimes incidentally and as the operation of a general law, interferes with the labours of man, as do storms, tempests, &c., they have, from all antiquity to the present hour, afforded him an excellent supply till the land acquires the benefit of their visitations, by yielding him in the mean- time an agreeable, wholesome, and nutritious aliment. They are eaten as meat, are ground into flour, and made into bread. They are even an extensive article of commerce. Diodorus Siculus mentions a people of Ethiopia who were so fond of eating them that they were called Acridophagi, ' eaters of locusts.' Whole armies have been relieved by them when in danger of perishing. Their great flights occur only every ! fourth or fifth season. Those locusts which come in the first instance only fix on trees, and do not destroy grain : it is the young before they are able to fly which are chiefly injurious to the I crops. Nor do all the species feed upon vege- ; tables; one, comprehending many varieties, the ! trnxalis, feeds upon insects. Latreille says the 1 house-cricket will do so. ' Locusts,' remarks a very sensible tourist, ' seem to devour not so much from a ravenous appetite as from a rage for destroying.' Destruction, therefore, and not LONGEVITY 543 food, is the chief impulse of their devastations, and in this consists thsir utility : they ;ire in fact omnivorous. The most poisonous plants are in- , different to them ; they will prey even upon the crowfoot, whose causticity burns the very hides of beasts. They simply consume everything with- out predilection, vegetable matter, linen, woollen, silk, leather, &c. ; and Pliny does not exaggerate when he says, 'and even the doors of houses,' . for they have been known to consume the very varnish of furniture. They reduce everything indiscriminately to shreds, which become ma- nure. It might serve to mitigate popular mis- apprehensions on the subject to consider what would have been the consequence if locusts had been carnivorous like wasps. All terrestrial beings, in such a case, not excluding man himself, would have become their victims. There are, no doubt, many things respecting them yet unknown to us which would still further justify the belief that this, like ' every ' other ' work of God is good ' benevolent upon the whole. LOG. [WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.] LOIS, the grandmother of Timothy, not by the side of his father, who was a Grt'ek, but by that of his mother. Hence the Syriac has ' thy mother's mother.' She is commended by St. Paul for her faith (2 Tim. i. 5) ; for although she might not have known that the Christ was come, and that Jesus of Nazareth was he, she yet believed in the Messiah to come, and died in that faith. LONGEVITY. The lengthened ages of some of the ante and post-diluvian fathers, as given by Moses in the Hebrew text, are as follows : Years. Adam Gen. v. 5 930 Seth 8 912 Enos 11 905 Cainan 14 910 Mahalaleel ... 17 895 .Tared 20 962 Enoch 23 365 Methuselah . . . 27 969 Lamech . . . . 31 777 Noah ix. 29 950 Shem xi. 10, 11 600 Arphaxad. ... 12, 13 438 Salah , 14, 15 433 Eber 16, 17 464 Peleg 18, 19 239 Ecu 20, 21 239 Serug 22, 23 230 Nahor 24, 25 148 Terah 32 205 Abraham .... xxv. 7 175 Infidelity has not failed, in various ages, to attack revelation on the score of the supposed ab- surdity of assigning to any class of men this lengthened term of existence. In reference to this Josephus remarks : ' Let no one upon com- paring the lives ef the ancients with our lives, and with the few years which we now live, think that what we say of them is false; or make th\ shortness of our lives at present an argument tha' neither did they attain to so long a duration ol life.' When we consider the compensating pro- cess which is going on, the marvel is that the human frame should not last longer than it does. Some, however, have supposed that the years above named are lunar, consisting of about thirty 544 LONGEVITY days ; but this supposition, with a view to reduce the lives of the ante-diluviaus to our standard, is replete with difficulties. At this rate the whole time, from the creation of man to the Flood, would not be more than about 140 years ; and Methuselah himself would not have attained to the age which many even now do, whilst many must have had children when mere infants ! Be- sides, if we compute the age of the post-diluvians by this mode of calculation and why should we not ? we shall find that Abraham, who is said to have died in a t/ood old age (Gen. xxv. 8) could not have been more than fifteen years old ! Moses must therefore have meant solar, not lunar years not, however, exactly so long as ours, for the ancients generally reckoned twelve months, of thirty days each, to the year. But it is asked, if Moses meant solar years, how came it to pass that the patriarchs did not begin to beget children at an earlier period than they are reported to have done? Seth was 105 years old, on the lowest calculation, when he begat Enos; and Methuselah 187 when Lamech was boru ! St. Augustine (i. 15) explains this difficulty in a two-fold manner, by supposing 1. Either that the age of puberty was later in proportion as the lives of the ante-diluvians were longer than ours ; or 2. That Moses does not record the first-born sons, but as the order of the genealogy required, his object being to trace the succession from Adam, through Seth, to Abraham. As to the probable reasons why God so pro- longed the life of man in the earlier ages of the world, and as to the subordinate means by which this might have been accomplished, Josephus says : ' For those ancients were beloved of God, and lately made by God himself; and because their food was then fitter for the prolongation of life, they might well live so great a number of years : and because God afforded them a longer time of life on account of their virtue and the good use they made of it in astronomical and geometrical discoveries, which would not have afforded the time for foretelling the periods of the stars unless they had lived 600 years ; for the great year is completed in that interval.' In the above passage Josephus enumerates four causes of the longevity of the earlier patriarchs. As to the first, viz., their being dearer to God than other men, it is plain that it cannot be main- tained ; for the profligate descendants of Cain were equally long-lived, as mentioned above, with others. Neither can we agree in the second reason he assigns ; because we find that Noah and others, though born so long subsequently to the creation of Adam, yet lived to as great an age, some of them to a greater age than he did. If, again, it were right to attribute longevity to the superior quality of the food of the ante- diluvians, then the seasons, on which this de- pends, must, about Moses' time for it was then that the term of human existence was reduced to its present standard have assumed a fixed cha- racter. But no change at that time took place in the revolution of the heavenly bodies, by which the seasons of heat, cold, &c., are regulated: hence we must not assume that it was the nature of the fruits they ate which caused longevity. How far the ante-diluvians had advanced in sci- entific research generally, and in astronomical LONGEVITY discovery particularly, we are not informed ; not can we place any dependence upon what Jose- phus says about the two inscribed pillars which remained from the old world. We are not, there- fore, able to determine, with any confidence, that God permitted the earlier generations of man to live so long, in order that they might arrive at a high degree of mental excellence. From the brief notices which the Scriptures afford of the charac- ter and habits of the ante-diluvians, we should rather infer that they had not advanced very far in discoveries in natural and experimental philo- sophy [see ANTE-DILUVIANS]. We must suppose that they did not reduce their language to alpha- betical order ; nor was it necessary to do so at a time when human life was so prolonged, that the tradition of the creation passed through only two hands to Noah. It would seem that the book ascribed to Enoch is a work of post-diluvian origin. Possibly a want of mental employment, together with the labour they endured ere they were able to extract from the earth the neces- saries of life, might have been some of the prox- imate causes of that degeneracy which led God in judgment to destroy the old world. If the ante-diluvians began to bear children at the age on an average of 100, and if they ceased to do so at 600 years, the world might then have been far more densely populated than it is now. Sup- posing, moreover, that the earth was no more productive antecedently than it was subsequently to the flood ; and that the ante-diluvian fathers were ignorant of those mechanical arts which so much abridge human labour now, we can easily understand how difficult they must have found it to secure for themselves the common necessaries of life, and this the more so if animal food was not allowed them. The prolonged life, then, of the generations before the flood, would seem to have been rather an evil than a blessing, leading as it did to the too rapid peopling of the earth. We can readily conceive how this might conduce to that awful state of things expressed in the words, ' And the whole earth was filled with violence.' In the absence of any well regulated system of government, we can imagine what evils must have arisen ; the unprincipled would oppress the weak, the crafty would outwit the unsuspect- ing, and, not having the fear of God before their eyes, destruction and misery would be in their ways. Still we must admire the providence of God in the longevity of man immediately after the creation and the fiood. After the creation, when the world was to be peopled by one man and one woman, the age of the greatest part of those on record was 900 and upwards. But after the fiood, when there were three couples to re- people the earth, none of the patriarchs, except Shem, reached the age of 500 ; and only the three first of his line, viz., Arphaxad, Selah, and Eber, came near that age, which was in the first century after the flood. In the second century we do not find that any attained the age of 240 ; and in the third century (about the latter end of which Abraham was born) none, except Terah, arrived at 200 ; by which time the world was so well peopled, that they had built cities, and were formed into distinct nations under their respective kings. See Gen. xv. That the common age of man has been the same in all times since the world was peopled, is LORD'S DAY manifest from profane as well as sacred history. Plato lived to the age of 81, and was accounted an old man ; and those whom Pliny reckons up (vii. 48) as rare examples of long life, may, for the most part, be equalled in modern times. We cannot, then, but see the hand of God in the pro- portion that there is between births and deaths ; for by this means the population of the world is kept up. If the fixed standard of human life were that of Methuselah's age, or even that of Abraham's, the world would soon be overstocked; or if the age of man were limited to that of divers other animals, to 10, 20, or 30 years only, the decay of mankind would then be too fast. But on the present scale the balance is nearly even, and life and death keep an equal pace. In thus maintaining throughout all ages and places these proportions of mankind, and all other creatures, God declares himself to be indeed the ruler of the world. LOOKING-GLASSES. [MIRRORS.] LORD, a Saxon word signifying ruler or governor. In the Authorized translation of the Scriptures it is used without much discrimination for all the names applied to God, which cannot be helped, as our language does not afford the same number of distinguishing titles as the He- brew. When, however, the word represents the dread name of JEHOVAU, it is printed in small capitals, LORD, and is by this contrivance made a distinguishing term. As the Hebrew name JEHOVAH is one never used with reference to any but the Almighty, it is to be regretted that the Septuagint, imitated by our own and other ver- sions, has represented it by a word which is also used for the Hebrew ' Adonai,' which is applied not only to God, but, like our ' Lord,' to 'creatures also, as to angels (Gen. xix. 2 ; Dan. x. 16, 17), to men in authority (Gen. xlii. 30, 33), and to proprietors, owners, masters (Gen. xlv. 8). The leading idea of the Hebrew, the Greek, and the English words, is that of an owner or proprietor, whether God or man ; and it occurs in the infe- rior application with great frequency in the New Testament. This application is either literal or complimentary ; literal, when the party is really an owner or master, as in Matt. x. 24 ; xx. 8 ; xxi. 40; Acts xvi. 16, 19; Gal. iv. 1, &c. ; or when he is so as having absolute authority over another (Matt. ix. 38 ; Luke x. 2), or as being a supreme lord or sovereign (Acts xxv. 26) ; and complimentary, when used as a title of address, especially to superiors, like the English Master, Sir, as in Matt. xiii. 27 ; xxi. 20 ; Mark vii. 8 ; Luke ix. 54. It cannot but be deemed desirable that, instead of the extensive use of the word Lord which we have described, discriminating terms should be adopted in translations. Apart from the Jewish superstitions which influenced the Seventy in their translation, there can be no good reason why the name JEHOVAH should not be retained wherever it occurs in the Hebrew. Then LORD might represent Adonai ; or perhaps Sir, or Mas- ter, might be used when that word is applied to creatures ; and GOD would very properly repre- sent Elohim. ' LORD'S DAY. The expression so rendered in the Authorized English Version occurs ^only once in the New Testament, viz. in Rev. i. 10, and is there unaccompanied by any other words LOT 545 tending to explain its meaning. It is, however, well known that the same phrase was, in after ages of the Christian church, used to signify the first day of the week, on which the resurrection of Christ was commemorated. Hence it has been inferred that the same name was given to that day during the time of the Apostles, and was in the present instance used by St. John in this sense, as referring to an institution well known, and therefore requiring no explanation [see article SABBATH]. LOT (a covering) son of Haran and nephew of Abraham, who by the early death of his father had already come into possession of his property when Abraham went into the land of Canaan (Gen. xi. 31). Their united substance, consisting chiefly in cattle, was not then too large to pre- vent them from Jiving together in one encamp- ment. Eventually, however, their possessions were so greatly increased, that they were obliged to separate ; and Abraham with rare generosity conceded the choice of pasture-grounds to his nephew. Lot availed himself of this liberality of his uncle, as he deemed most for his own ad- vantage, by fixing his abode at Sodom, that his flocks might pasture in and around that fertile and well-watered neighbourhood (Gen. xiii. 5-13). He had soon very great reason to regret this choice ; for although his flocks fed well, his soul was starved in that vile place, the inhabitants of M-hich were sinners before the Lord exceedingly. There ' he vexed his righteous soul from day to day with the filthy conversation of the wicked ' (2 Pet. ii. 7). About eight years after his separation from Abraham (B.C. 1913), Lot was carried away pri- soner by Chedorlaomer, along with the other inhabitants of Sodom, and was rescued and brought back by Abraham (Gen. xiv.), as related under other heads [ABRAHAM ; CHEDORLAOMER]. This exploit procured for Abraham much cele- brity in Canaan ; and it ought to have procured for Lot respect and gratitude from the people of Sodom, who had been delivered from hard slavery and restored to their homes on his account. But this does not appear to have been the result. At length the guilt of ' the cities of the plain ' brought down the signal judgments of Heaven. The avenging angels, after having been enter- tained by Abraham, repaired to Sodom, where they were received and entertained by Lot, who was sitting in the gate of the town when they arrived. While they were at supper the house was beset by a number of men, who demanded that the strangers should be given up to them, for the unnatural purposes which have given a name of infamy to Sodom in all generations. Lot resisted this demand, and was loaded with abuse by the vile fellows outside on that account. They had nearly forced the door, when the angels smote them with instant blindness, by which their at- tempts were rendered abortive, and they were constrained to disperse. Towards morning the angels apprised Lot of the doom which huug over the place, and urged him to hasten thence with his family. He was allowed to extend the benefit of this deliverance to the families of his daughters who had married in Sodom ; but the warning was received by those families with in- credulity and insult, and he therefore left Sodom 546 LOVE FEAST accompanied only by his wife and two daughters. As they went, being hastened by the angels, the 1 wife, anxious for those who had been left behind, or reluctant to remove from the place which had long been her home, and where much valuable property was necessarily left behind, lingered be- hind the rest, and was suddenly involved in the destruction, by which smothered and stiffened as she stood by saline incrustations she became 'a pillar of salt.' Lot and his daughters then hastened on to Zoar, the smallest of the five cities of the plain, which had been spared on purpose to afford him a refuge: but, being fearful, after what had passed, to remain among a people so corrupted, he soon retired to a cavern in the neighbouring mountains, and there abode. After some stay in this place, the daughters of Lot became appre- hensive lest the family of their father should be lost for want of descendants, than which no greater calamity was known or apprehended in those times and in the belief that, after what had passed in Sodom, there was no hope of their obtaining suitable husbands, they, by a con- trivance which has in it the taint of Sodom, where they had been brought up, made their father drunk with wine, aud in that state seduced him into an act which, as they well knew, would iu soberness have been most abhorrent to him. They thus became the mothers, and he the father, of two sous, named Moab and Ammon, from whom sprung the Moabites and Am- monites, so often mentioned in the Hebrew his- tory (Gen. xix.). This circumstance is the last which the Scripture records of the history of Lot; and the time and place of his death are unknown. LOTS, FEAST OF. [PURIM.] LOVE FEAST, usually termed Agape, and signifying the social meal of the primitive Chris- tians, which generally accompanied the Eucha- rist. If we reflect on the profound impression which the transactions of ' the night on which the Lord was betrayed' (1 Cor. xi. 23) mnst have made on the minds of the apostles, nothing can be conceived more natural, or in closer accordance with the genius of the new dispensa- tion, than a wish to perpetuate the commemora- tion of his death in connection with their social meal. The primary celebration of the Eucharist had impressed a sacrednessrm the previous repast (oomp. Matt. xxvi. 26, Mark xiv. 22, with Luke xxii. 20, 1 Cor. xi. 25) ; and when to this con- sideration we add the ardent faith and love of the new converts on the one hand, and the loss of property with the disruption of old connections and attachments on the other, which must have heightened the feeling of brotherhood, we need i not look further to account for the institution of ' the Agapar, at once a symbol of Christian love and a striking exemplification of its benevolent energy. However soon its purity was soiled, at first it was not undeserving of the eulogy pro- nounced by the great orator of th church ' A custom most beautiful and most beneficial ; for it was a supporter of love, a solace of poverty, a moderator of wealth, and a discipline of humi- lity'.' Thns the common meal and the Eucharist formed together one whole, and were conjointly denominated the Lord's Supper and aijape. They were also signified (according to Mosbeim, Neander, and other eminent critics) by the phrases breaking of bread (Acts ii. 42, 46, xx. 7). I We find the term agapa thus applied once, at ' least, in the New Testament (Jude 12), 'These are spots in your feasts of charity.' The following is the description given by Ter- tullian of these feasts. ' The nature of our Cuena,' he says, ' may be gathered from its name, which is the Greek term for love. However much it may cost us, it is real gain to incur such expense in the cause of piety : for we aid the poor by this refreshment ; we do not sit down to it till we have first tasted of prayer to God ; we eat to satisfy our hunger ; we drink no more than befits the temperate; we feast as those whore- collect that they are to spend the night in devo- tion ; we converse as those who know that the Lord is an ear-witness. After water for wash- ing hands, and lights have been brought in. every one is required to sing something to the praise of God, either from the Scriptures or from his own thoughts ; by this means, if any one has indulged in excess, he is detected. The feast is closed with prayer.' Contributions or oblations of provisions or money were made on these occasions, and the surplus placed in the hands of the presiding elder compare I Tim. v. 17, by whom it was applied fo the relief of orphans and widows, the sick and destitute, prisoners and strangers. From the passages in the Epistles of Jude and Peter, already quoted, and more particularly from the language of Paul in 1 Cor. xi., it ap- pears that at a very early period the Agapae were perverted from their original design : the rich frequently practised a selfish indulgence, to the neglect of their poorer brethren : ' every one takfth before other his own supper' (1 Cor. xi. 21); i.e. the rich feasted on the provisions they brought, without waiting for the poorer mem- bers, or granting them a portion of their abun- dance. On account of these and similar irregularities, and probably in part to elude the notice of their persecutors, the Christians, about the middle of ;he second century, frequently celebrated the Eucharist by itself and before daybreak. From Pliny's Epistle it appears that the agapa; were suspected by the Roman authorities of belonging to the class of unions or secret societies which were often employed for political purposes, and as such denounced by the imperial edicts. In modern times social meetings bearing a resemblance to the agapa;, aud in allusion to :hem termed ' Love Feasts," have been regularly ield by the church of the United Brethren and the Wesleyan Methodists, also in Scotland by the followers of Mr. Robert Sandeman. LU'BIM, the Libyans. [LIBYA.] LU'CIFER, a word that occurs once in the English Version in the lines ' How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou felled to the ground, That didst weaken the nations!' (Isa. xiv. 12). The meaning of the Hebrew word seems to be 'brilliant,' 'splendid,' 'illus- trious,' and it appears to have been the Hebrew name of the morning star. Tertullian and Gregory the Great understood this passage of LUKE Isaiah ra reference to the fall of Satan; in con- sequence of which the name Lucifer has since been applied to Satan ; and this is now the usual acceptation of the word. But Dr. Henderson, who ia his Isaiah renders the line, ' Illustrious son of the morning!'. justly remarks in his an- notation : ' The application of this passage to Satan, and to the fall of the apostate angels, is one of those gross perversions of Sacred Writ which so extensively obtain, and which are to be traced to a proneness to seek for more in any given passage than it really contains, a disposi- tion to he influenced by sound rather than sense, and an implicit faith in received interpretations. The scope and connection show that none but the king of Babylon is meant. In the figurative language of the Hebrews a star signifies an illustrious king or prince (Num. xxiv. 17: comp. Rev. ii. 28: xxii. l(i). The monarch here referred to, having surpassed all other kings in royal splendour, is compared to the harbinger of day, whose brilliancy surpasses that of the surrounding stars. Falling from heaven denotes a sudden political overthrow a removal from the position of high and conspicuous dignity formerly occupied (comp. Rev. vi. 13; viii. 10). LU'CIUS of Cyrene, a .person named along with Barnabas, Saul, and others, as ' prophets and teachers ' in the church at Antioch (Acts xiii. I). Lucius was probably one of ' the syna- gogue of the Cyrenians,' and was without doubt one of the men of Cyrene, who went abroad in consequence of the persecution raised on the death of Stephen (Acts vi. 9; xi. 20). Some suppose that he was one of the seventy disciples : and the tradition is, that he was eventually bishop of Cyrene. This is probably the same Lucius who is mentioned in Rom. xvi. 21 as Paul's kinsman; and he has been supposed by some the same with Luke the Evangelist. LUD, fourth son of Shem (Gen. x. 22). For his descendants, see NATIONS, DISPERSION OF. . LU'DIM, the descendants of (Gen. x. 13), con- cerning whom see NATIONS, DISPERSION OF. LUKE. This name is a contraction of Lu- canus, and indicates that Luke was descended from heathen ancestors, and that he was either a slave or a freedman. According to ecclesiastical tradition, the author of the Gospel is the same Luke who is mentioned in Paul's Epistles (Philem. 24; 2 Tim. iv. 11 ; Coloss. iv. 14), and who is called, in the last-mentioned passage, ' the physician.' This tradition is confirmed by the Acts of the Apostles, according to which the author of that work accompanied the Apostle Paul in his journeys (Acts xvi. 10, sq. ; xx. 5-13). Luke accompanied Paul also in his last journeys to Jerusalem and Rome (Acts xxi. 1-17 ; xxvii. 28). The profession of a physician harmonises also with the condition of a freedman, indicated by the form of the name. The higher ranks of the Romans were disinclined to practise medicine, which they left rather to their freed- men. It harmonises with this that Paul (Coloss. iv. 14) distinguishes Luke from the Christians of Jewish descent, whom, in verses 11 and 12, he styles, ' being of the Circumcision.' Eusebius states that Antioch in Syria was the native city of Luke. In this city there was at an early period a congregation of Christians converted from heathenism. Since Luke was a physician, LUKE .547 'e must suppose that he was a man of education. To those sceptics who excuse their disbelief of the miracles recorded in the Gospels, by the ES- sertion that their authors were ill-informed Jews, greedy of the marvellous, it must appwir of some importance to meet in Luke a well-informed Greek, skilled even in the medical sciences. The higher degree of his education is further proved by the classical style in which the introduction to his Gospel, and the latter portion of the Acts, are written ; and also by the explicit and learned details which he gives in the Acts on various antiquarian, historical, and geographical subjects. It is important to notice what he himself says, in his introduction, of the relation borne by his writings to those of others. It is evident that even then ' many' had attempted to compose a history of our Lord from the statements of eye- | witnesses and of the first ministers of the word of i God. As these 'many' are distinguished from I eye-witnesses, we must suppose that many Chris- tians wrote brief accounts of the life of Jesus, ! although they had not been eye-witnesses. It i.s possible that Luke made use of such writings. He states that he had accurately investigated the truth of the accounts communicated, and that, following the example of the ' many,' he had made use of the statements of eye-witnesses, whom he must have had frequent opportunities of meeting with when he travelled with Paul. The Gospel of St. Luke contains exceedingly valuable accounts, not extant in the books of the other evangelists ; for instance, those concerning the childhood of Jesus, the admirable parables in chapters xv. and xvi., the narration respect- ing the disciples at Emmaus, the section from chap. ix. 51 to xix. 27, which contains parti- culars mostly wanting in the other evangelists. It has been usual, since the days of Schleier- macher, to consider this portion as the report of a single journey to the feast at Jerusalem ; but it is evident that it contains accounts belonging to several journeys, undertaken at different periods. As to the statements of the ancients concerning the date or time when the Gospel of St. Luke was written, we find in Irenaaus, that Mark and Luke wrote after Matthew. According to Euse- bius, Origen stated that Luke wrote after Mat- thew and Mark; but Clemens Alexandrinus, according to the same writer, asserted, on the authority of the ' tradition of the earlier elders/ that the Gospels containing the genealogies were written before the others. According to this view, Mark was written after Luke. It is how- ever likely that this statement arose from a desire to explain why the genealogies were omitted by Mark and John. From the circumstance that the book of Acts leaves St. Paul a captive, without relating the result of his captivity, most critics have, with considerable probability, inferred that Luke ac- > companied St. Paul to Rome, that he employed his leisure while there in composing the Acts, and that he left off writing before the fate or Paul was decided. Now, ; ince the Gospel of St. Luke was written before the Acts, it seems lo follow that it was written a considerable time before the destruction of Jerusalem. It is likely that Luke, during Paul's captivity at Cscsarea, employed his leisure in collecting the accounts contained in his Gospel in the localities 548 LYCIA where the events to which they relate happened. The most ancient testimonies in behalf of Luke's Gospel are those of Marcion, at the beginning of the second century, and of Irenseus, in the latter half of that century. Besides the Gospel -which bears his name, Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles. This work contains the history of the foundation of the Christian church in two great sections: the first embracing the spread of Christianity among the Jews, chiefly by the instrumentality of Peter (ch. i.-xii.); and the second, its spread among the heathen, chiefly by the instrumentality of Paul (ch. xiii.-xxviii.). That the accounts of Luke are authentic may be perceived more especially from a close exami- nation of the inserted discourses and letters. The characteristic marks of authenticity in the oration of the Roman lawyer Tertullus, in ch. xxiv., and in the official letters in ch. xxiii. 26, sq.; xv. 23, sq. ; can scarcely be overlooked. The ad- dress of Paul to the elders of the Ephesian church is characteristically Pauline, and even so full of definite allusions and of similarity to the Epistle to the Ephesians, that it furnishes a con- firmation of the authenticity of that letter. As for the testimonies in behalf of the authen- ticity of the Acts, they are the same as for Luke's Gospel. Clemens Alexandrinus, Irenseus, and Tertullian, expressly mention the Acts, and Eu- sebius reckons them among the Homologoumena. However, the book of Acts was not read and quoted so often in the early church as other parts of Scripture. LUNATICS. [DEJIONIACS.] LUZ, the ancient name of Bethel (Gen. xxviii. 19) [BETHEL], The spot to which the name of Bethel was given appears, however, to have been at a little distance in the environs of Luz, and they are accordingly distinguished in Josh. xvi. 2, although the name of Bethel was eventually extended to that town. A small place of the same name, founded by an inhabitant of Ibis Lnz, is mentioned in Judg. i. 26. LYCAO'NIA, a province of Asia Minor, having Cappadocia on the east, Galatia on the north, Phrygia on the west, and Isauria and Cilicia on the south. It extends in length about twenty geographical miles from east to west, and about thirteen in breadth. It was an undulating plain, involved among mountains, which were noted for the concourse of wild-asses. The soil was so strongly impregnated with salt that few of the brooks supplied drinkable water, so that good water was sold for money. But sheep throve on the pasturage, and were reared with great advantage. It was a Roman province when visited by Paul (Acts xiv. 6), and its chief towns were Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, of which the first was the capital. ' The speech of Lycaonia ' , (Acts xiv. 11) is supposed by some to have been the ancient Assyrian language, also spoken by the Cappadocians ; but it is more usually con- ceived to have been a corrupt Greek, intermingled with many Syriac words. LYC'lA, a province in the south-west of Asia Minor, having Pamphylia on the east, Phrygia on the north, Caria on the west, and the Mediter- ranean on the south. Great part of the country, however, consists of a peninsula projecting south into the Mediterranean. It is mountainous, and LYDDA is watered by numerous small rivers which flow from the mountains. Its inhabitants were be- lieved to be descendants of Cretans, who came thither under Sarpedon, brother of Minos. One of their kings was Bellerophon, celebrated in mythology. The Lycians were a warlike people, powerful on the sea, and attached to their in- dependence, which they successfully maintained against Croesus, king of Lydia, and were after- wards allowed by the Persians to retain their own kings as satraps. Lycia is named in 1 Mace. xv. 23, as one of the countries to which the Ro- man senate sent its missive in favour of the Jews. The victory of the Romans over Antiochns (B.C. 189) gave Lycia rank as a free state, which it retained till the time of Claudius, when it was made a province of the Roman empire. Lycia contained many towns, two of which are men- tioned in the New Testament ; Patara (Acts xxi. 1,2); Myra (Acts xxvii. 5); and one, Phaselis, in the Apocrypha (1 Mace. xv. 23). LYD'DA, a town within the limits of the tribe of Ephraim,nine miles east of Joppa, on the road between that port and Jerusalem. It bore in Hebrew the name of Lod. and appears to have been first built by the Benjamites, although it lay beyond the limits of their territory ; and we find it again inhabited by Benjamites after the Exile (1 Chron. viii. 12 ; Ezra ii. 33; Neh. xi. 35). It is mentioned in the Apocrypha (1 Mace. xi. 34), as having been taken from Samaria and annexed to Judaea by Demetrius Nicator ; and at a later date its inhabitants are named among those who were sold into slavery by Cassius when he inflicted the calamity of his presence upon Palestine after the death of Julius Cscsar. In the New Testament the place is only noticed, under the name of Lydda, as the scene of Peter's miracle in healing jEneas (Acts ix. 32, 35). Some years later the town was reduced to ashes by Cestius Callus, in his march against Jeru- salem ; but it must soon have revived, for not long after we find it at the head of one of the toparchies of the later Judarn, and as such it sur- rendered to Vespasian. At that time it is de- scribed by Josephus as a village equal to a city ; and the Rabbins have much to say of it as a seat of Jewish learning, of which it was the most eminent in Judaea after Jabneh rind Bethar. In the general change of names which took place under the Roman dominion, Lydda became Dios- polis, and under this name it occurs in coins of Severus and Caracalla, and is often mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome. It was early the seat of a bishopric, and is known to have continued such until at least A.D. 518. Lydda early became connected with the homage paid to the celebrated saint and martyr St. George, who is said to have been a native of this place, and who was not less renowned in the east than afterwards in the west. A church was here erected in honour of him by the EmT>eror Justinian. This church, which stood outside the town, had just been levelled to the ground by the Moslems when the Crusaders arrived at Lydda; but it was soon rebuilt by them, and they established a bishopric of Lydda and Ratnleh. The church was destroyed by Sa- ladin in 1191 : and there is no evidence that it was ever rebuilt, although there was in later cen- turies an unfounded impression that the church, the ruins of which were then seen, and which LYSIAS etill exist, had been built by our king Richard. From that time there has been little notice of Lydda by travellers. It now exists, under its ancient name of Lud, as a considerable village of small houses, with nothing to distinguish it from ordinary Moslem villages, save the ruins of the celebrated church of St. George, which are situ- ated in the eastern part of the town. The build- ing must have been very large. The walls of the eastern end are standing only in the parts near the altar, including the arch over the latter ; but the western end remains more perfect, and has been built into a large mosque, the lofty mi- naret of which forms the landmark of Lud. LYD'IA, a province in the west of Asia Minor, supposed to have derived its name from Lud, the fourth son of Shem (Gen. x. 22 ; see NATIONS, DISPERSION OF). It was bounded on the east by Greater Phrygia, on the north by /Eolis or Mysia, on the west by Ionia and the /Egean Sea, and on the south it was separated from Caria by the Mseander, The country is for the most part level. Among the mountains, that of Tmolus was celebrated for its saffron and red wine. In the palmy days of Lydia its kings ruled from the shores of the JEgean to the river Halys ; and Croesus, who was its king in the time of Solon and of Cyrus, was reputed the richest monarch in the world. He was able to bring into the field an army of 420,000 foot and 60,000 horse against Cyrus, by whom, however, he was defeated, and his kingdom annexed to the Persian empire (Herod, i. 6). Lydia afterwards formed part of the kingdom of the Seleucidse; and it is related in 1 Mace. viiL 3, that Antiochus the Great was compelled by the Romans to cede Lydia to king Eumenes. In the time of the travels of the Apostles it was a province of the Roman empire. Its chief towns were Sardis (the capital), Thya- tira, and Philadelphia, all of which are men- tioned in the New Testament, although the name of the province itself does not occur. The man- ners of the Lydians were corrupt even to a proverb. LYD'IA, a woman of Thyatira, ' a seller of purple,' who dwelt in the city of Philippi in Macedonia (Acts xvi, 14, 15). Lydia was not by birth a Jewess, but a proselyte, as the phrase 'who worshipped God' imports. She was con- verted by the preaching of Paul ; and after she and her household had been baptised, she pressed the use of her house so earnestly upon him and his associates, that they were constrained to accept the invitation. The Lydians were famous for the art of dyeing purple vests, and Lydia, as ' a seller of purple,' is supposed to have been a dealer in vests so dyed, rather than in the dye itself. LYSA'NIAS, tetrarch of Abilene, when John commenced his ministry as the harbinger of Christ (Luke iii. 1). He is supposed to hive been son or grandson of another Lysanias, known in history, who was put to death by Mark Antony, and part of his territories given to Cleo- patra [ABILENE]. LYS'IAS, or CLAUDIUS LYSIAS, chiliarch and commandant of the Roman troops who kept guard at the temple of Jerusalem, by whom Paul was secured from the fury of the Jews, and sent under guard to the procurator Felix at Ca:sarea (Acts xxi. 27 ; xxiii. 31). MAACAH 549 LYS'TRA, a city of Lycaonia in Asia Minor, to which Paul and Barnabas fled from the danger which threatened them at Icouium (Acts xiv. (i). Hero, Paul having miraculously cured a cripple, they were both adored as gods ; but afterwards, at the instigation of the Jews, Paul was stoued and left for dead (Acts xiv. 8-21). Timothy was a native of Lystra (Acts xvi. 1), This city was south of Iconiurn, but its precise site is un- certain, as well as that of Derbe, which is men- tioned along with it. M. MA'ACAH, or MAACATH, a city and region at the foot of Mount Hermon, not far from Geshur, a district of Syria (Josh. xiii. 13 ; 2 Sam.x. 6,8 ; 1 Chron. xix. 7). Hence the adjacent portion of Syria is called Aram-Maachah or Syria of Maachah (1 Chron. xix. 7). The Israelites seem to have con- sidered this territory as included in their grant, but were never able to get possession of it (Josh. xiii. 13). In the time of David the small state had a king of its own, who contributed 1000 men to the grand alliance of the Syrian nations against the Jewish monarch (2 Sam. x. 6, 8). The lot of the half-tribe of Manasseh beyond the Jordan ex- tended to this country, as had previously the dominion of Og, king of Bashan (Deut. iii. 14; Josh. xii. 5). Near, or within the ancient limits of Maacah, was the town called for that reason Abel beth-Maacah [ABEL]. MAACAH, or MAACHAH, is also the name of several persons in the Old Testament, male and female, who may be mentioned to distinguish them from one another, namely 1. MAACAH, the father of Achish, king of Gath(l Kings ii. 39). 2. MAACAH, the father of Hanan, one of David's worthies (l Chron. xi. 43). 3. MAACAH, the father of Shephatiah, the military chief of the Simeonites in the time of David (1 Chron. xxvii. 16). 4. MAACAH, a person whose sex does not ap- pear, one of the offspring of Nahor's concubine Reumah (Gen. xxii. 24). 5. MAACAH, a concubine of Caleb (1 Chron. ii. 48). 6. MAACAH, grand-daughter of Benjamin, who was married to Machir, son of Manasseh (1 Chron. vii. 16). 7. MAACAH. daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur, wife of David and mother of Absalom (2 Sam. iii. 3). In 1 Sam. xxvii. 8, we read of David's invading the land of the Geshurites, and the Jewish commentators allege that he then took the daughter of the king captive, and, in conse- quence of her great beauty, married her, after she had been made a proselyte according to the law in Deut. xxi. But this is a gross mistake, for the Geshur invaded by David was to the south of Judah, whereas the Geshur over which Talmai ruled was to the north, and was regarded as part of Syria (2 Sam. xv. 8). The fact appears to be that David, having married the daughter of this king, contracted an alliance with him, in order to strengthen his interest against Ishboshethin those parts. 8. MAACAH, daughter of Abishalom, -wife 5SO MACCABEES of Rehoboam, and mother of Abijam (1 Kings xv. 1 ). In verse 10 we read that Asa's ' mother's name was Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom.' It is evident that here ' mother' is used in a loose sense, and means ' grandmother,' which the Maa- cah named in verse 1 must have been to the Asa of verse 10. The Abishalom who was the father of this Maacah is called Absalom in 2 Chron. xi. 20, 21, and is generally supposed by the Jews to have been Absalom the son of David ; which seems not improbable, seeing that Rehoboam's other two wives were of his father's family (-2 Chron. xi. 18). But Josephus says that she was the daughter of Tamar, the daughter of Absalom, and consequently his granddaughter. This seems not unlikely [ABIJAH!. It would appear that Asa's own mother was dead before he began to reign; for Maacah bore the rank and state of queen-mother (resembling that of the Sultaness Valide among the Turks), the powers of which she so much abused to the encouragement of idolatry, that Asa commenced his reforms by ' removing her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove ' (1 Kings xv. 13 ; 2 Chron. xv. 16). M AC'CABEES. The etymology of this word is too uncertain to reward the inquiries made respecting it. As a family, the Maccabees com- menced their career of patriotic and religious heroism during the persecution of Antiochus Kpiphanes, about the year B.C. 167. At this time the aged Mattathias, a descendant of the Asmonacans, and his five sons, inhabited the town of Modiu, to which place Antiochus sent certain of his officers with instructions to erect an altar for heathen sacrifices, and to engage the inha- bitants in the celebration of the most idolatrous and superstitious rites. The venerable Mattathias openly declared his resolution to oppose the orders of the tyrant, and one of the recreant Jews approaching the altar which had been set r.p, he rushed upon him, and slew him with his own hand. His part thus boldly taken, he called his sons and his friends around him, and imme- ' diately fled to the mountains, inviting all to fol- low him who had any zeal for God and the law. A small band of resolute and devoted men was thus formed, and the governor of the district saw reason to fear that a general insurrection would be the consequence of their proceeding. By a sudden attack directed against them on the Sab- bath, when he knew the strictness of their prin- ciples would not allow them to take measures for their defence, he threw them into disorder, and slew about a thousand of their number, consisting of men, women, and children. Warned by this event, and yielding to the necessity of their present condition, Mattathias and his sons determined that for the future they would defend themselves ou the Sabbath in the same manner as on other days. The mountain- hold of the litfle band was now guarded more cautiously than before. Fresh adherents to the holy cause were continually flocking in ; and in a few months the party found itself sufficiently strong to make attacks upon the towns and vil- ; lages of the neighbourhood, throwing down the | heathen altars, and punishing the reprobates who had taken part with the enemies of God. By the death of Mattathias, the leadership of the party devolved upon his son Judas Macca- MACCABEES bseus, vhose worth and heroic courage pointed j him out as most capable of carrying on the en- terprise thus nobly begun. Judas lost no time in attacking the enemy. He made himself master of several towns, which he fortified ; and garrisoned. Apollonius, general of the army in Samaria, hastened to stop the progress of the insurgents. Judas met him ou the way, joined battle with him, slew him and routed his army. The same success attended him in his encounter with Serou, general of the Syrians ; and it now became evident to Antiochus that the Je'wish na- tion would soon be delivered from his yoke, unless he proceeded against them with a more formidable force. While, therefore, he himsilf went into Persia to recruit his treasures, Lysias, whom he left as regent at home, sent an army into Juda;a, composed of forty thousand foot and seven thou- sand cavalry. This powerful array was further increased by auxiliaries from the provinces, and by bands of Jews, who dreaded nothing more than the triumph of those virtuous men of their own nation, who were struggling to save it from reprobation. So unequal did the forces of Judas appear to an encounter with such an army, that in addressing his followers he urged those among them who had any especial reason to love the present world to retire at once ; while to those who remained he pointed out the promises of God as the best support of their courage and fidelity. By a forced march he reached a portion of the enemy encamped at Emmaus, while utterly un- prepared for his approach. Complete success attended this bold proceeding. The several parts of the hostile army were successively put to flight, a splendid booty was secured, and Judas gained a position which made even the most powerful of his opponents tremble. Another and more numerous army was sent against him the following year, but with no better success. At the head of ten thousand determined followers, Judas defeated the army of Lysias, consisting of sixty thousand. A way was thereby opened for his progress to Jerusalem, whither he imme- diately hastened, with the devout purpose of purifying the temple and restoring it to its former glory. The solemn religious rites hav- ing been performed which were necessary to the cleansing of the sacred edifice, the Festival of the Purification was instituted, and added to the number of the other national festivals of more ancient date. Judas had full occupation for his courage and ability in repelling the incursions of those nume- rous foes who dreaded the restoration of order and religion. But every day added to his suc- cesses. Having overthrown the Syrian com- manders sent against him, he occupied Samaria, made himself master of the strong city of Hebron, of Azotus, and other important places, taking signal vengeance on the people of Joppa and Jamnia, who had treacherously plotted the de- struction of numerous faithful Jews. Antiochus Epiphanes was succeeded by Anti- ochus Eupator. At first this prince acted towards the Jews with moderation and tolerance. But he soon afterwards invaded Judaea with a powerful army, and was only induced to make p<.ace with Maccabseus by the fears which he eut<-.rtaiued of j a rival aspirant to the throne. His jaution did not save him. He was put to death by his own MACCABEES ancle, Demetrius, who. obtaining the throne of Syria, made peace with Judas, but took posses- sion of the citadel of Jerusalem, which was occu- pied by his general, Nicanor, and a body of troops. This state of things was not allowed to last long. Demetrius listened to the reports of Nicanor's enemies, and threatened to deprive him of his command unless he could disprove the accusation that he had entered into a league with Judas, and was betraying the interests of his sovereign. Nicanor immediately took measures to sati.-fy Demetrius, and Judas saw it necessary to escape from Jerusalem, and put himself in a posture of defence. A battle took place in which he defeated his enemy. Another was soon after fought at Beth-horon, where he was again vic- torious. Nicanor himself fell in this battle, and his head and right hand were sent among the spoils to Jerusalem. But the forces of Deme- trius were still numerous. Judas had retired to Laish with about three thousand followers. He was there attacked by overwhelming numbers. Only eight hundred of his people remained faithful to him on this occasion, llesolved not to flee, he bravely encountered the enemy, and was speedily slain, regarding his life as a fitting sacrifice to the cause in which he was engaged. Simon and Jonathan, the brothers of Judas, rallied around them the bravest of their com- panions, and took up a strong position in the neighbourhood of Tekoa. Jonathan proved him- self a worthy successor of his heroic brother, and skilfully evaded the first attack of Bacchides, the Syrian general. For two years after this, the brothers were left in tranquillity, and they established themselves in a little fortress called Betlitasi, situated among the rocks near Jericho. The skill and resolution with which they pursued their measures rendered them formidable to the enemy ; and the state of affairs in Syria some time after obliged Demetrius to make Jonathan the general of his forces in Judrca, and to invest him with the authority of governor of Jerusalem. To this he was compelled by the rivalry of Alexander Balas ; but his policy was too late to secure the attachment of his new ally. Jonathan received offers from Alexander to support his interests among the Jews, and the high-priesthool was the proffered reward. The invitation was accepted ; and Jonathan became the first of the Asmonsean line through which the high-priesthood was so long transmitted. Alexander Balas left nothing undone which might tend to secure the fidelity of Jonathan. He gave him a high rank among the princes of his kingdom, and adorned him with a purple robe. Jonathan continued to enjoy his prosperity till the year B.C. 143, when he fell a victim to the treachery of Trypho, who aspired to the Syrian throne. He was succeeded by his brother Simon, who confirmed the Jews in their temporary independence; and in the year B.C. 141 they passed a decree whereby the dignity of the high-priesthood and of prince of the Jews ' was rendered hereditary in the family of Simon. He fell a victim to the treachery of his son-in-law, : Ptolemy, governor of Jericho; but was succeeded by his son, the celebrated John Hyrcanus, who possessed the supreme authority above thirty years, and at his death left it to be enjoyed by his son Aristobulus, who, soon after his accession to power, assumed the title of king. This dignity MACCABEES, BOOKS OF continued to be enjoyed by descendants of t!i<; Asmomean family till the year B.C. 34, when it ceased with the downfall of Antigonus, wh:>, conquered by Herod and the Romans, was put to death by the common executioner. MACCABEES, BOOKS OF [APOCRYPHA]. The books of Maccabees are the titles of certain Jewish histories containing principally the details of the heroic exploits referred to in the preceding article. There were in all four books (to which some add a fifth) known to the ancients, of which three j are still read in the eastern, and two in the western church. Of these the third is the first in order of j time. We shall, however, to avoid confusion, speak of them in the order in which they are ; commonly enumerated. THE FIRST BOOK. OF MACCABEES contains a ! lucid and authentic history of the undertakings | of Antiochus Epiphanes against the Jews, from i the year B.C. 175 to the death of Simon Macca- I bseus, B.C. 135. This history is confessedly of ! great value. Although its brevity, observes Do Wette, renders it in some instances unsatisfactory, defective, and uncritical, and occasionally extra- ; vagant, it is upon the whole entitled to credit, ; chronologically accurate, and advan'ageousl y dis- tinguished above all other historical productions of this period. It is the second book in order of time. There is little question that this book was written in Hebrew, although the original is now lost. The Greek version abounds in Hebraisms and errors of translation. Of the author nothing is known ; but he must have been a Palestinian Jew, who wrote some [ considerable time after the death of Simon Macca- > baeus, and even of Hyrcanus, and made use >>f ; several written, although chiefly of traditionary, sources of information. At the same time it is not impossible that the author was present at several of the events which he so graphically describes. THE SECOND BOOK OF MACCABEES (the third in order of time) is a work of very inferior cha- racter to the first. It is an abridgment of a more ancient work, written by a Jew named Jason, who lived at Gyrene in Africa, comprising the prin- cipal transactions of the Jews which occurred during the reigns of Seleucus IV., Antiochus Epiphanes, and Antiochus Eupator. It partly goes over the same ground with the first book, but commences ten or twelve years earlier, and , embraces in all a period of fifteen years. It does ! not appear that the author of either saw the other's j work. The second book of Maccabees is divided into two unconnected parts. It commences with a letter from the citizens of Jerusalem and Judaea to the Greek Jews in Egypt, written B.C. 123 (which refers to a former letter written to the same, B.C. 143, acquainting them of their suffer- ings), and informs them that their worship was now restored, and that they were celebrating the Feast of Dedication. The second part (ii. 18) contains a still more ancient letter, written B.C. 159, to the priest Aristobulus, the tutor of King Ptolemy, recounting, besides some curious matter, the death of Antiochus Epiphanes. The third part contains the preface, in which th? author states that he is about to epitomise the five books of Jason. The work commences with the attack of Heliodorus on the temple, and closes with the 552 MACCABEES, BOOKS OF death of Nicanor, a period of fifteen years. The history supplies some blanks in the first book ; but the letters prefixed to it contradict some of the facts recorded in the body of the work, and are consequently supposed to have been added by another hand. Neither are the letters themselves considered genuine, and they were probably written long after the death of Nicanor, and even of John Hyrcanus. This book gives a different account of the place and manner of the death of Antiochus Epiphanes from that contained in the first book. The narrative, as De Wette observes, abounds in miraculous adventures, historical and chrono- logical errors, extraordinary and arbitrary em- bellishments, affected descriptions, and moralising reflections. We are not aware when either Jason himself or his epitomiser lived. Jahn refers the age of the epitomiser to some time previous to the middle of the last century before the birth of Christ, and De Wette maintains that Jason must have written a considerable time after the year B.C. 161. Jerome observes that the phraseology cf this book evinces a Greek original. The elegance and purity of the style have misled some per- sons into the supposition that its author was Josephus. THE THIRD BOOK OF MACCABEES, still read in the Greek church, is, a<= has been already ob- served, the first in order ol time. It contains an account of the persecution of the Egyptian Jews by Ptolemy Philopator, who is said to have pro- ceeded to Jerusalem after his victory at Raphia over Antiochus the Great, B.C. 217, and after sacrificing in the temple, to have attempted to force his way into the Holy of Holies, when he was prostrated and rendered motionless by an. invisible hand. Upon his return to Egypt, he revenged himself by shutting up the Jews in the Hippodrome, and exposing them to be crushed beneath the feet of elephants. This book contains an account of their deliverance by divine inter- position. It is anterior in point of date to the Maccabsean period, and has received its designa- tion from a general resemblance to the two first books in the heroic character of the actions which it describes. Calmet (Commentary) observes that this book is rejected as apocryphal in the Latin Church ; not, however, as not containing a true history, but as not being inspired, as he considers the first two books to be. It is nevertheless re- garded by De Wette as a tasteless fable, and not- withstanding the relation which it contains of an annual festival, considered by him as most pro- bably destitute of any historical foundation. Dr. Milman (Hist, of the Jews) describes it as a ' romantic story.' The author is unknown. THE FOURTH BOOK OF MACCABEES, which is also found in the Alexandrian and Vatican ma- nuscripts, is generally supposed to be the same with the Supremacy of Reason, attributed to Jose- phus, with which it for the most part accords. It consists of an inflated amplification of the history of the martyrdom of Eleazar, and of the seven brothers, whose torments and death, with that of their mother, form the subject of 2 Mace. ch. vi. vii. Calmot has pointed out several contradictions between this and the second book, as well as the MACCABEES, BOOKS OP books of Moses, together with some opinions derived from the Stoics, such as the equality of crimes; which, he supposes, together with its tedious descriptions, have consigned it to the rank of an Apocryphal book. What has been called the FIFTH BOOK OF MACCABEES is now extant only in the Arabic and Syriac languages. It is impossible to ascertain the author, who could scarcely have been Josephus, as he disagrees in many things with that historian. The work consists of a history of Jewish affairs, commencing with the attempt on the treasury at Jerusalem by Heliodorus, and ending with the tragic fate of the last of the Asmonsean princes, and with the inhuman execution by Herod of his noble and virtuous wife Mariamne, and of his two sons. This history thus fills up the chasm to the birth of Christ. Dr. Cotton has pointed out among the ' remark- able peculiarities' found in this book the phrases, ' Peace be unto thee,' and ' God be merciful to them,' showing that the practice of prayer for the dead was at this time prevalent. But the most remarkable passage in reference to this subject is 2 Mace. xii. 40-45, where Judas forwards to Jeru- salem 2000, or according to the Syriac 3000, and according to the Vulgate 12,DOO drachmas of silver, to make a sin-offering for the Jews slain in action, on whose persons were found things con- secrated to idols, which they had sacrilegiously plundered in violation of the law of Moses (Deut. vii. 25, 26). The author of the book remarks that it was a holy and good thought to pray for the dead, which, he observes, would have been super- fluous had there been no resurrection. Calmet observes that, according to the notions of the Jews and some of the Christian Fathers, the pains of hell for those who died in mortal sin (as appears to have been the case of these Jews) were alle- viated by the prayers and alms of the living, if not entirely removed ; and cites a passage from a very ancient Christian Liturgy to the same effect. This learned commentator supposes that the ancient and Catholic practice of prayer for the dead had its origin in this usage of the Jews, although he admits it to be a distinct thing from the doctrine of purgatory as held in the Roman Church. The first two books of Maccabees have been at all times treated with a very high degree of respect in the Christian Church. Origen, pro- fessing to give a catalogue of the twenty-two canonical books, of which, however, he actually enumerates only twenty-one, adds, ' besides, there are the Maccabees.' This has given rise to the notion that he intended to include these books in the canon, while others have observed that he has omitted the minor prophets from his catalogue. In his preface to the Psalms he excludes the two books of Maccabees from the books of Holy Scrip- ture, but in his Princip. (ii. 1), and in his Com- ment, ad Earn. ch. v., he speaks of them as inspired, and as of equal authority with the other books. St. Jerome says that the Church does not acknow- ledge them as canonical, although he elsewhere cites them as Holy Scripture. Bellarmine ac- knowledges that these, with the other deutero- canouical books, are rejected by Jerome, as they had not been then determined by any general council. The first councils which included them MACEDONIA in the canonical Scriptures were those of Hippo lud Carthage. They were received with the other Apocryphal books by the Council of Trent. Basnage, cited by Larduer (Credibility), thinks '.hat the word ' Canonical ' may be supposed to be used here [by the councils of Hippo and Carthage] loosely, so as to comprehend not only those books which are admitted as a rule of faith, but those whifh are esteemed useful, and may be publicly read for the edification of the people, in contra- distinction to such books as were entirely rejected. This is also the opinion of the Roman Catholic Professor Jahn, who expresses himself in nearly the same words. Dr. Lardner conceives that Augustine also, unless he would contradict him- self, must be understood to have used the word in the same sense. MACEDO'NIA, a country lying to the north of Greece Proper, having on the east Thrace and the ^Egean Sea, on the west the Adriatic and Illyria, on the north Dardania and Maesia, and on the south Thessaly and Epirus. The country- is supposed to have been first peopled by Chittim or Kittim, a son of Javan (Gen. x. 4) [NATIONS, DISPERSION OF] ; and in that case it is probable that the Macedonians are sometimes intended when the word Chittim occurs in the Old Testa- ment. Macedonia was the original kingdom of Philip and Alexander, by means of whose victories the name of the Macedonians became celebrated throughout the East, and is often used for the Greeks in Asia generally. The rise of the great empire formed by Alexander is described by the prophet Daniel under the emblem of a goat with one horn (Dan. viii. 3-8). As the horn was a general symbol of power, and as the oneness of the horn implies merely the unity of that power, we are not prepared to go the lengths of some over- zealous illustrators' of Scripture, Avho argue that if a one-horned goat were not a recognised symbol of Macedonia we should not be entitled to con- clude that Macedonia was intended. We hold that there could be no mistake in the matter, whatever may have been the usual symbol of Macedonia. It is, however, curious and interest- ing to know that Daniel did describe Macedonia under its usual symbol, as coins still exist in which that country is represented under the figure' of a one-horned goat. There has been much dis- cussion on this subject more curious than valu- able but the kernel of it lies in this fact. When subdued by the Romans under Paulus ^Emilius (B.C. 168), Macedonia was divided into four provinces ; but afterwards (B.C. 142) the whole of Greece was divided into two great pro- vinces, Macedonia and Achaia [GREECE, ACHAIA] . Macedonia therefore constituted a Roman pro- vince, governed by a proconsul, in the time of Christ and his Apostles. The Apostle Paul being summoned in a vision, while at Troas, to preach the Gospel in Ma- cedonia, proceeded thither, and founded the churches of Thessalonica and Philippi (Acts xvi. 9), A.D. 55. This occasions repeated mention of tne name, either alone (Acts xviii. 5 ; xix. 21 ; Rom. xv. 26; 2 Cor. i. 16; xi. 9; Phil. iv. 15), or along with Achaia (2 Cor. ix. 2 ; 1 Thess. i. 8). The principal cities of Macedonia were Amphipolis, Thessalonica, and Pella (Liv. xlv. 29); the towns of the province named in the New Testament, and noticed in the present MAGI 553 work, are Amphipolis, Thessalonica, Neapolis, Apollonia, and Beroea. MACHPE'LAH (twofold, double}, the name of the plot of ground containing the cave which Abraham bought of Ephron the Hittite for a family sepulchre (Gen. xxiii. 9, 17) [HEBRON]. MAD'Al, third son of Japhet (Gen. x. 2), from whom the Medes, &c., are supposed to have descended (Goc ; NATIONS, DISPEKSICN OF]. MADMAN'NAH, a city of Simeon (Josh. xv. i 31), very far south towards Gaza (1 Chron. ii. j 49), which in the first distribution of lands had ! been assigned to Judah. Eusebius and Jerome identify it with a town of their time, called Menois, near the city of Gaza. MADME'NAH, a town only named in Isa. x. 31, where it is manifestly placed between Nob and Gibeah. It is generally confounded with the preceding, which is much too far southward to suit the context. MAG'DALA, a town mentioned in Matt. xv. 39, and the probable birthplace of Mary Magda- lene, i. e. Mary of Magdala. It must have taken its name from a tower or castle, as the name signifies. It was situated on the lake Genne- sareth, but it has usually been placed on the east side of the lake, although a careful consideration of the route of Christ before he came to, and after he left, Magdala, would show that it must have been on its western shore. This is con- firmed by the Jerusalem Talmud (compiled at Tiberias), which several times speaks of Magdala as being adjacent to Tiberias and Hamath, or the hot-springs. It was a seat of Jewish learning after the destruction of Jerusalem, and the Rab- bins of Magdala are often mentioned in the Talmud. A small Moslem village, bearing the name of Mejdel, is now found on the shore of the lake about three miles north by west of Tiberias ; and although there are no ancient ruins, the name and situation are very strongly in favour of the conclusion that it represents the Magdala of Scripture. This was probably also the Mig- dal-el, in the tribe of Naphtali, mentioned in Josh. xix. 38. MAGI. The Magi were originally one of the six tribes into which the nation of the Medes was divided, who, like the Levites under the Mosaic institutions, were intrusted with the care of religion: an office which was held in the highest honour, gave the greatest influence, and which they probably acquired for themselves only after a long time, as well as many worthy efforts to serve their country, and when they had proved themselves superior to the rest of their brethren. As among other ancient nations, as the Egyptians, and Hebrews, for instance, so among the Medes, the priestly caste had not only religion, but the arts and all the higher culture, in their charge. Their name points immediately to their sacer- dotal character (from Mag or Mog, which de- notes ' priest'), either because religion was the chief object of their attention, or more probably because, at the first, religion and art were so allied as to be scarcely more than different ex- pressions of the same idea. Little in detail is known of the Magi during the independent existence of the Median govern- ment; they appear in their greatest glory after the Medes were united with the Persians. This doubtless is owing to the general imperfection of 554 MAGI the historical materials which relate to the earlier periods. So great, however, was the influence which the Magi attained under the united em- pire, that the Medes were not ill compensated for their loss of national independence. Under the Medo-Persian sway the Magi formed a sacred caste or college, which was very famous in the ancient world for the practice of divination, astrology, and magic. According to Strabo the Magi practised different sorts of divination !. by evoking the dead ; 2. by cups or dishes (Joseph's divining cup, Gen. xliv. 5); 3. by means of water. By the employment of these means the Magi affected to disclose the future, to influence the present, and to call the past to their aid. Even the visions of the night they were accus- tomed to interpret, not empirically, but accord- ing to such established and systematic rules as a learned priesthood might be expected to employ. The success, however, of their efforts over the invisible world, as well as the holy office which they exercised, demanded in themselves peculiar cleanliness of body, a due regard to which and to the general principles of their caste would naturally be follow-ed by professional prosperity, which in its turn conspired with prevailing super- stition to give the Magi great social considera- tion, and make them of high importance before kings and princes an influence which they appear to have sometimes abused, when, descend- ing from the peculiar duties of their high office, they took part in the strife and competitions of politics, and found themselves sufficiently power- ful even to overturn thrones. Abuses bring reform ; and the Magian religion, which had lost much of its original character, and been debased by some of the lowest elements of earthly passions, loudly called for a renova- tion, when Zoroaster appeared to bring about the needful change. As to the time of his appear- ance, and in general the particulars of his history, differences of opinion prevail, after all the critical labour that has been expended on the subject. Winer says he lived in the second half of the seventh century before Christ. He was not the founder of a new system, but the renovator of an old and corrupt one, being, as he himself inti- mates, the restorer of the word which Ormuzd had formerly revealed, but which the influence of Dews had degraded into a false and deceptive magic. To destroy this, and restore the pure law of Orranzd, was Zoroaster's mission. After much and long-continued opposition on the part of the adherents and defenders of existing corruptions, he succeeded in his virtuous purposes, and caused his system eventually to prevail. The Magi, as a caste, did not escape from his reforming hand. He appears to have remodelled Jheir institute, dividing it into three great classes: 1, learners ; 2, masters ; 3, perfect scholars. The Magi alone he allowed to perform the religious ritts ; they possessed the forms of prayer and worship ; they knew the ceremonies which availed to conciliate Ormnzd, and were obligatory in the public offer- ings. They accordingly became the sole medium of communication between the Deity and his creatures, and through them alone Ormuzd made his will known ; none but they could see into the future, and they disclosed their knowledge to those only who were so fortunate as to conciliate their good will. Hence the power which the MAGI Magian priesthood possessed. The general belief iu the trustworthiness of their predictions, espe- cially when founded on astrological calculations, the all but universal custom of consulting the will of the divinity before entering on any important undertaking, and the blind faith whu-h was re- posed in all that the Magi did, reported, or com- manded, combined to create for that sacerdotal caste a power, both in public and in private concerns, which has probably never been ex- ceeded. Neither the functions nor the influence of this sacred caste were reserved for peculiar, rare, and extraordinary occasions, but ran through the web of human life. At the break of day they had to chant the divine hymns. This office being performed, then came the daily sacrifice to bs offered, not indiscriminately, but to the divinities whose day in each case it was an office there- fore which none but the initiated could fulfil. As an illustration of the high estimation in which the Magi were held, it may be mentioned that it was considered a necessary part of a princely education to have been instructed in the peculiar learning of their sacred order, which was an honour conceded to no other but royal person- ages, except in very rare arid very peculiar in- stances. This Magian learning embraced every- thing which regarded the higher culture of the nation, being known in history under the d2sig- nation of the law of the Medes and Persians. It comprised the knowledge of all the sacred rites, customs, usages, and observances, which related not merely to the worship of the gods, but to the whole private life of every worshipper of Ormuzd the duties which, as such, he had to observe, and the punishments which followed the neglect of these obligations; whence may be learnt how necessary the act of the priest on all occasions was. Under the veil of religion the priest had bound himself up with the entire of public and domestic life. The judicial office, too, appears to have been, in the time of Cambyses, in the hands of the Magi, for from them was chosen the col- lege or bench of royal judges, which makes its appearance in the history of that monarch. Men who held these offices, possessed this learning, and exerted this influence with the people, may have proved a check to Oriental despotism, no less powerful than constitutional, though they Avert- sometimes unable to guarantee their own lives against the wrath of the monarch. If we turn to the books of Scripture we find the import of what has been said confirmed, espe- cially in the book of Daniel, where the great in- fluence of the Magi is well illustrated. The Magi were not confined to the Medes and Persians. Since they are mentioned by Hero- dotus as one of the original tribes of the Medes, they may have been primitively a Median priest- hood. If so they extended themselves into other lands. Possibly Magi may have been at first not the name of a particular tribe or priestly caste, but a general designation for priests or learned men; as Pharaoh denoted not an individual, but generally king or ruler. However this may be, the Chaldteans also had an organized order of Magi, a caste of sacerdotal scholars, which bore the name of ' wise men ' ( Jer. 1. 35) ; ' the ise men of Babylon' (Dan. ii. 12), among whom Daniel is classed (ii. 18, 24). Among the Greeks and Romans they were known under the name of MAHALATH Chaldreans, and also of Magi. They lived scat- tered over the land in different places (Dan. ii. 14), and had possessions of their own. The temple of Betas was employed by them, for astronomical obsei various, but their astronomy was connected with the worship of the heavenly bodies practised by the I?abylonians,and was specially directed to vain attempts to foretell the future, predict the fate of individuals or of communities, and sway the present, in alliance with augury, incantation, and magic (Isa. xlvii. 9, 13; Dan. ii.). It is ea